by D. R. Rosier
For a moment, I even considered that it might be better that way, did I really want to be a dungeon? No, I didn’t, but it was what I was now, and it was also the only path I had for revenge. I had very little choice but to move forward.
The reason I was so screwed was that my options were extremely limited. It was a chicken and egg conundrum. In order to safely free myself, I needed to gain in power, I wasn’t strong enough yet to take the risk. Conversely, I needed to be free to start accumulating power, it seemed obvious to me with the spells controlling me my dungeon was very static. I don’t know how long, but I was clearly at the stage I’d gathered enough power to expand several levels, and just as obviously hadn’t. If I expanded to gain power, then the church would know.
Worse, I had no idea how long I’d been enslaved there in my dungeon crystal. It could have been years, centuries, or millennia, I had no idea of anything. That tied my hands further, I had no idea of the current capabilities of the enemy.
I was also quite limited, the only thing I seemed to know how to create was a few weak undead, even the undead knights were relatively weak, and I could summon elementals of fire or earth. There was a chance I might be able to create golems as well, I was taught those spells long ago, and it should be even easier as a dungeon, but it would take time, experimentation, and effort.
That was it, I could also build traps of course, but again I couldn’t change anything or expand even if I had more options, because they’d find out. Objects I was a little better off, I had all the basic rewards already that I’d seen in dungeons, at least the weapons and equipment, and I knew all about enchanting. Of course, potion herbs and stuff like that I had no idea on either, that was a pure task of creating life, if at the flora level.
Not that the rewards currently set were worth a damn either, but then I figured the church didn’t want their people getting rich in training maybe? Clearly, I’d been enslaved and turned into a training tool, nothing more, nothing less.
I really had no idea what to do, outside of gathering information. I felt like a puppet. The rage at my captors grew as I mourned my previous life, and it was an impotent rage. I would need to be patient, but every single time my energy surged to re-spawn the undead taken out by paladins and clerics I felt a surge of anger and deep frustration. It was a constant reminder of my helplessness and unbearable situation.
One other thing I’d figured out, I was definitely a low-danger training tool for the church, I estimated my six levels encompassed initiate to adept level challenges. So far, I hadn’t felt anyone in the dungeon besides the paladins and clerics of the church of light. There were no warriors, and no mages within me. That was boggling, where was the adventurer’s guild? Had the church kicked them out of Nysten entirely, or just out of this dungeon?
I had so many questions, and very little to no answers.
Lastly, I was the son of god’s avatar, and my mother had been dark creature of the lower planes, a demoness. Despite that, my conception and birth had been on the mortal plane, which gave me a mortal soul, no matter what my parents had been, dark creatures of the lower and upper planes or not. My life force was the life force of a human, or a true dungeon now. Sure, I’d had perks, I was able to wield three of the six spheres, which had made me a three-sphere dungeon. I’d also been able to surpass the master levels, or I would have been able to with my birth body, but I’d never gotten that far in my training, I was a master level three at best and still relatively young when I was taken down.
My knowledge had been higher, but my power and control had been level three.
Point being, I was a dungeon now, and unlike my father’s history I would not be able to regain a body, not without a god’s help at any rate. That wouldn’t happen either though, it was against the rules. My will also wasn’t a god’s, so outside of my dungeon aura I couldn’t go anywhere. At best, I might someday be able to create a human body to control and inhabit, much like I could take over any of the created and summoned mobs in the dungeon, but even if I did that, the body could never leave my dungeon’s aura, or I’d lose control of it.
Long story short, I was stuck, this was my life now. At best, if I tired of it I could escape this world completely, and then move on to the next life as my mortal soul passes on. Assuming of course, I could free myself without the spells attached destroying the crystal and my immortal soul before I could move on. Even that was a gamble. I didn’t like that idea, at least, not until I’d gotten my revenge for church of light’s betrayal and usurpation of power in Nysten and Jennesar.
I wouldn’t just roll over and die, the bastards would pay for their perfidy. Problem was, I had no idea whatsoever how I was going to make that happen…
A small swirl of shadows in the corner caught my attention, and I focused on it. There was no hiding from me in the dungeon, it was my own body, and I knew and felt everything in it. The crystal was my heart, mind, and magic, while the rooms and corridors were the rest of my body.
It was a dungeon imp. At first look I thought it might be my mother, but as I took in the features I realize she wasn’t. She had straight jet-black hair that shimmered in the dim light and looked like a waterfall of liquid midnight. Her eyes were green, flecked with red which marked her as a demon. Her face exquisitely beautiful, with pronounced cheekbones that put her beauty on the edge of severe, but not quite. Her wings were inky black, and tucked behind her back, her body like most demons was waspish in appearance. Very large perfectly pert and rounded breasts, impossibly thin waist, and then flaring out to her generous hips.
Of course, she was also a foot tall, but proportionally she was all sinful curves and supple firm flesh. She was wearing a barely there dress that seemed to struggle to hide all the girl parts, and had purple and pink strips died in her hair. I thought that last rather odd, but I couldn’t deny she was attractive.
