Matthias' mind reeled as his vision returned. The voice he had heard after his death had promised it would be the least painful way to separate body and soul, but he had not died on impact immediately. It was the second impact that finally finished him.

  Shaking off the last of the phantom pain, Matthias surveyed his surroundings. He was in a dark, cavernous space. The only light came from the deep red glow radiating off the gem that was now his vessel. He had been warned he would become a dungeon core, a genius loci, but seeing it was believing. His core resembled a ruby, its red shades swirling lazily around its center.

  It was when Matthias noticed the mushroom that he realized he was not in a vast room but simply very small. The pale mushroom, with a thin stalk and delicate cap, suggested he was about the size of an average ball bearing, maybe smaller. He also realized his perspective was not bound by his core. He had been moving it subconsciously, like a ghost drifting through the room.

  When he tried to sigh, he felt his core absorb something. On the exhale, a bubble expanded from him. Everything within it he understood on a deeper level. He could tell what granite was, like most people, but to know its atomic structure was new.

  Giddy with excitement, he entered a meditative state and began expanding his bubble of influence. Suddenly, he knew what everything around him was. The mushrooms were common Coprinellus micaceus. He had to stop as it became overwhelming. Though he had passed high school chemistry, to know the chemical composition of every mote of dust around him was too much for his still-adapting mind.

  That was when the motes of light appeared. He heard them first. Two bickering voices echoed from some distance before he saw the golden and crimson balls of light bobbing toward him.

  "You should just leave," a clarion voice demanded. "The celestial order does not need your kin knowing exactly where this new core is. We can't have any 'accidental' raids before the core can defend itself."

  A throaty, feminine chuckle responded. "We both know the core is more likely to choose infernal power over the shackles of divinity," the husky voice countered. "It is you who should depart before one of your 'gods' gets offended and decides to smite the core. It is not as if it has not happened before."

  "That was a thousand years ago," the clarion voice argued. "Your kin can't keep bringing that up."

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  A throaty chuckle followed as they reached the edge of his influence. Once they entered his bubble, he realized the two were fairies, glaring at each other with bitterness and mistrust.

  Matthias looked at the two fairies before him—one celestial, one demonic.

  The celestial fairy was dressed in white, pristine feathered wings folded gracefully behind her. Her blonde hair cascaded over delicate shoulders, and her blue eyes shone brightly, yet carried a sadness buried deep within them. The demonic fairy stood in stark contrast: red skin stretched taut over a lithe frame, leathery wings folded behind her back, a spaded tail swaying lazily at her side. Her hair was black as pitch, her sclera ink-dark, and her pupils glowed red like embers.

  "We were chosen to bond with you," the celestial fairy began, her voice crisp and clear as a crystalline bell despite the sorrow beneath it. "This world is at war, and you must choose a side in this eternal conflict."

  "Indeed," the demonic fairy purred, an underlying huskiness threading her words as fire flickered behind her eyes. "Serve the celestials… or rule among the demons."

  Matthias stared thoughtfully into the depths of his fiery red dungeon core as he contemplated his choice. Neither path sounded appealing to him.

  "Why don’t I bond with both of you?" he asked at last. "As a genius loci, dominion is inherent to my very being. Is it not the duty of a king to feel for his subjects, yet also rise above them? In every myth I know, holy and unholy were once one and the same. So why, as a king, would I be content with only half the power?"

  The celestial fairy frowned and shifted into a defensive posture. The demonic fairy, by contrast, grinned and leaned closer.

  "You would seek dominion?" the demon asked.

  "I do not seek it," Matthias countered. "Dominion found me. To be given authority and yet take no responsibility is both hubris and dereliction. Dominion is not something I desire—but it is a burden I now bear. I will hold it until I find someone more deserving."

  A moment of hesitation stretched between the fairies. They turned toward one another, gazing deep into each other’s eyes for what felt like an eternity. Then, as one, they bowed their heads and knelt before him.

  "Then we pledge ourselves to you," they intoned together. "Come what may, we shall stand by you until the end. May the burden not be more than you can carry."

  Their energy leapt from them and slammed into Matthias’s core.

  Information flooded his mind—too much, too fast. His once-crimson core began to swirl with countless colors, spinning faster and faster until they blended into a deep royal purple, a blazing star igniting at its very center. As the transformation completed, Matthias felt the chaotic realms of knowledge within his mind begin to settle and sort themselves into place.

  Fatigue washed over him. Pain blossomed behind his thoughts, throbbing as he struggled to grasp even fragments of what had been given. At last, overwhelmed, his awareness slipped away, and darkness claimed him.