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Raising of Eligos [Dungeon Raising]

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Ariella Negri

Ariella Negri
Ω-Tier
Ω-Tier

Ari shuffled uncomfortably as she moved towards the dining area. Yoshiro had asked to meet with her for dinner and, as it was somewhat of an official meeting, she had been informed she should dress for the occasion. She had been given a fine kimono made of silk to wear and one of the girls had spent nearly an hour arranging her long purple locks into a fashionable style. When she arrived at the dining area, a guard showed her into the room. She and the guard both gave a deep bow to Emperor Yoshiro when he entered, who promptly waved off the guard, personally seating Ariella before taking his own seat. As the meal was served, Ari and Yoshiro were silent and Ari wondered why she had been summoned to a meeting. It was not until they began the main course that Yoshiro cleared his throat to speak. Ari looked up, listening intently to whatever it was he wished to discuss.

“You have been here about a month now, Ariella. You are a Magi now, one sent to guide King Candidates and to raise dungeons to ensure they have the power to rule. Now, I realize you are not here for me, personally, however…”

Ari arched a brow, wondering what direction Yoshiro planned to take the discussion. He seemed nervous, whatever it was.

“I would like you to raise a dungeon. It would help unify my divided country under my new rule. I am sure you have heard, there is some… civil discourse since I have taken the throne. While some are pleased with the changes I am trying to make, others are at a loss. They know only war and conquering, not peace. I believe if they felt a Magi favored my rule enough to raise a dungeon here, it could garner support for my cause. Plus, the economic perks would help drive interest to Kou, and bring in more money. While we are far from poor, a great deal of our funding is now going to pay for all the strife my father caused.”

He fell silent, watching her face for signs of acceptance or rejection. Ari considered his words carefully. It was true that she had no plans to personally guide Yoshiro at this time, but would it be so bad to raise a dungeon to help him out? Should she raise a dungeon in a land she knew nothing about? It might help put right some of the damage she had caused so far, with her fumbled attempt in the mountains. But her purpose was to guide specific candidates to a dungeon. She struggled with the request but she glanced up when Yoshiro spoke again.

“I have already sent out word to Azix to come home. Imagine if he came back to a dungeon raised, just for him…”

Ari had not considered that possibility. She could provide more power for her chosen candidate. She knew it would be some time before Azix would arrive, while the message could be sent magically, it would take a large chunk of time for him to travel back here. How could she ensure the dungeon would not be defeated before he arrived? Plus, she still had to admit she had no idea how to raise a dungeon. She knew she would have to figure it out sometime, but when? She sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over her eyes.

“Emperor Yoshiro… I… I don’t know… I don’t know if this is a good idea…”

“Ariella, you are a Magi, this is your job, to raise dungeons. Would it really hurt to raise one here? Where else would you raise it? If I can bring in more money to the Kou economy, imagine how much more I could afford to give out to other countries to help with repairing our relationships…”

Ari gave another sigh, struggling still with the decision. Yoshiro made good points, there had been several dungeons discovered in the past year or so, but of all the recent ones, ruin and disaster had followed in their wake. Imuchakk’s dungeon had caused a massive avalanche that had destroyed much of their landscape and killed their people. While the dungeon she had been in had not seemed to cause any natural disasters, it had been quickly followed by the Kou conflict. It scared her, the idea of raising a dungeon. But he was right, it was her job to create a way for King Candidates to gain more power.

“Very well. I will try. I make no guarantees, I will raise the dungeon wherever the rukh guides me. If it is here, I will raise it here…”




Ari found herself deep in one of the several mountain ranges of Kou, the tinkle of rukh guiding her through the twisting trails. This part of the forested mountainside was spooky, the trees ancient and blocking out the light, creating an atmosphere of darkness and making her shiver. She had been traveling for days as she followed the gentle guidance of the rukh. She had managed to find a magic carpet at a market in Kou, which was making the journey faster, but Fate was a fickle mistress and she found herself chasing it in circles at times. She was enjoying the view provided by the carpet and she was glad she had been able to replace what she had lost at the island. It reminded her of the times she and Azix would fly to different jobs, taking out slavers. A simpler time to be sure. The sun had set, finally, and it made it even easier to see the gentle flow of rukh, guiding her to the perfect spot. Finally, she saw the rukh flow down towards the ground and flutter in a circle before dissipating. She brought the carpet to the ground and found herself in a valley between several mountains, a small plain surrounded by the spooky, dark forest.

