POV: Melinda

I felt it when the fairy died.

In one moment I felt a mind numbing and soul crushing sense of loss. It felt as if the one I loved the most in the world had just disappeared while each of my limbs were violently ripped from body. In that one moment I felt loss beyond anything I could’ve ever imagined, worse than even when Joshua had died in my arms.

And then the moment passed.

Shaking my head to cast off the lingering feeling I reached up and wiped the tears from my cheeks. I hadn’t expected that, but then it wasn’t all that surprising either. Ever since I’d assimilated part of that dungeon’s, Cal’s, soul I had been loosely connected to the fairy. It’s why I hadn’t killed her in the first place, why I couldn’t just watch her starve herself of mana.

I knew it was idiotic, after all the fairy hated me. It was a fact I understood intimately after dreaming of a few of the dungeon’s memories, even still a part of me mourned the loss of the little annoyance.

“Mom?”

I started at the call, I had forgotten that I wasn’t alone. Turning to my daughter I reached out and brushed a lock of her long brown hair behind her ear before gently patting her hair. She looked so much like myself when I was younger, and her warm blue eyes were bright with innocence. I wished she would never have to discover the hard truths of Eden like I had, I wanted her to have that innocent sparkle in her eyes forever.

“It’s nothing Cassandra, just a little misstep in one of my old spells…”

Pulling back my hand I tried to give my daughter a convincing smile.

“But mom, you were crying…?”

Suddenly my daughter was gone, I was looking out at an expanse of red sand dotted with countless bodies. I felt the familiar horror rise up once again, so many lives had been lost.

So many by my hands…

I couldn’t breathe, my vision was blurring. I couldn’t do this, this was wrong. It was all so wrong. Why had we done this? Noblesse oblige? We should’ve found another way to protect the kingdom, anything but this.

An arm wrapped me up and pulled me into a gentle embrace.

“It’s ok, it’s ok… Just breathe Mel, just breathe… This isn’t on you, I gave the order. You hear that everyone? I’M the one who did this!”

I looked up, Joshua reached down and wiped a tear away from my cheek that I hadn’t even noticed.

“I was the one who did this, so it’ll be my burden to shoulder…”

I felt my heart jump, heat rushed to my face. I wondered if he could hear how loudly my heart was beating right now. I wondered what it would be like if I stayed in his embrace forever. I wondered what it would feel like to have his lips on mine…

And then he was gone.

I watched numbly as the man I loved went around offering comfort to anyone who needed it, and as the warmth of his touch left my body I fought down the horror that rose up again at the thought of what had just happened.

Sunmire had sent a massive army when we had reached out to negotiate, there had been no reasoning with their emperor. He would’ve broken the truce, his declaration of war on Avalon would’ve shattered Eden’s fragile peace beyond repair. It would have plunged the world back into an endless war, an endless and pointless war…

It’s just a matter of numbers Melinda… Would you rather have a hundred thousand die now, or everyone in the world die from here on? It had seemed like such an obvious choice…

I looked around at my friends and rivals, the people who were now my companions in this slaughter. The mages who had united with me to cast taboo magic. There were only ten of use left, and each person was as shaken as I was.

Except for Joshua… He isn’t trembling like a coward, he’s still standing tall. He said he would shoulder the burden… but it isn’t all his burden to bare, after all what sort of woman can allow her future husband to take on such a heavy weight alone…

Together we had unmade the Mother’s work, we had cast a spell and undid creation and existence itself. In the name of peace we had committed an atrocity, doomed countless souls to nonexistence. There would be no afterlife for the soldiers of Sunmire, no rebirth or welcoming embrace from the Mother. There would be nothing at all for them, because there no longer was any them.

I felt a part of myself shatter, there would be no escaping what had happened here today. For the rest of my life I knew that my actions today would haunt me. Reaching up I tugged the Mother’s holy circlet from around my neck, with this one spell I had forfeited any right to claim I was one of the god’s children.

All for the good of the world… If it takes monsters to keep the peace, then we must become monsters ourselves… All for the good of the world…

My eyes widened as the vision faded and the bleeding sands were replaced with the concerned face of my daughter. For a moment I wondered how long it had been this time, when I was pulled into a memory like that it could be take me anywhere from a second to days before I came back to reality.

“Mom… You’re not ok.”

I tried to smile at my daughter, but her face just grew more concerned.

“Wait here, I’m going to go find Joshua and Stros.”

I shook my head at that, I didn’t want my son finding out how bad my visions were getting. It was already bad enough that Cassandra had discovered the truth during our lessons.

