Theodon took to having a second body a lot better than expected, much to the goblin’s surprise, to the point where he was a touch jealous. “I really struggled when I started this; your natural talent is astonishing.” Even when pouting, Armand never forgot to compliment.

  “I believe it is due to me being a mage.” The elf replied as he worked in tandem with the sentinel that he put his soul into. “On the battlefield you must be able to cast magic, position, and support all simultaneously.”

  “I see!” The goblin felt a little better; the elf had been essentially preparing for this moment for his whole life. “While I have you on this train of thought, what would you like me to do about the future elven quarters?”

  “What do you mean?” The elf asked.

  “As in, what size? Do I plant anything? Do I add a river, a lake, or just a well for water?” The goblin said as he flipped through a book, Honest Herbal Horticulture.

  “Ahh, my apologies. We need something tall; we will be growing some ancient oak trees; those can reach several hundred feet tall.” Theoden clarified, “Maybe just a well, and no vegetation.” The elf took a seat by the goblin. “We will want our own landscaping; that is something that we as a culture are quite particular about.”

  “That adds another unique problem, but that is something I’ll address after you all depart.” Unintentionally reminding himself of his soon return to being alone. Only for a month or two, he reminded himself; after all, once they got the gate set up, he would be able to see them more frequently.

  Speaking of said departure, the other guests soon poked their heads in to check on the duo. Jomead ran up and gave the still slightly gaunt elf a hug. “We were worried for ya, bud.” He released the elf, who in turn gave the dwarf a hearty pat on the back.

  “We got everything packed and ready.” Gideon spoke, “It went surprisingly faster than we thought.”

  “Worry tends to make people become either disconnected or hyperfocused.” The goblin said with a chuckle, being no stranger to the feeling. “You seem to have done well enough, Theoden; let’s all go relax. Tomorrow will be a big day.”

  “But I want to become more acquainted with the construct.” The elf protested.

  “You’re secretly enjoying this, aren’t you?” The dwarf asked, poking at the elf. The elf blushed; he was fascinated with the whole experience. The use of soul clones opened so many possibilities that could destroy their whole way of life or create a whole new world.

  “Just like me, you will have to patiently wait for our reunification.” Armand patted the elf on the shoulder; the two of them got up and joined Jomead, Gideon, and Isolde for dinner and some time by the fire.

  The evening passed and morning soon arrived once more; for once, the group arose before him. He met them at the doorway; everything was ready except for the prisoners. The goblin had a couple of sentinels escort them.

  The pride that had been so deeply rooted in those prisoners seemed to have left. The time away from their queen had made many of them realize that they were becoming desperately attached and that they needed to take a hard look at themselves.

  They held their heads down but Isolde welcomed them back with open arms as if nothing had happened. They in turn happily grabbed some of the gear and joined the group, ready to go.

  While that was going on, two sentinels came down the hall carrying one of the doorways. “You should be able to strap this thing onto the back of your Sentinel, Theoden.” The goblin said, patting the door.

  “Of course…” The elf replied, “I think the thing is too heavy for any of us to carry it anyhow.” Most of the group nodded, even the guards in the background, which made the goblin chuckle.

  The adventurers began to walk out once the last of the guards had left. Jomead gave one final back pat, Gideon waved, and looked expectantly at Isolded. Armand gave him a glare as the dwarf and man stepped out. Theoden gave a soft smile and a short bye as he stepped through the doorway.

  Leaving only him and Isolde, “Goodbye, Armand, I’ll see you soon.” She spoke softly.

  “See you later, Isolde.” The goblin replied. A bittersweet smile etched upon his face, the little girl had grown up. She turned to leave but as she reached the door handle, she stopped.

  The girl stood there for a moment before turning around in a flurry of snot and tears and nearly tackled the goblin in a bear hug. Stay strong, Armand, the goblin reminded himself similarly, wiping the tears away. They only had a month together but it was still too short.

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  He caressed the back of her head as she squeezed tight. The goblin gave her a few back pats, and she let go. Practically sprinting out of the dungeon, she was well aware that if she didn’t leave soon, she would end up staying.

  The goblin couldn’t help but wonder if the woman he loved survived and they had the life they wanted together, if this would be like what it was to have children. The joy and pain associated with it—it was quite something.

  He stood there for a while but came out of his reprieve. Luckily they had left him a long list of things to do. The day was still very young so he headed back into the depths.

  First he was going to spend a lot of mana to create an expansive cavern beneath the dungeon; this was going to be the future home of the elves. The goblin created a series of steep stairs till he felt he was deep enough.

