Station 64: The Doll Dungeon: Frenzied Rebirth

by Matthew Peed

  “Ugh. What happened?”

  “Lance’s plan backfired a bit. The threat was driven back, but I’m not sure if it will return with reinforcements. I need to make you more powerful and have you support me rather than be a boss monster.”

  “You can channel Aether into me, but I’m not sure how much you will need to cause whatever change you’re aiming for,” he replied, straight to the point. He could see that I was serious.

  I checked my Aether reserves. I was at about half after creating the amulets for some of the monsters. I had dropped even more from the battle with Sera, even with the deaths. I ground my teeth in frustration at the fact that when I needed it, I was out of it and when I didn’t need it, I had it. I knew I didn’t have enough to make a significant enough change in Starburst.

  I moved to the roof of the manor, ignoring the fact that my body was still in physical form. If anyone saw me, I would deal with it then. The sun had just gone down for the day. If I could expel Aether with my music, surely, I could pull it in. Taking a deep breath, I began my song.

  It was deep and echoing. I thought it might reach into a person’s soul and speak to them. My hunch proved to be right as a wave of Aether from outside the dungeon field rushed into me. It was only a few seconds before my Aether counter was full, but I was in my trance at this point. I kept playing until the night sky was illuminated by an aurora and color played around me.

  Right as the song came to an end, I heard clapping. Turning, I saw the goddess standing at the end of the roof. “In under two months. Truly remarkable.”

  Chapter 34: Captured

  Lance Teron

  Groaning as I sat up, I felt like my entire body was broken. My chest in particular felt horrible. I couldn’t believe Sera had tried to use her ability on me. Twice, at that. Taking into account what she did to Kyle, there was more to it than just destroying hearts. It appeared to be similar to my own ability.

  I was about to stand up when a beautiful song reached me. It lacked the haunting effect of Azaria’s normal music that she played in the dungeon. I was only able to enjoy it for a moment before I felt the Aether in the dungeon start to grow increasingly dense. Soon it was hard for me to breathe.

  Kneeling on the ground, I dug my nails into the stone and fought to remain conscious from the pressure. When the music finally stopped, I couldn’t help collapsing to the ground, breathing heavily for the third time tonight. I was realizing that I was still weak in this world.

  Grinding my teeth, I got up and started making my way out of the dungeon. I reactivated the Scales, bringing my illusion of Erica back up. Thankfully, my injuries transposed onto the image, so I didn’t have to hide my pain. When I reached the first-floor boss room, I found Starburst back alive, but he was staring up at the roof.

  “What is it?” I asked, worried something else might be wrong.

  He jerked toward me, then neighed angrily. “All this is your fault! I’m not sure how the next few hours are going to proceed, but you need to leave. Now!”

  “Fine.” I started moving past him, wincing from the pain in my chest. I stopped at the door. “When Azaria returns, tell her I said thank you for saving my life.”

  “I will.” He turned back to staring at the ceiling. I briefly wondered what he could see but shook my head.

  I exhaled, then nodded and continued to make my way out of the dungeon. The crowd outside was enthralled by something when I exited through the manor entrance. Following their gaze, I turned to see the sky alight with an aurora. Not everyone was watching the sky though, and an agent rushed over to help me to the checkpoint.

  “What happened? Something tore through the dungeon twice, then the sky lit up.”

  “Our party was decimated by the same bear things that attacked the other party. One of our members had a contract with someone who attempted to save him. Not sure who it was though.”

  I was led to a separate room and given some coffee. The warmth felt great going down my throat, but my chest was in pain as well. A few minutes passed, and no one came to question me about the circumstances in the dungeon. All the adrenaline, and now lack of it, was making me drowsy and I wanted to get to a safe place to heal. I thought coffee was supposed to wake you up.

  I jerked up in realization and tossed the mug away, but it was too late. I collapsed to the ground, the world fading in and out around me. Someone stepped into the room with me, but I only saw that their foot was encased in golden metal armor. The last thing I thought as I lost consciousness was that the ground was nice and cool.

  ~~End~~

  Afterword

  Thank you for reading! Did you enjoy the story? I hope there were enough twists and turns for everyone. If so, please feel free to leave a positive review on Amazon. Reviews can make or break a story, after all! Check out what happens next in the Doll Dungeon or explore one of my other stories on Patreon! Again, Thank you for reading!