The King knew fear was a powerful emotion. People feared starvation so they did everything in their power to make sure they didn’t starve to death. People also feared him, the King of their kingdom, because he held the power to end their lives whenever he wanted. They feared the Dungeon that lay on the edge of the Kingdom’s border with the savage dwarves, the kidnapping Elves, and the man-eating Dragons, yet they didn’t understand what role the powerful Dungeon played in their lives. He had made sure they didn’t know. Not even his newly wedded Queen nor her several daughters.
Only his daughter would know. She would inherited the crystal, powering the Dungeon because she was a blood relative of the Founder, King Tristan of the Snow Capped Mountain Kingdom. She would be the first female to gain the Heart Crystal of the Dungeon.
History had forgotten his name and what he did to earn his various titles and rewards in his lifetime, but he lived on through the royal family’s history. The only thing he was remembered for was founding the Dungeon and ruling over the Kingdom until his death before he passed the knowledge onto his grandson. He didn’t have a son to take the throne. The current King knew how that felt. He had remarried for a son, but his new Queen had other plans. She did her duty on the night they married, but she had refused to allow him to touch her again. It was only recently she had expressed she had no interest in siring a son.
However, the fear the King felt coursing through his body was different then the other times he had felt the emotion. It was different then holding his daughter for the first time. It was worst then the first time he had faced an enemy on the battlefield as he wrestled with the idea of killing another man for the first time. This fear was for his daughter. He knew his time was coming to an end and he would have to leave his sweet daughter to face the horrors alone. However, he wasn’t going to leave her unprotected. He was a gifted mage in Life Magic. He had casted several long term spells on her hours before he found out about his new Queen’s agenda. He hoped it would be enough to help her until she was able to take the throne from her stepmother and stepsisters.
His chest heaved as he darted through the darken stone hallways. The tapping of the sharpened claws chased after him. He didn’t dare stop to caught his breath. He flew past the openings of hallways leading off the main one. He couldn’t take them. They led to the more populated areas of his castle. He couldn’t led the creature to them. He couldn’t turn around and fight. He didn’t have enough strength for that. A red flashing bar at the top of his sight alerted him his stamina was running out. He didn’t need a bar to inform him of that fact. He could feel it. He felt his reaction speed slow down and it got harder to force himself to take the next step. His chest ached.
The King had to make it to the Dungeon. He was sure that was the only way he would survive this encounter. He would led the creature into the heart of the Dungeon and allow the Dungeon to do its work, basically asking the Dungeon for a favor. He would have to pay the favor back one day during the next time an over-powered creature entered the Dungeon and tried to destroy it. That would be a small price to pay.
His thoughts drifted back to his innocent daughter. She would have no idea how the Dungeon worked and that might work against her when it came to the Dungeon’s abilities. He always thought he would have a son to teach about the abilities of a Dungeon Master and the various responsibilities and power that came with the position. He shook his head. He directed his attention in front of him and felt a surge of joy. He finally was able to spot the exit. It was the closest exit to the Dungeon.
He pulled up his Dungeon interface and hurried to the Dungeon Master abilities. The ability he was looking for was called Fearful Help. He only used a total of two other times when he was overwhelmed with a powerful creature and the Dungeon had agree to help, providing he would help the Dungeon in return. Fearful Help alerted the Dungeon to the fact its Dungeon Master needed help and the Dungeon would send its most powerful creatures and active abilities, directing them to lay in wait, hidden just inside the entrance. Once he entered the Dungeon, he would just allow the Dungeon to do its job and tear the creature apart. He might even have the option to add the creature to the Dungeon’s roaster of creatures it could summon for the various adventures to kill and a means to protect the Kingdom.
A chill went down his spine. The tapping claws and the rattling chains had stopped. He slowed to a walk. His chest heaved in order to caught his breath. His mouth was dry as the desert and he fought off a cough. He moved to the opening for a hallway. He poked his head around the corner and didn’t see anything. He used his Nightvision spell and got the same results. He walked down the hallway and pressed his back against the cool damp stone. He reached for his belt where he kept his bag of Holding and pulled out a water canteen. He unscrewed the cap and took a long drink, shallowing several mouthfuls. He didn’t know if the first two or three mouths full made it to his stomach from how dry his mouth and throat were from the minutes long spirit he took from his bed-chambers to the passage way to the Dungeon.
