Dragonheart Core

I had lost the walls between several rooms of my second floor.

Great heaps of stone, torn loose by my rampaging, sat huddled against the walls and ceiling I'd carved them out of—one small passage of my canals had been blocked off, creating a still, flat pool with a few panicked silverheads. Two mangroves were dead and one was bleeding, the gash in its trunk spilling deep scarlet sap over its crushed roots, staining the algae beneath it. All of my creatures had fled to whatever corners they could find for themselves, even those on the first floor quiet and unmoving.

I had raged until I was so empty of mana I couldn't see, all my points of awareness shriveling away, and it had brought me nothing but ruin.

I supposed there was catharsis—finally acknowledging the emotions I'd stoppered up inside for so long did remove some sort of weight from my metaphorical shoulders, a relaxation I hadn't had the privilege of enjoying for weeks, but that wasn't tangible. Wasn't something I could actually feel.

And the destruction I'd brought and the challenge I'd issued was.

I doubted the idiotic brute in the cove outside could understand the draconic words I'd woven into my roar, but he didn't have to. All he had to feel was that there was a massive explosion of mana from within the nearby mountains. I didn't know the direct translation of points to the screenless power I'd had as a dragon, but I knew that the Otherworld mana was the purest I'd ever felt and all the more enticing for it.

Someone would have heard my call and decided to investigate.

So now that I had thrown my hatchling's tantrum and potentially doomed my entire dungeon, I had to try and save it.

Gods.

I slunk out a few points of awareness, the mana I'd built up after passing out from my rage equalling nearly ten points to my name, and prodded my way around the caverns I'd tried my damnedest to destroy; the damage, while not necessarily minimal, was enough I could handle it. I'd only ripped down a few walls and destroyed some of my trees, not weakening the supports or gnawing away at the stone separating the two floors, and thus it was manageable.

My silverheads who hadn't been trapped in the new pond had barely noticed the ruckus, swimming merrily around in their lazy schools; only quakes had reached the first floor and now that my mana had diffused back up my creatures there felt safe enough to emerge, luminous constrictors poking their heads off the outcroppings and spiders repairing their webs. My poor fool of a cave bear had finally made the plunge and headed down to the second floor only to be met with this explosion, and he was rather quickly scampering his large behind back up to the safety and food of the first.

I'd find a place for him eventually.

Seros flicked his pale tongue out, lantern-esque eyes peering out from the den I'd carved for him—I pressed soothing mana over our connection, even if the motion rang hollow. We both knew what I'd done and what it could mean.

The kobolds had–

Hm.

All three had survived, thankfully, and had huddled themselves in one of the far corners of the second floor; but already the first one I'd created had… established herself as the leader of the group? I paused, sending a handful of points of awareness in; she had gathered her little herd into a den not nearly large enough for them, their igneous-rock horns scrapping against the stone above. She huddled them together, warbling in their strange, kobold language what I could only guess were commands. The other two nodded in agreement.

She would be one to watch, then. Already she looked to be setting herself apart from my other creatures; the other one advanced enough to be related was the cave bear, and he was a lazy bastard who cared only for my mushrooms. The horned serpent was spending her time hunting on the second floor, fooling burrowing rats into her fanged embrace, and the jeweled jumper kept attempting to take down one of kobolds to lackluster success so far.

The kobold, however, was making a group.

I pushed a point of mana into their little cave and expanded it, dust raining over their horns as I carved the ceiling up and burrowed little nooks and crannies for them to sleep and rest in the back; I kept the entrance small, to keep it away from the cave bear or Seros, but enough for them to scurry their way through.

The kobolds blinked, glancing around—they stretched tensed muscles, tapping their dull claws on the walls like they feared it would disappear. I breathed soft, soothing mana into the room, making algae bloom over stone outcroppings like blankets and pushing fresh water to drip from the ceiling.

Off you go, I urged, withdrawing my active points of awareness.

I would never be able to claim kobolds followers as a dragon, but maybe I could build an army as a core. The bitterness struck me; I tried to shake it off, turning my awareness back to the second floor.

It would do. I was fine with it.

Really.

I fled before I could fall back down the same path I had before.

