Guardian core (Book 1 of: potentially many)

Goodbye

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.