Azaria Chapter 17 (Patreon)

Hey Guys! Already Thursday! I don't know about you but my days seem to be flying by. I feel like just yesterday was March and April is already half over.


 

Chapter 17: Helping the dungeon

Lance Teron

I finished putting on my damp, but at least not blood-soaked cloths. Thankfully, the dungeon wasn’t freezing so I didn’t have to worry about getting sick from wearing the clothes. Just as I was about to head back to my room, the entire dungeon felt like it was coming apart under my feet.

As I wondered what the hell was going on, moonlight flooded through the window in the room. I made my way carefully over to it and glanced outside. We were rising up from the ground about the station. Thankfully, I was on the back of the mansion, so no one saw me in the window.

This station was about halfway up a rising hill in the city, allowing a decent view from where I was currently looking out from. A dungeon had never risen from the ground like this before. The closest parallel would be airports that have sprawling dungeon fields that go on for miles. Maybe Azaria was some sort of hybrid, a new version of the subway and train station-based dungeons. She was certainly intelligent enough to match one of the airport dungeons if the stories about them could be believed.

The mansion finally came to a stop as it finished rising from the ground. I quickly left the window as I didn’t want to risk someone seeing me. Back in my private room, I was relieved to see it still appeared to be cut off from the rest of the world. I’d been worried considering it was underground before.

I only rested for a few minutes wondering what was going one when I heard some sound. “Girl. Is right now really a good time to talk to your little project?” I heard coming from the other side of the wall. 

“She might be the only one that can help us right now!” Azaria’s voice said. I could detect just a bit of panic coloring it. 

“Ah, so her secret came out,” Starburst said. 

I gritted my teeth but could only curse myself. I thought that dungeon cores would be able to tell gender either way, so I didn’t think anything about bathing. While the world maintained a bit of sanity after the Aether shift, there was still a lot of hardship. Especially for three women alone in a rundown part of the neighborhood.

My little sister might be able to crush someone’s heart from over fifty feet away, but there were plenty of people that could blow up the house with ease. If she was the only girl, then there would be little merit for them to try and take her since everything they could want her to do would likely result in their deaths. 

Me on the other hand. I was powerless after the Shift. Perfect pickings for the slavers and other less reputable personages in the city. Kyle mentioned knowing my secret. I would have to find out how much he knew exactly. Just the memory of the day of the Aether Shift caused me to draw in a deep breath. Memories better left buried.

“I can hear you guys!” I shouted through the wall.

“We know,” Azaria said popping into the room. Starburst followed a moment later, appearing out of nowhere next to her.

“Well? How do you think your government is going to take this?” Starburst asked pointing his horn at me.

“Not sure to be honest. This is the first time something like this has happened. At least if it hasn’t been buried under political fighting,” I answered honestly.

“That’s not a lot of help,” Azaria said with a pout. 

I shrugged, not really having anything to add. I had a feeling that Azaria tried to do something she wasn’t supposed to, and it bit her in the ass. She sighed and threw me what looked like an earring. 

Scales of Illusion

- Effect One: Wearer can change their appearance once every forty-eight hours.

- Effect Two: (Passive) If in the presence of people of ill-will or evil thoughts, based on wearer’s ideology, item will tingle as a warning.

“Wow! This is top dollar stuff,” I said with real enthusiasm now. It really was. Something like this would be worth anywhere from a hundred to five hundred thousand dollars on the open market. It basically gave you an alarm to anyone wanting to sneak up on you if you used it right.

“Going back to our earlier discussions. I’ll comprise with you. Use this to lure people into my dungeon that you feel shouldn’t be around anymore. I can change your card once you use the ability of the earring to change your appearance. I still can’t guarantee your safety, but…”

It sounded like something was physically keeping her from talking. I really didn’t have a better option than this. I would have to pay a large sum of money to move to a new city. This would allow me to take a new appearance once every forty-eight hours. I could be anyone. 

Plus, once I’d dealt with Kyle and cleared my name, I could go back to being Lance. Of course, if I raised my power high enough I wouldn’t have to pretend anymore. This would allow me the time to do so. 

“You won’t be mad if I absorb things in the dungeon while diving it would you?” I asked just to clarify. I’d hate to come back to this room after a dive only to have it filled with traps.

“All things are fair while diving. If you successfully defeat something fairly, then its fair game.”

“Good deal. Alright! I’m in,” I said holding out my hand to shake. Azaria tilted her head while looking at the hand.

“Are you trying to be funny?” she asked with a snort.

“It’s the thought that counts,” I said still holding my hand out. She looked from my face to the hand and back several times before she reached forward and acted to grasp her hand around mine. To both our surprise, her hand actually formed against mine. Going with the flow, I shook it twice. “Pleasure doing business with you.” I gave her a grin. 

~~~

Three days passed with nothing more happening. From what I understood no one had entered the dungeon yet. Likely, the association wanted to try and make reason for why Azaria’s dungeon or Station 64 as they would have it labeled had risen from the ground. The few times I’d glanced out the window, I’d seen some of the real heavy hitters moving around in the lot out front of Azaria’s entrance. 

I was pretty sure I saw Aires out there two days ago. The man was the size of a house after all. Then yesterday I swore I saw the Highlock couple. That was a husband and wife that I didn’t want to cross any time soon. The woman, Anna, or as she was known, Shield Goddess looked right at me after I’d been watching for a less than a second. I couldn’t be sure if she realized I was a human or if she just thought I was a dungeon monster.

The real shocker was when a man dressed in black arrived this morning. He wore a sleek black suit that seemed to morph as he moved. I barely got a glance in when he looked directly at me. At that moment, I decided to find a monster that would give me perception awareness. I wanted to be able to tell when people were looking at me.

“All the people with massive Aether feelings left this morning,” Azaria said after she popped into my room.

“Thank god. I thought I was going to die with Neo looked at me a few hours ago,” I said falling back onto the bed in my hideaway.

“Yeah. There were at least six people over the last few days that I knew could destroy my dungeon with a wave of their hand,” Azaria said wrapping her arms around her legs and spinning in the air. For whatever reason, I was able to see her whenever she was in this room. I appreciated it, since it got old talking through that sourpuss of a unicorn.

“Six, I must have missed some. I only felt four,” I replied biting my thumbnail.

“Two of them tried to hide it but they got too close to my field. I was able to sense them,” Azaria answered. 

“Would that count as eavesdropping?” I asked then shook my head. “Nah, it's technically your body. They were the ones eavesdropping on you.”

“More like peeping,” she said as she stuck her tongue out at me, and I laughed at how cute it looked.

“Do you have any idea when they are going to send some people in?” I asked. We couldn’t really put our plan into motion until I could get out of here, and the best way to do that is to take someone’s identity. It was a cruel method to use, but we had little choice. Though we do plan to aim for someone that seems to be the bottom of the barrel.

“I think soon. I’ve seen a couple of dozen people that were nowhere near the level of those other people, but still much stronger than the first two groups that came in here.”

I nodded. That makes sense. Dungeons are a resource. Just like a mine, if the material inside was desired then there would be miners that carved the ore out. Still, with two near-perfect wipes and now this. The association had to have risen her rank among the dungeons. Not just anyone can enter now.

“Try to keep a man alive. It will be easier for me to move around if I take a guy’s position,” I said. I wanted to remind her in case she forgot. I’d noticed that she had a tendency to let her mind wander if she was interested in the task.

“I know! I’ll TRY not to kill them all,” she pouted then flew from the room. I just shook my head as she vanished through the wall.