Imagine my surprise when I hit the ground and wasn’t dead. More than that it didn’t even hurt. More like falling into bed after a long day of work. My eyes snap open and I’m beset by a bright light, causing me to close them just as quickly.
“Heh, told you he would do it, they always do.” I can hear a masculine voice chuckle at my mistake- *Smack*- as well as the sound of someone hitting the owner of the voice over the head.
“And who’s fault is that, hmm? I keep telling you that they need some color to make the transition easier, but no, you insist that everything needs to be white.” The second voice had a higher pitch and sounded kind of like she was on the verge of singing.
I sit up as I slowly open my eyes, allowing them to get accustomed to how white the room is. Kind of reminds me of that one scene from Harry Potter. Guess Rowling was right about the afterlife. The voices were right, I can't see any color anywhere in this place. At least, not until I direct my sight to the two beings off to the side, sitting at a table and playing a card game I recognize.
The man is wearing some kind of buttoned-up jacket dyed a bright, vibrant red, and a pair of brown pants with an extra pair of pockets on the legs, just like the character of a certain show I watched as a kid. His hair is sticking straight up and is a pure yellow, also reminiscent of an old show I watched. I’m too shocked by the strange color combination and cosplay clash to do more than stare as the man at the table slams his cards down and shouts, “Hah! Assembled all the pieces! IN YOUR FACE Ynomrah!”
The woman, whose name I guess is Ynomrah, slumps back in her chair and runs her hands down her face. Her clothing is, if not something usually seen in my area of California, at least something most people wouldn’t get embarrassed about being seen in. She has a white trench coat going down to her knees over a grey shirt and black pants. Her dark red hair sticks out to the sides and curls down into twin drills. “Uuugggghhhh,” she groans. “I can’t believe that you managed to pull that off, if I didn’t know better I would say that you cheated when I was distracted!”
“No, no, no sister dear, no complaining just because you lost. We had an agreement so the soul is mine to do with as I wish.” A smug grin is on his face as he lords his victory over her, while also sending a shiver of worry down my spine as I start to stand.
Ynomrah waves his comment away with a sigh as she gets up and turns away. “Yes, I know. Just try not to do something crazy again, you know what happened last time.”
The man rolls his eyes. “Sheesh, blow up one moon and people never let you forget about it, they still have the other one. But don’t worry, this one is just going to help me with a little experiment I wanted to try.”
He turns and looks at me with what I’m worrying is a mad glint in his eyes. This is not helped by his sister’s whispered words as she disappears. “That’s what I’m worried about, Soahc.”
Soahc snorts. “Worry-wart.” He turns his gaze to me, taking in my state of speechlessness. “I know, we’re amazing! Feast your eyes on an image of the divine!” He sweeps his arms out to the side and looks up towards the ceiling in an attempt to give the moment a sense of drama.
My first words embody everything I feel at that moment. “What the hell is this!? Who the hell are you!? And why do you look like a confused cosplayer!?” I may not be calm, but by the gods I was honest!
He looks a bit put out by my outburst. “Well, not the reaction I was expecting.” He seems to think about it for a moment, “but completely reasonable given your circumstances. And hey, you got one right!”
“Huh? Got what right? I don’t think that I said anything that could’ve been right or wrong…” I was now thoroughly confused about what was going on.
He smirks, “I know, it wasn’t what you said, but what you thought that was correct. You thought ‘by the gods’, and you were right, I am a god!” He points at me as he continues in a haughty tone reminiscent of a teacher giving a lecture. “That’s part of the reason why you’re here instead of the afterlife of some religion. You had no religion, but acknowledged that there are multiple gods in existence. Due to this your soul was up for grabs to anyone who wanted it. Unfortunately for you, since you didn’t practice any of their religions at any point in your life, none of them wanted you. As such I, Soahc, and my sister, Ynomrah, were left to decide your fate as gods of the two most common elements. Harmony and Chaos. Any questions so far?”
