-[Act 2 * Part 2]-

Basil was hard at work in his study when Elnora answered his summons later that evening. A black crystalline sentinel opened the door for the succubus and heralded her arrival in a dry, ethereal voice.

“Lady Elnora,” the guard announced her as the she-demon entered the room.

The obsidian construct guarding his master’s chambers was a marvelous feat of craftsmanship. Carved in the likeness of a human knight, the creature even moved to mimic the restrictive nature of its model’s armor. In reality the folds and edges of his armor were all a part of his own singular body. The only item truly separate from the knight was the belt and scabbard that held his sword in place at his waist.

“I have come as requested, My Lord,” Elnora said and bowed her head to the dungeon keeper.

“Excellent,” Basil grunted without looking up from his work. He gestured at an armchair on the opposite side of his desk. “Please, take a seat. I will be with you shortly.”

Elnora obliged and took the seat she had been offered. The succubus passed time by examining the room as she patiently waited on her master to conclude his work. She noted that Basil’s desk was stacked with piles upon piles of reports and documents that the dungeon keeper had to read through and sign. The internal reports pertaining to his dungeon only made up a fraction of the total mass. By far the largest pile of paperwork was slated for delivery to the Guild of Chaos—an organization which operated thousands of dungeons such as this, spread across countless worlds. Through the liberal use of overwhelming power and its inexhaustible resources the Guild had come to dominate the known universe. It was probably the single most powerful organization that ever had or, their power permitting, ever would exist. And, unfortunately for Basil as much as his enemies, it was every bit as inefficient as it was unstoppable.

Having herself spent some time within the administrative apparatus of the Guild, Elnora knew just how bloated the paperwork could get. The only thing that mattered for the bureaucrats in charge of the Guild was that proper procedure was followed and all reports were handed in on time. Failure to comply was met with fiendish sanctions in all cases, except for when it came to dungeon keeper’s, who, while subordinate to the Guild itself, stood apart from it due to their sheer individual power.

For everyone else it took some deft maneuvering and a quick mind to navigate the labyrinthine apparatus of the Guild where even a single mistake could make or break one’s career. Clauses within clauses, absolute adherence to laws and regulations to regulate the very borders of the pages upon which the regulations were printed—up until recently Elnora had thought nothing of it, but the question of why she would willingly pursue such a job was now beginning to dawn on her.

Why do I want to become a dungeon keeper? Elnora wondered as she recanted her conversation with Basil from before the battle.

The more time she spent pondering the issue, the more disheartened Elnora became as she realized how much paperwork her master had handled since his crushing victory over the intruders. A feeling of shame overcame her as the succubus considered that while she had been resting in the bathhouse, Basil had been hard at work compiling his reports to the Guild.

Worse still, it now dawned on her that somewhere amidst all of these pages was probably hidden her own performance report to the Guild. The thought of what Basil might have written about her made Elnora blush and visibly shrink in her seat. She then spent the next five minutes under the spell of growing anxiety, waiting on the dungeon keeper as he went about signing the last reports for the day.

“Well then,” Basil said as he put down the pen. “Can you guess as to the reason why I have summoned you?”

“Do you require my assistance with something, Master?” Elnora asked.

“Not this time,” Basil answered. “In fact, I believe it is my turn to help you.”

“Help me?” Elnora asked. The succubus managed a confused smile. “I don’t think it is necessary, Master. I can handle my duties just­ fine—”

“Oh, but I insist,” Basil persisted. “You did such a wonderful job coordinating the daily routine of the dungeon over these past months that I believe a reward is in order.”

Basil took a deep breath and held it in for a while, setting up his next sentence to be the true reason behind his summons. “But I also wished to take the opportunity to apologize for the earlier… distraction.”

Elnora was taken aback by the implication. “Apologize? For what?”

Basil stood up and walked over to the window on the wall behind his desk. The view outside was that of a vast garden with a dark purple sky hanging over it. It was the pocket dimension referred to as the Doom Mansion—or Mansion in short—and it reached out as far as the horizon. In this magical realm the sky and ground did, in fact, meet at the edge of the word.

“I have been following in my father’s footsteps for over seventy years now,” Basil reminisced as he cast his distant gaze out into the nightly scene. “I have spent the better part of my youth trying to fill his shoes, so to say. I used to think that this was my destiny—to prove myself a worthy successor to his legend…”

Basil flexed his arm and examined his powerful claws. “But now that I have matured, I have come to dread the coming centuries... Too often have I stumbled upon questions the answers to which either elude me or leave me unsatisfied…

“Is this all that I am destined for?” he asked. “A thousand years of repetitious conquest of middling words in pursuit of meager glories?” The dungeon keeper shook his head in dismissal of the thought.

