Dungeon cores. If there were any left in the world, their value would be untold. Many assume that dungeon cores are helpful in casting spells, that one is able to draw on them as a power source. This is a common myth, mostly because of the stories of dungeon cores powering the cities of old. The stories are indeed true, but still, one will never be able to draw mana from a dungeon core. No, dungeon cores are material. They are a necessary ingredient for the most powerful wards. The ones that power the cities of old. Futhermore, cores are enchantable, which increases any ward’s potency. As such, if a core were to be found, one could start up the ancient ruins once more.

— Barmir’s Guide to the Unknown, 976

“A tree.” I raise an eyebrow.

“Yes.”

“On ice.”

“Yes. Strange.”

“Why?”

“The dungeon?”

“I thought dungeons were more…underground.”

“It’s legendary.”

“True.” I eye the walls of ice before me and the tree that stood towering above them.

“I’m hungry,” I say.

“You just ate.” I think back to the ice kraken that tried to pull me under. Now, its remains rested in my stomach.

“Still. It was cold. I want something warmer.”

“Why didn’t you eat the selkies?”

“They gave me meat. Plus…the suspicious one.”

“The one that watched you?”

“Yes.” I brush the hair out of my eyes. “Lead me here.”

“Very kind of him. How’d you know he would?”

“Hm…didn’t. Just smelled better than the rest. Tastier. Rather eat him.”

“You are a picky eater.”

“Maybe.”

“Shall we go?”

“Yes.” I walk into the maze. Time passes, and I feel increasingly frustrated. This is not my first dead end.

“How many is this?”

“Twelve.” I glance up at the top of the walls.

“Can’t you [flicker] up there?”

“Can’t. Can only [flicker] to places I can actually reach normally. I can’t get up there. Besides it’d be cheating.”

“So what about cheating.”

“I don’t like it. It’s like not following the road or not using the front door.”

“Idiot.”

“You do those too, though.”

“Only because I have to. I’m a gwisin.”

“So am I.” I turn back the way I came.

“But unlike you, I hate these racial weaknesses. I can’t go against them.”

“Then don’t. It’s easier. Hurts less.” I turn right and walk a ways in silence. The ground suddenly collapses underneath me. I slip. As I fall, I reach out and manage to catch an edge, grunting as I slam into a wall.

“Trap, by the way.”

“You could have told me earlier.”

“Yes.” My eyebrows furrow at the spikes lining the bottom of the pit.

“I don’t want to get hurt,” I mutter.

“You wouldn’t have died from that.” I pull myself up and see a string lining the path way. I walk over to it and crouch down.

“There weren’t any traps earlier.”

“Must be we’re going the right way.”

“Ah.” I touch the string lightly, then pull back my finger. A line of blood begins to bead across my skin where I touched it.

“Sharp.” I gingerly step over it, continuing on at a much slower pace. I came to another dead end.

“I thought you said we were going the right way.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a dead end.”

“Yes.”

“Everything looks the same.”

“Yes.”

“Where do I go, then?”

“Back?”

“Ah.” I turn and travel back the way I came, careful to step over the wire. I pick a different way. Once again, the ground collapses from underneath me. This time, I manage to [flicker] before it completely disappeared. I pear down into the hole.

“Dark.”

“Must go all the way to the sea.”

“Ah.”

“Much deadlier. You would have frozen to death.”

“Scary.” I continue walking and come to a crossroad.

“Which way?”

“Just pick one.” I turn left. A faint rumbling sounds over my head. I lash out with [spontaneous gash]. Thick ice chunks rain down around me.

“What was that?”

“The wall fell.” I look and see a gaping hole where the wall once stood. I frown.

“Move.”

“What?”

“Move!” A faint smell of rotten oranges hits my nose. Wispy yellowish gas rises from the ice cluttered path. I [flicker] further ahead and begin to run.

“Poison?” I gasp. My muscles begin to spasm slightly. The ground breaks once more. I struggle to catch an edge, my [flicker] spell failing. I scream and pull myself up as quickly as I could. My foot feels like its burning, like its ready to fall off. I look down at it. My boot is melting and the skin underneath is flaking off. Smoke rises off of it. I look over the edge. A pool of filmy white liquid rests at the bottom.

