The Slime Dungeon: Book 1 (The Slime Dungeon Chronicles)
Read The Slime Dungeon: Book 1 (The Slime Dungeon Chronicles) Online
Authors: Jeffrey "falcon" Logue,Silvia Lew
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Action & Adventure, #Fantasy, #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Epic, #Teen & Young Adult
Acknowledgements
To my family for believing in me.
Cover and Design by Silvia Lew, my amazing illustrator
Gallery:
http://www.silvialew.com/
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All work within this novel is fiction. All characters, places, and adventures were born within the mind of the author and have no relation to anything in real life.
This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; no copies should be made without the consent of the author. Thank you for respecting the author’s hard work.
Text Copyright © 2016 Jeffrey “Falcon” Logue
All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Someone is speaking to me; a woman, beautiful and full of life. Her visage fills my mind and leaves little for my own thoughts. She is smiling at me, but her countenance is sorrowful. Her beauty diminishes in her grief, and I don’t like this. Memories flash through my mind, strange thoughts that don’t give me comfort. A vision of something happening: laughter and lots of it. Another woman, smiling at me I think. I’m in a group, but I’m not sure. I know her name, yet it escapes me. I remember drinks, lots of them. I remember something about a celebration. It was a happy time, I think.
I remember walking with the group. I remember her smile. I remember the danger; no one noticing in time. I didn’t drink as much. I remember pushing her away. Then, only pain was left. She was sad too, I think; I remember tears on her face. How strange, for it feels as an event from a long ago time ago, yet I feel like it was so very recent.
The beautiful lady is looking at me still. I think she was waiting for me to remember. Why is her smile so sad? Why is she sad? Is it for me? I feel fine, so she shouldn’t be sad.
Oh, wait! I think I died. I guess that’s something to be sad about, but I can’t seem to feel it. The other girl makes me feel something though. I think it was happiness, the feeling I have. How strange; is it because she was saved by me? I’m happy she was okay.
Oh, the beauty is raising her arms. I feel myself start to fall away.
“Safe travels,” she whispers to me.
I don’t want to leave her. She makes me feel at peace, but I feel myself leaving her. The farther I fall, the more I forget her splendor. Her light disappears quickly, and I’m left alone in the darkness. How dark it is indeed, especially with the slight remembrance of her light.
All alone in the dark, my memories are fading fast now. I don’t even have a name anymore. The knowledge I saw a lady is here, but her image is gone from my memory. I don’t even remember if she was a she or not. It’s all leaving me now. I refuse to let her face fade into the night as well; that other girl, her face is mine and mine alone. I save it, smothering it within myself as much as I can. Both images are saved in my soul: her smile, and her sadness. I think I managed to save them, but I don’t even remember why now. I just know they were important to me, back when I dwelled within the light.
The darkness is disappearing, but there is still no light. I’m falling still, but more slowly now; slowly, slowly, slowly drifting down into a lighter darkness. All the way to a small source of light: a little crystal in the darkness, a twinkle in the night.
It brightens as I approach, and I feel myself drawn into it. It’s warm, and comfortable like a home. It is now my home, I think; my home for my soul; a new body for me to live in. I don’t remember my old body, yet I know the form my old body had at least for now. This one is new and interesting to me, being only a small crystal now. I wonder what I can do in it.
Now, though, I have to say my first words before I forget what words are. Well, as best as possible, I guess, with this body. I think I’ll say her name, since I managed to hold on to it. It has a poetic feel to it after all: the first word should be the same as the last word: “Hannah.”
Sometime after the fall I managed to fall asleep in my new body. Being reborn, I guess, was a truly interesting experience. I remembered nothing of emotional significance besides the two images, and I lost a lot of factual information as well. To put it in more simple terms, I was a blank slate with some leftover words left on it along with whatever lingering feelings dwelling alongside them.
Falling asleep in the new body was a lot different from what I can vaguely remember from my previous one. I had nothing to move, and no eyes to close. However, I felt my light die down as my consciousness faded away. My brightness was an indicator of my alertness, I guess, giving a whole new meaning to morning person. When I woke up, I found I could actively control the amount of light I gave off, and thus my level of alertness. It was actually kind of fun having control over my mind like that.
