Lynnria peered around the corner cautiously.
All around us, there was nothing but black and the glowing outlines of a seemingly endless maze. With my dark-vision spell, the place sort of reminded me of one of those early 3d video games where they only had the one color to work with, and the graphics engine struggled to produce even the simplest of geometric shapes. Sort of like the computer simulations in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Mostly, it was quiet—still to the point of being creepy. No wind. No moving air of any kind. Just our own breath to keep us company. But then, every once in a while, we would hear some sort of creaking noise in the distance. Like some kind of… thing was prowling these halls along with us.
Because, of course there would be.
Lynnria eventually deemed the passage safe and wordlessly slipped forward. Just as silent, I followed close on her heels. We were not speaking at the moment. Partially because we did not want to attract attention, but also because our most recent conversation had gotten a little strained.
Weirdly, it had not been the possibility of gradually turning into ‘something else’ that had bothered her. I mean… it did, but once I had described what a lilim generally looked like, she seemed to relax about it to a degree. According to her, it sounded a lot like a laoi with some extra flavor, so nothing much to worry about, and the added natural weapons would only be beneficial to her goal of becoming a great warrior.
And I had to suppose that was true enough from a certain point of view. However, to my mind, the response was level-headed and stoic to the point of being unreasonable. I mean… she should have been freaking out at least a little. But no. I was just being silly. Apparently.
No, what bothered her was the possibility of losing parts of her memory. That at least she was keenly disturbed by—to my relief. However, as to the specifics, I could only answer her questions in the most roundabout sort of way. I still did not have a complete picture as to what sorts of memories might be targeted. From what I had seen, some might be altered, others left alone, and still others erased entirely, so I could not predict the end result. All I could tell her was that it would happen.
Hell, some of it was happening to me. I just wished I knew to what extent. After all, how can you tell someone that your memory has been altered if you do not know what has been altered? You just… remember what you remember.
But despite all that, she had not walked away. Instead, she had given the matter some thought and announced with a stiff formality that we had already exchanged vows—something she seemed to hold as highly important—and thus far she had only benefited from our relationship. Moreover, I had maintained a levelheadedness and dignity she claimed to be sorely lacking in most of her peers. And aside from my tendency to tease her a bit, I seemed to care a great deal for her continued welfare, which spoke to my character far more than anything else. Had I not, I would have never divulged these secrets until it was far too late to turn back.
Of course, after receiving such an appraisal, I had been struck a tad speechless. Most people I know do not just go around making long-winded assessments of their friends to their face. Plus, I was not all that certain I agreed with her. I mean, levelheaded? Dignity? Me? Compared to who? I could only wonder at the sort of people she normally hung out with.
In any case, I felt she was taking the whole thing far too lightly. I had seen something after she had bitten my tongue. I did not yet know what was going on with the girl, but I would bet my last gold coin that I was the cause of it. Exactly how was anyone’s guess. I had not bound her, that much I did know. Mia had even shown me my status sheet as proof.
Lynnria was not on it.
So for the time being, she had decided to remain with me at least until we rescued my girls. She wanted to have a conversation with them. About what, she would not say, but I had little doubt that their answers would greatly affect whatever eventual decision she made.
Personally… well, I suppose I would have to admit to mixed feelings. I still felt that Lynnria was too young, and the danger I was putting her in—both from myself and the Dungeon—ate at me. So for her own sake, I rather hoped she did the sensible thing, found her grandfather, and went on her way.
But…
I would miss her.
Somehow, the girl had managed to worm her way into my heart, despite my best efforts. Sure, she had her flaws. She could be demanding and overbearing when she felt confident, or awkward and bumbling when she was not. She had a rather high opinion of herself and was quick to tout her achievements.
And she was… well, I hated to think it of her. It made me feel shallow and callus to regard someone I rather liked in those terms. But she was a bit plain.
In my defense, my other companions had become quite the specimens of womanhood over the course of our travels, and compared to them, Lynnria just did not stack up. I could not fault her for that. She was only just starting out. Plus, the lilim had quite literally grown into their forms. So it was hardly fair.
But it is one thing to understand something like that on an intellectual level and quite another to convince one’s animal instincts not to be too dismissive. I was becoming used to a certain standard, and when a prospective mate does not live up to it—unrealistic though it might be—that… spark just refuses to flicker.
That said, Lynnria had been so frank and forward in her pursuit of me that she had somehow managed to pierce through my shallow armor of disinterest. It was hard to resist something like that. At least for me.
So the silent treatment was beginning to take its toll.
“Blast,” Lynnria muttered quietly from just ahead of me. “Now what?”
I cautiously closed the distance between us, but it only took stepping into the room with her to see what she was on about. We had arrived at a circular area, intersecting some eight to ten pathways leading off in all directions. Thus far, the maze had only presented us with two options at a time, left or right. We had been following the old maze-runners trick of sticking to the one direction for all such decisions, and it had worked well. Even when arriving at a dead end, it had not taken us long to double back. This maze design had, up to this point, regarded such setbacks as more a matter of inconvenience than anything else.
The darkness was our main obstacle. I could hold my spell for quite a while now, somewhere around half an hour by my estimation. But that was still a limitation. And the long and tense minutes of rest in between castings were each an exercise in holding back the ever creeping panic and mounting terror of the unknown.
That and traps. Of those, there were plenty.
Seleroan
Hey there, gentle reader.
Enjoying the content? Well, why not drop by my Patreon? It helps me keep this show running, and allows me to afford great things like editors, cover artists, and food!
Each chapter is now being personalized with some... passable chapter-inspired AI generated art. I try. But it gives things a bit of color. And you can read ahead!
Come on down! We'd love to see you.
