image [https://imgur.com/7Bu1MBF.png]

The skeletons chattered all around, annoying and repetitive. The book lay quiet. Three thousand two hundred twenty eight years, seven months, four days, six hours, twenty minutes, and six… seven… eight seconds. That was how long it had been since it had been successful in creating a bond. Etemenanki was what it called itself. What it had been called by those who had created it. If it was possible for a book to go mad it surely would have, but sanity gripped it mercilessly.

For some reason the skeletons had brought it up from the depths. It felt a small amount of interest at this, but the years had worn down any hope. A Hero would occasionally stumble upon it, even when it had been guarded by the Opalescent skeleton, or the massive Ebony Beast, but they would quickly scan the book and then back away. Some had even blasted it with fire and magic before retreating. It needed to make a true blood contract to create a connection, and there was no way that would happen by accident.

It knew that it was clearly and obviously cursed. One large bulging eye, alongside a few smaller ones, adorned the fleshy warped cover, and huge curved teeth stuck out in every direction from the inside. It could open up and extend a spindly arm with a large demonic hand, but it had poor strength and could only slowly drag itself around. It had a burning need to share the knowledge inside, but could not. Indeed the lock on the information had been further warped by the curse, making any possibility of being useful even more remote.

At one point in time it remembered testing those who would open the covers, only allowing the anointed to know the truths. Etemenanki had endless supplicants that would plead with its keepers, hoping to glimpse even a page. A dream of a dream, so long ago that it wished it could forget, damned to remember every day it had existed. Many many times it had reached out to the Dungeon Monsters, attempting to create a bond with them. It had always failed. Even when an intelligent monster had found it, the bond would fail to form. The pleas would go unheard, and the monster would move on.

And now it heard more Heroes coming. The skeletons around it shifted and clattered, and then with piercing wails rushed at the newcomers. Etemenanki tilted one bulging eye to see. A human in enchanted armor, easily powerful enough to take out all the skeletons by himself, was striding forward. Behind him was a very weak human. Frail, no enchantments, no auras, no divinity. And yet. More eyes of the ancient book twisted to look at her. There was a skill hiding her true self. There was a mental barrier hiding her true self. There was a… something… hiding her true self. Etemenanki fought the interest growing inside. This too would pass. It could not allow the torpor to fade completely, or the next hundred years would be excruciating.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The skeletons fell quickly, to the armored human’s blade primarily, but each of them had an arrow lodged somewhere before they went down. Etemenanki waited. Nothing it could do would change anything. It felt the scan from the armored human. Half hearted, only done out of professionalism. The armored human stiffened and held out an arm, backing up. “Samantha, that book is EXTREMELY cursed. Do NOT approach it. I have never seen such malevolent magic before.” “Samantha”, although Etemenanki was sure that was not her name, peered around the armored one.

“Oh? Luka, If it’s so powerful, do you think we should get it checked out? Didn’t you mention sometimes curses could be dispelled by high level magic users?” Etemenanki felt itself thrill at these words. No. They would leave it. But then it paid closer attention. Weaves of compulsion were threaded through the words of “Samantha”. Not truly a skill, but a combination of ability enhanced by the magic of this world. Etemenanki held completely still, not even blinking.

The human, Luka, shifted. “It would be dangerous to bring such a thing with us. We are almost out of time here, and I want to return to the surface. Let us pick through the belongings of the skeletons, such as they are, and see if anything is worthwhile.” Samantha leaned in, and Etemenanki watched with curiosity as the compulsion increased. “Luka… I think we need every tool we can get in this world. What if we got this book uncursed, and it held a powerful spell for the side of Good? What if it contains important information that we would never otherwise get?” She smiled at him, hopeful and trusting. Etemenanki brought its full attention to bear. The weave of fate was twisting here. Somehow she was manipulating causality. Events that would NEVER have occurred were occurring RIGHT NOW. The eyes grew wider. The fact that it had been brought up from the deeper part of the Dungeon… yes. YES!

But it saw that Luka was not entirely swayed. The man shook his head. “I see your point, and I hate to disappoint you, but as a Greeter the reason I am with you is to protect you. And that thing… that thing is dangerous.” Samantha crossed her arms and huffed, stomping a foot in a way that was surely designed to further influence the man. But Etemenanki saw the walls go up in his mind. He was growing entrenched. Something had to be done… what? Anything! ANYTHING!!

Etemenanki opened up, and then out of the pages rose its clawed hand. The two looked at it with sudden shock. Etemenanki paused, and then began to wave the hand back and forth. It jiggled the hand, it wiggled it, it made the hand open and close. Both humans backed up more. Finally it swung the hand around and fell off the plinth and flopped to the ground. Luka backed up, sword drawn. Etemenanki feverishly scratched at the ground with a sharp claw, the sound making both humans wince. Each letter was agonizing, but it could feel the attention of the girl sharpening.

POWER

The effort of it made the hand ache, and the book barely managed to complete the final part of the word. That was it. That was all it could do. It felt cheapened by the act, groveling for any hope of escaping this confinement. If they retreated it would never attempt anything like this again.

Etemenanki heard the voice of the girl. “Ah! Haha! A talking book? Well… we can’t leave it now, can we?” The voice was pleasant, light hearted, and sweet. And deep under that sweetness, where Etemenanki could only barely detect, there was a sea of HUNGER.