I simply stare at him for a moment as I try to parse the information dump he had just given me. “Um, just to confirm, does this mean that I’m dead? And, sorry if this offends you, but are you really a god? You don’t seem to have the presence that I would expect a god to have.” Simple is best, so confirming that I was in fact dead was obviously the first thing I should find out. And I was also really curious about his outfit.
He looks at me with a mixture of pity and amusement as he gestures down at his outfit, “Yes, you are dead. And in regards to my clothing, I like what I like,” he shrugs then claps his hands. “Now, in regards to what will now happen to you. Since I won my little match with Ynomrah, I get to decide what to do with your soul.”
“And what is that exactly? And am I right in assuming that you are the god of Chaos and not your sister?” This is worrying me quite a bit, considering that he’s the one in charge of my afterlife. What if he just decides to turn me into a bug? Or just destroys me outright because it’s too much of a hassle to do anything about?
“Oh relax,” he rolls his eyes, “I’m not going to do anything crazy, at least from your perspective. Probably.” His words don’t fill me with much confidence. “I’m the god of Chaos, not madness, that’s Sheo’s domain. Insanity is not my goal, it is just an occasional byproduct of my domain.” He sees that his words aren’t having the impact he wants and sighs. “Look, since I got put in charge of your soul, that means that I know everything about you, and what you’ve done in your life. And I do mean everything.” He wiggles his eyebrows at me and I feel my face flush then pale as I recall all of the embarrassing and… morally ambiguous things that I’d done in my life.
He snorted, “Oh don’t worry so much, it’s not like I care about what kind of life you lived, or what you liked, like Ynomrah would. I think that we can both agree that you would rather have me in charge of your soul than her. She tends to be a bit…” he rolls his wrist as he looks for the right word, “boring, with the souls she takes care of.”
Before I can speak, I hear a voice come out of the air. “Just because I don’t send souls off to another world on a whim does not make me boring.”
A tear in the air appears next to Soahc, and out of it walks Ynomrah, head held high as she glares at her brother.
Soahc sighs. “I thought so. You just couldn’t accept your loss with dignity, could you?”
Ynomrah gives a haughty sniff, “That has nothing to do with this. I am simply here to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of the moon incident. Or the bowl incident.”
“Hey now, that one was just as much your fault as mine! Maybe not with starting it, but your interference definitely made it worse!”
Ynomrah looks away. “Believe what you like.”
“Uhm, excuse me,” I speak up with a raised hand before Soahc can retaliate, “but what’s this ‘bowl incident’ that the two of you are talking about?” It sounds innocent, but they’re comparing it to the destruction of a moon so I’m not sure what to think.
“Oh, that.” Soahc snorts as he remembers. “Well, one day I was eating a bowl of pasta, but after I finished it I didn’t feel like washing it, so I tossed it on a planet that’s always raining. Long story short, they found it, discovered space travel, and declared war on their neighboring planet, where there was no such thing as rain.”
I stare at him for a moment as I process what he just said. “So… you started an intergalactic war, because you didn’t want to wash your bowl? How does that even happen!?”
He rolls his eyes. “Well it wouldn’t have become a war of Ynomrah hadn’t made it rain on a dry planet!” He glares at his sister.
She huffs, “Don’t give me that look, their planets had essentially stolen each other's elements! I simply split them in half so each planet had an equal share.”
“You started a war that lasted a thousand years! And they blew up both planets so what you did didn’t even matter!”
Ynomrah smirks as she raises a finger. “Wrong, I brought balance to those planets before their destruction, which prolonged their existence long enough for the residents of those planets to destroy them!” She seemed oddly proud of that fact.
I feel like they forgot me, so I interrupt them. Again. “So how did the bowl start space travel?”
“Oh, right.” Soahc coughs as a bit of color enters his cheeks. “Well, my bowl essentially had the history of space travel for another species engraved on it, which sparked their researchers to try and emulate them. I was too embarrassed to take it back so I just let them keep it. I did grab it before their planet was destroyed though!” He holds out his hand and a bowl and fork appears in it, steam rising from some freshly made pasta.
