Since Sally was out doing research, I continued to work on warding my entire dungeon. With the plan to put some self-cleaning and repair glyphs on everything Tayna brought down. Nobody wants furniture fading or falling apart, right?
Watching the slumbering girl on my bed, I had a strange feeling I knew her. Metaphorically shaking my head, I put the thought aside. I want to see what I Can accomplish as a living being. After all, I have a perfect guinea pig right here. (Another strange phrase, what's a guinea pig anyway?)
As I worked and occasionally chatted with the distracted Fairy, the glyphs had spread not only to all the fancy furniture. I had also begun burning small various patterns under the skin of the human child. It was much easier now after removing all those baggy rags. Tayna called them clothes, but I knew they were rags. Because I received a recipe for them afterward, strangely, I still feel a connection to the kid; well, I could always use a friend who can walk freely in the city above my home.
"You still have not told me where you got all this stuff. Or how you even brought it through the tunnel. The bed alone takes almost the entire room." A huge wardrobe and chest take up the rest of the space. Oh, and the tall mirror set in the corner.
“I took it from some castle in the central most ring of the city,” Tayna said distractedly as she hovered different outfits from the wardrobe over the sleeping girl. Who would occasionally squirm, as if spiders were running over her skin? Every time Tayna saw this, she would frown and get even more worried.
I nodded my head, causing some stone around my neck to crack 'oops.' “Okay, and the how?”
Tayna sighed, put down the frilly dress, and flew back into the throne room. Pulled a tiny purse that might hold a few grains of sand and said, “this is a Bag of Holding. Everyone gets one when they finish the course for dungeon support. It's a mandatory course if you want to work at our company. I mean the company now once you're bonded to a dungeon, you can't work there. As the bonded fairy is too busy working with her dungeon.”
“I have never seen this bag before. Where did you pull that from anyway?” She doesn't have pockets in that skirt.
“The bag is soul bound. So I can make it appear and disappear with a thought.” Tayna grinned, and she flew back to the girl's side.
While Tayna talked about her relatives, I continued my work. Occasionally asking about Sally and her times before going to work at the company. When I was almost complete, I knew I had to get Tayna out of the dungeon for a few minutes and began looking for an excuse.
"Will this human need food and water?" I asked, slightly concerned. I would not want all the work I am doing for her to be a waste.
Tayna glanced in my direction suspiciously for a moment. “Amelia, her name is Amelia.” she corrected, then zipped off out of the dungeon.
“Hmm, was I too obvious? And how does she know the girl's name?” Rocky shrugged and continued to watch the runes growing slowly up his throne legs. “While Tayna’s away, we are going to clean out Amelia's impurities, so her essence absorption will be more efficient,” I said while directing Rocky to pick up Amelia and place her back in the tub Tayna brought down.
(I also need the child to hold way more essence without exploding for a while.)
Then I activated the runes I placed in various places around her body. Almost immediately, Amelia spasmed, began sweating black ooze, followed by vomiting. This lasted for close to five minutes. After the girl finally went limp. I had Rocky gently rinse and wipe her down several times with some soft pieces of cloth. I noticed inside a chest in the room's corner, then put her back in bed.
Amelia's dirty mop of hair was now waist-length. Straight white hair shone in the glowlamp’s light. Tayna found the lamp in the room above the trapdoor. Her skin is now flawless and smooth. I left no sun damage or scarring on her body. Satisfied, I had Rocky place the blanket over the kid.
Afterward, while Rocky stayed in the hall guarding Amelia's room (he seems fond of the child), I continued carving what I now know are magical diagrams. Designed by Tyrant, or someone far older, probably the latter. All the while contemplating the message on the coffin, Therlion shattered.
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I am sorry, Nalle. You were the only one I could save from those madmen in the Council. Unfortunately, I was late, and they had erased everything that was you. In the Council's mad scheme to take control of all the world's, he had asked them to watch over.
We must stop them.
This is why I made a deal with the leader of the Theresian’s. To lose the method of finding and mining the special ore needed to house a soul, along with the dungeon system.
In their fury of my theft, they have sent the Templar's to end me. Before they arrived, I laid down in this coffin. Providing almost all of my power to your core to keep you safe for as long as necessary for your survival.
I also used some of my dungeon systems to reactivate yours and implant most of my knowledge of runes. Everything else is up to you. I could not let those frauds in the Council take my magical knowledge.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
I have Trina send a few of the lowest level diagrams to keep them busy for a few Millennia to be safe.
After you wake up and establish your own dungeon, Asgard will crumble to dust like it was never there.
Good luck, I am sorry, but with Asgard's destruction, all the barriers holding back the other worlds will fall. Soon the invasions from other planes will begin again. Also, Asgard was built on a major conflux of ley lines, so soon Essence will permeate Veridian. Causing a good deal of sentience to gain access to the world system. Non-sentient Calamity class monsters will likewise begin waking from their hibernation.
I have been this world’s only line of defense for nearly 100 Millennia; I am so tired of it all. Now I shall pass the responsibility to you, my child.
