Chapter Eight

The Tower of Fear

Wraith pulled his horse to a stop and tied it a low hanging bow of an evergreen tree. Wraith moved through the trees to the edge of the tower. The tower still stood, but half of the of the tower had collapsed. Wraith looked at the stairs to the tower which had given way to rumble. He sighted reached up and grabbed a rock and pulled himself up and then grabbed the lip of the doorway. Wraith swung over, and his weight shifted downward he lost his grip, just in time for him as the rim shifted down and spikes sprung out of the wall where he had been moments before.

Wraith stood up and brushed off the dirt and leaves sticking to his back. He glared at the tower and walked over to a nearby stream and filled a bucket with sand. Wraith returned back to the tower and picked up a large rock and hurled it up onto the lip of the tower and piled onto the rim and the spikes sprung out again. Wraith jumped up again grabbed one of the spikes and pulled himself one-handed onto the ledge. Wraith looked at the locked iron door and the keyhole in it.

“Yeah, I’m not touching that,” Wraith said and blasted the door with fire.

A scythe swung down across the doorway. Wraith took a handful of sand and tossed it into the hall and watched where the sand fell through the cracks. Reaching into his bag and long-spear and carefully touched the stones. He proceeded carefully occasionally setting off a blast of fire. Spikes shot up from the ground, scythes swung down across the hall and acid rained down from above. Wraith climbed every step of the tower and finally reached the door at the top of the broken mast.

Crouching Wraith examined the door probing it with his mental senses as well as his vision. Noticing some glowing wards Wraith removed the magic siphoning the magic in the wood into nothingness. Wraith pulled his lock picks out and slipped them into the keyholes and listened to the click of the tumblers inside. The lock clicked open, and Wraith opened the door. A wyvern slumbered on a pile of gold in the center of the broken tower, remains of animals and humans lay about and pieces of armor and broken swords. The wyvern snorted and opened its eyes fixing its glare on Wraith, and it hissed its tail lashing on the ground like a cat.

“Tower of Fear, I am Wraith Eminence a dungeon I have come here in person to treat with you and to make an alliance against our common enemy Dryads Domain, she has taken my Lord Sparks and reduced me to nothing,” Wraith called out.

The wyvern rose on its two legs and flapped its wings hissing, and Wraith heard a feminine voice speak in his mind. “Impossible no one escapes Dryads destruction, don’t think you can trick me you serpent, you are a spy sent here to humiliate me further.”

The wyvern leaped forward, and Wraith stepped to the side and drew the hell-blade and stabbed the wyvern in the side. The wyvern shrank back and shrieked in pain from the touch of the obsidian blade. The wyvern spun about and struck Wraith in the side with its tail stinger, but Wraith ignored the poison his undead nature making him immune to its effects. Wraith sliced off the tip of the tail and then held out his hand, and twin bolts of black lightning hit the wyvern, and it fell back screaming.

“Apologies for destroying your rogue monster, please do not be alarmed at what I’m about to do rest assured I have your best interests at heart,” Wraith said flicking his fingers and a hand the size of a cart-wheel appeared and smashed into the floor, again and again, breaking into a room below. Wraith dropped down into the room and looked at a brilliant blood red dungeon core two-feet in diameter.

“What are you doing,” Tower asked her voice filled with panic.

“Relax,” Wraith said and began concentrating on creating a body. Wraith didn’t think an undead body would suit her so instead he created a body based on an elf template. He made the skin midnight black like the dark elves he had read about. Instead of white, he gave her blood red wavy hair that flowed down to her waist the hair flickered like embers with inner fire from strands of hair that latterly burned red hot. Her teeth he made normal apart from a pair of sharp incisors. Her eyes were mostly pupil giving her excellent darkvision, and the iris was a bright red that glowed with a fire of its own. Covering her body in a tight maroon silk robe with a leather underbody. Giving her powers, he used the psionic powers of the mind-flayers and a regenerative ability like that of hydra. The body lay on the floor its eyes closed looking like they were in a peaceful coma.

Wraith then knelt down and brushed his hand along Tower’s core feeling a shiver go through her. “I must warn you, you will feel a great deal of pain with what I am about to do. It is imperative that you hold in your mana no matter what happens. I am going to transfer part of your core into this body and give you an avatar with a direct link to your core,” Wraith explained.

