Abby bounced on her toes just in front of the door. She cracked her neck and shook her hands out. Once she was ready, even if she didn’t feel it, she pressed her shoulder against the door, gripping its twin by the handle. With a short count down, she threw the door open and bolted out.

Duck under the first guy. The second one was a monster this time, a lizard, close to the ground. Vault over it. Jump off the back to clear the third person, an office worker that reached a hand out for her.

Before she could hit the ground, a surprised priest struck out, jamming a fist in her stomach.

Abby fell through the punch, groaning. But she didn’t stop. She ran away from him, favoring her left for some reason. She staggered a bit, struggling to get upright. Ahead of her stood a row of men and women, some of them still holding their work things, like boxes or papers. Since she was in a dungeon, she couldn’t tell which ones were enthralled by mana sense alone, but her eyes picked up on the confusion on a number of the more human looking ones.

It took four not-quite-humans to subdue her, holding her on the ground for a few minutes until a much larger hybrid came along to muscle her back into her cell. The centaur that collected her didn’t even look bothered by her struggling, simply holding her up and out away from her like Abby was nothing more than a stray cat. Abby debated using her whip spike to free herself, but she didn’t quite find the point. It wasn’t like she was trying to escape. Not alone.

The centaur brought her close just inside the door. Only enough to pummel her gut hard enough that she flew through the air a bit before landing on her feet. Abby cringed, but smirked up at the prison guard. They paid her little attention, turning around and closing the door behind themselves.

“Not your best.” Isabelle whispered behind her.

“I stayed on my feet this time.” Abby tried to straighten up, but found she couldn’t quite yet. With a little ‘oof’ of pain, she walked back to where Isabelle was sitting against the back wall. “Still thirsty?”

“Not enough to drink my own piss yet.” She responded weakly.

Abby huffed out a laugh, but it wasn’t genuine. Here she was, running around, trying to find some water for them both, and Isabelle was wasting away. Literally. If she didn’t do something, and soon, they’d both starve.

“Hey, why can I move, but you can’t?” Abby asked.

“Dungeon…” Isabelle whispered. She took a deep breath. “You’re evolved. You don’t… use the bathroom anymore. You can’t.”

Abby considered it. She hadn’t noticed it before. It hadn’t really been a thing she had to notice before now! And now that she had noticed that, she also noticed that she wasn’t really hungry either. Or thirsty. She felt like she could eat, but she could put it off for a while longer.

“So what, do I not need food any more?”

Isabelle adjusted her seat a bit. “You do. You’ll starve, just the same as me. The difference is, since you’re evolved, you’re designed to run and fight for as long as you have energy. As soon as you run out…”

Abby cocked her head, not following the ending.

Isabelle sighed. “You’ll drop dead. No warning. No nothing. One minute you’re up and fighting, and the next, dead. Outright. I’m sorry Abby… I’m sorry.” She started to cry.

“What!? No, why are you crying!? It’s ok! I’ll just find something to eat too! I’m sure if we have to, I can maybe kill one of the monsters around here. Not a human! I’ll-”

“No.” Isabelle choked. “That won’t work either. You won’t be able to digest it.”

“What’s that supposed to mean!?”

Isabelle sniffed. “Owyn told me, that when a dungeon monster reaches a certain level of strength, they lose a number of other abilities that normal animals have. They don’t need to shit any more since their excess food is turned into mana. Whatever they can’t digest. And if there’s no dungeon to give the mana to, the food just… piles up inside them. They starve on a full stomach.”

Abby sat back on her heels. “Oh…”

“I’ve cursed you.” Isabelle said. “You’ll need to be enthralled if you want to live.”

Abby gave her a weak smile. “That’s ok! I can just be like Grant! I’ll let Lucid enthrall me, and then we’ll all be ok!”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It didn’t soothe Isabelle to hear that. She just tucked in her knees and sobbed a bit longer. Abby noticed that shy didn’t actually shed any tears. That was probably a bad thing. Maybe she should go for another attempt.

Her ears flickered when she heard the rapid steps of the speedwalker. Was it that time already?

Isabelle had noticed it too, and managed to settle down enough to compose herself just before their interrogator would join them.

It was the same priest lady as the last two times. She closed the door gently behind herself, folding her hands before her as she walked to the center of the room. Her movements seemed… altered, somewhat, since the last time they spoke though. Smoother, swifter.

Abby narrowed her eyes. She’d been enthralled. Evolved. Why?

