Dungeon Deposed Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chp.1

  Chp.2

  Chp.3

  Chp.4

  Chp.5

  Chp.6

  Chp.7

  Chp.8

  Chp.9

  Chp.10

  Chp.11

  Chp.12

  Chp.13

  Chp.14

  Chp.15

  Chp.16

  Chp.17

  Chp.18

  Chp.19

  Chp.20

  Chp.21

  Chp.22

  Chp.23

  Chp.24

  Chp.25

  Chp.26

  Chp.27

  Chp.28

  Chp.29

  Chp.30

  Chp.31

  Chp.32

  Chp.33

  Chp.34

  Chp.35

  Epilogue

  Authors Note

  Dungeon Deposed

  By William D. Arand

  Copyright © 2018 William D. Arand

  Cover design © 2018 William D. Arand

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means - except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews - without written permission from its publisher.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Copyright © 2018 William D. Arand

  All rights reserved.

  Dedicated:

  To my wife, Kristin, who encouraged me in all things.

  To my son, Harrison, who now lets me type, but only when he doesn’t demand I sit and watch TV with him.

  To my family, who always told me I could write a book if I sat down and tried. I’ve now written five.

  Special Thanks to:

  Niusha Gutierrez

  Caleb Shortcliffe

  Michael Haglund

  Eric Leaf

  Thanks to my Beta Readers:

  Kyle Smith

  Lucas Dillehay

  Robert Hammack

  Alexander Hodge

  Zach Johnson

  Ryno Neethling

  Dylan Cagnard

  Chris Chan

  I appreciate you reading through an unedited nightmare

  Chapter 1 - The Plan -

  Thoughts sprang from the void. They filled the crystal with consciousness.

  “Where… where am I? What’s going on?” said the crystal. “I was just—”

  The voice was cut off as Ryker cut the soul free of the crystal it was housed in. It floated off immediately and vanished, heading towards wherever it was spirits went.

  “Finally. Sorry about that, friend. Let’s both hope your next incarnation goes better,” he said with a smirk. Rolling the dungeon core around in his hand, he could still feel the life there. “Well, if not better, maybe at least last longer than it takes me to eat breakfast.”

  Setting the core down on the table, Ryker lifted the heel of bread to his mouth and ripped a strip of it off.

  That takes care of that. A working dungeon core I can use. Now we need to figure out how to get the core to do what I want.

  Test out the control spells.

  See if things go according to plan. Or if we wasted years of our life.

  Chewing methodically, he stared into the highly polished crystal.

  His own dark brown eyes stared back at him. They were almost bottomless they were so dark. Wild straight black hair stuck out in every direction on his head, completely tousled from a night of hard sleeping.

  As for the core he was using as a mirror right now. He’d managed to find it on one of the very few dungeon dives he’d been on. It’d been a simple stroke of luck to have found it, without anyone else noticing either.

  A side tunnel he’d been thrown into from an explosive spell blast had been its resting place.

  He’d taken it for a simple beast core at the time since they were so similar in appearance. Most spirit cores did look alike, looking like a simple crystal growth but inlaid with veins of magic and the essence of what was a soul.

  Scooping it into his bag, he’d returned to the fight.

  Since then he’d figured out what it was. Not at first though. It’d taken a bit of study.

  The giveaway in the end had been stumbling across a description of a dungeon core in a Dungeon Encyclopedia that had a drawing.

  That happened to match the core he’d found that lacked a soul.

  Since then, he’d been waiting around for a soul to inhabit it, so he could promptly cut it free. The book had described how these cores drew souls in eventually if given enough time.

  He wanted the soul gone, but to keep the life force within the core. Night and day he kept it with him.

  Waiting.

  Watching.

  His plan had been rather straightforward. To use it for his own needs.

  If he could take control of the core, he could grow his own herbs and live rather well for himself of selling the items.

  Or that was how it had started out. His original plan. A fallback for how to make money if he was maimed or permanently injured.

  Before he’d been dismissed from the guild.

  Before they’d cast him out in front of the town.

  Certainly a different plan now. Very different plan.

  Thinking back, that plan had changed the night he’d been kicked out. Kicked out and forced to figure out a life that had nothing to do with his training and where he’d spent the last seven years of his life.

  It turned out adventuring wasn’t the life for him. Not by choice, either.

  Ryker didn’t have the magical stamina to stand toe to toe with the monsters that dwelt in the dark for long.

  Mental fortitude? Check.

  Physical endurance? Check.

  Willingness to brave the depths? Check.

  Being able to cast more than a few spells before getting tired in a combat situation? Nope.

  Ryker shook his head at the memory of being carried out by the Paladin of his party. She’d scooped him up after he collapsed, carried him out, dropped him off at the entrance, and gone back in.

  “Embarrassing,” he mumbled to no one, his mouth full of food. It was still a painfully shameful memory.

  But not an angry one.

