Yorick

I watched the group of adventurers leave, one by one climbing up the stairs and out of the dungeon. They were all different than they had been going in, some of them vastly so, but they were in one piece. And, they were still friends. I listened in on their conversation before they fully left, and overheard as Stephan and Val made each other keep honest to a bet they'd made before going into me. Not me, but, my dungeon... I was so used to being a mold, that I was forgetting I wasn't the entire thing anymore...

They did that and slowly made their way up to my forest, and I chose to go to where Angel had decided to stay. She also was in the forest, not appreciating the underground as much as I had. He focused on her as she sat in a tree and watched the magical lake below. She was very pretty, but... I had never wanted to see that sight before... and never wanted to again. Not unless I was already married to the woman. It was just... wrong. 

"The adventurers are leaving soon, please don't bother them when they do." Having someone to talk too- even if she was acting like a pouty child- was better than he'd imagined he could miss. 

"They took you from me, and they totally ruined my epic return! You were supposed to be excited to see me, and you screamed instead! I worked so hard on this thing!" She glared to the side, huffing and folding her arms in angry annoyance. "Besides, the amount of knowledge I have is enough to make even the gods of this world quiver in fear and drool with desire. If knowledge is power, why shouldn't I be a goddess? They even told me no to my face- and you helped them, you jerk!" She was furious about that. 

I felt annoyed. This was supposed to be my dungeon fairy? Supposed to help me? As if. "I already talked to you about that. If you aren't willing to be reasonable or even mildly mature, then I'm moving on. Mainly, I'd like to know- how am I supposed to condense my territory? I am apparently supposed to be able to do that." 

She stayed silent for a minute before looking at me like I was an idiot. "Are you serious? how are you so... incompetent?" She sighed, shaking her head. In disappointment, I think. I felt very offended by that. "You take your mana and try to push more of it into an area without actually expanding. Does that make sense?" She raised an eyebrow at me, as if mocking me or something. 

I glared- not that that was really possible as a consciousness that didn't even have his physical body with him, but did as she said. I forced more mana into the area around myself, pushing it until I could feel something responding. I slowly felt my mana deplete, and watched the amount drain out of me. It was so strange... I couldn't even notice a difference in the area around me... though my mana total raised with every point that went out of me, meaning that something was happening. 

Of course, I hated the idea that it had been so simple, but... I couldn't argue with the results. I supposed that the important thing was that it was working now. I watched as Angel's face slowly relaxed, smiling as she slowly gained a smug expression. I sighed, moving my attention away from her, knowing that she'd be gloating soon. I was certain that she noticed I wasn't there as well, but I didn't care. I had more important things to worry about- like the growing urge to see all of my territory as I did this. 

I obeyed my instincts, exploring all of the forest, then all of the caverns, and finally... I explored the water. I stretched further from the land until I finally reached the place where I'd felt the greyed out option. It was still greyed out, but... it responded to the mana I was still exuding. I stayed there, looked around the area and pushing my mana out into the waters around me. 

It was a sort of coral bed, with a very safe looking protective area. It was just inside of some underwater caves. I decided that I'd want to expand into them next. I continued pushing my mana out and into the world until I was almost out- leaving only a few points inside of myself and feeling curious as the option settled down, as it felt like... more than it had been before. 

I left after a while, going back to my body and settling myself down into sleep, turning the 'setting' for my mana to experience gathering and hesitating. I left it open and then exuded the last of the mana in my body, passing out once I had done so. I felt so suddenly exhausted... I could afford to sleep without gathering experience. I had done almost nothing else while the adventurers were here, and I knew I had several level-ups waiting. Well... one or two. I didn't care right now, since I was more worried about my dungeon becoming more of what it was supposed to be. 

I needed to condense my mana before leveling up. It was so stupid that I hadn't done it properly... I slept, dreaming about my old life, and beginning to wonder if I really wanted to go home when I couldn't even remember my own name... I still had no idea why that had happened. Maybe because Alcor had claimed me? Whatever that entailed... I was somehow now certain that my name was Yorick, even though I knew it wasn't my original name. 

___

Valentine

Valentine walked slowly through the forest, her thoughts filling her mind as they walked. She actively had to force herself to pay attention to the outside world, or else she'd have run into things. The discovery of a Fae core, something mostly talked about in theory and referenced to by gods and fairytales... It was insane. No-one would know what this dungeon core might do- and then the appearance of that powerful angelic being claiming to be a goddess... a goddess...