  Next, he began to indiscriminately expand. He made the roof so high you couldn’t see it through the darkness, spreading the sides out as far as he felt comfortable with. The ground remained flat, but he at least put a layer of dirt down.

  The project only took a quarter of his mana reserves; he was becoming quite the bank of mana. The large cavern constructed, he created a basic wall that would be used for the doorway.

  The plan was to have a door installed in the royal library of the capitol and then after things settled, Theoden would get another doorway through the royal capitol and go home.

  His next plan was to create an object that the elves could use to manipulate the environment of the cave but that still made him have absolute control.

  So he decided to try something; he attempted to do dungeon manipulation through one of the readers. He willed for another room to form and it slowly did form; however, it utilized the mana within the reader to do so.

  When the mana drain grew too strong, it consumed the mana within the magic metals used to create the construct and the whole thing fell to the floor, now inert. Excellent, the goblin thought. While the room was only about a third created, it proved a point.

  He could use his soul clones to manipulate the dungeon, so all he needed to do was create a ‘construct’ that would house a soul clone and then use the mana of the wielder to manipulate the environment.

  The goblin decided to repurpose his old magic staff; it needed minimal modification, and he and Jeomed had already designed a more appropriate staff spear for him.

  He willed a sentinel to bring down one of the doors and set it upon the wall in the future elvish caverns. The goblin began to make his way up and quickly arrived in the forge.

  The split soul from the earlier reader had become available for a new purpose; all he needed to do was add a watched run to the staff so he could see its surroundings better. Once that was done, he pushed the soul clone into it.

  When he connected to the soul within the staff, it was an odd experience, to say the least. He couldn’t move; it was a little panic-inducing at first but he just focused in on his main body when the feeling grew to dizzying levels.

  Now for the ultimate test, he raised the staff and infused some mana into it; he tried to project his desire for a nice jug of warm spiced dwarven wine but the rod did not respond. Perhaps he needed to inscribe some form of communication spell.

  Telepathy was a good choice; he carved a small spell circle onto the staff near the handle. He then tried infusing mana into the staff; the soul within said staff then connected to his mind via the telepathy rune.

  This time the spiced wine appeared as he hoped. Now he needed to test with someone who wasn’t himself. He considered Thoth but shuddered to think what the demon would do with even the limited ability to control the dungeon.

  He sent a Reader to go retrieve Uriel, a far better test subject. The goblin wished to inquire of the angel, and it was about time to use his yearly question. The goblin smiled; the reader had located the angel and they were on their way back.

  The angelic construct stepped its way into the room. “Ahh, dungeon master, what a pleasure.” Uriel said in a deadpan yet pleasant voice. “Has it already been a year?”

  “One and a half.” The goblin clarified with a smile.

  “Well, that doesn’t get you another question.” The monotone voice jested. The goblin had finally gotten the angel’s sense of humor.

  “Perhaps a minor action on top of the question if you are willing.” The goblin got to the matter at hand.

  “Depends on the request.” The angel replied. Armand grabbed the staff and handed it to him. “Most excellent design, but why is there a soul in here?” The constructed lifted the staff to his featureless face and closely examined it. “A soul clone, no less.”

  “The device is intended for people to be able to manipulate the dungeon like me, with my permission of course.” The goblin clarified.

  “Ahh, so that is why you called upon me rather than him.” The person being implied was obvious.

  “You are the safer choice.”

  “Then I would be honored. Now, how does this coincide with your question?” Replied Uriel.

  “I need to know of a material that could mimic sunlight but also be dimmed for a facsimile of night. Do you know of such a material?” Armand asked of the angel.

  “I do. Would you like me to create it for you?” The construct hefted the staff, and the goblin nodded in consent. Mana poured from the construct into the staff and out came a fist-sized golden rock that settled in his free hand. “This is a sunstone.” He handed it over to the goblin.

  Armand took the stone; it was warm to the touch. “How does it work?”

  “I’ll just consider your question part of your previous request.” The angel jested again in his even keel voice. “Just infuse your mana into it and it will glow with light equivalent to the sun.” The construct handed the staff back to the goblin.

  “Thank you, Uriel.” The goblin said, but the construct did not leave. “Can I maybe help you with something?”

  “Perhaps… When you previously summoned me, you offered me all the souls destined for Celestia, or so I believed, but there is one remaining in your dungeon core.” The angel asked.

  “Yes, the truth is, it has been here as long as I have, and I am curious of its origins.” The goblin spoke candidly.

  “Then perhaps I can break my rule, for I too am curious.” The angel replied, “Shall we?” the construct asked while gesturing towards the main room.