They waited in silence for the interrogation to begin. However, it never came. Maybe the God Core had finally noticed that they wouldn’t talk?

“Lucid is going to die soon.” She said flatly.

Abby got into a protective stance in front of Isabelle. The priest lady didn’t react, and simply resumed talking.

“Your opportunity to save him has passed. The God Core will not hesitate to slaughter the rest of his thralls, nor will he protect him any longer.”

Abby’s stomach fell into a deep pit. “What do you mean ‘the rest’?”

Her head tilted back a touch. She was listening to the dungeon. “Interesting. You care more for the thralls than Lucid? Have we been going about this wrong?” Her eyes wandered over to Isabelle, still weakly laying on the floor. “What if we offered to spare her, in exchange for your servitude?”

Spare her? Abby blanched, but held firm. She’d protect Isabelle with her own life if she had to. But… would that mean giving herself up?

“Eat shit.” Isabelle growled. “I’d rather die than give Abby to the God Core.”

“Yes. You humans and your blind loyalty. Even if it means death for you. It’s not logical. We’re offering the peaceful solution, and yet, you choose violence.” The priest seemed thoughtful. “Perhaps there is some merit in your pope’s desires. Very commendable.”

The priest gave a small bow. To the God Core? “What happened with Lucid?” Abby demanded.

“He refused us.” She responded. “And then he fled. To the surface, we suspect.”

“You slaughtered the villagers.” Isabelle growled.

“No, actually. Not all of them. It was most interesting, he only had a handful of thralls. The rest lived within his territory. All of them, apparently. Does Lucid value humans in general? Is he curious about them? We offered sacrifices, and willing thralls, and he disliked both, yet he has no issue enthralling villagers? Was there something wrong with our offerings?”

More questions. Was Abby supposed to answer? Did she even know the answers? She held her tongue for now.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter now.” The priest shrugged. Then, her vibe changed. She hunched in closer, darkening the area around her eyes. “However, there was… one anomaly. I am unaware of it myself. Is there a spell that can instantly kill a human?”

Isabelle shifted. “No.”

The priest's eyes locked on her. Abby sternly kept her guard up. “Isabelle…”

“Magic is dependent on will, and will is generally built on wants and instincts. And all living things want to live, instinctually. It’s the strongest will within all living beings. No spell can interfere with that. Only external forces.”

“That is what I thought too.” The priest nodded, relaxing. “And yet, there was this boy. Your close friend, actually. That Owyn boy. He detonated a spell core in his spear, and at the same time, one of my soldiers' heads detonated. It would have been a fatal blow, if it wasn’t one of my creations. We have a few theories, would you like to hear them?”

“Why tell us?” Isabelle asked.

“You are friends with them are you not? Surely, you must know something. Why indeed.” The priest began pacing. “Large spells require a large dungeon core. Theoretically, a large enough core, with a large enough supply of mana, could override one's will to live. But that’s almost irrelevant. For one, if they simply wished him dead, why did he not just fall dead? Why detonate the head? Perhaps it’s easier to detonate the head to kill something, rather than to directly command it to die. In either case, it doesn’t matter. Only a small spell core was used, not a large one. A SMALL core! Not even a mature one! It’s fascinating!”

Neither Abby nor Isabelle gave a reaction.

“Hm… You really don’t know anything. Well then, I do believe this will be our last conversation. I bid you farewell.” The priest bowed.

Isabelle gave her a rude gesture. Something Abby smirked and mirrored. The priest ignored them both and left.

“Well, that wasn’t-”

The door made the sound of a turning lock.

Abby and Isabelle looked at the door, then back to each other.

Abby bolted for the door, ramming into it with her full force. She may as well not have been evolved for how heavy the door was. Had it been made of stone that was only covered by wood!? The handles refused to turn. With a grip strong enough to wrap the metal handles, Abby twisted and turned them, but they refused to budge.

“Abby, stop!” Isabelle called. Not quite a shout. Abby obeyed.

“We’re going to starve in here.”

“That’s probably the plan.” Isabelle coughed, but she looked determined. “Abby, do you remember what I told you before you were enthralled by Bluey?”

“The cube?” Abby gestured to her tongue. Shit, what did she say?

Isabelle nodded. “Do you trust me?”

Abby remembered. I can’t tell you my plan, otherwise the dungeon will know it too. She nodded.

Isabelle nodded as well, patting the stone next to her. “Come sit. We have time.”