I stare at him for a moment as he takes a bite before making the bowl disappear. I shake my head to clear it of the ridiculousness that just happened. “A-anyway, what does Ynomrah do with souls?” I felt that we should get back on track for what was important here, deciding my after life. I wanted to know whether or not I should be happy that Soach gets to decide my afterlife.
He taps his chin thinking about it, “Well, she typically only does one of two things. She’ll either reincarnate you back into your own world with no memories of who you were,” okay, that didn’t sound so bad, at least it’s not- “or she would erase your soul from existence.” Okay, it was that bad. Ynomrah made no comment, so I could assume that Soahc was telling the truth.
“But why?! How would me being erased from existence help keep the world in harmony?” I mean sure she looked kind of like she would be in a biker gang, but she didn’t look cruel or evil or anything.
Ynomrah speaks up to explain her actions. “Simple, it is because you are an outlier. As such, this event would have a decent probability of recurring in your next life as well, which would just lead to an endlessly repeating cycle. So unless something drastic happened that would get you to be taken in by another of the gods to their version of the afterlife, then it would be easier to erase you and free up my time for something important. For example, ensuring that the magnetic polarity of your world does not become unbalanced and cause a black hole to appear so close to several other planets. Or making sure one of the elements on your planet doesn't become too dominant and terraform the planet, making it uninhabitable for any species unable to adapt to that exclusive element.”
She shrugs, “Of course if you were a good person, more kind or benevolent than thirty percent of the population of your world, then the cost would be justified. You, however, were about average in your actions on your world. So I would have destroyed your soul.”
Her words make me break out into a cold sweat, and it finally hits me full force. These beings are gods. My life, and the lives of most, if not all, other humans meant absolutely nothing to them. They could wipe us out if they wanted to, and they would if they were given a reason. So I have to ask, “Why do you keep humans around? I mean, why not destroy us and create a species that would worship all of you with respect, and that could help you each with your goals?” Ok, I know that it’s probably a dangerous question to ask, but being completely honest, humans suck. I mean, contant war, our planet is half-dead, and the rich abandoned it to make a new start on Mars. Why wouldn’t they remake humanity?
She simply stares at me for a moment, before they both break out into uproarious laughter. I simply stare as they laugh for the next ten minutes. Soahc is the first one to catch his breath. “Hah. That was a good laugh. I needed that.” He looks at me, his eyes filled with amusement, “The reason is simple. It is because humans are flawed.” He continues after seeing my look of confusion. “There are many different gods, each with their own domain, goals, and views on life. Some of their domains and goals may appear to be diametrically opposed, like life and death, or light and dark, but this is not the case. In many cases, one cannot exist without the other, like life and death, or sunrise and sunset. Everything that lives must die, and the sun cannot rise without having already set. The exceptions to this are the gods whose domains have to do with purely physical aspects: earth, air, and water. These are able to exist without having to interact with anything else.” Ynomrah is nodding along with his explanation after calming down as well.
I interrupt him as he takes a breath, “But what about fire?” Whenever people talk about the basic elements, they always say:earth, air, water, and fire, but Soach had completely ignored the last one.
Soahc snorts at my interruption as Ynomrah explains. “Fire can only be achieved with the aid of another element. Generally some form of lightning and air must interact for it to start, and it must have a continuous supply of air to be maintained. Therefore it is not one of the basic elements. It is created through the harmony of the others.”
I nod my head along with her explanation. “Makes sense, I guess people just place fire on a pedestal since they associate it with humanity advancing, technologically speaking.”
Saohc snorts again. He seemed to do that a lot. “That is stupid by the way, considering that humans always ran away from fire whenever they encountered it. People only began to advance after various gods took a liking to certain groups and gave it to them to help them survive. That’s where you get all those legends by the way. Though only a few of those gods are still alive, like Coyote and Loki.” He shakes his head and points at me.