“NO! Just bring Stros, don’t tell Joshua!”

I took a breath to collect myself before I spoke again in a less frantic tone.

“After all your brother is training to master his new shield, it wouldn’t do to distract him with something so small. You know how easily Joshua can be shaken…”

My daughter snorted at that.

“Who? Mr. Stoic himself shaken? Now I know there’s something wrong with you if you actually believe my brother could be shaken by something like this…”

As Cassandra got up from the sofa and moved towards the door she paused for a moment and looked back at me.

“Mom, I’m sixteen. Joshua will be twenty this fall. We’re adults, you can stop protecting us. We can handle more than you think…”

I smiled at my daughter and watched as she left my study at a brisk pace.

“I hope so…”

I looked down at my hand and grimaced as the pain began to grow unendurable. As I watched flecks of mana float out of my aura and into nothingness with my mage sight I felt an ironic smile pull at my lips.

Either one of the true dragons will finally track me down to “restore the balance” or this damn blight will eat away my soul… At this point I’m not even sure which one I’d rather happened…

“…Because I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to protect both of you…”

END POV

***

POV: Tridal

I put down the letter and fought down the urge to crawl back into bed and forget about the rest of the world.

“Was it bad news sir?”

I let out a sigh as I looked up at the maid that had brought me this latest ball of stress. Rationally I knew it wasn’t the poor girl’s fault, but I still couldn’t help but resent her a little. It was always hard to forgive the barer of bad news.

“Yes, the worst news I can imagine…”

I let out a chuckle as I felt the lining of my stomach begin to ware away under this newest bit of stress.

“And to think she had the nerve to dress it up as if it was good news… I’ll never understand Grand Magus Melinda’s sense of humor…”

The maid just tilted her head in confusion. Waving away my own comment I let out another sigh.

“Go, I need to ponder this for a time. Oh, and send someone to fetch the guild’s Huntsmaster while you’re at it… News this bad deserves to be shared with a friend…”

As I watched the girl leave my office I wiped at my face and let all pretense of calm fall away. Reaching down I opened the emergency drawer of my desk and pulled out a bottle of Dragonslayer. Uncorking the bottle I put it to my lips and up ended it, as the harsh and heavy dwarven liquor burned down my throat I felt a little better.

Gasping and sputtering as I put the bottle on the desk I wiped my mouth with the sleeve of my robes, whoever had invented this drink had been a madman. Still, it was the most alcoholic drink to ever been made to my knowledge, and it was one of the few things that could still get someone with my levels of mana drunk.

That damn witch, of course she’d only write to send news like this… What sane person starts a letter with “So a true dragon visited my lands last winter…” anyway!? Goddess, I swear that woman is trying to slowly kill me with stress! I bet she’d even laugh if I have a heart attack!

I slumped in my chair. This really wasn’t good, for as eccentric and disliked as Melinda was in the kingdom we still needed her. Her name still sent chills down the backs of our Neighbors to the north, and Sunmire to the south owe her for her help in avenging the Emperor’s grandfather’s “Tragic” death whilst hunting the sand drakes of the bloody sands.

Damnit woman... I thought you were supposed to live forever by devouring the souls of your enemies, isn’t that why a crone like you looks like you’re still some young maiden of marriageable age? Where is that great grey mage gift you’re so secretive about, the one that lets a simple grey mage acquire black magic in each element and live to two hundred as a human… Grand Magus Melinda isn’t supposed to just die off, she’s supposed to be like some legendary cockroach that not even heroes from around or outside of the world can bring down…

I took another swig of dragonslayer, this was going to be a very long day.

Three years huh? Three years to prepare for the death of Avalon’s last great champion and the last living witness to the treaty of eternal peace… That’s not nearly enough time, she has to know that. Even if we were to gather enough resources and magical might for a summoning from Earth, and that would already be stretching things, there would be no guarantee that the person we bring forth will even have any potential… Damnit Melinda…

END POV

***

POV: Carter

I just looked at the huntsmaster dumbly.

“You want me to what?”

The man shook his head and scratched at his beard. With a sigh he repeated himself proving that I hadn’t misheard him the first time.

“I’m putting you into a hunting party, something that you’d have to be in anyway if you ever wanted to take on any of the better jobs. You know clients would rather hire a team of hunters rather than a single hunter going it solo, just think of this as your in to the next stage of your career.”

I tried to school my expression and swallow down what I really wanted to say.

“So is this an order?”

The huntsmaster’s face went hard, his grey eyes were like flints about to spark.

