I had been expanding my aura for a long while now, or at least what felt like a long time. As my aura spread I felt a growing sense of relief, or maybe it was more a sense of comfort. It seemed like the more my aura spread the more comfortable I became in my own body.

At this rate I should be able to reach the opening soon, Fay… Er… Lin did say that there were only three caverns in this cave system after all...

I cringed as I thought of my old friend, it had taken me so long to think of a decent nickname for her but now I kept forgetting to use it.

Gotta remember… Fay could be short for Faylin and Lin is just another way to shorten that… So Fay is Lin… or, no… Lin is Lin… Yeah, that’s it… I can’t keep calling Lin Fay, it’s disrespectful to the current… No, it’s mean to call Lin Fay when Fay isn’t Lin…

It was probably not my place to just arbitrarily rename someone I knew, it was probably even worse that I was trying to convince myself that Lin was her actual name. I wonder what it says that I would go so far out of my way to accommodate something I created myself, it was like I was slowly erasing something that was real for something I knew to be false. Even still I would continue.

Because there had been a moment when I had called for Fay and hadn’t thought of the friend I had lost, in that brief moment it didn’t hurt to use the name I gave to the fairy.

I guess it really doesn’t matter in the end though does it… Sophistry, fallacy, truth... When you get down to it none of those things matter, all that matters is who’s alive and who is not…

I let out a sigh.

I wonder… What is it that should guide me as a dungeon? Morals? That wouldn’t make much sense, my very purpose is to kill the weak and reward the strong, morals play no part in things… I don’t have an ethical base point to judge myself on, and there is no real higher power I can answer to… The only thing that could even remotely begin to judge me is a true dragon, and they all answer to the Mother who gave dungeons practically free reign in how we fulfil our purpose… So how should I act? Should I even bother censoring myself or try justifying my actions when there are no repercussions or expectations?

I let out an audible sigh as my aura spread even further into the third and hopefully final cavern.

What is good and evil when there is no frame of reference? Can good and evil even exist in such a case? If not, then what is justice when good and evil don’t exist? If there is no way for me to make a wrong action doesn’t that just mean everything I do is right? Or maybe it’s the other way around and everything I do is wrong? Is there even a difference in that case?

I shook my head, I was getting to deep into an issue that I didn’t think even had an answer. The only thing that would result from further contemplation would be further confusion and maybe the discovery of even more impossible questions. I would just have to avoid thinking about this issue entirely to resolve it.

Yeah, just handle it the same way I do my tendency of expressing myself with nonexistent body parts. Ignore that there’s a problem in the first place and just keep doing what I feel is right… It’s a stratagem that hasn’t failed me yet…

I let out another sigh as Fay came to hover before me and placed another coin on my core.

“Shiny! Shiny for creator!”

I guess it was a good sign that she was starting to speak, even if her vocabulary was a bit childish. At the very least it made her better company.

As the coin began to melt into nothingness and the clear distortion rose out of the remains to fly into my core Fay began to clap. For her the whole process seemed to be amusing to a degree I would probably never understand. Admittedly I had been excited the first few times as well, but after eighteen coins melted on top of my core and their clear distortions flew inside me the whole thing grew old. It didn’t help that I only seemed to get small fragments of the pattern within the coins each time they melted, hell sometimes I would even get duplicate fragments instead of a new piece of the whole. It was incredibly frustrating, especially since Fa-Lin had given me a full pattern when she had… moved on.

“Yes, thank you Fay…”

The nude fairy just nodded in contentment and flew off towards the second room I had expanded into, she had taken up exploring recently. I guess she was just as excited as I was about my dungeon’s expansion.

Although I do hope I get some new company soon… A fairy coming to make a bond or Melinda coming to check up on me, either would be welcome at this point…

***

I felt awed. It was that simple, as I looked out on the world outside the cave system I was born in I just felt awe.

It’s… So big…

The sky, the fields of grass, the rolling hills, even the tree line in the far distance, everything just seemed so endless.

Is… Is this what the Mother can do? I’m supposed to compete against something like this?

