Am I dreaming?

  The sky was blue, with little clouds and tall grass around me. In the distance, I could make out mountains and trees over the grass. It seemed like summertime, wherever I was. The sun was low on the horizon, indicating it was morning, as it was still crossing the sky.

  I could hear bird songs in the distance. It was sometimes loud, indicating that it was closer by then. Insects buzzed around, ignoring me as I lay there.

  I was confused and disoriented. This was the first coherent thought I have had. Mentally, I felt like I had been beaten up and had the worst hangover ever. Foggy was best to describe it, but at the same time, hyper-aware. I had no idea where I was or how I got here. I studied my environment more.

  No, this was no dream.

  I tried to move but could not. This caused me to try to focus faster on my situation.

  Where was I?

  This was another question that came to me as I began to focus more.

  Was I lying down?

  My memories then were coming back but were still fragmented. They were flooding my mind, distracting me. I remembered people but not their faces. They were blurred or missing outright. Places and dates come and go strangely and are not relevant for some reason. My love for horror books and films, along with city-building computer games, these two subjects were clear, but all the others were confused.

  Should I not be freaking out? I think I should be. Yes, I should be.

  My emotions are fuzz and distant—another strange thing. Almost removed from my thinking processes.

  Knowing I should have been able to move but could not was another disturbing thing. Again, still not freaking out.

  I tried to put my hands up to my face. Nothing. No hands, no movement.

  Panic should be the emotion I should be feeling. Was I being restrained?

  I began to test wh….

  A screen appeared in front of my vision. I was startled but quickly confused again. It was a blue screen. Why was this strangely familiar? Then I thought.

  "Initialising, what?"

  I asked this out loud but then realised I had not even spoken. Ok, I really should be freaking out now, or I should stop thinking I need to be, as it appears I have no control of anything right now.

  The message on the blue screen changed.

  "Dungeon Keeper? Like the games?"

  Whatever was happening was ignoring me or was fully automated.

  "What? Era? New Earth? …. Hold on, I died!"

  I was just confused now and more than a little afraid. I think I should be breathing hard or hyperventilating.

  The screen changed again, presenting me with more information.

  "Not what I was asking, but they are good quest…."

  The pain hits me like a sledgehammer to the head. Too fast for me to scream.

  My vision goes white from it.

  As suddenly as it happens, it ends—my vision returns.

  I now know the answers to those questions.

  Dungeons are areas controlled by a Dungeon Keeper. As stated, they challenge all who enter into a deadly contest against my Hunters. If the challenger wins, they receive a "reward". The nature of the contest is different from Dungeon to Dungeon. The reward granted is unique to each challenger and scales with the Dungeon.

  As for being a Dungeon Keeper, I now know how to access my menu screen and move my point of focus around. I can offer contracts to potential Hunters and am required to manage them along with their needs. I can interact with my Dungeon physically, and this increases as I become more powerful. Finally, I can take a limited form through my avatar, but this has limits and restrictions on what I can do. As I do, this form levels allowing me to do more as my avatar improves.

  My Core is my body, the control point for the Dungeon and its power source. If it is removed, the Dungeon collapses, and I will suffer a "fate worse than the hells" if it is destroyed. There is no further explanation for that. I think there should be.

  There was another warning that if I failed to perform the role of the Dungeon Keeper, I would suffer the fate of Core destruction.

  "All makes sense, but…."

  The screen changes again. It was definitely automated, whatever was happening.

  I read over the options that appear, and something about the last one speaks to me. The others are interesting, and I will investigate them.

  "Information graveyard."

  Why did the Graveyard interest me so?

  Well, the last part drove it home for me. In 1988, Clive Barker published the novella Cabal, which was turned into the 1990 film Nightbreed. I remember watching the movie as a teenager years later and being entranced. The idea of a necropolis inhabited by "monsters" inspired me to read other works by King, Poe and Lovecraft, just to name a few.

  This also fuelled my film-watching. I have seen almost all the horror films, from slasher to torture horror. I leaned toward the more psychological films over the standard slasher fare but respected the well-made ones of any type. Inadvertently, this was expressed through my computer game choices. I shied away from first-person shooters to city builders and horror.

