Monster Mansion 2 by Dante King (best way to read ebooks .txt) 📗

palaces to castles to mountains and cave networks, abandoned cities and jungle realms, and even waterlogged swamps full of mysterious ruins and deadly traps. But they were all my sisters. When the Fateweaver came, we played our part, of course, but none could survive that onslaught. At the last, the remaining Keepers banded together and fled with the dungeon cores. The Fateweaver desired dungeon cores above all else, for by consuming them he would gain greater power than from any other artifact. He consumed many, but some escaped through the portal.”

She looked off into the middle distance, her eyes filled with memories. “My Keeper was wounded, and he did not survive that crossing. The other Keepers made it through, and survived, and they used their magic to set the dungeon cores down and hide them, scattered across this new land that they had found, but the trauma of carrying such powerful items through the portal destroyed my Keeper, and he did not live for long after he had fulfilled his mission.”

Everyone was silent for a moment after Kyrine had finished her story. She hung her head thoughtfully for a moment, but then she brightened. “But all that is in the past now!” she said cheerfully. “Today is a new day, and I am remembering things I’d forgotten now that I have a new Keeper! Amanda, you have seen our new portal dungeon. We are ready. When can we expect dungeon adventurers to arrive and begin trying their hand at the challenge?”

Amanda looked blankly at Kyrine, and suddenly seemed to clam up again. “Uhhh, adventurers? I’m not sure, um, that is…” She stammered and then closed her mouth.

There was a moment’s awkward silence before Astrid cut smoothly in. “What my boss is trying to say, Kyrine,” she said, with a vengeful look at Amanda, “is that the EDI has no intention of allowing random groups of adventurers into the dungeon.”

Kyrine’s expression darkened. “I don’t understand. Adventurers are a core element of a dungeon’s existence. How do you expect to train high-level cultivators to fight the Fateweaver unless you allow adventurers into the dungeon?”

“The EDI’s plan, as far as I understand it, is to use the dungeons as a military training facility,” said Belinda. “I’ve been keeping an eye on things, and keeping my ears open for rumors, and I think that’s the way of it. High-level cultivation, and even powerful magical items like potions are still illegal, don’t forget. The government plans to use the dungeons to train small groups of elite operatives, while keeping the existence of the dungeons a secret from the general population.”

Kyrine showed her teeth in a snarl, turning to Amanda. She stood suddenly, her chair flying back and clattering against the wall. She slammed her hands on the table and the weather outside suddenly grew dark. Kyrine’s voice boomed like thunder and the lights flickered and went out.

“You dare to presume to tell a dungeon what she can and cannot do??” she fumed. “I am no minion, and my dungeons are no soldier’s training yard! I am Kyrine of the Bloody Hand and Fiery Heart, Legendary Dungeon of the Middlemarch of Old Eosor, bane of Kings, destroyer of legions, Dungeon of renown!”

Her eyes shone with fury in the dimness of the room. “I decide who gets to enter my dungeons. I, and my Keeper, Jeremy Parker! Not you, or any earthly agency! What do you have to say??”

Amanda had leaned as far back from Kyrine’s wrath as she could. Her eyes were wide, and I could tell from the satisfied looks on the other agents’ faces that they felt the same as Kyrine did. I was more likely to give the EDI woman the benefit of the doubt—it was almost certainly not her decision, after all—but I kept quiet for the moment, waiting to see how this would play out.

“Speak!” demanded Kyrine, towering over the Drow elf.

Amanda held her hands up. “I agree with you,” she said quietly but sincerely.

“You do?” Kyrine’s anger subsided a little, and the room grew slightly brighter.

“Yeah, I do,” Amanda repeated. “Like I said, everyone has an agenda at the EDI, and the higher you go, the worse it gets. You may not know this, but I’m not a second generation Outworlder. I’m an old world Drow. I came through the portal with my parents, 120 years ago. I was only a child then, because we Drow elves grow very slowly, but my memory stretches back to that time. When I was young, we knew all about the dungeons.”

The room grew suddenly lighter, and birds sang cheerily outside the window. To my relief, Kyrine’s fury had passed. For a moment there, I’d thought Amanda Fallon might be at risk of sudden death at Kyrine’s hands. Slowly, the dungeon avatar retrieved her chair and sat back down.

“Go on,” she said quietly to Amanda.

“There was a small dungeon near our village,” Amanda continued, and now it was her turn to look into the distance. “Roland, his name was. He was nothing like the legendary dungeons, of course, but we were all fond of him. Adventurers would go and come back with wild tales of the monsters they had fought. And they would bring loot—weapons, gold, silver, and creature cores for the cultivators to absorb. Our village was rich because of our local dungeon, and we knew that the legendary dungeons brought prestige and riches to the eight great kingdoms of Eosor.”

She looked up, meeting Kyrine’s eye. “And it’s true, what Belinda and Astrid say. The government would keep the dungeons to themselves, regulating who can come in and who can’t. And I know as much as you do how wrong that is. A dungeon needs adventurers, and adventurers need dungeons. The government, the higher ups, they don’t understand. But I do. And I’ll do everything I can to help you get dungeon adventurers to the