Dungeon Master

by Eric Vall

  “Okay, nighty-night.” Carmedy waved at the fox happily as she bid her good night. A small smile came to the red-headed woman’s lips, and she waved her hand once before she returned her gaze to the sky. Carmedy didn’t seem to be bothered by Rana’s words, or her abrupt departure. Very little seemed to dampen the green-eyed woman’s light-hearted spirit. She whistled a sprightly tune as she cooked another piece of meat in the fire.

  While the other women prepared to go to sleep, my eyes remained on the fox-tailed woman. I watched curiously as her expression gradually shifted from annoyed to wistful. Why had Carmedy’s mention of the sacred objects been such a sensitive topic for her? I didn’t see any harm in Carmedy’s words. I too had heard tales of the sacred objects. Every so often, an adventurer who had ventured into my dungeon spoke of them and their desire to possess them. I did not know what they looked like, or what dungeons they could potentially be in. I wasn’t even sure if they actually existed. But as Carmedy said, anything was possible.

  I mulled over Rana’s strange behavior as I lay back in the grass and began to drift off to sleep. I didn’t know why talk of the sacred objects had caused Rana such distress, but I guessed there was some correlation with the amulet she wanted so badly. I would soon find out why she wanted the item so much, and then I would use the information to help her during our travels. After all, making my minions happy was part of my job as their master.

  Chapter 9

  The next morning, we were greeted by a beautiful day blessed with brilliant sunshine and cool breezes. My sleep had been pure bliss. This had been my first time sleeping outside of my dungeon. Falling asleep under the star-peppered sky instead of a claustrophobic dungeon had been divine, and I awoke feeling fresh and well rested. While still on my back, I yawned and stretched out my limbs on the woolen blanket where I slept. As I extended my arms over my head, my hand brushed against the cold dew-coated grass. The tiny droplets seemed to have brought out the fresh smell of nature, and I inhaled the scent. Experiencing such tranquility was marvelous.

  I spent the next several moments enjoying the morning while the rest of my companions woke up, stretched, and went about their various morning routines. Then our party had a quick meal of meat and bread, and once we were done, we set off with all the haste our party could muster.

  “Hey Rana, are we still headed in the right direction?” Annalíse called to the fox woman over her shoulder after a few minutes of travel. Thus far Annalíse had led our group without the aid of a map, so naturally, I had assumed that she knew the way. Apparently, Rana was the one who was familiar with this area. Why was she not leading the way?

  “Yep,” Rana shouted to Annalíse. “If we continue straight along the current road, we should reach the next dungeon within… oh, about three to four hours.

  This timeframe was suitable for me. It would give me more time to enjoy the magnificent beauty of the nature that surrounded us.

  As I rode atop Xerxes’ back with Carmedy, I felt just as alive as I had yesterday. The wind pushed and pulled the tall grass that stood on either side of the road. White puffy clouds hung lazily in the crisp blue sky and showed no sign of rain. Even if it had rained, I wouldn’t have minded. I would have embraced the rain with open arms. Isolda had loved the rain. A sad smile worked its way onto my face as I recalled the sight of her running out into a downpour. Her action had made little sense to me, but she loved the smell of rain and its cool touch on her skin.

  “Hey, we’re almost there!” Carmedy’s shrill voice interrupted my memories as the small cat-woman pointed to the mouth of a tunnel carved into the side of a grassy hill.

  My sadness faded away, and excitement began to well up inside me. This dungeon was outside of my territory, and it would be the first of many that I would conquer. I couldn’t wait. We tethered our riding animals to some trees in the nearby wood and began to make our way to the dungeon’s entrance.

  “So, you said each dungeon is home to a fallen god, right?” Carmedy cocked her head to one side as we walked.

  “Yes, that is correct.” I nodded.

  “Okay, so does that mean they’re, umm… going to be invisible like you were?”

  “It’s possible,” I said with a shrug. “Some of the deities may be mere presences as I was, others may have decided to take a physical form.”

