Memories flowed in as my unconscious mind went through its usual routine, images of my family, my friends and then the disaster of the third wave. Images of hope, a chance at survival and then the kidnapping. Images of slavery, abuse and human testing to then turn into another massacre. That cold night that I survived, I vowed to myself. I made a pact with every fibre of my being; No more… I will stand for this life’s tasteless methods no more, fear turns us into monsters, greed turns us into devils and faith only divides us more so than it should unify us. I will find it, the reason for us all to live. I will find the reason for why our wretched lives have any meaning what so ever. That vow is what made me want to explore the new realms, to find what my world doesn’t hold. To possibly make contact with other beings, learn their ways, their history and unify them with us before fear, greed and beliefs cause more suffering and war. I will use my anger, my hatred and my fear not to destroy it all but to build something better.

As I woke I felt some numbness in my legs, I slowly opened an eye and sneaked a glance. My shoes, pants and some visible skin were slightly burned. I fully opened both eyes only to be presented with a blinding fire that blazed right in front of me, the throne that I used as a shield was on fire and mostly destroyed or charred since all that remained of it was a wooden board currently on fire lying flat on the ground. I dragged myself away from the fire and tried to get up, my body felt slightly numb probably due to my earlier mana exhaustion. Earlier…How long have I been out? I glanced around the hall at the destruction, the walls and roof were charred while the floor…if there was one any more it would also be charred but currently…a large gaping crater loomed there where the ground once lay, a deep hole seemingly taking into a lower floor of the dungeon. Looking around the edges of the hole there was a strange difference, a lot of the ground wasn’t charred but looked brand new while at the very corners some floor was still burned. I got up and stagger down the stairs, dragging myself I reach the edge of the crater. Within was another room just as vast but much more impressive, to call it a jungle was an understatement as the density of the trees and foliage made it all look like a single solid object except for the very middle where an enclosure clear of any green lay. The enclosure was surrounding by a pulsating orange barrier and within lay something I only once saw in a book, the book we had found at the start of this dungeon. The Dungeon Core was a polygonal prism made of a grey crystal, around the crystal was a black ring of sorts with blue runes etched all over it and another smaller green crystal orbiting the ring.

Suddenly I noticed why a lot of the floor looked new, the edge of the hole beneath me was slowly appearing and making the hole smaller over time. The Dungeon was trying to cover its core, to hide it from us as we try to hide our organs with armour and barriers. I glared down at the core for a couple moments and then got up to my knees, concentrating for a bit I let the mana flow through my body. Thirty…No twenty percent or so of my mana had recuperated, I opened my eyes and looked myself over. I had light burns and cuts all over my body but other than that I looked fine, making sure to enhance my legs with mana before-hand I jumped down onto the barrier around the core and as my legs hit the top pain travelled through my whole body. The core was aggressively attacking my body with its aura, so much so that its aura became visible to me as grey light seemingly floated around me. “What’s this little Dungeon…You were so kind to inviting us into you but now you reject me? How cold of you…” an amused grin grows as my eyes open wide in what may look like insanity. “You take over someone else’s home…You toy with us with your traps and monsters…You lock us in to continue greedily messing with our mana…” I stand up while trying my best not to slide off the circular barrier “You have been sent here for what? To survive and live with us but instead you fall to greed and underestimate us…”

I summon Wayne into my hand and hold the aether with both hands while aiming downwards, pouring mana in I focus on keeping the size of the attack to a minimum but enough to break the barrier. “Come now Dungeon core…Face the monster you’ve angered.” The blast shot ate through the barrier’s roof and disrupted the rest, it shot straight through it and down to the core hitting half of it and shattered a fair amount of it. The core had been hovering in mid-air but once hit it fell to the ground with shattered pieces of itself covered some of the ground to its right. I fell down as the barrier disappeared, landing next to the core I looked down and was confused at the sight. Within the smaller crystal a small humanoid creature lay frozen, the fairy had an expression of shock and pure fear plastered all over her face. Mine though… changed from slight amusement to a blank and empty expression “I see…Greedy to the end…To also trap your companion…” turning to the core itself I could see a slight change to its glow, it was pulsating and shaking slightly. I take a step closer and lay my arm onto it for support, staring down into the crystal I could see a reflection of myself which then distorted and changed. It was still me but instead of mirroring my expressionless face it had both fear and rage. I then felt a slight pull on my aura, like something had grabbed my soul and was weakly pulling on it. “What is…” waiting for a bit I felt some of my aura disappear as the core began to pulsate faster “So that’s how…Interesting…Instead of gaining mana from your soul like us you use your aura to steal it from your environment…and other beings…I wonder if…”

