Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

“If you are able to find a way to do that, you will have to show me,” the oddly flat voice resounded from the Elf, “because untold generations of Elves have been unable to find a way to do it. Which is why we build cities where we find them, not the other way around. I think it is safe to say this is not an infernal dungeon. That kind of Essence would stunt its growth severely, and this one, though young, is vibrantly healthy. I’d say our mission is complete, though I need to put protections in place for this tree. After all,” His face jerked upward, staring hard at a point near the ceiling. “If anything were to happen to the tree, I am sure the Elven-kind would destroy everything nearby in an attempt to find what had happened.” He blandly stated to apparently no-one.

The others looked at each other in worry and confusion, but did nothing that may upset the powerful Mage. As per his instructions, they moved while he cast powerful protective magic on the tree and handed over a gold coin, a silver coin, and a small, high quality honed steel dagger. The large man was grumbling at this until he was smacked in the head and pointedly glared at by the final member of their party. These items were placed on the floor in the room, and the Elf moved to usher them out.

The cleric made a pointed, haughty noise in his throat. “I cannot in good faith leave this place until I have ascertained for myself that this is not a place of darkness.” He pulled his glowing holy symbol off his neck and held it by the chain. “I will be placing this near that dungeon Core. If it is evil, God's might will smite it, I will not allow even the specter of war stop me from doing this.”

A smirk appeared on the Elven face, “Go for it. Heh.”

Eying the Elf, the cleric slipped the pendant down into the hole, skillfully maneuvering around the many roots just visible. At the furthest effective range he could manage he chanted a prayer, and waited a moment. When nothing apparently happened to the gem, he apprehensively began to speak, “Well, it seems that you were correct my frie-” In horror, he looked at the small amount of chain remaining in his hand that he had pulled out of the hole. “My pendant!” Furiously whirling on the Elf, “You knew that would happen!”

With an innocent look on his face, the Elf defended himself, “Well, I thought my manner was sufficient warning, but, well…”

Three of the men started laughing loudly at the protestations of the cleric - until they stepped into the first room where a small mushroom was innocently awaiting them.

The large man spoke quietly, “I thought we had cleared this room.”

“We did,” grunted the cleric, the first non-complaint in several minutes.

An arrow * thunked * into the mushroom, rendering it into pulp in an instant.

*Clink* *Clink* *Clatter* *Thud*

Announcing the fall of a gold coin, a silver coin, a steel dagger, and a shining pendant on a chain, the noises were the only ones heard for several seconds.

“How the…?” A confused voice.

“My pendant!” A joyful voice.

“My money!” A greedy voice.

“Oh, dear. It is a fast learner.” A soft voice.

I was terrified when these people destroyed my first room in a blaze of fire. I should never have made it so easy to get down. I just really had a thing for the spiral staircase ever since Dani had suggested it. It was such a cool idea, and it would allow animals to get down here. Obviously I needed to start upgrading my monsters, these people were spooky.

I uttered slowly when the strange looking man talked about my bloodmoss.

“It’ll be ok Cal; can you tell what rank they are?” Dani replied soothingly.

I demanded, voice low and scared. I liked to understand things.

“The gear makes sense; their aura would protect it unless it got too far away from them. Oh! I never told you about auras! You see, when an aura is present you can’t affect things in the same way. Their Essence flows in such a manner that it interrupts your control in the area. That’s why you need monsters and traps, else you could just eat them directly. Every living creature has an aura, just so you know. Even you! Your aura is the size of your dungeon, but is disparate in any given area, hence theirs will block your control.” She paused a moment, “But you can’t read their aura at all? Nothing? No information whatsoever? I’ll go look.” She zipped away, her light fading to invisibility.

I was suitably impressed. “Wow, where did you learn that?”

“I get stronger when you doooo.” Her sing-song voice echoed back to me. A few minutes later, she appeared in front of yours truly, obviously upset. “Cal, the humans are C-ranked, and the Elf is B-ranked. We might be in real trouble.”

I was determined to make it through this trial.

Her voice was lowered to an almost-whisper, “Hope they get bored and go home?”

I growled at her,

“I... wish I were joking. They could kill us without any effort at all . Stay quiet, and maybe they will not look for you?” She pretended to be hopeful, though she was obviously overly optimistic.

They were just about to enter my final room, so I directed the Boss to attempt a sneak attack. It worked! Then... it didn’t. I heard them talking, but couldn’t focus past my terror. A face appeared in the hole over me! AHH! The man raised a sword… and fell over with an ‘oomph’! Finally, able to hear their conversation properly, I was amazed that the tree offered me so much protection. When the Elf looked directly at Dani, though she was invisible, I knew his veiled threat was actually for me.

“If anything were to happen to the tree, I am sure the Elven-kind would destroy everything nearby in an attempt to find what had happened.”

Shuddering, I watched as they cast magic and left a few offerings. One of them even fed me a symbol with celestial Essence infused in it! I filed the enchantment on it away for future reference. As they left, Dani spoke up.

“I cannot believe that just happened. All of that to give you tribute ?” She started laughing, the previous feeling of impending death moving away.

I shushed her, my concentration too honed to be polite.

Obviously affronted at my lack of happiness, she demanded, “What are you doing? Celebrate with me!”

I mumbled. I felt really weak right now. Their auras had made it difficult for me to put the mushroom back in the room, especially when they were getting so close to it.

“... You never cease to amaze me, Cal.” Dani declared. “For a dungeon, you are surprisingly giving. That Elf was right; you are a really fast learner. Also, for being a low level, you are really adept at making monsters perform better than their rank should allow. Concepts come easy, and you are able to absorb every type of Essence...” She started mumbling too quietly for me to hear.

She had told me that the church was powerful after all. Did she mean a different church?

“Politics too now. Cal… Do you have any memories that are…? Before you became a dungeon?” She prodded, looking hopeful yet still worried.

A flash of a knife, pain, filthy Necromancers…

I admitted.

“There is no way.” She muttered, “Cal, were you a… human?”

I considered. The Elf had seemed too foreign so...

“Oh wow. Oh boy, oh boy.” Swooping around the room, Dani was trying to process this new development. “Cal, how did this never come up? This explains so much.”