Who was this foreign creature before me? This crow, Alexandria?

She dropped all pretenses, Alexandria did. No longer was she servant-like. The crow stopped buttering up her words. Alexandria most definitely appeared not at all like the supposed refined scholar she claimed to be.

Or was this really the true crow? Was who she now portrayed, the true persona of Alexandria, Bastille of Knowledge?

What is a Bastille anyway?

With a tug of her black wings, Alexandria pulled her book close behind her tail feathers and plopped herself down on top of the cover. I did not know if anatomically birds could cross their legs, but Alexandria did, lifting one leg across her knee. She then placed the elbow of her wing near the claw of her foot while lifting the edge of her wing to hold up her head as she hunched forward in a lazy manner.

“We doing this, or what?” Alexandria bluntly stated, audibly annoyed while dusting off her partially ethereal legs. Picking at her feathers and ignoring the chance for me to respond, Alexandria sighed before commanding, “Haaaa... Not like a choice was given to me anyway. You. Dungeon. Give me some mana.”

Taken aback, I was. Alexandria displayed too drastic a change of personality. Keep up, I could not. I blanked, not knowing how to respond.

“Flying Thing rude! Very rudes! Flying Thing dares demands Master?! Smash! Flying Thing need smash!” Strong One jerked his head. His eyes gazed at my core, beaming fiery rays in my direction. “Master! Can me smash annoying Flying Thing?!” Strong One asked, swinging and pointing his fist - many times the size of the crow - above her.

Tempted, was I, by Strong One’s proposal. Punishment, it seemed, Alexandria needed more of.

“Hmmm…”

But Alexandria was already in a bad mood. Now, even worse.

She coughed, making gagging noises. Her head pulled back as one wing covered her nose. Alexandria frowned at a staunch stench as her beady red eyes narrowed sharply. She kicked off the ground and leaned back, tilting her body away from Strong One. One wing covered her nose while the other jabbed fearlessly in the air at Strong One.

Defiantly, Alexandria swore back at Strong One. “Damn, barbaric Ogre! I am not afraid of you! Move that odorous, fatty arm of yours, you overgrown gluttonous pig! What ghastly smells come from you, foul creature?!”

Seeing Alexandria respond with disgust and anger, Strong One only grinned, purposely egging her on, opening his right armpit wide before using his hand to fan the raunchy smell that Alexandria detested towards her head.

“The stench! Ugh, Hive Mother! What a god-awful stench!” Alexandria hurriedly stuffed the holes near her beak with the feathers of her wings and quickly dashed away while leaving her book behind.

“Haha! Flying Thing runs away! Go! Gone!”

Standing at the opposite side of my cavern, Alexandria responded with a click of her tongue while shouting back, “Disgusting, unhygienic savage! I cannot leave, idiot. I am bound. BOUND! And not on equal terms! All because of Number 96! Damn you, 96! Damn you!” The crow then turned at my core and continued, “Dungeon! I said, give me mana!”

I looked at Alexandria from my heart, scrutinizing the crow before me. Who was the master, and who was the assistant?

“Alexandria. Demand my mana, you do. Yet, why should I?”

Anger, I heard, erupted from Alexandria’s blaring voice.

“You blasted Dungeon infant! Did you already forget?! You came to me first! You were the one to ask for my help! You agreed with the Dungeon System to bind me to yourself! You need me!”

Paused, I did, before responding. Think, I did. The crow growled at me with accusations, but they were only partial truths. Alexandria’s words only focused on what benefited her, ignoring all the rest. Then I shall remind her of what she forgot.

“Need you, I do, Alexandria,” I stated truthfully, and the crow scoffed with a puff of disdain.

“But as much as I need you, you, Alexandria, you need more.”

“Ha. This young Dungeon has a sense of humor. Keep your jokes to yourself, Dungeon. They are not funny. In fact, you are mistaken. Badly mistaken. It is reversed. You need me more than I need you.”

“Wrong, crow. You asked me to find your pieces. You asked for my help. However, there is truth in your words. Bound to me, you are now. And know more than me, you do. However, Alexandria, currently, what can you do if I choose to refuse to give you my mana?”

I saw it. The crow’s beady red eyes widened. A slight hint of worry clouded those once resolutely defiant eyes. With an unwilling voice, Alexandria called out again to me but this time more formally.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Dungeon Master. If you do not give me mana, then I cannot finish integrating myself with you. My nest cannot be built. You said you needed to become stronger. If you choose to not give me your mana, then I am unable to help you. And therefore you cannot become strong. You need my help to keep growing. You will have to give me mana.”

“No. Wrong, you are, Alexandria. Recently, I learned there are different kinds of strength. I do not solely need yours. My path may be slower, but I will eat until I grow strong. I needed a willing and helpful assistant, not a dictator to use me. Return, Alexandria, back to the darkness. I will find a different path. I do not need you.”

“No! You can’t do this to me! I am bound. We are bound! I can no longer return!”

“Then stay, but my mana, you shall not receive.”

“Wait! Wait, Dungeon Master! Please, wait! Why act so irrationally?!”

“My mana is mine to do as I desire. And I desire not to give you any. Since you want to stay, then stay but remain silent.”

