Flinching from an expected blow, I needed a few seconds to come back to my surroundings. That dream felt more real than the previous ones. I am starting to recall them more clearly when I awake. What happened before I passed out? Ah, the mongagers and python battle. I told Eva and Avir to protect themselves only if necessary.

I wonder what happened with the mongagers? Searching quickly, I found them battling at the base of Eva’s tree.

Entire squads of ubees took turns dive-bombing the mongagers before flying away. Yet despite their efforts, the mongagers’ tough hide and natural poison resistance made the ubees little more than annoyances. Even Eva managed to deal little damage. Mongager just don’t care!

As I watched, the mother mongager sniffed and looked directly at Eva’s hive and all of her honey. The mother and two remaining cubs all began climbing the massive tree, hunger gleaming in their eyes. Avir swooped down at the mother but she swiftly dodged and retaliated. Her claws raked the air right next to Avir's head. As he retreated I came up with an idea.

“Eva, use ubee constructs to keep the mother blinded. Avir grab one of the cubs when she’s distracted!” I mentally commanded. Hopefully, this would work.

Immediately ubee constructs swarmed the sow and Avir dived for the smallest cub. He successfully latched onto the back of its neck. The cub couldn’t twist enough to attack back. Pumping his powerful wings, they rose. When he reached twice the height of Eva’s tree, Avir let go.

“SCREEEEEE!!” An awful and shrill sound emitted from the cub’s mouth as it fell. Until a thump and silence.

As soon as she heard her cub’s screech, the mother paused and glared directly at the base of Eva's tree. She released a cloud of gas from her anal glands which slowed down or neutralized the ubees around her. Then she turned into a whirlwind of death. I had no idea that a mongager could move so swiftly. Despite still clinging to the tree, her long body flexibly turned, twisted, and rapidly sliced everything in reach of her claws. Once no more enemies remained, she dropped to the ground.

“Take out the mother Avir, the ubees can’t stop her.”

Avir plunged fearlessly downward. This time he raked his claws down her side but she also landed a hit, and her claws nearly severed his wing. Blood quickly soaked his feathers. Without his wings, he stood no chance of successfully hitting her.

“Retreat Avir, there’s nothing you can do now.”

As Avir retreated, hopping back on the ground, the mother mongager did not pursue. At this point, I would rather let her have the ubee honey than kill any more of my monsters and constructs.

Yet for some reason, the sow did not return to climbing the tree. She started digging. Soon her remaining cub dug beside her and together they made decent progress. Why are they digging instead of climbing? Then I remembered that when the cub died the mother looked down. Right at where my core lay.

“Everyone stop them however you can!” I ordered, beginning to panic.

The remaining ubees flew down the forming tunnel towards the mongagers but they may as well been flying into a fire. The mongagers’ anal glands fumigated the small enclosure, not allowing for any ubees to deal damage. Avir couldn't even enter the tunnel with his large size. Eva also wouldn’t be able to help and I did not want her to get hurt pointlessly.

In a last-ditch effort for survival I began creating as many ant constructs as I could. However, the mongagers’ domain forced me to create the ants at the edge of my domain since I could not manipulate my energy too close to the mongagers. As quickly as possible, I formed batches of oversized ants until I ran extremely low on energy. Ordering my constructs to defend my core, I hoped they would be enough.

After agonizing seconds of waiting for my ants to reach the tunnel, they finally swarmed in. The mongager tried using its glands again but the ants only slowed a little. Soon they covered the mongagers and clamped their pincers down. But the ants inflicted little damage to the tough hide.

Upon seeing the chemical warfare ineffective against the ants, the mongagers went back into battle mode. They shredded through and crushed the ants. The size differences simply proved too great.

“Aim for their eyes and mouths!” I shouted but the opportunity passed, already my constructs’ numbers diminished to almost nothing.

Finishing off the last ant, the mongagers turned back to furiously digging. By now less than a tick of dirt separated them from my core.

I suppose I shouldn't have gotten greedy. I wanted to protect Eva’s hive, but if I hadn't taken out the cub, they would have simply eaten the honey and left. I wonder what will happen to Avir and Eva without me. Will they die too? I wish I could have grown large enough to protect my creations and see more of the world. Perhaps I might have discovered what happened to Lindra and how she relates to me.