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  Now, before me, the option to build such a city of my own seemed too good to be true!

  I want to select it straight away! But to contain my excitement, I checked out the other options. The mansion will allow me to create a sprawling building on extensive grounds. The hamlet could grow into a village and then a town. As to the farm, it was similar to the mansion. All options had exciting possibilities, but the graveyard was colouring my thoughts.

  "I chose Graveyard."

  "Ok. I wonder what the…."

  The list was very extensive, with two hundred-eight options. They were rated on a rarity scale and listed alphabetically. I started reading down the list, looking for things that would work well with my vision for what I wanted to create. Near the bottom, I found something that piqued my interest.

  "Bloody hell! That's amazing!"

  If I was reading this right, this means that my Dungeon will not grow beyond the first-mile size, but inside the bubble, the size is linked to my Dungeon's level. This means I could have a ten-mile-wide Dungeon hidden in the bubble if I reach a certain level!

  That would screw with the minds of most! In the end, it was a no-brainer.

  "I chose Spatial Folding."

  I returned to the list. Several options caught my eye, and I considered them.

  "Not scalable then, just walls with a gate."

  I had to think about this one. It gave me a limited defence and could trap those hunted within my Dungeon. The downside was that I would be easy to spot, most likely clearly showing my location.

  I was a defensive player in most strategy games, so…

  "I chose Walls."

  Back to the list, I had my eye on the last two options, both in the M section. But first, I found Beacon. It's time to find out what it did.

  Reading over it, I was less annoyed at losing a perk slot to it. Actually, I thought it was a good one for one of my last two possible choices.

  Both options most attracted me. Sure, there were others, like crypts, but I was gambling that it and the others would still be present when I got my next perk. I did not like gambling, but I felt these were the best options to get started.

  I chose them, and a new screen message appeared.

  "Shit, Dose this m…."

  White blinding pain.

  When I recovered, I knew everything I needed about Hunters.

  Hunters were my means of growth, defence and limited scouting—the last part surprised me. When a Hunter is accepted into my service through the contract, we become bound by it. They must obey my commands, but I would need to be careful as some might take offence to what I had them do. Treating them too badly could void the contract. I also had to see to their basic needs, which would differ for each Hunter.

  In my service, the Hunter becomes semi-immortal. They are not affected by age and will "hibernate" when not needed or performing tasks. They do not need food and drink, as my core sustains them, but they can still partake if they desire. They acquire a kill count that triggers their levelling when it reaches a set number, which, in turn, resets the count. The Hunter could die, and this could happen at any time they receive fatal wounds. The Hunter would be resurrected but with a cost. The first is the loss of their recorded kills. If this is at zero, then they start losing levels and gained Perks. When level zero is reached, then they face permanent death. Another death penalty is that they would need to rebuild any levels they lose before progressing again. This is the same mechanic that I use to level without the resurrecting part.

  The longer a Hunter is in service the more it will be changed by me as it levels. All Hunters have Dark Traits that will grow and change through their actions. Their physical forms would also change to represent this. A Hunter will be able to leave the Dungeon to scout or perform tasks, but the time away will become shorter the higher their level.

  Hunters are assigned to territories in my Dungeon that they will engage any who enter. By their nature, Hunters do not get along; as they level, they become less tolerant of other Hunters but will work together when I need them to.

  "That strangely all makes sense."

  I thought back to all the horror films I had watched with the near or unkillable bad guy. The Hunter resurrection mechanic would account for a lot of this, so I will need to be careful and not throw them recklessly into every fight.

  I looked at my choices in my mind. They looked good overall. Sure, I still had a few concerns, but I could not stay like this forever. The sun was high in the sky, indicating that the day was passing.

  "Begin."

  Everything went black. I felt a surge of panic, but the blue screen reappeared.

  I knew what it would be from the minute I selected the Graveyard option. I took the city's name that inspired this Dungeon and added a minor twist.

  "New Midian."

  My vision went white again, and the box disappeared.

