“Hey!” Faye darted down toward him and hovered above his face. “You need to get your head back in the game, my furry gamer friend. This isn't going to end because of a bunch of reflecting glass!”
“Should I just carry him?” asked Selena. She wasn't a particularly bulky woman, but with her superior height, she could carry him over her shoulder.
“I think that might be a good idea for now,” said Faye. “If he keeps staring at that mirror for much longer, I think he might get stuck there. Grab him.”
Selena went over and picked up Kek. He was completely aware of this happening, but for some reason he was unable to interact with them or respond. All he could do was stare into the blackness on the wall. He wasn't thinking about the room though. All he was thinking about was how he didn't even deserve to be a slave. No, it was far too good for him! The humans had taken in the worthless little dog creature and raised him to think like them, to be more than just a pathetic dungeon minion. What had he done to thank them? He started a fire that had killed one of their most valued members. Even Prate was a better person than him. Kek should have died in that tent fire. That man had slowly burned to death in a state of semi-consciousness all because Kek thought he deserved freedom more than Prate deserved to live.
“Stop it!” Faye was still yelling, but he was too far away to respond. He could barely hear her or Selena, who was yelling now too. Kek decided that he would be doing them both a favor if he just stayed in this dark room forever. He wasn't even a good slave. He constantly messed up, probably costing Hendrik his very life in the process. That druid didn't deserve such a worthless piece of garbage, and it was stupid of Kek to even think that they might be like family. He could have at least gotten through this like he was asked, but no, now he was stuck staring into a fucking mirror.
“Selena!”
“You're right, fairy,” said the siren with a growing edge in her voice. “I am a monster, and no amount of charity is going to take back all the people I killed. I can never be good, and it was foolish of me to think that I could make myself good through my deeds. The gods will punish me. Leave me here and take the little kobold with you so you can both finish your quest. I will probably just turn against you, as is my way in the way of my people.”
Now Kek could hear the beautiful siren sobbing, but he was too worthless to comfort her.
The fairy was getting impatient and started to flatter around and push the two larger creatures. Kek and Selena mostly ignored her and batted their hands at her to knock her away when she got in the faces and threatened to block their view of the mirrors upon the wall. It was like they were surrounded by something much greater than themselves, yet everything was centered in their own little black souls. Kek wasn't sure how he knew it, but Selena was feeling the exact same thing. At least they were completely alone in this.
Footsteps sounded in the distance and then more of them, until it seemed like an entire group of something was coming closer.
“Drat, drat, drat!” shouted Faye. “Something’s coming. I told you not to look anywhere but at me, didn't I? Why can't you just listen to me and understand that I know more about magic than you do!” She sounded more flabbergasted than upset. This was one tough little fairy, and it only made him sadder that he let her down.
But Kek just couldn't move. He wanted to now, but he couldn't.
Faye took Selena’s magical lantern away, then moved away from her two comrades so that it would not shine light on them. She was gone for little while and then came flying back, having hidden the lantern. She whispered to Selena and Kek, “It's a bunch of goblins coming, maybe twenty of them. A handful of goblins is a bit of trouble. Ten goblins is a lot. This is serious trouble. It looks like you two are going to be completely useless in this fight, aren't you? Well, unless you stop wallowing and stop letting some parlor trick destroy your sense of self-worth, I guess I'll be fighting off a butt-ton of goblins all by myself!”
Kek was completely aware of what was going on around him, but all he could do was watch as Faye flew higher into the shadows and waited for the goblins to come closer. They came in steadily didn't seem to be worried about the mirrors, but it made sense that the dungeon lord would not use dark mirrors that affected his own minions. Or perhaps they couldn’t be caught in their own self-loathing. Maybe that meant Selena truly wasn't evil anymore if she had the humanity to care about her own failings.
Faye waited until the goblins could be heard in the shadows nearby, and then she let out an aggressive shriek that was nearly intimidating. “Have some Fairy Spite, you snot-colored butts!” She screamed as she unleashed a spell that spread out in a wide arc and landed in a big circle on the stone floor of the hallway.
Kek could tell it was an area of effect spell because of his own power. AOE, as it was commonly known among magicians and magic users, was a spell that did damage to a large group of enemies all at once. This one in particular could down numerous opponents, provided that they were a low enough level, and caused them to writhe around in pain for a short time. That didn't seem like it would be very devastating to the goblins, but it was good that Faye could do this by herself.
22
Part of Kek's mind followed the spell’s fire, while the other part just kept telling him how worthless he was. He was born into his perfect position—a slave—and trying to rise above was just mocking the guards because it was they who had chosen him to be a slave.
When the Fairy Spite spell hit the goblins, Kek heard their shouts of pain, yelping in a way that wasn't completely unlike the pack of whimpering dogs. They all hit the stone floor at once and twisted about as though they were on fire or covered with acid. One of the goblins screamed out even louder than the rest of them and then suddenly stopped. And another, and another, over and over. Finally, there was nothing to be heard but a very gentle sound of breathing. The breathing sound moved closer to Kek, but he couldn't move. Then in his field of vision something distracted his attention from the mirror. It was fate, covered with a viscous, dark blood that blended into the shadows.
