"Granda? Why do we have to hide all the time?"
"Because, sweetheart. There are dangerous people...
"Because, sweetheart. There are dangerous people...
Is being a necromancer really that bad? (Dungeon)
- Thread starter Darkandus
- Start date
- Created
- Status
- Ongoing
- Watchers
- 101
- Recent readers
- 0
- Threadmarks
- 3
-
Statistics (3 threadmarks, 5.9k words)
User Total Darkandus 3 Threadmarks Reader mode
Chapter one
"Granda? Why do we have to hide all the time?"
"Because, sweetheart. There are dangerous people who don't like me or what I can do."
"But why?"
"They're afraid. People like me sometimes do bad things, and they often do them for the wrong reasons."
"Is being a necromancer really that bad?"
--------------------
The dream faded slowly as she woke up. She felt a bit confused and off balance but she didn't dwell on it for long, instead luxuriating at the sudden disappearance of the pain that had dogged her for as long as she could remember
Opening her eyes felt hard for some reason, achy and blurry. When things finally came into focus, it made little sense to her. She could see so much, too much, even though most of it was all the same boring brownish grey rock. The only things breaking up the monotony were a strange pedestal in the center of a room, a surprisingly spacious tunnel and the view of a dank, misty swamp out through the entrance.
Concentrating on the view outside felt strange, her focus shifting even without having to move. It made her feel a little queasy, but it was worth trying to work out where she was. The first thing to draw her attention were a few pieces of broken buildings, half submerged in the swampy water or poking out of the soggy ground at angles. After that was a few trees, mostly dead. A few survivors, moss covered as they were, clung on to whatever soil they could find. A closer look revealed a few old skeletons strewn around, worn by age and the elements. One unlucky one seemed to have been crushed from the hips up by a fallen column, and another right next to her entrance was riddled with metal arrows, including one through the eye.
She fought down the strange feeling of it and turned back inwards, looking at the pedestal. It was big, stairs leading up to a floating black orb made from some kind of polished stone. Around it, little crackles and pops of energy appeared, casting the room in dramatic shadows from the flashes of brief light.
She could feel the energy her Granda taught her about suffusing the swamp, life and death, but it felt so much clearer now, so easy to sense.
'Due to the surrounding landscape and life experience 'swamp' and 'undead' categories are automatically unlocked for use.'
"What? Hello?" she asked, startled at the strange voice, so used to hearing only her own and her Granda's.
'Forgive me, I was working as you adjusted. I am Tutor. Due to your unusual circumstances, I will be explaining the situation. You are now a Dungeon. I am a Conduit. I exist to facilitate your growth. You exist to grow and fulfill your purpose.'
She was confused, somewhat understandably. 'A dungeon... a dungeon. How am I a dungeon?' she felt more worried than panicked, though she did feel like she could use a nice sit down. Her Granda did always tell her that confusion was a lack of knowledge, and the best cure was to ask questions.
"How did I become a dungeon?"
'I do not know, I was only assigned to you after your creation.'
"So, am I like a bound spirit, stuck in one place forever?"
'That would be a somewhat accurate explanation. Other options will become available as you progress. These options will give you a chance to experience life in a more corporal fashion.'
Oh, that's fine then, she was just mysteriously bound here until an unknown point, instead of forever.
"Ahh, excuse me, um... Tutor, but what is my purpose? Other than growing."
'Dungeons are meant to fulfil several goals. They exist to facilitate the growth of the other races, to temper the heroic, to humble the arrogant, to punish the guilty, to absolve the innocent. They purify the corruption that prevents the wheel of fate from turning smoothly, and corrupt the purity that would seek perfect harmonious order.'
"Um... I'm sorry but that seems a bit much. I don't really get it. How am I... I mean... what? Aren't dungeons just places filled with monsters and treasure?"
'Dungeons are guardians of balance.'
"No, no, I get that, um I get from your explanation that I'm not meant to be on anyone's side except my own. But. Yeah. Hole in the ground filled with monsters and treasure. Can I get the um, straightforward explanation? You know, about how I'm meant to do any of that." Granda had a bad habit of getting very technical and dramatic too, she was thankful for the experience, since it meant she didn't just tune out Tutor.
'Dungeons filter Essence to its base form by using it. Untainted Essence is used by all life, favouring no particular type over another. By creating treasure, you will draw those who desire it. By creating life and mechanisms, you will have your means to test those that come.'
That didn't sound like what she had been told and what she had learned from her Granda. Not at all. She was starting to feel worried.
"I'm guessing that that's how it's meant to work. But don't most dungeons either get killed or abused?"
'Yes, this is an abomination that upsets the natural order and will eventually result in catastrophe.'
Ahh. There was the panic she hadn't been feeling, rising up like a tide to consume her.
"What do I do? How do I stop them?"
'Grow.'
"But there are dungeons older than kingdoms and they still get used like tha- no. This is too much all at once."
Tutor was silent, letting her calm down. Letting her think. "Where's Granda?"
'I do not know. Your situation is the only thing I am truly aware of.'
She let out a little breath at that. "Tell me how to grow?"
'Essence allows action, it is the-'
"Granda already taught me the basics."
'Very well. Your first action should be to create a guard. After that, you should begin to dig. Dungeons function much the same as lungs, the more surface area, the more they can process. Your digging will be limited by how much Essence you have, this is because bare tunnels are not a part of you, they must become part of you, and much like any other life that exists, it takes Essence to grow.'
"Summon Minion, make more me. Got it....
Uh, how do I...?"
"You already know how."
Oh, ohhhh, I actually kind of did, but didn't realise it. Okay, summoning minions, lets see.
It was interesting, but none of them really jumped out at her, the first two seemed pretty situational, and the third... well, Granda did teach her to clean regularly to not get sick, and when they had somewhere to live he'd never let her drag mud into the house. She'd have to check out how much '30 Essence' was later too, since that seemed like a lot.
They all caught her interest, but skeletons were always what she knew best. Before making her decision though, she tried to check her essence.
She could work with that. Deciding the best thing to do would be to use the skeletons nearby, she reached out. It was a strain, stretching her magic past the opening, but soon enough it latched onto the nearest one, the skeleton lying right next to her entrance.
What to do, what to do? She thought about her Granda, and that was answer enough for her. Though she felt it might be foolish, she wanted to give this one back as much as she could. 50 Essence was gone in a flash, leaving her reeling and unsteady.
Slowly, the skeleton put its hands to the ground, "My spear, where's my spear?" It hissed, pushing itself to its feet, it's unpierced eye-socket glowing a faint purple.
It rattled a bit as it peered around, a hand shading its non-existent eyes.
"What the fuck happened?!"