Motes of my golden mana seeped past the rocky walls of my belly, forming thin threads that I commanded to wrap around Alexandria’s beak. My mana threads continued, slowly slithering and wrapping around Alexandria before dragging her back to her book.

Grumbled, Alexandria did. She resisted with muffled crying sounds, but I ignored her for now. Learn to be obedient, Alexandria must do.

“Help cannot solely be only given, Alexandria. Help is given and taken. This will be my first lesson to you, crow. Learn well, or else return to the darkness. If not from whence you came, then into the depths of my darkness - the depths of my stomach. Forget not, crow, my name is Atlas - the Atlas Dungeon. Absorb, I can, what you know should I choose to consume you. I do not need your help. Know, I do, of an easier method - extract what I need from your digested essence.”

Alexandria stopped struggling. Her red eyes widened again, revealing undisguised fear of my threats.

It was true. Partially. At least, I thought it might be possible for me to eat and extract Alexandria’s experiences and memories. Although, it would likely only be a fragmented piece if done so. However, I could find more pieces of Alexandria and consume them as well. My Alexandria was supposedly the hundred-and-twenty-sixth fragment of many.

Think about it later, I will. If Alexandria refuses to obey, then she will be eaten. I will eat her. I will eat all.

“Strong One, Strong Defender! Ignore the petrified crow for now. Learning, she is. If not, then eat her, we will!”

“As you command, Master,” Strong Defender replied, glancing at Alexandria while showing a revolting look. Crows, it seemed, were not palatable for Strong Defender.

“Eats Flying Thing, Master? Flying Thing tastes goods, Master?” Strong One asked with curiosity. He eyed Alexandria ravenously, feeling peering up and down all over the crow, trying to find tasty-looking parts.

“Maybe. Know not, Strong One. I have yet to consume an ethereal crow.”

Strong One pointed at Alexandria and grinned with a sharp, toothy smile. “Me wants to try eatings you, Flying Thing. You softs? Crunchy? Sweet? Strong One like sweet.”

Strong Helper chimed in. “Strong One! Give me black flap-flap, okay?! Me wants to rip and trys the flap-flap! Me wants to flap-flap in the airs, too!”

I glanced at Alexandria. Angry at my creations, she was. She glared dangerously, wrapped in my mana threads while squirming and wiggling uselessly on the floor of my stomach. Ignored her, I did.

“Strong One, Strong Defender! Did you two find Trap Snare as I asked? Did you bring me more Trap Snares from the outside?”

“Ah! Master! Strong One catch lots, Master! But… Strong One only catch two shiny thing on Red Treasure. But Master, Strong One bring in lots of soft greens and more Tasty Treasures! Lots and lots more!”

Strong Defender smirked at Strong One. “Master asked for Trap Snare, Strong One. Nothing else. You brought two but not as much as I did, Strong One.” Turning to me, Strong Defender proudly enunciated his reply, “Master. I brought you five Red Rabbit.”

Strong One glared at his brother before turning to me, anxiously replying so fast, he slurred. “That ‘cus Red Tre’sre too fasts, Master! Str’g One almost catches more but then Red Tre’sre zig-zag froms Strong One’s hand! Strong One smash, buts then Red Treasure hop! And then hop, hop!”

Giggled, I did, at Strong One’s panicking face. His hands zoomed up and down through the air as he frantically waved them about, trying to explain his shortcomings by showing how fast the rabbits were moving around him.

“Masters not mads at Strong One?” Strong One asked with his head lowered.

“It is okay, Strong One. Two Red Rabbits are fine, too. Good job, my creations! Go, bring in all your harvests to me. See and split our gains, I will. Feast, we will then do!”

“Yes, Master! Hurrah! Ahaha!” Strong One laughed as he gleefully jumped on one foot and then the other while heading out of my chamber. My reinforced chamber did not tremble as much. But gasped and groaned, I did, when Strong One rushed out, heavily thumping deep footprints into the other areas of my stomach.

Strong Defender was about to follow suit, bowing his head and responding before leaving. “Yes, Master! We will be back right- Oh, wait! Master! There was something important we needed to tell you!”

“Important? How so?”

“Yes, Master! It is about the outside. I noticed something strange in the outside world. Strong One does not believe me. But I felt it. Yet, I could not find it. We searched through the foliage, but nothing was found. I know it. Something was watching us, Master, while we were outside.”

“Watching? Both of you? Are you certain, Strong Defender

“Yes, Master.”

An anxious feeling arose in my heart. But as I was thinking, Strong One rushed back into my cavern, holding a huge bundle of vibrant vegetation. Seeing Strong Defender not making a move, Strong One glared and dropped his large bundle beside the entrance and dashed to grab Strong Defender by the arm.

“You’s not hear Master, Strong Defender? Go! Help grabs soft insides of outside for Master!”

“I heard, Strong One! But I must explain the odd sensations we experienced while on the outside! It was strange.”

I looked at Strong One and lowered my voice, seriously asking, “Strong One. Tell me. Did you sense something unknown watching you too?”

“Ha! It scareds of Strong One, Master! Strong One smash Red Treasure and rip soft greens! It knows Strong One can kills it too! It not comes out to sees us! Its afraids of me!”

So there was something. Sensed something watching, Strong One and Strong Defender did. But what? And more importantly, why?