Auron looked down at the spike that he just pulled out of the dungeon core. From one end to the other, it was the size and width of his forearm.

Amethyst shard

The shard was a deep and beautiful purple. Auron did not need any excess information to tell the glow coming off of it was from mana. "Zander, why would this shard be in the core?" Auron spoke the question softly to his familiar. A zoned out gaze in response was all he needed to confirm that this could be related to whatever was causing Zander's "incidents" in which he zones out when asked an important question. Auron decided to keep the shard just in case it could be helpful later.

As he tossed it into his inventory ring, his eyes threatened to pop out of his head at the sight before him. The dungeon core flashed green and heal itself. The hole from the shard quickly sealed.

Tiny flecks of green mana flicked out, fueling the closing wound. Auron stepped closer while peering into it, and spotted seven different colors swirling deep inside the mysterious red object.

"I suppose if this is responsible for maintaining the dungeon and creating the monsters we have fought so far, it makes sense that it has access to the various mana types," he said to a still Zoning out Zander.

The core then began to pulse as waves of grey mana flowed out of it, and along the rock wall toward the ceiling. Fractures and various damage to the stone started to slowly seal.

Auron stood still, bewildered by the life force, and power emanating from the large core. The perfectly round gem-like structure looks as if it should be inanimate. Movement from the glowing bundle of wisps catches his eyes and demands his attention.

The being spawned from the dead boss now danced around the room.

As if the incarnation of joy, it flipped and spun through the air.

The living light show begged a smile out of Auron.

After one more bow to the core, the tiny being waved at Auron flew upwards, passing through the ceiling as if it was made of air. The free-floating wisps up there parted, quickly making space, and it was gone.

Both battles with the Bulette finally took their toll, Auron sat down hard.

Tired and overworked, his muscles protest the sudden movement. As they clenched tightly, he thrashed for a moment on the ground. Charlie horses manifested in his calves along with any other large muscle. After what felt like an eternity, the agony passed.

Whatever rest he had over the last few days was not enough to take care of his body. Even resting, he felt as if some key aspect was missing, holding him back from recovering fully.

Zander hopped over with a few wind gusts and landed on his knee. In his exploration, he missed Auron's muscle spasms.

The sight of his familiar using wind like a Pogo stick made him chuckle. The chuckles seamlessly slipped into light sobs. Stuck between happiness and despair, he just let his emotion flow out.

Auron did not feel as much overwhelming guilt, but in these past few days, he went through some of the hardest emotional challenges he had ever experienced.

Everything hit him now, from his first fight being savaged but the sonic bat-rat to his struggles with the morality of killing. Eating the most delicious food of his life (Algae), and finally, this boss battle where he brutalized another creature, only to learn it was all for some perplexing greater good.

There was some reason why monsters are here, and he was just a pawn in some grand scheme dolling out death to the creatures as they serve some sort of twisted prison sentence.

Just as Zander was about to comfort Auron, a wall of Purple energy passed through the room. The power swept in an instant leaving the two no time to react. Auron felt the influence of this wall of energy, it was just like the tendrils that came to him from dungeon madness, yet slightly altered. The Purple mana drifted over every part of him, yet it had no effect. It was as if the wave was the energy leaving.

Auron looked at his familiar wondering if he knows what just happened. All he finds was Zander staring off into the distance, his eyes cloudy and his face expressionless. After a moment, Zander jumped up with a start, his tail whipped in frustration, rending a deep divide in the rocks from the force of the magic he just summoned. The wind cut deeply into the stones, forming a crevice as deep as the crater created by the wind grenades all the way to the far wall.

[Auron. I do not know how much time I have so, please. Listen to every word I am about to say. It will be a lot to handle, and I am sorry, but you need to know.] Zander spoke frantically over their link.

Shocked Auron just nodded his head once for Zander to continue.

[You were never on Earth. You were just made to feel as if you were. You and your mother were attacked and were placed in a void. That purple light was from a gigantic blood magic spell. It wipes people's minds and does not allow them to speak about particular subjects. I was in that void with you along with your mother, and one other. You will not be affected by the light because yo-]

The wall of violet light returned, passed through the room, wiping the expression off of Zander's distressed face. Auron felt it attempt to latch onto his mind once again. As if in response, the very center of his being refuted. Every hue of light imaginable rushed out of his skin and slapped away the malicious energy. The multitude of light was so bright Auron had to clench his eyes shut. His companion had no such protection.

After the power flowed through Zander, he was left staring off into the distance as it emptied his thoughts. Aurons rainbow of mana dissipated as quickly as it had come, but he was more concerned with his familiar's unfinished words.