"Um, Hello, my name is Caoimhe. I brought you back."
"Because, sweetheart. There are dangerous people who don't like me or what I can do."
"But why?"
"They're afraid. People like me sometimes do bad things, and they often do them for the wrong reasons."
"Is being a necromancer really that bad?"
--------------------
The dream faded slowly as she woke up. She felt a bit confused and off balance but she didn't dwell on it for long, instead luxuriating at the sudden disappearance of the pain that had dogged her for as long as she could remember
Opening her eyes felt hard for some reason, achy and blurry. When things finally came into focus, it made little sense to her. She could see so much, too much, even though most of it was all the same boring brownish grey rock. The only things breaking up the monotony were a strange pedestal in the center of a room, a surprisingly spacious tunnel and the view of a dank, misty swamp out through the entrance.
Concentrating on the view outside felt strange, her focus shifting even without having to move. It made her feel a little queasy, but it was worth trying to work out where she was. The first thing to draw her attention were a few pieces of broken buildings, half submerged in the swampy water or poking out of the soggy ground at angles. After that was a few trees, mostly dead. A few survivors, moss covered as they were, clung on to whatever soil they could find. A closer look revealed a few old skeletons strewn around, worn by age and the elements. One unlucky one seemed to have been crushed from the hips up by a fallen column, and another right next to her entrance was riddled with metal arrows, including one through the eye.
She fought down the strange feeling of it and turned back inwards, looking at the pedestal. It was big, stairs leading up to a floating black orb made from some kind of polished stone. Around it, little crackles and pops of energy appeared, casting the room in dramatic shadows from the flashes of brief light.
She could feel the energy her Granda taught her about suffusing the swamp, life and death, but it felt so much clearer now, so easy to sense.
'Due to the surrounding landscape and life experience 'swamp' and 'undead' categories are automatically unlocked for use.'
"What? Hello?" she asked, startled at the strange voice, so used to hearing only her own and her Granda's.
'Forgive me, I was working as you adjusted. I am Tutor. Due to your unusual circumstances, I will be explaining the situation. You are now a Dungeon. I am a Conduit. I exist to facilitate your growth. You exist to grow and fulfill your purpose.'
She was confused, somewhat understandably. 'A dungeon... a dungeon. How am I a dungeon?' she felt more worried than panicked, though she did feel like she could use a nice sit down. Her Granda did always tell her that confusion was a lack of knowledge, and the best cure was to ask questions.
"How did I become a dungeon?"
'I do not know, I was only assigned to you after your creation.'
"So, am I like a bound spirit, stuck in one place forever?"
'That would be a somewhat accurate explanation. Other options will become available as you progress. These options will give you a chance to experience life in a more corporal fashion.'
Oh, that's fine then, she was just mysteriously bound here until an unknown point, instead of forever.
"Ahh, excuse me, um... Tutor, but what is my purpose? Other than growing."
'Dungeons are meant to fulfil several goals. They exist to facilitate the growth of the other races, to temper the heroic, to humble the arrogant, to punish the guilty, to absolve the innocent. They purify the corruption that prevents the wheel of fate from turning smoothly, and corrupt the purity that would seek perfect harmonious order.'
"Um... I'm sorry but that seems a bit much. I don't really get it. How am I... I mean... what? Aren't dungeons just places filled with monsters and treasure?"
'Dungeons are guardians of balance.'
"No, no, I get that, um I get from your explanation that I'm not meant to be on anyone's side except my own. But. Yeah. Hole in the ground filled with monsters and treasure. Can I get the um, straightforward explanation? You know, about how I'm meant to do any of that." Granda had a bad habit of getting very technical and dramatic too, she was thankful for the experience, since it meant she didn't just tune out Tutor.
'Dungeons filter Essence to its base form by using it. Untainted Essence is used by all life, favouring no particular type over another. By creating treasure, you will draw those who desire it. By creating life and mechanisms, you will have your means to test those that come.'
That didn't sound like what she had been told and what she had learned from her Granda. Not at all. She was starting to feel worried.
"I'm guessing that that's how it's meant to work. But don't most dungeons either get killed or abused?"
'Yes, this is an abomination that upsets the natural order and will eventually result in catastrophe.'
Ahh. There was the panic she hadn't been feeling, rising up like a tide to consume her.
"What do I do? How do I stop them?"
'Grow.'
"But there are dungeons older than kingdoms and they still get used like tha- no. This is too much all at once."
Tutor was silent, letting her calm down. Letting her think. "Where's Granda?"
'I do not know. Your situation is the only thing I am truly aware of.'
She let out a little breath at that. "Tell me how to grow?"
'Essence allows action, it is the-'
"Granda already taught me the basics."
'Very well. Your first action should be to create a guard. After that, you should begin to dig. Dungeons function much the same as lungs, the more surface area, the more they can process. Your digging will be limited by how much Essence you have, this is because bare tunnels are not a part of you, they must become part of you, and much like any other life that exists, it takes Essence to grow.'
"Summon Minion, make more me. Got it....
Uh, how do I...?"
"You already know how."
Oh, ohhhh, I actually kind of did, but didn't realise it. Okay, summoning minions, lets see.
It was interesting, but none of them really jumped out at her, the first two seemed pretty situational, and the third... well, Granda did teach her to clean regularly to not get sick, and when they had somewhere to live he'd never let her drag mud into the house. She'd have to check out how much '30 Essence' was later too, since that seemed like a lot.
They all caught her interest, but skeletons were always what she knew best. Before making her decision though, she tried to check her essence.
She could work with that. Deciding the best thing to do would be to use the skeletons nearby, she reached out. It was a strain, stretching her magic past the opening, but soon enough it latched onto the nearest one, the skeleton lying right next to her entrance.
What to do, what to do? She thought about her Granda, and that was answer enough for her. Though she felt it might be foolish, she wanted to give this one back as much as she could. 50 Essence was gone in a flash, leaving her reeling and unsteady.
Slowly, the skeleton put its hands to the ground, "My spear, where's my spear?" It hissed, pushing itself to its feet, it's unpierced eye-socket glowing a faint purple.
It rattled a bit as it peered around, a hand shading its non-existent eyes.
"What the fuck happened?!"
"Um, Hello, my name is Caoimhe. I brought you back."
Chapter two
It had been a pretty uncomfortable few hours.
She had a feeling that if she had simply created a skeleton a lot of the current issues could have been avoided, like the existential crisis the risen skeleton was having. She still didn't know its name, since it was ignoring her in favour of staring in shock at its hands, curling it's fingers. It would ask the occasional question in a dust dry voice, ranging from the immediate and reasonable, such as. "What's going on?" "Why can I only see out of one eye?" "How can I see at all?" And then proceeding to the confusing, like "I keep trying to breathe but it's not happening and I feel like I'm choking until I realise I don't need air. Isn't that fucked up?" and then laughing at her when she tried to come up with something to say.