  “Oh alright.” Carmedy grinned. “Well, I hope they have bodies. I want to see what they all look like.”

  “Who cares what they look like?” Rana chuckled. “Just so long as we can get our hands, well, paws in my case, on the treasure. They can be three-eyed goblins with donkey hooves and wolf’s tails for all I care.”

  “Now that I’d like to see.” Carmedy giggled. Rana smiled at the feline and rolled her eyes. When we reached the tunnel’s entrance, Carmedy lit the torches that Annalíse and Rana carried using the same white powders that she had used the night before.

  “Let’s get going, everyone,” Annalíse said as she turned to walk into the dungeon.

  “Wait!” Carmedy raised her hand in the air.

  “What’s wrong?” Annalíse asked concernedly.

  “Don’t you think Master should go first?” the cat gestured to me. Rana and Morrigan raised their eyebrows, and their eyes darted to Annalíse. The chestnut-haired woman pursed her lips, and her hand clenched her sword hilt until her fist turned a distinct shade of crimson. She clearly wasn’t thrilled at the idea of someone else taking point. However, after a moment, she released a breath and moved to the side and motioned for me to go first.

  “Of course, please go right ahead.” Annalíse stared down at the grass as she spoke.

  Though she had stepped aside and verbally said that I should lead, her red cheeks betrayed her true feelings on the matter. She was not used to following, but she would have to learn. She had the makings of an excellent warrior, and I was certain that with some training she would in time become a formidable leader, but the greatest of leaders were poised and patient. They knew when to seek counsel and listen to others. Annalíse had yet to learn these skills. Her impulsive nature needed to be reined in.

  I nodded to the freckled woman and moved past her to the dungeon’s entrance. Familiar darkness immediately welcomed me into its shadowy clutches. I had expected to feel a pang of misery upon plunging into the cavern, but as I walked further into the passageway, I felt nothing but elation. Yes, I was once again in a dungeon, but this was different. It wasn’t mine, and now I was free to roam as I pleased. Before long, I would hold the power of the deity who lived here.

  It was the first step toward claiming this world, and eventually the heavens, as my own.

  My eyes didn’t need the aid of a torch as I journeyed through the pitch-black passageways. I glanced back to see Annalíse follow behind me, then Rana, Carmedy, and finally Morrigan. When we reached the end of the passageway, I motioned for my minions to stop. I could feel the deity’s presence. They were somewhere nearby, so I walked out of the tunnel and signaled for the others to follow. Before us stood a vast cavern with an enormous pool of water that almost reached to each of the cave’s walls. I glanced around cautiously in search of the dungeon’s owner, and while I couldn’t see anything, the presence grew stronger.

  “Where do we go now?” Carmedy said from behind me “Are we supposed to--” Her words stopped when I held up my hand and continued to scan the room.

  “Are you looking for me?” a light, female voice called out and echoed off the cavern’s walls. “How lovely to have so many visitors!” She sounded friendly and spoke as though we were dinner guests that she had welcomed into her home.

  All the more reason not to trust her. I knew the minds of deities. We didn’t welcome people into our dungeons to entertain them, we made them the entertainment.

  Carmedy yelped at the sound of the bodiless voice, and the women behind me moved to my side.

  “What was that?” Carmedy said as she glanced nervously around the large cave. “Was that the god who lives here?�
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  “Goddess, dear,” the voice corrected. It was sweet and soothing like a mother’s lullaby, lyrical and hypnotic like a siren’s call.

  “Sorry,” Carmedy said as she wrung her furry black tail between her hands.

  “That’s alright, dear… my, my, aren’t you an interesting group,” the goddess crooned. “Do my eyes deceive me or do I see a two-legged cat and fox? And is that an elf as well? Don’t see too many of those around here.” Morrigan’s lips tightened at the reference to her. “Hmm, and a human. Nothing too interesting there. Sorry, dear, I mean no offense. It’s just that I’ve had my fill of humans.” Anger began to creep across Annalíse’s face and her mouth twisted to form a scowl.