Once I finished doing that, I was left to figure out how I was, what I was, and how I should live now.
***
The ‘newborn being’ tested his new found limits from within his body. He could kind of sense the world around him with his light, and realized he could see images if he concentrated hard enough. There wasn't really anything to see however, because he was underground within the dirt and stone.
"Well, I'm a crystal that dwells in the dark," he thought to himself, "I wonder what I am.”
Certainly, none of the faint memories could prepare him for this experience. His former life was almost all gone, but he was pretty sure he had been some sort of caregiver or healer. Among the little bits of knowledge remaining dwelt the impressions of bodies he could only vaguely imagine.
"Given that only that which I felt important remains with me, I can only assume being a healer was a large part of my life. In any case, none of it seems to apply to my current situation nor provides useful input to my situation."
He took a moment to laugh at his word usage; another aspect of his former existence that he felt slowly disappearing.
The being checked his body again. He was a small crystal, his mind referencing him as about inch tall and half an inch wide. His shape was of an octagon with pyramid shapes on both ends, making him some sort of prism. He gave off a soft purple light that fed him information about his surroundings. He could not maintain the light at full intensity too long, and had to rest after sensing for a while.
"Well, I wonder what I can do with the light besides looking.”
The being focused on what he assumed to be the front of his body. The light dimmed around him and focused into the area he was concentrating on. A small beam of purple light shot forth from his body and began to create a hole in front of him.
"Jackpot!" The being thought happily, "Now I can focus on something.”
The beam didn't go too far, and he felt tired after concentrating for a while.
"Guess I have to rest more often if I want to do more work.” He sighed to himself. He observed the small hole he had made. It was circular and went about an inch in front of his body. The walls of the hole were different from the rest of the dirt, seemingly fused together into a purple stone that would not collapse.
The being smiled as a memory came to him, the last one he would have of his former life. "This will be my home.” He thought inwardly. “I will carve out my living here and I will survive.”
The being adopted a routine of work and rest that he followed for the next few weeks. He would dig until he slept, wake up, and continue to dig with his light. Not wanting to fall to the floor, he focused on creating a room with his crystal in the far wall. It took almost a month, but he managed to create a small 4 by 4 room that he became quite proud of.
"Now, let’s see if what else there is to do.”
The being had been trying to figure out how he functioned while he worked on his room. He had managed to use enough power to keep himself barely awake instead of fully unconscious, and had found his body absorbing something from the surroundings. It resembled a blue energy of some type, and it had flowed into his body to become purple light within him, filling him up with energy.
"Okay, here I go." He concentrated on the feeling again, trying to absorb the energy into him. He felt the pull of light from his body, then lost it all as it faded into exhaustion. The last few tests had ended the same, resulting in him falling asleep from the exertion. It annoyed him to no end that he could do something easier asleep than awake. "Why isn't it working?" He groaned. “I can feel the energy, but I can't bring it in.”
After failing previous tests, the being had learned how to keep a minimal level of energy that prevented him from falling asleep. Once again, he watched the blue energy flow into him as he rested and proceeded to growl at it.
“What kind of energy is easier to use when asleep?” He complained, "How am I supposed to survive without any knowledge about living? There is something obvious that I am missing from this…"
As he thought this, the blue energy stopped flowing into him and instead flowed in front of him. It condensed together into a blue box and, much to his surprise, began displaying words he could understand.
Conditions for sentience satisfied |
Beginning start up sequence… |
Welcome to the world |
The being was surprised beyond words, so it was expected that his response was not the most elegant of phrases. “Wh... hell is this crap?" The blue box didn't indicate an emotional response, but its words were quite clear.
How rude, is this how you treat all your friends? |
“I have no idea, since I don't have any,” he retorted to the funny blue box. “What are you and why are you made of my food?"
The blue box vibrated with what the being suspected was laughter.