Gallows humor, she guessed?
Eventually though, the Skeleton seemed to calm down, and accept the situation as it was, especially when Caoimhe revealed her own recent past as a person who was now apparently a Dungeon.
"Ahh, you might count yourself unfortunate, but I have to say you have a Devil's luck ending up here. I doubt you would have gotten such a kind reception in most other places, but in my time at least, our kingdom was run by one of those Druid types. He was always going on about this or that, so I'm fairly used to the whole magic thing and I have no fear of you. I can't say the same for most other places."
She desperately wanted to point out that druids and necromancers totally weren't the same, but that would definitely be a bad idea, best to just accept the comparison.
"So, will you work for me?"
"Ehh, I kind of feel like I don't have a choice. Even if I did walk off, where would I go? Everyone I know is dead, but you might eventually bring some people I knew back. And then there's the obligation to consider. Bringing me back to life and giving me a second chance is big, and that's before you even get to the whole undead skeleton thing which would probably get me hunted down."
Caoimhe sighed, "I guess all of that is true, but I'd still feel better about it if you actually agreed to it."
The skeleton shrugged. "I'll happily call you my leader then, if it'll set you at ease."
"So, will you tell me your name then?"
"Maebh. I was a warrior of my clan, you know, before apparently getting filled with metal arrows. Don't really remember that bit though. Hey, do you think you could fix my eye?"
That was a pretty good question, so she started feeling things out, only to get rebuffed.
Tutor chimed in. 'Altering the body of a revived creature is more difficult than altering the body of a summoned creature, and is beyond your current power, try again after you dig down a floor or two.'
"Hmm, so not right now, but later then?"
Maebh simply nodded at that, poking around the room. "Gods, but this place is dank and dreary. Any chance you could whip up something comfortable to sit on at least?"
And that was the other problem. She didn't really regret it, but throwing all of her Essence at reviving Maebh wasn't the smart thing to do. She could feel her face heat up in embarrassment, despite not even having a face, or blood for that matter. Ughhhh! So unfair.
"I used up all my power reviving you."
"Fair enough, how long until you get more?"
"A couple of days."
"No, that's horseshit, there has to be a faster way, I'm not sitting around on rock or bare dirt for days waiting, my arse will go numb."
"You... you don't even have flesh."
"And? But hey, let's put that aside for a second, you say you have a teacher or whatever, ask 'em if there's another way to get power other than waiting."
Ugh, Maebh was so pushy. She did have a point though. "It's Tutor, not Teacher, and um, is there any way? Or rather, what are the ways?" She directed the last towards the Conduit.
'There are several ways to quickly gain Essence that can vary depending on the type of dungeon you are, the floor involved, specific rooms and other miscellaneous situations and events. The one currently most pertinent to you is offerings, as having an intruder would almost certainly result in your death or enslavement. In regards to offerings and their usefulness, in descending order; the most useful is the sacrifice of living beings, grave goods, and crystallized life energy. In regards to more situational things, the bodies of hunted animals, rare plants, and peat. After that, any generic objects or items gifted to you give you minimal amounts of essence.'
Okay, that was good to know, they were actually getting somewhere now. "And how do I get offerings?"
'Any sentient being can sacrifice offerings to you. The traditional method is cultists.'
"So Maebh could do it, yeah?"
'Maebh would be able to.'
"Great!" She turned her attention back to Maebh.
That just got a groan of dismay out of the skeleton. "You do know I can't hear your little invisible helper, right? All I know from that is I apparently have to work for a living."
That prompted a quick run down, which surprisingly cheered Maebh right up. "Hunted animals, eh? That sounds great, though it's going to be hard without my spear, could you make me one?"
"I suppose I could. But I'll need more essence first, maybe some plants?" Caoimhe suggested.
"Done! I'll be back in a bit then!"
"Wait! But you need to guard me."
"Relax, I'll only be going out the door. You said anything, so I'm just going to throw some swamp stuff through the door and see what that gets you."
"My floors!"
"They're literally dirt." She called over her shoulder with a snort of dry laughter as she left. Caoimhe following right up until she got to the entrance, watching Maebh poke around at the other skeletons before ripping a dead branch out of the swamp with a rather disgusting slurping noise, tossing it near to the entrance before looking further afield. It wasn't long before she came back, shoving the garbage she had collected through the door.
"Ugggggh! It's leaking everywhere! I feel dirty."
Maebh laughed. "You're such a priss, I bet you're the type that never ate with your fingers."
"What, like that's bad?" She responded hotly.
"Ahh, don't worry about that now! The stuff is dissolving! What are you getting from it?"
'Offerings received.'
"Um."
"Um what? Um doesn't sound like good news."
"Hold on a second I'm gonna ask a question. Uh, Tutor, could you tell me what everything was worth individually both now and from now on?"
'Of course'
"So. The bad news is we only got 2.3 Essence from that, the good news is we know the best things to get from what you got were the eggs, the moss and the grass."
"2.3 huh... well, that's not too bad. I was expecting worse, and knowing what things are worth is helpful. I'll head out again then."
----------------------------------
It was only a few hours before night fell, and with all the mist and cloud cover overhead it quickly became pitch black outside. Maebh returned instead of getting lost, though she said she could feel where the dungeon was at all times, she wasn't looking forward to getting stuck in water and mud.
In the end, all the materials brought back seemed to give Caoimhe more options for building, while also lowering the prices for a lot of what she could build. Instead of being a spendthrift and wasting it on nice things, she decided to focus on the basic and expanding. Thanks to all of Maebh's hard work, she had about thirty one Essence. Enough for a basic skeleton, two small rooms, two hallways, and a chair to get Maebh to stop moaning.
Speaking of the warrior skeleton, she had taken up guard right inside the opening to the dungeon, crouched low, onto her haunches, looking out into the darkness for anything approaching.
Caoimhe spent the Essence, having roughly decided how she wanted things to be arranged. One of the walls of the cave started crumbling into its new shape, her body beginning to stretch to encompass all the new surfaces. As the first new room took shape, she felt a disorientating heave, her awareness re-centering on the second room, her alter seemingly having teleported itself. A bare minute later it happened again as she was forcibly moved to the deepest room. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but it was somehow a bit nauseating.
She put down a simple chair in the second room for Maebh, right next to the corridor leading to her main chamber.
