“Are we there yet?”

“No, we’re not. Now shut up and keep up.”

The Fire Eye shot forward and the Water spirit controlling the Dungeon Eye had to speed up to keep with it. They were a strange sight. Two circular ball floating in mid-air, one was a floating ball of fire and the other, a small white eyeball. Magical creations of the only two dungeon cores in the world, the Eyes were the only way the dungeon cores could travel and see the world. It was also a very energy sapping way to do it.  

“You’re falling behind again.”

“We can’t help it. This Eye is almost out of energy. When you Fire idiots say you have something interesting to show us, we thought you idiots meant something a lot nearer than this. Just how far south are we anyway?”

“We’re almost there. See, there’s the lake. We just need to go into the water.”

“We need to go where?”

“Just keep up!”

The Fire Eye maintained it’s speed and the Dungeon Eye had no choice but to follow. It had seen the small lake in the distance some time ago but as the Eyes got nearer, the spirit controlling the Dungeon Eye notice something else.

“What’s that?”

The Fire Eye knew actually what the Eye was talking about. “That’s a new village our demons are building.”

“Really? We’re quite a distance from Mount Morningstar. Why are they building a village all the way out here?”

“Blame the humans. They began building a city here on their way to attack us. After their defeat, the humans abandoned the construction and left. Our demons just took over. Come on, we’re here already. Follow us down.”

The spirit controlling the Dungeon Eye wanted to take in more of the budding demon village but figuring that it could do that later, it followed the Fire Eye into the water. The water was dark but the spirit had no problem following the Fire Eye which was a shining red beacon in the murky waters. The two Eyes went down towards the bottom of the lake and the Dungeon Eye soon saw the thing the Fire Eye was going to show it.

Laying at the bottom of the lake was a creature the Dungeon Eye had never seen before. The creature was a big mass of body with numerous tentacles protruding out of it. The creature was eyeless with only a big circular mouth that was opening and closing. The Dungeon Eye could see hundreds of sharp teeth within the mouth. Then the creature surprise the Dungeon Hive. A tentacle rose up and moved side to side. It was a wave and the Dungeon Eye sensed something different from this creature.

“What is this?” it asked.

“This is one of our Boss.”

The spirit controlling the Dungeon Eye was shocked. The Hives could create various Bosses to defend themselves but the Bosses were always made of energy. This creature was not. The creature was real. It was a creature of bone, blood and body. As the spirit was part of the Dungeon Hive, it’s shock was shared by all the spirits of the Hive. Several of the spirits shouted at the Dungeon Eye to get closer and the Eye happily obliged. Closer in, the Dungeon Eye saw something that puzzled it. Parts of the creature was disappearing before returning in place. It was as if the creature was fading in and out of existence. More than a little annoyed that the Fire Hive had managed to get one over them again, the Dungeon Eye asked huffily.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Enough with the suspense. What is this creature and how did you idiots made it?”

“Like we said, this is one of our Boss.”

“This is no Boss! It is not made of energy. It is a real creature…even if parts of it seems to be disappearing.”

“That’s because it takes a lot of energy to maintain the Boss. Sometimes parts of it disappear and reappear; we’re not exactly sure why it happen but we call it the fade.”

“The fade? Wait, what do you mean ‘maintain the Boss’? Why are you guys maintaining it in the first place? There’s no humans around.”

“There used to be it.” The Fire Eye explained. “We created this Boss to attack the human settlement but the Water spirit in charge of the Boss like the lake so much, it refused to let go of the spirit beast.”

“So? Just cut off the energy and the Boss would disappear. It’s not difficult.”

“We never got around to that.” The Fire Eye sounded embarrassed by that admission. “Honestly, we didn’t need the energy we spent on the Boss so we just let the Boss be. In time, the energy that made up the Boss just…solidified and as you guys can see, the Boss is now on it’s way to becoming a real creature.”

“That’s ridiculous! How long had you guys been maintaining this Boss?”

“Since the humans’ attack on Mount Morningstar. So about three seasons already.”

“Three…that’s a long time to maintain a Boss you’re not using?”

“Ha…what can we say, we’re wasteful.”

That at least was not in doubt but the Eye was intrigued by the Boss-turned-creature. It asked the Fire Eye for a favor.

“This creature is too far from the Keg Mountains. Can you guys tell us it’s letters?”

“Better yet! We can show you.”

The Fire Eye began to do something crazy. Even though they were far from Mount Morningstar, it began releasing energy over the creature as well as the Dungeon Eye at the same time. The Eye wondered what the Fire Eye was trying to do and soon got it’s answer. It began to feel a link to the creature and realized the Fire Hive had somehow found a way to link creatures with energy. The Eye half-wondered how much time and energy the Fire Hive wasted to get this spell right but it can’t argue with the results.

Species: Octopus

Sub-Species: ???

Sex: Female

Attack: B

Defense: A  

Health: A

Strength: B

Agility: C

Stamina: A

The Dungeon Eye immediately noticed that the spell the Fire Eye cast did not give it some information like weapons and skills but the Eye was still impressed.

 “Well, at least something useful came from your wastefulness this time.” The Dungeon Eye said. “Why is the sub-species of this creature just question marks? What are you fire idiots are calling this creature?”

“We’re not sure yet. We think it’s because this creature is the first of it’s kind, there’s no name for it yet. Anyway, it’s not finished yet so we still have time to decide. It’s not a normal creature so some of us think we should give this creature some special name when it is finished.”

“True.” The Dungeon Eye agreed and some of the spirits within the Hive remember something. “The first time the humans came to visit, one of them called You-Who-Are-Not-Bear a spirit beast.”

“Hey, you guys are right! Some of us remember that. So if our normal Boss is a spirit beast, this creature would be…a Great Spirit Beast!”

“Makes sense to us. Thanks for the hint by the way. We’ll…”

“Hold on! Not so fast. This information is not free. We need payment for it.”

“Not a problem. What do you Fire idiots want?”

“You see, it takes a lot of energy to maintain a Boss. We can create another one but we just can’t maintain two Bosses at the same time. We’d tried. Since this Boss hasn’t fully solidified, we need…”

“Just tell us the payment you guys want?”

“Well…we’re busy with this Boss so…can you guys make a dragon?”