“You see, I have long struggled with the fact that dungeon keeping has been much reduced from the grand pursuit that it once was. Now it is viewed as almost an administrative duty—performed out of necessity rather than in pursuit of glory. Dungeon keeping has changed; the Guild has changed, and I no longer find my work as… rewarding as it was when I first took up my father’s mantle.”

There was a stone bust of Doom Senior propped up on a pedestal in the corner of the room. A fearsome demon, much like Basil, his father managed to look even more imposing with his stark facial lines and wicked horns that curved forward and up like two pikes upon which to impale his enemies. There was less charm and more anger in his stone expression, compared to Basil, but that was the case with most of the self-made dungeon keepers of his generation.

“At any rate,” Basil continued, “I have summoned you here because I have a proposition to make. Consider it a reward for your dutiful service, if you will.”

Fresh from her heart rattling conversation with Scarlet, Elnora tempered her expectations as she eagerly waited to hear out Basil’s offer. Still, an ember of passion yet smoldered in her heart and the succubus couldn’t help but to wonder what kind of a reward her master was about to propose.

Basil cleared his throat before speaking. “As you probably know, the capture of Maiden Solar marks the final days of Empire Solar and our presence on this world. Under Guild rules your apprenticeship will be concluded once my dungeon departs for the next assignment. Soon you will be returned to the Academy for evaluation and to continue your training.”

Elnora felt the bitter taste of fear creeping up her throat. With great effort she forced it back down only to find the hollowing sensation now swirling about her belly, like a dragon of despair, seeking to wreak havoc on her hopes and dreams.

“Given your imminent departure, I figured that our partnership should be concluded on a high note,” Basil said.

“So, how would you like to take command of my forces for the final push on the imperial capital?” he asked. “You would be entrusted with delivering the finishing blow to Empire Solar as one last test of your abilities. That should serve to conclude your apprenticeship program with a worthy challenge. That is, if you manage to survive it…”

Elnora felt a great sense of relief. She had been granted one last chance at impressing Basil—a challenge delivered no less by the master himself. The succubus jumped to her feet and bowed deeply before the dungeon keeper. “I would be honored to lead the final charge, Master!”

The looming sense of doubt quickly returned as she further considered the offer. “But… won’t such a task exceed my level of competence?” she asked. “The Guild has not yet authorized me to command a military force out in the field. I have not yet passed the required exams…”

Basil dismissed her concerns with the wave of his hand. “Nonsense,” he proclaimed, “I have never needed the Guild’s approval to take on a challenge before. And neither should you restrain yourself for their sake now.

“A time will come in your life when their rules and regulations will begin to seem more like guidelines and suggestions, which is exactly how a proper dungeon keeper should view them. Frankly, I know not of a reason why you should miss out on a great opportunity like this.”

The dungeon keeper clenched his fist and examined it as if staring at an invisible source of power within it. “The dominant empire on this world will fall tomorrow and the equilibrium will be restored. With the fall of their capital city the races of kith will scatter to the four winds and the cycle of rise and fall will begin anew.

“Ultimately the glory of this achievement will be mine,” Basil noted, “but the experience of conducting such a large-scale operation could be yours. The finishing blow is yet to be delivered and I would learn nothing from it. Likewise, the honor of leading the attack would be wasted on me.

“So, what say you?” he asked. “Are you up for the task?”

Elnora straightened her back, raised her chin and saluted the dungeon keeper ecstatically. “Yes, Sir!”

“Good,” Basil replied. “Then I will send word to the commander in charge of the siege to prepare my forces for an all-out assault. Don’t worry about subordination—she will be made aware of my decision to place you in charge of the overall operation. At dawn’s first light I expect you to lead a successful assault on the capital city. Desecrate their temples, burn the rest—the usual.”

Elnora felt her knees begin to tremble as the full weight of her new responsibility began to dawn on her. She was eager to carry out the task, but, just as Basil had implicated, the scale of the battle ahead presented a real challenge for his aspiring apprentice.

Basil put aside a few of the reports that had been lying on his desk awaiting review. “I will forward you all the relevant data on the disposition of friendly and enemy forces, as well as any other intelligence you might require. Our numbers are overwhelming so your main goal will be to keep the losses to a minimum and unit cohesion as high as possible so that the assault keeps up the momentum. A simple victory will not earn you my respect, so strive to deliver the best result you can.”

The dungeon keeper settled back into his chair and pulled up a new pile of reports. “Now, if there was nothing else, consider yourself dismissed for the evening.”

At first Elnora nodded and was about to turn around to leave the room, but then she decided to venture a question that had been bothering her since their conversation from before the battle.