She felt on the verge of a realization and felt an intense headache beginning to afflict her. She forced herself not to get distracted, pondering the thought and continuing to walk- her split focus only increasing the pain of the headache. After a few minutes, she was blinking tears from her eyes as she continued struggling through the pain- forcing her mind to work.

Finally, with what felt like a tearing of her mind, she realized what she'd been trying to consider and the pain intensified for a single agonizing second before vanishing and leaving a new notification in her 'skills' screen. She gasped in relief, almost forgetting what she'd realized until it caught her attention again and she stopped walking, eyes wide with shock.

The others stopped, looking at her in confusion as she turned and faced them, looking at Stephan and trembling slightly. He looked nervous after a moment, looking around as she stared. "Val...? What are you staring at me for? I... I don't think I did anything wrong..."

She shook her head, taking a few hesitant steps before running over and abandoning any sense of decorum as she grabbed his collar and pulled him down till he was inches from her face and suddenly bright red. "You said you found that tablet in a chest- on the ceiling? The one that talked about some kind of prayer? One that mentioned a goddess?!" He blinked, and Alcor paled. Then Stephan did, and Auriel looked at Val in nervous confusion.

"What... what do you mean...? What tablet?" Val knew as soon as Stephan's face went pale. She let go, stumbling back until she was against a tree. Then she slowly slid down the trunk until she was sitting on the earth beneath them. She tiredly looked at Auriel, fear pooling in her stomach.

"Stephan found an old tablet that was extremely worn and hard to read. It's in my pack. I was planning on getting an enchanter to use restoration magic on it, but... I know enough from what I read to know that it was a prayer to a god and goddess... it came from before the time of the elves, and it mentioned a goddess of light." She looked at the tops of the trees, wondering what her continued lack of worship for any deity did for her.

Auriel looked horrified, and slowly began to lean on Alcor, who let her do so. They'd gotten much closer since his near-death possession, and Val thought they might be considering dating. A sweet idea... if taboo. Val sighed, looking at the sky. "We might have seen an ancient goddess who has only just reclaimed her powers... which means we might see a new race- or, rather, an old race- appear in the world."

What would that do to the world? Where would they go? Every people had their kingdoms already claimed, and no one would give up the land- the modern peoples had changed since the invasion of the humans. Before that war, people were willing to make room for a new race and land-trades happened regularly- they were required by their gods to actively help one another grow and prosper.

Human's made that difficult if not impossible, and their god was so hands-off that the other gods had no choice but to mimic him. That was what priests claimed, anyways. No... there were no reasons for anyone to share now- though it still happened amongst most races secretly. It was hard- especially for longer-lived races- to change that habit.

No... there was no-where for a new race to go, and there might not even be political room for a new kingdom. Definitely not so close to the human kingdom... the implications of this were insane, and so far-reaching that... Val herself would need to handle the paperwork of explaining this to people. She'd have to do everything because no-one else had in her group had the necessary level of understanding of the situation, nor the political standing that she herself had.

She was Sherlock's granddaughter- a potential Marchioness in human lands. All she needed to do was perform a Sherlockian feat and she'd be given that title and offered a husband, even gifted lands and an estate- all to allow her family to more easily breed into the nobility and add to the line's competency. More than that, though, she'd be forced to revoke her title as an adventurer... She'd forget about the leveling system, and she'd never know about it again.

She looked at her friends, tears welling up in her eyes. They looked so worried... and none of them had any idea that she would have to go. Even Alcor hadn't reached that conclusion... Val finally opened her skill screen and looked at the skill she'd developed. It made her snort, as a title unlocked immediately after. The others looked at her and she started crying as she read the ability and title aloud.

Sherlockian wisdom (Human-specific racial skill- created and named by Sherlock Holmes)- Gain the ability to display an abnormal amount of wisdom and intelligence- in addition, your mind functions on a supernatural level, allowing you to split your consciousness ni two- a 'subconscious part, which constantly analyses and learns about it's environment while trying to identify the meaning of what it learns, and the 'higher conscious' which acts as normal though is able to think more quickly and freely as it doesn't need to worry about anything other than moving your body, your inner monologue, and other things humans traditionally deal with while being aware of dealing with them. In addition, allows each conscious a person has inside of them to add the person's base INT. and WIS. stats to their stat totals as a sort of bonus. Also allows the title 'Sherlock's inheritor' to be acquired.

