Aaaah, what a mess. My mind was working rapidly trying to make sense of what had just happened. I heard some voice crying out for help, and I had decided to rush to their aid, no questions asked. Now I was standing over the corpses of what looked to be two thieves. Were these guys even villainous? After all, I couldn’t find their victim.

After I had made sure the ugly thief was dead, I was looking around the immediate area for their captive, but there was none. It looked like those two really were here just to loot this enclosed pond area. It was obvious what they were after. A large, beautiful, pink stone adorned the center of a large stone pedestal. The pedestal stood with a small audience of pink orchids fluttering in the wind around it.

The light bounced off the stone in such a way that it seemed ethereal, or almost alive, in a sense. It was breathtaking, and I imagine that any rich person would pay quite the high price for such a treasure. I reverently made my way across the pond, wading slowly through the chest height water towards the small island. I wanted to examine that stone.

Most of all, though, I wanted the stone to have answers. What was that voice I had heard crying for help? There was a lack of captive or corpse of said captive, but I know I heard something. Something that was desperate. Something that wanted to live more than anything else in that moment, it didn’t care what it attracted to it, as long as it would help it immediately.

I wanted to know that I didn’t murder two people for nothing. I was shaking as those words slowly hit me. I murdered two people. My steps slowed.

I was a pretty good person on Earth, I would like to believe. I was a bit of a rule follower. So, to jump from there to here, it was quite a shock. I didn’t have much time to think about all the life I took. I guess I must have seen this world more as an RPG than as a real world. But to hear two people dialoguing, arguing, and fighting for their lives like that. It’s hard, mentally speaking. But I had tread this path now. There wasn’t any going back.

As much as I secretly wanted to return to human society at one point, it clearly is no longer feasible. I let out a heavy mental sigh, my jaw opening a bit as I tried to accept my current reality and move on. It’s too late to wonder, ‘What if...?’

I strolled passed the flowers, and I could feel the air around me subtly change. I gazed down at the gem and in my mind vocalized a simple question.

‘Was it you?’

I stared for a few moments longer. The silence only seemed to grow with time, the only noise was the waterfall crashing several feet away. I was getting increasingly embarrassed. Oh no, what if it really is just a rock and I’m thinking to myself. It turns out the whole time that it really was just a lone gem and I’ve devolved to talking to rocks. I’m close to completely losing my mind.

I decided to persevere, however, because I could feel something in the atmosphere. I gave the rock a few taps and waited a bit longer. I heard a meek voice in my head at that time.

‘W-Who are you? A-a-are you here to take me?’

A response! I haven’t gone insane quite yet! ‘No, I’m not here to do such a thing,’ I thought while making gestures to express my disagreement.

‘Then why are you here? Y-you haven’t come to destroy me, have you?’

‘I came because I heard you asking for help. I came to protect you.’ I pantomimed the idea that I was here to defend, and the actions that had just occurred. I couldn’t tell if the stone could hear my thoughts, so I put a lot of effort into the movements.

‘You r-really came to p-protect me?’

Oi, stop shaking your voice. Am I that terrifying? ‘Can you understand what I’m saying?’

‘Yes?’ It replied simply.

Well that makes things much easier for me, but at the same time, I feel like a fool for dancing around while explaining all of what happened. Uwaaaah, what a first impression. Wait, why didn’t it say anything earlier, either! I stood still for a long time! ‘Could you not have made that just a bit clearer? I feel like an idiot for flapping around like that now.’

‘Oh, I just thought that it was how your kind communicated. I was only trying to be accepting! U-uh, it was funny!’

‘T-thanks…’ My shoulders drooped a bit. That was literally the last thing I had wanted to hear. ‘So, who and what are you?’

‘I don’t have a name, but I am a dungeon core.’

Well it makes sense to me, with the ominous large rock and its ability to talk, it makes sense that this would be the “heart of a dungeon” that I have often read about in stories back on Earth. ‘But where’s your dungeon then?’

‘I, uh, don’t have one.’

‘You don’t have one?’

‘I-It isn’t my fault!’ the dungeon core sheepishly replied.

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Oh? ‘And how is it not your fault you haven’t built anything yet?’

‘If I build too much, I’ll get easily discovered by other races in the world, and I need a dungeon fairy to access my abilities! If I want to pick my monster race, pick my dungeon trait, or anything else, I need someone to become my dungeon fairy! I’ve been making my small island appealing in hopes of attracting a fairy partner!’

Ah, I feel bad for making fun of it, it really isn’t the dungeon’s fault. But where am I going to find a fairy? Aren’t they legendarily elusive beings? I doubt I could find one easily. ‘Do they need to be fairies?’ I wondered aloud.

‘Well, technically, no, but the race you have as a fairy is like a status symbol, so I wanted a super powerful one! Like an actual fairy, or a dragon, or something! I turned away a few others that tried to become my fairy!’

Wait, what? What?? ‘Are you trying to get yourself killed!? I get that you would want a powerful partner, but you almost gave yourself a death sentence because of pride? You’re absolutely nuts! You think a dragon or fairy will stop by and bind themselves to you just because you planted a bunch of pretty flowers?’ It ended up being the core’s fault after all! Give my sympathy back to me!