“You bet your ass it is. You’re going to join up with Milly’s people, and you’re going to spend the year with them learning how to work in a party. After that you all will be heading west, there’s a report of a new dungeon down that way that I’ll need you all to investigate…”

I swallowed down the response I wanted to give and simply nodded my head.

“We can’t just head west now, sir?”

The huntsmaster just stared at me, eventually I had to look away from his unnervingly piercing grey eyes.

“No. now go get acquainted with your hunting party huntsmen.”

The huntsmaster turned away and faced the fire pit that was burning in the fireplace behind his desk. I turned stiffly and left the room, I didn’t like my orders but I’d see them done.

And I’ll make sure I get bumped up to class B for all the trouble… that should be a fair trade off, right Huntsmaster Grant?

END POV

***

POV: Grant

I looked into the fire and felt my nails dig into my palm.

I hadn’t felt this much fear since I had faced down that dragon, actually I might be even more scared than that time.

Grand Magus Melinda, the last of Avalon’s ten champion defenders… I hoped I would be long dead before she left this world.

I still remember the only time I had seen my father weep, it had been the day he had found out Richard of Kalo had been slain by the true green dragon. He had told me that there was no hope for the world if the champions of Avalon were to all perish, that had been the same day he stepped down from his position as huntsmaster.

Goddess help us all…

END POV

***

POV: Shade

I looked at the door to the cell, it had been over a decade now since I had stuck him in this place.

He would be ready to talk.

Opening the cell I swatted aside the skeletal hand that reached for me, thrusting a hand forward I pierced into the rotting chest of the ghoul and found its heart. It became nothing more than so much rotten pulp in the palm of my hand.

As the undead creature fell to the stained floor I looked at the sole living occupant of the cell, the old man looked practically the same as the day I stuck him in here. His robes were a little dirtier and he seemed slightly thinner, but otherwise he was unchanged.

“Vampire.”

His voice was a dry and raspy thing, nothing like the booming tones he had used when I had first tracked him down.

“Necromancer. My pet assures me that you’ll tell me what I want to know now that I’ve given you some time to consider your options…”

The old man coughed before letting out a dry laugh.

“Ha! Morgana is nothing more than a fool who’d whore herself out at the chance for immortality! You think you can believe her words? She’d tell you anything she thinks will help convince you to turn her into another of your filthy kind!”

I looked at the two gaunts standing at the old man’s side, I wonder if he was acting like this because he was confident his undead slaves would protect him from me. It was a laughable notion, but Nathan had always assured me that mortals could and would constantly think up such foolish things.

“Perhaps, however I’m inclined to believe my pet in this. She and the rest of your coven assured me under great duress that you had in your possession a captive that looked very much like the man I’m looking for.”

The old man spat at my feet.

“Bah! A “Man” huh? That’s rich! He wasn’t a man, just another dirty vamp! All your half-dead kind can rot in the depths of the abyss!”

I felt the rage surge inside me as the world began to take on a red hue.

“Where. Is. He?”

The old necromancer smiled cruelly at me.

“Dead. No, beyond dead. See I was conducting a little experiment, I wanted to see if I could become a dungeon master by creating a dungeon myself… At first I had started with people, I would kill them and try to stuff their souls into a null core, but that just hadn’t worked. Neither had undead oddly enough, and I was nowhere near stupid enough to try the same on some random animal or monster. So I had a thought, why not try something that was already half dead? Then that boy in the scholar’s robes had been walking around so brazenly in the middle of a sunny afternoon under that thick umbrella…”

Before I realized it I found myself staring down at the old necromancer’s corpse, not that there was much left of it. I didn’t remember exactly what had happened after the bastard had started bragging but I had the vague memory I had tried to make the human eat his own severed arm whole.

Nathan… No, he isn’t dead. I ordered him to never die, he can’t disobey his mistress so he has to be alive… I just need to find him…

I clenched my hands as my talons shrunk back down to nails that were only slightly longer than what might be normal for a human.

Just wait for me a little longer my love, I will find you…

END POV

***

POV: Ebon

I looked around at my siblings, this was just unthinkable. Turning back to our mother I tried to supress the dawning horror and rising feeling of failure inside myself.

“You mean… I had been right next to the lair of the last defiler… and I hadn’t noticed?”

As a golden scaled paw came to rest on my shoulder I looked at my sister.

“Don’t blame yourself Ebon, we didn’t know until just now either. Anyone could’ve made the same mistake…”

I moved to rest my mussel on my sister’s head for a moment before pulling back.