Not that I cared, I no longer had a dick, and I was in mourning for my mate. I was a tiny black gem for goodness sake. Still, the view was very nice. Lusciously sinful in fact.
I spun out a thread of dark magic, a light communication link, and sent it in her direction. That was interesting, as a dungeon any spells I cast had to be formed directly, no mouth to cast. I supposed it was a good thing I was familiar with the base forms and configurations of magic. Once the spell was active between her and I, I could send her my thoughts as speech. Only the ones I wanted her to hear, and vice versa.
“Hello gorgeous.”
She squeaked and hopped straight up at least a foot, jumping her own height in shocked surprise.
When she landed, she blushed a deep scarlet, and then narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms under her chest. Which… pushed her chest up and out in alluring ways.
“You’re aware?” she sounded stunned.
“Yes?”
She tilted her head, and then walked over to study the glyphs on the marble bier I rested upon.
“Hmm, when did that happen? Looks like you’re still enslaved, but the glyphs that put your mind to sleep aren’t there anymore.”
I replied, “A few hours ago. What are you doing here?”
She scowled, “Just got back from vacation! The hair salons and massage parlors are awesome. I got an epi and pedi too!”
She pushed her hand closer to my crystal, and lifted a foot over her head, as if she needed to do that? Her nails were painted crimson red.
I replied, “Very nice…. Umm, hair salons?”
She waved a hand, “Other reality, not important. Some foolish mortal summoned me there, so I took advantage. Anyway, what were we talking about?”
If I’d still had teeth, I would have ground them together.
“Me being enslaved, and how you’re going to help me figure out how to fix it. Hey, what’s your name anyway, I’m…”
She waved a hand, “Narian, I know, everyone knows. Tough break. I’m Astrith.”
I frowned, on the inside.
“What do you mean, you know?”
; She shrugged, and her wings rose with her shoulders, then she tilted her head and gave me a cute smile.
“Well, Ebony might’ve mentioned it, to umm, everyone. Us imps stick together, and share everything you know. Wait! Do you like the dress? They call them micro dresses, for something called clubbing. I’m not sure exactly what that is, but I don’t think it’s people getting beaten with clubs.”
Great, I had to have the craziest imp ever show up in my dungeon. I was also confused, my mother knew that I was alive? Why the fuck hadn’t they gotten me out of here, had my family abandoned me?
“You look luscious. Beautiful, tasty, and very tempting. Now could we talk about…”
She interrupted me again, with a loud girlish squeal, “Thank you! I wondered if it was too much, too much skin you know? I’m not that kind of imp, but they were all like…” she trailed off.
She blushed, “Sorry, umm, so you want me as your dungeon imp? I was kind of assigned by the rest to check in with you every once in a while, to make sure you were still around and see if you ever woke up. I’d love the job, umm, if you want me?” she asked at the end in a cutesy but unsure voice.
Silence.
She tilted her head, but I was still thinking about it, I wasn’t sure if she’d help me, or drive me insane.
“Umm, first, why didn’t anyone break me out?”
She frowned, “Too dangerous from the outside, the glyph spell forms would crush you like a bug. Someone obviously did something though, if you’re awake.”
“How long has it been?”
She cocked her hip, and then started to twirl her hair as she tilted her head and looked up in thought. It was both annoying and disturbingly sexy at the same time.
“Two thousand years? I think. Time kind of flies.”
My mind didn’t like that at all, and I felt a rage wash over me as the damned spells drew more energy from me to replenish all the skeletons on level one. Some asshole had gone to town.
I asked, “Can you help me? I need stuff to grow, I also need to figure out how to grow without tipping off the church.”
She nodded slowly, “Sure, of course. I can bring you samples of stuff, dead animals, all that so you can learn to create new stuff. Oh! I have things now, and if you can make more of them for me I’ll love you forever. Ooh, wait!”
She reached between her overly bountiful bouncing breasts and pulled out a small container and placed it on the ground.
“What is it?” I asked, as I sampled it’s chemical and molecular structure.
She grinned, “Red nail polish, of course.”
Right, crimson nail paint. I’d have taken a deep breath, if I had a mouth or lungs.
She grinned, “Alright, I promise to guide you and serve you faithfully, in all things. I’ll never lie or even mislead you in any way, and all that stuff. It’s the least I can do for the son of a friend, you know? We’re going to be great friends!”
I had a bad feeling I’d regret it, but I really was out of ideas, and I needed help to get out from under the thumb of the church of light. I also wondered what she’d meant by all things, she’d stressed it pretty hard. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said she was flirting with me.
“And I promise never to harm you, or to allow you to be harmed by my dungeon’s denizens.”
She clapped, and then jumped up and down as the communication link between us thickened, and it became an unbreakable bond between our souls. She was my dungeon imp now, for good or ill. The way her breasts were bouncing with her jumps might’ve given me brain freeze back when I’d had a body and libido. She truly was an exquisitely beautiful and luscious creature.
Then her eyes widened, and tears started to run down her face.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, “Nothing… I’m just…. so happy. I won’t let you down!”
