Station 64 - Azaria - The Doll Dungeon (Patreon)

Morning everyone! I've sort of been in a slump on my side projects, Holy Blood and Revenge of the King. I could probably get some chapters out if I tried but they might not be up to par. Thus I have no chapters, however, I do have this. For now, treat it as a short story, I'm not sure if it will get larger like Holy Blood did or not.

Chapter 1 

Azaria 

It was a normal morning, well actually that wasn’t true. It was the first time my parents allowed me to leave the estate without an escort. I’d taken all the normal precautions that we could think about. I wore clothes that I normally wouldn’t be caught dead in, had a wig, sunglasses, and even a hat! No one could recognize me! I didn’t think it would lead to something like this! 

~~~ 

“Now boarding! Now boarding! Please enter calmly and orderly!” The PA system announced causing me to jump. This was the first time I’d ever ridden the subway.  

I walked over to the ticket booth and bought a ticket for uptown. I didn’t have any business there or anything, I just wanted to wander the city a little bit. I’d lived here my whole life but had never gotten the chance to do so.  

I moved over to the crowd of people gathering for the train. The diversity of the people just blew me away. A lady that looked like she had over ten thousand dollars in jewelry stood next to a man that could have just crawled out of the sewer. I joined the outer edges of the crowd. 

“Why do I have to do this? There are other people. Damn Terleza,” A tall handsome man was muttering to himself from next to me. He was easily a head taller than me and I was already six feet. He had a well-chiseled jawline and his eyes appeared to resemble an abyss. I had to quickly look away or I felt I was going to be drawn into them.  

The man kept muttering, but I did my best to ignore him. I wasn’t going to let someone ruin my day out. The train arrived and the crowd moved as one to get on the vehicle. I could have taken a seat but wanted to experience the train moving like in the movies. The train jerked as it started moving then stopped almost as quickly. 

I jerked my head around to see what was going on when I saw the tall man from earlier was glowing a yellow unearthly color. In the same glance, I noticed that everyone had gone completely still. If I couldn’t see some of them breathing, I would have thought time had stopped.  

“Ferio Aseuon Aueios,” said the man as the glow grew brighter. I had no idea what language it was and my parents had versed me on quite a few. 

I felt my muscles lock and an interact etching of some sort formed under me. There were symbols I’d never seen before and it glowed with a power that even I could feel. Yellow chains started to wrap around my legs.  

“A pity. I’m sure. You only have yourself to blame. Your luck and fate were higher than a hundred million people combined. Sadly this led to our noticing you. Don’t worry. Everything will be explained later.”  

I couldn’t move my mouth to even attempt to talk. The chains wrapped around my neck and arms fully binding me. It didn’t stop the tears from flowing. I could only think I was about to die or meet a fate worse than death. I cried out over and over in my head for my parents. 

“Kor Feri Aoerf!” With his voice reaching what seemed to be a peak a wave of energy left from me into the surroundings. Everyone that was standing, turned and walked over towards me. I could only stare as the man that looked like he crawled out a sewer touched my shoulder and he burst into flames. The fancy woman was next and was followed by nearly a hundred people on the train. With each flame, I could feel a power rising in my chest. 

Soon it was just me and the tall man left on the train. I prayed that it was over then noticed the man finishing another chant. What more could he do?  

Before I could find out the train jerked. Maybe whatever magic he used on it was wearing off, but my stiff body started to fall forward. My head smacked his chest and just like the others on the train, he burst into flames. I blinked as the world faded to darkness. 

~~~ 

“I can’t believe a perfectly good dungeon has been sitting here wasting away. If I find Wez, I’m going to kill him!”  

“Hello?” I tried to say but nothing came out. I tried to open my eyes but still, nothing happened.  

“Azaria? Are you finally awake?” the voice asked. It was cold, making it sound like this was all my fault. I tried to reply again but to no effect. “Look inside yourself. You should sense a ball of power there. Try to push it out.” 

I did as I was told and looked to the center of the darkness. At first, I floundered around like a fish out of water, but I eventually found the spot the voice was talking about. It pulsed, reminding me of a heartbeat. I pushed and felt the darkness around me lift considerably. 

When I paused, I found I was in what looked like a ruined tunnel. A husk of metal and glass at the center. With a stab of pain, the memories of what had just happened flooded back to me. Was I dead? Surely, if I could feel pain than that wasn’t the case. I expanded the field more and suddenly a woman that glow a brilliant yellow appeared in my vision. 

“Ah! Finally. You know it is rude to make a Goddess wait five days,” said the woman with a glare in what I suspected was my direction. 

“What’s going on!?” I screamed but still nothing came out. 

