In a place beyond the worlds of men, a spirit waited in darkness. This was no mere physical darkness; it was a darkness of soul, for this was the realm of the Dark Gods. Once, this spirit had a name. Once, it had been a great and powerful dungeon keeper. He had not aligned with any of the Dark Gods; he had played both sides against the middle, always using their power struggles to get himself ahead. As a result, when he died, none of the Dark Gods could claim him, lest their enemies unite against them, for they too desired revenge on the ghost. Then, one of them offered a solution; he would be claimed by no Dark God, and all of them. He would cease to be a mere shade of a dungeon keeper; he would become an advisor on those young Keepers who possessed the favour of the Dark Gods. He would become the Mentor.
The Mentor felt an approaching presence with what little remained of his keeper sight; it was a Dark Angel, one of the servitors of Azzathra the Mighty Tyrant, the god of brute force and the rule of the strong. The Mentor smirked slightly; he may be little more than a walking repository of knowledge for young keepers, but that didnÆt mean he couldnÆt be crotchety about it.
ôWhat do you want? I was having a very nice day, until you showed up. The eternal blackness is very nice this time of year.ö
The Dark Angel sneered at him.
ôIÆm sure it was. Azzathra commands your services. A young hero defeated a Horned Reaper in single combat, and then bound himself to a dungeon heart to prevent its escape from the room it was imprisoned it.ö
That got a raised eyebrow from the Mentor. A single hero defeating a Horned Reaper? That was all but unheard of; the Horned Reapers were among the mightiest of the demonic races, and to have gotten Azzathra interested, it would have had to have been in hand to hand combat, too. Or, perhaps more probably, sword-to-scythe combat.
ôDefeated a Horned Reaper in single combat? This would be the Horned Reaper that got imprisoned in an abandoned Dungeon Heart chamber?ö
The blue-skinned demon nodded, his blackened wings spread as though they were holding him aloft as he did so. As if you needed wings to fly in this place.
ôIndeed. He may have been somewhat out of shape from a thousand years of imprisonment, but he was still a Horned Reaper. You are to guide this young Hero into becoming a proper dungeon keeper. Azzathra commands this.ö
The Mentor nodded and spread his hands, smiling as he did so to make a mockery of his attitude of servitude.
ôVery well. If Azzathra commands me, I shall of course obey.ö
The angel glared at him, his horned brow clenching in anger, as he reached up and grabbed the Mentor, and released a pulse of power through the ghost.
ôThen go.ö
The Mentor began falling. Falling endlessly, as the not-place whirled and spun about him as he plunged towards the river of power that the dungeon heart draws from this realm. He plunged into the river, its dark power burning and freezing him, and he wordlessly screamed as he saw light ahead of him. The light of the material world. First a pinprick, then, like the end of a tunnel, it began growing and growing, until he passed through the portal of light, and found himself inside the new dungeon.
---
Emiya Shirou examined the demonic familiars that appeared from the dungeon heart in motes and flashes of green light, after the dungeon heart activated. They looked a lot like the Grey Aliens that the Americans supposedly found in that crashed UFO in Roswell, clad in loincloths, with sacks slung over their shoulders and wielding magical picks. And what picks they were; they might not have had much in the way of offensive power, but he could see that when they started tunnelling, the rock would collapse and sublimate into tiny particles to be drawn back into the Dungeon Heart. Quite ingenious, actually. ItÆd make underground building a lot easier, definitely, since you wouldnÆt need to figure out where to dump the rock youÆre excavating. He could definitely see why Horny thought that theyÆd be able to escape if he bound himself to the dungeon heart and became a Keeper.
ôSo, these æimpsÆ will follow my orders, right?ö
The Horned Reaper nodded, his fangs glinting in the torchlight, as he leaned up against one of the pillars of ShirouÆs Dungeon Heart, his scythe leaning up against his shoulder.
ôIndeed, Shirou. Indeed.ö
Shirou nodded, and clapped his hands together. Alright, time to get started. He looked at the imps; they looked up at him. A flash of green light appeared from the Dungeon Heart behind him; it looked like another imp had arrived.
ôTime to get going.ö Shirou gestured at a wall. ôStart digging a tunnel to the surface.ö The Imp gave a small cheer, and began tunnelling through the indicated wall with gusto. Horny gave a surprised choke.
And, perhaps more surprisingly, a dry, educated-sounding voice added, ôThat may not be such a great idea, Keeper.ö A wraith floated into view; it seemed to be a ghost of a middle-aged man, clad in vaguely defined robes. Its sardonic voice continued. ôWhen you bound yourself to the dungeon heart, you made a great number of enemies. While a warrior capable of defeating a Horned Reaper might well be capable of defeating those heroes who sally forth against you, as a former hero yourself, I doubt you desire to slay those who would have formerly been your comrades.ö
The observation was like a blast of cold water. He hadnÆt really considered that. But then again, he wasnÆt the sort of person whoÆd just roll over because someone told him to. Much less if it was someone he didnÆt know.
ôWho are you?ö
The ghost smirked, and took a short bow, his robes hanging off of him as he did so.
ôForgive me for failing to introduce myself. I am the Mentor; I was once a dungeon keeper like yourself, and in time, I became a respected and powerful one, like I hope to help you one day become. Now, I am merely a ghost, dispatched to aid those young dungeon keepers who have attracted the favour of the Dark Gods.ö
Shirou frowned. He didnÆt like the sound of that. Emiya Shirou made his decision a long time ago; he would pursue his ideal, and he would protect those close to him. He wasnÆt sure how he managed to attract the favour of the Dark Gods, with those sorts of goals. So he asked.
