22) Negotiations [ In the Kingdom of the Core, the one eyed Ratling is king ]

  Those same old familiar letters that burned in the flame of all colors once again appeared before my sight.

  [You are now a Tier 1, Level 7 Core Summoner ]

  [ Power Granted: Domain Embodiment ]

  [ Your Spirit Score has gone up 1 point ]

  [ You have a free point to add to any Score ]

  [ Your Domain has grown in size ]

  While I was now once again aware of my Core’s surroundings in the normal world, I had long since learned not to alert Viola of my return from the Tower of Ascension until I had a moment to think and to check on some things before I forgot about them.

  Of course, I usually didn’t have anything time sensitive, such as a horde of Ratlings on my doorstep to attend to either, but I still wanted to check on at least two things.

  The second of which concerned what exactly my new Ability, this Domain Embodiment, did. Did it do everything Unity has told me it did, or not?

  But before that, finding out what I could see inside my newly expanded Domain was a bit more of a time sensitive issue that I needed to look into.

  My Domain, now that I had the chance to remember how it grew each time I leveled up, seemed to, in fact, double in size each time I gained a level.

  It also tended to increase in height and depth, about two steps behind the direction it expanded around me on a level plane. And in between its height and width is formed a sort of squished bubble shape.

  Several feet to one side of my Library was one of the pillars of the gods, but which one it was, I still wasn’t sure. But what I did know was that my Domain came to a dead stop right where the pillar started, which seemed to indicate that the pillar belonged to someone else, as I couldn’t claim it as my own territory.

  I had assumed that the pillar belonged to whichever God it had been made for, or it may have belonged to all of them, since I had been told it took all the Gods working together to make the pillars to ensure that it would take all of them to get rid of them. But really, I had no idea if the God still claimed their pillars. They had long ago left the city, so someone else could have claimed the pillar since then.

  To the rear of my library, an open door opened into the side of the great room, which had once held the large black tomb, which had a hollow inside of it for the Anathema Lexica, which Torb had been so interested in taking from me.

  One wall of that room ran alongside the Pillar as well, while the rest of the room had crumbling walls and piles of loose stone.

  With my expanded Domain, which formally had not quite reached the far side of the room, I could now see that the room, and even the library and other rooms that had long since been in my Domain, were all part of a larger complex.

  The collection of rooms seemed to have once been the lower levels of the building, and what may have been open streets, all of which had been filled with rubble and trash before another level of building and streets had been laid out on top of them.

  Only for an elaborate series of chambers and tunnels to have been dug out through the foundations, and reinforced until the weight of the city above began to crush the entire place, and more rubble had been carted in to backfill the various collapsed sections to brace up the ever growing city above.

  Below me looked to be more of the same, old cellars and passages that had once in use until the weight of the city above grew too great to allow them to remain.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Above me, I could see what seemed to be a stone inlaid floor from which a drain ran out into the shaft that let up to the surface in my outer corridor.

  What I didn’t see was any immediate threats, which meant I had no good reason to keep looking around while I had other issues.

  The first of which was “Blinky. Tell me about my new Ability.”

  I heard the Fairy call out, “Fell?” and realized I had said that last thing out loud.

  Ah well.

  [ Domain Embodyment ]

  [ This class ability allows you to absorb all the Raw Chaos that would otherwise affect any of your Denizens while they are in your Domain and the area surrounding it that is within your Spiritual Reach ]

  [ You may also maintain this connection to any of your Denizens that leave your Domain by forging a Spirit connection with them by infusing them with your Magic ]

  [ Infused Denizens lose a point of Magic each full day while outside of your Domain ]

  All right. It sounds pretty much like what Unity and I talked about, even if Blinky is using some new terms I haven’t heard of before. But from my innate knowledge, I realized they were known, if archaic, terms.

  And the Ratlings are getting anxious.

  Their one eyed Elder, Malico, had straightened up from the wall he had been leaning on question Viola.

  “Is it done?”