  Slowly, my vision returned, and the sight around me became very different.

  It was like looking through my eyes again, but I knew this was not true. I sensed my Core below me; I was on something. Looking down, I could see a rough stone slab. Turning my sight back up, I could make out the room I was in. The light was coming through several stained-glass windows, covering the room with different colours. From the position of the sunlight that was coming in, it appeared much later in the day.

  The blue box distracted me with its appearance.

  "Eh?"

  The last part of the message through me a bit.

  "Who is the "us"?"

  I got no answer and felt alone now. The blue boxes strangely gave me the feeling that I was being watched, which I did not realise until they were gone. I continued to look around. I knew I was in sight mode, which allowed me to move freely around my Dungeon grounds. I could not be impeded by anything in this area.

  The building I was in was a roughly constructed church. The layout and the large statue of the classical Western depiction of the Grim Reaper with wings were behind the altar. The statue was remarkably well carved from a good-quality marble of some type. It stood above the altar with its hooded head angled down, facing the altar. It held an open book in its left hand and a scythe in its right.

  "This must be the centre of the Dungeon, then."

  I was talking to myself, as no one else could speak to me. I could sense my Core was inside the altar. I looked into it and found the black sphere that made up my Core in the altar.

  It was time to explore, starting with this building.

  It was rough, not baldly constructed and looked solid. It was a single, long room with large wooden doors facing the altar. There were a few pews made from wood along each side. Three large stained-glass windows on each side were built into each wall. With the light coming in, they must face west and east, making the doors on the north side and the altar on the south.

  Two large urns were on each side of the altar. Passing through them, I found them both empty and made of clay. On the wall to the right of the altar was a long wooden plaque covering more than two-thirds of it. It was blank apart from the word "Invictus" engraved on the top.

  "What is this for?"

  No answers came.

  The floor was made of stone slabs, and the roof was made of flint tile with exposed wooden beams. A small tower contained a bell. The strange thing about the bell was that it had no capper inside, meaning it made no sound.

  "Outside then."

  I had no physical form to restrict me, so I chose a different way to exit the building. I went up through the roof of the bell tower, stopping about a meter above it and looked around.

  I looked upon the beginnings of a planned necropolis and found…. Not a lot.

  I had a few mausoleums and a lot of gravestones, a few statues and trees.

  That was pretty much it.

  "Well, I had hoped for more."

  I had to remind myself that I was starting out at level 1, and so things would be crappy until I got things going. In the distance, I could see the wall surrounding my controlled area. Evenly spaced along the wall, a round pillar stood just taller than the wall with a gargoyle statue kneeling, looking out.

  "Ok, that's cool."

  I could see the gate to the east and went over to it. It was between two pillars and made of cast iron bars. In each was fashioned the image of the Angel of Death profile facing each other within the gates. The tops of the bars were spikes.

  In front of the gates within the Dungeon was a small, paved area with a path heading north and another heading south. A plinth with the message about claiming the reward offered here was also there. The paths' stones were cobblestone but well-made and sturdy.

  I followed the paved paths and found that the Maze perk had arranged them into a… well, a maze. It was not very impressive and simple to work out. You could cut through the gravestones to bypass large sections. Hopefully, this will change in time. The paths were organised into circles or rings but had turnings that led to dead ends. A handful of trees were scattered around, which was a bit of a surprise as I had envisioned a graveyard without them.

  The graveyard's style was high Gothic Victorian. Some of the mausoleums, mainly those with pillars on the front, had Roman/Greek architectural elements. Overall, I was happy; I just needed to get some Hunters in here to get things rolling.

  The daylight was nearly gone as the sun was setting behind the mountains—time enough for one last thing.

  I moved my point of view to the top of the spatial bubble around the Dungeon and looked out at the world. Forests are all around the north and south, especially mountains to the distant west, and plains to the east. I could make out a track to the east at the edge of the forest, running parallel with a river that cut along the edge of the woods. To the northeast, I think I can make out several smoke trails from buildings? It was hard to tell as they were over a rise I could not see past.

  "Well, it looks like I just wait now."