by Dante King
I kicked up a scimitar from the ground and took it in my left hand. Then I moved toward Ralph, but before I could reach him, he finally scored a blow on Bertha. His sword punctured her abdomen and ripped through her flesh. She gasped as blood jetted from her mouth and onto Ralph. Again, the fucker licked his lips, but I wouldn’t let him enjoy the taste.
Bertha collapsed to the ground before Ralph wrenched his weapon from her gut. Her eyes meet mine, and she nodded as her hands found the wound and applied pressure to it,
Ralph stalked toward me with a blade in each hand as he walked over the bodies of his fellow pirates. He looked insane. Too much Infernal Essence was bathing his body and mind, feeding him power that he didn’t deserve.
“I told you, demon,” he laughed. “You will fall.”
I spun the two blades I held in my hands, testing the weight of my new scimitar. I couldn’t pinpoint its enchantment without my core’s senses, and a box hadn’t appeared in my mind. I figured that part of my power was locked off, just like my ability to manipulate my dungeon and craft traps. It didn’t matter—I could feel the scimitar’s power. It fed a bloody rage inside me, coiled and thorned, and filled my mind with hunger. I wanted to rip the entire world apart and fucking drink it dry.
My lips peeled into a smile as I realized the perfect method of executing Ralph. I would enthrall his weakened mind and force him to kneel before I cut off his head. A little barbaric, sure, but it would be a first for me .
Ralph charged, and his blades clashed against mine, but he didn’t take his eyes from mine. He pressed forward, and I parried his blows, instinct and elven agility protecting me from his overwhelming strength. His rage wasn’t dying, but it was becoming more focused. And, despite the maelstrom of power in his veins, he was reaching a breaking point. Desperation was starting to color his mind, and I waited for him to make a mistake. He thrust forward with is left blade while slashing down with his right, and I allowed the former to penetrate my stomach while dodging the latter. I dropped my weapons as if I was defeated, and Ralph took the bait. He grinned as he drove the blade further into me, but before he could execute me with his other sword, I gripped his head in both hands and stared into his eyes.
My consciousness blasted through my elf’s eyes and into his mind. I grappled with a tide of memories filled with desperation and decades worth of pain. A rope around a tree. An old man who’d made him believe he was worth something.
A notification flared into my vision as the blades fell from his numb fingers.
Charm test . . . Success!
Ralph Kraus the Sand Pirate Chieftain successfully Enthralled!
The human mind wasn’t anything like that of an Infernal Monster. No, they were complex, powerful, and dangerous creatures, with pathways that led to wastelands where shadows walked. I stared into his soul, and, then, as I met with Physical Essence, I reached out to his memories. The most visible and hardest to avoid was the image of a savage elf slaying his friends while he laughed at the murder of a mentor. I rifled through the memories and fumbled a little with this new skill. Two memories suddenly merged together, becoming something completely different than what had originally been inside Ralph’s mind.
Then I realized what power I now wielded. Ralph was totally drenched in essence, blackened veins almost popping from beneath his skin. Could that be the reason why I could manipulate his memories at will?
I stared into his eyes as my mind grappled with the possibilities. An idea came to me, and I smiled.
“Kneel,” I commanded.
Ralph collapsed to his knees and stared up at me, shocked into stillness. He couldn’t so much as move a muscle without my permission. My mind flashed back to Lilith, when I’d tried the same on her. I had his will frozen, completely under my power. Unwittingly, he’d led the Sand Pirates back to me. He’d fed me the Scalpers, his mentor, everything. His rage was justified, in a way, and for a second, I almost felt sorry for him. But here in the Sinarius Realms, it was survival of the fittest. I’d beaten him. He was at my utter mercy.
Bertha’s lifeblood was in danger of flooding through her fingers with every passing second. I needed to fucking think. Then the idea blasted into my mind, like one of Abby’s lightning bolts. So simple. So fucking simple, but perfect.
Ralph would conquer Zagorath.
At least, he’d remember that as the case. He’d remember it as a tough fight, but one wherein he’d ultimately prevailed. The stablehand at my feet had gotten this far on a lie, with an old relic and a man who’d gifted him with an existence far beyond anything he could’ve had before. The Chosen One. Perhaps, perhaps not. But look at what he could do with only the power of belief in himself, even if the power was an illusion. I couldn’t make couldn’t turn him to my side and make him a champion.
Not yet.
But when I grew stronger, I would have another slot, and I wanted to test my abilities on a human. A champion who looked human would certainly serve me well. A champion who bore the tattoos of an adventurer would be even better. While Bertha sported brandings, they were distinct from those of an adventurer. Ralph’s, however, were the real deal.
So I changed his memories.