“Thank you Gilda, but your words don’t really soften the blow…”

A pulse of white energy flooded over me conveying sympathy and understanding. Looking back to our mother I saw that she wasn’t looking at me with judgment but instead mild humor.

“Relax my son, the goddess has assured me that the last of the oath breakers who wielded taboo magic shall cease to be soon. That task no longer requires our attention… No, what is far more concerning to our goddess is how her children will face the threat coming from the abyss…”

I felt hatred rise up inside me at the mention of the abyss, I would never forgive the demons for what they did to our father. Hearing my name I focused back in on what my mother was saying.

“Ebon of black, Gilda of gold, Crimson of Red, Olive of Green, and Azure of blue. My children, I need each of you to adopt the first member of your clans to establish a leader for your future mortal clan. The one you chose must be of the high races of the goddess’s children, and you must mold them into the heroes that will hold back the demons of the abyss…”

I felt myself go cold for a moment before I guiltily huffed out a cloud of black smoke.

“Ebon, my son, will that be a problem for you?”

I winced at my mother’s scolding tone.

Well, there’s no way out of this… Might as well get through it quick, after all I can’t be blamed for something I did before I knew about this…

“Um, yes mother… I sort of… already adopted one of the goddess’s children into my clan…”

My mother’s eyes widened and a pulse rippled across her bright white scales.

“Oh, then this is good news! When did you do this my son?”

I cringed, she really shouldn’t have gotten her mood up.

“When I last rested last winter, but you see…”

“Wonderful! That’s our brother, showing unintentional foresight in all he does!”

I winced at my brother’s words, Crimson was just rubbing salt into the wound.

“No, um… You see… I kind of… Adopted a newborn dungeon…”

My entire family fell deathly silent and I could only hang my head in shame. As a questioning pulse of white energy washed over me I heard my mother’s curious voice.

“What would possess you to adopt a dungeon? Well, regardless you can just adopt another to your newly established clan then. It may cost you a significant amount of power, but the goddess’s command was clear…”

I just nodded my head.

I hope the fact the dungeon is technically the clan head won’t be too big of a problem…

End POV

***

I stared at the ten questions that now scrawled across the wall behind my core, I was sure my friend would’ve approved at my improved “Handwriting” as she’d call it.

In your own words what is a dungeon bond?

What is the easiest way to establish a dungeon with infinite room to grow?

How can a monster be used outside of a dungeon when it has no aura?

What is the name of your parent dungeon?

What are the high races of Eden?

What are the surrounding high race nations?

What is the difference between black, white, and grey mages?

How much mana can you weave at one time? (Estimations are accepted, but demonstrations are preferred)

Have you ever been bound to another dungeon before?

What lies beyond the great Mother’s reign?

I still didn’t see how any fairy would have all the right responses, or at least close enough to the right responses that I could accept their answer, for each question.

“What were you thinking Fay? No one will be able to figure all this out…”

The nude fairy hovering close to my core looked over at me in confusion. I let out a sigh, this really did need to be fixed.

“Not you Fay, the other Fay. The Fay that I named you after.”

The Fairy nodded and went back to staring at the words on the wall, though I doubted she could actually read them. I also doubted she really understood what I said since I had to explain it to her so often.

I really should’ve named her something else… It hurts even calling her with Fay’s name, but I guess it’s already too late to change that… Maybe I should just think of her as the new Fay? But then what would I call Fay, it doesn’t seem right to arbitrarily change her name for convenience after she’s… When she doesn’t have a say…

I shook my nonexistent head.

“Well, maybe I can just use a nickname like she did for me… Hmm… But what to call her?”

I spent a while considering names, not that I was all that good at coming up with them on my own. Fay had been much better at that, the old Fay that is. The current Fay couldn’t even speak so she obviously didn’t inherit the old Fay’s godly naming skills.

Hmm… I might need to think about this for a while… I wouldn’t want to give Fay a bad nickname, that wouldn’t be fair after she gave me such an amazing nickname of my own...

Cupping my nonexistent chin I thought deeply on what would be a good nickname for my friend, but I couldn’t find anything that spoke to me as suiting her. Deciding I might have better luck if I meditated on the question, I shut my nonexistent eyes and sank deep into myself chasing thoughtlessness.

***

POV: Fay

Fay looked at creator.

Creator wanted to be called Nox, but creator was still creator.

Fay was also still Fay, but sometimes creator would say Fay was not Fay.

Fay didn’t understand creator, but Fay would try.

Maybe if Fay did well she could have a shiny…