  Shaking his head to clear it of those thoughts, and that memory, he stood up.

  Dropping the bread to the table he decided there was no time like the present to get started. Especially since he’d lost his appetite.

  He picked up the core and made his way into his basement of his farmhouse.

  The home he’d built for himself was on the far edge of Warrenton. Just outside its territory boundary. Almost an entire day’s walk at a normal pace.

  On top of his house being in the uninhabited wilds, it was built atop an expansive yet low hill. He’d picked it deliberately for those qualities. In purchasing the vast tracts of land, he had also purchased the entirety of the hill.

  This would be perfect for a dungeon to be in.

  An ideal location that he owned lock, stock, and barrel.

  Right now it was all farmland and empty fields. Farmland he’d been painstakingly working so that it appeared as if nothing were out of the ordinary.

  As if he really was adjusting to a life that he hadn’t expected or wanted.

  Or so he wanted everyone else to think.

  Not that he had done badly at it either.

  Damn impressive crop if I don’t say so myself. Given how little I had to work with. How little I knew.

  Smirking to himself he stood in the mi
ddle of his cellar.

  “And now, you lot of simpletons and peasants. You gaggle of dullards. I’ll build up a dungeon and become rich. Filthy rich. Then I’ll drown your city in my wealth. You and everyone in Warrenton. I’ll take my revenge on you for your ridicule. I’ll buy up the city, own you all, and take everything.”

  The memory of the entire population of Warrenton laughing at him popped into his mind again. Chasing him out of the city with jeers and laughter.

  The rotten muck and filth they threw at him as he went running with his tail between his legs and carrying all his possessions.

  They’d forced him to run, really.

  They were even right to have pushed him out of the guild. There wasn’t really a way for him to have continued in his chosen profession without being a hindrance.

  That of course hadn’t stopped a large part of the guild members from mocking him. Calling him a one-pump chump.

  A group of people he’d never forget that incited a mob to hound him as if he were a criminal, right out of the city.

  Gritting his teeth Ryker calmed himself down as best he could. That’d been several years ago now. People had long forgotten that and gone about their lives.

  Ryker the farmer was all that they knew now.

  The promising wizard with great control, who came from a family of wizards with solid talent and financial backing to show for it, was long gone.

  He stared at the core in his left hand for several seconds.

  Then he focused his magic into the dungeon crystal. After a single breath of laying the magical foundations he’d formulated, Ryker started to call up a number of different spells.

  They were all built out of mana channels. Intricate tiny things that when built into a pattern that replicated itself would expand over an area. Hair-like threads that would enter, control, and dictate the flow of magic in anything they were in.

  All he had to do was cover the core. He had more than enough power to do that.

  He’d been crafting these spells to fit and cover just the core. They had to be mana efficient.

  Many a long night had been spent refining these spells, mostly due to his lack of power, and the amount of control it would take to do it.

  He’d tested them using spirit cores from low grade monsters. He’d been able to feel the spirit inside and control it to a degree.

  For all intents and purposes, at least as far as he could tell, a dungeon core was a variation on a spirit core.

  “What are you doing?!” screeched a high-pitched voice.

  Rusty reflexes trained in hours of practice sprang from the deep parts of Ryker’s mind. His left hand shot up and a shield of solidified air flickered to life in front of him. At the same time his right hand called up a fireball.

  A dark winged fairy hovered in midair in the corner of the room. Long black hair hung down covering her shoulders. Much like the rest of her race, she was pretty, with eyes that glowed faintly.

  She was the very picture of a Fairy, though significantly larger. She was easily two feet in height when the vast majority of her kind barely reached one foot.

  One could never underestimate a fairy though. They were ferocious when they chose to be.

  Ryker would actually know since he’d killed a few in his time.

  He began to channel the fireball towards activation, bringing his right hand around.

  “Wait! Stop!” yelled the Fairy. She dropped down to the floor and prostrated herself. “Please!”

  For a reason he couldn’t define, Ryker actually stopped. The fireball was a single flick of his fingers away from being cast.

  Keeping the shield in place, he stared down at the Fairy.

  “You’ve got about three sentences to explain, then I eat you for lunch after I barbecue you,” Ryker promised.

  “I’m-I’m a dungeon Fairy! I’m here to help that dungeon in your hand,” squeaked out the creature.

  “Pity for you then, the dungeon won’t be needing help. I’ve cut its soul free. It’s a husk and little more. You have one sentence left.”

  The Fairy trembled and lifted her head up to peer at him.

  She was like every other Fairy he’d seen. Pretty and alien at the same time. Green eyes, sharp teeth, and delicate facial features.

  “If you control the dungeon, I would bind myself to you and the dungeon core to help you. I can do so much to help you!” promised the Fairy.

  “That was one sentence too many,” Ryker said, getting ready to roast her.

