Tacca received the location of her newest Placement and sure enough, it appeared to be exactly as the Council Member had described. It was a very small space with no discernable exits and looked exactly how initial dungeons were described to her during her schooling. It was obvious that nothing had been done to it yet…but hopefully with enough patience she’d be able to change that.
She walked out of the Lead Placement Council Member’s office with a small smile on her lips.
* * *
Lily MageDaisy watched as the black-haired, pale-faced Fairy walked out of her office. As she closed the door behind her, the Lead Placement Council Member couldn’t help but smile at how effective the Council’s strategy had been so far.
While some might consider omens and portentous births to be superstitious, everyone on the Council knew exactly how real it was. Not being one to waste an opportunity when it came along, they took advantage of the horrendous “bad luck” that Tacca GloomLily brought with her as she graduated from DAPS. It wasn’t until word had come to them of the disastrous Mentoring program that they discovered exactly what form the “bad luck” would come in; from the first few experiments in subsequent Placements, they had deduced that it somehow related to the destruction of Dungeon Cores.
Obviously, that would normally be a bad thing. If just by having a specific Dungeon Assistant nearby would hasten a Core’s destruction, that of course that would run counter to what the DPRC stood for: Assisting and developing Dungeon Cores to become more powerful, while keeping them from being destroyed by following the rules. Dungeon Assistant Fairies had been occupying those positions for longer than Lily had been alive – and she was quite old at that point – as well as everyone else on the Council, and deliberately destroying a Core ran counter to their purpose.
Except…there were some Dungeon Cores that needed to be removed.
It was unknown outside of the Council’s inner circle that their whole profession had another purpose – to maintain the stability of their and others’ worlds. Dungeon Cores and Raiders, when operating in harmony, helped to regulate the vast primordial forces that each world constantly created; as both Cores and Raiders got stronger, the more in balance everything became.
Of course, the opposite was true; if a Dungeon Core flaunted the rules and regulations set upon them, it would disrupt that harmony, sending ripples through the entire system. Rogue Cores that killed every Raider that entered, sent their creatures outside of their dungeon, didn’t provide rewards, or any number of other violations would negatively impact local Raider economy and population. The steady attrition of Raiders through their “fair and normal” deaths was the main way that the intelligent races that invaded the dungeons were kept in balance.
Dungeons that specifically flaunted the rules weren’t very common and were usually sorted out “naturally” over time with their eventual destruction because of those actions. However, these actions still caused ripples throughout the populace, which made Assisting Cores increasingly harder. More than one world had been destroyed when the balance had gotten out of control and couldn’t be reined in. Overpowered Cores that had been around for thousands of years could also upset the delicate balance by becoming too strong, though that issue already took care of itself over time.
Luckily, with the introduction of Tacca and her portentous “bad luck”, the Council had found a way to eliminate the rogue problem Cores without having to wait years or risking one of their veteran Assistants in a Bond that was sure to be broken eventually. It was a win-win situation as far as Lily was concerned, though it was obviously taking a toll on the poor girl.
What made it worse was that many of the other Assistants had taken to calling her “The Deliverer”, because she delivered only death and destruction wherever she went. It wouldn’t be good to have her knowing her real purpose as sort of an assassin Assistant, which was why Lily thought it was good she was being sent to a Core that was likely to be around for a while. It hadn’t done anything, despite some of their best trying to Bond and get a response from it; the Lead Placement Council Member was confident that it could be months or years before any “bad luck” from outside sources could reach it.
Besides, Tacca had managed to clear their backlog of misbehaving Dungeon Cores, so it could be a while before they needed her “assistance” again. Being stuck underground in a small space with an unresponsive Core was probably the best place to leave her until she was needed.
With that done and pushed to the back of her mind, Lily could finally concentrate on more important matters – like the disturbingly prevalent destruction of Cores that had nothing to do with the Fairy that had just left her office. Though I guess her Mentor may have been the start of it. Tacca’s Mentor and his Core really shouldn’t have been destroyed; from all reports, the Dungeon Core was operating exactly as it should’ve been, and there was no reason to believe that its accompanying dungeon wouldn’t have been around for centuries.
Yet…it had been destroyed, nevertheless.
What she had hoped was an isolated incident, however, was turning into a bit of an epidemic; three other Dungeon Cores of middling power had been destroyed over the last few months, for no discernable reason. Fortunately, their Dungeon Assistants survived because the Cores dissolved the Bonds connecting them before it was too late, so…at least there was that? Their shortage of Assistants was at least getting better, but now the balance that she was thinking about earlier was starting to shift in favor of the Raiders. That rarely happened, but it wasn’t unheard of; it usually occurred temporarily when a particularly powerful Dungeon Core was destroyed, but it also worked itself out within a couple of decades as other Cores grew stronger.
This situation, however, was disconcerting. If it didn’t stop happening soon, then the balance could tip too far in one direction and it would be difficult to correct it; regulating Dungeon Cores was within her purview and it was relatively easy to fix things on this side of the equation, but she had no control over what the Raiders did.