“Anyway, your questions have distracted me long enough.” He claps his hands as a smile appears on his face. “While Ynomrah would take the safe and boring option to erase your soul from existence,” Ynomomrah sniffs at how he phrased it but doesn’t refute his claim,” I prefer to keep things interesting by providing new things to various worlds. This is mainly for my amusement as something completely new and fantastical to the world’s inhabitants tends to shake things up and make for some unique choices being made. Kind of like a unique twist in a movie or tv how. In this case, I will be sending you to what you would think of as a fantasy land-” He stops his explanation to chuckle at the look of excitement that appears on my face. “Yes, yes, you get to live in a reincarnation story. Congratulations, you are the protagonist of an isekai.”
A smile stretches across his own face as he continues his speech.“However! This will not be a typical ‘living your life and getting a cheat power’ type of reincarnation. You see, I have a keen interest in the entertainment of your world, mainly books, television, and video games. So many unique ideas that I can use!”
By the time he gets to this point, several thoughts have gone through my head from: Hell yeah! Praise the cliches! All the way to: Oh shit. I hope he doesn’t make me into a bug or something to see me struggle against being stepped on. The reason I can be relatively calm in regards to my situation is due to the fact that I was a fairly apathetic person in life, and it seems like that hasn’t changed in death at all. Especially my general attitude of ‘shit happens, so just do what you can, when you can’.
But still, a fantasy reincarnation story is what every geek dreams of! And here I am, just some regular guy getting the chance to see that dream fulfilled! Sure it sucks that I died, but hey, it didn’t hurt, and I didn’t really have any attachments in my old world. At most I would occasionally hang out with people at work. No family that I consistently talked to either. Therefore, nothing that would draw me back to my world, or my old life.
… Kind of sad now that I think about it, but hey that’s in the past, and this is the future!
I take a deep breath to prepare myself to ask what he has planned for my reincarnation, but he continues before I can speak. “I have recently taken an interest into books of the ‘litRPG’ genre, as well as ‘dungeon core’ stories. While there are worlds that have something similar to dungeons, they are always just places of power that drew monsters or animals to the location and bound them there. There is no kind of conscious thought to direct the formation of the location, or to benefit from anything that happens there. It is a one hundred percent natural phenomenon.”
He pauses and I nod my head to show that I’m following along.“And this is where you come in. You will become a dungeon core, a being that, while limited outside of their influence, will be a-.”
“A veritable god, right? I’ve read those stories too, so I know how they wo-Guh!” My excited interruption is interrupted by a pressure pressing down from all around me, strong enough that I’m driven back to my knees and barely resisting being forced onto my face as well.
“Do not presume to know the power of a god.” Soahc’s voice, previously excited and playful, was now cold as a glacier. Cold enough that I imagined that I could see my breath in the gasps I was able to get out. And the rage. I could tell, if he didn’t want to use me for his experiment, I would have already been destroyed.
Ynomrah starts to speak then, her voice as cold as her brother’s. “Our power is unfathomable to the likes of you, to even gain a glimpse of our true power would result in the complete destruction of your soul. This pressure? This is just from our presence no longer being suppressed in consideration of your fragility.”
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
They begin to speak in sync with each other, one voice becoming indiscernible from the other. “To presume that you are anywhere close to our level is arrogance of the highest order, even considering that your soul will be reinforced. Understood?”
Pitiless eyes glare into my soul laying bare everything that I am, or ever was. Though I suppose they already knew all that. “U-u-understood, S-sir. M-ma’am” I manage to gasp out a reply through the pressure assaulting me, keenly aware that I was no more than a mere toy to these beings.
The pressure vanishes as suddenly as it appeared, and Soahc is smiling again. Meanwhile, I’m left gasping on the ground, collapsed in relief as the pressure left me. “Good!” There was no sign in his voice of the previous coldness or rage, as if it had never happened. Although Ynomrah was still giving me the stink eye. “Now as I was saying, the dungeon. You will more or less be a manager for the area under your control. “Soahc puts a bit of emphasis on the word ‘manager’ to ensure that I’m aware of my position.” Repairs, repopulation, loot, expansion etc. all fall under your jurisdiction. Since you’ve read the books and played video games, you obviously know,” here he glares at me in reference to my previous comment, “that a person dying inside of your influence will empower you depending on that person’s strength. This will take into account their levels,” I stay silent even though I’m dying to shout out in excitement about the world having a level system.
