“Again, it’s not your place to question our decisions. Suffice it to say that her presence is more valuable to us somewhere else for the moment, and that you’ll be placed with a semi-new Dungeon Core that is likely set up for success. Despite what you and everyone else seems to think about Tacca, she’s smarter than almost any other Assistant I’ve ever met, so I can guarantee that she would’ve done her best to develop the Core to the best of her abilities. Of course, that all hinges on the potential that she was able to get it to communicate with her in the first place.”
“Ok, ok – I get it. When do I leave?” Shale was hoping to have a little time off after being prematurely pulled from his Mentor training, even though it hadn’t been that stressful of an experience. The skeletons and zombies in the undead swamp-themed dungeon he had trained in were extremely well set-up by the Dungeon Core there, and Chrys (short for Chrysanthemum) was an excellent Mentor.
He had watched as she gave advice on how to expand the dungeon, and saw how successful the creatures and traps were as they worked together to challenge the Raiders as they invaded; he even was able to perceive the balance that every dungeon was supposed to achieve between danger and reward. That was made clear when three Raiders (who were obviously underpowered for the latter part of the dungeon) died from a combination of a wall-based spike trap and Skeleton Archer ambush.
“Right away, we need Tacca back as soon as possible. You’ll have to have Tacca convince the Core to dissolve her Bond – if there is one – before she leaves, and then you can take over. If it refuses, she can come back here and we’ll be able to do it, but it’ll be much easier and faster if she’s able to have it done herself.”
So, no vacation and I have to convince another Assistant to have her Bond broken with a Core she probably worked hard to even communicate with her in the first place. This is going to be fun. There was no point in arguing, so he told Lily that he would do it and mentally received his visual of the place he was going; from what he understood, the information was less like an actual “picture” of the place and more of a representation of how it looked from the viewpoint of the Dungeon Core. Shale wasn’t an expert or anything, but this one appeared strange with a weird-looking stone hump on the floor of the Core Room.
Whatever – let’s just get this over with. He wasn’t enthused about talking with Tacca, especially if he had to convince her to return to the DPRC for another placement; he’d do it, though, because that was his job and he wasn’t in any position to do anything about it, anyway. Lily walked him out and he immediately took off from the Council Headquarters, flying high up into the air before activating his Translocation Ability. It took most of his Fairy Mana, because as much as the Mentor training had been helpful and informative, he couldn’t actually Bond with the Dungeon Core – and therefore didn’t receive any Rank Experience. Even after 10 months, he was essentially still the same as when he had graduated, except for being a little more confident in his future Dungeon Assistant duties.
It didn’t take long for him to arrive in a burst of air to where he was heading, though the whole Translocation process was still a bit disorienting; he’d technically only used it three times now, and while each application of the Ability made it easier, it was still new enough that it took him a few seconds to get his bearings. When he did, he found that he had arrived at the dungeon he was aiming for, and it was obvious that at least something had been done in there – which meant that the Dungeon Core was active. Shale saw hardened stone walls in the circular-shaped space, and he arrived at an angle facing towards a good-sized tunnel leading outward from the Core Room. He couldn’t see what was at the end of the passageway – he assumed it was another room – though there was no time to explore at the moment.
Because he needed to find Tacca and somehow convince her to leave.
Shale looked around the room first, hoping she was there waiting for him, so that his duty could be done quickly. Of course, she isn’t here – making this a bit harder. I guess I’m going to have to explore anyway to find her. He wasn’t opposed to that – especially if he was going to be taking over the duties as Dungeon Assistant there – but the less time he spent in the vicinity of The Deliverer, the better.
“Tacca? Are you here?” he asked inside the Core Room, hoping she was just outside so that he didn’t have to go far to find her. He didn’t hear anything, but he felt a strong emotion of surprise and what he thought might be worry coming from behind him, before it abruptly ceased altogether. Turning around, Shale saw the Dungeon Core floating in the middle of the room, glowing brightly with what he now knew meant that it was completely full of Dungeon Force. The Core looked about what he expected, though something caught his attention when he went to turn away.
There were some small, hair-thin fractures along the outside of the Core’s glass-like form, which he’d never heard of before. Sure, he’d learned that Dungeon Cores were relatively fragile and could be broken easily, but usually if they were damaged it was because some Raiders did the deed – and if Raiders were close enough to do that, then why they didn’t finish the process was a mystery. Some forgotten memory of learning about cracks in a Core flashed through his mind from his schooling, but he had to admit that he hadn’t been paying too much attention at the time, so the thought flitted away before it actually told him anything.
I wonder how those cracks happened? He flew a little closer and examined them from a better vantagepoint, but he immediately felt some sort of complex emotion coming from the Core that he couldn’t identify – so he backed off. Whatever, I guess I’ll find out later. He looked around the room again and sighed heavily, not seeing anything that would indicate that The Deliverer was near. “I guess I’ll have to go look for her, then—” he said out loud, before something caught his eye.