“What is that?” I choke.

“Acid.”

“It hurts. It hurts so much.”

“It feels nice.”

“It hurts.” I pour water over my leg and strip the boot off. My foot feels boiling and freezing all at the same time. I wash it off and rub healing salve over it, then bind it. I dig around for another shoe in my item bag. I growl at the pain.

“I’m done.”

“Are you turning back?”

“No.” I reach out and cast [spontaneous gash]. I had to cast it twice before it succeeded. Scrapes formed all along the walls and path I was on. Several traps fired. Arrows of ice shot out, walls and floors collapsed. One pit had the distinctive red glow of lava floating in its depths. I stood and limped to the end of the path where it split once more. I picked a random one and repeated my actions with [spontaneous gash]. Traps fired when the scrapes touched them.

“Much better.”

“Wastes mana. You’re poisoned. You’re skills are failing to cast more and more.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll make a mistake and die if I don’t.” Continuing this process, I move on. Not long, I come across a hall thrashed by [spontaneous gash]. I stare in confusion.

“I’ve been here?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve gone in a circle?”

“No. The tree is in a different position.”

“What is it then?”

“I don’t know. What will you do?”

“Continue forward.” I walk past the shredded walls. Turning right brings me to an open area. A wave of intense heat washes over my face and a red glow fills the air.

“A moat.”

“Yes.”

“It’s filled with lava.”

“Yes.”

“There’s a bridge.”

“Yes.” The thin ice bridge spanning the wide moat filled with bubbling lava makes me wary. It reminds me of a string of spider’s silk just waiting to break.

“It doesn’t make sense. Why is there lava flowing over the top of ice.”

“Because of the dungeon.” I sigh as I approach the bridge with growing hesitation. I take a step on it. My foot slips, almost sending me straight over the edge into the boiling liquid.

“Nope. Not doing that.” I take a deep breath and gather my mana. I strain and manage to cast [flicker], appearing on the other side of the moat. The drain of mana hits me as I’m almost immediately attacked by something. I draw a knife as my arm is slashed. Whirling around, I search for my assailant. I feel the skin of my back slice open. I spin and manage to catch a glimpse of silver. I close my eyes, tracking whatever it is with [heat sense], but the lava is washing everything out. I cast [apparition]. Dim figures appear. My attacker launches at them as I bring my knife across its back. It falls to the ground. The whole maze rumbles for a second as I reach down and pick it up. I pause, looking around me before examining my dead attacker.

“A fish?” I shrug and place it in my mouth. Juicy flesh rolls over my tongue. I flinch. I pull the half-chewed fish out of my mouth. The maze rumbles again, but I ignore it, poking at the sharp edges of the fishes scales. I run my tongue over the bleeding cuts on the inside of my mouth.

“Ow.” I pick out the meat and gingerly eat it, throwing the rest of it into the lava. I keep a piece of its tail. Then, I tend to my wounds before heading into the rest of the maze. The traps in the second half are almost exactly the same as the first half, only swarming with monsters, most of which are made of ice, which makes them trickier. I run into swarms of flying fish made out of ice, almost as sharp and harder to kill. It was hard to target them with [poltergeist]. It was easier, but more mana intensive to just blindly attack with [spontaneous gash]. By the end of it, my clothes were shredded. I had to put on new ones, but slowly, the chill began to invade.

After the fight with the giant ice octopus, I had to pull out one of my few mana potions. This place was slowly draining me of mana, and I wasn’t generating enough for the upkeep. My health was steadily dipping too, and in the fight with an akhlut made of ice, I was hit by another gas trap. The new poison reduced my health regeneration to zero. My skills still failed about half of the time.

“This is hard.” I sit, drinking a health potion. I didn’t have many of these either. I glance down at the remains of my recent fight. Two ice golems at once. One, another akhlut, and the other was an oversized owl cat. The worst thing was that I couldn’t even eat them. They were just chunks of ice.

“I want to eat!” I wail.