"Woo, got a bit worried there when I noticed you disappeared." Said the Skeleton herself, having just turned the corner into her Chamber. "Gods, but it's dark in the other rooms without your little sparks and sparkles, I almost stubbed my toe, we could use some light later... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just feeling a little queasy, like I ate too much, I put down a chair for you."
In the light, it almost looked like Maebh grinned at that, however that would be possible for a skeleton. "Thank you, finally, somewhere to rest these weary bones."
"Ugh, if you tell more jokes like that I'll make a burial mound for you."
Maebh grinned at that, going to the second room to sit, she could have a conversation with Caoimhe anywhere, after all, might as well do it in some comfort. "Heh, so, gonna summon up some backup for me?" She asked, before groaning in over-exaggerated relief as she sat on the hard wooden chair. "Not the worst, could use some padding."
Ignoring the stupid chair, she focused more on the backup question. "Mmm! It's actually just what I was about to do. After this I'll be tapped out, so we'll have to wait for morning before we can do anything else. It's a bit of a bother though, I don't feel tired at all."
"Sounds like an opportunity to me, my friends used to call me a grand storyteller, and I'm sure you have plenty of your own to share. We should get to know each other better anyway."
That actually sounded nice, hearing a story from someone other than her Granda might be nice. "Great! I'll start the summoning now."
Calling up a skeleton felt easier here than it ever did in life, even without using bones. Motes of essence coalescing and forming it from seemingly nothing, creating a perfectly average skeleton. The bones were that fresh creamy white colour as opposed to Maebh's bones, more yellowed with age. Soon, the lights faded, Maebh and Caoimhe looking at it, waiting with bated breath for any movement.
The Skeletons eyes suddenly lit up with a blue glow, its posture becoming relaxed and easy.
"Um, go guard the entrance, but stay inside." Caoimhe said after a solid minute of awkward silence. The skeleton nodded softly, before rattling off to the entrance.
"Huh. You should name it later. Feels weird not to. Now, lets start talking, you and I."
-------------------------------
She had a feeling that if she had simply created a skeleton a lot of the current issues could have been avoided, like the existential crisis the risen skeleton was having. She still didn't know its name, since it was ignoring her in favour of staring in shock at its hands, curling it's fingers. It would ask the occasional question in a dust dry voice, ranging from the immediate and reasonable, such as. "What's going on?" "Why can I only see out of one eye?" "How can I see at all?" And then proceeding to the confusing, like "I keep trying to breathe but it's not happening and I feel like I'm choking until I realise I don't need air. Isn't that fucked up?" and then laughing at her when she tried to come up with something to say.
Gallows humor, she guessed?
Eventually though, the Skeleton seemed to calm down, and accept the situation as it was, especially when Caoimhe revealed her own recent past as a person who was now apparently a Dungeon.
"Ahh, you might count yourself unfortunate, but I have to say you have a Devil's luck ending up here. I doubt you would have gotten such a kind reception in most other places, but in my time at least, our kingdom was run by one of those Druid types. He was always going on about this or that, so I'm fairly used to the whole magic thing and I have no fear of you. I can't say the same for most other places."
She desperately wanted to point out that druids and necromancers totally weren't the same, but that would definitely be a bad idea, best to just accept the comparison.
"So, will you work for me?"
"Ehh, I kind of feel like I don't have a choice. Even if I did walk off, where would I go? Everyone I know is dead, but you might eventually bring some people I knew back. And then there's the obligation to consider. Bringing me back to life and giving me a second chance is big, and that's before you even get to the whole undead skeleton thing which would probably get me hunted down."
Caoimhe sighed, "I guess all of that is true, but I'd still feel better about it if you actually agreed to it."
The skeleton shrugged. "I'll happily call you my leader then, if it'll set you at ease."
"So, will you tell me your name then?"
"Maebh. I was a warrior of my clan, you know, before apparently getting filled with metal arrows. Don't really remember that bit though. Hey, do you think you could fix my eye?"
That was a pretty good question, so she started feeling things out, only to get rebuffed.
Tutor chimed in. 'Altering the body of a revived creature is more difficult than altering the body of a summoned creature, and is beyond your current power, try again after you dig down a floor or two.'
"Hmm, so not right now, but later then?"
Maebh simply nodded at that, poking around the room. "Gods, but this place is dank and dreary. Any chance you could whip up something comfortable to sit on at least?"
And that was the other problem. She didn't really regret it, but throwing all of her Essence at reviving Maebh wasn't the smart thing to do. She could feel her face heat up in embarrassment, despite not even having a face, or blood for that matter. Ughhhh! So unfair.
"I used up all my power reviving you."
"Fair enough, how long until you get more?"
"A couple of days."
"No, that's horseshit, there has to be a faster way, I'm not sitting around on rock or bare dirt for days waiting, my arse will go numb."
"You... you don't even have flesh."
"And? But hey, let's put that aside for a second, you say you have a teacher or whatever, ask 'em if there's another way to get power other than waiting."
Ugh, Maebh was so pushy. She did have a point though. "It's Tutor, not Teacher, and um, is there any way? Or rather, what are the ways?" She directed the last towards the Conduit.
'There are several ways to quickly gain Essence that can vary depending on the type of dungeon you are, the floor involved, specific rooms and other miscellaneous situations and events. The one currently most pertinent to you is offerings, as having an intruder would almost certainly result in your death or enslavement. In regards to offerings and their usefulness, in descending order; the most useful is the sacrifice of living beings, grave goods, and crystallized life energy. In regards to more situational things, the bodies of hunted animals, rare plants, and peat. After that, any generic objects or items gifted to you give you minimal amounts of essence.'
Okay, that was good to know, they were actually getting somewhere now. "And how do I get offerings?"
'Any sentient being can sacrifice offerings to you. The traditional method is cultists.'
"So Maebh could do it, yeah?"
'Maebh would be able to.'
"Great!" She turned her attention back to Maebh.
That just got a groan of dismay out of the skeleton. "You do know I can't hear your little invisible helper, right? All I know from that is I apparently have to work for a living."
That prompted a quick run down, which surprisingly cheered Maebh right up. "Hunted animals, eh? That sounds great, though it's going to be hard without my spear, could you make me one?"
"I suppose I could. But I'll need more essence first, maybe some plants?" Caoimhe suggested.
"Done! I'll be back in a bit then!"
"Wait! But you need to guard me."
"Relax, I'll only be going out the door. You said anything, so I'm just going to throw some swamp stuff through the door and see what that gets you."
"My floors!"
"They're literally dirt." She called over her shoulder with a snort of dry laughter as she left. Caoimhe following right up until she got to the entrance, watching Maebh poke around at the other skeletons before ripping a dead branch out of the swamp with a rather disgusting slurping noise, tossing it near to the entrance before looking further afield. It wasn't long before she came back, shoving the garbage she had collected through the door.
