by Dakota Krout
“Wait, you're not evil are you?” a voice questioned me.
“We’ll talk about evil later. Much later. I’m above you, making sure you don’t try to eat me.” The voice called, echoing slightly, making it hard to pinpoint the exact position it came from.
“No! Nope, not even slightly tasty. I’m a wisp. As in ‘will-of-the’.” The echoing voice assured me.
“Oh boy.” Now that just sounded condescending. “You really are a newborn aren’t you?”
I was cut off as I began speaking. “Yeah got it, you don’t know too many words.”
<...> Really, I had no idea what to say to that.
“Here is the deal. We are going to make a pact, a bond. This is more than an agreement; it is a sharing of power. You need help, and knowledge, and a friend to keep you from going insane. That can be me, if you will allow it.”
<...> Now coy, the voice seemed to be trying to seduce me with gifts. I do like gifts I guess. Really, who doesn’t? I was about to answer when it spoke again.
“You have to agree to give me protection, and Essence. In return, I will do everything I can to make you strong and prosperous. If you die, so do I, because nothing else can give me the Essence I need to survive.” Seemingly frustrated, the voice was talking faster and faster.
“I promise you that it will be worth it. Besides that, Kantor is too far away for me to return to, and no one else is coming to help, or would even want to.” She guaranteed.
“Deal. Here I come.” A bright ball of softly glowing pink energy resolved itself from behind a stone outcropping that had been blocking my view. “Hello tiny dungeon, I am Dani. Do you have a name yet?”
“Well then,” she blatantly ignored my question, “since you are surrounded by calcium, I hereby name you ‘Cal’.”
I shone brighter for a moment to show my happiness. I had a name! A real name, not a description! I suddenly knew the difference! I felt like I was shaking in excitement. Actually, I was shaking? Vibrating really, the water around me moving enough to splash.
“Looks like I got here just in time. Quick Cal, repeat after me! ‘By the agreement we have made, I become your bonded partner’!!” With that pronouncement, and a resounding splash, Dani came down and entered my puddle. I followed her instructions, repeating her word for word. As I did, a beam of blue light shot out of me and a beam of pink from her.
As they touched, they fused into a beautiful light, which traveled along a shimmering path in the air that connected both of us. The fused pink-blue light entered her, filling her with light and energy. A blue blot formed in her body, surrounded by her natural pink coloration. Now the glow coming off of her was a light purple, and far more intense, lighting up the air around her. The beam entered me as well, and I became a darker blue, nearly violet. I lost a lot of energy, the vibration subsiding as the link was formed.
“That was us joining, forming a bond. I can’t believe you came so close to self-destructing! Have you never used your Essence before?” Dani’s color darkened with her being cross.
“Really? Well maybe that explains why I am purple now.” She blew out a long sigh. “Essence is… complicated. The real name of it is ‘Quintessence’, but that is a mouthful so it is usually shortened. It is the fundamental energy of the universe, the pure power of heavens and earth that is used by the basic elements to become… everything. Rocks turn it into earth Essence, water into water Essence, though both are impure forms.
Cultivating is the process of absorbing Essence from the Heaven and the Earth around you. It is a part of all things, and all things are a part of it. The purer you can refine it, the closer it becomes to the true form of Essence.” She quieted for a moment, overcome by some far away memory. “Also, if the accumulated Essence you have is the purest possible, it is better for the both of us. It will make us stronger, healthier, and smarter. The Essence you are holding is really pure, so you must have cultivated all you could from that water before refining it; until it became too dense for your Core. Good job so far!” She ended the topic on a cheerful note.
“Yes, you are a blue Core, so you cultivate Essence from water.” She explained almost condescendingly.
I was inspecting the water for food, but only saw my light.
“...” She appeared to be trying to speak.
“Then where did you pull Essence from?” She was really demanding. Was this bond really worth this scrutiny?
“That shouldn’t be possible… At this level, you can only cultivate from the element you are attuned to. Show me?” She forced herself to ask politely.
I was hungry. The joining had drained a lot of my energy, at least as much as the moss had given me. The moss! I was mentally drooling as I thought of the exquisite food, no, um, Essence that it contained.
“The moss, huh? Sure.” She flew over to the moss, and instead of pouring the water onto it, she blew it over ALL of the moss as a mist!!
“What?!” She yelped, “Did I hurt you?”
“Oh.” She sighed softly. “You scared me there.”
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“That is what I’m here for Cal.” She gracefully accepted my compliment.
“Go for it.” She laughed, watching me closely.
I reached out for the veritable feast before me and started pulling in energy. Dani watched in amazement the entire time. Pulling from so many different groups of moss, I was again vibrating, much less than before, but still.
“Wow! But that corruption is really thick in you. Must be a side effect of pulling from an unattuned source.” Dani gave a frustrated sigh, “Drat, you had such pure Essence when I got here.”
“No. Freaking. Way!!” She zoomed in for a closer look, making me feel a bit awkward, why was she so giddy over me eating?
“You just got rid of your own corruption?! That’s not...” She started accusingly.
Trying and failing to come up with a good response to this, she conceded the point with a bit of ill grace. “Fair enough,” she mumbled. “Are you already full again?”