The weird hump on the floor began to change; Shale recognized the appearance of Dungeon Force at work on it, as the hardened stone began to melt and disappear. It wasn’t long before he determined that the hump wasn’t solid but was actually some sort of dome or bubble containing something underneath. He immediately activated his Invisibility and Repellant Shield, berating himself that he hadn’t done it as soon as he arrived; he was so used to the undead dungeon he had trained in that he hadn’t needed to really activate them in months, so it wasn’t quite routine for him yet.
Shale was expecting some sort of trap to go off or a creature to emerge, but a few minutes later he was proven wrong. It wasn’t either of those…it was the corpse of a Fairy – and one whom he immediately recognized.
Tacca GloomLily, The Deliverer, was dead.
He froze for what felt like an eternity, waiting for the corpse to magically arise in death as his experience in the undead dungeon was influencing his expectations. When she didn’t move, he fluttered a little closer and saw that the young Fairy had obviously been dead a long time, based on her appearance. He hadn’t seen a lot of dead bodies – the three Raiders notwithstanding – but some instinct told him that she had been that way for…weeks, if not months.
“What happened?” he asked, looking towards the Core – though he wasn’t expecting any type of answer. There were no words, but there was a feeling of deep sadness that emanated from the floating orb, conveying regret and…relief, for some reason. Shale wasn’t exactly sure what that was supposed to mean, but he knew he had to get back to the DPRC and report what he found.
His Fairy Mana was still regenerating, so he had to wait a few moments while he stared at the corpse lying on the floor of the Core Room. Confused thoughts ran through his head as he tried to make sense of what he was looking at, before he looked around in a panic. Did the Dungeon Core do this to her? Will it try to kill me as well? Shale didn’t see any visible wounds on Tacca’s body, so it was doubtful she died from a creature attacking her or from some sort of trap – which he didn’t see any of in the Core Room – so the only explanation he could come up was a direct attack from the Core.
How that worked, he had
no idea; then again, he was still new and didn’t have a lot of experience, so he thought that it was entirely possible that Dungeon Cores could kill with a thought. The idea of that made him shiver in fright, because he was supposed to Bond with one at some point – this one in particular, even – and now he was extremely reluctant to do that. A few minutes passed as nothing happened, however, and he chastised himself for being paranoid; if Cores could do that, then he was completely sure that he – as well as the other students at DAPS – would’ve been warned of that. Not only that, but his parents (who were Dungeon Assistants themselves) likely would’ve mentioned something as important as that.
Either way, he didn’t want to spend any more time in the dungeon than needed, so as soon as he had enough Fairy Mana he started to activate his Translocation ability…and stopped as he looked at the corpse again. Why…didn’t the Core just absorb her body? Why did it keep her here and basically bury her in its Core Room? If he hadn’t seen it and didn’t find it anywhere in the dungeon, then he would’ve likely assumed she left for some reason…and she would’ve been branded a deserter. Is that why her body is still here? To prove that she died? Or is it here for some perverse reason I don’t even want to contemplate?
Regardless of the real reason, Shale knew he couldn’t leave her there. As disturbing as it was, he flew down and landed next to her body. With just a moment’s hesitation, he picked up her surprisingly light form and immediately activated his Translocation – only to appear above the DPRC moments later. The fact that he was holding a corpse somehow negated any disorientation caused by the Ability (or he was too distracted to notice any), and he immediately flew down to the waiting room.
“Lead Placement Council—” he started to shout, but it was unneeded. Lily opened the hidden door he had left from only minutes before and stared in shock at what he was holding.
“What did you do!? I just told you to send her back – not kill her!” Lily said as she advanced on him in a fury.
“What? No; I found her this way—”
He was saved from trying to defend himself when she got a close look at Tacca’s partly desiccated corpse, marking it as obvious that she had been dead a while. “What happened?”
Shale recounted his own actions, the actions of the Dungeon Core uncovering the body of its Dungeon Assistant, and even what he remembered of the emotions coming from the Core. Lily looked around as if seeing for the first time that they were standing around and talking about all of this in the open, and she had him follow her inside her office, still carrying Tacca’s corpse in his arms. Fortunately, she didn’t smell – he’d heard that dead bodies had an odor – so it was no hassle to bring her into the small space he was led to.
“Put her down…over there.” He complied as he set her down gently in the corner, thankful to have the corpse away from him. As he sat down on the nearby bench at her gesture, he realized his hands were shaking uncontrollably; grasping them together helped, but he was still a little shaken up. It was extremely rare for Fairies – especially Dungeon Assistant Fairies – to die outside of their dungeons, so seeing the deceased body of one in person was more than a shock…and it was starting to become more real to him as time went on.
“Now, I’m extremely confused. I don’t blame you for being a bit unsettled, but there is something strange going on here. There’s no marks on her that would indicate how she died…unless you saw something you didn’t mention before?” When he shook his head, she continued. “Then I’m not sure how she ended up dead. There’s no way that a Dungeon Core could directly do this to her—” the Lead Placement Council Member said, which made Shale thoroughly relieved— “and with no external evidence of anything, her death is a mystery.”