“Other than that, everything that pertains to the dungeon that you can influence will be organized in the form of a game, similar to those litRPG series you’ve read. Your soul will be able to see a certain area around your Core. This will be your domain. You will have full knowledge of any materials that you absorb, as well as being able to have some very basic knowledge of anything within your domain. Think of it as a free-roam viewpoint from those base building games on phones. Oh, and you will retain your current memories.”
He takes a breath as he finishes up his speech. A wave of his hands and a gem appears floating a few feet away. The gem is green, with streaks of orange crossing its surface. “Now, before I transfer your soul in this gem here, any last questions?”
Ynomrah speaks up before I can consider everything. “Well this is a surprise Soahc, you are using this soul to bring the saturation of mana in certain areas down to acceptable levels. Maybe I’m rubbing off on you.” She gives Soahc a proud smile, glad that she’s such a positive influence on her brother.
“Not really.” Soach instantly denies her theory, not even pretending that was why he’s doing this. “I just thought that it would be amusing to see how people would react to finding Dungeons in their world. Especially with no prior knowledge of them.Their reactions will be hilarious!”
Ynomrah stares at him a moment before heaving a deep sigh. She should’ve known that Soahc didn’t have any kind of plan for this. All he cared about was his own amusement.
While they have their chat, I listen with half an ear. The majority of my focus is on thinking about everything that happened. I died, the god of chaos got to decide what happened to me next, and now I was going to be turned into a dungeon core in a fantasy world with my memories intact. Those seemed to be the main points, and everything from this point on I could figure out for myself. Life was no fun when you had everything dictated for you, or when you knew how everything worked. Though a few ex-girlfriends would argue that knowing how everything worked would have resulted in less broken blenders…
But as I stare at Soach and the gem I would soon become, a single question pops out before I can think of anything else. “Those two people who killed me… why did they do it?” While it was no longer important to my soon to be new life, I am pretty curious about it.
“Oh, that?” Soahc uncaringly waves my question away. “Something about learning the dark secrets of...a water company? No, a bottled water company! Someone important in the company thought that someone had told you of their secrets based off of something that you posted about a month before your death.
“Huh?” A bottled water company was responsible for my death? And I learned some corporate secrets that they would kill to hide…? I try to think back to anything that I had posted last month. What was it, what was it…? Aha! Someone at work had mentioned something about how they didn’t think that companies that sold bottled water could always do it, since the locations they advertised as getting their water from would eventually dry out. When I got home that day I had made up some random conspiracy theory about how bottled water companies made a deal with plumbing companies to get and purify water used in sewage treatment plants and sell it. The whole thing was poorly done and I mainly did it to entertain myself while waiting for my pizza to be delivered.
…
“YOU MEAN SOME HALF-ASSED CONSPIRACY THEORY I CAME UP WITH IN TWENTY MINUTES GOT ME KILLED!?!?” I was understandably incredulous, and furious.
“Yeah, that’s right.” Soahc is unperturbed by my outburst, while Ynomrah looks like she’s trying hard not to laugh. “Well, it’s about time for you to get a start on your new life.” The gem in his hand begins to glow. “You’re going to be the first Dungeon in the world I’m sending you to, since I’ve never done this before. If you make things interesting enough I’ll make a few more, then you’ll have some company! Make sure your gem doesn’t get shattered since that will kill you, and the gods that inhabit that world are more active than the ones on yours so one of them will decide on your afterlife then.”