“No point in crying.” I sigh and continue on. The fights continue to get harder. I begin to have to rely more and more on my knife whenever my skill fails. I come across more and more golems each time, having to fight off flying fish while an octopus is attacking, humanoids who fought in close quarters while floating eira launched icicles at me, and the cursed aklut and owl cat combination. Of course, throughout this the combinations of various golems shifted, and more than once I tripped over a trap while battling.

I almost wanted to give up, to turn back. It was too hard. Why was I doing this? But the small growing seedling of annoyance, hate, hunger, and curiosity drove me on.

“So this is what a legendary dungeon is like. I haven’t even made it to the tree.”

“You’re a mess.”

“Ah.” It was true. There wasn’t an inch of skin I had left that hadn’t been mauled in some way, either by the golems or by the traps. I had been in this horrid maze for days, most of it spent in the long dark of nights with little sleep. Sometimes I’d come across turns I had taken before, or corpses I had slain. A distinct feeling rose up inside of me as I once more came across the moat of lava. I was on the wrong side once again.

“This…the maze is moving.”

“Yes. It would seem so.” I give a laugh. My mind cracks and shifts. The laughter turns hysterical.

“This is so fun! Hahahahahahaha!”

Days later, I finally make it out of the maze. Bloodied and starving, poisoned once again from the traps, my back shredded by a splash of corrosive acid, and completely out of spare clothes and only one of each potion, my gaze travels up the massive weeping tree. The branches sway in the wind as I smiled with glee.

I step through the thick layer of branches and come out the other side covered in fresh bloody scratches festering with acid.

“It hurts.”

“It feels good.”

“The branches scratched me.”

“They were also covered in acid.”

“It hurts.” A lake stretches out before me. Lights from houses twinkle on the water. What looked like large hanging lanterns dangled from the branches overhead. A bridge spans the lake. It reminds me of the one spanning the lava moat. I shudder. I had to cross it five times. It was scary. There were traps. It was slick, and I almost fell several times. The last time I crossed it, the bridge completely fell apart. I did not want to cross this bridge. I tested the water. It bit at me.

“It’s acid.”

“It’s acidic. Less of an effect than regular acid.”

“Still no good.”

“Not enough mana.”

“Sleep for a bit. I’ll keep an eye out.”

“You won’t take over.”

“No. Not enough mana to cross the bridge. Too dangerous. I’ll wait.”

“Ah.” I take out my bedroll and fall asleep on the bank of the lake next to the bridge. When I wake up, my mana is full. After a few times casting [flicker], I make it across the bridge into some kind of pavilion with a cave leading into the tree. I enter.

The first floor is harmless enough. I explore it and find two sets of stairs leading both down and up. After a moment’s hesitation, I choose the stairs heading up. What follows is another maze even more frustrating than the previous one, if it could be. The traps come from all around. Acid sometimes pours from above; sometimes the ceiling cracks and falls on me, once even lava. I narrowly avoided that one. The poison is more potent. It has less area to disperse. There are still pits where the floor falls away, sometimes even the bottom of the whole room disappears. One I fell into turned out to be a slide straight into lava. I managed to catch myself by digging my knife into the wall on the way down. It was the worst hours of my life trying to climb out again. [Flicker] wasn’t able to bring me all the way out, just took me up in short bursts which caused me to slide down again.

There weren’t as many golems. The bigger ones from the maze outside were scaled down and it was easier to maul them all with [spontaneous gash] right as I entered the room, especially with the room packed with those stupid flying fish. These rooms shifted too. I cursed the world and everything in it when I managed to fall down the same slide when I came across it again.

“I hate this dungeon! I hateIhateIhateIHATE!!!”

“Yes.”

“It needs to die! Diediediediedie die. I’m going to kill it. Rip it to pieces. Tear it apart in the most painful way. Feast on its flesh. I hate it. Hate it!” I slash at the golem in front of me.

“Yes.” It falls to the floor. With heavy breaths, I enter the next room. It was a big room. Another wave of heat assails me, and I groan.

“I hate lave so much.”

“Yes.”

“This room is completely covered in it.”

“Yes. There are islands though.”