"Ugggggh! It's leaking everywhere! I feel dirty."
Maebh laughed. "You're such a priss, I bet you're the type that never ate with your fingers."
"What, like that's bad?" She responded hotly.
"Ahh, don't worry about that now! The stuff is dissolving! What are you getting from it?"
'Offerings received.'
"Um."
"Um what? Um doesn't sound like good news."
"Hold on a second I'm gonna ask a question. Uh, Tutor, could you tell me what everything was worth individually both now and from now on?"
'Of course'
"So. The bad news is we only got 2.3 Essence from that, the good news is we know the best things to get from what you got were the eggs, the moss and the grass."
"2.3 huh... well, that's not too bad. I was expecting worse, and knowing what things are worth is helpful. I'll head out again then."
----------------------------------
It was only a few hours before night fell, and with all the mist and cloud cover overhead it quickly became pitch black outside. Maebh returned instead of getting lost, though she said she could feel where the dungeon was at all times, she wasn't looking forward to getting stuck in water and mud.
In the end, all the materials brought back seemed to give Caoimhe more options for building, while also lowering the prices for a lot of what she could build. Instead of being a spendthrift and wasting it on nice things, she decided to focus on the basic and expanding. Thanks to all of Maebh's hard work, she had about thirty one Essence. Enough for a basic skeleton, two small rooms, two hallways, and a chair to get Maebh to stop moaning.
Speaking of the warrior skeleton, she had taken up guard right inside the opening to the dungeon, crouched low, onto her haunches, looking out into the darkness for anything approaching.
Caoimhe spent the Essence, having roughly decided how she wanted things to be arranged. One of the walls of the cave started crumbling into its new shape, her body beginning to stretch to encompass all the new surfaces. As the first new room took shape, she felt a disorientating heave, her awareness re-centering on the second room, her alter seemingly having teleported itself. A bare minute later it happened again as she was forcibly moved to the deepest room. It wasn't exactly uncomfortable, but it was somehow a bit nauseating.
She put down a simple chair in the second room for Maebh, right next to the corridor leading to her main chamber.
"Woo, got a bit worried there when I noticed you disappeared." Said the Skeleton herself, having just turned the corner into her Chamber. "Gods, but it's dark in the other rooms without your little sparks and sparkles, I almost stubbed my toe, we could use some light later... Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, just feeling a little queasy, like I ate too much, I put down a chair for you."
In the light, it almost looked like Maebh grinned at that, however that would be possible for a skeleton. "Thank you, finally, somewhere to rest these weary bones."
"Ugh, if you tell more jokes like that I'll make a burial mound for you."
Maebh grinned at that, going to the second room to sit, she could have a conversation with Caoimhe anywhere, after all, might as well do it in some comfort. "Heh, so, gonna summon up some backup for me?" She asked, before groaning in over-exaggerated relief as she sat on the hard wooden chair. "Not the worst, could use some padding."
Ignoring the stupid chair, she focused more on the backup question. "Mmm! It's actually just what I was about to do. After this I'll be tapped out, so we'll have to wait for morning before we can do anything else. It's a bit of a bother though, I don't feel tired at all."
"Sounds like an opportunity to me, my friends used to call me a grand storyteller, and I'm sure you have plenty of your own to share. We should get to know each other better anyway."
That actually sounded nice, hearing a story from someone other than her Granda might be nice. "Great! I'll start the summoning now."
Calling up a skeleton felt easier here than it ever did in life, even without using bones. Motes of essence coalescing and forming it from seemingly nothing, creating a perfectly average skeleton. The bones were that fresh creamy white colour as opposed to Maebh's bones, more yellowed with age. Soon, the lights faded, Maebh and Caoimhe looking at it, waiting with bated breath for any movement.
The Skeletons eyes suddenly lit up with a blue glow, its posture becoming relaxed and easy.
"Um, go guard the entrance, but stay inside." Caoimhe said after a solid minute of awkward silence. The skeleton nodded softly, before rattling off to the entrance.
"Huh. You should name it later. Feels weird not to. Now, lets start talking, you and I."
-------------------------------
1 Maebh
1 generic skeleton (unnamed)
1 generic skeleton (unnamed)
Essence 0/60
Purifies at rate of 3 a day
Purifies at rate of 3 a day
Chapter three
Waking up as an undead was a lot like waking up after getting absolutely shitfaced drunk. You don't know where you are, important things are missing, your friends are Gods only knows where, and some innocent soul was trying to help things make sense again.
Well, usually not the last one, unless she counted the time a dog tried to pull her out of a ditch, but that was what was happening here at least!
Most people would probably have lost the plot, but for her this was a pretty sweet deal. New boss seemed better than the old boss. She had sidestepped several long standing debts that had been hanging over her all her life, though said sidestep did involve dying. And best of all, her job was satisfying.
Guarding this or that is boring as fuck because things usually go well, and if things are going well nothing is happening. Hunting was a bit better, since everyone loved a full belly. And fighting? Fighting was pure Adrenalin filled fun, as long as you were smart and took it seriously enough to not die. But this? She could go out, poke around a bit, find some shiny crap or pretty flowers, bring them back, and bam! New room, bam! A nice hammock, bam! New minions to help boss around, and she could feel that this was only the beginning. Hells, she had gotten a dog yesterday! Things were looking up.
There was something supremely rewarding about putting in a little effort and actual, big physical things happening. If this is what builders or carpenters felt, she got sold into the wrong line of work, as much as she loved being a warrior.
The last few days were pretty good, though the child was super jumpy, and she had a feeling Caoimhe hadn't really confronted her situation yet. People don't just end up becoming dungeons. Something frightful peculiar happened there, but the child just seemed to ignore it as hard as she could, focusing on growing, or listening to her tell the old legends, like the Salmon of Knowledge, the Red Branch, or the The Táin.
Speaking of Caoimhe,
"Maebh?"
"Yeah?"
"I just got an option here, for something called a boneyard, it keeps spawning skeletons constantly as long as someone is inside, I think it'd be great, but its 200 Essence, and if I'm going to really get everything I can out of it, I'll need a really strong gate blocking the exit. I can't make a strong gate normally though, since we don't have the materials, but I can put a magic one in place as long as I put a rule like 'kill 50 skeletons' on it an-"
"Hold on, hold on!" The problem was, she was a little chatterbox when she got going. "What's the issue? It sounds good?"
"Oh, well, umm... do you mind if we put off buying torches again for a little while?"
She wanted to sigh so bad. "I'm gonna be honest, kind of sick of bumping into gods be damned everything and having to get right next to stuff so my eye lights it up properly. Also that Banshee you have running around scares the shit out of me when it sneaks up on me, but...yeah, that sounds like a good defense measure."
