[Do you wish to claim this Nexus?]

The words were all Aki could see. She’d never expected to see another nexus in her life; she’d expected to die, and in many ways she wouldn’t regret it. She’d lived a long life, even for a dungeon core.

For all that most civilizations chose to protect their cores, civilizations didn’t last forever, and there were always people more interested in the next paycheck than the future. There were also people who grew to hate a core, especially when they lost a loved one.

No, she’d lived long enough. Aki had lost her first Bonded, who’d chosen to live a normal life instead of accept the gift of the dungeon, and she’d lost all of the ones since then. Even the ones she’d chosen not to offer the choice to left holes in her heart when they passed. Aki was tired, and ready to rest.

There was only one thing she would regret: Raz. He would be heartbroken, and while he’d eventually recover, she couldn’t bring herself to do that to him.

Raz was the most like Sunrise of all the Bonded Aki had trained, and he wasn’t even ready to Bond, yet. There hadn’t been many of late; Asihanya was large enough for the Tier 4 people that would be needed to bond to an eight-layer dungeon, but few of the Sunrise Clan had chosen that Path, and those that had hadn’t -

Aki stopped herself. Raz had, and that was more important than all the people who hadn’t. Maybe his youth and enthusiasm would bring joy back into her life. An old dungeon core could hope.

Yes.

It was the only acceptable answer.

[Nexus claim contest won by forfeiture of opponent]

[Winning a Nexus Claim through methods other than combat has been Noticed. Additional dungeon options are available]

Opponent? But - there was nothing in the Nexus, or she wouldn’t have been given a claim option! What were the odds that something else that could use a Nexus would arrive at the same time she did and then forfeit the Nexus? She wouldn’t have won a combat; anything could destroy her!

[Choose where to begin:]

[Choose Dungeon Theme]

[Affinity Selection]

[Choose first Dungeon Monster]

[Choose initial Ecology]

[Design initial location]

[Offer Dungeon Bond]

There was no one here Aki would be able to Bond, but she couldn’t stop herself from choosing that option, just to confirm the impossibility.

[Sapients currently in range to offer Bond to:]

[Rissa Latimer]

[Razinkh ‘e Sunrise]

[E̵r̵r̷o̵r̸] [S̴͎̒è̸͎r̷͇͠e̴̪͝n̵̩̆i̴̫̒t̵̩̕y̷͇̓] [T̴̗̠̈h̶̩́ơ̶̡̳m̵̻̽a̷̪͗̐s̶͚͐͐ R̷̝͑o̷̺̦͙͊t̸͙̕h̴͕̜̕m̶̼̖͑̐ë̵̼́͆̍r̷͎̓͐̃ͅ] [E̶͕͎̯̊̎r̵̲̪̻̾̆̃́͜r̸͖̝̫̪̤͊̌o̶̱̭͔͗̆̋̀̊̚r̶̨̙͓̳̎̕]

Aki’s attention was drawn irresistibly to the second name. She selected it without further consideration; it wasn’t until after she’d chosen to offer the Bond that she decided maybe it wasn’t a good idea.

She hadn’t Bonded to anyone who was only Tier 2 since Sunrise herself; it wasn’t safe, and the Voice didn’t permit it. It was really only safe for three-level dungeons or lower; while she’d lost control of some of her floors, she didn’t understand why it was permitted now. It hadn’t been before Raz took her out of her old dungeon.

Oh. It must not be considering the old dungeon, only that this was a new one. Aki hoped she hadn’t just hurt her only remaining friend; she knew he’d accept. It was something he’d wanted for as long as she’d known him.

In fact, why hadn’t she heard from him yet? Was he injured?

Aki? Are you there?

No, he was fine. She was worried over nothing. :Yes, I’m here. The Bond worked, then? You don’t have to touch me as long as you’re within my influence?:

Oh. I’ll let go. Uh, can you still hear me?

That was Raz all over. The silly boy always needed a prompt. :Yes, of course I can. Why don’t we do the dungeon setup?:

[Choose where to begin:]

[Choose Dungeon Theme]

[Affinity Selection]

[Choose first Dungeon Monster]

[Choose initial Ecology]

[Design initial location]

[Offer Dungeon Bond] [Complete]

Where do we start?

Aki picked Choose Dungeon Theme. :We can start anywhere, but I like the idea of a unifying theme. My old dungeon had one, before…:

Raz either didn’t notice Aki’s regret or decided to ignore it. Oh neat! The quest for finding you a new home gave a Theme as a reward! I bet it’s because Serenity helped, it said it was Dragons’ Lair.

:That sounds like an interesting theme, but let’s see what the other options are before we choose.:

[Themes]

[Special]

Dragons’ Lair

Broken Dungeon (Cave of Mystery)

Crazed Caverns

Mutant Mayhem Maze

Uncontrolled Chaos

Shattered Spell Shards

Test of Fortitude

[Location]

Lakeside

Seaside

Marsh

Plains

Hills

Cave

Beach

Railroad

[General]

Monster Den

Cavern

Mine

Deserted City

City of Monsters

Derelict

Wizard’s Tower

Cultist Hideout

Bandits’ Den

Rebel Retreat

Plant Palace

Deceptive Paradise

[Type]

Maze

Scenario

Puzzle

Arena

Onslaught

Banquet of Bosses

The list wasn’t the same as when she’d set up her old dungeon with Sunrise. The only Special option she’d had then was Hidden Temple, and it didn’t appear on the new list. Of course, Sunshine had picked the Location option Cave of Wonder over that Special option.

