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

slowly worked her way out of the crevice, stopping every couple of seconds to ensure she didn’t hear anything nearby.  When she was finally free, she cautiously poked her head around the corner of her hiding space, seeing absolutely nothing in the complete darkness of the now-destroyed Core’s Room.  The lack of light didn’t matter in the slightest, however, as her Fairy eyes were able to see quite well in all but the darkest of magically created concealment spells.

She breathed a sigh of relief that there wasn’t anyone waiting for her to emerge, but also felt a little guilty about hiding while her Mentor and the Core were fighting for their lives.  The thought that she likely wouldn’t have made the slightest amount of difference was not really comforting, and all she could feel was regret and disappointment that she wasn’t strong enough.

She flew over to where she had seen the Dungeon Core floating in the middle of the room not that long ago and looked around.  There were broken stone slabs and what appeared to be still-wet dark-red blood puddles underneath some of them; she fluttered a little closer and saw streaks of blood running off into the Core Room’s entrance tunnel, where she assumed the murderous Raiders – or whoever they were – had dragged off their own dead.

There’s nothing left…it’s like Cobalt and his Dungeon Core never existed here.

With a loud sigh that she didn’t even care if anyone heard, Tacca readied her Translocate ability; normally, it would be best to use it in the open air where there was less risk of damaging the nearby walls of the dungeon, but she figured that it really didn’t matter anymore.  Plus, she’d rather not try to navigate her way through a dungeon she didn’t know the layout of just to get outside, and the risk of running into those that killed her Mentor was too great to chance it.

Therefore, she pictured an area above DAPS that she was relatively sure was going to be empty, and felt the Fairy Mana flow from out of her body…

Chapter 2

“What do you mean there aren’t any other Mentors available?  What am I supposed to do?” Tacca practically screamed, still shaken up from the traumatic experience she went through and now thoroughly confused at what was currently happening.

DAPS had essentially wiped their hands of her when she came back reporting the death of her Mentor, Cobalt, and the destruction of his Dungeon Core.  They seemed genuinely concerned that it had happened but also had absolutely no sympathy or time to deal with her mess of emotions; not only that, but they blamed her for what had happened.  “We should’ve known that anywhere you go, trouble would soon follow; we didn’t think it would happen this quickly, however, and I guess that’s on us,” Head Instructor Lapis told her with obvious distaste in his voice.  “You’ve already had your chance to train under a Mentor, and we’re not going to risk any others falling victim to your bad luck.  You’re on your own now and we take no further responsibility for you; congratulations, you’ve completed your training and can now report to the DPRC for assignment.”

“But I haven’t even—”

“Not our problem anymore.  As far as all of your paperwork will say, you’ve finished your training and are ready.”  He paused for a moment, before reluctantly adding something else.  “Despite your obvious…detriments…your scores were at the top of the class, and I’m sure the Council will find a perfect Dungeon Core for you to assist once they see your file,” he finished with a disingenuous smile.

Great…just great.  Tacca knew exactly what they would see and had been dreading when that information was passed onto the Council.  She had been hoping that she’d be able to prove herself during her training with a Mentor, but alas – that was plainly not going to be the case.  Head Instructor Lapis was correct in one thing, though: her scores on all her tests directly reflected how knowledgeable she was about dungeons and Cores.  If that was the only consideration she would likely be placed somewhere with high growth potential; as it was, they were going to look at her background…and without her Mentor training to offset that, she didn’t like her chances of getting placed anywhere beneficial to her or to the Dungeon Cores she was assigned to.

“I…understand.  You do realize that all these so-called ‘omens’ about my birth are just fictitious nonsense—” she tried to explain, before being cut off.

“I think that the fact that your Mentor – an upstanding Assistant in his own right – was killed within minutes of your arrival proves you wrong.  I have to admit that I was giving you the benefit of the doubt during your schooling, as nothing about your portentous birth inside of a Tacca black-bat flower located in the Gloomwood on a moonless night during the winter equinox showed itself – but I was evidently wrong.  You’re a blight on this school’s reputation, and if it were my choice I would have you barred from ever Assisting a Core again.”

The Head Instructor looked down at some paperwork on his desk, sighing in resignation as he did so.  “Fortunately for you, the demand for any type of Assistant is so great that I’m sure the Dungeon Placement and Regulatory Council will overlook your origins and be grateful for the help,” Lapis continued, before muttering under his breath.  “If only to place you somewhere that no one else wants.”

Her origins had always been her biggest stumbling block in her short life, as the “omens” surrounding being born in a flower that was considered bad luck to some, inside a dark and forbidding forest, on a lightless night, and during the winter equinox was too much for one to bear.  Individually, the circumstances of her birth wouldn’t necessarily be considered “bad luck” or negatively