"Wait, what were you saying? Is my mom alive? Zander, please, I need to know. I'm not from Earth? Is that why I am losing memories? Please just a little longer," the words speed out of Auron's mouth. His mind ran through the influx of crazy information. This time Zander did not immediately snap out of it. Auron casts healing gale, worried that his life could be in danger.

Warning you can not heal this entity.

"Why the hell can I not heal my own familiar!" Auron shouted at the still slightly cracked ceiling, the core seemed slow to mend the extensive damage.

Zander kept his blank expression, and Auron now knew why his familiar was not forthcoming with information and failed to speak at times.

As Zander finally regained some of the light in his eyes. He seemed dazed, but it looked as though he would be okay. Auron let out a massive sigh of relief.

Regardless of the lack of an answer, the young man allowed a slight budding of hope to bloom in his chest. There was a possibility he would be able to see his mother again, and maybe she would be able to explain everything. Patience was something he never seemed to hold in significant quantities, though.

Auron thought Zander must be confused about Earth. He had to be. He may be losing some memories, but maybe he was mistaken. Could the magic be what was stealing his past? These untamed thoughts mingled with the trauma he was feeling from his battles. Auron was overwhelmed.

Frustrated with everything, his vision turned dark with rage. Grabbing the nearest fist-sized rock, he hurled it at one of the walls, slightly away from the pulsing core. The force of the throw hurt his shoulder as he released the rock.

A metal clink resounded where it hit. Disturbed by the sound, Auron walked over to investigate while rubbing his agitated muscle.

Activating his investigation skill, a red spot indicated the presence of a switch. Working through his frustration and fear, he decided to just stay busy.

Looking over at his partner Auron could see he was still somewhat out of it. Walking toward the switch, Auron wondered why there would be a third safe-room.

Remembering that there would be loot from the monsters, he stopped his walk and decided to check the switch out later.

He felt Zander jump on his shoulder as he turned to do so.

Now understanding more about what was inflicting his familiar, he looked at him. "I will free you from this," Auron promised. Zander just stared back at him without responding, but a small glint in his eye made Auron hope he understood.

Activating the luck runes on the insides of his wrists, Auron began to search around for loot. He needed to busy himself with something. The activation caused a slight burning sensation, but it was nothing drastic.

He opted to search the Bosses corpse last. Even with the interaction with its soul, he was still a bit emotionally raw from the fight. He would most likely have to wait till the massive body finished dissolving anyway.

Seeing that the end result was positive for the creature did not magically allow him to forget the pain in its tear-filled eyes.

Walking over toward the entrance doors, a large chunk of yellow stone let off a glint that caught his attention. Most likely, what caused him the critical hit earlier.

Upon picking it up, his skill activated Auron got excited as he thought he knew what this was.

-Chunk of gold

"Zander! Tressure!" Auron yipped and danced.

Feeling the stone's weight as he struggled to hold it, he was sure it was what hit him earlier. The shining object was much heavier than it looked. The ore had a yellow glow that reminded Auron of the other mana stones he had seen.

Unable to do anything else with it, he decided to stow it away. After slipping it into his inventory, he noted 8 slots were remaining in his ring.

Auron noticed that Zander seemed to be coming back to his senses. He looked at him as if waiting for something to do. He decided to send him to do some menial tasks. Hopefully, the activity would help him recover from whatever that second wave of purple magic did. Auron felt a little guilt at this, but he did not want to keep looking at his friend to ask him something, only to have him not respond.

Having Zander do a sweep of the tunnels, Auron slowly walked back to where the boss was now mostly evaporated. Sitting in the middle of the giant crater where it had laid was a small glowing stone.

As Auron approached, he noted it was red and almost identical in shape and size to the blue jewel he had set into his right hand.

Red socket body gemstone. Gemstone from the body of a Muti-eyed Akhult

Holding it toward his empty left-hand socket, the gemstone attached and locked in.

Congratulations! Red socket gemstone (Low tier) attached. Benefits are as followed: -Precision increased by 10 -Your natural connection to the red concentration of mana increases. If in the appropriate environment, skill creation increased. -Through this connection, your observational skills are improved. -Increase in the connection between your Head socket and the concentration of red.

The partially faded out messaged served to annoy Auron. Once again, this head socket thing was referenced. There was still so much he did not know about this world. He needed someone to tell him more. Auron reached up to touch the space slightly above his eyebrows. The feeling of licking a batter rushed uncomfortably through him. The area felt like skin, leaving him perplexed.

Even with the continued mystery, he was pleased with the new addition to his stats. The implication of learning more skills was also cherished. Still wondering what the grayed outline about a head socket meant, he dismissed it for tomorrow's Auron.

He pulled up his status screen to view the changes.

