Dungeon of Niflheim

“You’re damn right it was! That’s my prized stash you just asked for. Where do you get the stones to ask for that, plus you’re only a month old you shouldn’t be drinking in the first place.” Dark shoved away Frost’s hand, quite annoyed with his son’s request almost to the point he was red in the face.

Frost asked in place of Maya for some of his specially brewed alcohol, he only made that stuff for him and him alone. He rarely even shared the stuff with Light let alone anyone else, and even then, it would be part of a trade deal. Dark was very protective of his special brews.

‘How did Frost even know about that stuff?’ He looked sceptically at his son, as though he was some kind of clairvoyant or psychic, he was sure he never brought it up during their first meeting, all he treated him to was a cup of green tea. ‘Now if he asked for some tea leaves, I could probably agree, since he went through a lot and made me quite proud but my alcohol! No way!’ His expression started to become aggressive and vicious, as though Frost was a super dangerous enemy. Thankfully he didn’t lose control of his emotions and emit his overbearing power otherwise everyone here would be turned to mush. Though he was no less incensed, glaring at his son.

Frost meanwhile started twitching from his father’s sudden aggression, internally cursing Maya, using him in such a way. If he wasn’t Dark’s son, he may have been instantly eliminated, at least that’s what his instincts were telling him.

“Is it you who asked for my special brew or M.A.Y.A?” Dark enunciated every letter of her name, sure that she was the cause of his son’s boldness. Her being a guardian or rather a powerful S-rank monster she would know about his prized collection.

‘That sneaky little Fenrir, using Frost to get her grubbing little alcoholic paws on my stash.’ He was sure now that she was the cause.

‘Perhaps I need to teach her a little lesson, see if she’s really capable of being my son’s guardian.’ Evil thoughts filled his mind as he thought about her punishment.

Frost feeling the anger had been redirected away from him released a short sigh of relief before trying to calm Dark down. He couldn’t have Maya suffer from his wrath due to a little mistake, that’s what he’s for. Originally, he felt that he’d be rejected, and Maya probably did as well but never would he have guessed his father was so protective of his personal alcohol.

.....

“Father calm down, it was just a joke, you don’t need to accept the request.”

“You’re damn right I don’t hmph!” Dark turned a way in a huff. Frost shook his head before continuing to placate his father.

Eventually he managed to calm him down, saving Maya from a grim fate. Plus, Dark promised to still give him some candy for the children. The alcohol was still however out of the question, and Frost didn’t dare bring it up again.

“Well, the first half of our talk was certainly enjoyable, can’t say much about the latter half.” Dark still a little miffed, commented with a sarcastic tone.

“...” Frost kept his tongue, simply nodding in agreement while internally criticizing the man. ‘It’s only alcohol plus you’re a God, how hard can it be to make some more.’ Given Dark’s reaction, Frost couldn’t help but desire a taste himself. The seeds of a daring plan started to formulate in his mind. A second later he violently shook his head, erasing such foolish thoughts. ‘I still enjoy my life; a bottle of alcohol can’t be worth that.’

Dark thus left to find Indra after promising to send the candy after the gathering is over. Frost meanwhile made his way to greet a few of his other siblings, ones not of the older group.

He only managed to shortly greet another four, number 032 a humanoid snake man that was an expert in poison. Frost brought up his experience with wyvern venom, and the situation with Douglas, establishing a quick friendship. His name was Wilsander, and he not only used poison and venom but enjoyed eating it. The more he ate the more powerful his own poison became. He asked Frost if he had any more of the wyvern poison left but was unfortunately disappointed.

Next was number 045 Agar, a lich specialising in using undead monsters and life absorbing magic. Frost found speaking to a robed skeleton a little strange, but Agar was like any other sapient race. He was based on the eastern continent and had a fondness for baths. Said it warms up his bones.

After that was number 067, Gobuske a goblin like dungeon core. He was green skinned and looked a little larger than a regular goblin, yet his eyes showed impressive intelligence. Unfortunately, his demeanour was rather cowardly and lacking in confidence, struggling to even look Frost in the eyes. Unlike many of the other dungeon cores in the room- Pyro and the black dragon in particular- he didn’t look down on goblins so found it a bit disappointing that Gobuske was so nervous and weak willed.

Finally, after Gobuske scampered off to the corner, he met number 086, a weird looking core, pretty much just a floating eyeball with wings. Her name was Alana, and she was based on something called an Ahriman and could speak telepathically without issue and was proficient in mind based magic.

However, while in the middle of conversing with Alana, Dark spoke up from the top of the staircase, bringing the introductions to an end. He’d met and spoken with all his children one on one and now wished to enter the next phase of the gathering.

“Can I have all your attention please?” Dark spoke with a loud booming voice attracting everyone’s gaze. Once everyone stopped talking and looked up towards him, he continued.

“I hope each of you managed to meet a few of your siblings and hopefully became friends. However now its time for the next phase of this gathering that I set up.” The look in Dark’s eyes became serious. “I’ve watched many of you over the past month and where some of you have greatly impressed me with your ambition and bravery others however have holed up in their homes, afraid to leave.” Dark looked over a few cores in particular-this didn’t include Void and Chronos since they were quite productive while at home. “Unfortunately, my meeting with Light, my friend and partner in creation didn’t go well. He didn’t appreciate your existence and requested that I terminate each of you.”

The audience sucked in sharp breaths as fear washed over them, even Yami and Aqua weren’t exempt. That was someone on the same level as Dark, could they protect themselves from such an adversary. Would Dark spare them at the expense of angering his long-time friend and equal? Many of the more intelligent cores couldn’t help but tremble, not liking their odds. ‘Was this why we were gathered together? Easier to eliminate.’

Successfully generating fear within his children, though it pained him to do so, Dark felt it was necessary. Without fear they wouldn’t improve fast enough. Dark didn’t know what methods Light would employ but as long as his children were strong enough, they should be able to survive. He let the fear sink in for a few seconds before speaking up.

“Relax, I’m not going to terminate you, I’m your father and will act as such.” Dark spoke with conviction, his fists clenching as he spoke. “I disagreed with Light strongly, he believed that you all were too powerful to exist. Your very being was tantamount to the birth of 100 demi-gods, something that he thinks would bring nothing but chaos to Nova......I however believe that you are necessary to end the stagnation within this world, bringing life to it in ways that he and I could not imagine and so far, you have proved me right.” Dark looked below at his audience; his eyes filled with pride. Already the cores were developing in many different ways, coming up with strategies, traps and even past times that were new and interesting.

The dungeon cores present felt their hearts fill with warmth as they felt the love that Dark had for them, though they still felt a little unnerved, a God still disagreed with their existence after all.

“By the covenant that Light and I entered all those years ago, neither he nor I can erase a species without the other’s consent therefore you are safe, at least from his direct interference.” Dark returned to a serious expression before continuing. “However, like me Light is stubborn, though he can’t personally act he will for sure devise methods to have you removed from Nova. I plan to make sure you can survive such methods, hoping for you to live and die in your own way, not because of the misguided machinations of a God.” If his children died while exploring the world or had their cores destroyed by adventurers or soldiers of a nation, though he’d still feel pain, he could accept it. In such a case they would have lived and died as part of Nova, like any other resident in the world.

“Therefore, to help you improve I’m going to introduce some competition between each of you, thus creating a sense of motivation to grow faster, to become stronger.” Dark started to smile wildly, pleased with his idea. “Of course, there will be prizes for the victors.”