Marvin sat at a desk, behind the thick isolation chamber glass that separated him from his creation in the chamber. He tapped his autoquill against the metal desk, then hovered his finger over the red button. He stops just short of pushing it, and he looks back towards his creation. Something tantamount to heresy of the highest order. Even a casual civilian would be terrified by what he has made. And it’s his.

He takes a deep breath, and a wide smile spreads across his face. ‘This, this is what it means to be at the forefront of discovery. To discover something groundbreaking. And all he needs to do is push a button, and record what happens.’

His finger descends, and pushes the button down until a click can be heard. Marvin pulls his autoquill to his notebook, and starts jotting down observations, even when nothing visible can be seen. The shards clatter a bit, as mana fills the isolation chamber. It must be primed to ensure optimal conditions.

He turns slightly to look at the manameter, a poor, but apt name for a device that measures the ambient mana levels in a confined space. It shows a steady climb as the mana is released.

It passes the first noted threshold, the shards start to shake of their own volition, no longer merely influenced by the movement of mana. The diamond hive, of sorts, shakes along with its occupants.

It passes the second noted threshold, the voices start. Cries of pain and anger and confusion. They do not remember the previous tests, it seems. Noted. None of the voices say anything coherent, beyond vague noises of emotion.

It passes the third noted threshold, minor fusion begins. The Earth element shards fuse into the diamond hive structure well enough, forming the bones upon which the others should attach to. Then, the Fire element shards melt into the frameworks layed out, filling into a section near the center. Those will act as the furnace to power the rest of the fusions. Next is Lightning element shards, jumping across the outside of the hive until it passes through the diamond hive, then it shoots back out the other side. It will provide additional power. Wind element shards flow over the outside of the hive, covering it in a transparent sheen. Vision becomes impared. Water element shards liquify and cover what remains visible. Vision is stopped.

It passes the fourth noted threshold, and esoteric elements begin to enter the construct. The Life and Death element shards should be fusing into the overall structure, but vision remains impossible.

It passes the fifth noted threshold. A stillness takes hold in the chamber. The air seems to stop, the light freezes in place.

It passes the sixth noted threshold. The stillness remains.

It passes the seventh noted threshold. The chamber is filled with a variety of elements, bursts of flame, gouts of water, sudden winds, eruptions of stone, lightning bolts, icicles, mud, steam, dust, light. But the worst is the outbursts of Life and Death. Fleshy figures of ramshackle construction stand on five legs, then fall as three of the legs decay. Negative energy flashes, destroying much of the other elements, and makes me feel sick even through all my wards and protections.

It passes the eighth noted threshold. The elements cease erupting, and the core is shimmering with myriad lights, wondrous to behold.

It passes the ninth noted threshold. The light falters, and the element shards reconstitute themselves from being forced through the construct. The shards now simply lay throughout the diamond hive, and the voices stop. The experiment failed.

Marvin sits back, sighing. ‘That was the sixth time he’s run the test, changing the position of the element shards, moving the structure from the center of the room, even having it submerged in element deprived liquid, once.’

He glances towards the mana crystals that are attached to the apparatus which raises the ambient mana in the room, and grimaces. ‘Only enough for two more tests, maybe. Discovering what lies beyond the veil, and creating unholy abominations is not good for his coffers.’

Marvin stands up with a grunt, and shakes out his arms and legs. He leaves his notes on the desk and leaves the room, entering the main hallway. From here, he goes into his study and grabs a book off his shelves. A copy of “Otto the musical machine, an autobiography”. He sits down at his nice, wooden desk, and opens it, trying to get lost in the pages to forget how he has to get this next attempt right, or else all his effort in trying to artificially create a dungeon core was for naught. Hopefully Otto offers a pleasant change of pace, with his flowery words and retelling of his adventures. Of course, there is debate over the validity of the book, given the impossible content, not to mention that it was banned in the Kingdom of Faluvia. Not that that stopped anyone. In fact, it became even more frequently bought in the neighboring kingdoms.

Marvin lets out a small chuckle, as he strokes his unkempt beard. ‘He really should brush it out, as he can’t have beard hair constantly getting into his experiments. Who knows? One day, it might even make a clone of him from it. What would he even do with a clone? Kill it? Work with it? Heck, if it was a good enough clone, he’d even be able to play with his own soul. Wouldn’t that be novel? Granted, there’s little good to having a soul to mess around with. You modify it, and suddenly, you have a holy inquisition bearing down on you. You destroy it, and you get smited. The best you could do with it is shove it into some magic item or other and have it start doing stuff automatically. That’s how Otto came to be, after all. The soul of a dying musician and artificer basically possessed the body of Otto, and now we have a machine that can play the greatest hits of the seven great kingdoms, and is simultaneously wanted by three of them.’

‘Wait, a soul! He could put a soul into the core! The biggest issue is getting all the shards to play nice with each other, and if they had a soul watching over and breaking up any fights… Yes, that might just work! Incredible!’

Marvin stands up suddenly, then grabs the side of his bookcase as he starts to fall. He rubs his head, then pauses. ‘Wait, where is he going to get a soul?’ He groans, ‘Those blasted dark elves probably know how to get one without it leading back to me. Ugh, I hate dealing with them.’