Auron last name. Level 5

Class: Rogue

Secondary Class: Artificer

Title: Friendly wind Rogue healer

Secondary Title: n/a

Socket points open: 6

Socket points used: 2

Familiar 1/0

Available stat points: 20

Auron used his twenty stat points and added ten to health, bringing his health up to four hundred. He then added ten to durability. After the change, he noticed his skin felt a bit less squishy.

Spiritual stats:

Health: 40

Regen:10(x2)

Mana:20

Wisdom:30

Physical Stats:

Speed:20

Precision:30

Strength:20

Durability:25(+15)

Main:

HP:400/400

MP:200/200

Regen: 200 health point per day

Wisdom: 30 mana point per min

Magic: Wind blast (Limited)0/3, Healing wind (Limited)1/3, Thrust slash, Healing Gale

Ability: Stealth, Inspection(Augmented), Mana Infusion, Mana Manipulation, Rune Script, Strength runes, Luck Runes

Skills: Elavarian language, Back-stab, Dagger skills

Special attributes: Will to survive, Indomitable spirit, Lateral thinking, Pain resistance

Blessings: Blessing of the Goddess Lombardia, R**** Aura

Even with the stat improvement, he was still feeling some of the pains from the battle, though his health was full, once again, some missing element caused him to feel exhausted. Shaking off his weary muscles, he stretched for a while. After some yoga-type movements, he was unable to hold very long. He decided to stop. Feeling slightly tougher, and confident in his health pool, he walks over toward the hidden switch.

Zander returned from checking the tunnels empty-handed. Empty Limbded? With bare toes. Auron shakes his head at the phrase. Now that some time has passed, he seems himself again. That in and of its self cheers Auron up. He held on to a bit of worry that the magic that had a hold on his mind did lasting damage. He was slightly disappointed that there was no hidden treasure trove used by the moles, but nothing was more important than having Zander back. Though he was still oblivious that the wall of purple light came through before, and his rushed warning to Auron, he was back to normal.

[You did very well with that boss. I know it has been hard for you to get used to, but there really are only three types of monsters you will have to fight. The first would be the mindless ones that are killing machines, the second like that boss we just fought have gained back some intelligence, and do not enjoy bloodshed, and the third are like that Ogre. Mildly intelligent, but they love violence.] Pausing to gauge Auron's reaction, Zander decided to continue when his face remained stoic. Assuming that Auron needed to hear a bit more. [In all three situations, you are right to defend yourself. The less bloodthirsty monsters may be hard to kill, but as you now have seen, they then have a chance at freedom. If a monster continues to give in to evil thoughts, it may become a fiend. Whatever we do, we must avoid those.] Zander sent the information and then chilling warning over their link.

This caused Auron to stop walking. He worked through those words and furrowed his brow.

"What did the monsters do to deserve such a fate?" Auron asked and then, without a pause, continued talking. "The name of that soul was odd. Penitent Soul." Auron rolled the word around, trying to remember the definition.

"I am pretty sure that means something along the lines of working toward atonement," he sighed and looked at Zander, not expecting any answers.

[If we search for answers, maybe we can figure it all out eventually.] Zander's response surprised Auron.

Another sigh puffed out of Auron. "So, is that going to be my purpose here?" He asks quickly, "Killing things, freeing these souls, and piecing together some big puzzle? Oh, and now we have Fiends to worry about??" His voice raised as he talked, his frustration reaching its limit. At the mention of his purpose, Zander's eyes glossed over once again.

Frustrated to his boundary Auron reached the wall and slammed in the switch with his gloved fist.

Congratulations! A hidden switch has been discovered.

Contrary to the first two rooms he had found, instead of a door rising to lead into a small resting room, this switch activated a thin layer of rock lowered to reveal two sizeable polished metal doors. These doors were comparable to the boss room entrance.

Cautiously pressing his hand to the chilled metal Auron gave a gentle push.

A tiny shiver from the cold felt even through his glove worked its way through his body. The doors slowly slid open space revealed a descending hallway with steps cut into the stone floor.

Slowly he proceeded down the steps, keeping an eye on the doors, ready to spring back up if necessary. After some time of descending, his foot encountered the floor after the last step. A message appeared in front of him.

You have entered the Cheshire depths Dungeon. Dungeon rank 2. Recommended party size: 4. Dungeons are known for their promise of two things, Treasure and death.

Hit by a wall of putrid air Auron was reminded of the smells that accompanied the swamp water he trudged through. The moldy stagnant smell of water flowed into his nose and mouth and begged him to empty his stomach. A massive headache wrapped its way around his brain. Like a python, the strain gripped his head roughly. Auron dropped to the floor.

As blood dripped from his eyes, ears, and nose, through his blurry vision he could see Zander on the ground flailing as well.*Bing*

Prerequisites met. Purple mana driven abilities and magic can now be used properly.

End part one