He keeps talking but I can’t hear him over the vast amounts of pain I suddenly feel as my soul is compressed to a size far smaller than it had any right to be. And since my physical body was currently my bare soul, that meant that I shrunk too. I would be screaming if I had been able to breath. I watch as Soahc slowly gets bigger and bigger as my sight dims to a small pinprick, my entire being focused on the gem he holds. Once my soul has become small enough, it begins to flow towards the gem, flowing into it once I touch its surface.
As more of my soul flows into the gem, my consciousness slowly fades from the trauma it’s experiencing, but I manage to make out the last few words Soach speaks. “Which location would be the most fun...”
* * *
Darkness. Darkness is all I know. I can see nothing. I can smell nothing. I can hear nothing. I can taste nothing. All I know is that I can feel. Despite this, I am not blind, for I feel much. I do not know how far I can feel, but in the space that I can feel, I know.
I know that I rest on a pillar of stone, specifically basalt. It rises two feet from the ground, which drops outside of my senses another three feet down. On two sides I feel walls that meet a foot away from the pillar, connected by only a small patch of ground that I can sense. The other two sides, as well as upward, I sense absolutely nothing, just empty air. They are all made of basalt, though the walls are pockmarked with small holes maybe a half inch wide. I can also sense myself, and I must say, I am highly disappointed.
I can tell that I am small, perhaps one inch wide and two tall. I am a round shape, an oval? I am unsure of how I know this, but I am sure that this is the truth. I am unable to tell what I am made of, but I am able to determine what color I am. I am green, with bits of orange visible on my cold exterior. Or, at least they should be. At the moment they are hidden under a thick layer of ash. And I know that it is ash and not dust because of its… taste?
Yes, the ash has a taste. Now that I am focusing I can tell. For lack of a better term, it tastes hot. Not hot as in burning, nor hot as in spicy. It tastes… like a bowl of soup right out of the pot, but dry. I can also taste some dust on the basalt I rest upon. It is dry and gritty, almost making me feel like sneezing, although I’m not sure how I would accomplish that.
As I examine these it dawns on me that I have an intimate knowledge of all that is in the area I can feel. I can feel how smooth the basalt is, except for the small ridges where it pooled on the inlet between my pillar and the walls, though even those are rounded. I can tell that no sound is present in the area that I feel, and so I can guess that there is no sound present in the area around me as well. The lack of sound bothers me, and so I try to fill that void with words of my own, but discover that I have no mouth to voice them. So I wait, for that is all I can do. And slowly, my memories return.
Geez, he could’ve told me that I wouldn’t have any memories when I first got here. Ugh, I’m feeling so moody right now. I shake myself out of my bad mood… metaphorically since I can no longer move myself. You know, being a stone and all. At least my gem is pretty. I gaze at myself adoringly, imagining that light would reflect off the surface beautifully if I wasn’t covered in ash.
Ugh, I groan in my mind. Nasty. How do I get rid of the dust and ash? Knowing what I am, having been told by Soahc, god of Chaos, and read countless books relating to dungeons. I focus on the ash covering my surface, figuring that the closer something is to my Core the easier it would be to affect, and try to force my will onto it. You. Will. VANISH! I give a mental shout as I imagine the ash vanishing to the air, leaving my surface spotless… or not. There’s no change to the ash, and I can’t tell if it was because I was doing it wrong or if I simply hadn’t focused enough.
I spent an unknown amount of time trying various ways of getting the ash to leave my surface; ranging from absorbing it into my gem, all the way to trying to fling it across the room. Or cave. Wherever I was.
After having no luck in getting rid of the ash, I instead turn my attention to the area I can see around my pillar. Judging by the fact that on three sides of me I can’t feel a wall or ceiling, I think that it would be a safe bet to think that I was in some kind of large cave. Based on all the basalt I can see, and the layer of ash covering my surface, I would guess that I was in some kind of cave that’s part of a volcano. Either a dormant one, or one that's magma dried up and became more like a mountain.
Can magma dry up in the volcano it originates from? An idle thought crosses my mind as I study the edge of my vision. I try the same methods as I did earlier to try and expand my area, and just like earlier I have no luck.
