“Master!” the imp declared after he flew into the alcove. “You’ve found a soul forge!”
“Explain?” I asked silently, forcing myself to curb my enthusiasm.
The name sounded like the perfect upgrade, the perfect addition to Zagorath. I remembered soul forges were mentioned in the Infernal Champion class, but I still had no idea what they did. The name soul forge sure sounded important, though.
I checked my timer for Von Dominus and found he’d been ready to spawn for a while now. After the all-pervading consciousness of the dungeon and the spaces within it, I almost felt loath to leave my jewel, but it’d make conversing easier.
I spawned the elf and slipped into his consciousness.
Bertha smiled at my avatar form. The lustful curl of her lips was already telling me she’d been waiting a while for Von Dominus to show up. Puck did a weird bowing-flying-dancing routine that didn’t make any kind of sense to me, but my heart swelled with warmth for a minute. Here I was, finally. Things felt right. My champions were by my side, and the beginning of a dungeon stood at my back.
And I had an ancient relic of a bygone dungeon glowing in front of me. With the simpler sight of my elf, I stared at the glowing machine; I couldn’t describe it as anything other than that. It didn’t have the aesthetics of what might exist in a steampunk world—there were no mental cogs or steam-powered engines. It wasn’t quite modern either since it bore no digital screens or microchips.
Describing a clawed hand made of metal as a machine might have sounded inaccurate, but I got the feeling it had been constructed with the singular purpose of multiple parts working together to perform a particular task. I’d memorized the definition of ‘machines’ while I was the marketing rep for a startup company, and it had stuck.
“The soul forge,” I said to Puck. “Explain it.”
“This is Lilith’s womb!” The imp almost had an aneurysm in his excitement.
Bertha leaned against the entrance of the small chamber, my jewel glowing between her fingers as she watched us. She seemed happy to let Puck take the lead. Damn imp was cannoning around the small chamber so hard that he looked like he was going to explode from happiness.
“The origin of all life for Infernal creatures,” he said. “The dark goddess must have left it here for her Viceroy, so he may conquer all of Shadow Crag.”
Well, I doubted Lilith had buried the soul forge beneath the mountaintop for me to find. It was more likely she’d led me to the graveyard of an ancient dungeon.
I looked to Bertha, whose mouth had turned into a massive grin. She gave a half-shrug and nodded at Puck. “Calm down, cretin, and explain it to Master properly.”
The imp halted, his wings beating furiously, and beamed at me. “Your creatures, Master! I have only heard tell of the legends. My tribe holds them to be true.”
“What legends?” I asked.
“The soul forge is where all life for Infernal creatures originates.”
“From a single object?”
“No, there are many forges. Or at least there were. And you have found one! Master, you are most excellent.”
“I appreciate the praise, but you’re not telling me how to work the thing.”
“I am afraid I do not know that, Master. What I do know is that the goddess presented dungeons with soul forges, and through these objects, monsters were born. We were a gift to the dungeons, and when their power grew, so did our numbers. We spread far and wide, to grow in power and serve the will of Lilith.”
“That’s quite the bit of lore,” I said. “Still doesn’t tell me how to use a soul forge. I’m lost.”
Puck’s mouth snapped shut, and he descended upon the object. His claws traced the outlines of the runes, and the forge flickered in response every time the imp got close to it. The machine was hungry for Infernal Essence, that much was obvious.
Did it want to feed on Puck? Would presenting the imp to the forge allow me to summon more minions?
It was a diabolical scheme. Did I really have what it took to sacrifice a creature who’d given his life in service to me? All for an experiment that might not even prove successful?
Puck was a dungeon champion, and one of only a handful of sentient creatures I’d met so far in this world. Killing him for an experiment was a stupid idea. Besides, I already had the Infernal Essence of dozens of creatures inside my jewel, and even that hadn’t been enough to fuel the forge.
The method of ‘turning on’ the soul forge was lost to me, at least for now.
But at least it was something. Something that would send my dungeon’s progression into hyperdrive if I could only figure it out.
Despite the slight disappointment, a grin pulled at my lips as I walked into the center of the polished antechamber.
“Zagorath,” I breathed. “Thank you, Lilith.”
It was mine. It was the beginning of my empire.
And it could only grow larger and more beautiful from here. I could forge the Sinarius Realms anew, bathe them in blood and darkness and the glory of the beautiful demon goddess who had given me divine power.
“Oh, but there is something else, Master,” Puck said. “I would have mentioned it before, but I was so taken by the soul forge. It is the greatest relic mentioned in all my legends, you see, and I—”
“What do you have to tell me?” I cut him off.
“I spotted a troll while I was scouting. He is ascending the mountain path. I was not sure whether he was the one you feared would pursue you.”
“Did he bear the mark of the sand pirates?” Bertha asked.
“Marks?” Puck wilted from the sudden interrogation.
“A tattoo