At least Tacca has been shunted away somewhere safe for now; the last thing we need is her hastening the destruction of any powerful dungeons...
Chapter 8
When Tacca popped into the small space where her new assignment was located, she worried for a moment that the shockwave from her Translocation would accidentally destroy the Core; fortunately, experience had shown her that Dungeon Cores were essentially immune from the effects of her ability, and this was no exception. Of course, the surrounding stone and dirt space encapsulating her new charge was a different matter, and she shook a few small stones loose, causing them to fall and narrowly miss hitting the Core.
Phew…that would’ve taken the record for my shortest assignment.
There wasn’t a lot to the small space – she would barely classify it as a cave – just a roughly ovoid hole approximately 5 feet across in the middle of a bunch of dirt and stones. It was roughly formed, as if whatever had created it had dug it out with a giant fork instead of a large scoop, but otherwise it was fairly consistent in its squashed sphere shape. Right in the middle of the room was the Dungeon Core she was there to Bond with, looking smaller than she’d ever seen one before – and less bright. Even Jeremy, who had practically used every drop of Dungeon Force in his panic to break through to the surface, had glowed with more strength than the one she was looking at, which only confirmed Lily’s information regarding the new Core: it hadn’t activated any of its Dungeon-based systems yet, so it was essentially dormant.
Tacca stared at it as she waited for her Mana to regenerate, which didn’t take long considering that she hadn’t bothered to activate her Repellant Shield or Invisibility; there was nothing to fear as far as she could tell, because the Core’s space was basically closed off from every threat – and it was inactive, so she didn’t have to worry about any unnoticed traps or creatures that might attack her. A few minutes went by as she got the 50 Mana she needed to establish the Bond; as soon as she had it, s
he fluttered her way over – almost an entire foot away – and placed her hands on the strangely cool Dungeon Core.
She activated the Bond and she felt a connection form with the floating crystal-like Core…and almost as soon as it was established it was cut, causing her to rebound backwards in shock. The time between having a Bond and having it dissolved was so quick that it was hard to tell if it actually happened, but she was sure it did; the Core had just reacted so quickly that it was making her head spin.
After deciding to sit back against the nearest wall while she waited for her Fairy Mana to raise enough to try again, she felt an emotion from the Dungeon Core for the first time. It was hard to classify it at first, but what Tacca eventually settled on was the feeling of…indifference. The Core that had so quickly broken the Bond seemed not to care that she was there, and it apparently didn’t want anything to do with her. She waited until she had enough Mana to Bond and tried again – only to end up with the same result.
That’s it – I need a break. Even though having a Bond cut voluntarily by a Core didn’t hurt nearly as much as it did when they were destroyed, it was still shocking and uncomfortable. With her last violent Bond-breaking having been done not too long ago, she was spent; curling up along the floor underneath the Dungeon Core, she laid her head on her hands and closed her eyes.
When she woke up, she didn’t know how long it had been, but it didn’t feel like more than a day. A day, though, was quite a long time to sleep for one of her kind, but she had discovered that she slept slightly longer after each assignment; the breaking of Bonds was so traumatic that it was taking a toll on her body. She stretched as she sat up, and her hand involuntarily touched the Core above her.
It didn’t feel much different than it did before she fell asleep, but the indifferent emotion she had felt was tinged with a slight hint of something else. She thought it might be curiosity, but she couldn’t be entirely sure. Regardless, the change was heartening, as it meant that she might eventually be able to get through to the Dungeon Core…somehow.
That tiny sliver of “curiosity” faded almost immediately, especially when she attempted to Bond again; she was kicked out of the Bond immediately, at the same speed as it happened before she took her lengthy nap. Then she tried again, and then again when her Fairy Mana regenerated, and again and again – she started to lose count of how many times she tried to Bond. Every single time, of course, the connection was severed, and Tacca was starting to become numb to the snapback of the cut connection so that she barely even noticed it any more.
But she didn’t stop; approximately every 10 minutes she tried again with maddening regularity as her Fairy Mana regenerated. She was hoping for some kind of reaction if she kept doing it, though by the time she must’ve Bonded four to five hundred times – with three short naps when she became too exhausted to go on – she started to lose focus from the regular expenditure of her power. In fact, she was so lost in a haze of routine and disappointment that she only realized that something was different a second before she touched the Core again and activated her Bonding ability.
The pure rage and anger coming from the Core and directed towards her was so powerful that she was knocked off of her feet, though not before she completed the Bond.
“Why do you torture me so?! I just wanted to be left alone, to fade into oblivion for my crimes…but NO! You have to come here and do whatever it is you’re doing…looking so like my sister…that this couldn’t be anywhere but Hell. Begone, demon, and torment me no more!”