Rationally I knew what I was seeing was just a very small part of a much grander whole. The black dragon had left me memories of all sorts of strange and exotic places that could be considered far more awe inspiring than this open and hilly field of grass, but all those memories felt distant and disconnected to me. What I was seeing right now was real, and thus much more awe inspiring than any second memory of a place I had never been.

And that’s the sun…

I looked up at the giant golden orb that hung lazily in the sky. I knew that it would move, and eventually even set, but staring at the thing now I didn’t see how that could be possible. How could any force move something so big and so hot? There surely wasn’t anything I knew of that could do such a thing, but then I guess that was the difference between me and the Mother.

I was just a simple dungeon and she was the god of all Eden.

It was a humbling realization that was only reinforced by the splendor I bore witness to outside my cave.

Still, I guess it’s a good thing I have a frame of reference for tracking time’s passage now… I just have to keep track of the sun, or… No, I guess if I wanted to simplify things even more I can just track whether the sun is in the sky or not, that’ll tell me if it’s a new day or not… The rest I can work out on my own if I really need to, but I don’t really see the point in tracking things any farther than what day it is…

I nodded at that. There really wasn’t any point in tracking every minute of every hour like the high races did when I was essentially an immortal and eternal being. I had all the time in the world at my disposal, or at least I did unless someone killed my like Melinda killed Lin’s old dungeon…

***

I spent an entire day just enjoying the view out of my dungeon, a view I could somehow see just by focusing on the part of my dungeon around the cave entrance. I guess it was just part of the advantage of having nonexistent eyes and unique dungeon senses, I could see anything within my aura just by focusing on the specific area I wanted to see. I could also peer out of my aura with something akin to physical eyesight, that was how I had been observing the world outside of my cave system.

I guess I can’t keep procrastinating anymore…

I sighed, an act that was becoming an alarmingly frequent habit for me. I had been putting off making more fairies ever since I had half-unconsciously created Fay, the main excuse I had for avoiding making more was that expanding my dungeon was more important. Now I had reached the cave’s entrance and filled the cave system entirely with my aura, I would have to actively begin digging out more rooms at this point to keep expanding.

Ok… Enough is enough… I’m a dungeon, and dungeons have monsters to do their bidding. Time to make myself a few more loyal minions…

Nodding I turned my intention from the night sky that my core so closely resembled and let my attention naturally flow back to my core and the room it floated in.

“Fay!”

Calling out to the fairy that was undoubtedly fluttering around in the second room somewhere with her latest “Shiny” I began to mentally trace the pattern for my own version of dungeon fairies. As my aura began to flow into the shape required by the pattern in front of me I couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong. It felt strange, my instincts and Lin’s own advice told me that this was what was necessary to create inside my dungeon. That by tracing and filling a pattern with power I could create anything I knew of from almost nothing, but a part of me screamed that it was wrong. As I idly filled out the pattern I wondered why that was.

Maybe I didn’t notice the first time out of grief for losing Lin, but this really does feel wrong… It should be more involved, Right? I mean, I’m creating life itself here, but somehow it just feels like I have no control. I mean, it’s like I have no personal say in what gets created in the end…

The image of a fairy that looked identical to Fay popped into my head and I idly fiddled with its looks. I made the black and silver hair shorter giving the fairy a natural pixie cut and I also made her features softer in the face giving her a less striking look but a far more cute feel overall.

Sure I can make them look a bit different and I guess I get to decide the species itself, but it just feels… Wrong. It’s too little. I should have more say, right? More control… I should be able to customize to my heart’s content, not confined to merely popping out cookie-cutter clones… There has to be more to this…

As the new fairy popped into existence in front of my core I heard a surprised gasp come from the passageway.

“SISTER!”

A blur of fluttering wings, pale flesh, and dark hair tackled the newest fairy out of the air and broke my quiet moment of introspection. As I watched Fay hug the new very confused fairy I felt a small bit of amusement well up inside me. It was as if a warm happy feeling I had forgotten the existence of had chosen that moment to reassert itself inside of me.

I was sure that if I had lips they would be smiling right now.

