The sound of flowing water has all of us on edge as we inch our way deeper into the dungeon. I lead the group with caution. We see by the light of the lantern stones attached to our belts, but we quickly find that unnecessary, as the lantern stones we took from the open spiral staircase have been replaced. There are also new stone bars sealing the lantern stones away, unfortunately.

  "The dungeon changed?" Someone behind me whispers.

  I frown, watching water flow out of an odd grate in the ceiling. I can see shafts of sunlight coming through as well. This connection to the surface wasn't here on our last delve.

  I quell the discussion "Stay calm. Just stick to the plan."

  The soldiers quiet down upon hearing that. I resume my march forward, and begin descending the steps. With the added light I can see the space much more clearly. There are odd looking vines coating the walls and floors here. The strange part about them is how lifeless and stiff they look--perhaps they are dead?

  We get to the place where the oil trap which killed Daniel was, and find it strangely missing. There is no wire, nor bucket positioned above. We press on whilst Lord Fredrick furiously takes notes on all these changes.

  My eyes widen as I spot a strange part of the stairs. It's like they're bubbled up, or to be more accurate, there's a lump in them. I watch the bullhead gecko open its eyes and stare up at me. It almost looks like it's frowning.

  And then it's gone, scampering down the staircase faster than I can follow.

  "My god, that was splendid! I could see so much of the gecko!" Lord Fredrick exclaims.

  "Lord, might I remind you it was one of those bullhead geckos that put Tanner out of commission?"

  "Oh, yes, you see I was just... ah, never mind."

  The topic drops away. I turn back to the stairs and resume my journey down. As we get further in we notice it's getting darker, the sunlight coming through the grate in the top of the stairwell is obscured more and more. The lantern stones appear to get sparser at the bottom as well.

  There are no oil traps. We spot only one other bullhead gecko, though Lord Fredrick insists there are likely many more of them we are missing. It's eerily calm compared to the last delve.

  "Where is Daniel's body?"

  We've reached the bottom. There is no corpse. No signs of anything resembling human remains. There is only the eerily smooth floor, wherein a grate lets the water flow deeper into the dungeon. There's a door, but I doubt we will find Daniel behind it.

  "Spread out and search for any sign of Daniel. We do not leave a man behind."

  With my orders given, I stand beside Lord Fredrick. He sketches the location in his little book. I can tell he's anxious by the way his pencil scrawls across the paper. His actions are far sloppier than usual.

  I know they won't find him. Not because I'm privy to some information, or heard it from someone, but because I can feel it in my bones. Whatever lives in this dungeon took him. We aren't getting him back.

  "We found something, Sir, but it's not Daniel!"

  "What is it?"

  Walking over, I approach a soldier standing in the doorway leaving the open spiral staircase. My expression shifts from somber to awestruck as I take in the sight of a grand cathedral, so far beneath the earth yet so beautiful.

  The structure is somewhat dilapidated, but that doesn't hinder its beauty. Even those cracked walls and smashed pews are beautiful in their own way. It's strange to feel this way about something I would normally ignore in favor of the more practical aspects of life. Who am I, Lord Fredrick?

  "...Lord Fredrick!" I shout.

  He enters, him and the rest of the men.

  "Yes? What's the matter-"

  Lord Fredrick looks far happier than I. He's obviously impressed with the structure, its vast scale and glowing lantern stone lights something far beyond the churches in Daywark. He appears most stricken with the carvings on the walls.

  They're beautiful. Depicting a goddess I am not familiar with, enshrouded in all manner of life. It's clear she is meant to be the creator of all living things. Vines and fruiting trees hug her in one carving. She is flanked by a number of bullhead geckos. The centerpiece of the cathedral is an haunting image of the unknown goddess bound in chains and blindfolded.

  The cracked carving in the corner is the most striking, but also the most unsettling. That same divine woman is depicted holding the hand of a creature. It appears to be a monster, standing on two legs, with many sharp teeth and ugly beady eyes. The creature bears pointy ears and clawed hands. The figure of the monster and the goddess are so at odds that it gives me goosebumps.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "This is extraordinary, Dirk." Lord Fredrick whispers.

  "That it is, Lord."

  ~

  I'm pleased with how the soldiers are acting. They're all impressed with my cathedral, but I don't like how weird their faces get when they see the carving of me and Gu. What's so wrong about showing off my adorable baby?

  I suppose I should be grateful they are admiring my cathedral rather than trying to destroy it. Speaking of admiring, I notice something as I stare respectfully at one of the rather handsome soldiers. They're radiating something constantly.

  It's familiar. I've definitely seen it before, but where?

  The corpses. That's where! Each time someone has died, I've seen them practically burst with this stuff. I never paid attention to what it was until now. Probably because the deaths were traumatizing, and not something I wanted to think back on.

  So when people die they gush out this stuff, and people who are alive constantly leak it as well. But what is this strange gaseous thing I'm seeing?

  I watch the soldiers continue to produce the mystery stuff. They're not doing it intentionally, that much I can tell. They just exist and I can see it, I can feel it filling my core--oh my god they're leaking mana!

