Await the souls of the newly departed. Guide them to the Heart of Eternity. From there judge the soul for who would determine their fate. For most they would simply be sent on their way to be reborn a blank slate. For the few truly wicked and benevolent saints, a curse or a blessing would be given to them before being sent to be reborn blank as any other soul. However with infinitesimally low chances, the soul may be reborn with parts or the entirety of their memories. Beyond that, it was no longer our job to watch.
~The Task of Death
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Focusing on the soft, peppy voice’s owner revealed her to be what looked like a fairy. I almost tried responding before I remembered I couldn’t talk.
“Don’t worry about not being able to respond, very few dungeons figure out how before they’re at least a year old. For that reason, we dungeon fairies are trained in telepathy to converse with our dungeons. Although you are rather coherent for a new dungeon. Are you a reincarnated soul? Because if you are then this will make things so very much easier for me.”
Eris gave me a decent reply, solving my speech problem. I think I’m a reincarnated soul, but I’m not sure.
“Oh that’s a simple thing to confirm. Do you remember a life before this one?” She sounded really excited when she said that.
Yeah, I remember my old life. I actually thought this was the afterlife before a blue glowing screen popped up in front of me saying “Welcome to the world!” I got that message a couple of hours ago.
Eris’ tiny form bobbed up and down as I said that. In a joyous light tone Eris yelled out, “Yes, new dungeon and it’s a reincarnated soul too! I’m so lucky!”
The second sentence actually reminded me of the skill I hadn’t been able to test earlier since I hadn’t been able to see. I focused more on Eris’ form and the golden particles I was so use to in my old life came into sight. It felt right too, I hadn’t really noticed how off everything felt without being able see them. The particles around Eris were mostly golden and there were only a few black ones mixed in. Studying her more closely, her dress looked like it was made out of petals and plant fibers. Her wings similar to gossamer and facial features more angular than any human’s, more perfect than any human’s. Her irises violet with blue flecks interspersed throughout. Overall, she was a rather beautiful example of her race.
“Hello, hellooooo, are you paying any attention at all to me?” Eris sounded annoyed. Oops, I wonder what I missed.
I’m paying attention now, I swear. You just reminded me of something I said I’d test later. So, uhm what did you say? I did my best to sound apologetic and hoped she’d forgive me for zoning out on her.
She sighed and then started explaining what she was here for and what her race was. The jist of it was that she was here to help me develop myself into a stronger being so that we could survive and her race were symbiotic creatures to dungeons.
Eris began talking again after taking a look about the room in a curious tone, “Hey, how did you get the mana to carve out this room anyways? From what you said earlier, you’re a new born dungeon right?”
Mana? What’s that? I carved out this room using a bit of power. I was a mage in my old life and my lover was a skilled alchemist. We experimented a bit and figured out that mages and alchemists used the same power for different purposes. I can’t actually use any magic right now though since I can’t talk. And I’m pretty mediocre at alchemy anyways.
Eris went from curious to confused and pale. In a shaky voice, “So what you’re saying is that you made this room from your old powers. Not through mana which you have no knowledge of.”
Yeah, is that bad?
“Not bad, but we need to get you to start absorbing some now. Your entire existence relies on it. You’re radiating light, so I thought you already had absorbed a good amount and that it was natural. But since you haven’t you need some to start doing anything. First off let’s check out how much you have right now. Do you know to check that?” Her voice wasn’t so shaky now, but still held undertones of worry.
I don’t, how do I do that? In fact is this mana stuff related to the hunger I’ve been feeling?
Her body loosened up a bit at my mention of hunger, “Yes, the hunger is a natural phenomena. In fact it’s healthy. It means you haven’t lost too much mana yet. Now to check how much mana you have, just think status. Natural dungeons are born knowing how to check their mana along with other details, but with intelligent dungeons without that instinctual knowledge tend to be able to check with that command.”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Status huh, makes sense. Show status.
NameUnnamedSpeciesDungeon CoreMana213Floors1Rooms1Inhabitants1RankZMore Information?
That’s interesting. Eris, I have 213 mana. Is that a decent amount?
Her body loosened up completely in relief. “That’s great, perfect really. Is the number changing at all?”
I look at it for a while, but the number seems static for now. Nope, no changes at all. Seems static for now.
“Okay, okay, that’s good. I can work with this. Can you feel the mana around us?”
I tried to sense for the mana, but no I just didn’t know what it felt like to even try recognizing it. I can’t, or rather I don’t know what it feels like. Can you show me?
She bites lip for a quick second before nodding, “Okay, I’m going to introduce some mana directly to your core. Pay close attention alright.”
Her hand started to glow a light blue and she flitted over to my core, laying her glowing hand on me. Then something started to flow into me, it felt like the base energy that I created with alchemy while at the same time it felt like a really strong reinvigorating potion. And there were emotions mixed in too, more than I could decipher and too ephemeral for me to even hold onto.
Then she removed her hand, Eris looked haggard now. Doing that must have taken a lot out of her. Wearily she said, “Do you think you can identify it now?”
I can.
I started from inside myself to familiarize myself even more with it and then expanded my awareness out. My mana felt similar to Eris’ but different, like it was colored by my nature. From that, mana outside of a person shouldn’t have any emotional or personal tinge to it. There, it was light, but it was there.
I wasn’t sure how to absorb it and I didn’t want to bother Eris with the question as she looked so tired. In the end, I just tried to absorb it the same way I did with my base energy. I called for it gently, giving it an easy path to flow into me and absorb it. The mana entering me felt good, like lying in the sun or being with someone you loved. I felt a pang of loss at the thought.
I’d never see any of my family again. Never would I be able to curl up next to my lover, or spend time helping his sister learn, or watch my two most loyal companions antics, or really anything with any of them again. It hurt, it hurt like so few other things did in my life.
I shook my head mentally. I couldn’t let that keep me down. I would live my new as best I could, not for me but for them. I know that they wouldn’t want me to be held down by my memories of them.
Spoiler: A/N
So I almost forgot about posting this. Bad of me I know, but I do hope you like it. I'm not too sure on how I'm going to be pacing this just yet either, so we'll see about that. In any case, if you happen to notice any mistakes please tell me so I can fix them. I don't edit after finishing a chapter, since I normally catch any spelling errors as I'm writing.