How amusing! Well, to answer your questions: I am a spirit whose purpose is to help you. You may call me Claire or Clarence. |
Your "food," as you call it, is actually mana, and I am using it to talk to you because you are currently underground and have no available space for me to speak with you directly. |
The being examined the box a moment before replying,
"Hate to burst your bubble, but I have a room you can be in. Can I have my… err, mana back?"
The blue box was blank for a moment before it faded back into the blue light and resumed its path toward his crystal. A small blue hole appeared in his room and out of it a small winged figure appeared.
The being had never seen this creature before; it was small with four appendages in pairs on the sides of its body with some wispy material on its head. He had vaguely recalled the words “hair,” “legs,” and “arms” before the creature began speaking.
"My goodness! The winged figure said, looking around. “You have been quite busy haven't you? I didn't even know dungeons could do this before proper induction."
The being was a little annoyed still about his mana being interrupted. "I don't know what you are implying, but I worked hard to do all this, you know. I don't need little annoyances coming in and stealing my food. I almost passed out because of the delay." He focused his light in its direction and asked, “What are you anyway?”
The winged figure flew up and hovered in front of the being with its hands crossed. "You're a rude one, aren't you? Well, I guess I'd be a little upset too if I was just born alone a few days ago and had someone steal my nourishment."
"A few days!? It's been weeks since I was born," the being said with a confused tone, “Are you in the right place?” The tiny being froze and slowly drifted to the ground. She/he looked around the room slowly and took in the purple covered walls.
"Are you telling me you've been carving this entire room by yourself for weeks now without any guidance?" The winged figure asked slowly.
That's about right; I’ve experimented some with that… err… mana, and figured out how to make the room. I was trying to figure out how to process mana faster when you showed up."
The little thing put its hands over its face. “I can't believe this, my first assignment and I'm already messing up.” It began to cry, which made the crystal being very uncomfortable.
"Okay, um, please stop crying. What's wrong?"
The tiny being sniffled and sobbed, "But, I was supposed to take care of you, and, and I messed up... waahhh!"
The being was really confused now, and slightly annoyed at the revelation. The crying continued, "[Sniff] I'm a dungeon pixie. We are born in dungeons and live together with them. When a dungeon pixie becomes of age, we go out and search for a new dungeon to raise and teach so it can become a new home. [Sniff], Mommy told me she didn't expect me to find a dungeon and that I could stay with her forever, but I told her I could handle it myself and on my own. But… but, you don't need me anymore… wahhhhhhh!"
The being was sympathetic now. He understood the need for independence and the hardships of trying to forge a place in the world for oneself. After all, that was what he had been doing the past few weeks. "It's okay, you know.”
He said, "I only know this stuff and nothing else. I could really use your help to make myself a better dungeon, if that is what I am."
The pixie sniffed, looking up from the floor with wide eyes, "Really? You want me to stay with you?"
The being slowly smiled, not that she could see him do so, and said, "Sure, I think I'll enjoy having someone show me the ropes. Welcome to my dungeon; or start of one anyway."
With a happy cry, the pixie flew up and hugged the crystal with its body. He was startled for a moment because it was the same size as him, and its glow turned slightly red for a moment. The glow was a reflex though, for he did not know how to react to this sudden show of affection. The pixie let go and pointed at the wall below the crystal. A small perch stretched out from the wall, and it landed on it and bowed.
"Thank you very much for allowing me a home Mr. Dungeon. First things first, though; do you want me to be Claire or Clarence?"
"Does it matter?" The pixie nodded, “Dungeon pixies are born gender neutral and given two names until they bond with a dungeon crystal. You'll determine my gender for the rest of my life as well as a small part of my personality. At the same time, I get to pick out a name for you. That creates our bond, and I won't have to read your mind to talk to you anymore."
"Oh, I was wondering how you heard me. We'll be linked through our minds then?" The pixie nodded. "Yes, but it will just allow normal talking. We won't be able to read each other’s mind." The being mentally nodded, “Well then, I name you Claire, the Dungeon Pixie." Claire smiled at him, "And I name you Doc, the Dungeon Heart.”
Doc's purple light focused between the two and they felt their minds being connected to each other.
And that was the beginning of the relationship between Claire, the Dungeon Pixie, and Doc the Dungeon Heart.