  This whole time, the people in my dungeon have been giving me mana.

  I move my gaze to my lab. Within the test chamber, I see the leafy fern I created as an experiment. That experiment proved I could make real living plant life by making the seeds with the right intent. What I also notice, is how the plant is actually radiating a little bit of mana.

  Connecting the dots, I go observe Gu. Sure enough, he is radiating mana just like the soldiers and the fern. Every living thing in my dungeon is feeding my core more mana.

  With this in mind I think it's best to completely change my strategy.

  ~

  It's been several hours since my revelation. In that time, I've created a scale model of what I plan to build. Sitting on a table in the lab, the model depicts an underground world.

  Three regions make up this underground world: Fair Plateau, Swarm Forest, and Toad Lake.

  Fair Plateau is the first of these regions, as the entrance to the surface is here. It will be populated with burrowing animals like rabbits and ground nesting birds. As for monsters--because who doesn't like cool monsters--I think a few massive hawks will do nicely. They should play a good game of cat and mouse with the bunnies and littler birds.

  Swarm Forest is separated from Fair Plateau by a river, sitting at a much lower elevation. The forest itself will be dense and difficult to traverse due to large gnarled trees with lots of foliage. It will be populated by squirrels and snakes, a prey and predator duo. The monster of this region will be giant spiders--big enough to consume either the squirrel or snake with ease. The idea is they will fill the forest with their webs, and swarm those who don't watch where they're going.

  Toad Lake is fed by the river separating Fair plateau and Swarm Forest. The lake's depth will be fairly shallow near the edges. In the center it will likely get over a storey deep. For animals, of course there will be frogs and toads as well as a few fish. The monsters here will be giant toads capable of swallowing a man whole!

  With this little world planned out, I am certain those soldiers will have more than enough to occupy them while I feed off their presence. I'll just throw in a few treasures to sweeten the deal, and they'll never want to leave!

  Anyway, it's time to turn this diorama into a reality.

  I start by carving out the cavern needed for such a project. It's large in scale, spanning a whole kilometer. I make the top of the cavern round like the inside of a dome. Later on I plan to create some kind of magic fake sky, but that can wait until after I have the layout finished.

  The Fair Plateau is where I start making my regions. Raising the ground up on the north side of the cavern, I create a round plateau nearly three hundred meters in diameter. As for height, it's a whole three storeys above the ground level. Almost certainly a fatal distance to fall.

  I add a thick layer of soil to the plateau, but I don't bother seeding the grass. Plants require sunlight I have yet to implement.

  Next, I carve out the bowl where Toad Lake is going to sit. It's positioned on the east side of the cavern, connected to the both Fair Plateau and Swarm Forest by a trough where a river will eventually flow. Some soil fills the space where Swarm Forest will be, and sand coats both the river and lake bed.

  For the final bit of sunless landscaping, I ensure the edges of the cavern are cut into believable cliff sides. This way it will look as if you're in the middle of a steep valley rather than underground. Once the magic fake sky is there, anyway.

  Now it's time to do some magic.

  I move up to my lab, and use my solar light rock from before as a reference. It's surprisingly simple. I put some intent into the rock with mana, and it produces the desired light and energy. I create a new chunk of stone with the desire to look like part of a sky.

  The resulting chunk of rock is an interesting blue that resembles a cloudless sky overhead. I move it around and am pleased with how it shifts to show some clouds and a sun, as if having a sky projected onto it from someplace unseen. The best part is that the sun actually produces light when it's shown on the rock.

  Satisfied with the sky rock, I tile it across the dome shaped ceiling of the cavern I dug out. The result is a beautiful blue sky featuring a realistic looking sun and clouds. The sun illuminates the relatively bare cavern splendidly.

  Seeing as now I have a source of light, I need to ensure a source of water for my future plant and animal life. This comes in the form of a modification to the sky stones. Now they don't just show clouds--they change, and show rainy days, storms wherein they actually produce water. The result is amazing!

  To ensure the river flows through Green Valley I also create a type of rock with the sole purpose of creating water. Placing some of the water rock high above a carved cliff face, I manufactured a believable waterfall that feeds into the river bed.

  Of course if I left things as is the entire valley would become a massive lake in a few days. To prevent such an issue I fashion a rock that has the opposite effect of the water rock--it turns fluids that come into contact with it into mana. A ring of these sponge rocks buried in the lake's shores is perfect for keeping things from overflowing.

  Unfortunately, that high complexity magic drained all my mana.

  With nothing better to do, I leave my project for later, and enter my body. The sensation of dizziness is quickly replaced with relief as I feel my body again. It tingles with stimulation, feeling, hearing, seeing, tasting. The long periods outside of my body leave me yearning to return to it.

  Shaking off the thought of how strange my existence is, I take a few strides toward the gremlin living area. I can hear Gu playing. It brings a small smile to my face.

  Someday he will need more than a few rooms in a dungeon.

  I fear that day.