Most of the later options - especially General and Type - were similar; the Location options were different, but clearly somehow related to where the nexus was (even if she had no idea what a “railroad” was, it must be nearby).

The new Special options hurt. Most of them were clearly referring to her past; Dragons’ Lair wasn’t, and without knowing what a “mutant” was, Aki couldn’t be certain about that one either, but she certainly wasn’t going to choose it without knowing. Test of Fortitude probably referred to her survival; Aki didn’t mind it the way she minded the others, but it still wasn’t one she wanted as her theme.

Why are Types under Theme? I know some dungeons are “puzzle dungeons” or “onslaught dungeons”, but why is that under Theme?

Aki would have shaken her head if she had one. Raz clearly hadn’t thought about it. :Many dungeons have a single floor that is a maze or a puzzle or a boss sequence, whatever. It will follow whatever the overall dungeon’s theme is, if it has one - not all dungeons start with one, though most will develop one eventually. Some dungeons are only a huge Arena or a series of Scenarios or - well, any of those. That is their theme; the monsters can be wildly different from one floor to the next, as can the setting.:

Oh.

Yeah, oh. It was obvious. If you picked a monster first, it was like picking a theme, only based around a monster and its relatives. If you started with one of the “initial” options, you delayed the choice - but no matter what, there was always a theme of some sort eventually.

Aki didn’t question the fact that she knew that. She simply did.

:I do like Dragons’ Lair. I think it’s the best of the Specials. I don’t think I want any of the Types; we can do an individual floor that way, but not them all. Are there any you particularly like in Location or General?:

Derelict, Wizard’s Tower, and Plant Palace. But I like Dragons’ Lair more than any of them. I won it and - and dragons. The stories about the Dragons of the Sun that guarded the Draykin of Sunrise’s home…

Aki knew exactly which stories Raz was talking about; she’d been the one to tell them to him, after all. She didn’t know more about them than what Sunrise had told her, and it was possible she’d modified them a bit to be better tales for young Raz … but he wasn’t wrong. The originals were inspiring.

More than that, the idea of having dragons as her monsters … it was an amazing thought. Adult dragons, even weak ones, were powerful, yes, but more than that, they were intelligent.

And they were very, very long-lived. Far longer than draykin.

Having someone to talk to - to share her life with - for a very, very long time … it was attractive.

The problem was, where would they get the dragon? Aki didn’t want a simple monster who was regularly killed, even if she could respawn it; that would hurt each time it happened. No, what she wanted was to be a true dragon’s lair, where the dragon came from outside and chose to live in the dungeon because it was comfortable.

Maybe she could design a dungeon with that sort of lair and also an adventurer’s area? She didn’t know if that was possible, but … the only way to know was to try. She’d heard of dungeons that became “dangerous settlements” from some of the other Bonded she’d had over the years; maybe it was possible.

Aki’s second choice was also on Raz’s list - the Wizard’s Tower. Aki had never had the chance to study magic, of course, but she’d always thought it was interesting. A Tower might let her at least see magic, but it was also possible it wouldn’t. The sort of Tower that became a Dungeon was probably abandoned, after all, with experiments roaming the halls.

No, the Dragons’ Lair was the better choice.

[Dragons’ Lair Theme Selected]

[Affinity Selection initiated]

[Available Affinity slots: Three]

[Choices: Sun or Life, Death or Magic, Time or Life]

We have to choose Sun! We might get Sun Dragons!

Aki didn’t see any reason to argue with that. Sun was a good dungeon Affinity, since it covered both Light and Heat; it also had some relationship with growth and knowledge, oddly enough.

Aki wasn’t going to pass up on Magic; that one was one she wasn’t going to give Raz a choice about. She didn’t want a Death affinity anyway. Ew! Even the thought of the undead dungeons Raz had pulled her through was unpleasant.

[Choices: Sun, Magic, Time or Life]

Time or Life was a hard choice. Either would probably let her speed up her dungeon’s growth; Time literally and Life by helping things grow (or grow up in the case of monsters) faster. For the combat part of being a dungeon, they were both good support Affinities.

Her first dungeon only had two Affinities - Fire and Earth. She’d made good use of them, and they’d both been useful. She was sure either choice would be fine.

:Raz? What do you think?:

Time. Definitely Time. Life is for healing magic, mostly, and healing magic’s pretty common so you can probably get it with Magic. Plus, remember that story about Lady Sun calling the flowers up out of the ground with the Sun of Spring?

Aki was pretty sure that one was an allegory, but Raz was still right. Sun and Life overlapped more than Sun and Time.

[Affinities Selected: Sun, Magic, and Time]

[First Floor Type Defined: Surface]

[Initial location defined: grassy field near water, bounded by a hillside. Location will expand with Time and use]

[Initial ecology defined]

[Select Floor Theme]

Trap-filled grassland

Deadly Grass

Underground Ambush

Herbivore’s Stomping Grounds

Young Dragon’s First Hunting Lands

The choice was obvious.

Young Dragon’s First Hunting Lands.

Apparently it was obvious to both of them. Aki suspected that the Herbivore’s Stomping Grounds would have been just as good, but the others seemed less dragon-related. Her new dungeon was going to be very different from her old dungeon.

Aki was pleased; that was probably a good thing. At least it would be different!

[Synergy with overall Theme improves land fertility and associated creature progress]

[First floor selections established]

[Establishing Dungeon boundaries]

[Boundary instability]

[Repairing Dungeon core to hold Dungeon stable]

Aki’s awareness fled.