***

POV: Selm

I jerked to a stop in midair, the moment I felt the massive aura I felt something rise up inside me. My instincts were screaming at me to go find and claim the dungeon such an aura belonged to, but somehow the beating of my heart was louder. In that moment I knew, this was the one. I would have this dungeon and no other, even if I could bring myself to try claiming another I knew I would forever be plagued by doubts and countless “What ifs” for the rest of my life.

I felt a smile curl onto my face.

But then again I doubt any of the bitches that are still looking for their partner right now even know how to handle a dungeon like this…

It was obvious that this dungeon had not only been core popped, but it had also found a way to expand itself to a rather impressive size without being immediately snatched up by some random fairy lucky enough to stumble upon it. That indicated that at the very least the dungeon itself was strong enough to reject the fairy that had core popped it, a feat that only three dungeons I knew of were ever said to be capable of.

If this dungeon is on the same level as Mavra, hell, even if it is only at the level of Akash…

I felt the smile on my face slowly turn vicious. I had given up on all my plans of revenge on my mother and that evil demon spawning dungeon of hers, but if I managed to bind myself to a powerful enough dungeon…

Well, I’m sure my partner would be happy to help me crush something that hurt me so much… It’ll probably be chomping at the bit to destroy Mavra after I tell it about that perversion of the great Mother’s will… The only real question would be amassing enough influence and forces to be able to challenge that hell pit on even grounds, but I’m sure if mother and Mavra could figure out a way to send monsters out of the dungeon’s aura I can too…

Without hesitation I took off at the fastest speed my wings could handle and I began to fly north to where I felt the aura’s origin would be.

END POV

***

I was frustrated beyond anything I had experienced since Lin did that “Core popping” thing that allowed me to speak and extend my aura. As I looked at the five fairies frolicking together in a crate filled with gold coins I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of disappointment. I just felt that there should be something more, something greater to the whole creation process than this power-tracing cookie-cutter pattern business. The whole process just felt so empty and incomplete to me.

At least Fay was happy, she had taken to her new “Sisters” immediately. It was almost lifted me out of my funk to watch her try and explain the intricacies of life to the much simpler monsters.

I guess naming Fay really did improve her all around… Even if she isn’t quite at the level of a free thinking and semi-independent individual I’m aiming for, she’s still far ahead of the other four…

Trying to distract myself from my worries with the antics of the fairies I reflected again on just how different they were from what Lin had told me dungeon fairies were. For one thing each one of them seemed to have a childlike level of intelligence and curiosity, even Fay for as far she had come in the time since her creation wasn’t excluded from this fact. They also seemed to have no real desire to clothe themselves, something Lin had done constantly out of a clear sense of common decency. Or at least something I believed was common decency…

They also don’t seem to have that same instinct to bind themselves to a dungeon, or at least they don’t seem to have any desire to bind themselves to me… And I guess if they can’t leave my dungeon then they’ll probably never even have the chance to bind themselves to another dungeon in the first place…

That thought resonated with a deep part of me, the possessive part that didn’t like the idea of MY fairies ever even considering the idea of permanently binding themselves to another. I knew this new possessive nature I was developing was just a part of my instincts as a dungeon and I didn’t mind that it was forming, but it was a bit concerning that my attachment to my created fairies was stronger than I had expected.

I guess it doesn’t matter. After all it isn’t the idea of them dying that upsets me, just the idea of them leaving my dungeon and going to be with someone or something else. They are MINE after all…

I shook my head, these sorts of thoughts were getting me nowhere. So what if I was possessive? The dragons and high races were possessive too, and they were the Mother’s favorites. I was fairly sure it was in the nature of all beings with a certain level of intelligence to have at least a little possessiveness entrenched in their personality.

As I contemplated this new facet of my personality I felt something enter my dungeon, something fairly small. It was an interesting sensation, almost like something had poked me while also simultaneously breathing on me. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, but I couldn’t really call it pleasant either. Regardless as soon as I felt the sensation I could suddenly sense the presence of the intruder intimately, it was like by simply being inside my dungeon the intruder was sending me constant signals and sensations to indicate where it was. I guess that sort of made sense though, after all my dungeon was just an extension of my body and it would only make sense if I could sense what was going on in my body.