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Yeah yeah, It's your Essence anyway. I better head out then, since you're going to need a hell of a lot of grass for that."
More work, but it was satisfying, useful work. It helped that she got to hunt a bit too, of course, even if she couldn't eat anymore.
Grabbing her favourite helper, she set off again.
----------------------------------
Shame coursed through his veins. The insults he was taunted with echoing through his head, carelessly and cruelly tossed at him from sunup to nightfall
Weakling
Shellstuck
Runt
Palescale
Shame that these were the names he was known by, never receiving a true name of his own.
But it was the anger and determination that drove him forward, the indignity of a fate he couldn't control that sent him deep into the swamp. They called him weak and pathetic, but he and he alone in the entire nest was the only one who sensed it, the flows of essence, the change in the currents. And so for the last three suns he prepared for the Dungeon, new and weak, soft and easy. He'd crack it open, devour its innards, return to his nest and swallow whole all those that didn't submit.
And now, finally, he was nearly at the end of his journey. He could feel it getting closer, the air becoming disgustingly clean, the mist almost sweet with its lack of poison.
Creeping forward now with so much caution, listening intently for any movement, peering into every pool of water and bank of fog for Its servants. Though he had to fight down the shuddering of his blood being up, the manic lust for vindication, this was a labour of love. Not to be rushed, and so he moved patiently. Fingerbreadths passed like this, no hurry, no-one would be looking for him.
Slithering through the water, hiding under mounds of moss, eventually he came to it.
A massive crag of rock bare of soil except around the base, thrusting out of the swamp. He stared at the entrance all through the dark hours, and then further still. The sun fell, rose and fell again and he waited silently, his coils flexing and anxious to crush.
Four skeletons, he noticed, three with eyes in varying shades of blue. These ones were clad in woven grasses and poorly crafted hide, armed with ramshackle spears and shields of wood. The fourth had one eye of purple, clad in the same armour as its fellows but wielding a spear with a bog iron head. That one, the Purple Eye. It was the true danger of this place. He could taste it on the air.
He watched and studied and timed. Every now and again, the purple eyed skeleton would leave, taking one of the blue eyes with it. They would return with grasses, carcasses, objects. Every time they left, it would be for about four fingerbreadths of the sun. Two there and two back. And so he waited, two fingerbreadths, as far away as they would likely be. It was time and his blood sung.
He surged up out of the water, charging ahead.The two skeletons guarding the entrance were on him in a moment, attacking mechanically. No skill, no danger, not to a Naddred. Even one such as he. The first, he tore apart with his bare hands, his venom would be no use against a creature such as this. The second, he wrapped in his coils, crushing it to powder and snapping its pathetic stick.
It roared past their ruined forms and into the dungeon. A floor broke underneath him, some kind of trap but he was long enough that he could cross the gap with barely a moments notice. A plant struck at him but he pulled it from the soil and rock as if it were a flower and tossed it in the pit behind him. There were no torches beyond this tunnel, but he did not need eyes where he was going.
He could hear and taste, smell them on the air. Something moaned and begged in manspeak from all around him, the walls seeming to flex in time with the words. He ignored it, even as a spirit screeched at him, and was silenced with a flick of his tail. On he pressed, into another chamber. This one filled with grasping, dangerous plants, but he was born of the swamp and they were as nothing to him. He picked his way through as casually as he would travel to a sunning stone.
Into the next tunnel, and a swinging blade was released from overhead seeking to cut him in twain. It was the first truly dangerous thing here, slicing slightly into his shoulder. He brought it to a halt and ripped it from its mounting, perfect to crack open the core of this dungeon for daring to harm him.
A door stood in his way, and so he swung the stolen blade at it, again and again until it cracked and splintered and fell apart. The manspeak was pleading and screaming now. Perhaps it was the core. He hoped it was, it would be more delicious that way.
The next room was filled with four skeletons, three normal blue eyed ones, and a hulking, red eyed specimen, shaped as a wolfhound. The three distractions leaped at him, and he swept them from the air, the wolfhound skeleton biting onto his tail, tearing at it, dragging him off balance. The red mist descended over his vision, and he bit back, again and again until his fangs sunk into bone. He coiled around and crushed its snapping, whimpering form, before swallowing it down.
Too much time has been wasted, but he could tell he was close now, so close. Two branching paths from this cavern, but the smell of Essence was so much stronger down the right path. He rushed down the hall. So close, so close, a large, empty room greeted him, followed by a short corridor, and beyond that the core, the flashes of light coming from it almost blinding in comparison to the all encompassing darkness. It was bright enough to cast this room in twilight, instead of complete darkness.
Charging across the space, he suddenly felt uneasy. The floor was sand, but it felt as if there was something beneath it. So close, so close. Just as he was about to reach the corridor to the core, spiked metal bars fell from the ceiling, shutting the way. He smashed the stolen blade against it, chipping it and the bars, until the blade broke on the third strike.
Pathetic! Useless! He ripped at the bars with his own hands, before screeching in shock as something stabbed him in his wounded tail. Whirling around he shattered whatever had dared to attack him before he even laid eyes on it. Another arose, a blue eyed Skeleton. Such a bothersome pest! He smashed it from one side of the room to the other with a flick of his tail, but then another pulled itself from the sand, and another, and another! So close! He smashed at the bars once more, before turning on the chaff, smashing them to splinters in his rage. And then it came, the Purple Eye, saying something hateful in manspeak. It's one eyed gaze baleful. He moved to smash it as he had all the others, but it leaped his attack, swinging it's spear at his eyes.
Darting back, he moved to bite, but this skeleton was as fast as any of his kind, bobbing and weaving, and punishing him with stinging cuts. It was infuriating, every second he spent here, more skeletons dragged themselves out of the sand.
If he stayed, he would be overwhelmed, not by skill, or even their pathetic weapons, but by sheer numbers holding him down until the purple eye could land a telling blow.
This fight was over, and he screamed at that, trashing and laying waste to the skeletons and walls near him. But his rage could not overcome this..
He fled, but this wouldn't be the end of things. Not for him.
-------------------------------
Scared, she was so scared. It was coming for her. Coming to destroy her or enslave her or capture her, it destroyed everything in its way. Killed all her summons like they were nothing, ignored her traps. She was useless, begging for mercy but it just seemed excited! She was going to die here, in this pit, without knowing why. Why was this happening to her! Why was she here! "Granda! Please!"
But of course, he didn't answer. He was gone without a trace ever since she woke up, maybe dead. The serpent got into her boneyard and the gate slammed down, but it would only last a while. She closed her eyes and prayed.
