Dungeon Robotics 135

Hi Guys and Gals! My daughter and I recently had two kittens show up on our porch so we've decided to take them in. I was wondering if you guys would throw me some good names that I could let my daughter choose. One is white with gray spots, while the other is white with orange, black, and gray spots. 

Louella

Silence reigned as we all processed what Nero had just said. Thanks to Regan, I knew he was a celestial, but that raised the question of how he came to be outside of Celestia. Celestials weren’t supposed to be able to enter this plane of existence easily. The church of Lelune explained that this was why her followers in Celestia couldn’t help out in times of great misery. 

“That is an interesting and not to mention tall order. I have been wanting to visit Celestia for a while now myself,” Regan said with a nod. “Very well. Let’s make this happen soon. Do you have a time limit?”

“Within a hundred years,” Nero replied his frown growing even deeper.

“Ah, I think I know who your target is. I must say that woman has some issues,” Regan said with a chuckle.

“How are you going to get to Celestia? Surely you’re not already about to reach tier five?” I asked wondering what all I had missed in my time down in the Beneath. I knew he had reached tier four, but I wasn’t surprised by that. I thought he’d actually been a bit slow to go from three to four given his nature of breaking the natural order of things.

“No. But, just like any place that exists, there is more than one way to get there. Plus, given that our friend is here with us like this. I have a feeling that Celestia is more of an illusion. A fancy prison to keep beings that have more power than they should locked up.”

“My father used to say that. That Celestia was a prison. I never really understood what he meant.”

“How did you reach Celestia?” I asked curiously. You had to have a large following of worshippers or at least inherit one when the person ascends to tier five. I couldn’t imagine Nero being able to manage all that.

“Ah, I’m unique!” he replied pointing at himself with a large grin. “When most children are born they start at the same starting point. That is almost always the case unless your parents are ridiculously strong and some of their cultivation carries over to you in the womb.”

“Right.” I remember my father telling me that I was slightly above average when I was born. I was still well in tier one, but that always made me feel better. Maybe my mother had something to do with it.

“My parents were supremo strong, like end the world strong. Thus, I was born at tier four and inside Celestia.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Yuno said with a hand on his face. I gave him a look and he shrugged. “I mean can you see this man calmly cultivating for years to reach the level of strength he has?”

I glanced at Nero then back at Yuno. “I guess you have a point.”

“While I don’t typically mind people talking about me. They usually have the courtesy to wait until I’m not in the room,” Nero said with a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest. I had to be careful not to laugh considering he was quite handsome, so it only made it worse. To add another nail, the sun spirits copied him and started to huff as well.

“All in good feeling,” I replied waving him off. “To make it up to you I’ll even go to two dinners.”

“Deal!” Nero shouted before I could say I was just kidding. I smiled and just let it go.

“This is all very fun and should be a tv show. We have other things to worry about. If you guys are all settled and ready. I would like to talk to the leaders of the party you came in with,” Regan stated moving out of the room.

I turned back to Nero. “Nero, would you mind coming along? I think having you there might make everything a bit smoother since you talked to them before and they seemed to respect what you told them.” 

“Of course,” he answered with a bow.

We moved out into the hall where Regan was walking towards another set of doors. Two guards, one a high human the other a Dark Elf stood outside. They appeared quite nervous being in a strange environment and to be honest, this was one of the nicest places I had ever seen. That was with a castle built by Regan. He really outdid himself with this place.

“Evening gentlemen! We were hoping the Lords would be up for some talks,” Regan said holding his hands out nonthreateningly.

“Nero. Who are these individuals?” one of the guards asked looking at Regan and Alara. When he turned his gaze on me, I was surprised. I didn’t think my appearance had changed all that much. The sun spirits buzzed around me like they had unlimited energy.

“You are in the presence of Lord Regan, locals call him the Machine Father. Otherwise known as the dungeon core. The woman latched onto him is another dungeon core though I have not been privileged to hear her name. Lastly, you have Queen Louella, returned to full facilities.” I just shook my head at the introduction. Nero had managed to make it all sound sarcastic. 

The guards did look skeptical, but the High human nodded. “Very well. I will inform the Lords. One moment.”

Once he left, Regan gave the Dark Elf a once over. “Tell me. Do you know how the dark elf race came into being?”

“Excuse me?”

“No, well. Your aura is very similar to another person I know.”

“I’m sorry. The dark elf creation is a well-known tale. One day, two elven brothers came to a cave. One wanted to stay in the light, the other wanted to explore the dark cave. The separated and have since been of two different clans since shortly after the elven race came into being.”