  And stopped

  Dungeon Fairies would normally take days to arrive. The only way for a Fairy to arrive this quickly was if she was actively scanning for a dungeon. Waiting for one, even.

  Considering how rarely a new dungeon came into being, that said quite a bit about her determination.

  “I have a question for you, actually. How did you get here so quickly? And why?”

  The Fairy stared at him, and then blinked. It seemed like she’d made some internal decision.

  “I’m… I’m an outcast. I didn’t have the aptitude needed to be a dungeon Fairy. I’d be forced to rely on the core to do most of the work to establish the bond. I can’t keep a spell up for long, or to do multiple spells. I lack control. But I have an extremely large power pool! I have the endurance but no focus.

  “But… but a wizard wouldn’t have a problem at all with this. In fact, it’d be even easier for us since your grasp of magic is clearly above average. Spells worked that quickly are uncommon. And no other dungeon Fairy would bind themselves with you. We share a part of our soul in a binding. Giving you part of our immortal essence. They’d want the core or nothing. I’m willing to! They’d all leave and consider the situation a loss as soon as they saw what was going on.”

  Frowning, Ryker couldn’t help but feel that she was telling the truth.

  Telling the truth and was actually right.

  And on some level he couldn’t help but identify with her. He didn’t share her exact pain, but he had an idea of how she might be feeling.

  Fairies were a prickly lot on the whole. He could easily imagine them singling out one of their kind.

  As for her being a dungeon Fairy, he’d already figured he’d have to kill whatever Fairy showed up to bind itself to his dungeon. Wizards owning dungeon cores happened, but they were exceedingly rare, to the point that the only recorded history of such events were more myth and fable than reality. In those situations, they were almost always merely used as a focus or a way to power a home.

  Dealing with this Fairy here and now though might work out to his benefit. The entire situation was feeling far more doable than he planned for.

  “If we’re going to consider doing this, I suggest we trade cards. Make sure we’re both on the level,” Ryker offered cautiously.

  The Fairy looked up and nodded her head quickly.

  Since he was the one who suggested it, Ryker decided to go first. Pressing two fingers to the inside of his palm, he focused on his soul card. It rose up from his skin as if it had always been there. With a flick of his wrist, a projection of the card flew across the room to hover in front of Wynne.

  Soul cards were dangerous and private things. They carried all the information about a person on them.

  Quite literally an express-way to find the strengths and weaknesses of someone. The ability level they had, their body scores such as strength and constitution, their profession, even the levels in their skills and abilities. It was the sum of their whole and could only be shared voluntarily

  He waited as patiently as he could as she read what was the whole of him. He knew what she was reading and didn’t feel any need to rush her.

  “I see. Allow me to return the favor,” the fairy said. She flipped a hand through his projection, dismissing it. Slower than he managed it, she sent a projection of her card his way.

  “Admirable,” Ryker said calmly as he read it over. Noting her name was Wynne, he saw her ability level was much higher than his own, by nearly t
en levels. Her body scores were garbage, as could be expected for a Fairy. Her ability scores equally as bad.

  It was pretty much exactly what she said, even listing her as an outcast in the faction section.

  Strong. But thankfully, my own strength is in magical combat. I could still win despite the difference. Provided it didn’t go longer than a few exchanges.

  “We’re in accord on this then. If you cross me, I’ll pull your wings off and make your existence pain. Or maybe pop your arms off, tie a string around you, and use you like a damn kite,” Ryker threatened. With a quick shake of his hands side to side, the spells he’d been holding onto this entire time extinguished themselves. “Start your bond to me, I’ll mimic it and finish it. Then we can talk about my plans.”

  The Fairy bounced up to her feet and clapped her small hands together.

  A spiral of magic sprung out from her chest and began to rapidly envelop her. When it got to the point where it would to wrap around her completely, it reached out to the middle ground between them and stopped.

  The spell fluctuated and clearly was unfinished. Even as he watched it started to fade, retracting back towards her.

  Panting, the Fairy eyed him, her hands pressed together.

  Is that the extent of her focus? Her control really is lacking. She wouldn’t have made it past the first course at the university.

  Ryker sighed and then latched his magical senses onto her spell.

  The weave was complex, yet understandable to him. It was a patterned spell that worked to share their essences, as well as create a bond where one could not harm, endanger, or betray the other. In the subtleties of it, he saw that it would favor him as the majority partner.

  The controller.

  He read it as if it were nothing more than a children’s book.

  Working carefully, Ryker turned his magic to the end of the pattern, and began to fill it in. He matched it beat for beat, copying it exactly.

  After getting the hang of it, he looked to the Fairy.

  “I’ll need your help in powering this, Fairy. I have a fair idea of what you were attempting to do, but if you want this done quickly, you’ll need to supply your power,” Ryker said.

  Scrunching her nose at him, the Fairy nodded her head. “I’ll lead the spell, you keep it together. And my name is Wynne, not Fairy,” said Wynne the dungeon Fairy.