The Survivor Becomes a Dungeon

Trisha POV

The mere fact that Trisha had been working her new forge for twenty-four hours without feeling the need for sleep or food had excited her. Between the power coursing through her veins with each swing of her hammer and the invigorating heat of the forge, she had never felt this good before.

As she walked down the hall, leading Sylvia to the storeroom, she felt a mixture of emotions whirling around her mind. Working the forge again after so long brought a fulfilling sense of happiness she hadn't felt in quite a while. Yet, she couldn't help but think back to her father and the amazing things he had forged without the benefit of a mana heart like hers. The sorts of people he equipped and those who sought him out for what he could do, yet he still found time to do work for the community, sharpening knives and fixing pans. She missed her father and wished she could see him again, to work beside him once more would be the dream, but those thoughts are simply idle fantasies.

She soon focused on the moment as she entered the magically illuminated store room, leading Sylvia inside as she looked among the materials, all sorts of wood, stone, ores, ingots of various metals, bones, and even gems organized neatly on an array of stone shelves. Trisha made her way over to a couple of cloth-wrapped bundles, taking up one as she revealed a set of brown throwing knives and a pouch of barbed black arrowheads.

Sylvia, for her part, was looking over the eclectic array of materials, taking up a few ingots of iron before setting them back down as Trisha came over with the fruits of her labor. "My my, these are some fine pieces. Though are you sure you want to put so much effort into what will likely be disposable pieces of equipment?" She asked leadingly while taking up one of the throwing knives, carefully appraising the meticulously sharpened edge before looking up at Trisha.

Trisha smiled with vague amusement, plucking up one of the barbed arrowheads and looking it over for herself. "My father taught me that you put yourself out in the world with each thing you make. It doesn't matter if it'll be used once or one hundred times. If you don't put your best into the things you make, you'll never be better than second-rate." She said, a small smile on her face as she gazes into the middle distance, staring past the arrowhead.

Sylvia nodded intently. "Spoken like a master smith, your father must be an excellent teacher." She mentioned cheerfully as she set the throwing knife back with the others. Her cheery mood falls when she notices the expression Trisha is making.

Trisha merely offered a somewhat pained smile before letting out a soft sigh. "Yes, he was..." She took a moment to just collect herself before looking back down at Sylvia. "I still have a lot to learn, though with Vitmori giving me an entire forge to myself and all the materials I could ever need, I'm sure I'll have many opportunities to keep practicing." She said, offering a more genuine smile at that thought as she looked around the storeroom.

Sylvia gently pats Trisha's shoulder arm as she offers a small smile. "That's the spirit. You're gonna do great." With that, Sylvia pulled away before looking around the storeroom and stroking her chin, "Do you mind if I borrow your smelter so I can prepare some ingots for Vitmori's armor?" She asked, acting a little more cheerful to help raise Trisha's spirits.

Trisha nodded intently as she gestured over at the shelves full of ores. "Sure, help yourself." She said simply, turning to step out of the storeroom before coming face to face with a wolfkin man she did not recognize, not having heard him approach or even sensed him at first. She was startled for a moment, his intense demeanor unsettling her until she seemed to get a sensation through the connection they shared through Vitmori. "H-hello, how may I help you...?" She asked, leadingly hoping for him to introduce himself.

The man seems to watch her for a few more moments before speaking up. "Sorry for startling you, my name is Dread, Vitmori's paladin and blade. I was hoping to request a commission from you, as you are also in Vitmori's service, I'm sure he believes you to be exceptional in skill." He explained, respectfully lowering his head as he introduced himself before standing tall again, his furred ears perked and at attention.

"Vitmori has a paladin?" Sylvia asked curiously, the word paladin feeling sour on her tongue after everything she has gone through.

Dread nodded his head. "Paladins, and yes, he does." He barely clarified, his face and voice passive and devoid of emotion besides a stern focus and measured politeness.

"Since when?" Sylvia pressed, in the last couple of months since they ended up here, she had never heard of any other people here besides the slavers that came to buy them and the people who brought them here.

"Since he killed us and liberated you all." He said plainly, apparently having guessed what she was fishing for.

This set Sylvia on edge, taking a step back as she reached out and took up a particularly large-looking bone off a shelf, wielding it like a club as her mana heart started to pound with vigor. Though Dread doesn't react, not showing any signs of moving to attack or even defend himself from Sylvia's display.