Adventurers were soon to come, I knew that, and thus I had to prepare—my first floor was defined for the moment, strong enough I knew it could hold itself together if I let it be while focusing on the second. I paused, swiveling points of awareness back to the rooms with the broken walls; I could technically try to rebuild the walls, but I rather liked the larger room in the midst of the others, somewhere a larger creature could build a home while leaving the rest of the floor ready for travel.

Maybe I could get the bear to build a den here.

Either way, I used what nine or so points I had left over to poke my way through the rubble, dissolving the larger chunks of stone that were blocking paths and healing the mangrove with the gash. It shivered when I touched it, the thorns hidden beneath its bark extending as if it thought I was a prey. Already I could see a darker streak over its roots where it had claimed the life of a burrowing rat that had made the horrible mistake of sheltering under its roots, its pale white leaves extending further up than its fellows.

If the kobolds wanted wood to build their traps, they would have to work for it.

I kept the pond the same, seeding a few more silverheads in to keep it stocked; maybe they would have a chance to evolve into a separate species when they were kept away from the main canals.

Speaking of.

One of the silverheads I had safely tucked away in a den finally let the glow fade back underneath its scales, shivering off the last of the mana it had built up in its victory over the electric eel. I could have purred, shoving away the last of my bitterness and still-not-dealt-with rage as I focused on my newest evolution; the first of the seven silverheads that had triumphed.

This one was the first electric silverhead, the breeding pair I'd chosen for evolution; compared to his previous six inches, he poked his head out of the den I'd hidden him away in with a full foot to his name, impossibly sleek and even thinner than before. The scale over his head that had once been for ramming was now akin to a warrior's helmet, growing over his jaws and dorsal fins in actual plates of silver, heavy enough his tail fin was nearly four times its original size just to keep him floating properly. He peered out at the canals swaying with strands of algae, fins flicking, before returning back to stand guard over his still-evolving partner.

Loyal. He'd serve an electric eel well.

The others slowly finished their evolutions as I picked my way through fixing up the broken room, emerging one by one—the pair of electric silverheads swam off in search of an eel that I, uh, hadn't created yet, laying claim to a den tucked far away under the roots of a growing mangrove. The four silvertooths emerged, already schooling; they were of a similar length, nearly a foot long, but built like proper brusiers with a wide, bulky body, their silver colouration broken up by red over their fins and eyes, and massive, jagged teeth like shards of broken glass. Already they followed the female I'd evolved first, circling around her like a tornado waiting to land.

And as for what their prey would be?

The creature I'd secretly been most excited about emerged from his den in a lazy, sweeping sprawl, easily three feet long and only just starting to grow—he was covered in massive, plated scales like a dragon's armour, interlocking even over the base of his fins. His head was sloped like a shovel, built for rooting around under sand for food, and his eyes were layered with clear scales as further protection.

The armourback sturgeon.

Seros so far had fed himself off frequent culls to the silverhead population, occasionally going for a burrowing rat or stone-backed toad just to spice things up; but this was a proper prey for him to hunt. I would have to wait until there were enough to sustain themselves but oh, there would be no better place for my predators to gather mana than attempting to take down one of those beasts.

Once I had enough.

My dungeon instincts had been silent for nearly a week, now that I had reached a point where they had apparently determined I wasn't fucking everything up; they had taught me how to kill my opponents and gather schemas, and that was it. I had no knowledge of how to go about obtaining schemas of evolved creatures but I had my hopes that it would just take their death as with my other creatures, even if I wasn't about to reward them for evolving by immediately sending Seros in to kill them.

Would it be in my interest to do so? Probably. Hells, even killing Seros would do me worlds of good to fill my halls with seabound monitors; but that wasn't the point.

This wasn't just a dungeon. It was my hoard, my newfound reason for living; if I killed every creature that evolved why would they ever want to push themselves, knowing that maybe they could unlock a new evolution and I would just kill them for it? I wanted my creatures to feel appreciated and cared for within my dungeon. I wanted to protect them.

So I would wait.

The sturgeon meandered his way through the canals, ignoring the hungry looks of the silvertooths, searching for somewhere to rest; I nudged him away from the large middle room, if only so whatever set up in there wouldn't constantly hunt him. For a later date.

The other evolutions picked their way through the canals, scaring away silverheads with their much improved size to claim the best dens; I created a single electric eel, sending the wriggling mass of pure muscle off to meet with his new underlings. With any luck they'd start their proper trap setting for the adventurers.

Adventurers soon to come.