Shale thought the same thing, because the death of a Dungeon Assistant due to anything but a Raider invasion and attack was not only unlikely, but almost impossible – unless the Fairy was an idiot and forgot to employ their Abilities while going through a dungeon. Like he kind of was when he first arrived at the dungeon where Tacca had perished, which made him duck his head in shame. Lily fortunately didn’t notice or ignored it, because she kept going in a bit of a mumble.
“The only explanation I can think of…is that her bad luck finally caught up to her…” She immediately looked at him as if she had forgotten he was there, and he tried to school his features enough that she wouldn’t know he’d heard her. What does that mean? Her bad luck? He knew that her portentous birth meant “bad things”, but he never heard a particular explanation of what those things were supposed to be.
“Anyway, I would like you to go back and Bond with this Core and find out what happened to her. I’m sure this is just some sort of unfortunate fluke, but I won’t rest easy until we know for sure.”
“Are you serious? What if I end up just as dead as The Deliverer?” he couldn’t help but ask, partly hysterical. He had no wish to go back there, and even less desire to actually Bond to the Core that had somehow killed another Dungeon Assistant.
“Her name was Tacca, and yes – I don’t have anyone else I can put to the task for the moment. I’m making this a request because of the danger involved and I’ll be grateful if you could do this for the Council; however, don’t think for a moment that I won’t make it an order if you press me.”
A request or an order – it was essentially the same thing to him, though he’d rather have the Council grateful for his help rather than the alternative. “…how long?” he asked, reluctant, but bowing to the inevitable.
“Just under a year at first, because I don’t want you stuck there any longer than you want to be. It’ll be safer for you, for one, and two – you should be able to find out the information we’re looking for by then. If you decide you want to stay…we’ll talk about it then.”
He knew a dismissal when he heard one, so he got up and left the way he came. Before the door closed to the office, he looked back to see the Lead Placement Council Member staring at Tacca’s dead body with a vexed expression on her face. Shale thought it was odd not to see a hint of sadness in her gaze – it was more like she was angry that something had interfered with her plans. I hope that’s just a one-time thing; I’d hate for her to be angry at me if I end up dead here.
That wasn’t a comforting thought as he flew high above the DPRC Headquarters and activated his Translocation Ability. Not a comforting thought at all.
Chapter 15
The appearance of another Fairy, especially one that she recognized, was thoroughly unexpected. Tacca wasn’t expecting anyone to come check up on her for at least another four to five months, and his appearance shocked her so much that she instinctively froze at his arrival. Her surprise continued when he asked for her by name, so much that she could practically feel her emotions leaking out towards him; therefore, she reined them in before she embarrassed herself.
She knew exactly who Shale IronSchist was from where she went to school. He was one of the few that hadn’t done or said anything to her concerning her portentous origins, though the looks he sometimes threw her way weren’t at all flattering – but he hadn’t done more than that. The – rather handsome – dark-grey-haired Fairy had been a bit of a loner from what she could tell, which made him stand out to her. Most of the other Fairies had been quite sociable and enthusiastic most of the time; Shale, on the other hand, usually stayed by himself and rarely interacted with anyone except on a few rare occasions – not that she was spying on him or anything.
She would’ve expected him to be still within his Mentor training period, which was supposed to last for at least a year…unless something had happened with his Mentor like hers had. She doubted it, though; hers was probably an isolated case, so there were only two explanations she could think of for his presence there. Either he was pulled out early from his training, or she was initially unconscious during the transitional period for far longer than she suspected. Regardless of the real reason, she couldn’t help her mixed emotions from leaking out because of his prese
nce and close proximity – so she did the only thing she could think of: show him her body.
Not in any perverted way, of course; showing the corpse of her former self was meant to distract him and get him to focus on something other than staring at her Core. Well, that, and because she really didn’t want him to fly into her Boss Room and see 99 foxes in different Variants all lounging around. During the process of getting rid of the hardened stone dome around her Fairy body, she absorbed all of her creatures – which took twice as long to do as to create them in the first place. After six minutes, they were all gone, and she received back all of the Dungeon Force used in their creation – though most of it was wasted because she was already nearly full.
She mentally breathed a sigh of relief when he left, though she was watching and waiting every moment for him to come back. She had mixed feelings about whether or not that was a good thing. If there was to be a Dungeon Assistant Bonded to her, she’d rather it be someone like him that she at least knew and that hadn’t been overtly mean to her; on the other hand, the fact that he knew her – and likely knew what her voice sounded like – worried her that he’d somehow put it all together. There was no way she’d be able to disguise her voice, so she just had to hope that he didn’t put it all together.
As she continued her work clearing out the dirt and stone for her dungeon, at the same time Tacca contemplated whether or not she would have enough CIPs by the time the month was up. Anything made previously didn’t contribute to the new countdown period, so even if she hadn’t gotten rid of her Fox Variants, they didn’t really make much difference. The same went for the first room she had made, though the other three recently constructed were already counting towards her goal of 200. That was it, though: she had a grand total of 3 CIPs.
The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) Page 14
