Katherine Pov

She decided that today she would challenge one of the hyenas. They are mostly nocturnal but she has seen them leave their dens at sunset before. She makes some food for the children before she tells them all to stay put.

Leto stands up ready to come with her but she tells him to stay because he's not ready for what she's about to do. He looks a little upset but agrees after a moment. She watches the girls go back to her cabin and makes sure she's not followed before she pulls out her scepter and starts making her way towards the hyena den.

It's only a ten minute walk but it feels longer because she's being extra careful. By the time she makes it to their den the sun has set and she's having trouble seeing. She decides to sit quietly and let her eyes adjust. It takes almost thirty minutes before she feels comfortable moving out to find her prey.

It turns out it's not her lucky night, she has been spotted by two hyenas before she walks twenty feet. She mentally prepares herself and takes a stance. The hyenas start shrieking and growling and she realizes they are calling for help. She charges forward her scepter high above her head.

She's aiming for their heads but they are more agile than she thought they would be and she can't make contact. She hears something behind herself and throws herself to the side right before another hyena appears where she had been standing bearing it's sharp teeth at her.

For a moment she's scared but the scepter clears her mind and she lifts herself off the ground while aiming her scepter at their legs with all her might. She catches one and it shrieks in pain and causes the other two to back up and give her a little breathing space.

She's afraid another hyena is going to show up so she charges forward again aiming for their legs and drops another one of them to the ground before facing the third and launching a fireball at it. It makes contact and roasts the monster whole and it turns into a figurine.

She turns around to face the other two wounded hyenas and has no mercy as she bashes their heads in. One turns into a giant piece of meat and the other turns into a nasty looking dagger. She picks up her spoils of war and turns around and runs like the wind back to the safe zone.

She finds a sleepy yet worried looking Leto sitting by the rock border of the safe zone. She tries not to smile but can't help it. She pats his head softly and tells him to go to bed. He doesn't say anything but he goes into the cabin. She goes in to her cabin and is relieved to see all three of the little girls are sleeping soundly.

She quietly cleans herself off in the washroom and climbs in to bed and falls asleep. When she woke up in the morning she found herself being stared at by the three little girls, normally she woke up first and had tea ready for them when they woke up. Some days she really hated the fact that she was the only one who could use the fireball spell, but at the same time she had a valid concern about them burning down one of the cabins.

She got up and did her bathroom routine before making tea and breakfast for everyone. They always ate in the boys cabin, she didn't want the boys to come in to her cabin at all. After breakfast she pulled Leto to the side and told him to give her his dagger. He looked confused but complied none the less.

She gave him the dagger from the hyena and told him to be careful with it. His eyes widened in shock and joy. She took his old dagger and made her way to the first floor. The second floor altar did not have a basin and she felt these children should repay the dungeon in any small way they can.

She climbs the stairs slowly, when she reaches the top she feels that the floor doesn't feel the same way that it used to. The air on the first floor carries a hint of sadness. It breaks her heart. She hadn't considered how the dungeon might feel.

She walks over to the table and puts the blunt dagger and the left over rags the children used to call clothes into the basin. She waits for a few moments but the trinkets never disappear. Her shoulders slump but she doesn't take the items back. She walks back down to the second floor unsure what to do. She lets her hand slide across the wall she walk walks down the stairs.

She pauses with her hand on the wall and says "I'm sorry you're hurting. I've been there too. I hope you feel better soon."

After that she continued walking down to the second floor. The children all looked at her oddly when she came back but she ignored them and simply took Leto out to hunt. Now that he had a good weapon it would be easier for them to hunt larger prey.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

She decided to allow Leto pick out their prey for the day. He chose the zebras to her surprise but she didn't say no. They sat patiently and waited for a cheetah to make the zebra herd panic and scatter before they joined the frey, chasing after one that had gone in the opposite direction of the cheetah.

It seemed surprised to be singled out but it could do nothing after using it's skill to put some distance between the two and realizing it couldn't get away from them. She told Leto to split away and use a blind spot to get close enough to the zebra to stab it. She continued chasing it keeping it's focus on her.

Leto only took a moment to get close enough to the zebra to jam his knife into the throat of the zebra twice before jumping away from the bleeding beast. The zebra wanted to continue running away but by now it had lost a lot of blood and didn't have the strength. It fell to the ground gasping and she jumped in to put it out of it's suffering.