Night only made the forest more terrifying, even though she knew she could logically protect herself from anything which may attack. It did nothing to quell her fear of the pitch darkness. Luckily, the moon was high in the sky, shining across the grassy area she had landed in. Before she had landed, she had been careful to look out for any houses or farms, not wanting a repeat of her last experiment. While the village had not been harmed, it had been a close call. She knew she would need all of her energy to be able to raise a dungeon, though she still was not entirely sure how she would do it. There were no guides for this kind of thing, unfortunately. It apparently was supposed to come naturally to a Magi. Setting up camp, she made a small fire to chase away the chill of the mountain night before settling in to rest. In the morning, she hoped to begin her first dungeon raising.




The crisp morning air caused her to wake quickly, banishing any grogginess the moment she opened her eyes. She ate a light breakfast of fruit before turning towards the most open area of the field. Closing her eyes, she tried to picture the structure she wanted to raise in her mind before the rukh gathered around her and she tried to direct it to build what was in her mind. Unfortunately, the rukh was not cooperating and simply swirled around in a mass of confusion. She tried again, centering her mind and focusing her efforts, but the results were the same. Apparently, she was not giving the rukh the correct commands. She cursed under her breath, trying once more to drag a dungeon from the ground, but the rukh simply tinkled about in confusion. This went on well into the afternoon, by the time the sun began to kiss the horizon again, she was at the end of her wits. She simply couldn’t figure out how to raise a dungeon.

When she turned back to her camp, she jumped at seeing a rather odd man sitting there, silently watching her. She had not heard anyone approach and while she knew she had been distracted, she did not think she would have missed the sounds of footsteps in such a place. The man had an odd smile on his face and his clothes were quite unusual. H almost looked like he was wearing a theatre mask, a mocking smile that stretched too far. Her hand tightened on her staff, sensing a great flood of rukh from whoever this man was, a river of white rukh nearly pulsing from him. Whoever this was, he held a massive amount of power, if he knew how to tap into the flow around him.

“Who are you?”

The man gave a chuckle, the sound creating a creepy echo through the valley she was camped in and making chills spread across her skin. He stood from beside the fire, hovering slightly and Ari recognized the use of gravity magic flowing around him to keep him off the ground. So he did know how to use the rukh fluttering around him, worrisome to say the least.

“Ah, a fresh Magi, spit from the Sacred Space full of confusion and good intentions. Tell me, Miss Negri, are you trying to raise a dungeon?”

Ari froze at his words. He knew what she was, just by looking at her? Even more confusing was his knowledge of the Sacred Space, a place few knew of. As far as she knew, only a Magi was able to see the Sacred Space and then come to this world. Ugo had told her there were other Magi, but one had yet to realize their destiny. That would mean…

“You are the Contractor.”

Her grip became tighter still on her wand as the man gave a bow, confirming her suspicions.

"One of many, but I am the first."

This was the man that had been responsible for putting Lagi el Nagi onto the throne, for causing death and destruction in Heliohapt, had creating the frightening demi-djinn from the mountains in Reim, and had granted Lilly a frightening power that could rip the delicate fabric of Fate. She had never seen him in person, but he was odder looking than anything she could have imagined. If tales were correct, she had no hope of being able to defeat him. Oddly, he did not seem to be attacking her, though.

“What do you want?”

“Ah, Miss Negri, it is not what I want, it is what I can do to help you, fresh Magi. You do not know how to raise a dungeon, do you?”