I pulled back my awareness until Seros could feel me return to my core, raising his blue-green head to nose hesitantly at my pillar. He was the most in-tune to my emotions, as well as the going-ons of my dungeon; he knew what I had done. What I had called to us.

They're coming, I said, and watched him curl around my pillar; behind him, the canals lapped quietly at the mangrove roots, full of small, biting fish. Above us, spiders wove tiny webs and snakes feasted on rats and toads.

Our first adventurers had been unranked, weak, and unprepared.

We wouldn't be so lucky next time.

-

The Heart was still angry.

She could feel it, being the cleverest as she was—the mana around her was brittle and sharp like birds' bones, though she couldn't quite recall what birds was. Something brittle and sharp, apparently.

She frowned and tapped her claws together. Many big thoughts were in her head, ones she hadn't had, but she was the only one with them. The two other scale-kin were slow and quiet, listening to her instead of their own big thoughts. They had only been happy at their new-formed den instead of wondering why.

Why a den? Why there? Why not next to the Heart?

Too many big thoughts.

She stood up, dragging the attention of the others back to her. They were picking through the bones of the scurrying furred one she had killed earlier with her claws, sucking out the juice inside to ease hungry stomachs. Little prey for little thoughts.

I go, she warbled. They nodded at her.

She dropped to her stomach and slithered out, horns catching against the stone; she twisted and was free. Green-light spilled over the algae above, the white tree-leaves waving over her head. Those big thoughts remembered what it was like to hold… pieces of trees in her claws, to use as longer claws? She didn't know.

But she listened to the big thoughts. One day she would break the trees.

For now she hunted, ducking behind rocky outcroppings as she headed deeper into the stone, tail swishing. She didn't like the water, she knew that, too cold and wet; those same big thoughts dreamt of fire. She had never seen fire before.

Another furred one scurried across her path, ducking between patches of algae—she hissed and gave chase, claws scratching against the ground. It squeaked and ran faster, sprinting over the–

She froze.

Something lumbered out of another room, nearly up to her chest; it was covered in the same scales as her but dark green, except for one enormous scale that took up its entire back. Armour; something her claws could never break past. It stared at her with a pale grey eye.

Oh, her thoughts were big but she was still very small; the furred being got away as she scampered behind a rocky outcropping, heart beating hard enough to make her tremble. Maybe it wouldn't kill her.

A second passed. She heard it exhale and begin to plod away, disappearing back into the water with a splash.

She stayed hidden until her chest stopped shaking.

There was a reason she was supposed to stay hidden in the den; too small, she chided herself, peering cautiously out. Maybe she would take a different way back this time, wait until she was truly hungry to start hunting. It was too dangerous.

She went to the left this time, scurrying past the open rooms and the waving trees, following the flow of the water. Maybe it was time she started traveling with all three of them, safe in a group. There was no reason to go alone.

Another entrance to a room she hadn't seen before; she crouched by the entrance, peering cautiously through.

A pillar sat in the middle, water on both sides; but behind it, another mass of scales. A deep blue-green, flecked with silver, again so opposite to her own pale red; she tensed. Another monster. She had to get back to her den.

The monster raised its head.

It loomed above her, easily twice her height, and as it slowly uncurled from its position around the pillar she could see that it was so much longer; its claws were massive and sharp, its tail long and finned, muscles enormous under its scales. It could kill her with a bite, a flick of its body, there was nothing she could do against something so big. It turned its—his—yellow eyes on her.

And–

Oh.

He was a dragon.

Her big thoughts weren't hers– they were dragon thoughts. That was why they were so big—they were made in the presence of a dragon. He was so strong and mighty, even her thoughts were empowered in his presence; empowered! Another big word, a dragon word.

She wanted more.

But she was so small, so weak. How could she prove herself to such a mighty dragon? How could she convince it to continue giving her dragon thoughts? What could she possibly do to impress it?

She stayed there, staring at him; he was merciful, gracious, not killing her despite how weak she was. He just looked at her before returning to his rest, guarding what she had thought was the Heart—but it had to be him. No plain rock could be so powerful; a dragon ruled these mountain halls.

And thus knew every creature within.

Her thoughts, small ones she knew came from herself, turned back to the monster she had seen. The one so big, so armoured, that she didn't have a chance in killing it.

But if she did?

She turned back to her den. It was time to hunt.