I release a huge mental sigh at my current state. No idea how to absorb materials, no idea how to expand my domain. This sucks
I stew in contemplation for a while, trying to figure out how I can utilize the abilities that I know Dungeon Cores have. Time has no meaning for me in my current state, so I’m unsure how long I’ve been thinking until a voice suddenly comes out of the darkness, startling me out of my thoughts.
“I have to say, that was fairly amusing.” A cultured voice, heavy with sensuality, reaches me. I try to find the voice, but whoever they are, they haven’t entered the area I can see.
“I know you have questions, but we will be unable to communicate until we form the Bond. Simply empty your mind, and I shall commence the procedure.”
I try and do what the voice says, but I have too many questions going through my head… Core… whatever, to focus. Who was this person? Why couldn’t I use my abilities? How did this person find me in the short time I’ve been in this world? The exasperation is clear in the person’s voice when I hear them speak again.
“Really? I was under the impression that you would be able to keep your mind clear for the few minutes the bond would take to form, but I suppose that I was expecting too much from a former human.” They sigh in disappointment.
Hey, it’s not my fault I have questions! If I could, I would have yelled at them. As it is, all I can do is grumble at them in my… Core. Yeah I’ll just think of it as my Core from now on.
“Fine, I was hoping that I would not have to do this in order to insure we could Bond, but I see that I have no choice.” The voice contains determination, and after they finish speaking they enter my influence.
They appear to be a woman, no larger than four inches tall. Her hair is a dark purple that flows down only to curl inwards once it reaches the center of her back. I can also sense a pair of dark blue leathery wings behind her, ensuring that she doesn’t have to walk to my Core. Her outfit is essentially a set of straps that encircle her important bits, both being black with light blue edges. Though the strap up top seem a bit *cough* strained by its occupants. Honestly it seemed like the straps should either fall off if she moved a little, or snap from the pressure they’re put under, but they somehow manage to stay on as she flies to my Core. Her skin is a dark red and it takes my mind a moment to catch up to what I’m seeing.
Succubus. I whisper in my Core just as she touches my surface. And then I don’t think at all, my mind going completely blank in an instant.
By the time I’m able to think once again, the succubus has flown to the wall and laid down in one of the larger holes in order to relax.
{The hell did you just do to me!?} I am understandably upset by the fact that she just used some kind of succubus power to control my mind. This time when I think the words they feel different, like they have an impact.
She starts as if in surprise and falls from her perch before she catches herself by opening her wings. She quickly rises into the air and glares at my Core. “Sheesh, you should never yell at a woman when she is on the verge of falling asleep. Especially one who is resting on such a precarious surface. What if I had been unable to catch myself? I might have been seriously hurt, or died! And then you would either have had an angry assistant or a dead one. Both of which would be horrible for our long-term relationship.” She brushes off her overalls as she huffs in annoyance.
{I. Don’t. Care.} I don’t question how she knows what I’m thinking, I’m too angry to care. {NEVER do that again.} I. Am. Pissed.
She looks at me in confusion for a moment before realization seems to dawn on her. “Ah, perhaps you are referring to my primal touch?” There’s something about the way she says those words that tickle my senses, but I ignore that for the moment in order to continue the point I was trying to make.
{If that’s what you used on me to ‘clear my mind’ then yes.}
She looks confused at my words. “Very well, but why are you so upset by my use of that spell? I only used it in order to complete our bond, which is required for us to communicate and make you stronger.”
I practically growl my reply at her. {My will is my own. That spell you used suppressed my will. If I choose to do something it will be done by me, under my own power. To remove someone’s will is to remove their choice. Everyone deserves a choice, even if all the choices they have are ones that they feel they can’t make. For even choosing to make no choice is still a choice.} At least, that’s what I believe.
Her eyes seem to glow as she stares at me, and when she speaks her voice holds respect and amusement. “Yes, yes I understand.” She shakes her head. Her hair becoming slightly more wavy as she does so. “I can see why lord Soahc decided to use you for his first experiment in over six hunred years. You have a firm understanding of chaos and I can tell that it is a core part of your being.” She smirks at me, as if expecting me to catch something.