He saw himself tearing Puck apart and ripping through Bertha, but I removed any trace of Abby from his mind. I wanted no one to know that other essences existed in my dungeon, and with the ability now to manipulate memories, I could ensure no one who left here alive would speak of anything without my permission.
Then I reached into a far more complex aspect of his mind, and went to work manipulating his memories. The process was almost like consuming Physical Essence and reworking it into a decorated dungeon, and it took a while until I perfected the sequence. Finally, I inserted a mantra that would repeat subsciously whenever he went to sleep.
My name is Ralph Kraus. I will forget Alaxon. I do not even know the name. I will forever be in the dungeon’s debt. Never will I act against the interests of Zagorath. The dungeon gave me life, and I will protect it until my dying breath.
“Get up,” I told him. “Strip off your armor. Leave your rings and your equipment on the floor. Take up the sword to your left and leave my dungeon.”
The replica of the Dark Reaper lay on the ground beside a pirate’s corpse. Ralph’s eyes seemed to brighten upon looking at the sword, and I wondered whether I’d changed his memories enough. Even if he somehow broke free of them and returned to my dungeon, he would pose no threat. I had touched his mind once before, and I could do it again with ease.
“Walk, until you’ve reached the edge of Shadow Crag,” I continued. “You will remember nothing of this except what I have placed in your mind.”
Ralph nodded and took the Dark Reaper.
“There is one more thing before you leave,” I said. “You have something of mine. Give me your essence.”
“All of it?” Ralph asked, but it wasn’t in protest—he genuinely wanted to know how much I desired.
“You may keep a little. Only enough Soul Essence to power your tattoos.”
“And what of the Infernal Essence?”
“I want it all. You must be more prudent in the future. Take only as much as you can handle. I can’t have my spy turning rabid.”
“Yes, Master,” Ralph said, and my grin deepened at hearing how subservient he’d become.
He closed his eyes in concentration, and then a flood of essence poured from his tattoo and floated beneath my ceiling. “It is done,” he said in resignation.
“Leave, now,” I said.
Ralph exited through the corridor with memories of the traps, so he didn’t unwittingly trigger them on his way out. I watched him vanish into the hallways of the Pretzels before I returned Von Dominius and my consciousness to my core.
Inside my jewel, I could now siphon Bertha into my fractal surfaces. She entered my core and I immediately went to work healing her. Puck’s consciousness thrummed for release, and Abby touched me with hers but remained silent.
�
�You make me proud, champions,” I said.
“You’d best have one hell of a reward for me, Master,” Bertha said.
“I’d like what she’s having,” Abby added.
I chuckled. “Oh, you’ll have your rewards, never fear.”
“Any chance I could get me one of those, too?” Puck piped up.
“No, Puck,” we all replied at once.
“Is there a reason you spared Ralph?” Bertha asked.
“He’ll be useful in the future. I know it might seem stupid leaving an ambitious enemy alive, but I see something in him.”
“What do you see?” Abby asked.
“Myself. Ralph’s a mirror of me. If I’d been born in this world as a humble stableboy and gifted with an enchanted sword, I would have done exactly as he’s done.”
“Compassion? Is that what compelled you to spare his life?” Abby asked, surprised.
After only a few days, she already knew me so well.
“Not compassion, no. Someone so similar to me is a precious commodity. It was either kill a man who could become my downfall, or spare him so he could join me.”
“Us, you mean,” Bertha corrected.
“Yes. Us. Zagorath.”
Abby tickled me with a tendril of consciousness. “Now what?”
There were dozens of answers to her questions. More evolutions. More minions. More upgrades. And a quest for revenge. Not to mention Lilith.
But there was something more important, greater than all my other plans. I needed more dungeon cores by my side. I couldn’t expect the others to fall into my lap as Abby had done, so I needed a little ingenuity.
I had the perfect idea, and Ralph Kraus might actually be the key to its success.
“Now,” I told my champions, “we become adventurers.”
End of Book 1
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Acknowledgments
Monster Core wouldn’t have been written without the support and feedback I received from readers on Royal Road. I’d like to thank them all for their great help.
Trey Kirkpatrick
AZombieWizard
GalacticTNT
Lord Vile
Mr Poh-tay-toe
Tony B
Wyavern13
Michael Hardisty
Atlantistheepic
Arashi Zaros
Byrdman
Mayouki
Hope9
FatFutureCat
Awake1122
Killashard
Dragonheck
Hamsterdemonlord
Ronnoc
Krølltop
760snows
Angelbless
IronArkOS
BAL
About the Author
Dante King is an author of Men’s Adventure fiction in various flavors. His books involve strong male protagonists who know what they want and do what’s required to get it.
