Regaining my sense after the evolution I find Erifis and Tomas in the Core Chamber and she looks like she is gonna beat the crap out of the eccentric elf. There is alot of new things showing up in DIEsight. Including a envelope icon with a red dot of frustration on it. I'm guessing it's messages. I send them up to the surface to check on people even though I know it's fine up there. I know that I don't have solid control of my emotions and thoughts and figure I just need some time alone to sort through things.

Tomas teleports up and out first, which startles Erifis but she teleports out too. Looking back at my form I feel like I'm better connected to the World now. I can feel the surfaces of my Dungeon instead of just having them exist. The pit of spiders is really weird, there are so many of them it doesn't feel like a spider walking on skin, but more like a blanket of moss being rubbed on the skin instead. I can feel everyone up above in the city walking around, some are running, and...some are...... I need to find a way to turn this feature off.

I can't figure out how to turn it off, and if I remove the houses from my Domain then I don't gain the materials for them solving the puzzles. I regretfully just decide not to think about what the people are doing on the surface of my body. Just gotta ignore it, yup. On the same line of thought, if I think hard about a name it now displays in my DIEsight. Erifis, Tomas, Sym, Betty, Samuel, Mystique, Gamel, Ricard, Otto.

I ask Sym about it, getting a sigh from the parasite and the response of thousands of words, but can be summed up as general soul alignment. Dungeon Cores are supposed to keep track of and help adjust the souls of the living that exist inside of them. Our Core number is 3896732524320721881, which means we're a creation of the Goddess Brille, and passively adjust to her preferred soul type for Reincarnations. Which is purple. I humor myself as I picture a fluffy furry little Goddess in the Underworld saying, "That Tasted Purple" before I realized something else.

We aren't aligning to purple. We're aligning to gray, not just that but it's a dark gray. On inquiry Sym guessed that since none of the Pantheon here we're interested in Neutral souls, and that we are an offshoot case, that we are aligning to my preference. I don't think I eat souls, and tell him as much, but he goes further and explains that we do eat souls, it's the Unaligned Masaara pulled in from the atmosphere.

I think on his description while looking through the messages, most of which are just, "acquired (infinitesimally small amount) of resource." If it's aligning to my preference, and I know myself enough to know that I'd rather everyone follow the Satanic Bible over the Christian one I'm pretty sure I am the definition of Chaotic Neutral.

Thomas, yeah, my name is even dark grey. I still hated how the Satanic Bible of my old world was a better list of commandments than the Christian Bible. They definitely did that shit on pur- what is that?

Acquired Strand of Fate - Sight (Ability)

I look around, then I see it, small thin strands, almost invisible connecting person to person on my surface, some connect to me, and the big thick strand that leads out of my core downwards. I follow it for a ways, there is a bit of knotting to My Strand of Fate. It frays off in places then continues on like nothing happened. It loops around on itself several times near a sunken ship well outside of the area I've ever been to.

Then it dives downwards again. Through the seafloor deep down. Into and through the magma pockets and continuing for a few thousand feet. Then back up to the magma pockets. I can only see a few feet of the thick cord of Fate that is mine so I have to follow it on its path, circling the magma pocket several times before ascending back to the island then back down, straight down....into the hands of a little girl. She's using it to play a game of cats cradle, which would normally take two players. She reminds me of one of my nieces from Earth. Her life ended far too soon, I remember how to continue the game and make the next move. The girl giggles and our game continues for a while.

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"Played before?

Obviously...

This strand is thicker than all the others. It's a strong soul.

It's a Mortal Soul, it has been broken and tied back together.

It has been twisted around and changed, but it isn't going to end for a long time.

My own strand is merged with this one another short five years from now."

I listen to her, she knows what this strand is, that it comes from me and that it is mine. She doesn't say it, perhaps she feels like just toying with the mortal. She is obviously a Goddess, the Goddess "Brille."

"No fun, we were supposed to play a game and have you struggle to figure it out."

I shake my head in disappointment and continue following the strand. Five years means not right now. I'll get my answers then, the strand gets thicker not far from where she continues to play with it. Going from a thickness similar to yarn to more like the thickness of paracord, or bungee cable. It wanders all around, firmly buried in the earth, billions of tons of rock dirt water sand plants and sentients above it. Then it darts upwards. I follow it.

I emerge next to the cord in the center of what looks to be a castle. A regal man sits on the throne here, weathered by age. He speaks, spittle flying in anger at a thirty something year old man.

"No, even if he was my son, I do not desire to get in a fight with a Dungeon Core that can just come here and rip my heart out of my chest. He was a rancid child anyways!"

"Alright then Father, I'll be excusing myself for the present, to return to my studies. I will not bring it up again."

The crest adorned on the banners that hang from the walls match the crest that Gamel had on his shield. This is probably his family. I continue to follow the cord which leads all around the castle before flying straight back to the island. It curled around itself here, at the beach, back and forth in lines like it is looking for something or waiting for someone, then it fades to where I can't find the continuation.

If this is the String of Fate then mine is very strange. I mean I get it, I'm not a normal person, I am not even close to being sane and I will probably be invading the land Gamels' family owns. If what Brille said was true, five years, where the cord got thicker means my invasion wouldn't be for another thirty or forty years. I don't know why my cord spent so much time in a magma pocket, I don't think it would be a good idea to put it there at the present, but I do suppose I should start extending my dungeon.

I begin by making a pit that Is eight feet wide and goes straight down, no handholds, no stairs, nothing to stop yourself if you want to get to the bottom. I hollow out a big chamber while contemplating the existence of dungeon cores. We're chefs for the Pantheon of Gods. Cooking souls to serve them. This makes me more upset the more I think of it. I was supposed to be a fucking microwave. Soul goes in cold, comes out ready to enjoy. Then I get an idea, a brutal, deadly idea. I don't think too hard on it, because it's essentially murder. It's all I can do to not smile.

I'm the only microwave that doesn't cook food for anyone. There are other microwaves. While the Gods can go out and buy a new microwave, it won't be the same for a while. Like an oven in this case, it has to preheat. I head up through the thousands of feet of rock, up to the Mages'Guild. I materialize in front of Jewel the head mage and Erifis' friend.

"Erifis would you teleport to the Mages' Guild."

I didn't even finish my sentence before she appeared near me, looking worried.

"I'm declaring war. Specifically, I'm declaring war on all the other Dungeon Cores."

Erifis did an impression of a goldfish, mouth opening and closing as she tried to digest what I'd told her to repeat. Once she did repeat it, it was Jewels turn to act like a fish out of water.

"They aren't what you think they are. I'm going to break all of the old ones. So specifically any Core older than Five years."

They both began to relax a bit more once that was repeated. Though an undertone of worry still showed, most likely because I revealed they weren't soul guides like the people thought. As I got back down to the Core Chamber, my task set in motion I received a new mail.

"To break the "Microwaves" your controlled body has to be physical, otherwise the Gods above will end you. Provide a show in addition to their meal and they'll be fine with it. Just like the mortals do."

Shrugging off the message from Brille I tried to fly back up to the surface to go play piano tonight, but hit my head on the ceiling. FUC-