“Ah.” I leap to an island. It was small. More of a stepping stone than an island. A trail of them led to the doorway on the other side. The lava bubbles and boils turbulently, and after I leap across two more stones, it bursts into a fiery pillar. Two large eyes slide open in the pillar, so big they could swallow me. I barely manage the goops of lava launched from the pillar as it shakes.

It’s another giant octopus, only this time, its skin is lined with flowing rivulets of lava. It groans as it breathes.

“That’s not a golem.”

“No, but those are.” I turn and notice smaller octopuses made of lava, barely discernible as the float in the stuff.

“Ah.” This is going to be interesting. I grin. I begin launching skills. [Haunt] and [apparition] to keep the giant one busy. The room darkens in a strange way. Ghosts begin to flicker in and out of existence around the giant. Its eyes widen and track them around the room. It scoots back and lashes a flaming tentacle at the ghosts. The tentacle only passes through empty air and slams down on the ocean of lava. I jump another island to avoid the resulting splash, then cast [poltergeist] on several of the golem octopuses and raise them out of the lava, numbing them with [chill] and [cold grip]. Their struggle in the air slows and their bodies begin to solidify and harden. They lose their rosy glow and become solid chunks of rock. I launch them at the large one. They slam against its body and in particular, its eyes. It begins to flail around blindly. From there I continue to wear it down, alternating between [spontaneous gash] and launching the solidified lava golems while avoiding its blind attacks.

After a hard few minutes of attacking and dodging, the thing finally goes down. I heave as it slowly sinks into the lake of magma.

“Hard.” I struggle to breath.

“Yes.”

“Too hard.” In disappointment, I eye the corpse.

“You won’t be able to eat it.”

“Ah,” I say. It sounds sad in my ears.

“Was that the last boss?”

“Probably. Shall we go?”

“Yeah.” I turn and leave, pulling out my last health potion as I do. I down it, leaving the room. The short stairway opens up and I find myself at the very top of the tree. It’s a strange place filled with pillows and lights trailing on string overhead. The branches of the tree form a canopy above us.

I notice the akhlut first. A live one, not a golem. There is a man as well, holding a pair of short swords in his hands. I frown. Strange that he would be here. Then I see the golem, still made of ice but different from the others. It felt more alive, with finer craftsmanship and details. I green glow emanates from its, no, her eyes. A shiver runs through me. Here is the center of the dungeon. I can feel it. She is the dungeon core. The other two hover protectively around her. Out of the corner of my eye I notice a swarm of flying fish much like the one I first fought. There is also a natural owl cat and an eira behind the core, and a few more ice golems and two lava ones roaming around the top of the platform. They all stare at me warily. I smile and spread out my arms.

“Well. Here I am,” I say. “So, dungeon core. May I eat.” A angry light flashes through her eyes for a second, then disappears.

“I ask you to leave.”

“No.”

“Then, please die.” She raises her hand and launches several icicles my way along with a bout of poisonous gas. Once again, I am poisoned.

My [flicker] fails. I roll to dodge out of the way. My [heat sense] flares and I raise my knife to block the sword swinging down on me. I launch the man with [poltergeist]. He tumbles into the eira. The paw of the akhlut slams into me, and I slide to the edge of the platform. The swarm of fish launch at me. I growl and cast [spontaneous gash]. Much of the swarm is instantly shredded, but the rest slip past and begin to slice me apart. I [flicker] out of it, also casting [apparition] and [haunt] as I do.

The surroundings turn into a mess of confusion. It’s like the gates of the underworld have opened as myriads of gristly ghosts scream and swirl through the air. Carefully, I begin to layer on to the illusion. Each ghost brings a deathly [chill] as it passes through others and they begin leaving long [spontaneous gashes] on their victims as the close in. I keep track of my enemies using [heat sense], occasionally flickering in and out of the fray with [flicker] to spread more confusion. Fear begins to build. I can taste it, see it in their eyes.

I cast [frenzy]. Pain rushes through me because of the skill. But along with that pain came an intense feeling of joy and madness. I begin to laugh. I can’t help myself. In a strange way, I can feel the crack in my mind beginning to mend. The two sides of my mind come together. I am whole once more, but in a horrible way. The world is just a rush of colors. I want to break it. I want to take it apart. I want to eat. I want. Iwantwant want.