That was the story told by the elves on the surface as well. There wasn’t much anger between the two races. They generally just left the other alone. Though, I do know that some surface elves are jealous that since entering the Beneath their brethren have much higher mana. Though, that was only the case for elves in positions of power usually.

“I see. Thank you for sharing,” Regan said.

A moment later, the door opened, and the guard motioned for us to join him. We made our way into what appeared to be another hallway that had several rooms attached. It appeared to be a suite for visiting dignitaries and their retainers. I knew some lords in Lecazar would travel with several nobles and housing them was always a headache for the lords they visited.

At the end of the call was a set of double doors. Another pair of guards stood on either side, but the doors were open and we were shown in. The two lords sat at a table that was set for a feast. If you went by their actions, you’d think they’d never had anything so delicious. Knowing the abilities of Regan’s people, that was most certainly the case.

We took a seat on the opposite side of the large oval table. A door that had a guard next to it opened and an automaton came out before making its way over to us. I could barely tell it was an automaton at first, but some lines on the face that I felt were intentionally gave it away. Otherwise, it was a perfect looking maid. 

“Would you like anything to eat or drink?”

“Just some juice and maybe some fruit,” I replied while Regan and Alara just waved her off. Nero as for some ridiculous order that took a full minute for him to get out all the way. “Do you really need all that?”

“I haven’t had a good meal in weeks. I will take advantage of this while I can,” he replied sticking his nose in the air, obviously doing his best to make it seem like he was entitled. I just laughed at the hilarious action.

Turning from Nero to the Lords, I stood up. “Lord Ferinight, Lord Ondre. I want to thank you for helping me reach my destination. Your help allowed us to reach this place much easier than had we been forced to travel the Beneath on our own.” I stepped back and bowed to show I really meant what I said. I might still be in a dark tunnel questioning everything that was going on around me if we hadn’t run into their group.

“We are happy to see that you are well,” Lord Ferinight said then turned to Regan and I retook my seat. “And lord host. This place is a wonder. Is it really true that we can trade for food grown on his floor and other above, or even things from the surface?”

Regan nodded. “Indeed. As you can tell, I want this place to be a center of trade and talks for not only the Beneath but also for the surface races. I feel this system put in by someone is working to keep everyone apart. While it has worked for a long time, I feel there is an approaching danger that we won’t be able to handle if we’re all divided.”

“I see. Any idea what this danger might be?” Lord Ondre asked. I wasn’t sure but something in his voice told me that he knew more than he was letting on. Though I could just be growing paranoid thanks to my visit with Quin and the talks with Nero a few minutes ago.

“Deorus.”

“You must be joking. Its been almost two thousand years since the Demon wars. We barely managed to break their hold on our planet the first time!” Lord Ondre said shaking his head in denial.

Regan laughed and leaned forward lacing his fingers together. “There is a saying from where I come from. If at first you don’t succeed, try again.” 

“A good saying. One that some people I know would do well to think about going forward,” Lord Ferinight said with a chuckle. “That said, I am inclined to agree with Lord Ondre. While our records of that time aren’t in the best of shape, we still know that while it took everything we had to defeat the demons and force close their portals. They were left with nothing that could help them return. That sort of travel takes mana on the scale of a planet after all.”

“I am sure that is the case as well, but as I’ve repeated over the past few days. A society capable of doing something like this is capable of coming up with another method of such travel,” Regan said rubbing his temple and Alara patted his other hand. She likely had been with every time he’d explained it so far. 

The two lords looked at each other sharing a look. “This is all more of conjecture at the moment. We have very little authority to form an alliance, which is what we assume you are aiming to do. Not to mention, that while threats from another realm are certainly a problem. We have problems down here.”

Regan looked to me with a raised eyebrow. I nodded in reply. “He’s right. The High dwarves attacked us on the way here, and then, of course, there is Glorious that tried to change my body.”

“He didn’t do anything did he?” Regan asked.

I blushed at the implied direction of his question but shook my head. “No. He was busy trying to reach his master. I think he planned to use me more as a conduit for more power.”

Regan nodded then turned back to the lords. “We will see what is happening with the Beneath. While I don’t want to get involved with the High Dwarves, Glorious is a home-grown problem. We will handle him.”

“He is set up several hundred kilometers above the Seal. Even if fire in the undead’s weakness, he will have trouble getting to the Seal quickly.”

“Best not to dilly-dally then,” Regan said.