I said, “Right, glad to hear it. Now, what can we do about this? I’m stuck, I can escape, but I need more power first, so I don’t just get enslaved again right away. The problem is I can’t get more power without growing, and if I grow the humans will notice.”
She smiled, “I think I have an idea. After all, I’ve considered that very thing once or twice the last thousand years or so, while you were sleeping. I couldn’t help but wonder, you know? Everyone said it was too dangerous, that it’d be safer for your soul if we just let the church of light die out before rescuing you. Hey, did you really mean that? You like my hair?”
“Yes, you’re stunning Astrith, now focus my beautiful imp, what’s the idea?”
I figured a little flattery wouldn’t go amiss if it got her to focus, it also helped that it was the absolute truth. She was… gorgeous.
She said, “Well, one, I’ll bring you lots of stuff. Two, you need to expand. Three, we kick ass.”
“Right, I said that already, the second one, but if I expand the humans will catch me at it.”
She nodded, “Right, if they find out. But you can expand your aura down, and build three more levels, and plan them out. Work on the stuff I bring you to create new and interesting monsters to live there. That will let you absorb more power from the new levels, as your creatures absorb power so will you, and they won’t be an expense once you create them because they’ll never need to re-spawn.
“The trick is to leave it all disconnected. They won’t be official levels, just testing levels, until you move your crystal down to the new bottom floor. As long as your crystal stays here, there are no rules you have to attach the new levels. Then once you’re bloated with power again, you can build three more, then rinse and repeat. Wait, that’s for shampoo, but you know what I mean, right?”
She tilted her head, and her eyes were filled with sincerity. She was… absolutely adorable and sexy, and I’d never admit it to her.
She was also right, except for one more problem.
“Right, but these spells monitor my strength, if I start to grow too large it will notify them, even if they don’t notice me building three new floors, or six or nine, right under their nose.”
She shook her head, “Yeah, the trick there is not to let your life force get too large, don’t let it ever reach your new full potential, every time it gets to where it is now, you need to build more below us. Then, when you’re ready to make your move, allow it to grow until it trips the alarm, then blow out the controlling magic and move us down to the bottom level. If you do it right, we could have twenty levels or so of protection.”
“Alright, I don’t have any better ideas. I’ll also revamp the first six levels, the bastards in the church did a crappy job, the level jumps are too large, and I bet it smells like rotting dead up there with the bad air circulation. Of course, I won’t implement any of it until we make our move.”
She said, “Great! I’ll get to work, and you’re right, it does smell like old socks down here. Unless, is there anything else you need before I go?”
She looked hopeful, and she was giving me an artful sultry look through her eyelashes, but I had no idea what she expected. It almost looked like she was flirting with me, but she did know I was a stone right? Not to mention mourning my mate.
“Umm, nothing for now? Do you have any requests?”
She bit her lip, “I’m good,” she said, and then sighed in disappointment.
Before I could order her to tell me what was wrong, she disappeared in a swirl of shadows.
That was curious, I didn’t know dungeon imps knew that spell, the teleport spell. Unless, my mother shared that information for some reason, I knew my father taught her that one, because she’s the one that taught me and told me about it.
It also occurred to me I’d forgotten to ask her about my enemies, and the world above. I knew very little, even less than I thought if two thousand years had truly passed. One thing was undeniable, the enemy was the church, but the ones that did this to me had escaped justice through death, long ago.
I’d have to settle for taking down the church of light, if I cou
ld figure out how.
While I waited for Astrith to return, I started to revamp the first six levels, at least in my mind. The first thing I did was design air enchantments to clean up the stench, the glyphs would be embedded into the very walls, past the surface so they couldn’t be seen. I wouldn’t be able to power them personally, but I could create a crystal matrix that would slowly gather the ambient air magic, and eventually turn the enchantment on and keep it powered. Only the ambient fire, dark and earth magic was higher in my dungeon, but even a normal amount of air magic was more than enough to power such a simple enchantment.
Secondly, I created a workroom that was completely separate from the dungeon, a room with no doors, entrances, or exits of any kind. I created a skeleton with dark magic, and then experimented, slowly feeding it earth magic, and a tiny bit of fire. It took me several tries before I was satisfied it would be deadlier than a normal skeleton, able to stand toe to toe with an apprentice.
I did it again with a zombie, and then an undead knight. The knight however, I changed even more. I put a hidden enchantment inside its skull, to increase its awareness. That took light magic, which meant I couldn’t put it there myself, just the enchantment glyphs. All it required was a small spark of light magic, so I add a microscopic crystal that would absorb light magic and route it to the enchantment. I doubted the adventurers would even be able to find a crystal that small, nor would they find the enchantment itself which was scribed beneath the surface of the skull.
Lastly for the first three levels, I created undead mages, which also required a spark of light magic. That took me a long time, because I had to reinvent how to do it. There was a powerful source of light magic nearby, so absorbing enough of it wasn’t a problem, but when first created without that spark the whole mage part of things failed. It took me a while, but I eventually figured out I needed to create the skeleton first with the light enchantment, without imbuing dark magic. Once the light magic was charged, then I could finish the imbuing process with dark and earth magic, and the skeleton mage would awaken.