‘W-w-w-w-w-what do you know? You’re just a big dumb pile of bones!’ The core retorted.

‘What do I know!? I know I had to murder two people because you were being too stubborn to protect yourself!’

‘It’s not that simple! My fairy is a partner that I’m going to be bound to for life and if they don’t make much of an effort to build the dungeon, I won’t go anywhere! A lot of species see being a fairy as a status symbol, and they don’t care what happens to the dungeon afterwards! It’s more likely that stronger races will manage to protect the dungeon. This fact is told to every dungeon once they are born! You don’t get anything!’

Our first meeting had quickly devolved into a loud thinking match. I was upset that the dungeon had made no moves to protect itself even though it was well within its power, and I basically had to become a criminal for its sake. ‘Look, I’m not going to waste my time helping some idiot dungeon that doesn’t want to take care of itself. I saved you this time, but there won’t be a second, understand?’

‘I don’t want YOUR help anyways! I thought maybe I had found my fairy, but you just turned out to be a huge jerk! I’ll make tons of great monsters without your help, that’ll show you!’

‘Keh, I’d like to see you try without a partner.’

‘It can be done! I just… need something to die… right on this island.’

‘Well I won’t waste my time around here anymore. Have a nice life, if it lasts much longer.’

‘I’LL LIVE FOREVER.’

I turned around and walked off the island and away from the pond. I was close to reaching another level, so it was far more worth my time to go hunting than it was to argue with a rock. I took the knife from the deformed thief, and left the area.

I didn’t notice one of the bodies decay rapidly on my way out, however.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

That idiot bone man knows nothing of what it’s like to be a dungeon core. I can’t see anything outside of my dungeon area. All I have for area is this small island. How far can I go before I stumble across a populated area? I would never know until I was right on top of it. I could literally be sitting just outside a town. I would never know.

Also, why would he dare say something like I’m being a fool for not picking my partner immediately!? Would HE be satisfied spending his life with the first thing he came across? I imagine not!

I only realized I was in danger because of the splashing of the waves, earlier. I can feel the disturbances in the water because my region envelopes the water just a bit. But, I began to panic. I was sure that this was the end, before I could even find a reliable partner.

But then he showed up. Against all odds, the skeleton managed to save me. And according to him, it was two humans as well, which is quite the feat. Humans gain levels easily, so they were probably significantly stronger.

For just a moment, I had thought, ‘This, this is the one who can be my partner. He’s someone I’m sure I can put my trust into to keep me safe.’ In the end however, all he did was insult me and leave. Even though he knows nothing! Even though he’s so strong!

I spent a few hours grumbling, but suddenly I sensed a splash in the water. ‘Oh, bonesy? Have you come back to ask for my forgiveness? You really want to be my fairy after all? Hehehe, well if you insist… I wouldn’t mind, but I would like you to get on your hands and knees and beg for it.’

‘…’

I didn’t get a response. ‘Eh, bonesy? I-is that you?’

‘…’

Still more silence. I was growing more and more unsettled. Wouldn’t he respond by now, even if it was just to insult me? As the entity climbed onto my island, I finally gained vision. It turned out to be a skeleton. But I could tell. I could tell it wasn’t the one from earlier. It felt far more sinister. Around the undead’s left eye were a multitude of cracks. One of its vertebrae had cuts in it. And I could feel its intense desire to possess my gem.

Each step sent a chill through me. Ah, I chased away my last hope, I should have just agreed, or something. Bonesy worked really hard for someone he didn’t even know, and I never even said thank you. I’m going to die here.

The skeletal hands clasped my body and began to pull. I desperately clung to the stone pedestal, but I felt my grip loosening. Once I was separated, everything would go dark, and my life as a dungeon would end. I would probably just be some magical power core for a fancy sword. I didn’t want to end that way.

Ah, this is the limit. What a shame. ‘You may be a dumb pile of bones, but thank you for saving me earlier.’

A loud smash resounded in the area. Metaphorically, I had my eyes shut tight, but I could feel myself slowly going back into my home in the pedestal. I opened my senses to see a new skeleton over the shattered body of another.

‘I wish you would stop calling me that.’

‘Bonesy… You came back?’

‘Well, in the end, I guess it wasn’t fair to judge you with my own narrow worldview. It’s not like I have been alive again for very long. So, uh, I’m sorry, I guess. I was planning on hunting a small animal, carrying it over here, and killing it so that you could make a protector of sorts, but it looks like I’m fated to be stuck doing this.’

I brightened up instantly. How did I get so attached in such little time? Maybe for once I was glad that there was someone talking to me like a being, rather than some tool. Call it intuition, but I could tell that he had saved me not out of some sense of reward, but because he had simply wanted me to be safe.

‘Hey,’ he called to me, ‘in the end, I want to protect you. Will you let me?’

‘Hehe,’ I dazzled just a little bit more, ‘I was going to ask you to protect me, anyways.’

Neither of us could make facial expressions, but I could tell.

We were both smiling.

The skeleton interrupted the moment tactlessly, though. ‘Well, could you give me a minute, it’s apparently time for me to evolve.’