“That’s impossible,” Tower whispered her voice faint with terror at Wraith’s words. “You're going to kill me, the council will hunt you down.”

“I doubt it and assure you, Miss Fear, this will work I did it to myself, I complicated operation, but the risks for you are minimal I will be helping you, and I have experience in this matter,” Wraith said. “Now brace yourself and try not to explode. On the count of three, one, two, three,” Wraith counted off.

Wraith closed his eyes and invaded her core cutting off a fragment the size of his index finger. He could hear Fear’s screaming all around him, but she kept her mana from flooding out and destroying them both. Wraith moved the fragment into the skull of the body and then began chanting as he wove strands of magic around the fragment binding it to the body and simultaneously creating a hard barrier around the crack in her core to keep her from leaking out mana and killing her. Wraith also added something he hadn’t told her about a set of spells that would destroy the fragment if he gave the word. A ring tattooed itself of his flesh giving him a constant link with Fear.

The body shivered on the floor and sat up, “how is this possible?” Fear asked.

Wraith smiled widely revealing his pointed incisors, “Miss Fear, with me all things can become possible. I am not limited by other dungeons fear of the unknown, are you?” he challenged.

Fear stopped her body shuddering and then she shook her head and stood up Wraith rising with her. Wraith extended his hand and helped Fear out of her Core room.

“Apologies for the destruction I will give you some time to get your affairs in order,” Wraith said.

“And then we go after Dryad?” Fear asked her voice filled a savage hunger.

Wraith smiled her bloodlust exiting him and filling his own pulse with energy, but he quickly calmed it, I will not be ruled by this bag of flesh, he told himself. “Calm yourself Fear that’s the emotions of the body you’re in, you don’t have a soul spark running interference for you anymore you are going to feel things you’ve never had to deal with before, and it may interfere with your judgment. Unfortunately, that is the price we have to pay for revenge.”

“I’d pay more than that if it meant getting even with her,” Fear snarled.

“Yes, well we don’t have the strength to take on Dryad her strength is currently beyond anything we have to muster. We leave at sunset I will create some rogue monsters in the area to defend your dungeon,” Wraith informed her.

Fear looked at him askance, “You can do that won’t they just lie there?”

“I have certain knowledge that lets me create limited use monsters, they can’t be brought under your control since you have no spark to challenge them with, but I can give them territorial instincts that will drive off anyone who comes near. How did you attract a wyvern if you didn’t create it?” Wraith asked.

“I created gold at the top of my tower, Wyverns may be animals, but they still have a dragon’s greed. It nested here and has kept creatures away from here,” Fear explained.

“Interesting…” Wraith said and then felt an itching. Closing his eyes, he realized something was walking into his territory. “You must excuse me I have some business to attend to,” Wraith explained and stepped into the woods. Wraith laid out his teleportation circle and stepped into it.

Wraith appeared in his core room and looked around. Everything was as it had been apart from the herbs which had mutated to the size of bushes with glowing petals with an eerie light, barbs grew along with them with poison collapsing in droplets on their stems.

Wraith spread out his senses and looked into the ruins of the city he had turned into a swamp. A group of fish like humanoids were paddling a boat out into the marsh. Wraith smiled as he could already feel the hydra swimming through the old sewers homing in on the intruders. The hydra burst out of the water and snapped up five of the fish-men. Wraith expected the others to flee, but instead, they threw themselves down on their faces and began singing a wailing song. Wraith realized they were worshiping the hydra which looked at them with contempt.

Wanting to see how this would play out Wraith sent out a mental suggestion and they Hydra’s eyes glazed over, and it sank back below the water. The fishmen paddled to the tower, and Wraith stepped out onto its banks his hand on his hips his face covered with a black hood. The fishmen when they saw him hurled barbed spears, but Wraith turned himself ethereal, and the spears passed through him.

The fishmen’s eyes widened, at least Wraith thought they did it was hard to tell with their faces. They threw themselves down on the ground and began singing their wailing song in worship. Wraith stepped forward and touched one of the fishmen on the head invading its mind and stealing its memories learning their culture and language.