“Master, if I may…”

Basil looked up from his work. “Yes?”

Elnora hesitated a moment longer before finally speaking her mind. “When you asked me why I wanted to be a dungeon keeper, was that a question really directed at me or…”

Basil’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“­—were you speaking on your own doubts?” Elnora continued. “I don’t mean to pry, but… is there something troubling you? Is there any way I could be of assistance, perhaps?”

Basil observed the succubus in silence. The longer his burning gaze lingered on her, the more Elnora became convinced that she had overstepped her boundaries as an apprentice.

“A bold suggestion,” Basil said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Few minions would dare to question their superiors so openly. No wonder they assigned you to me…”

“I beg your pardon?” Elnora said.

“Did you know that the Guild posted you with me for a reason?” Basil asked.

The confusion in the she-demon’s eyes said ‘no’.

Basil once more gestured for the succubus to take a seat. “Please, if you wish to discuss personal matters then you better make yourself comfortable.”

Her heart was beating fast. Elnora could not decide if she should apologize immediately or accept the dungeon keeper’s offer. Her mind was torn between two emotions: guilt-ridden shame and burning curiosity.

“Be at ease, I am not trying to intimidate you,” Basil told her. “I am offering you a rare chance to talk openly with me. I promise that there will be no ill-consequences for anything that you would wish to discuss.”

Elnora timidly took her seat. Her arms crossed over her knees; her shoulders slumped forward—the succubus was being crushed under the weight of the circumstances she herself had just crafted.

She remembered Scarlet’s parting words—that she and the dungeon keeper were ‘worlds apart’. Of course, she knew that. Any creature, demon or not, could feel the timeless power of a dungeon keeper when they stood in their presence. There was a force raging deep within such legendary creatures, a force that at once pushed and pulled at the world around them. Their charisma, strength and intelligence were amplified by the arcane power of their dungeon cores to a point where minions would willingly throw their lives away in service to their masters just for the glory of it. The dungeon keepers gave purpose to others by the sheer force of their nature—leaders, commanders and masters to thousands; idols to millions.

There was no comparison between normal monsters and these would-be demi-gods. And yet, she had deigned to ask one a personal question. Stranger still, he had agreed to answer…

“You were born outside of the Nine Hells, were you not?” Basil asked.

“I was,” Elnora answered. “On a temperate world in its mid to late stage of development. We were just on the edge of witnessing our first major kith empire being forged through conquest when the Guild’s scouts drafted me.”

Basil nodded in appreciation. “Then you are as much an outsider to the Guild as I was when I drew up my first contract with them. The only difference between us is that I had a venerable name and a powerful household to aid me, while you came from nothing and, as you said, had everything to gain.

“We share a common path, different as we are, but the questions that trouble me are still far out of your reach.” Basil shook his head in dismissal. “The answers that I seek, you do not possess.”

“What questions?” Elnora asked. “If you tell me, then maybe I can help.”

Basil sighed. “Very well,” he said. “At the risk of passing my doubts onto you, I will elaborate.

“You see, I conquered my first world on the eve of my twelfth birthday.” Basil pressed his hands together as if strangling an invisible foe. “I still remember the thrill of victory as I held my hands around the throat of the mage-tyrant who had burned away his domain in futile resistance to my invasion.

“After my first conquest, I moved on to the next assignment; then the next and just like that, four conquered worlds and twenty power levels later it no longer felt the same. My passion for conquest began to falter and the fire in my soul began to wane.

“But whenever I came across a native dungeon—you know, a self-made dungeon keeper with a ragged band of minions at their command, struggling for their very existence on a world that sought to eradicate them—that is when I remember the days of old.

“Now, I would never deny you that first and most intoxicating taste of glory,” Basil said. “It is not my intention to suggest you take a different path in life, but merely to say that for me it did not lead to satisfaction. If anything, in my own strange way I wish for you to succeed just so that I could experience some measure of pride through you.”

Having listened to Basil speak, Elnora ventured a further question. “What is it that you seek, Lord Basil?”

“Once I would have answered with accomplishment,” Basil said. “Glory and fame… but those prizes have all come and gone. Their value in my eyes has dwindled.”

He raised his finger to mark a point. “Again, you should strive for it, but I suspect that you too will not end up satisfied. It is the climb that beckons us, but when we reach the top of the mountain we find only the howls of frigid winds to keep us company—that or a plunge from the top of the world straight into oblivion.

“In a strange twist of fate, I suspect that for a dungeon keeper a timely and glorious death is our greatest reward. To be plucked from this existence at our prime; to be preserved in history with a single page of dedication to tell of our rise to power, not the hundreds of years of stagnation that followed. But we are not supposed to throw our lives away easily. And when your minions are stronger than even the greatest of your enemies… death becomes a distant possibility.”