'Please. If I die here, let me go somewhere I don't have to hide and be afraid anymore.'
She could feel it smashing her skeletons, an invisible counter decreasing with every shattered minion. Only a few more, and it would be through.
"You killed my new dog, you serpent bastard." Maebh, no, why did you come back!
"Run away! You don't need my Essence to live!"
Maebh ignored her, and Caoimhe stopped looking. She couldn't bare to see Maebh die. A minute of crashing, screams and roars, then a second and with a roar of rage it was over. It was over and yet still she cowered in fear, whimpering. Unwilling to move or look, even as she felt Maebh climb the steps and lay her bony hands on the core. "Hey. Hey. It's gone now, it's okay."
She wanted to cry so desperately, but she couldn't. An orb of rock can't cry. Everything she had been bottling up, ignoring, putting off, it all came out as one solid torrent of emotions that led to breathless, wracking wails.
Time passed and eventually, she had screamed herself out. Maebh was still there, hands on her core, silent and waiting.
"I don't... I don't understand anything that's happening." Caoimhe finally whispered.
"Mmm, I'm in the same boat. Not a single clue."
"...Aren't you afraid?"
"Yep, and thank the gods for that. Being afraid means I'm still alive, technically, and that I still have a brain in my head. Though that one's only technically as well. But forget about me for a second. What about you."
"I... I dunno. I just wanna see my Granda again. I want to know why I'm here like this. I want to not be afraid. For once in my life, I don't want to be afraid."
Maebh hummed in acknowledgement. "Those are some pretty big goals. It'll take a lot of work. Smarts, cunning and courage in spades. That snake was a big threat to us, but he's small potatoes to some of the things out there."
Caoimhe went silent at that, thinking, almost feeling like screaming her sorrow again. "You can run away, I... I won't hate you."
"Nah. That'd be stupid. There's something special happening here. I was already dead, and It didn't seem so bad to me so I'm not afraid. I'd much rather do something interesting with my second go around, and helping you seems as good a thing as any."
"But what if it comes back?" Caoimhe asked, her fear and hope clashing against each other. She realized she didn't want to be alone.
"Well, we'll obviously have to rebuild. Let's do a better job this time. Okay?"
"Okay."
---------------------------------
Well, usually not the last one, unless she counted the time a dog tried to pull her out of a ditch, but that was what was happening here at least!
Most people would probably have lost the plot, but for her this was a pretty sweet deal. New boss seemed better than the old boss. She had sidestepped several long standing debts that had been hanging over her all her life, though said sidestep did involve dying. And best of all, her job was satisfying.
Guarding this or that is boring as fuck because things usually go well, and if things are going well nothing is happening. Hunting was a bit better, since everyone loved a full belly. And fighting? Fighting was pure Adrenalin filled fun, as long as you were smart and took it seriously enough to not die. But this? She could go out, poke around a bit, find some shiny crap or pretty flowers, bring them back, and bam! New room, bam! A nice hammock, bam! New minions to help boss around, and she could feel that this was only the beginning. Hells, she had gotten a dog yesterday! Things were looking up.
There was something supremely rewarding about putting in a little effort and actual, big physical things happening. If this is what builders or carpenters felt, she got sold into the wrong line of work, as much as she loved being a warrior.
The last few days were pretty good, though the child was super jumpy, and she had a feeling Caoimhe hadn't really confronted her situation yet. People don't just end up becoming dungeons. Something frightful peculiar happened there, but the child just seemed to ignore it as hard as she could, focusing on growing, or listening to her tell the old legends, like the Salmon of Knowledge, the Red Branch, or the The Táin.
Speaking of Caoimhe,
"Maebh?"
"Yeah?"
"I just got an option here, for something called a boneyard, it keeps spawning skeletons constantly as long as someone is inside, I think it'd be great, but its 200 Essence, and if I'm going to really get everything I can out of it, I'll need a really strong gate blocking the exit. I can't make a strong gate normally though, since we don't have the materials, but I can put a magic one in place as long as I put a rule like 'kill 50 skeletons' on it an-"
"Hold on, hold on!" The problem was, she was a little chatterbox when she got going. "What's the issue? It sounds good?"
"Oh, well, umm... do you mind if we put off buying torches again for a little while?"
She wanted to sigh so bad. "I'm gonna be honest, kind of sick of bumping into gods be damned everything and having to get right next to stuff so my eye lights it up properly. Also that Banshee you have running around scares the shit out of me when it sneaks up on me, but...yeah, that sounds like a good defense measure."
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Yeah yeah, It's your Essence anyway. I better head out then, since you're going to need a hell of a lot of grass for that."
More work, but it was satisfying, useful work. It helped that she got to hunt a bit too, of course, even if she couldn't eat anymore.
Grabbing her favourite helper, she set off again.
----------------------------------
Shame coursed through his veins. The insults he was taunted with echoing through his head, carelessly and cruelly tossed at him from sunup to nightfall
Weakling
Shellstuck
Runt
Palescale
Shame that these were the names he was known by, never receiving a true name of his own.
But it was the anger and determination that drove him forward, the indignity of a fate he couldn't control that sent him deep into the swamp. They called him weak and pathetic, but he and he alone in the entire nest was the only one who sensed it, the flows of essence, the change in the currents. And so for the last three suns he prepared for the Dungeon, new and weak, soft and easy. He'd crack it open, devour its innards, return to his nest and swallow whole all those that didn't submit.
And now, finally, he was nearly at the end of his journey. He could feel it getting closer, the air becoming disgustingly clean, the mist almost sweet with its lack of poison.
Creeping forward now with so much caution, listening intently for any movement, peering into every pool of water and bank of fog for Its servants. Though he had to fight down the shuddering of his blood being up, the manic lust for vindication, this was a labour of love. Not to be rushed, and so he moved patiently. Fingerbreadths passed like this, no hurry, no-one would be looking for him.
Slithering through the water, hiding under mounds of moss, eventually he came to it.
A massive crag of rock bare of soil except around the base, thrusting out of the swamp. He stared at the entrance all through the dark hours, and then further still. The sun fell, rose and fell again and he waited silently, his coils flexing and anxious to crush.
Four skeletons, he noticed, three with eyes in varying shades of blue. These ones were clad in woven grasses and poorly crafted hide, armed with ramshackle spears and shields of wood. The fourth had one eye of purple, clad in the same armour as its fellows but wielding a spear with a bog iron head. That one, the Purple Eye. It was the true danger of this place. He could taste it on the air.