Trisha was nervous for a moment, but thanks to their shared connection to Vitmori, she could sense that Dread was legitimately no threat to them as she glanced between him and Sylvia. "W-wait a minute, you're one of the paladins that were escorting us, b-but you're a beastkin? Not to mention, you just said you died."

Dread nodded intently, turning to look at Trisha and maintaining some rather prolonged eye contact. "Yes, but as Vitmori puts it, we got better." He said without an ounce of amusement. "Vitmori brought new life to our bodies and brought us into his service. We have been training and working within his mountain ever since, with little reason to leave. However, he has since restored the memories of who we used to be and thus became more than who we used to be before and after entering Vitmori's service." He explained, finally breaking eye contact as he looked between Sylvia and Trisha.

Sylvia was still on edge, though she at least lowered the bone she was wielding for the moment. Trisha spoke up once Dread finished his explanation. "So wait... You are both a new person and the person who was part of the whole thing with selling us as slaves?" She asked, earning a nod from Dread. Trisha needed a moment to think about that before glancing at Sylvia and then back at Dread. "What's your name? It can't just be Dread, can it?" She asked curiously.

That got Dread to flick one of his ears as he looked at Trisha. "I abandoned my old name, that man no longer exists, I am someone different, someone who will tear down everything the old me served to build." He said with a harder edge to his voice.

At that, Sylvia finally relaxed as she put the bone back where she found it. "Now, that's something I can get behind." She said with a smirk, nodding with approval at his words.

Trisha nods at her words before looking back up to Dread curiously. "You said you had a commission for me? What did you need?"

Dread regarded Trisha for a moment before shrugging the shield off his back and pulling his sword from his hip while it was still in its sheath before presenting them to her. "Vitmori has returned the equipment he collected from us. However, I have no desire to keep these as I am no longer a servant of the Gaian Church, nor pretending to be one." He explained as Trisha took up the freshly shined and rather ornate yet battle-tested equipment. "I want you to destroy them, melt them down, do whatever you like, afterward, if you could please prepare me another sword and shield, you may decide on the style, material, and build."

Trisha considered the sword and shield, almost feeling it would be a shame to destroy such well-made pieces, but ultimately, it wasn't her place to argue the point. She looked up at Dread and quirked a brow at him. "What do I get out of this? You said this is a commission, after all. We may both work for the same boss, but Vitmori is the one I'm in a direct contract with, not you." She explained simply, all business now that Dread has made his request.

Dread momentarily looked surprised, his brows raising as his ear flicked. He then furrowed his brows in thought before shaking his head. "I'm afraid I don't have any money. Perhaps I can get you something to repay you with once I return from the Theocracy." He offered, sounding rather unsure of himself and almost regretful for being so presumptuous.

Trisha looked vaguely surprised that he was going back to the Theocracy, considering something before looking back up at Dread. "I'll give you the details later, but there's something I want you to get from my father's smithy. There's a lockbox of stuff underneath the floorboards, it's just a few personal effects that I didn't dare pawn off, but as long as you promise to bring that back, I'll get started on your stuff soon." She said, offering a bit of a smile.

Dread's ears perked, though he bobbed his head once. "Very well, I promise to retrieve this lockbox before I return." He said rather resolutely. "If you'll excuse me, I must get back to my training." He expressed politely, getting a nod from Trisha as he then dismissed himself and made his way off.

Trisha watched as Dread left, peeking after him once he made his way into the hall before looking back at Sylvia as she regarded the sword and shield in her arms. "Well then... I suppose Vitmori has plenty of his own secrets."

Sylvia nodded as she went about collecting the ores she wanted to refine for Vitmori's armor. "And I have a feeling he has a lot more... But..." She shrugged a bit as she plucked another ore from the shelf. "As Zasutir says, he hasn't given us any reason not to trust him. He's done right by us. If he wants to have secrets, fine by me, as long as they don't put Aug or any of the others in harm's way." She then looked over to Trisha and flashed a bit of a grin. "Let's get to work."

With that, Trisha nods intently, though as they stepped into the hall, she looked after where Dread had walked off, wondering what to make of a man she saw die, now walking among them again.

Vitmori POV

After spending the rest of the day and evening training my magic, I felt I had a much better handle when it came to actually manipulating my mana more efficiently and had a much easier time visualizing what I want to do. Of course, I'm barely beyond throwing primal elements around when it comes to actual combat, but I'm just barely getting started. However, with that much progress in controlling my magic, I knew I needed to jumpstart my training in actually using my body. After seeing Reyvyre back to the Haven, I made my way back to my mountain and scaled it for the second time today.