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He closed his eyes and lend his head against the wall as he replaced the cap and slipped the canteen back into his bag of Holding. It would be something else his daughter would inherit if he did died. He smirked. His Queen nor her daughters wouldn’t be able to access anything of his. Not the Treasury. Not the Dungeon Master’s Interface. Not the Settlement Points. Nothing within his Kingdom could be access by her. He wanted to laugh. Her plan wouldn’t work.
His precious Frostine Guinevere was a smart girl for being 10 years old. He thought sometimes she remembered living another life before becoming his daughter from the way she acted and spoke then she tried to pull off the innocent routine. There had been a few times she had given him some advice and after he personally gave it some thought went with the advice she had gave. It surprisingly had helpful, but strange at the same time. He was aware of cases like that from his ambassadors commenting on such people in other kingdoms he was allied to or had traded agreements with. Those people were praised or hated for their knowledge, but sometimes, ended up in strange situations and it doesn’t always work out for them.
Tap tap, tap tap. It echoed off the stone wall followed by the sound of a chain rattling. He straightened up, pushing off the wall. His eyes snapped opened. He backed out the Dungeon interface and casted Nightvision, again. His eyesight went from nearly black to shades of green and black.
Tap tap, tap tap. It was close. He peered down the hallway he was standing. The creature wasn’t coming from that hallway. It meant it had stopped and slowly hunted him. He took a breath to calm his shaky nerves. He glanced up at his stamina bar. It was full. He could go for another 10 minutes of this annoying chase, but he really didn’t want to. He was close to the Dungeon, but he needed to be closer to it before he could use the Fearful Help action.
He went back to his Dungeon Interface and double checked who would inherit the Dungeon Master Status. It was Frostine. He nodded. He went to the settlement page and checked the Heir information. It was the same as the Dungeon Master. Frostine would inherit everything. He wished he could have spent more time with her, teaching her everything she needed to run the Kingdom he could have laughed to see his Queen’s face when she got the noticed that he died, but she wouldn’t inherit anything from him.
He took another deep breath and peered around the corner to look up the hallway where he had ran down. The creature was there. He knew it. The damn thing was staying just outside of the range of his Nightvision. He mentally cursed. He just had to make a mad dash for the Dungeon. He sighed. He went through the list of spells he gained over the years and settled on Haste.
It was a simple Life spell designed to give the caster a boost in their agility. With his mastery in Life magic, he would get an extra 25 points to his speed. It was nothing to sneeze at when one thought about it. After all, his base speed was 50.
He stepped from the hallway he took cover in and darted down the hall toward the dungeon. His eyes widened when he saw the creature standing in his path. He stopped, staring at the creature. He mentally cursed. A glance at his interface informed him he was nearly in range of the Dungeon where he could use Fearful Help. He took a deep breath and hoped he could make it past the creature, but he noticed something about it that made him pause and slow to a stop.
It stood there. A surprise look colored its scaled face. The bright blue eyes widened as its maul opened, revealing two rows of sharp teeth. The two slits on its nose flared, smelling the air. Its skin was reptilian in nature, a dark color hard to see while the King was using Nightvision, but he could have sworn there was a solid blue stripe going down the center of the creature’s back and a blacken necklace wrapping around the creature’s neck. The creature stood on its hind legs - like some sort of lizard, but it had short arms that were close to its body like a bird. However, the forearms stuck out and ended in a pair of clawed hands.
Never seeing a creature like it before, the King casted analyze, hoping to figure out a possible weakness or at least what it was. He blinked. Analyze didn’t work. That was first for him. He cocked his head to the side. He never heard of Analyze not working before for anyone at his high level. A realization settled over him.
It was humbling, in a way. There were still creatures he couldn’t get information on and he was working blindly, even he was a king and powerful one. He had been a King over two decades, since his own father died when he was 17 years old and forced himself to grow stronger each day until he felt confident enough where he could led his people to prosperity.
He felt a sharp pain rack down his front. He snapped out of his musings and peered down. The creature had sliced his front like it was a hot knife going through butter. He glanced up at the creature and noticed it grinned at him. It half twisted, bringing back its claw and attacked him, again. That was the last thing he saw as pain exploded and the glowing red message slowly appeared in his interface was the creature transforming into a female form before his vision darkened, leaving the following red messages.
You Have Died.
You do not have any abilities that will allow you to be resurrected.
Your soul will return to the Cycle of Rebirth.
You will not remember this life and you will restart at Level 1.
Your heir, Frostine Guinevere, will inherit everything you had once lay claim to.
Good Luck on your new adventure.