I force myself off the core for a second and then lay both palms open onto its surface “I do not have the mana to destroy you right now…But you are a being made of mana so…in theory just like slime cores…You can be drained.” Instead of pouring mana this time I focus on letting it flow through my body, I force my aura back in to flow with the rest of my mana and then out and into the Dungeon Core. Biting on my lower lip to keep myself awake I began pulling on the core’s mana with my aura, it is the exact opposite of using enhancement magic whereas instead of focusing your aura onto your own body to condense mana you focus your aura on something else to condense mana and then pull back some of the aura to pull the mana with it. Using this method drained a lot of mana to control aura so precisely but if the income of mana drained is great enough…Then it can be done with a gain of mana instead of a loss. The downside was that just like meditation this left your pores unprotected except for the side you were focusing your aura on, leaving you open to attacks from the Dark, Light or Corruption elements. But currently I wasn’t paying attention to that, if I passed out of mana exhaustion again then the Dungeon would create a monster to kill me or bind me anyway. So I kept on draining as the Dungeon tried to pull back “You get no mercy from me.” The more it tried to pull back the harder I pulled as my mana supply simply kept increasing until it hit its cap. Seeing as my body could hold no more mana I entered a meditative state and starting condensing my mana around my pores and pushing it in, this was a defensive art and one used while contracting with a spirit too strong for the contractee. Your body can only hold so much mana until trained to hold more but your soul had no bounds and could grow without limit, or that at least is how the prime theory goes. By doing this I drained the core of mana (“You will be an example to the rest of your kind.”) until it had no more.

When the last bit entered my body I felt its memories flow through me, memories of earth surrounding me, mana moving at my will, growing and changing to the environment, contracting with the fairy, creating the Dungeon and filling it with creatures. These memories flowed through me for a couple minutes as I fell backwards shocked, until they just disappeared. “What the hell…was that?...” I stood up and glared at the core, it’s glow had disappeared completely and its ring had dropped to the ground along with the other crystal holding the fairy. At first I thought the fairy would die once its contractor did, when I saw it’s crystal dissipating into mana I was prepared to dig it a grave but apparently it wasn’t meant to be its end yet. When the crystal covering it’s body was fully gone I kneeled down next to it and started gently moving it with one hand over onto the other when I saw a change, it’s face began to show signs of movement until it fully opened its eyes. The fairy had heterochromia iridis, two eyes of different colours. Her left was green and right was grey, she also had short white hair but not white like old humans would get but a snowy gleaming colour. She looked around dizzily sitting up in my palm, she glanced at the Dungeon core and for a moment her expression filled with fear while tears began to fall. When she noticed the core was empty and drained she looked down at her hands and then her clothes, she wore a long black dress that reached her feet but no shoes. She grabbed the end of her dress and wiped her tears with it, for a second she froze looking down and stared at my palm. Slowly she turned her gaze upward and stared at my face which currently held a confused expression, she tilted her head strangely as if not comprehending what was happening.

“Are you feelin…” my words were cut off when green and white butterfly like wings appeared on her back, she dashed off my palm and in a green and white blur flew out of the crater. I sigh and stood up slowly, my body still felt slightly numb and I over all just felt exhausted. I walked over to the shattered core, picking up a larger piece the size of my fist I then started glancing around the crater looking for a way out. My mana had been replenished but most of it was from the Dungeon and therefore not produced by me, that meant it had to be processed by my soul for me to use it without damaging my body. Through trial and error the Etyrians had tested this using slime, golem and elemental cores. I knew the danger of using the mana within me now so I had to find a way out using other means, looking around I could think of multiple things I could try but I decided to go for the most probable plan to work. Tearing out a long vine I then start tying it around the ring that was part of the Dungeon Core, it was large enough to fit around my waste twice over. When I was sure the vine was tied correctly I stepped back a bit and threw the ring as hard as I could with both hands, it reached the next floor with a *thump* sound.(“Here we go…”) I grabbed onto the vine and pulled while hoping it would get stuck on something, hopefully a Minotaur for its weight. After multiple charred corpses fell down the hole and other failed attempts the ring gets stuck on something, checking quickly that it could withstand my weight I then start climbing up the rope like vine.