The words grated on her, not wanting to admit she had no clue how to raise a dungeon from the depths of the world. She did know, however, that any offer this man made would be tainted. She shook her head, turning her nose up at the Contractor.

“I do not need your help, Contractor. I will figure it out on my own.”

“But you have not even heard my offer, Miss Negri.”

“I do not need to hear your offer. I know the power you offer is tainted and impure, a twisting of Fate. I will do this without you!”

The Contractor gave a chuckle, shaking his head as he came to hover near her. Her borg gave no reaction to his close proximity, but she did not loosen her grip on her staff, ready to summon whatever she could to protect herself if need be.

“You listen to the lies of other. Shame. But I will not force my assistance on you. Very well, continue in your futile efforts to rip a dungeon up from this world. I hope you do not mind if I stay and watch… Your ignorance and stubbornness is quite amusing. I wonder… what Emperor Yoshiro would do if you were to return without having completed his request… imagine the disappointment of being an impotent Magi, unable to raise a dungeon…”

Ari ground her teeth but brushed past him, stalking over to the fire. She was surprised to find a fish roasting there. Ignoring the meal being offered to her, she dug in her pack and drew out an apple, biting into it viciously as though to signal to him that she would not accept his help in any form, even to eat. He simply chuckled again and settled across the fire from her, remaining silent though amusement danced in his eyes. Ari finished her apple before stomping to her tent, tightly tying the front shut, as though it would be enough to banish the Contractor from her camp.

Sleep was not a friend of hers that night and she woke with a weary feeling. Like the day before, she munched on fruit before moving to the field to meditate. The Contractor was a constant, silent presence. It was like he was waiting for something, but she refused to speak to him or acknowledge him in any way. She shoved his presence from her mind, focusing her attention inwards as she cleared her thoughts and brought her mind and body into alignment. This time, when she asked the rukh to construct a dungeon for her, a crumbling structure shot up from the ground, only a few meters high, before collapsing under its own weight. Again and again, she tried to make it form a dungeon, but her efforts failed as much as the day before.

When she returned to camp, the Contractor was there, roasting another fish for her, laughter dancing in his eyes at her failure. She once again rejected his seemingly innocent offer of a meal, moving straight to her tent and collapsing onto the bed roll, instantly falling into a fitful sleep. The next day’s efforts went no better and she found herself hungry enough to take the roasted fish waiting at the camp that night. A full stomach did wonders and when she went to bed that night, sleep was instant.

When she woke the next morning, she stayed in the tent, thinking on the man’s offer, if a man he truly was. It could not hurt to hear him out, surely. If she disagreed with his offer, she could simply reject it and then return and tell Yoshiro the truth, that she simply did not know how to raise a dungeon. A feeling of trepidation washed over her as she exited her tent, unsurprised to find the Contractor sitting in front of the fire, that same grotesque smile stretched across his lips.

“What is your proposal, Contractor?”

His smile grew and he waved to the spot across the fire from him. And then he explained the terms of his offer.




Ari meditated, clearing her mind and leveling out her breathing and heart rate, trying to slow the pounding beat. Her hand still hurt from the cut across the palm. Part of her knew she would one day regret agreeing to the Contractor’s offer, but she had no other way of learning how to raise a dungeon. He had sealed the deal with her blood, tucking the bloody scrap of cloth into his pocket. Once she was calm and clear-headed, she opened her eyes, the Contractor hovering beside her. It seemed the man only touched the ground when he was sitting, which she found unnerving. He nodded towards the open field, the smile never leaving his face. When he spoke, his voice was soft, though.

“Your main problem, Miss Negri, has been the manner in which you are trying to raise the dungeon. You are trying to build something your mind has constructed, trying to get the rukh to build this structure, to create it from this world. But, as I am sure Ugo explained, a dungeon is not something of this world. This is not the world you should be trying to rip the dungeon from.”