  “What do you mean, you’ve had your fill of humans?” Annalíse’s eyes darted in every direction in search of the voice’s owner.

  “Now, you, sir, you are really something special,” the goddess continued as she ignored the tall warrior. “You’re like me, aren’t you?” As she spoke, a soft pink mist began to fill the room and began to surround us. The stuffy air and smell of stagnant water began to dissipate. The atmosphere now held the scent of flowers and a spiced perfume with notes of caramel and vanilla.

  “Yes… I am,” I slurred. My vision began to blur and my minions’ forms, as well as my surroundings, began to sway and swirl. What was this mist, some sort of poison? Was she using methods similar to Carmedy’s? I staggered a bit. I felt so strange. My limbs felt like they each weighed fifty pounds. Even my face was heavy somehow, and my jaw slacked open. The goddess’s airy laugh echoed in my ears as everything around me faded to black. I fell backward, but the movement was slow, as though time was reducing to a crawl. I expected to feel my head and body slam against the rocky cavern floor, but I didn’t. Instead, I was embraced by cool delicate softness.

  I awoke on my back in a field of flowers. Roses, tulips, and poppies swayed in the breeze, and the wind carried their fragrance to me. The air still held the same sweetness, only now it was stronger. The goddess was no longer there, and neither were my minions. How had I gotten to this place, and how long had I been here? We had set out early in the morning, and I had observed the sun change positions as the day progressed. Our party had reached the dungeon in the early afternoon. The sun had been much higher in the sky, but now it seemed as though it was morning again. Had I slept through an entire day?

  I sat up and gazed around the field in search of Rana’s orange fox ears or Morrigan’s black shrouded figure. There was no trace of my traveling companions. Where had they gone? They would never have left my side by choice. Something was wrong.

  The field I sat in seemed to stretch for eternity in every direction, and the land was unblemished by trees or manmade structures. The colorful birds that flew overhead chased each other in the sky and called out to each other in chirps and twitters. It was perfect. Too perfect.

  “It’s lovely, isn’t it?” a female voice said blissfully. The voice didn’t belong to my minions, or to the goddess we had encountered earlier, but it was still very familiar.

  I whirled around to see a beautiful woman with long golden hair. She stared into the sky and smiled as she watched the birds dip up and down through the endless blue. My breath caught in my chest. Isolda. How could this be? She couldn’t possibly have been alive after all these centuries. And yet, here she was right in front of me.

  Isolda turned to me with a large grin and walked in my direction. She looked like an angel. Her long white dress billowed in the breeze, and her hair glistened from the sun’s rays as it flowed behind her. Her tan skin gleamed with an otherworldly glow, and she tiptoed gracefully through the cool grass in bare feet. I gazed at her in unapologetic awe. Isolda was every bit as bewitching as I remembered her.

  She sat down next to me on the grass and touched my hand. Her touch made my heart hammer in my chest, a sensation I hadn’t felt in countless years. This wasn’t right. No matter how much I wanted to believe that Isolda was still alive, I knew that she was gone. Her sudden appearance only confirmed my suspicions. None of this was real. It was all an illusion.

  The goddess of this dungeon was evidently a master of illusions, and the pink mist that had proceeded to surround myself and my minions must have been the cause of my current dreamlike environment. Had she really thought that I would be so easily deceived? Such foolish thinking. This woman had no idea whom she was dealing with. She would regret her audacious mistake and would pay with her power.

  I felt a twinge of anger at her presumptuousness, but even stronger was my curiosity. She had gone to all the trouble of creating this illusion, and I was sure that my traveling companions were in false paradises of their own. For the time being, I would stay here. I wanted to see how good her illusions were, and a few moments with even a fake Isolda would be pleasant.

  “You didn’t answer me,” the golden-haired beauty said to me softly.

  “I’m sorry, what did you ask?” I said as I looked into the woman’s eyes. They were brown. Isolda’s eyes should have been a piercing light blue with a hint of green. It was further proof of my opponent’s incompetence.

  “I said, isn’t it lovely?” The dainty woman tilted her head to the side as she spoke, and her pink lips spread into a wide grin that revealed perfect white teeth.