Wraith smiled and looked at the other fishmen who gazed at their comrade who lay on the ground twitching and shuddering its eyes rolling around as the pain of Wraith’s mental invasion took over its body. “This worshipper has given his sanity to me as a sacrifice, rejoice, my people, for you have proved worthy and found your kingdom of ancient days. You must rebuild it and defend it from the infidels who come to desecrate its sacred halls. I must go, but I will return no one is to step foot on my island unless they wish to be cast out of the city and into the jaw of the infidels!” Wraith proclaimed spreading his arms.

“Yes, oh Lord of the Sea!” the fishmen called out and began wailing in song.

Wraith smiled and turned back into the tower. He sat and closed his eyes and examined his dungeon to see what had changed over the past two weeks. Wraith examined the waters and found that schools of fish had moved in and the ones closest to the tower had evolved into hungry predators with sharp teeth, deeper in the sewers eels slithered along lightening sparking along their sides frying anything that got to close to them. Water plants grew in the cracks between the stone and reached out to grab any of the smaller fish, much larger fish came by and bit into the water plants. The hydra crawled up onto the shores of the tower and laid down in the center bones piled around it. Wraith walked over to it, and the hydra looked him over then put its head down as its programming told it that Wraith wasn’t a threat.

Wraith looked at the bones and considered what Tower of Fear had done, he though for a while and then crouched down and began touching the giant boulders around the lair craving them with runes. The stone started glistening with moisture that ran down, the water was warm to the touch and pooled on the ground everything it touched turned to gold. Wraith laid a hand on the hydra imbuing its skin with resistance to the magic.

“This will tempt adventurer’s for you to eat my friend,” Wraith cooed to the hydra rubbing it behind one of its heads. “And any adventure that falls in will just have to live with the consequences.”

Wraith returned to the woods by the Tower of Fear and walked to the base of it. Looking around he created another hydra to roam the forests, but this one had four legs instead of being more serpentine. The hydra was programmed not to attack Fear or him and to guard the tower but not enter it. For inside the tower Wraith created a monster that would grow and learn. The manticore had a mane like a lion but made of quills like a porcupine and a tail that ended in a stinger and quills that it could fire as projectiles by flicking’s its tail, a human's face with fangs and a lions body with a pair of bat wings that would let it glide short distances. The monstrosity eyes blinked open, and it retreated into the tunnels of the hallway climbing along the walls and ceiling.

Fear descended the stairs holding a staff made of silver metal with a bright gem at its top with four silver balls flying in rotation around it. She smiled her incisors flashing and her red eyes flashing with excitement her pupils wide with adrenaline. She had added a red cloak with black fur to her outfit and cut two slits down her robe revealing knee-high armored black-leather boots that sparked with fire whenever she hit the ground.

“That’s a bit of a fire hazard isn’t it?” Wraith inquired.

“Wraith,” Fear said with a laugh, “I’m a bit of fire hazard, besides what’s the matter we can take on anything that tries to attack it, and a bit of burning is good for the world.”

“I sometimes have to blend in with the humans,” Wraith explained, “I’d rather not leave a trail of destroyed villages as a trail for our enemies to follow. We are dungeons if someone discovers what we are we have to destroy the entire region to make sure our existence doesn’t get out.”

“Of course,” Fear said with another bright smile. “So which horse am I riding?”

“I only have one riding horse, so you’ll have to ride with me until we get to the next village,” Wraith answered swinging up into the saddle and extending a hand.

Fear caught his hand and Wraith swung her into the saddle in front of him. Fear leaned back against his chest and leaned back. “Is this just an excuse to get close to me?” she asked him her voice rich and smooth as her teeth grating against the stubble of his neck.

“Control the instincts of your body,” Wraith commanded her. “Your letting your hormones call the shots. Make no mistake if you let your emotions become a liability I will leave you behind and take on Dryad with other dungeons which can control their avatars. Remember what you are we do not succumb to petty feelings like the humanoids, we are dungeons we are above such things.”

Fear pulled back and studied Wraith and nodded and when she spoke again, her voice wasn’t soaking from her bodies arousal. “Of course, you are correct,” she answered calmly turning back to the path ahead of them. “But that doesn’t mean we can’ have some fun,” she said her voice had some of its velvety purr again.