“Is that why Miss Scarlet and Mister Schwartz don’t fight out in the open, together with your armies?” Elnora asked. “The minions that dwell within your Mansion could have easily overrun this world in a month or two.”

“That they could have,” Basil agreed, “but much like me, they no longer take any pleasure in battling inferior foes. For them only the act of serving House Doom remains to give a semblance of a purpose to their existence. And honestly, knowing their power level, if I threw them at heroes like Aidan and Nadia, I would be insulting one party while erasing the life-long efforts of the other.

“I take pride in the rise and fall of others,” Basil explained. “I even celebrate the accomplishments of my enemies, as to be petty in my position would require more effort than not to be. Aidan and Nadia were the best that this world had to offer. I will remember them—for a while at least—but they were no more than grains of sand on a beach; insignificant in the grand scheme of things, washed back and forth by the cruel tides of fate as they came and went.

“I came and I swept them aside. It was my purpose to crush them, but I always hoped that they would present me with a worthy challenge. But just like the other monsters and kith I have faced, they failed to measure up.”

Elnora sighed in disappointment. “Then what is my place in all of this?” she asked. “Are we all just pawns of the Guild? Am I just another minion to you?”

Basil nodded. “Yes, you are indeed just a cog in the machine of the Guild,” he said. “So is every dungeon that they operate; every ship in their fleets, every minion on their ledgers. Even I am only a small piece on the board…

Basil took measure of Elnora’s growing disappointment before continuing. “Does that knowledge make you feel hollow? Does your place in the universe not satisfy you? Well, then there is only one thing left to do…”

Basil crumped up a piece of paper into a ball and threw it at Elnora. The succubus caught it and gave the dungeon keeper an inquisitive look.

Basil gestured for her to pass it back. “We play games to keep sane in this crazy world,” he explained as he caught the crumpled-up piece of paper when the succubus threw it back at him. “Kith play at civilization, monsters play at conquest and I play my part in the greatest game of them all—the cycle of rise and fall.

“Is there a good reason for it all? Truth be told, I don’t know… But I do intend to find out eventually.”

He raised the paper ball for the throw. “Now smile, my apprentice, because right now you are playing catch with your master. Tomorrow you will be leading an army to war. In a few days’ time this world will be conquered. Who knows what happens after that? Maybe fate will intervene to make our lives a bit more exciting. We just don’t know it yet.”

Elnora’s expression lightened and the succubus went on throwing the ball back and forth with Basil a few more times.

“Have you ever wondered why?” Elnora asked. “Why are we here? What’s the point of it all?”

The dungeon keeper shrugged. “Inside this chamber we are at the heart of my domain,” Basil said. “My servants sleep and train in the rooms and halls of the surrounding Mansion—a self-sufficient world exists within this tiny pocket dimension. My commanders study and strategize in war-rooms above, while beer ferments in the cellars and food is prepared in the kitchens below. We all play our parts and struggle with despair while we await the sweet embrace of the oblivion. Not because our lives don’t matter, but because without playing along there is no meaning to be had at all.

“The universe does not conspire to make our lives meaningless. Rather its lack of direction is what gives us the chance to pursue a meaning on our own terms. Sometimes we have many paths to choose from, sometimes we seem destined to follow one.” Basil shrugged. “You just have to keep on walking to find out where yours will lead, be it to glory or ruin. And I will keep on looking for the answers that I seek. The only mistake would be to give up mid-way.

“Now, if you do end up taking any advice from me to heart then it should be to make the best of the time you have. Don’t waste your life waiting for answers from someone else. You have eyes and ears—find out for yourself. And if you desire anything, never give up. Let that desire drive you towards improvement. Motivation is the most powerful force in existence. No magic can compete with it.”

“Is that a challenge?” Elnora asked. Emboldened by her master’s words, the succubus gave him a seductive look and bit down on the corner of her lip.

At this moment there was a knock at the door. In response to the sudden intrusion, Basil threw the paper ball under his table and straightened his back to appear more rigid.

“Enter!” he ordered.

The obsidian knight stepped into the room and stood at attention. “Lord Doom,” he addressed his master in a posh manner. “Mister Schwartz humbly asks for your presence in the throne room. A cargo delivery from Cabal Co. has just arrived at the main teleportarium.”

Basil’s expression lit up with excitement. “Excellent!” he said and dismissed the sentry with a wave of his hand, “I shall receive it immediately.”

The knight spun around and marched out of the room where he took up position holding the door open for his master.

Lord Doom looked to the succubus and gestured towards the open door. “Let’s take a walk, shall we? I believe I have something exciting to show you.”