It was enough to make Kek look away from the mirror, and coupled with having the fairy suddenly in front of his face, brought him back to reality.
“Look at me. Do as I say this time. Don't look back anywhere else. I need you to knock Selena down because she is stuck in the mirrors very badly.”
“What if she attacks me?” he asked, instantly realizing how pathetic he sounded.
“You’re afraid of a beautiful woman? Do it for her, and for us. I have a feeling that we do need her. And because she was trapped by these mirrors, it means that she can't be evil. That's why the goblins weren't affected, and that's why the dungeon lord’s minions aren’t stopped by this so-called maze. They’re evil. Don't fall back into the labyrinth of despair. Can you promise me that?”
Kek nodded and then drew in a deep breath, bracing himself for what he must do next. He charged directly at Selena's back, plowing into her and becoming intoxicated by her divine womanly sent. As he took her down to the ground he wound up on top of her and splayed out over her curvaceous form. His face wound up between her two perfectly formed breasts, and he couldn't bring himself to pull his face away. That was, until a hand slapped his face away and he realized that Selena had come back from the realm of the dark mirror.
“I’ll thank you to get your head out of my cleavage.” Selena pushed him away and stood up, but then started to laugh and showed no signs of being angry. “I honestly can't blame you. That was a very nice charge by the way. You really plowed into me,” said Selena with a wink.
This made Kek blush, and he was starting to become suspicious that his blue fur wasn't enough to hide it.
They made their way out of the hallway of dark mirrors. Kek hoped he would never have to see that place again. Even if they had to spend time looking for a different route, Kek decided that he would do everything in his power to avoid having to go through that again.
They didn't speak as they walked.
Kek had a lot on his mind, and he knew Selena did too. Faye was still puffing heavily and looked completely crestfallen and deflated. Kek wondered if she had ever killed anything in her life. He wasn't even sure if her people ate the flesh of other animals.
“Are you …” he began to ask, several times, stopping himself from broaching the subject with Faye. If she wanted to talk to him, she surely would. She had been nothing at all like shy since he'd first met her. Then again, he hadn't known her for very long. That might have also been a good reason for him to keep his nose out of her business.
“Okay then,” Faye said as they left the hallway and came across a normal pathway. “We’re going to go down another level, which will be a spiral passageway. These are intended to stop too many people from being able to charge through all at once. Never underestimate the design of this dungeon and what it was intended for: to serve the purposes of the dungeon lord and to keep out those who he wants to keep out while keeping in those he wants to keep in.” She looked over at Kek as Faye said this last point. It was quite clear she was talking about his fellow kobolds.
“The next few levels a part of the same zone. You might wonder where the dungeon lord gets all of these minions from, such as your own species, Kek. They are not taken from the surrounding lands. No, you were not in import, my friend.” Her gentle face seemed to melt as she locked eyes with Kek, and the little fairy smiled for the first time since she'd massacred a cohort of goblins in the dark.
“The next area is the spawn zone. It's three levels, if I recall collect correctly, which contain different areas where different creatures are hatched. Some of them aren't hatched, but I won't go into how they are formed here because it's kind of messed up. As you both might have already guessed, a place where monsters are born is going to have a lot of monsters roaming around. What benefits us is that they are mostly babies or young monsters.”
“We can slaughter all of them,” said Selena, reverting back to her old monstrous ways with that remark. It was clear she meant what she said, but killing monsters could not exactly be considered evil, even if they were young.
“What if there are kobolds there?” asked Kek.
“Your kind doesn't come from a spawn zone. Well, that's not necessarily true. You see,” Faye said while clearly having trouble expressing what she was trying to think, “they moved your kind from where you used to roam near the top levels. As far as my people know, kobolds were kept as a type of guard creature.”
“Guard dogs?” said Selena with a laugh.
“Well, yes. Sorry, but that's basically what your people are used for. Since you were up there, you weren’t born in the spawn zone. And you have a mother and a father just like many other mammals. There's no hatching or strange test tube stuff going on with your lineage. It’s another reason kobolds might be moved around the dungeon, more so than other lower-level monsters.”
“I did have a mother and father…” Kek tried to imagine what they might have been like, but it was too difficult to do with no information to go on.
“Oh, sorry again.” Faye seemed to be stumbling over her own tongue trying to figure out how to say this without upsetting him. “Look, I'm just going to go through the information that I have to give to both of you, and I'm very sorry if I say something that upsets you. You have to understand that I am not the one who created this upsetting scenario, so please bear with me when I tell you that I just really want to, uh, help. Is that okay?” Faye was so cute when she got flustered.
“Don't worry about it,” Kek said with a smile.
They went down another spiral staircase just like the previous one. Selena was at the front of the little group again, and Kek was at the back. He walked a bit closer to Faye so that he could talk without raising his voice. He said, “Can you tell me what kind of monsters we might find in the spawn zone?”
