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

that, but if you have the time I’d love to hear what your initial selections were; knowing how smart Tacca was, I’m sure you’re already taking advantage of her tutelage.”

If she didn’t know better, Tacca would’ve thought he was trying to get on her good side by ignorantly praising her skills as an Assistant; as it was, since he didn’t know he was actually communicating with the former Fairy, his assertions of her “smarts” seemed genuine.  She wasn’t sure how to take that, because no one had ever really been that nice when talking about her before; sure, some of her instructors commented on how well she did at DAPS, but it was usually accompanied by some sort of comment referring how all of that talent was wasted on such an unfortunate individual.  To hear what sounded like sincere praise touched her crystallized Core heart so much that she inadvertently let some of that strong gratitude and appreciation leak out.

Before he could question what that was all about, she tried to cover for it.  “Absolutely, Tacca did a great job teaching me almost everything she knew – or at least as much as she could before she died.  I will always appreciate how much she seemed to care that I succeeded, even if it was in a roundabout way.”

“Roundabout way?  What do you mean?”

Here it was – the big reveal.  Like she had thought before, there was no way she’d be able to hide it for long, especially when she started making multiple species and Variants.  She explained what her initial selections were…and as she expected, he couldn’t understand the underlying objectives.

“What?  That’s crazy!  Why would Tacca do that to you?  She ruined your development for years, if not decades…possibly even centuries!  You’re not going to be able to defend your dungeon very well if you can’t even create a Level 2 creature, let alone something even stronger; it doesn’t matter if you can create thousands of species, if you don’t have something that can kill Raiders, then they’re almost worthless.  And…Enchantments?  Really?  Talk about specializing in the most non-lethal traps available…but at least you’ll still be able to make others, even if they are horrendously expensive at your Level.  It’s almost as if she was setting you up to fail…I guess that ‘bad luck’ the Lead Placement Council Member was talking about that Tacca had was right.”

Again, Tacca was expecting that response…all but that last bit.  “What do you mean, ‘bad luck’?”

She could vaguely see the Invisible figure of Shale turn his head to view the room, as if he was expecting someone to be nearby that could hear him.  It was silly, because she would know if anyone was nearby, and also because he could’ve just communicated via his mind and no one would’ve heard anything.  “Ok, so, I apologize for speaking ill of the dead, and I can see that she was your friend of sorts – or at least acted like one,” he started, his voice low and soft – and practically a whisper.  “Tacca, however, had a horribly portentous birth, and everyone knew that something bad would happen wherever she went.  It’s strange that they allowed her to live in the first place, and why they allowed her to become a Dungeon Assistant I’ll probably never know.

“For all the time I knew her, nothing bad had happened, so I thought that maybe what was said about her birth was exaggerated.  Then, when she graduated and went to the same Mentor training I had gone to – though with a different Assistant – the Mentor and his Dungeon Core were destroyed almost immediately after her arrival.  From there, she was sent to dozens of different Cores to be an Assistant, and each and every one was destroyed shortly after she arrived.  Amongst the Dungeon Assistant community, she quickly became known as ‘The Deliverer’.”

She’d heard the name before of course, but she was curious about exactly what it meant; Lily had taken her away from the waiting room before she could get more information.  “The Deliverer?  What does that mean?”

Shale’s voice grew even softer, as if he was afraid to talk about it.  “Well, everyone said that she was called in to ‘deliver’ death and destruction to any Cores, bringing them immediately to their fate sooner than what would be natural.  Based on a few comments dropped by Lily and some other Council Members, her portentous birth really did translate to ‘bad luck’, though only towards Dungeon Cores for some reason.  Basically – and this I inferred from what I was directly told – she was called in specifically to destroy Dungeon Cores that were…problems.  The Lead Placement Council Member said that Tacca was ‘unique’ and a ‘valuable asset to the organization’, so I guess that fits.  I have no idea why Cores would need to be destroyed, however – and it’s not my place to ask.”

Tacca was speechless.  She’d had her suspicions about her purpose, but to have it confirmed – or as confirmed as she was probably going to get unless Lily came to her dungeon and backed it up – was something else.  I was essentially used as…what?  A Dungeon Core assassin?  It was bad enough that so much torturous pain was heaped upon her from all of the involuntary Bond-breaking, but to have this knowledge added to it was almost too much.

“And Tacca was sent here…to kill me?”

There was more hesitation from Shale and Tacca wished that she could see his face.  “I…don’t know for sure, but it’s quite possible.  I was told that there was a ‘problem’ communicating with you before, so she could’ve been sent here to do that.  When she actually got you to respond, it’s also possible that her ‘bad luck’ kicked in and ensured that you were destroyed as soon as you opened your dungeon to the outside world.”  Another pause.  “I heard Lily mumble