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I snorted. No, thank you, the world is not my problem. Leave that for the annoying pests above ground. Besides, look where that got you. Now you are the boogeyman in the stories parents tell their children. My only concern is my dungeon and friend's eyes I am including Rocky.
Pop, "I’m back," said a tired-looking Sally. "where's Tayna?"
“She left to get food for Amelia. right, how did Tayna know the girl's name, anyway?”
"That's easy. She can see names because her system isn't broke," said Sally.
“I can see names if someone tells it to me, I say defensively.” After thinking about that sentence for a second, it hit me, “they have to tell me because whoever is controlling it has to know it first.”
"Bingo," says the fairy with an approving smile that quickly fades to a frown. "what I found was sketchy."
"Hold on, look at this translation first," I say. While Sally is going over the translation on the coffin, Tayna returns.
When Tayna sees Sally, she is about to greet her with a hug but notices the serious look on her face. Instead, she waves me over, directing me on where to put drains for the entire kitchen she pulled out of her bag. Luckily, there’s a river running thirty feet beneath my dungeon. She had me enlarge Amelia’s room slightly, likewise place another small chamber on the south wall for a bath and toilet. Then we return to watching Sally.
Well, Tayna did; I got bored and began building hidden doors over the closest two chambers. After I finished, I had both doors that could slide up into the ceiling, and the only way to see them when down is to know where they are. No, really, if you don't already know, they will not appear.
Sally exclaims, "Okay, I think I kinda know what happened now. Many millennia ago, the council made up of our highest ranked elders went power-hungry and started doing experiments on the souls in dungeon cores, turning them into weapons that drained worlds of all their mana. Around thirty-five millennia ago, Tyrant broke into the council and stole something that was isn't in any report but considering what they did to his reputation afterward, I Can only assume he took you. That was also how our Queen found out what happened and immediately informed the Archangels."
" A little known fact, I'm not even supposed to know, I heard from our grandfather, who was on the council." A cringe appears on both girls' faces, but Sally continues. "The souls placed in the Cores are the souls of Angels that didn't want to be involved in some ancient civil war on their world. When the Archangel arrived, his fury was spectacular to behold. He had all involved killed and their souls bound for eternity in the heart of a newborn star. Our grandfather was one of them. The Broken souls that the council experimented on he took with him and ordered all of those not on the premises retrieved and returned. There are still three more out there, but we can't get to them as there too heavily guarded by the denizens of their worlds. All we could do was stop those worlds from ever spreading their influences, so the new council cut them off and placed them in pocket universes."
(Now that was interesting.) "What would your company do if they lost contact with the last dungeon and all of their staff on the world at the same time?" I nonchalantly asked as I finished the finishing touches on my wards.
"They would permanently close off the world, assuming they were under attack," responded Tayna immediately, which made Sally raise an eyebrow at her. "What! It was the only part of the course that was interesting," a blushing Tayna explained.
“How long will that take? And can they open it back up?”
“They can close it in roughly ten minutes, and not without help from this site, and since none of the local fairies are even aware of dungeons anymore, that is not likely,” answered Sally.
“Well, that is good.” I started stretching my centaur body, and the stone fell away, vanishing before it hit the floor. I began laughing as I watched both of their eyes widen and their jaws drop.
A moment later, Rocky walked in, stared at me for a couple of seconds. He nodded, strode to his throne, and sat, placing his crown on his head. When the two fairies saw that, they started giggling for a second, then what I said seemed to hit them. “What do you mean? 'That is good,'” Sally and Tayna asked simultaneously.
I smirked at them. “The moment Sally reentered my domain, I activated wards that will shield my small Dungeon from all types of scrying. Basically, I made myself invisible to everything.”
Tayna frowned. “What about essence? Dungeons leak an immense amount of essence. Unless they can store it, and you are too young for that.”
I shrugged, “I only had to stop it from leaking for an hour at most; I have a perfectly malnourished battery that needs charging in that room over there.” Sally looked confused, asking how I knew what a battery was, while Tayna just glared at me. “You had better not have hurt her, Nalle.”
“Relax, I have already released the connection.”
Tayna still looked concerned and flew off, dragging Sally behind her.
While they cooed over the sleeping child, I had finally decided on a title for myself since everyone has forgotten me, including myself. Reborn here in the Tomb of the Forgotten Gods, they shall know me as The Forgotten, from now on, and my Dungeon, I shall call it Tomb of the Forgotten.
Tayna looked up, “I am not calling you the Forgotten.”
I shrugged, “it is my title. What is your plan’s Sally?”
Tayna immediately declared. Sally will live with us. Sally stared at me, hope in her eyes.
“I’m fine with it,” I said.
Suddenly everyone’s attention was on a now squirming child, who was going to wake up soon. Tayna turned and told me to get out. “If she sees the Lord of Chaos again, this time in the flesh, she might die of fright this time.”
I shrugged, asked Sally to send me whatever information on unique races she had on hand, spun around, and walked back to the throne room.