I [flicker] suddenly in front of the core, stare at it with longing and a crazed grin smeared across my lips. The madness and horror of my ghosts still swirls behind me. She stares at me with veiled terror. That emotion. It’s still buried. I need to bring more of it out. I reach out and stroke her cheek with my hand, leaving a jagged gash in the skin as I do. She gives a small sound, and the terror rises just a bit.

The akhlut bellows and charges at me, ignoring the wounds of the haunting ghosts. My other enemies are too busy with my ghosts to notice. I growl as [flicker] fails, making me dodge to the side. In return, I tear out a huge chunk of skin from its side. It roars and slips as pain courses through it. It slides on its wound a few painful feet.

Catching the eye of the core, I begin to eat. To chew. To swallow. Over and over again, the pieces of dripping red meat slide down my throat like silk. My eyes flutter. It’s good. It’s good. It’s good. It’s good. It’s good. I need more! I [flicker] next to the akhlut and tear a thick strip of skin from its leg with my own fingers. It screams again and lashes at me with its tail. I [flicker] back before it hits, only to be hit by a flying piece of ice. It pierces me in my stomach.

I turn and look at the core. She had launched it at me. Slowly I bring up the piece of meat and swallow it whole with eyes on the core the whole time. She shivers in horror and anger, her emotions much more distinct than before. I shiver as well, but with the pleasure that her reaction brings me. It feels good. So good. So good. So good.

“Hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahhahahahha!” I laugh. The pain of the piece of ice in my stomach only makes me laugh harder. The man comes at me swinging once more. I fail to [flicker] once again. The sword rips through the muscle of my arm. I manage to seize him with [poltergeist]. A chill rushes through my veins and my movements slow. I turn and see the eira casting a skill. Frowning, I launch one of the man’s swords at it, but it dodges. Flying fish begin to harry me again, and the core launches a sphere of lava in my direction. I feel tendrils of ice beginning to slither up my legs as well as the bite of acid.

I [flicker] out of it, still holding the man in the air. The owl cat flies at me. I narrowly dodge its reaching claws. It still manages to catch and tear off a part of my ear. I grimace realizing I had forgotten about the stupid bird.

I glance around. Most of my ghosts are managing to occupy the golems. It’s a stale mate between them, though my ghosts are slowly beginning to win against them. That leaves the others mostly free of my ghosts. The akhlut is trying to stand while being harried by two of my ghosts. The owl cat is swooping around again, and the eira is trying to catch me in another spell. The few fish left are regrouping. I am still holding the man. He struggles vainly. I cast [cold grip], but it fails. The core herself is trying to deal with the ghosts attacking her companions and myself. She manages to obliterate several ghosts with globs of acid or lava. I frown at her split attention. That needs to change. I [flicker] in front of her once more. She flinches.

“Look,” I say. “Look. Only at me. Look.” She lashes out with her fist. A solid punch connects to my face. Pain blossoms as I stumble back. I look at her and see her foot just before it connects with my head. My grip on the man loosens and he slips to the ground. I feel my hair tear as the owl cat swoops and gets a solid grip on it. I try to [flicker] but it fails. Another punch lands on my face, and I swoon dizzily. An icicle, this time from the eira, punches through my shoulder. That sharp pain wakes me up, and I manage to [flicker] away just as the man’s sword slices through the air where I stood. I reach up and touch my stinging cheek.

“HAhahahahahahaa. Good! Goodgoodgoodgoodgood! This is fun. Fun. So much fun.” I grin, the end of the sentence coming out more of a growl than a real word. The akhlut finally manages to get to its feet, swatting away the two ghosts, which disappear. I can feel my mana draining quickly, the effects of [frenzy] are beginning to wear off. I drink my last mana potion.

“Well.” I [flicker], appearing behind the core. “Let’s finish this then,” I whisper in her ear. She spins around to face me. I grin. She glances at me with a mixture of surprise, pain, and horror, all her emotions fresh on the surface. I bask in the feeling as she stares at my hand lodged in her chest right at the heart.