It turned into a figurine and she picked it up and asked Leto if he wanted to try again. He was still breathing heavily but nodded his head while grinning widely. They hunted three more before calling it a day. She did not go back to the first floor to check the basin.

Lilith Pov

When Katherine stepped onto the stairs of the first floor I noticed. I was a little confused but I didn't really care. When she dropped the old dagger and the children's clothes into my basin it took all my human instincts to stop my dungeon instincts from absorbing it.

I don't want anything that could remind me of them. It's just not fair... I feel like crying all over again but when she puts her hand on my wall and speaks to me, directly to me. I feel the knot in my heart loosen and I absorb the rags and dagger.

They are in even worse condition that the clothes she came in wearing and this dagger is trash. I'm honestly surprised it hasn't broken already. I file the patterns away for later though because you never know.

I've almost summoned all the monsters on my eighth floor now.

I summoned the wolves that I created on the first floor all those years back. As long as they stay near the oasis they should be able to live on this floor. I summoned ten pairs of them and let them sort themselves out. I checked out their loot. It's been upgraded.

Their pelts are now heat resistant and they also drop gold coins. Looking them over they all seem very happy with this environment. I knew they were made for the desert. I summoned thirty pairs of bobcats, thirty pairs of sand cats and twenty pairs of Mountain lions.

All of my big cats drop claw gloves and pelts and gold coins. I was just waiting for my floor to settle before I moved on to the next, when Katherine's presence got my attention. I'm still not ready to see the kids though so I guess i'll start on my next floor. I bring my attention back to my pyramid and begin to wonder how I should do this.

I ask the system if it can make me a passage that will only open after my two monsters are defeated and it confirms it's possible but it will cost me one thousand dp. It's a little expensive but I can afford it. The system takes the dp and then a passage magically appears out of the floor.

I'm impressed. The system even made the stairway down to the ninth floor. All that was left for me to do was make my ninth floor room and expand it. I decide to pull up my notifications to see how much dp I got for finishing my eighth floor.

[Congratulations on finishing your eighth floor. One thousand eight hundred dungeon points as a reward. Please choose the ecosystem for your next floor and also your next starter monster. Monsters will be based off ecosystem.]

[Grassland, wetlands, desert, forest, coral reef, tundra, terrestrial, savanna, rainforest, freshwater, lake, taiga boreal, mangrove, swamp, volcanic, mountain]

I'm really torn between the rainforest and the coral reef. Hmmm. Let's see, I've used the tundra, grassland, mangroves, forest, mine, sewer mine, labyrinth and then desert. I guess if i'm going to stick with the whole unexpected thing I have to choose the coral reef.

To go from the desert to the ocean. Who would expect that? I wait until my mana is full and then I dig out a small room and then expand it to eight miles in width and length and I make sure the ocean is one hundred feet deep. Which turns out to be huge. You can walk a mile in fifteen to twenty minutes but it takes the average man almost thirty two minutes just to swim a mile.

That by itself is a great challenge. I choose coral reef, and then before I can comprehend what's going on a huge storm covered the entire ninth floor sky. It started to down pour harder than I had ever seen before, I went through countless hurricanes in Florida before I died, and that couldn't compare at all.

I wasn't sure how long it poured before it started slowing down. It made me question my whole life. Would it take this long in the future too? I did find it oddly therapeutic though. After such a long time of watching it rain and picturing it as my tears, I do feel much better. I might start peeking in on the children and Katherine one of these days.

I also have the urge to call Ani and invite her to play with the children. I'm sure she would love that. I am short of dp but maybe now is the right time to give them a quick ring. I click on the customer service button and wait for someone to pick up the call. I'm a little disappointed that it's not Ani who picked up.

{Niamh} "Hey little girl. Glad you called. How are you doing? Feeling any better?"

I'm a little touched. She sounds genuinely happy I called and concerned for my well being.

{Lilith} "Hello! I'm doing good, I feel much better now. Thanks for asking. I don't know how much time I have with my pitiful amount of dp so I just wanted to ask you and Ani to stop by some time in the future. I do have those children staying in my dungeon and it could be good for her to be exposed to normal children."

There's a heavy pause as she thinks it over.

{Niamh} "Ok, fine. I did say I would let her go. Now get back to work. We'll see you in the not so distant future."

Then she hangs up without another word.