In fact now that I think about it, Fay and those other four give of a familiar and reassuring presence that’s almost as distinct as this approaching presence… it’s a little less noticeable, but it’s still there…

I had only a minute to consider this new aspect of myself before a purple streak flew into my core room.

“Greetings dungeon! I am Renitia, and I shall grace you with the privilege of being my bond mate!”

As I looked at the fairy in the strangely elaborate and fancy looking purple frilled dress I found myself stunned. Her voices tone said that she already considered the both of us being bound together to be an inevitable fact, but more than that she made it out to seem like I should be grateful she even bothered. It was so out of my expectations I couldn’t even bring myself to be irritated by the entitled imperious tone.

I thought when Lin said that fairies would be clamoring from all over to bind themselves to me it would mean they would be a bit more… humble? No, maybe just extend me a bit of polite curtesy… I mean, I’m supposed to be sort of a big deal, right? A dungeon who’d be a great catch, right?

As I was still frozen from the fairy in purples high handed introduction the fairy herself had moved forward and placed her hand against my core. As a large smile broke out on her face I felt something light and hopeful reaching out to me, I could feel as she cast herself inside me and willed me to accept all of her for my own.

In a brief moment I felt the familiar instincts that had nearly caused me to claim Lin rise up inside me, and for that same brief moment I wondered whether or not it would even be all that bad to take this fairy for myself. I could feel her, I understood her in a way that not even she may have been able to herself. Renitia was a good soul, even if she did hide most of her best traits behind an imperious and off putting facade. She cared deeply about things, had a fair bit of talent with wind magic, and even had a soft spot in her heart for all things cute and fluffy. In all honesty it probably wouldn’t even be hard to draw the real Renitia out from behind the annoying mask she showed to the world around her, all it would take was a bit of patience and affection.

As I felt everything that made Renitia the fairy who she was I discovered that it would actually be fairly easy to grow to care for her if I bound myself to the fairy. I could even naturally grow to love her for who she was, and over all the amount of sheer good and potential within her fair outweighed any negative aspects I found. It was already clear that she desired me more than even she had anticipated, the amount of positivity she held to me was already almost at the level of a crush if not genuine infatuation.

I rejected her almost instantly. I fought down the instincts urging me to claim the willing and eager fairy, I had already decided to use the test Lin had left for me when I was choosing a fairy to bind myself to. This fairy hadn’t passed the test, in fact this fairy had charged me and attempted to force a bound on me on her own accord. It was something that I found to be more than a little irritating.

I throw up a wall within myself and used it to push the eager fairy out of my mind entirely.

As I opened my nonexistent eyes I saw that the fairy in purple merely hung in front of me with a dazed expression.

“But… Why?”

***

“Hello, I’m Olive! I’m going to be your new friend!”

I merely looked up at the fairy with short green hair wearing what looked like a brown tunic and pants with disinterest.

“Hello Olive, the test is on the wall behind me. Let me know when you’ve come up with an answer for each question…”

I watched as the now familiar expression of shock and confusion washed over the fairy’s face as Fay flew over to the dumbstruck winged girl.

“Please follow Fay to the corner with the rest of the potentials, and before you ask: No Fay is not my bond mate. Yes Fay and these four around me aren’t wearing any clothes. No that isn’t because of a preference of mine. And yes I can in fact speak on my own…”

The short haired fairy in brown merely nodded dumbly as her mouth opened and closed repeatedly. Fay had to practically drag her through the air to get her to the corner where the other six fairies that had shown up were each staring at the wall with focused eyes and hard expressions.

“I… I… Uh… Um… I… Mom never told me anything about a test…”

I ignored the quiet mumblings of the newest fairy and began to mentally prepare myself for the next of my unexpected visitors to show up.

At least having my four fairies hovering next to my core and glaring at the passageway keeps them from charging me like that first one… That’s progress, right?