1) Never trust an Adventurer [ Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal ]

  Moments after an agreement was made...

  As the last of the intruders, the adventurers, began to make their way out of my Domain, I looked down from where my Core sat on the slope of collapsed stone on the side of the formerly hidden chamber.

  The room had once been filled with elaborate Magical traps in the form of Sigil arrays carved into the floor, the ceiling, and the four pillars which supported the edges of the dome that stood above the center of the room.

  Directly above the stone pedestal with a tilted top that had once held a large, shiny black tome.

  While the remains of the Array were still there, consisting of various no longer magically charged Sigils after the creature called the Mother of Madness had slurped into my Domain, corroding everything she touched, the book had remained untouched.

  At least until I let someone take the thing they wanted so badly, far, far away from me.

  Giving away the tome had been the price of getting the Goblin Turnip Tod, or whatever his name was, and his Ratling servants, to leave my home. But at least with the Tome gone, the pot stealing Tamer had no reason to bother me ever again.

  And now…

  My Fairy Familiar, and dedicated guardian of my Domain, Viola, fluttered up next to my Core on gossamer wings that vanished from sight as she landed on her tiny sandaled feet.

  “I know you made a deal with those Adventurers Fell, but I don’t trust them, and neither should you.”

  Viola laid her tiny hand on top of my orangy red colored Core. “Gaze.”

  As my assigned Fairy, Viola had abilities of her own to help protect my Domain. A Domain that consisted of an uninhabited area, which needed something in place to deal with raw Chaos that leaked into this world as a result of a war between the beings that would later become the Gods of the Chosen Races.

  And presumably some others who had been involved in the fighting as well. I was a little hazy on what all had happened way back when. But I suspected that it was the same for most people.

  One of the Fairy’s powers was her Gaze, which allowed her to see everything in and around the Domain she had been bound to, without having to go out and risk her own safety by needing to see things with her own eyes.

  Another one of her powers allowed me to share her ability to do so.

  Looking through her Gaze, my vision was limited to looking in only one direction at a time, much like Fairy herself saw things with the two eyes set into the front of her head. You would think with two eyes she could see in two directions, but no. As for me, I could see in all directions from my Core at once, but trying to do the same while sharing Viola’s Gaze ability had made her head hurt.

  And her nosebleed.

  Something which Viola liked to remind me of at least once a day. Which was strange considering how forgetful the Fairy woman was whenever I needed her to remember anything else.

  Was she able to remember that one mistake of mine because of the Trauma? Could I have my Summoned Skeleton flick her with a bony fingertip when I need her to remember something?

  Hrmmm… I’ll ask her about it later. Right now, I was seeing all of the damage the Mother had done when the great puddle like creature of embodied Madness had done as it crept along chasing after the various other people who had invaded my Domain.

  On one hand, at least the floor seemed pretty clean.

  All of the remaining chalk drawings were gone from where they had been made on the floor from when Nictob had been trying out his Vile experiment to try to painfully rip out the refined Chaos inside Viola’s own Core for his own use, without killing her, so he could do so again and again each time she healed from the damage.

  Monstrously cruel, and considered Vile by at least one God.

  But on the other hand, however nasty the Arcanist’s ritual had been, it had resulted in the creation of me, a Living Core. The only member of my God Chosen race.

  And with the last traces of the ritual gone, before I had thought to copy any of it down, I had lost the biggest clue on how to go about making another one of me.

  ...not that I was sure if I wanted another one of me around. There would be advantages and disadvantages either way.

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  For one thing, while I wouldn’t be the only one of me anymore, I would have another clueless Living Core around that would expect me to have all the answers for it.

  And someone still alive to blame its existence on…

  On reflection, no thanks. I’m not ready for parenthood yet. After all, I’ve only been in existence for… what? A week, maybe? A month?

  ...a few days?

  Viola suddenly spoke up. “Oh Pit Fell. That thing really messed up the lower shelves.”

  Hrmmm? “...what? Who?”

  Before I could focus on finding out what the Fairy had meant, our shared vision finished with her inspection of the library and moved on past the shattered remains of the door to the inner hallway.

  “My Door!”

  Who had destroyed the door to my Library?

  ...It had to be that Goblin, the pot thief. He and his walking rat men had been the first ones to make their way into my Domain before the rest of the invaders had shown up. First, that dastard had stolen my pot after I had my Summoned Skeleton throw it at one of his Ratlings, and now he’s wrecked my favorite door. If I ever saw that Rat bastard again….

  My shared Gaze with Viola began to twist back and forth as the Fairy shifted it around to look at the three now open doorways in the inner hall only to swoop into the door on the left to see the horrid beast which my Fairy had taken as a pet with it’s head twisted around to stare out into the hallway with one of it’s evil looking misshappened eyes.

  Viola cheered. “Missus Goat is okay! I was so worried.”

  Since I wasn’t sure how to tear myself out of our shared vision, I had the absolute sheer delight of seeing the Goat from several various angles as my Fairy checked on its health.

  “Really Viola? You don’t need to check every inch of the creatures. Let alone three times.”

  I saw a tiny lavender hand lift from my Core before it slapped back down. “Quiet you. I wanted to really, really check on Missus Goat since I kinda… Forgot about her.”

  Ah. Guilt. Always an inconvenience. “Carry on.”

  As much as I complain, to myself at least, about the Fairy’s limited ability to remember things, it wasn’t like I was much better.

  In fact, I was worse. I was the one who was supposed to be in charge.

  As my Domain and I are one, I was part of Viola’s responsibility. But everyone, and everything, that lives in my Domain, no matter how horrid, was mine.

  “The Goat seems fine, just disquieting… so normal.”

  That got me another slap on top of my Core. “Behave.”

  While the inner edge of the opened door in the inner hall showed signs of being burned by however much contact the aged wooden frame may have had with the Mother of Madness, the Aura of Purity, which my Domain now held, had stripped away the burned and damaged portions of the doors down to a rough surface of clean, unblemished wood.

  And enough of that wood is still intact as to leave the three doors largely functional, even with the gaps on the bottoms.

  At least in my opinion. The gaps were in fact just the right size for my Summons, or most of them anyways, to slip right underneath the wood.

  Viola’s face crumpled up in distaste. “Eww. Fell, the doors look... Nasty. You’ll need to get those fixed.”

  …How? Seriously, how does she expect me, 'me', to fix...

  No. I am not going to start that conversation, not with her. “Yes. I’ll get right on that Viola.”

  I could see the underside of her smile on the pleased looking Fairy’s face. At least with her memory, there was a fair chance she would forget any such promise I might make.

  At the end of the hall, the Fairy’s Gaze took our sight down the largely undamaged steps to the outer hall.

  Where four adventurers stood in a confrontation between two of them, the Elf and the Jermalin, as the human I had bargained with, Trope, tried to settle the other’s disagreement.

  The Hero Classer was holding his hands out between the two members of his group. “Alright. Both of you explain. Why should we betray the Dungeon?”

  Oh. This should be good.