“Not what I mean, you glutton.” She laughed, “I mean, we just joined, you should be low on power for weeks! If you are already full, that just means good things for the both of us in the future. You can pull power from multiple sources, we should really see what all is doable. But that comes later. First, let’s get you an upgrade.”
“No, an upgrade for you, silly rock! Look, you are a dungeon Core. You grow your dungeon around your Core by releasing Essence in a way unique to dungeons, called influence,” she explained, gaining my rapt attention.
There were things only dungeons could do?
She continued, basking in my undivided attention. “We need to spread your influence about as much as we can, then, when something is under your influence, you are able to fully understand it. When you fully understand something, you control it absolutely.” She waited for a response.
“Using the Essence you collect you can directly alter the world that is under your influence. Doing so will drain you a bit, so you need to expand slowly, becoming a bigger and more important dungeon. Eventually, people will discover you and come in to explore you, looking for treasure and ways to make themselves stronger.” She explained, shining brightly in her excitement.
“When people come, they bring things in, like weapons, armor, magic, and even animals!! Whatever is left in here you can study, absorbing it and gaining the knowledge of how to make it, use it, control it!” She enthused. “Even when people die, you can absorb them, make copies, and re-animate their bodies as zombies, like a Necromancer does!”
“Cal! Cal! It is ok! I’m sorry, I didn’t know!” Her voice calmed me down, the fear in her voice snapping me out of my fury in an indescribable manner. “How do you even know what a Necromancer is?”
“It’s ok, Cal.” She shakily stated, still quivering slightly. “That actually may be for the best, there is a church that is quite powerful right now that tries very hard to destroy dungeons that have undead or demonic creatures in them. I was just trying to give you a comprehensive idea of what you could do.”
“Yes, but don’t worry too much, usually they prefer to have dungeons stay alive as they are very beneficial to the world.” She soothingly tried to appease me by telling stories of the world, “Flora and fauna alike prosper in areas with high Essence concentration. Plants can use it instead of good soil and sunlight, and animals become much stronger in the presence of Essence.”
“Animals gain Essence from the world mainly just by living their lives, and it makes them stronger over time. Other sentient creatures like Humans, Elves, Dwarves, or even Orcs are able to absorb Essence during meditation.” She paused to let me fantasize about all the creatures I could eventually eat.
“Magical beasts have Beast Cores similar to your gem that grow inside them from birth. Every type of creature absorbs Essence, but can only absorb the type they are suited to, until they are really strong, which can take over a hundred years, roughly. This is why I think you are going to be very popular. The Essence you concentrate has no affinity that I can tell, it’s just… pure Essence.” She was still amazed about that fact. Pure Essence was unheard of, even the best cultivators had some taint.
Dani snapped out of her reverie, “It means everything can thrive in your area of influence if you let it. Plants, animals, Beasts, and creatures of light and shadow.”
“Having really pure Essence with no affinity should be very good, I think. Heck, wars may be fought over the right to explore here! I am a lucky wisp!” Dani gleefully exclaimed, flying in a spiral pattern. “Also, I am emphasizing it because Beasts are different from animals, they have gained awareness and can use Essence, becoming far stronger and much more intelligent than their original animalistic counterparts.”
Dani launched into another lecture, “Well, we start with an upgrade! Here are a few basics first though. There are many different levels of Essence cultivation. Starting with the lowest, we have G, F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, Heavenly, and Godly. Each rank has ten levels within it. The lowest being zero and the highest at nine. When I got here, you were at G-zero, which is basic life with only the instinct to eat.” She chuckled at that, I had progressed far in intelligence since then. “After making the deal with me you moved to G-rank one, which opens the way for more complex actions and thought. You have enough power already to move to G-rank two, which lets you begin to grow your power and use your own influence intentionally.”
“Remember those spikes poking out of you? Can you do that without being really mad?” Yup, definitely being condesc
ending.
I tried, but couldn’t make anything happen.
“You made it with your Essence. If you have absorbed it in the past, you can make it with your Essence. Another ability unique to dungeons.” She showed off her knowledge once again.
“Upgrade first.” She was firm on that point.
Well, poo. I thought flattery would do it.
She seemed appreciative of my work ethic. “Get as full of energy as you can, then I’ll guide you through the process.”
Following her instructions, I cultivated and ate - no, I refined! - the plant's energy until I was shaking dangerously again.
“It’s ok Cal, focus on your crystal. Do you feel the flaws in the gem? There are a few perfect parts where your facets are smooth and sharp, without cracks or discoloration.” Dani quickly and calmly coached me, “Feel those, find how it is that they bind perfectly whereas the other spots are rough or malformed. Now smooth those bad patches so that they are correctly formed. Try to make your Core as flawless as possible. Focus now, but don’t rush it.”
It was amazing. As she guided me I could feel exactly what she meant, and suddenly perfectly understood the body I was now in. Why had I never tried to understand myself before? I guess it was just not something a normal mind would do. The basic structure of my Core consisted of carbon, but was reinforced by the Essence that I had refined to its most pure form. Only the center of my Core was truly perfect and I could see that my mind resided within in that perfect structure. From this perfect facet I got the blueprints of how my Core needed to be restructured and started applying pressure to the poorly formed outer carbon bonds.
“Careful now, not all at once or you may shatter yourself.” Dani murmured, trying not to break my focus.
*Click*
A small patch of perfectly bonded carbon molecules formed.