Morghul stepped into the Sanctum. Faint shimmers of blue light held him up as he simply walked on thin air, climbing an invisible staircase. I sent out waves of aggression and the centipedes crawling the walls responded, throwing themselves down to attack him, suicidally angered by his presence in their lair, but none of them could touch him. A golden barrier sprung up around him, rippling as it flicked their writhing bodies away.

Nothing could touch him.

He rose into the alcove at the top of the Sanctum, barely large enough for him to find his footing. Aurum was curled in the dark, lurking, waiting, ready to give his life. I told him no. I pleaded with him not to.

I had a last ditch idea.

“Oh, you’re a pretty thing ain’tcha. You’ll go fine with my collection.” The dwarf cooed, as if I was a dumb animal to be calmed with the right tone of voice. His eyes burned with greed as he stepped forward.

I pulled every drop of Mana I had into the smallest possible space, compressing it.

His eyebrows raised, and he stepped forward, drawing a curved knife from his belt and splitting open the tip of his thumb. A bead of ruby blood welled from the cut.

He was going to make a Contract with me. A slave Contract. One to steal my Mana, my will, my thoughts, to turn me into nothing more than a battery. I would die first.

As he stepped forward, I drew in everything. I ate the corpse of the ogre and all the little creatures that had died in the burning of the gardens, ate the fertile ash of the mushrooms, ate even the remains of Adamant, his Mana-rich clay. With each corpse that dissolved into nothing, a plume of Mana rose like pale and invisible smoke.

They rushed towards my Core.

I drank in energy until I reached my limit and soared beyond, the ethereal Mana in my core started to condensed, to collapse into a dancing flame.

And then the very warp and weave of Mana around us pulled inwards, and the golden warding spell surrounding the mage suddenly flickered out like a candle in the wind. A whirlpool was forming, a maelstrom of Mana, draining everything in sight. Draining the power from his enchanted rings, stealing the magic words from his lips.

You are experiencing Mana Overflow

Due to exceeding your maximum Mana by a factor of two, Mana will be expended to create a new and random Blessing for your Dungeon. You will be left with between fifty and zero percent of your maximum Mana.

There was no Mana left to fuel his spells, no Mana left for me to see by. In the instant before everything went dark and I was blind, helpless, I saw Aurum rear up from the shadows, hissing, and a spray of caustic venom shoot from his mouth to splatter over the dwarf’s eyes. A hideous scream of pain was the last thing I knew before the Overflow rendered me unconscious.

Morghul froze as the Mana in the air was pulled away from him, denying his magic. It was the same as a flame deprived of oxygen, a sudden exhaustion, and his spellwork simply crumbled. His sword and his shield were gone.

He lunged forward in desperation, trying to touch the blood on his thumb to the Core but it was too late. A hiss sounded from the shadows, a dark shape uncoiling.

Something wet splattered against his eyes and everything went white in a searing wave of pain. He felt the acid spit dig into the soft tissue of his eyes, felt himself blinded, going reeling back in shock.

A sharp pain shot through his neck as the snake lunged and sank its teeth into the meat of his throat.

He stumbled backwards, clutching his face, battering at the snake with his hands, and suddenly there was no ground under his back foot. Morghul felt his stomach twist with horror as he fell.

The dwarf struck against the wall three times, the razor spikes and ridges tearing into his flesh. He tumbled like a broken doll and crashed into the flooded, stalactite lined floor of the Sanctum, a long spear of stone tearing through his chest just beneath the heart.

Ribbons of blood flowed into the water. Aurum clung to his throat, fangs sunk deep into his windpipe.

And then magic returned - the Overflow reaching completion - and the ring on the dwarf’s finger, the silver ring with the rune of Return scrawled on its band, broke with a sound like a silver bell. A spiralling blue light fell from above and enveloped them both, the corpse and the snake.

There was a flash and they were gone.

I woke up woozy, dizzy. The Overflow had squeezed my soul through the wringer.

You have created - Blessing of the Earthshaper

The minion granted this blessing will receive increased intelligence, with the potential to grow over time, and limited affinity with Earth Magic.

I brushed the notification away, uncaring. Aurum was gone. I could sense him, or the dwarf, nowhere in my domain. Argent was clinging to the roots of the black tree, trying to escape from a large and unruly carp that was trying to sweep her down by kicking up waves of water.

And Izzis…

Izzis had the owl pinned to the ground, its wing twisted into a lock between his skinny arms.

The priest stood with her arms up, surrendering. She stared out into nowhere in particular, but her blind eyes seemed to register I was awake. “Spirit of the Dungeon, hear me. I would like to negotiate for the return of my owl.”

My first instinct was to kill her. My every instinct was to kill her. My Sanctum had been breached, an intruder had nearly enslaved me, my gardens were dust and ash. I was crying out for bloody, satisfying vengeance.

But no.

I had to speak to her instead. Had to calm myself.

I needed to know where Aurum had gone.

Because I was going to get him back.