Dungeon Robotics 111

Morning Guys! I had to close last night, I don't know what they're going to do with out me, but didn't get a chance to set an upload. This is the first chance I got to touch my laptop this morning. Anyways, enjoy!

Helicilia

This is a nightmare. Those accursed metal creatures had cut the undead scar in half. I had made it through the pass before they managed to do so. Now I was sitting in the capital unable to do a thing about the situation. It was like the world was rejecting us. To make matters worse, none of the masters were able to call on Cassin anymore.

While I glared at my desk wondering what we needed to do to turn this around the door burst open. I raised my glare at the person who was about to die for their foolishness. Jin and Fin stood on either side of the double door breathing heavily, a state I’d never seen them exhibit.

“What is the meaning of this!?”

“Mistress! The dungeon!” Before Fin was able to finish his sentence, a blade burst from his chest. Jin screamed and ran inside. The blade pulled free and Fin’s dead body dropped to the ground. Only to rise to its feet a second later, the green flames of undeath emitting from his eyes.

I activated a barrier that was built into an old dungeon core. It flashed around the room before any of the undead could get in the room. That didn’t stop them from starting to beat it with their weapons. “Jin! What is going on!?” I shouted.

Jin collapsed to the ground with her head in her hands. “The dungeon! He’s gone mad! Tzulxuc already slaughtered all the lesser necromancers. We had no choice but to flee here.”

“Tzulxuc! I know you can hear me! What is the meaning of this!?” I shouted into the air around me.

There was silence for a few heartbeats then a dark laughed sounded all around us. “You and your associates have outlived your usefulness. Fool, I have been nothing more than a pawn in a higher powers game. I’ll show everyone that you do not treat Tzulxuc as a tool!”

A pressure suddenly appeared around the barrier much like a hand threatening to break an egg. I figured we had less than a minute before the lich was able to force his way through. I dropped in my chair. It was ironic that I would be killed by the undead. Fin just started to sob. She would be no help.

Help? I gulped as I thought about the one way, I might be able to survive this. “Tzulxuc! I don’t want to die. Thus, I would like to bind myself to the dungeon!”

The pressure around the barrier dropped considerably. I held my breath as I waited for his decision. “That is an interesting idea. Yes! I will make you my pawn! You will know the feeling I have suffered.” I ground my teeth to keep from retorting. I knew exactly how he felt. Cassin had been using all the necromancers as pawns.

I put on a smile knowing he could see me. “Yes. Teach me.”

“Then as a matter of good faith lower your barrier and I’ll do as you want.”

I hesitated, but the pressure started to increase again letting me know that he would get through it one way or another. I waved my hand over the sigil and the barrier vanished. The undead at the door rushed in and aimed their weapons at me but made no other movement. 

“There! Your turn to uphold our bargain.”

“As you wish!” Orbs of mana formed around me. I could feel such dense dark and unholy mana coming from the that I worried about whether my body could take it. “Put some blood in the orb and you’ll bind yourself to the dungeon.”

Taking a letter opener off my desk, I did as instructed. The green ball of unholy mana floating in front of me flashed red before the dozen other orbs all flew into my body with incredibly searing pain. I couldn’t hold back the scream that tore from my body. My body started to violently change.

It must have lasted nearly ten minutes before I felt that pain start to subside. That’s when I heard something. A small laugh. Painfully, I managed to turn my head to see Jin standing over the barrier stone. Suddenly, she started to laugh insanely.

“Fool? You’re all fools! Time for me to get my revenge!” Jin’s body burst in a spray of gore covering every inch of the room in flesh and blood. A woman made from what appeared to be shadows stood in her place. The mana in the room reached a new peak as she dove into the dungeon core crystal. 

“NO!” Tzulxuc shouted before the world turned sideways, as the room I was in was torn to shreds by the massive amount of mana that was released. Still unable to move, I was pulled into the ball of shadows that was rippling out from the core. My head collided with something and the world went black. 

~~~

I groaned as the world came back to me. I wasn’t sure how long I was out, but that wasn’t the first thing on my mind. I could feel that my soul was bound to someone, but it wasn’t who I expected it to be. I looked up and saw the woman made from shadows. After looking at her close to a minute, I realized it was the Specter Queen that commanded the Specter army. I’d gotten a report she’d been defeated, but considering it had come from Jin, that was suspect now.

“Good you’re awake!” I felt something grip my body as I as started to float. Shadows rippling off her like cloth, she sat on a grand throne as Specters moved around her. “I wasn’t about to let the old bastard have you. No. You’re going to serve me for the rest of your duration on this miserable plane!”

“Why?” I asked barely able to get the single word out from the pain I was feeling.

“Why!? Because the monsters you, that crusty lich, and the piece of shit celestial Cassin created tore my village to pieces then forced me to serve you along with the souls of my family for six decades! You have to pay for the wrongdoings of your forebears as you’ve done a wonderful job upholding the family business.”

I tried to struggle to free myself, but only after a moment did I feel a ball of heat deep in my chest. “What did… you do to me?” I asked with a gasp.

“You don’t suffer damnation without learning a few tricks. There is a ball of my shadows inside your heart. If I die, or you attempt to betray me, well,” she said then made a bursting motion with her hands.

I just starred at her for a minute than dropped my head. It looked like no matter what I would never truly be in power. Cassin, then Tzulxuc, now this person. I would always be doomed to suffer like this.

I looked back at her. “Very well. I can see that my fate is sealed. I will serve you.”

“Good.” The pressure holding me vanished and I fell to the ground. I pushed up from the ground and got to my feet. Now that I was adjusting to the body and wasn’t worried about getting crushed, I could feel the immense power filling me. If I had known this was the reward for binding myself, I might have done it a long time ago.

“What is the plan now, mistress?”

“Survive,” she replied. A second later the room we were in shook. “Tzulxuc didn’t take too kindly to me ripping half of his aura from him. We’ll need to kill him.”

“Kill him?! He’s a tier four dungeon core with over two hundred years of experience. How the fuck do you plan to do that?!” I yelled only to drop to the ground as pain flared in my chest. 

“Don’t worry. We’re about to get some help.”

“Help?”