  “Yes, it is.” I nodded slowly. Here was yet another inaccuracy. The woman I had once loved had had a small gap between her two front teeth.

  “I like it here.” The fake Isolda leaned forward to pick one of the red poppies in front of her. “The air is so fresh, and the sun feels so warm on my skin,” she said as she rubbed her bare shoulders. She held the small red flower to her slender nose and closed her eyes as she inhaled its fragrance. “I love poppies.” She sighed. “Such an enchanting smell, don’t you think?” Isolda hummed a lively tune as she playfully twirled the flower between her fingers and occasionally stroked its petals.

  My blood started to boil, and my hands clenched the tufts of grass around me. My lips began to form a tight line, and I glowered at the woman beside me. I was no longer amused by this artificial Eden. This illusion was growing appalling. Isolda hated poppies. Many a time had I heard her rant about how there were far too many in her village and how nauseating the scent was.

  Isolda snapped off a piece of the flower’s stem and tucked the plant behind one of her ears.

  “Come on,” she said as she stood to her feet. Her expression was sweet as she began to playfully tug on my arm.

  “No,” I said as I removed her hands. “I’ve had enough of this.” Now I was angry. This illusion was not only an insult to me, but it was also an insult to Isolda’s memory, and I wanted no further part of it. It was time to show this insolent goddess what a real illusion looked like. She had played her tricks on the wrong deity, and soon her power would be mine.

  Chapter 10

  The fake Isolda blinked rapidly as if she were offended by my words, but I felt no remorse. She was merely an illusion, and not a very good one. The landscape began to distort, and the colors began to shift from vibrant greens, reds, and yellows to a dismal gray. The clear blue sky grew dark, and the phony Isolda began to fade before my very eyes as her shape wiggled and curved before she disappeared into a cloud of shimmering pink dust. The air was no longer fragrant and delicious. Now the atmosphere smelled foul and reeked of death.

  The illusion suddenly broke, and I was back in the dungeon. In fact, I had never left. The pink mist that had been the cause of my fantastical surroundings was no longer around me. It was however still around my minions. Each of the women laid curled up on the rocky ground a few feet away from me. Their lips occasionally parted as though they were engaged in conversation, and their eyelids shuddered to indicate that they were indeed dreaming.

  I would take care of the impudent goddess and rescue my minions.

  “You broke my illusion,” I heard the female deity call out. “Insolent little worm, no one has ever broken through my magic.” She sneered. “Countless
men have ventured into my domain, and not a single one has managed to escape.” The goddess’s voice still had its same lyrical tone, but it was clear that she was angry with me.

  “Sorry.” I smirked. “I would have stayed for a bit longer, but the illusion was so terrible I couldn’t bear it for another second. I’m sure you understand.”

  The goddess screamed in frustration.

  “How dare you,” she hissed. “I’m sure you think you’re quite clever, don’t you? Well, think again, sweetie. You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

  “As a matter of fact, I do think I’m rather clever,” I said with a smug look. “I thought we’d already established this. I saw through your illusion pretty quickly. I believe it’s your intelligence that should be called into question, not mine.” I shrugged.

  The goddess released a scream that reminded me of a toddler throwing a tantrum.

  “You vile little man,” she said bitterly. “Go ahead and make your jokes. You won’t be leaving here any time soon. I know what you dreamt of, and I hope you enjoyed it because it’ll be the last dream you ever have,” she hissed. “You’ll die here like all the rest.” I was about to offer a retort when the chunk of the pink mist that surrounded my traveling companions suddenly broke off and began to swirl and stretch. As the smoke twisted round and round, a figure began to take shape. First a pair of bare feet, then a flowing white gown, slender tan arms and finally a mane of silky hair the color of sunshine. When I saw what the goddess had done my anger swelled and surged through my veins.

  “You won’t be going anywhere,” the golden-haired woman said with a wry grin, but the voice that came from the woman’s lips wasn’t Isolda’s, it was the goddess.