Ari thought on the worlds, remembering Ugo explaining what a dungeon was, a structure created by a Djinn in another world, something they could alter with only their will. But when one entered a dungeon, it was not a building they entered, it was another world.

“You are asking the rukh to build a dungeon, when what you should be asking it is to help you pull the dungeon from the place they normally exist in. A dungeon is not something you create, it is something created by the Djinn. You need to empty your mind and ask the rukh to build not a dungeon, but a gateway to the dungeon. The rest will fall into place as you pull it through, but the basic commands you need to begin are entirely different from what you were trying.”

Ari considered what he had said, understanding slowly beginning to build in her mind until all of the puzzle pieces seemed to fall into place. Of course she could not create a dungeon of this world, the power it granted was from another time and place, it was a gift to the people of this world granted from a place that only existed in ruins now. The Contractor saw the understanding wash over her face and his smile grew even larger. He nodded to the field, encouraging her to try to raise a dungeon with her new knowledge in mind.

Her eyes drifted shut and she felt the rukh gathering around her, eager to try and fulfill her commands. It was an incredible experience, feeling the rukh flood around her with encouraging tinkles as though it was trying to embrace her and shove her down the path of Fate. She let it build around her, letting it swirl and gather, building on itself before she formed the commands in her mind, this time not asking it to build but to pull and connect to the place the dungeon existed in. With a massive rush of rukh, she heard them give what seemed to be a happy twitter as the rukh shot into the ground. All around, the ground began to shake, making Ari grab her staff for support to keep from falling. The Contractor continued to float next to her, watching as, seemingly from nowhere, a tower began to shimmer in the open space before them. Slowly, rukh rushed and fluttered about, drawn to the area to try and follow the command of the newest Magi in the world, eager to please their beloved.

The earth continued to shake as the shimmer of the tower began to solidify, taking a more solid form as it was ripped from the world it had existed in and found a new home in this one. As the tower became fully solid, the rukh rushed about, trying to make the area around the tower merge with the alien structure and support it. When Ari opened her eyes at last, she gave a gasp of shock.

There before her, the world had been transformed. What had been a peaceful valley covered in grass and trees was now a structure unlike anything she had ever seen. Walls had formed in an open design around a tall, smooth tower. From the tower, stairs came down, guarded by two stone statues taking the appearance of guards with swords and horns. All around the tower, inside of the walls, a great pit had been formed and lava boiled and hissed. When Ari looked over to the Contractor, he was smiling at the dungeon that had been raised.

Raising of Eligos [Dungeon Raising] 33jZaLx

“Very good, Miss Negri. Can you sense what the Djinn inside values?”

Ari focused her attention on the glowing gate at the bottom of the tower, trying to ask the rukh gathered about what the Djinn valued above all else. The entire area held an aura of power and strength and the tinkle of the rukh gave her the answer she sought.

“Strength. Pure and untainted strength.”

The Contractor nodded with an impressed hum.

“Correct. You did well. Guide only those worthy of wielding this power to its gates. Many may enter, but only one may walk away with the power of the Djinn.”

Ari gave a distracted nod, not really paying attention to the Contractor as she gazed upon what she had pulled into existence. It was exhilarating, knowing she could create such a thing, that she could grant such power to a person, if she so chose. In a flash, she understood how easy it would be to abuse this power, to use it for her own gains. Shooting a look to the Contractor, she swallowed nervously before speaking.

“And our deal?”

“Do not worry, Miss Negri. I will call upon you one day to fulfill your end of the Contract. For now, revel in your accomplishment. It is no small task to raise a dungeon.”

With those words, a circle formed behind him and seemed to swallow him before disappearing. As the hole disappeared, so did the Contractor, leaving Ari to admire her handiwork, a giddy smile crossing her face. She had done it! Sure, she had needed help, but now, there was a dungeon in the world brought there by her hand.


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Raising of Eligos [Dungeon Raising] Ari%20Sigs_zpsn7c2bhju

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