ôHow did I attract the favour of the Dark Gods? IÆm not a villain. My dream is to become a Hero of Justice and protect people.ö
The wraith laughed; Horny snorted. It seemed theu didnÆt quite expect that response. After a few moments, the ghost had recovered his composure, and responded, ôMy boy, you defeated a Horned Reaper in single combat. TheyÆre one of the most powerful demonic races; defeating one with muscle and skill and imposing your will on it gained you the favour of Azzathra the Mighty Tyrant, the god of martial talent and the rule of the strong.ö
Shirou nodded. He could understand that, but he didnÆt see why the local heroes would attack him. ôBut still, if I told the heroes that I only became a dungeon keeper to stop Horny from getting free and murdering thousands of people, surely IÆd be able to come to an agreement with them.ö
The ghost smiled, and shook his head. ôIÆm sorry, young keeper, but thatÆs simply not the case. Almost all keepers commit all manner of atrocities, as creating a dungeon heart requires the favour of the Dark Gods, and remaining a dungeon keeper requires you to maintain it, at least to a small degree. Additionally, the power of a dungeon heart is filled with their malign influence; it warps and corrupts the land. Plants sicken and die, volcanoes and lava flows erupt, and animals are twisted and warped. No sane Lord would willingly allow a dungeon keeper to remain on their land as a result, for even if you did not take any action against the people of the land directly, your mere presence would doom them in the fullness of time.ö
Shirou paled. Plants withering and dying? With no crops, the people of the land would starve. People would die because of the famine that resulted. In trying to prevent one disaster, he had created another one.
No. He wouldnÆt allow that to occur. He didnÆt know how, but he knew that he would. Because Emiya Shirou was going to be a Hero of Justice, even if he had damned himself.
ôI see.ö He looked at the tunnel the imps had carved. It already stretched further than the torchlight of the dungeon heart chamber could reach, but the clangs of metal on stone could be heard, even from this distance. He focused mana into his eyes, reinforcing them, and night turned into day. He could see the depths of the tunnel; it curved upwards slightly, and the rough stone walls were surprisingly straight and flat. The imps were hard at work at the far end of it; he called out for them. ôThatÆs enough; stop digging the tunnel.ö The imps paused, and began running back towards him.
Shirou turned back to Horny and the Mentor. Horny seemed happy to listen to the conversation between the two of them.
ôSo, what do I do now, then? Horny mentioned that we could escape if I became a dungeon keeper. How are we going to do so if not to the surface?ö
Horny snorted in annoyance, standing back up and gesturing at Shirou. ôI was thinking weÆd uncover an Underworld portal, actually, not go gallivanting off to the surface world.ö The Mentor nodded at that, his expression approving. Shirou frowned in confusion.
ôUnderworld portal?ö
The Mentor looked at Shirou, and began explaining. ôNew to the Underworld? All right, then. An Underworld Portal is a natural growth that forms at a conflux of underground ley lines, like a magical geode. When properly utilized, it is capable of transporting people or goods to other, connected portals, and thereby allowing you to recruit and acquire goods and services from various Underworld towns and cities. If you look with your Keeper sight, you should be able to see one nearby; the presence of a dungeon heart usually causes one or more to form in short order, due to the magical energies the release into the rock around them.ö
Shirou nods. ôSo, in essence, they form an artificial ley line, and where that artificial ley line connects with the natural ones, a portal forms?ö
The Mentor grinned; when he had heard that the Horned Reaper had been defeated by a hero who became a dungeon keeper, he didnÆt expect his new master to possess this much magical knowledge. ôIndeed. Have you learned how to use your keeper sight yet?ö Shirou shook his head. ôVery well. Since this is your first time using it, IÆd recommend you close your eyes. Once you get the hang of it, you shouldnÆt need to do so.ö Shirou nodded, and did so. It made sense; if you were trying to discover a new sense, youÆd want to avoid confusion with the old ones. ôNow, feel the connection between you and the dungeon heart.ö He felt it; it was like a strand of darkness, leading from his soul to the beating heart within the dungeon heart. ôFeel the connections between it and your territory.ö He reached out a little more; it felt like a cobweb laid over the room. It was laid over the corridor the imps had carved, and he could feel one strand stretching out away from the dungeon, stretching out and grabbing the anchor of the boundary field of the Emiya mansion, and marking the land and buildings within it as his. ôVisualize the connection. See the area the connections cover.ö He focused, and with a flash of insight, he could.
He could see the three of them in the dungeon heart room. He could see the imps dancing in the tunnel, turning the rough walls into the cobblestone floor and masonry walls of the dungeon heart room, and he could feel that they were doing so by extending his territory; they were casting some sort of boundary spell with their little dance. He could see the rocks surrounding the tunnel and the dungeon heart room; it looked like there was a seam of copper ore, as well as what felt like some sort of open space nearby. He could see Fuji-nee sitting in front of the television, drinking a glass of wine and watching some weird game show. He could see Rin panicking in her room, trying to figure out what went wrong with her experiment. He couldn't see Sakura or Rider; that wasn't surprising, since they went grocery shopping earlier. They must not be back yet. He could see Saber marching up to RinÆs door, a look of anger twisting her features. Was it just him, or was her hair a little paler than usual? He looked more closely.
Yellow eyes. Yellow, slitted eyes. The corrupted mana from the dungeon heart! It must have flowed down the link he had with her.
IÆm so sorry, Saber, he thought. I didnÆt expect that to happen.