Sherlocks inheritor (Human-specific racial title- created and named by Sherlock Holmes)

This title allows one to understand and exploit the fundamental rules that govern the universe to create forbidden things called 'skills' from scratch. By obtaining an understanding of those rules, you have gained permanent, partial access to a 'skill screen' which has been forbidden to humans. Despite this, this title has allowed you access to that aspect of reality by achieving what the human 'god' calls a 'loophole in our system'. ***-*- *** Use this wisely, and help our nation become what it once was. Trounce those foolish races that sought to suppress us- and utterly crush them with our superior intellect and- thanks to you- genetic gift. If you see these words, you're my descendent. That means your children will have this gift. Pass it on to your children, and don't you dare tell any other human about this.

She looked at the group, smiling and shaking her head. She was unable to read all of the title- as expected. Still, she'd tried, and Stephan seemed to grasp where this was going fairly quickly. That made sense, as the other two wouldn't know much about human politics- humans and other races didn't mix well, and humans had become xenophobic after their insane loss of power. 

Access to a skills menu... it was incredible. Leveling up your skills and being aware of exactly what you could do and how well at all times was already an advantage, but... she had no idea if it would be enough. Still, it was her duty to at least help this much pass on. 

"It's been nice leading this group, but... our party has to end, once we get back to the guild." Alcor and Auriel looked stunned and confused, but Stephan just looked resigned. She opened her mouth to finish explaining when a wave of mana washed over her, the air thickening slightly. It made everything feel suddenly more alive, and a few sparks of magic entered the air, flickering into and out of existence like fireflies made of magic. It died down after a moment, leaving things more like they had been before, but it was very obvious that something had changed. 

"Form up, we need to pay attention. There's time to talk about this later- once we've left the dungeon's territory." They reluctantly agreed, though Auriel started walking to the left of where they were, walking into the brush and ignoring Alcor when he tried to stop her. They all followed, confused and worried until she stopped and looked at a lake with three trees beginning to grow out of it. Each one looked oddly magical, and had a distinctly enchanted feeling.

Auriel looked back at them. "This is what I wanted to check out when we first arrived. You decided we'd investigate it later- then you forgot. Now, can someone help me figure out why this feels like it's pulling my very being towards it?" She looked at the trees, clearly uncomfortable with how important they felt to her. 

Val looked at the others, uncertain as she hesitantly began to try and sense what was weird about the place. She had promised though. "Alcor, get me some of the bark from those trees, please. Stephan, gather some of the water and check out the bottom of the lake- see if anything feels at all magical. Auriel, let me look at you." She started examining her, determined to figure this out. 

When the men were back- Stephan completely soaked and wearing nothing but his undergarments- she took what they gave her wordlessly, understanding and not commenting on their state of dress. Walking in wet clothing was awful. 

She took the materials, setting them next to Auriel, who immediately looked at the bark. "It's the trees then... let's see how this bark is enchanted, shall we?" She sighed, carefully inspecting and watching the bark, lightly touching it and casting the spell 'analyze'. She was careful to chant the spell and pay attention to the words. She planned to write down every spell that could say, and keep the 'spellbook' on her person at all times. She wouldn't have as perfect of a memory once her system was made dormant again...

The spell ended after a few minutes, and she picked up the bark, staring straight at it- willing it's information to appear in the air. Another moment, and her will succeeded, creating a status screen that displayed itself in front of her. She read through it, and then dropped the bark in shock, burning it wit ha quick, harsh spell once it hit the ground.

She looked at her friends, her shock turning to exhaustion and annoyance. "It's a portal. The trees create portals to the Fae wild... And they've already started doing it."

(A/N)
Sorry about taking so long- I had some homework problems that I'm rectifying. This book is going to be my NaNoWriMo project, so hopefully I'll catch up on the bits I've missed overtime. Goodluck, my friends- and remember that forgetting homework is awful. Just... do what it takes not to forget anything. It isn't worth whatever instant gratification you get. Trust me...

Anyways...
Until next time, Sept mates!

Your Poet and Scribe,
ShadeFinder~<(0^0)>