The mongagers would break into my core chamber in a spin.

A sensation tingled the edge of my domain. Rushing wind echoed among the trees and several blurs blasted through the brush. Stopping at the tunnel entrance, a squad of pixies hovered and drew their swords.

“Cyfur uln faqer,” the familiar silver-haired pixie commander shouted as he raised his sword.

All at once the pixies held out their now glowing green thorn blades. From each pixie, the glow pulsed larger until it reached a critical mass. Together, the released magic combined and shot down the tunnel.

Whrooom, the ground shuttered and the tunnel partially collapsed. I felt a surge of energy and knew one of the mongagers passed. Looking inside the remaining tunnel, the mother lay dead. The midsection of her chest appeared to have rotted away, leaving a gaping hole. Behind her body the hub heavily injured behind her, parts of its body also rotting.

The pixie commander flew in and without hesitation swiftly put the cornered monster out of its misery. Watching the life in the cub's eyes fade, I regretted the events leading to this. But overwhelming relief crashed over me as the danger passed.

Yet as I calmed down, I noticed the final blast opened the small chamber my gem sat in. The pixie commander stared at my gem. Tension crept back into my mind. Right now I am completely defenseless and dungeons are seen as a plague upon the world.

With the pixies’ natural domains even larger than the mongagers I couldn’t manipulate any energy in my domain. Not that I possess enough energy to fight them off anyway.

My thought process stopped as the pixie commander flew over to my gem core. Slowly he placed his palm on my core. The moment he made contact I sensed him differently than before, he felt like a mass of energy brushing against my mind. One, two, taps on the edge of my consciousness appeared to be him knocking.

“Open,” he said aloud.

He spoke Kope! I don’t know what language he spoke to the pixies before, but if he spoke Kope then I may survive this after all. In an effort to answer him I focused inward to my mind.

Surrounding my consciousness appeared to be a barrier consisting of a stream of energy. The overall shape formed a sphere. Except, energy flowed directly up from the center and fell downwards before coalescing at the bottom to form a sphere. Then the energy at the bottom flowed directly up again to rejoin the center before the flow continued to the top again.

After focusing for a moment I managed to change the flow to open a slice of the barrier. Once I opened myself up the pixie created a tendril of energy to the very center of my mind.

“Now we may talk mentally,” he thought at me.

“Come now, we saw your sign for ‘peace’ and you assisted us in the battle against the ubees, you must have the intelligence to speak.” he continued aloud.

“I am unsure what to say,” I hesitantly reply. I am still unsure where this interaction will lead.

“To be fair, so am I. The pixies of Rewp have never heard of a dungeon who could talk at such a young age let alone one that leaves a message for peace.”

“How do you know I am young?” I enquire.

“Your small territory of course. You likely only reached the surface three or four sun cycles ago, correct?”

“Actually I reached the forest less than two moon cycles ago,” I corrected him.

“Truly? You grow rapidly then, but I suspect that reflects largely on your intelligence compared to other young dungeons. How did you learn to speak Kopish in such an old dialect?” Curiosity and wariness flashed across his face. He began to pace in midair, slowly flying back and forth above my core.

Indecision wars within me, I don’t want to explain myself to a pixie I do not know. Although he helped me I’m wary of his intentions going forward, but looking at his tense countenance I knew that I needed to cooperate.

“I am not sure, I have always thought like this. Although I do sometimes dream about a human girl that lives in Kopth,” I explain but try not to go into too much detail.

“Interesting. Well, as the third born Prince of the colony of Rewp I am here to investigate and open negotiations. While we did not expect conflict, as you can see we are more than capable of defending ourselves. Should you prove hostile or untrustworthy you will be eliminated.”

“If I wanted to attack you why wouldn't I have done so when you fought the ubees last time we met?”

“I am simply clarifying our positions,” he explained while holding his open hands out, pacifyingly.

“I understand. You mentioned negotiations, about what exactly and what is your name?”

“Ah, pardon my rudeness. My name is Finn Rewp, third son of King Terent Rewp and Queen Radella Rewp.”