Reaching the top of the vine I pull myself onto the floor, taking deep breaths I lay on the ground face up while staring at the black charred roof. I sense something watching me and chalked it up to the Fairy who was probably too scared right now, I force myself up and look around the room. Many of the Goblins and Minotaurs simply got disintegrated by the Hob’s violent explosion, some though where laying at the edge of the hall and were too charred to be recognisable. I noticed the ring had stuck itself on a corpse too large to be a goblin so I figured it was a Minotaur or two, It was sitting with its back to the wall but lumped forwards. “Lucky…Well it did take more than a couple tries…” I then began walking towards the exit where one of the double doors had broken off and fallen, resting on the other door it blocked the way a bit but I just climbed over and continued walking. I suddenly start hearing footsteps quickly heading my way (“Shit…Monsters?...”) I looked around but saw no where I could find except the entrance for an ambush or back down the crater and take the height disadvantage. In the end I decide on waiting by the entrance for an ambush as the footsteps sound too light to be a Minotaur, thinking of a goblin running late for the fight finally making themselves show I stand with my back to the wall waiting for it to come around the corner.

The second the footsteps got within my detection range I noticed something odd (“Don’t I know this signature?”) I turned around the corner to take a look and abandoning my ambush. As Leya ran at full speed I turned to find the fairy hovering in between us, Leya didn’t stop her self in time which ended up with a poor Fairy being sandwiched between an Elf and Human collision while the last image I saw was the Fairy’s horrified expression turning to look at me while a tear fell down its cheek. [Me]“Shit!”, [Leya]“Oh crap..”, [Dungeon Fairy]“EEkk!!”. On collision Leya head-butted me, slammed the fairy with her chest and all three of us rolled for a couple meters. “Fuck…” opening my eyes a I felt a trickle of blood down my face, I was lying face up on the ground with Leya lying face down on top of me “Ughh…What the hell…” she was also just opening her eyes. I try to stand “You’re heavy…”, with a punch to my gut “Ooof!”she gets off and into a sitting position next to me while I held my stomach. “Alright Hot Shot, why’d you run off and what the hell is this fairy doing here?!” the fairy was currently hiding in between Leya’s breasts although she seemed more stuck than willing, she tried to push herself out to no success “Ehh! Don’t move like that! Here!” Leya helps the Fairy out by pushing them apart, it flutters out of her top and flies down to the ground while glancing between me and her. Leya stands up and glances behind her at the entrance to what I interpreted as the “boss room”, “What’s that smell?” she walked over to the entrance while I stood up, reaching the passage she stands there with a dumbfounded expression “What the hell happened here?...It looks like a Hob site…”. “It is…” I walk over next to her “One of the monsters was a Hobgoblin, in my….fit most of the dungeon monsters followed me to this room and died with it. The Dungeon Core is within that crater, I’ve already taken care of it and have recovered a sample.”

I turned to glance at the Fairy who had fluttered over to the passage and was peaking from behind the wall, “Do you have a name?” I directed the question at her while her previous dumbstruck expression turned dark at this question and she simply nodded *No*. I kneeled down to get my face closer “So you understand our language…Can you tell us why the Dungeon did what it did? Or can you not speak?”, she finally turned away from the hall and faced me “I…I can….” A soft and high pitched voice came out with an almost magically soothing effect. “That’s adorable...” Leya moved in closer and crouched down, the Fairy turned slightly red at the compliment “I..Uh…uuuuu…” her blushing intensified as we stared at her and waited for information. “Please, we need to know what happened. With that information we could stop this from ever happening again.” I solemnly stared on at the Fairy, she regained some of her composure and continued speaking “Labi…The Dungeon…It…when it arrived here…it didn’t comprehend how dangerous…you…sentients are to it…I failed to…teach it that…” tears started streaming down her puffy cheeks “It…thought it didn’t need…me…imprisoned me..for mana…I struggled…tried to run…” It couldn’t hold it in anymore and hovered down to the floor sitting down, head buried in her hands and legs crying. I sigh at this (“It’s her fault…No matter what screwed up way you look at it, it was her role to teach the Dungeon what to do and not to do. But her crying…I can’t take it…Obnoxious…”).