Lynnria peered around the corner cautiously.
All around us, there was nothing but black and the glowing outlines of a seemingly endless maze. With my dark-vision spell, the place sort of reminded me of one of those early 3d video games where they only had the one color to work with, and the graphics engine struggled to produce even the simplest of geometric shapes. Sort of like the computer simulations in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Mostly, it was quiet—still to the point of being creepy. No wind. No moving air of any kind. Just our own breath to keep us company. But then, every once in a while, we would hear some sort of creaking noise in the distance. Like some kind of… thing was prowling these halls along with us.
Because, of course there would be.
Lynnria eventually deemed the passage safe and wordlessly slipped forward. Just as silent, I followed close on her heels. We were not speaking at the moment. Partially because we did not want to attract attention, but also because our most recent conversation had gotten a little strained.
Weirdly, it had not been the possibility of gradually turning into ‘something else’ that had bothered her. I mean… it did, but once I had described what a lilim generally looked like, she seemed to relax about it to a degree. According to her, it sounded a lot like a laoi with some extra flavor, so nothing much to worry about, and the added natural weapons would only be beneficial to her goal of becoming a great warrior.
And I had to suppose that was true enough from a certain point of view. However, to my mind, the response was level-headed and stoic to the point of being unreasonable. I mean… she should have been freaking out at least a little. But no. I was just being silly. Apparently.
No, what bothered her was the possibility of losing parts of her memory. That at least she was keenly disturbed by—to my relief. However, as to the specifics, I could only answer her questions in the most roundabout sort of way. I still did not have a complete picture as to what sorts of memories might be targeted. From what I had seen, some might be altered, others left alone, and still others erased entirely, so I could not predict the end result. All I could tell her was that it would happen.
Hell, some of it was happening to me. I just wished I knew to what extent. After all, how can you tell someone that your memory has been altered if you do not know what has been altered? You just… remember what you remember.
But despite all that, she had not walked away. Instead, she had given the matter some thought and announced with a stiff formality that we had already exchanged vows—something she seemed to hold as highly important—and thus far she had only benefited from our relationship. Moreover, I had maintained a levelheadedness and dignity she claimed to be sorely lacking in most of her peers. And aside from my tendency to tease her a bit, I seemed to care a great deal for her continued welfare, which spoke to my character far more than anything else. Had I not, I would have never divulged these secrets until it was far too late to turn back.
Of course, after receiving such an appraisal, I had been struck a tad speechless. Most people I know do not just go around making long-winded assessments of their friends to their face. Plus, I was not all that certain I agreed with her. I mean, levelheaded? Dignity? Me? Compared to who? I could only wonder at the sort of people she normally hung out with.
In any case, I felt she was taking the whole thing far too lightly. I had seen something after she had bitten my tongue. I did not yet know what was going on with the girl, but I would bet my last gold coin that I was the cause of it. Exactly how was anyone’s guess. I had not bound her, that much I did know. Mia had even shown me my status sheet as proof.
Lynnria was not on it.
So for the time being, she had decided to remain with me at least until we rescued my girls. She wanted to have a conversation with them. About what, she would not say, but I had little doubt that their answers would greatly affect whatever eventual decision she made.
Personally… well, I suppose I would have to admit to mixed feelings. I still felt that Lynnria was too young, and the danger I was putting her in—both from myself and the Dungeon—ate at me. So for her own sake, I rather hoped she did the sensible thing, found her grandfather, and went on her way.
But…
I would miss her.
Somehow, the girl had managed to worm her way into my heart, despite my best efforts. Sure, she had her flaws. She could be demanding and overbearing when she felt confident, or awkward and bumbling when she was not. She had a rather high opinion of herself and was quick to tout her achievements.
And she was… well, I hated to think it of her. It made me feel shallow and callus to regard someone I rather liked in those terms. But she was a bit plain.
In my defense, my other companions had become quite the specimens of womanhood over the course of our travels, and compared to them, Lynnria just did not stack up. I could not fault her for that. She was only just starting out. Plus, the lilim had quite literally grown into their forms. So it was hardly fair.
But it is one thing to understand something like that on an intellectual level and quite another to convince one’s animal instincts not to be too dismissive. I was becoming used to a certain standard, and when a prospective mate does not live up to it—unrealistic though it might be—that… spark just refuses to flicker.
That said, Lynnria had been so frank and forward in her pursuit of me that she had somehow managed to pierce through my shallow armor of disinterest. It was hard to resist something like that. At least for me.
So the silent treatment was beginning to take its toll.
“Blast,” Lynnria muttered quietly from just ahead of me. “Now what?”
I cautiously closed the distance between us, but it only took stepping into the room with her to see what she was on about. We had arrived at a circular area, intersecting some eight to ten pathways leading off in all directions. Thus far, the maze had only presented us with two options at a time, left or right. We had been following the old maze-runners trick of sticking to the one direction for all such decisions, and it had worked well. Even when arriving at a dead end, it had not taken us long to double back. This maze design had, up to this point, regarded such setbacks as more a matter of inconvenience than anything else.
The darkness was our main obstacle. I could hold my spell for quite a while now, somewhere around half an hour by my estimation. But that was still a limitation. And the long and tense minutes of rest in between castings were each an exercise in holding back the ever creeping panic and mounting terror of the unknown.
That and traps. Of those, there were plenty.
Seleroan
Hey there, gentle reader.
Enjoying the content? Well, why not drop by my Patreon? It helps me keep this show running, and allows me to afford great things like editors, cover artists, and food!
Each chapter is now being personalized with some... passable chapter-inspired AI generated art. I try. But it gives things a bit of color. And you can read ahead!
Come on down! We'd love to see you.