Her confusion flutters away, replaced by rage. I didn’t even see the punch she launched into my gut. I double over, coughing as I’m forced to pull my hand from her chest.

“I forgot,” I sputter. “You’re a golem. Don’t have a heart.” Ice swirls up around my legs once more, stinging with acid. She covers a fist with a layer of lava and punches me again in the stomach. I scream.

“It hurts! Hurtshurtshurtshurts!” I lash out, managing to catch her in the side of the head. Her face cracks and I see a glowing green gem within. I feel her companions close in as I grasp at it with [poltergeist], tearing it from her head before I [flicker] away. Her monsters spin around to face me as I cradle the gem in my hands. I ignore them as I look at it.

“Give her back!” The man yells, running towards me.

“No,” I say, lifting a finger and running it along the edge of the crystal. I chip a piece of it off. A long scream wracked with pain sounded from the gem.

“Beautiful,” I say. I lift the piece to my lips and place it in my mouth. I almost spit it out. It tasted like dirt and mold and rock. It was disgusting. An icicle piercing through my thigh causes me to swallow it instead. I choke, almost dropping the gem.

Again, the man slashes at me with his remaining sword. I curse as my [flicker] fails, dodging the sword by a hair. This man. Dangerous. He good with his sword. I’ve almost died too many times. If I didn’t have [flicker]… I quickly grab a hold of his arm and cast [spontaneous gash], aiming at his neck. He twists almost in midair and leaps back, leaving his arm in my grasp. He grits his teeth as he falls to the ground.

The gem gives a wail and the whole tree shakes. A massive glob of lava appears overhead. I [flicker] as it comes splashing down. A few droplets that I failed to dodge sting on my skin. I look down at the gem. Her light pulses in swirling shades of green. I can feel her emotions roiling in its depths. Anger, hate, despair. It was lovely. Lovely. So lovely. Lovely. I want. I want her. I want her. I want her.

“I want!” I take a bite of the arm I am holding. Blood dribbles down my chin.

My mind breaks in half once more as the effects of [frenzy] fade. My ghosts fade away, leaving behind shards of broken golems. The remaining monsters stare at me hesitantly, ready to charge at my slightest move. Every one of them was hurt though, dripping blood much like myself, straining to keep from loosing consciousness from the loss of it.

“I want,” I repeat. The man’s eyes flash in confusion and pain. Everyone else just continues to stare.

“To eat?”

“No,” I say as I grin down at gem. “I want to make you a gwisin. I want you as a mate.”

I feel a shiver run through the gem, as well as a strong sense of rejection. The world warps around me. It flips on itself, twisting and turning. I lose sense of everything. When I find myself again. I’m standing in the middle of a forest. A group of armored people stare warily at me. I glance at them in confusion as they whisper to each other. Where am I? And where is she? The core. I don’t have her anymore. Where is she?

I take another bite of the arm, slowly chewing as I run my mind over the recent fight. I sigh.

“Ah,” I say in a low voice. “I want her.”

Status Menu Name: Yul Yeong Race: Gwisin Level: 34 (3,581,793/11,560,000) Health: 65/370 (0/min)* Mana: 220/620 (5.2/min)* State: State: Poisoned; Cold — (Skills have a 30% chance of failing; -50% of health and health regeneration reduced to 0; Mana regeneration reduced by 90%; Strength, Accuracy, and Endurance reduced to 2)* Strength: 2* Endurance: 2* Dexterity: 9 Focus: 33 Will: 26 Accuracy: 2* [Ξ] Fame: 12,200 Titles: |Impersonal| |Creepy| |Cold| |Raw Foodism| |Crazy| |Hair-raising| |Adventurer| |Mercenary| |The Ghost| |Dissonant Laughter| |Remorseless Killer| |Cannibal| |Illusionist| |Faceless| |Multiple Personalities| Skills: [Cold Grip VIII] [Chill VI] [Heat Sense X] [Spontaneous Gash VII] [Haunt III] [Apparition V] [Frenzy IV] [Poltergeist VII] [Flicker VIII] [Ward Resistance III]