I grab the Fairy’s head between my thumb and Index finger and raise her to eye level and glare at her reddened puffy face wet with tears and snot. “Hey be gentle! You’ll hurt her!” Leya puts her hand on my shoulder but I don’t stop nor turn. I keep glaring at the Fairy with an empty expression “So what?”… This response was something she didn’t expect, her expression turned to bewilderment to which I presumed was also plastered on Leya. “You failed the role you took on, you failed and now you just sit there and weep? Lives were at stake, if I didn’t stop the Dungeon then who knows to what extent it could have gone?!” I stand up while keeping the terrified Fairy at eye level “Tell me, would weeping have helped me go through my hardships? You felt it too didn’t you? When I absorbed the Dungeon, I also absorbed its contract with you. I am not a Dungeon and so the contract is null and void but the connection between us is still there, here see for yourself. The times I lost hope, the times I wanted to end it all but didn’t and the times I felt powerless towards my captors. You’re a Fae so use your power and our temporary connection, search my memories”. I lower my aura to permit the Fairy to use her magic, her eyes grew when I did so as if she couldn’t believe I’d lower my defences to my soul just to prove a point. For a moment she stared at me but then lowered her gaze slightly and raised her arms with the palms open towards me, her eyes rolled back as she faded from consciousness. Memory magic was powerful and could only be used by Spirits to read other’s memories or Fae to read and slightly temper with memories for a short duration.

Looking through all my memories in theory would take weeks at a comprehensible speed but the magic the Fae use allowed them to do decades within minutes, this was allowed through their high elemental attribution towards nature and light. The whole process took around three minutes, in the mean time I just stood there waiting while Leya let go of my shoulder and rested her back to the wall. When the Fairy’s green and grey eyes turned to normal, the signal of the magic ending, I returned my aura. Tears began to stream down her face again, she looked up into my eyes with a saddened expression and I looked into hers with a weak smile. “A…after all that…your smile looks more fake than how insane your goals are…” at this statement I let out a short laugh and counter “Who’s lecturing who here?”. She wipes her face in her dress again “I’m sorry…but you are wrong…Crying won’t help my situation…but crying does help my emotional state…you…You gave up long ago haven’t you?” My expression darkens, knowing full well ”...I saw…I heard…I felt…Your dream…Your ideals…Fake goals to hold yourself together…You would of lost yourself to insanity if you had not…I understand…I will make my own goals…no matter how insane just like you did…” I let go of her head and she flutters her wings to stay hovering “You embraced your anger, your hatred and your insanity and just the same I will embrace my fear, sadness and anger. I have nowhere to go, I have no one left and nothing important to me remaining except this one goal I have decided on…Human…M..Matthew…I wish to make a contract…with my saviour…I wish to follow my liberator”. Her words surprised me, she wanted to make a contract with me after all that happened with her previous master? “Why? Your connection to this world still exists within me and because of it your body will live for however long a Fairy would until you become a sprite again. Why bind yourself when you are already free?”. She looks at me with a saddened smile, “What is the point of living with nothing to live for?...as a child you experienced that despair didn’t you?...Just like you, I want to find something to live for…Please…”

I understood how she felt, I really did and I simply could not refuse. “You saw what is inside me, are you sure you want to fight my monsters?” I forward my right arm, palm open for her to stand on. She flutters over to my open palm and sits down “Yes…if it means making a successful contract I will battle the ones that rampage within your soul. Do you know the words?”. I turn and sit down, back to the wall “No…I’ll repeat after you”. She closes her eyes “Alright then…Here we go…” and I close mine too.

She starts the contracting chant, “Fae of light Fae of nature.”

I repeat her words “Fae of light Fae of nature.”

“Being of both spirit”

“Being of both spirit”

“And of body”

“And of body”

I finish the chant with the usual words, “I name you Faekin, I name you Fairy, I name you…” Everything goes black, my body and my mind. I stop feeling the world around me as my vision swirls and merges.

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Edited by; Birse, Have a good day everyone!

Author; Had to rewrite some things…Took me a bit! Remember to rate and maybe comment :D!