The Core – a male apparently – screamed at her through their Bond, which made Tacca both surprised and hopeful that she could get through to him even after such a long silence. That, and for the first time since she had arrived, he hadn’t broken off their connection. “I’m not here to torment you. My name is Tacca and I’m here to be your Dungeon Assistant—”
“I don’t care what you call yourself, how dare you wear Hannah’s face! It’s bad enough that I’ll torture myself for all of eternity down here in Hell, but I don’t need to look at her to know it’s my fault she died! If I hadn’t been in such a hurry, if I hadn’t been anxious to get home so I could get back to the football game...then maybe I would’ve seen that truck coming and swerved to avoid it. Why? Why must I remember every single moment of her death so vividly?”
Tacca didn’t know what to say. She had been told that the exact circumstances surrounding the death of the Dungeon Core’s previous life was essentially wiped from their minds, as it would be too traumatic for them. What this Core seemed to be talking about had to have happened before he had died, and he was apparently regretful of the events that led to the death of his sister; she had no idea how to comfort him, but she figured she could at least start some sort of working relationship with him.
“I’m…sorry about your sister, but you’ve been reincarnated into a Dungeon Core and I’m here to help as your Assistant. This isn’t your…Hell, or whatever you called it…this is your new life—”
“No, I don’t believe you! How could I, the one that had caused the death of my only sister, be allowed to live when she isn’t? This is Hell, and you’re a lying demon sent to trick me into believing I might have a chance to repent for my sins!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I can assure you that I’m not a Demon – because they look quite different from me – because I’m a Fairy—” she started to explain but was cut off again. A series of “No’s” and “I’m not listening” filled her mind as she tried to get a word in, but she gave up after about five minutes. Eventually, when she stopped trying to talk, the incessant noise coming from the Core slowed down and eventually stopped. The anger coming from him started to diminish as well, and Tacca started to believe that his temper was starting to normalize – which would lead to being able to reason with him. Ok, I think this can happen…
She was further encouraged when she felt the anger and fury practically disappear from the Core, followed by what she immediately recognized as hope – because she was feeling the same thing. “Are you ready to listen now?”
There was silence for almost a minute as the Core’s – she realized she still didn’t know his name – emotions bounced around wildly, before the “hope” grew so strong that it was almost overwhelming. Something unexpected joined it, though: satisfaction.
“I can see it now. This…connection between us is strange, but wonderful. Do you realize what it can do?”
Her optimism for a successful turn of events was diminished somewhat by what he was saying. First, she had no idea what he was talking about; second, the way he said it sounded…ominous. “Uh…the Bond allows us to communicate and share information, and when it gets stronger and more-established, it—”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about. The connection goes deeper than that, I can feel it reaching down to a fundamental level. If I believed in all that mystical ‘mumbo-jumbo’, I’d say that we’re linked all the way down to our souls.”
Tacca thought for a second, thinking about what he was saying. She had never thought about it that deeply before, but it would certainly explain how painful having a Bond broken was; it was like something was tearing away another part of her soul and left a void in her body, which only really felt complete when she was Bonded again. It also explained why most Fairies died after they were Bonded for a while and their Dungeon Core was destroyed – because that connection was strengthened to a point where it was almost as if they were one, which helped with some of the sharing of responsibilities…and power. It was the reason why Cobalt hadn’t wanted to break the bond before his Core had been shattered, because both of them were much stronger with that Bond than without.
“Ok, I can understand a little of what you’re saying, but what does that have to do with anything?” she asked slowly, trying to figure out where he was going with it. “Maybe we should just start with something simple; for instance, what is your name? Since I already told you mine.”
&
nbsp; “You’re missing the whole point of what I’m trying to say.”
“Then what is the point you’re trying to make?!” she screamed out in frustration. She took a deep breath to calm herself as she was feeling more than a bit dizzy with everything that was happening. This is definitely not how I pictured this going.
“You look just like my little sister when you throw a tantrum like that…which is why I need to do this. After spending so much time looking at my current form and the connection that you – and others like you – had tried to establish, I believe this is the only way; with this, I can ensure I can have a chance of seeing her again in another afterlife to apologize for what I did.”
“What are you talking abo—whoa! What are you doing?” The Bond between them was going crazy; however, instead of it being broken, it seemed to strengthen through some means she couldn’t even pinpoint. She had heard about how strong the connection between an Assistant and a Dungeon Core could be when it was built up over years and years of working with each other, and she imagined that this was what it felt like; however, where those were the result of a natural strengthening, this felt…artificial. If she didn’t know better, she would’ve thought that the Bond was being enhanced by a large helping of Dungeon Force, but that was impossible because since the Core hadn’t even chosen anything, it didn’t really have any Force to use.
“Stop! Don’t do this!” she shouted at the Core as she realized what it must be that she was feeling. There was really only one thing that it could be using to fuel the connection so that it almost felt like they were one entity: his very soul. “Your soul will be destroyed unless you stop now!” Tacca was starting to believe that she had finally found a Dungeon Core that she could actually Assist, instead of just watch be destroyed; now, however, what he was doing was essentially suicide.
The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) Page 8