Shortly before that moment…

Darius’ Point of View

I was in total darkness which was an uncommon occurrence. Since I was now nothing more than the living soul of a place I had no need for sleep yet I still indulge myself in it. For not only does it allow me to dream but also indulges me in memories of the past. I haven’t seen my family in over ten years now, Annalise must be over 18 by this point. Lise has eased me by telling me she and the rest of my family were still alive but that doesn’t mean she is doing well plus that conversation was around a month ago now meaning something could have very well happened to them in between then.

However, I was dreaming and this time it seemed I was dreaming of nothing. Not too surprising really, this happens from time to time. So I began to urge myself awake when I realized I wasn’t quite asleep at least not anymore. As a glowing light began to fill my view I began to realize where I was. “No, I couldn’t have-”

“Do not worry about the dungeon formerly known as Darius, you are not dead. In fact, if anyone were to look upon you, you would still be sleeping.” Lise explained to me as she appeared to view, causing the light to grow even brighter. “Actually, speaking of, you technically don’t have a name, do you? Normally Dungeon Cores share the name of the Dungeon yet neither has an official name-”

Lise stopped herself as she realized she was getting offtopic before she even brought up the topic. “My apologies, an unfortunate habit of mine.” Lise apologized as she looked downward away from me. “We barely have enough time as it is, I shouldn’t waste it with such comparatively minor things. However, I head into another snag such as ‘where do I even begin?’”

I decided to interrupt her before she went on another tangent. “Wait wait, why did you call me here!? And can you just do this anytime you want!?” I asked in surprise at this sudden ‘visit’. “I have so many questions I wish to ask of you.”

“Heh, I suppose we should start with the lighthearted stuff then.” Lise giggled to herself before answering. “Technically I can visit and talk with you anytime I wish, even a lowly angel such as I have the power of talking to ‘my champion’ which I suppose you are. Despite that it isn’t a power I will have for long as I will soon be cast down… Maybe I spoke too much?”

Before I could even question it, too stunned as I was to ask quick enough, she began her explanation. “Remember how I said I was doing this under the noses of my bosses? Well of course they found out. Well, they found out that I did not exactly that I was the one to do it. They may find that any day though and may strip me of my angelic powers and cast me down to either the mortal realm or down even deeper to be punished.”

“So like a fallen angel or being punished in Hell? I am truly sorry for you but you came here to warn me of something correct? I summarized that from you saying ‘we don’t have much time’. So how does this affect me?” I asked her. Perhaps I was being too callous but I was just too curious about why she sought me out so suddenly.

“Ah yes, well… So far let us say you were in an ‘extended tutorial’ of sorts.” She started her explanation. “Both minions and expansion were cheaper as well as relatively weak challengers. After I am stripped of my angelic powers I will no longer be assisting you and as such you will have no aid other than that which you could forge yourself. I will seek you out if I can, but other than that you are all on your own.”

I was quite stunned at this new information. I didn’t know I was getting such aid from Lise nor did I think my challengers, or really sole challenger, was that weak. ‘Gloria, the person who defeated half my minions with only a single knife, was considered a weak challenger. Granted back when she was just a human it was just after I became a dungeon but still.’ I thought to myself not quite believing it.

Lise continued either unaware of my stunned shock or finding it too dire to slow down. “When the time comes I am punished everything will be much more expensive and you will face stronger foes. Perhaps even ones who champion lesser gods and angels.” Lise thought back to my encounter with Gloria. “During Gloria’s fight with Busta you may have caught a glance of what that may be like, but that was only a Guardian Angel protecting their human and the Champions of gods and angels would be much greater.”

I finally found myself calm enough to ask another question or rather a clarification. “Speaking of the crime you will be punished for you haven’t gone into great detail about it. I know the basics but I am not quite certain why it is such a damnable act to you angels. Could you clarify it for me please?” I asked her. I was always curious about it but now I want to learn about it even more.

Lise seemed to look inward to herself before finally speaking up. “That is a frustrating question to answer. To best answer that I would need to go into a lot of godly and angelic politics.” She shook her head then. “No, I will just use the simplified version. You know of the Big Chill or Big Freeze theory that your scientists have found correct?”

I nodded my head. ‘Basically, all suns will go out and planets will die with nothing left except Black Holes. But that isn't for billions of years so why should that matter? Even if it is true, why do something now, and how does it affect that?’ I questioned in my head.

Lise seemed to like that I understood that at least. “Well basically your scientists were right that was the eventual fate of everything. However, they were missing one thing: they either said humans would die out when the Earth does or if they managed intergalactic space travel when all the suns died out. They were wrong in that they would survive for that long because His plan was for them to die 100 years after that Pyrocene Eruption. I… Couldn’t let that happen.”

“So my work here is meant to delay the end of humanity?” I asked her curiously. “So you went against the big boss’ plan and now you are going to be punished for it? Doesn’t that mean your plan is screwed then?” I was still very much in the dark about the whole thing.

“Yes and no, no in that it won’t go the way I planned but yes in that now that I have begun it His will can’t get back on track so He decreed to use my idea.” Lise continued to explain. “If all goes well we could even push back the end of the entire universe or stop it from ever coming. That is how thoroughly I derailed His plan, something that hasn’t happened in all of history since Helel, so I guess you could say I am the new Lucifer.” She said dryly, clearly less enthused about the prospect than her plan being forced to continue.

I was silent for a few seconds as I processed it all. I haven’t even questioned the fact that “minor gods” as she called them were real. Still, I realized that would be an even graver headache so I let it be for now. “What about my family? Are they still doing well?”

Lise slightly smirked as she nodded her head. “Yes, they all are. Your daughter is in her first year of college, your step-sister is the CEO of a growing business, and the assistant you saved is doing well and is now a scientist. Even the mother of Annalise is in a much better place now.” She revealed it to me with a bright smile on her face. “Truly most of them couldn’t reasonably hope for more.”

I shook myself at that. “They couldn’t reasonably hope that but I could unreasonably make it better.” At that moment I wasn’t quite sure if I was talking about prolonging their species' future or having them meet a ghost of the past. To be honest my head was just filled with images of them being happy and that was enough at the time. “Thank you, Lise, if you do stop on Earth come to me and I will help you.”

A smile again appeared on her face, this one much different than the last in a way I couldn’t describe. “I hope so too and I will make sure you keep your promise. Again I will try to warn you when my punishment is fast approaching but I will not call it a promise as I can’t say with utmost certainty that I would have the chance. So… until next we meet mortal formerly known as Darius.”

With that as my only warning, I was pulled out of the void and into waking reality. Looking around I was shocked by a voice I haven’t heard in quite some time. “Intruders! Intruders are at the Dungeon gates!” My Dungeon Helper warned me. I then quickly woke up all my sleeping minions and told them to get ready for a second defense of the Dark Castle.