  Viola reassured him. “Yeah, yeah. We’re all good.”

  Then she sent her thoughts toward me. - Are we all good Fell? -

  I sent my thought back toward her, and Summoned beside my Core both the Skeleton and Undine to accompany me as I Air Floated my Core down the hallway.

  - Yes Viola. As good as I could hope for anyways. Check your notices. -

  As the Fairy squealed and called out, “Fell! That’s so nice. You do care about Missus Goat!”

  “I do not!”

  The one eyed Ratling narrowed his one eye at my Core as it appeared at the top of the stairs opposite him, and loudly declared that I did not.

  And then continued by saying… “Believe how much I am doing for your people. They better be grateful.”

  The Ralting nodded and gave me an expectant look. Now, how should I phrase this?

  “You won’t be Tamed anymore. Instead, you can do what you want, when you want, but to stay safe, your movements will be limited. Not by me, but by necessity. You will need to keep close to me to protect you from Chaos. Which means that you will need to keep me alive and free, in order for me to do so.”

  Good, the Ratling was listening… and not so good, he’s also asking questions.

  Malico shot a sharp look towards the other eight Ratlings he had bargained to be allowed up the shaft to join him in the outer corridor. The younger, two eyed Ratling had begun to gather up to look up the stairwell and whispering to each other. Their Elder hissed at them.

  “Back away, and stay on your guard. The floating one hasn’t told us the full cost.”

  Hrmmm. “Alright Malico, this is the deal. If you become Denizens of my Domain, you won’t become Beasts by getting a Core, since I will be taking all the Chaos in the air around each of you instead of it trying to change you. But…”

  The Ratling stiffened up, as if preparing to be struck.

  “The only way I can protect you outside of my Domain is to infuse you with my own Magic, which means I can’t use it for any other purpose. Like keeping another Tamer from showing up to take my Core. And that Magic will fade away once any of you go outside of my Domain.”

  Malico grunted. Which was a fairly unhelpful response.

  Seriously. Give me something Ratman. Are you taking this deal, or are you about to run up the stairs at my Core?

  If you are about to try something, I think the Skeleton and Nemo might have something to say about it.

  The Fairy, who was now standing on top of the Air Fish’s head with her arms crossed, chose this moment to speak up. “Not that I don’t love a stare down, who doesn't, but you only got one eye to stare with Rat guy, and Fell doesn't have any. My Fella has made you an offer, so why don’t you ask some questions big guy?”

  The Elder Ratling twitched. “So we will still be stuck being… owned by someone. Again.”

  ...Hrmph.

  “If you want to see this as some sort of trap, or to insist on acting like everyone is out to get you, then nothing I could have gotten to help your people would have made you happy. I’ve sacrificed the chance to gain some power that could have helped me a lot more than being able to take all of your people as a burden while also being under threat from you and yours.”

  “If anyone has reason to complain… well, it’s still you, because your people have been mistreated and getting the wrong end of the stick since all the Gods passed on giving you classes. But it’s me too!”

  “I was made by mistake! And the whole world seems to be beating down my front door to try to use me, abuse me, or kill me! So yes, this isn’t a great deal for you to take, but I don’t see anyone else offering you anything better. So other than betraying the one person in this world who had agreed to help you, and then still getting owned by yet another Tamer, take the best Pit given deal that anyone would ever offer you!”

  Viola flew up the stairs and hovered in front of my Core while she tried to wrap her arms around it for a moment. “It’s okay Fell, I’m with you. It’s all going to be alright.”

  Releasing my Core, the Fairy spun around to glare at the one eyed Ratling, with her hand now gripping the hilt of her sword.

  “How dare you! He’s a child, and you made him cry. Bully! Thug! Meanie!”

  The Ratling, his one eye gone wide, took a step back while lowering his club until it touched the floor, and his other hand held up, palm forward.

  “Alright, alright. Fine!” Malico threw his arms out wide. “Tell me more about this deal.”