The Beating of my Heart.
Chapter 3: Bonus Chapter. My Pet Dungeon #1
Previous Chapter Next ChapterElegant Notes looked at me through her new glasses. Her rather villainously swirly mustache twitched slightly. Looking at her I can see that she practically had the words 'Snootier than you' written all over her face. Well ok it was just on her forehead. "Really?" She asked with a deadpan stare. Seemingly not at all bothered by the fact that she's being held like a toy by a giant fox.
"Hey, you agreed to this. You wanted an interview and I wanted entertainment. It's a win-win!" I reply as I use my other paw to carefully make small strokes with the paintbrush around her nostrils making them look comically large.
"When I agreed to give you entertainment I was thinking more along the lines of buying you a ticket to Chaos Land." She said with exasperation.
"Oh please, I have a lifetime pass for giving Discord the idea in the first place. Besides, look at it this way. I am a dimension-hopping fox that's also royalty. I have been living on this planet for almost three thousand years now and you're the first to get an interview with me. Well, the first in this world anyways." That gave her pause.
"Fine. I suppose there's no harm done. I'll just wash it off before I leave." You wish. This stuff won't come off for weeks. "Ok we all know how you first came to be in this world but little beyond your first moments. So tell us about your life in your first dungeon. Starting with day one." Taking a moment to look away I hum as I recall my past.
2984 years ago.
Ok, getting a little pissed now. When I first sent my imps at that wall it didn't take long to hit the (un)holy grail of the dungeon keeper games. A gem seam was only ten feet from where they started digging. As one would imagine I was quite happy about this. So I had my imps dig a room around it to act as a small treasury and left one imp to keep mining it. Of course I took a few moments to watch first. I wanted to see if the infinite wealth thing actually translated from the game to real life. Turns out it did. The picks must have some kind of geomancy enchantments on them. Not only do they teleport the dirt they dig to...somewhere. But when they strike gems the gems will grow as fast as the pick will harvest them. It kind of sounds like slowly crushing chucks of ice when they do. Satisfied I took my remaining imps and started digging on the wall to the right of my new treasury only to hit a gem seem almost as quickly. I shrug it off and decide to just go around it only to find more gems just after that. Now trying my luck with the wall opposite the treasury...Guess what I found? I know this is my first dungeon and all. And it's always supposed to be easy on the first level but what did the guy that sent me to this place think I would do with all of them!? I'm the kind of guy, or I was the kind of guy that likes to make his dungeons in a certain pattern. Depending on the lay of the land. But since I can't get rid of any of these gem seams I've been forced to constantly deviate from my intended path. Even when taking advantage of the fact I can now work with three dimensions instead of only left right forward and back. Meaning my dungeon is now a twisted mess of tunnels resembling the inside of an ant hill and the rooms are awkwardly shaped. "Rin?"
"Yes Strong Heart?" I ask as I massage my temples with my paws.
"... I'm lost again." I give off a groan.
"Where are you trying to get to?" I asked as I close my eyes and try to find him.
"Have you built the bathroom yet?" He asked in a hopeful sounding voice. I pause as I search my mind for the knowledge. I do have some room designs that weren't in the game. Like the inner sanctum which was to be my bedroom. But as I look through them I realize that I can't actually make a bathroom. With an annoyed snort at this I just decide to improvise. I drop one of my imps in one of the rooms too small for anything else and just had it dig down. Looking to the library I grab some of the blank pieces of parchment for the warlocks to write on and set it next to the hole before grabbing Strong Heart and dumping him next to it. Sorry little imp. But I need you to keep digging till you can't dig anymore. I'll give you a mercy killing with a thunderbolt spell when you're done.
Later that day I was experimenting with my new magic powers in the hatchery. At the moment I was slowly filling one of the eggs with dark magic. This is my seventh try and I think I'm doing it slow enough to keep it from exploding like the others. As the egg starts to crack I stop what I'm doing and dive behind a corner. When all I hear is a pop I look and see that a chicken did hatch from the egg. Only its eyes were glowing green. With an angry "BAWK!" it charges at me. Jumping over my head while flipping me the bird (No pun intended) with its feet before landing and gunning it down the corridor. Closing my eyes and focusing I see that the renegade chicken was heading toward Strong Heart. "Stop that chicken!" I yelled out causing him to turn in confusion. Wait, are those cheese puffs? Where did he get a bag of cheese puffs?! Apparently I wasn't the only one who noticed this as the chicken jumped up and grabs the bag out of Strong's hand.
"No! That's my only bag!" He shouted in panic as he charged at the chicken that appears to be mocking him by wagging his tail feathers as he kept ahead of the charging giant. Weaving through the labyrinth that is my dungeon before Strong Heart managed to corner it in the library. Seeing its only exit was blocked by Strong's massive form the chicken twisted its head to set the bag on its back and raised its wings to hold it in place. Clawing at the ground as if ready to charge. Strong met the chicken's challenge with his own. Cracking his knuckles and neck while giving a growl. The chicken made the first move, charging forward the chicken fainted to the right but moved to the left, narrowly missing Strong heart's massive hands. The chicken moves in and gives a mighty peck to his ankle causing Strong Heart to lift his foot by reflex. Do to the fact he was leaning forward at the time he lost his balance and fell forward but quickly pulled himself into a ball and rolled back onto his feet. Turning, Strong moved in on his opponent causing the chicken to move behind a bookcase. Instead of chasing it Strong used strategy and knocked the bookcase over. But the chicken jumped between the empty shelves giving a swift peck to his nose before twisting mid air and catching Strong Hearts arm with its legs using his strength to send itself rocketing through the air. Turning to look for the chicken that was now hiding somewhere in the library Strong slowly walked the side of the library. Looking between all of the bookshelves. When he turned in to look on the other side of the room I saw the chicken run out from under the turned over book shelf and running up it. Jumping up and kicking the top of it as hard as it can, its weight was just enough to get the next bookshelf it was leaning against to fall over causing a domino effect. Strong Heart quickly realized that the chicken was using his own trick against him and ran to escape but was to slow and was pinned down under them. To add insult to injury the chicken walked in front of Strong and dumped the bag of cheesy treats on the floor and began to peck away at it's hard earned prize.
"Well...That was surprisingly epic." I said to myself after watching the fight. I'm not sure what's sadder. The fact that he lost to a chicken or the fact that I'm seriously considering hiring that chicken. And that was all that happened that day. Other than Strong Heart spending the rest of the day in the training room and I had to build a second lair for my new minion Cluck Norris to keep him and Strong Heart from fighting.
Next Chapter: The Dead! The Bouncy! The Brains! And The DOOOOOOOM! Estimated time remaining: 19 Hours, 55 Minutes