She looked something over with a critical eye then nodded. “Good. It appears you’re mostly there. I am the Goddess Terleza. You have been chosen by us to become a deity. Why and how is none of your concern. The Earth you once knew is no more.” She paused as if mulling something over. “That’s not actually true. Your planet is remarkably steadfast in sticking to what they’ve created. As a result our projections have had to be corrected.” 

The whole time the woman monologued, I was screaming in my head. If I had a physical form I would have rushed her and tried to strangle her. This was unfair! Why did I have to put up with this! 

The woman looked at her wrist and nodded. “It has officially been a year since the beginning of the change. You’re behind our siblings. Hopefully, you don’t end up destroyed too quickly.” She took a deep breath and rubbed the back of her head. She waved her hand and a burst of light flood into my field’s center. “That should help you get started. And as an added bonus I’ll allow you to bring one item from your past her.” 

With that she vanished with a burst of light. I was left alone in the ruined subway tunnel with only my thoughts. Needless to say, I screamed in silence for a good while.  

~~~ 

After I’d screamed myself out, whether it was a few minutes or a day. I personally had no way of knowing. I knew if I had a physical body, I likely would have been huddled in a corner crying my eyes out. When I finally calmed down, I took a good look around. The first thing that caught my eye was a clock in the corner of my vision. 

27 Days 23 Hours 45 Minutes 

I blinked as I thought about what that could possibly mean. Probably something else equally as mortifying as I was dealing with currently. I decided to ignore it for now. The tunnel changed no matter how many times I looked at it. I couldn’t be sure, but I felt I could see a good sixty feet in each direction. I barely had a car and a half of the old train in my field. 

With nothing else to do, I started pushing my field out more. It appeared to be the only thing I could currently do. If so, this life was going to get boring fast. I noticed a green glow and saw a few rats on the tunnel floor. As well as some mold where a trickle of water came in. I filed that away for now. 

When my field reached about two hundred feet, I hit a roadblock. The field stopped expanding. Not matter how hard I tried it wouldn’t budge. I just wanted to curl up in a corner and cry. None of this madness made sense. I stared at the darkness, while I could see everything, I knew that there was no light. 

I wasn’t sure how long I just stared. Actually that was a lie. The clock in the corner of my eye told me exactly how long it’d been. Two days. Two days of doing absolutely nothing.  

“I wish there was a setting button to remove this stupid thing!” I screamed in my head, while thinking about the options button from my cellphone. The clock suddenly expanded, and a block of text appeared in front of me. 

Azaria Paris 

Age:18 

Level:1 

Race: Dungeon 

Type: Undefined 

Aether: 2000/100 

Floors: 2/1 

Skills: Creation 

Deconstruction 

Summon (0/101) 

Teleport Matrix (1/1)  

Achievements: 

God Killer – Killed a God, albeit a weak one.  

Pending 

Item selection 

I stared at the information for several minutes. Even I’d played enough games to understand the basics. The thing that scared me was the God Killer achievement. The only God I’d ever met was that Terleza woman from a few days ago. Wait, that might not be true. I supposed I’d inadvertently killed the man that caused me to be in this situation. 

I decided to ignore it for now. I didn’t look like it would help me at the moment. Likely, if Terleza found out she kill me all over again. That’s one problem I’d rather not have to deal with. 

I focused on the last thing in the list. Terleza said I could bring one thing from my past here. I doubted she’d let me bring my body back. I also had no way of knowing anything about the world. From what she said, it was different yet the same. I guess I would just bring something that had some sentimental value. 

I thought about all the things laying around my room. Since she said the past, I shouldn’t have to worry about it still existing if my parents had to get rid of it after I disappeared… I managed to pull myself together about thirty minutes later. My parents were strong and smart individuals. They were likely still alive and thriving in whatever twisted world the Earth had become. 

Growing up, I had a massive collection of dolls, puppets, plushies, figurines, and other stuffed animals. I’d even started getting into models. My favorite was a life-sized unicorn my father got me for my tenth birthday. I couldn’t even count how many times I’d fallen asleep on it over the years. It would be perfect to bring me a little comfort in this messed hole that I currently called home. 

“I chose Starburst. My unicorn stuffed animal,” I said in my mind, cringe worthy name for a cringe worthy ten-year-old. On another note, I really hope I become capable of speech in the future. I did like to talk to people when I was a human after all. 

A magic circle like thing formed in the middle of the tunnel and the stuffed animal appeared looking exactly as I remembered it. A large white horse, with a silver mane. A rainbow horn that extended a good foot from the head. The moment it appeared I wanted to fling myself onto it. 

“Curse this non-physical form!” I screamed before devolving into another cry session.