He watched and studied and timed. Every now and again, the purple eyed skeleton would leave, taking one of the blue eyes with it. They would return with grasses, carcasses, objects. Every time they left, it would be for about four fingerbreadths of the sun. Two there and two back. And so he waited, two fingerbreadths, as far away as they would likely be. It was time and his blood sung.
He surged up out of the water, charging ahead.The two skeletons guarding the entrance were on him in a moment, attacking mechanically. No skill, no danger, not to a Naddred. Even one such as he. The first, he tore apart with his bare hands, his venom would be no use against a creature such as this. The second, he wrapped in his coils, crushing it to powder and snapping its pathetic stick.
It roared past their ruined forms and into the dungeon. A floor broke underneath him, some kind of trap but he was long enough that he could cross the gap with barely a moments notice. A plant struck at him but he pulled it from the soil and rock as if it were a flower and tossed it in the pit behind him. There were no torches beyond this tunnel, but he did not need eyes where he was going.
He could hear and taste, smell them on the air. Something moaned and begged in manspeak from all around him, the walls seeming to flex in time with the words. He ignored it, even as a spirit screeched at him, and was silenced with a flick of his tail. On he pressed, into another chamber. This one filled with grasping, dangerous plants, but he was born of the swamp and they were as nothing to him. He picked his way through as casually as he would travel to a sunning stone.
Into the next tunnel, and a swinging blade was released from overhead seeking to cut him in twain. It was the first truly dangerous thing here, slicing slightly into his shoulder. He brought it to a halt and ripped it from its mounting, perfect to crack open the core of this dungeon for daring to harm him.
A door stood in his way, and so he swung the stolen blade at it, again and again until it cracked and splintered and fell apart. The manspeak was pleading and screaming now. Perhaps it was the core. He hoped it was, it would be more delicious that way.
The next room was filled with four skeletons, three normal blue eyed ones, and a hulking, red eyed specimen, shaped as a wolfhound. The three distractions leaped at him, and he swept them from the air, the wolfhound skeleton biting onto his tail, tearing at it, dragging him off balance. The red mist descended over his vision, and he bit back, again and again until his fangs sunk into bone. He coiled around and crushed its snapping, whimpering form, before swallowing it down.
Too much time has been wasted, but he could tell he was close now, so close. Two branching paths from this cavern, but the smell of Essence was so much stronger down the right path. He rushed down the hall. So close, so close, a large, empty room greeted him, followed by a short corridor, and beyond that the core, the flashes of light coming from it almost blinding in comparison to the all encompassing darkness. It was bright enough to cast this room in twilight, instead of complete darkness.
Charging across the space, he suddenly felt uneasy. The floor was sand, but it felt as if there was something beneath it. So close, so close. Just as he was about to reach the corridor to the core, spiked metal bars fell from the ceiling, shutting the way. He smashed the stolen blade against it, chipping it and the bars, until the blade broke on the third strike.
Pathetic! Useless! He ripped at the bars with his own hands, before screeching in shock as something stabbed him in his wounded tail. Whirling around he shattered whatever had dared to attack him before he even laid eyes on it. Another arose, a blue eyed Skeleton. Such a bothersome pest! He smashed it from one side of the room to the other with a flick of his tail, but then another pulled itself from the sand, and another, and another! So close! He smashed at the bars once more, before turning on the chaff, smashing them to splinters in his rage. And then it came, the Purple Eye, saying something hateful in manspeak. It's one eyed gaze baleful. He moved to smash it as he had all the others, but it leaped his attack, swinging it's spear at his eyes.
Darting back, he moved to bite, but this skeleton was as fast as any of his kind, bobbing and weaving, and punishing him with stinging cuts. It was infuriating, every second he spent here, more skeletons dragged themselves out of the sand.
If he stayed, he would be overwhelmed, not by skill, or even their pathetic weapons, but by sheer numbers holding him down until the purple eye could land a telling blow.
This fight was over, and he screamed at that, trashing and laying waste to the skeletons and walls near him. But his rage could not overcome this..
He fled, but this wouldn't be the end of things. Not for him.
-------------------------------
Scared, she was so scared. It was coming for her. Coming to destroy her or enslave her or capture her, it destroyed everything in its way. Killed all her summons like they were nothing, ignored her traps. She was useless, begging for mercy but it just seemed excited! She was going to die here, in this pit, without knowing why. Why was this happening to her! Why was she here! "Granda! Please!"
But of course, he didn't answer. He was gone without a trace ever since she woke up, maybe dead. The serpent got into her boneyard and the gate slammed down, but it would only last a while. She closed her eyes and prayed.
'Please. If I die here, let me go somewhere I don't have to hide and be afraid anymore.'
She could feel it smashing her skeletons, an invisible counter decreasing with every shattered minion. Only a few more, and it would be through.
"You killed my new dog, you serpent bastard." Maebh, no, why did you come back!
"Run away! You don't need my Essence to live!"
Maebh ignored her, and Caoimhe stopped looking. She couldn't bare to see Maebh die. A minute of crashing, screams and roars, then a second and with a roar of rage it was over. It was over and yet still she cowered in fear, whimpering. Unwilling to move or look, even as she felt Maebh climb the steps and lay her bony hands on the core. "Hey. Hey. It's gone now, it's okay."
She wanted to cry so desperately, but she couldn't. An orb of rock can't cry. Everything she had been bottling up, ignoring, putting off, it all came out as one solid torrent of emotions that led to breathless, wracking wails.
Time passed and eventually, she had screamed herself out. Maebh was still there, hands on her core, silent and waiting.
"I don't... I don't understand anything that's happening." Caoimhe finally whispered.
"Mmm, I'm in the same boat. Not a single clue."
"...Aren't you afraid?"
"Yep, and thank the gods for that. Being afraid means I'm still alive, technically, and that I still have a brain in my head. Though that one's only technically as well. But forget about me for a second. What about you."
"I... I dunno. I just wanna see my Granda again. I want to know why I'm here like this. I want to not be afraid. For once in my life, I don't want to be afraid."
Maebh hummed in acknowledgement. "Those are some pretty big goals. It'll take a lot of work. Smarts, cunning and courage in spades. That snake was a big threat to us, but he's small potatoes to some of the things out there."
Caoimhe went silent at that, thinking, almost feeling like screaming her sorrow again. "You can run away, I... I won't hate you."
"Nah. That'd be stupid. There's something special happening here. I was already dead, and It didn't seem so bad to me so I'm not afraid. I'd much rather do something interesting with my second go around, and helping you seems as good a thing as any."
"But what if it comes back?" Caoimhe asked, her fear and hope clashing against each other. She realized she didn't want to be alone.
"Well, we'll obviously have to rebuild. Let's do a better job this time. Okay?"
"Okay."
---------------------------------
