The Dungeon Fairy: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 1) by Jonathan Brooks (read novel full .txt) 📕

forgotten he was there, and he tried to school his features enough that she wouldn’t know he’d heard her.  What does that mean?  Her bad luck?  He knew that her portentous birth meant “bad things”, but he never heard a particular explanation of what those things were supposed to be.

“Anyway, I would like you to go back and Bond with this Core and find out what happened to her.  I’m sure this is just some sort of unfortunate fluke, but I won’t rest easy until we know for sure.”

“Are you serious?  What if I end up just as dead as The Deliverer?” he couldn’t help but ask, partly hysterical.  He had no wish to go back there, and even less desire to actually Bond to the Core that had somehow killed another Dungeon Assistant.

“Her name was Tacca, and yes – I don’t have anyone else I can put to the task for the moment.  I’m making this a request because of the danger involved and I’ll be grateful if you could do this for the Council; however, don’t think for a moment that I won’t make it an order if you press me.”

A request or an order – it was essentially the same thing to him, though he’d rather have the Council grateful for his help rather than the alternative.  “…how long?” he asked, reluctant, but bowing to the inevitable.

“Just under a year at first, because I don’t want you stuck there any longer than you want to be.  It’ll be safer for you, for one, and two – you should be able to find out the information we’re looking for by then.  If you decide you want to stay…we’ll talk about it then.”

He knew a dismissal when he heard one, so he got up and left the way he came.  Before the door closed to the office, he looked back to see the Lead Placement Council Member staring at Tacca’s dead body with a vexed expression on her face.  Shale thought it was odd not to see a hint of sadness in her gaze – it was more like she was angry that something had interfered with her plans.  I hope that’s just a one-time thing; I’d hate for her to be angry at me if I end up dead here.

That wasn’t a comforting thought as he flew high above the DPRC Headquarters and activated his Translocation Ability.  Not a comforting thought at all.

Chapter 15

The appearance of another Fairy, especially one that she recognized, was thoroughly unexpected.  Tacca wasn’t expecting anyone to come check up on her for at least another four to five months, and his appearance shocked her so much that she instinctively froze at his arrival.  Her surprise continued when he asked for her by name, so much that she could practically feel her emotions leaking out towards him; therefore, she reined them in before she embarrassed herself.

She knew exactly who Shale IronSchist was from where she went to school.  He was one of the few that hadn’t done or said anything to her concerning her portentous origins, though the looks he sometimes threw her way weren’t at all flattering – but he hadn’t done more than that.  The – rather handsome – dark-grey-haired Fairy had been a bit of a loner from what she could tell, which made him stand out to her.  Most of the other Fairies had been quite sociable and enthusiastic most of the time; Shale, on the other hand, usually stayed by himself and rarely interacted with anyone except on a few rare occasions – not that she was spying on him or anything.

She would’ve expected him to be still within his Mentor training period, which was supposed to last for at least a year…unless something had happened with his Mentor like hers had.  She doubted it, though; hers was probably an isolated case, so there were only two explanations she could think of for his presence there.  Either he was pulled out early from his training, or she was initially unconscious during the transitional period for far longer than she suspected.  Regardless of the real reason, she couldn’t help her mixed emotions from leaking out because of his presence and close proximity – so she did the only thing she could think of: show him her body.

Not in any perverted way, of course; showing the corpse of her former self was meant to distract him and get him to focus on something other than staring at her Core.  Well, that, and because she really didn’t want him to fly into her Boss Room and see 99 foxes in different Variants all lounging around.  During the process of getting rid of the hardened stone dome around her Fairy body, she absorbed all of her creatures – which took twice as long to do as to create them in the first place.  After six minutes, they were all gone, and she received back all of the Dungeon Force used in their creation – though most of it was wasted because she was already nearly full.

She mentally breathed a sigh of relief when he left, though she was watching and waiting every moment for him to come back.  She had mixed feelings about whether or not that was a good thing.  If there was to be a Dungeon Assistant Bonded to her, she’d rather it be someone like him that she at least knew and that hadn’t been overtly mean to her; on the other hand, the fact that he knew her – and likely knew what her voice sounded like – worried her that he’d somehow put it all together.  There was no way she’d be able to disguise her voice, so she just had to hope that he didn’t put it all together.

As she continued her work clearing out the dirt and stone for her dungeon, at the same time Tacca contemplated whether or not she