“Your whole colony is named after your family?”

“Indeed, my great grandfather slew a mighty dungeon and built his house atop the broken core,” as he said, puffing out his chest.

“What is your name, dungeon?” he asked before I could comment.

My name? Why my name is of course-

__________________________________________________________

Surrounded in darkness, she couldn’t sense anything around her for an endless amount of time. At first there were memories, and emotions? But those faded long ago. All concepts and thought eventually left her. With no stimuli or consciousness, she remained in stasis.

Eventually, a boom rent her world. A crack in the void. Water gushed from the split in the darkness, light flickering through the foaming geyser that suddenly appeared, the water flowed in without stopping. The cool liquid quickly rising above her, quickly filling the void that used to be her everything.

Her world filled.

The previously empty world was now full of painful pressure. With no more room for the water to enter, it pressed down relentlessly. She felt like she would be crushed, the pain rousing her from her long stupor.

No thoughts floating in her mind, she didn’t remember how to think at first. She could do nothing but passively observe the water, amazement slowly growing. The sudden overhaul to everything she knew was too much to comprehend. Eventually, some long forgotten instincts roused her. For the first time, amazement turned to worry. How would she breathe?! Did she need to breathe?

But before these new thoughts could be addressed, the water pressure grew too great and pain spiked back through her. Excruciating pain, building like the water that keeps adding to her misery.

Fortunately, for her sanity, she heard a small screech and then hiss. On the other side of her world a new, tiny crack appeared! Then the crack widened. The unrelenting, incompressible, endless water finally released from her prison world.

The pressure and pain lessened. Now, as the water flows in, through, and out of her world, it tugged her along. While she’s scared to leave the only place she knows, a greater part of her yearns for the freedom of this water. Either way, she flowed.

The water pushed her to the new opening. For a second she got stuck, but with a pop, she made it through to a new world!

Full of more darkness…

Before, her world was complete absence. There used to be absolutely nothing. Now, she can sense her new world has solid things in it that the water flows on top of.

Rocks? Dirt? Earth? She’s not sure where those names came from but they feel right.

As she floats on the underground river, beneath the stalactites, she pondered. There are so many new things she’s experiencing that don’t seem quite new. Even thinking to herself should be new, but isn’t.

Trying to remember if she had ever done so before, she realized she couldn’t remember. Once she thought about a memory she realized one can also forget.

Floating on the now mild river she thought and remembered. One realization would lead to another endlessly. Occasionally a new sight, such as a shiny rock in the dirt above her, directed her to another chain of rediscoveries. Over time she remembered most of the general things about the world. The true world outside, not that void she was in for who knows how long.

She remembered mountains, trees, the sky, animals, humans, elves, dwarves, language, towns, monsters, and...dungeons. Eventually, her thoughts became cyclical. She couldn’t remember any more details about the world. More importantly, she could not recall a single thing about herself.

Distressingly, she could not remember specifics about her past. Not even her name.

If I cannot remember my old name, what should my new one be? Thinking about the water that freed me, I decided to name myself Riva. I hope that I can be just as unrelenting.

With her name established, Riva continued to float. Eventually, the river turned into a trickle and deposited her in a small chamber. Over time the trickle disappeared and the tunnel it carved collapsed, leaving Riva in a small spherical chamber.

Once again Riva was left without stimulus, but this time she kept her thoughts and played mental games to entertain herself. So she started counting the bits of dirt around her. She reached 523,712 and started again…

Looking at Finn, I finished my first memory as a dungeon. I spread my senses out through what I had built since then, my ant colonies, Eva’s hive, the magnificent trees I grew, the sanctuary grove, Avir, and imagined my potential. So far I have been so worried about becoming evil that I let my fear drive me. The mongagers showed me that my defenses truly were pathetic. If I truly love what I create I need to be able to protect them as well. To do anything else would be evil to my creations.

A rush of energy traveled through my domain. Everything paused, the forest silent.

“My name is Riva and this is my dungeon,” I proclaimed and all of my creations created an uproar. My ants waved their mandibles, my ubees hummed and danced about, the trees rustled violently in a phantom wind, and Avir let out a hunter’s screech.