I made my way up to the peak, approaching the entryway to my chamber for the first time in a physical body. It's an odd sensation, to say the least, like deja vu. It felt familiar to see, but I had never seen it with my own two eyes. Lingering by the entrance for another moment, I step closer and look inside, seeing the glow of my core illuminating the chamber. That's me right there, yet I'm also standing right here, watching the glowing green rock that makes up the entirety of me as I am in this world.

I make my way in, the sound of my wooden feet clacking against the stone with every step. Once again, I was totally alone, as it was just me and myself in my chamber. I never realized how unbearable the silence could be up here since I didn't even have the benefit of the sound of my own heartbeat or even breath. Now, standing before my pedestal, I reach out and touch my core and... I was warm. Something about that manages to make me smile as I gaze into the glimmering swirls of mana rings as they slowly whirled around.

Despite the smile on my face, I can't help but realize that I am really not a human anymore. I'm just a thing, an object that can have thoughts and feelings and hopes and dreams. I can pretend to be a person that's almost like everyone else, but at the end of the day, as long as this glorified rock exists, I probably won't ever die, I won't ever be truly flesh and blood again. I can inhabit bodies like this wooden puppet, but ultimately, that's all I'll ever do, inhabit, live in, and borrow, but I'll never just be a human again, I will always just be this thing... No matter what. I go to touch my cheek, pulling away as my fingers come back dry... I don't know why I expected anything else.

Taking a pointless deep breath, I sighed and scratched the back of my head. "Alright, old-timer, that's enough for now." I tell myself as I look around my chamber some more before settling down on the step to my pedestal. Looking out to the entrance of my chamber, I shut my eyes, and after a few moments, I find that I've managed to separate myself from my avatar. My wooden body went slack and lay limply against my pedestal, the illusion of skin fading back to the wood underneath. Oddly enough, I do notice that the intangible thread that connected the avatar to my core was still there; maybe I'll try disconnecting and reconnecting to my avatar while I'm outside of my bubble next time.

Instead of being alone with my thoughts, I decided to keep myself busy as I shift my perspective down below my mountain. There's so much potential space to work with down here. What used to be an impressive underground complex now turned into nothing but filled-up stone rooms. After some time considering what I could do, I think I found my answer in regards to getting used to my new body. It was an obvious solution, to say the least, for something like me, that is.

To sum it up, I carved out an atrium the size of a city block and just around sixty feet tall and used all that stone to rebuild a spot I knew by memory. A certain street of the old Bouquet community, including a rooftop I had not seen in many years. I then filled the place with all sorts of obstacles, ramps, and passageways that were of my own design, making a playground out of the shell of my old home. I do my best to recreate what I remembered, though, at the same time, I made sure to keep everything as bare bones as possible, making the whole place more reminiscent of some warehouse mockup of a combat zone rather than a place that people once lived in.

All in all, I was able to consume myself in my work, and before I knew it, I had guests in my core chamber. Making my way up, I came to find out that it was well into the morning, which means I was very much successful in my goal to distract myself.

Returning to my chamber, I come to find Joli kneeling beside my avatar while gently poking its cheek, her face carrying an expression of concern as she looked it over. "Vitmori...? Are you okay? Hello?"

I couldn't help but smile a bit, and while I briefly consider scaring her a little bit by suddenly taking control of my body, I decided to be nice and create an orb of green light to represent where I am before speaking out to her. "Sorry about worrying you, I was distracted elsewhere. Did you need something?"

She still jumps a little while mid-poke before looking up at the ball of light and standing. "Ah, it's okay, Vitmori. Sorry to interrupt whatever it was that you were doing, but we just needed a little bit of help."

I coax the ball of light to go into the core so I don't need to bother maintaining it, letting her look at my core itself before responding to her. "Don't worry about it, I needed to be interrupted. How can I help you?" I offer as pleasantly as I can manage.

Joli smiles as she clasps her hands together. "Well, that's a relief." She muses for a moment before continuing. "We need a cave for Isaak so he can be isolated for the next couple of days at least, we also need to begin his training while we're at it so we can make sure he's on par with the other apprentices that we're bringing here."

I couldn't help but mentally grin to myself as I considered her request. "A cave for isolation and training, you say? Well, you're in luck, I have just the place."