The fact that the Research Root hadn’t given Marianna a timer irked her to no end. She’d become used to being able to predict these sorts of things, and the lack of the timer meant she had no idea when the root would be finished designing her a unicorn. But as soon as she’d asked it to create her one, the giant pumping sack had started to produce noises Mari didn’t want to hear. It sounded like tortured screams mixed with doors that needed oiliing. Fortunately, once Mari flew Stacey away from the root, the noises faded as well.

She turned her attention back to three Ratmen, who’d just returned from the outside. The queen rushed out to see the burly warrior leading the two citizens, and patted him down, asking them if they were wounded in any way. Mari found it touching that she treated them like they were her children. The warrior, Yeshi, seemed embarassed as the queen pestered him.

“Queen Miradeen, please.” He spoke in a deep, gravelly voice. “There’s no need for this. I am healthy.” But he stood there anyway while she examined him. The two citizens behind him snickered and whispered.

“Nonsense, Yeshi,” the queen responded. “I am both the leader and healer of this tribe and if you go hunting, you will see me when you return!” She tapped her new bone staff against his ankle, and patted his shoulder. “You may go.” The warrior nodded and passed her, heading towards Mari’s chamber.

The two citizens were next, and the queen went through a slightly less vigorous examination of them. They snickered again when she left to follow Yeshi back towards Mari’s chamber. Then they headed down the Ratmen’s tunnel, and Mari turned her attention back to the two coming to her.

Mari watched as Miradeen quickly caught up to Yeshi, and entered Mari’s room with him. Both Ratmen bowed, and Mari could see that Yeshi was actually much more impressive than she’d previously thought. In the darkness of the hallway she couldn’t see it, but now in the light of her crystal body, it was clear to Marianna that Yeshi was blacker than the dirt bricks of the cave’s walls. He towered almost a head and a half over Miradeen, and his clawed feet viciously hooked into points.

He would’ve terrified Marianna if she’d met him in person. But now, he bowed to her, as Miradeen spoke.

“My lady, this warrior, Yeshi, has discovered something.” She prodded him with her staff, and Mari smiled inwardly, seeing Miradeen making obvious and frequent use of her new toy. Yeshi stepped forward, his large black eyes staring intelligently towards Mari’s Overseer.

“My lady,” he began in his deep voice. “I am Yeshi, warrior under Queen Miradeen, and I have found something that I believe may be of concern to you.” Mari waited for him to continue, but he simply waited, creating an awkward atmosphere Mari didn’t want to break, and then Miradeen prodded him again. He squinted at her, and then turned back to the Overseer on the wall.

“I discovered a serpopard prowling not too far from your dungeon.” He gestured towards the queen. “Their bodies are about the size of Queen Miradeen, and their necks the same. They strike with the ferocity of a leopard, and the speed of a snake.” The queen gestured with an open hand to him, and then continued when he didn’t speak again.

“The most important thing, my lady, is that the serpopard is most likely a servant of Cordon.” The queen cleared her throat and shifted uncomfortably. Mari thought for a moment. Cordon? What was that again?

Oh yeah! That evil dungeon that tortured them. Hmm. Well, those serpopards seem pretty scary, but I’m sure they won’t find this place. She accidentally projected her last thought to the two Ratmen before her, and the queen cleared her throat again.

“Well, actually…” She started. “With how the dungeon is clearly marked, I think the serpopard won’t have a problem finding it.” She tapped her bone staff on the ground while she waited for Mari to answer.

[Wait,] she said. [What do you mean it’s marked?] Then she remembered, the queen had read out Marianna’s name even before she’d entered the cave. [How did you know my name?]

The queen looked confused. “Well, the sign, of course. It said ‘Tier 1 Dungeon: Marianna’. You didn’t know it was there?” She scratched her head.

[No, but if that serpopard creature is smart enough to read, we should probably get rid of that.]

The queen and the warrior shared a look, and then Yeshi spoke. “That’s possible?” He let the question hang and the queen just nodded, agreeing with his question. Mari tried to access the sign somehow, but she couldn’t seem to feel it at all in the dungeon.

[I don’t know…] She admitted. [But I can’t seem to access it. Just send out some citizens to cover it with leaves and dirt, or something.]

The queen squinted her eyes at Marianna’s core, but she didn’t protest. Simply nodding, she pulled Yeshi away from the room, bowing her way out. The warrior bowed, and turned to follow her. Mari watched as they returned to the Ratmen settlement, and the warrior gave orders to the two snickering Ratmen. They didn’t seem happy to be told to go “defile” the dungeon’s sign, but they did as they were told. The queen ordered the remaining citizens to begin scavenging for anything they could fight with, and when Mari asked why, she simply reponded with, “If Cordon is looking for us, then we will need to fight more than just that stalking serpopard.”

Then Mari received her notification, greatly exciting her.

Alert

Structure Completed

Dweller Creation Pod completed construction.

She was just about to open the interface when she received another message. And this one excited her even more.

Alert

Research Completed

Unicorn template finished. Prototype processed.

She heard a squeal as the second notification appeared, and immediately sent Stacey back towards the root. After waiting for what seemed like forever, the root came into view, and the creature it produced as its prototype squeezed its way out of the bloated sac. Mari couldn’t tell if the yellowish liquid dripping off it belonged to the creature or the sac. But the creature was a sight.

Silver fur that seemed to glow in the dim light that entered the room through the hallway connected to Mari’s chamber covered the beast. The horn, which seemed like a taffy that’d been twisted in the hands of a small child, was a speckled sky blue. Its eyes, the same blue, surveyed the room with an intelligence that Mari hadn’t expected from the creature. The hooves on the beast were also magnificent, each the size of a child’s head, and tipping the thick trunks it had for legs. Its mane hung low down its neck, midnight black, and swayed as though floating in the breeze.

The unicorn wasn’t what she had expected, but it was magnificent.

And then it opened its mouth.

The beast quickly turned from a dream into a nightmare, as Marianna watched the lower jaw curl downwards, revealing a long thin mouth of needly teeth. It was as though somebody had pulled on the zipper keeping it closed, and revealed the horrible mistake inside.

She recoiled from the monster, and the zipper-mouthed horse pulled itself free of the sac, approaching as Stacey fled. Marianna prayed she was dreaming, because the long tongue that hung from the open mouth swung like a pendulum, drooling what might’ve been acid to the floor. It snorted, which sounded like a mixture of a horse and a banshee.

And somehow, Marianna blacked out.