“It really won't make much difference. If we're spotted by any of the guardians, it's likely their friends will come and chase us down.”
“Oh, so what’s your plan?” asked Kek.
“Aren’t you meant to be the hero? How about I let you come up with a plan on this one?” replied Faye gently. “Although, since you ask, if we can stay quiet, we should be able to go right through.”
“That sounds like you have a plan to me,” replied Kek. Are you saying you want us to sneak? Because I think that's a great idea. Not because I'm afraid or anything,” he added. But Selena was probably right that he could be a good thief or assassin.
“If you two continue chattering like this, we’re not going to be given the first chance sneak by. Maybe we could be a little bit quiet for now,” said Selena.
Kek and Faye agreed, but the kobold had already made up his mind that he would take the lead in their sneaking efforts. He knew that Faye was an expert at staying quiet, but Selena hadn't demonstrated that she was anything but a beautiful brute.
“Selena,” he said, “do you have any experience sneaking around?”
“Are you implying that I'm just some sort of beautiful brute?” she asked. It was uncanny that she had said exactly what he'd been thinking, and it made Kek laugh.
“What's so funny?”
“Beautiful brute, that's what I had just—" He realized he was about to tell her something mean he thought about her. Dealing with women certainly wasn't something he was going to get used to any time soon.
Her beautiful face contorted into a brutish expression, and she gave him the stink eye. “I can be quiet and instill fear just as well as you, dog-man. I think you should worry about your fairy friend more. She seems to talk a lot. Wait, where is she?”
After a moment, they heard giggling, as Faye appeared from the shadows. “What were you saying about my ability to be quiet and stealthy?”
“Point taken,” said Selena.
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“Okay, let's go. I'm going to take the lead,” said Kek. He was surprised when the two women just nodded and didn’t fight him on that. Good. “Faye, I don't think you have any trouble staying hidden. Could you act as scout for us? And you know more about this area than either of us, apparently, so please don't let us stumble into anything that's going to get us all killed.”
“Finally taking some initiative,” said Faye. “I guess my naturally excellent leadership skills are starting to rub off on you after all.”
Kek was thinking the same thing, but he didn't want to inflate her ego by telling her. And giving her such a compliment was liable to make her squeal with excitement and get them all murdered by a guardian monster.
The first level of the spawn zone was just a long, low room. It wasn't a cave like they were used to seeing, but an actual room that had been hewn from the rock. The floor was covered with dirt and straw. It was warm on the bottom of Kek's feet, but the smell was bitter and overwhelmed his sensitive nose. It came along with the scent of the different types of creatures that lived there.
There were low, waist-high walls running in grid pattern all the way up and down the giant room. They formed pens with fences. There were pathways going between these pens, and inside were many different varieties of eggs and strange cocoons.
“This is the hatchery,” whispered Faye. “I don't see any guardians, but let's assume they’re somewhere nearby. See in the center of the room where the chimney looking thing goes from the floor to the wall? That should be a narrow staircase that will lead us the lower levels of the spawn zone.”
Kek could hardly stand the smell and was making it impossible for him to tell if there was anybody coming. He would just have to rely on Faye and focus on staying stealthy. He moved along and wished that he had some better skills for this kind of thing. He got down low to the ground and crawled on all fours. He motioned for Selena to do the same if she found it quite difficult. Just watching her bend down like that made him feel a tightness in his pants that he would be embarrassed to admit to.
They moved along, and there was nothing to stop them. The three of them went to the stairway in the center
of the very large room, and the kobold went ahead and began climbing down. This was going to be easier than he had thought.
He could see another opening below him, but he assumed that they should descend as far as possible to avoid the other levels of the spawn zone. They passed the next level, and there was the definite sound of children at play. At least, the sound of evil minions who happened to be young, not really the types of creatures he associated with babies and children. It sounded more like a petting zoo full of dangerous animals.
When Faye didn't stop him, he assumed that it was right to continue. There was another level, and he could hear many large footsteps in this area. There was also the sound of the equipment as a people were training or making things. He desperately wanted more information about this, but didn't want to risk being caught by speaking. If he could get a skill that would tell him more about things that he saw, it would be great. Only having things labeled in his field of vision and getting some basic statistics and health points of hostile opponents was already starting to frustrate to him—it just wasn’t enough information to often be useful. But he tried to remain patient, hoping his power would continue to grow.
They continued until they had gone four levels lower. Kek let out a big sigh as he brought his foot down toward the last five steps of the narrow stairway. It was so narrow that it was more like a ladder, really. Just as he was about to start celebrating, he stepped on something. Looking down at his feet, he realized that he had stepped on the head of something. Was that a guardian?
Whatever it was it let out a roar and started swatting above his head to get rid of whatever had landed there. Kek tried to scramble back up the steps, but Selena was right behind him. He grabbed onto her perfectly carved ankle instead, and it startled her. She kicked away from him, as she probably assumed something else was grabbing her. She hadn't been looking directly down, but focusing on maintaining balance on the steps just as Kek had been. Faye just flew like she always did.
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