I think about what she said for a moment, and two things pop out at me. The first being the thing about me embodying chaos. The second… {Did you just make a pun?} Indeed, it seemed like she put more emphasis on ‘core’ when she spoke.
Her smirk grows wider. “I am sure that I do not know what you are referring to. Anyway,” she changes the subject quickly, “have you made your choices yet? Lord Soahc informed me that you had been here for at least a week before I arrived. I do apologize for the delay, but traveling through dimensions is a rather complicated task and I had to be sure that I would arrive safely and in good health in order to provide you with as much aid as I can.” Her smirk fades as she speaks, becoming more businesslike as she draws her explanation to a close.
{...So you’re just going to ignore my pun question?} Her smirk briefly reappears on her face before vanishing as she tilts her head to the side a small amount. She doesn’t reply. I sigh and decide to move on. {Anyways, who are you? And wait, you said that I’ve been here a week? Wow. What choices did you mean?}
A flash of surprise appears on her face at my words. “Oh dear, did lord Soach not mention me? I was assured that you would know that I would be coming here.” She shakes her head and performs a short curtsey with her dress. Wait, I thought that she was wearing straps before. Where did the dress come from?
She continues, ignoring my confusion. “My name is Vistra, a succubus from the underworld of Lust. Ah, and there are seven underworlds, one for each deadly sin. There are also seven overworlds, for each of the heavenly virtues, plus the mortal realm where we are now. But that’s not important. I was sent here by Lord Soahc in order to aid you in becoming stronger, as well as providing amusement for him. He imparted all the information he felt I would need directly into my mind, so do not fear that I will be unable to provide sufficient aid.” She puffs out her sizable chest in pride, but quickly deflates and looks at me in confusion before continuing. “And yes, you have been here a week as far as I understand. Dimensional travel generally takes two days, and it took me five days to reach your location. As for your final question, have you not accessed the dungeon core Menu yet?”
{No, I haven’t.} At least that explained how she knew where to find me. {And wait, aid me? Well, I suppose that the majority of dungeon core stories do have some kind of assistant that explains everything to them as they progress and grow stronger.} I’m muttering to myself and realize that Vistra is looking at me in concern, so I give myself a mental shake and refocus on her.
{So what did you mean when you asked if I had accessed the dungeon Menu.} As soon as I say the word ‘menu’ a screen pops up, startling me. I ignore Vistra’s reply as I turn my entire focus upon the screen in front of me.
Welcome, newly reborn sentient, to your new life as a Dungeon Core! It is with great regret that we must inform you that you have died, and you cannot return to the life you previously had. However, not all is lost! For you may live on in your new existence on Drefrit! Enjoy your second life to its fullest, without some extreme circumstances you will not get another. Being a Dungeon Core has many benefits such as:
* No longer aging!
* Having a constant companion in the form of your Dungeon Assistant!
* Access to the System created by the God of Chaos, Soahc!
* The ability to grow in strength by expanding your influence and killing living beings within it!
And much more! Regrettably, there are a few detriments to your new existence.
* You are now a Dungeon Core, a gem that contains a soul.
* You are unable to leave the area of influence of your Dungeon by yourself.
* Sentients will desire you, and will try to claim you for their own (Unique: As the first Dungeon in existence, this will only apply to you once you become known by the sentients of Drefrit.)
Defend yourself and your Assistant, grow stronger, develop your Dungeon in interesting ways!
To begin the Dungeon construction process, please state the name you would like to be known by...
I stare at the screen for a moment, trying to decide on what I want to be called. Destroyer? Slayer? Defender? Fortress? More than a dozen cheesy names go through my mind before I start to think of it seriously. I was always a fan of the culture of the ancient Celts, and thus the Irish. And since this is the start of my new life, I know what my name will be. {I’ll be called Saol Nua.}