The Mentor was surprised. This girl clearly was the childe of a powerful vampire, yet she was ignorant of the world at large. Was she just her sire's pet then? His little Kitten to play with for eternity? He had to say, he'd seen better. Sure, she had some curves, but nothing he hadn't seen a thousand times before. And that uniform? Definite tomboy.
"As far as I know, there's no such thing as Keepers or Dungeon Hearts in my world. Honestly, until a few weeks ago, I thought vampires were just make-believe."
"You sire is obviously very old and very powerful. I can feel his presence on you, like a birthmark." The Reaper scratched his chin with a clawed finger as he studied the newly minted Keeper. "Just what did you do to make him want to turn you?"
The girl seemed to shrink a bit, and stared at her feet. "I don't know. All I know is that now I'm both a vampire AND a keeper."
The Mentor decided it was time to move things along. "Well, you'll get nowhere fantasizing about what was. Time to focus on what will be."
The pale apparition floated over to the dungeon heart and gestured downwards. "All Keepers begin with a very basic but vital cantrip for the summoning of imps." Noticing the girl's raised brow, he explained. "Imps are a Keepers work force for building, expanding and maintaining their dungeons. Simply focus your mind and call one forth from the heart."
Seras closed her eyes and looked within herself. To her surprise and continued joy, she felt the rhythmic thumping of a heartbeat. A flush of power later, and she heard the pitter-patter of little feet. As she opened her eyes, there before her stood a bug-eyed gremlin carrying a pickaxe.
"What the hell?"
"Not the most pleasant looking wretches, I know, but they don't have to be." As he spoke, the ungainly little creature began chipping away at the walls and floors with incredible speed, turning rough stone into smooth, polished surfaces. "As you can see, they instinctively know what needs doing. Create a few more to speed things up."
A few minutes later, the trio stood in a large chamber lit by flickering torches.
"Whoa. Little buggers know how to move."
The Mentor chuckled and gestured towards the walls, where the imps had inscribed a shield resembling that of Hellsing. "Claiming the land like this strengthens a Keepers hold over it. Now, command your imps to build a room."
......
Half an hour later and the imps had a comfortable lair built to house the Reaper, as well as a modest sanctum for Seras herself. To her shagrin, her bed still doubled as a coffin, though it wasn't nearly as depressing as her old one. The imps were currently finishing the hatchery, which had caught her by surprise.
"Why chickens?"
"I imagine that they are more efficient than a larger animal, as they require a negligible amount of magical energy to speed their growth. And of course, being underground, you wont be growing any fruits or grains to support your dungeon."
Seras winced as the Reaper popped a baby chicken into his mouth. "What? You go without a meal for a century."
"So what's next? I can't imagine I'll be taking over the world with chickens."
"You may have the basic necessities of your dungeon completed, but you still lack both funds and a method of travel. That means sending your imps out to open new territory to claim. With luck, you might find a gold seam or even a working portal."
"Good luck with that. The bastards who locked me in here made sure to bury me far away from any important." The demon was picking feathers out from between his teeth while speaking. "You'll be lucky to find even a nugget of gold."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Thu, 20 Nov 2014 08:44)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.