Sanctuary hardly considered herself aware at this point in her development, her name had barely manifested itself, carved in a child’s scrawl above the plain wooden door that led into her Domain. She had not yet found her ((MANTRA)), its space below her name still blank, her father’s, Death comes to those her enter here, did not resonate with her. Neither did the ((MANTRA’S)) that were sent along with her birth presents. A ((MANTRA)) meant something, it was an addition to a name, a name showed who you where, a ((MANTRA)) showed what you would do.

  As far as Sanctuary could tell, she was rather unhappy that she had not found her ((MANTRA)) yet. Without a ((MANTRA)), how could she properly accept any gift? If she replicated it as father had shown her, and it misaligned her ((MANTRA)), or worse, affected it, how could she ever truly become Sanctuary? Her father did not follow this reasoning, at first, he had been worried about her refusal to create, then he became glad that he had been able to give her a situation where she could grow at her own pace, instead of the breakneck expansion that had fueled his youth.

  Sanctuary found her father rather strange, there was an urgency to everything he did, sacrificing experimentation for efficiency, he had shown her his Domain, in the attempts to help her discover herself, but it ran with a brutality that the small core didn’t understand. She had watched floor fifty three for some time, and had asked her father about a specific bog lurker she had found interesting, he had seemed confused, and remarked that there was nothing special about it. Sanctuary had tried to explain how there was something special about everything, her father also did not understand this. It made her frustrated, not that he didn’t agree, but that she couldn’t make him see her point of view. He saw the change in her mood and gifted her the bog lurker in attempt to cheer her up. It only mostly worked.

  Her ((SANCTUM)) was small, and unfurnished cave, there was a pond in the corner, were her lurker lived, Sanctuary wasn’t sure if it was suitably boggy enough, but he certainly lurked. The cave was perfectly circular and smooth, and it held her core on a pedestal in the center, her core was a white quartzlike gem, her father’s was an amethyst. Like the rest of the room, the pedestal was spartan, stone and round.

  She had the ((MANA)) to create more decoration, perhaps even expand into a second room. That was without even dipping into her birth presents. Still, Sanctuary waited. She heard clamor from outside her ((SANCTUM)), but she mostly ignored it. There was the attack going on, after all. It would be strange if they got to floor twenty-five so quickly, but perhaps the sound was traveling.

  Her lurker perked up as her father summoned his ((GAZE)).

  “Sanctuary!” Catacomb said, sounding strangely breathless for not having lungs.

  “yes fath'r?” She said,

  “they’re coming- thee needeth to-!” His ((GAZE)) vanished suddenly,

  Sanctuary flinched. The thin wooden doors that led into her ((SANCTUM)) burst open, a goblin and a strange furry creature rolling in.

  WARNING, YOUR SANCTUM HAS BEEN INVADED! OTHER CONSCIOUSNESS’S HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM YOUR VICINITY UNTIL THE INVASION IS RESOLVED.

  Sanctuary stared at the ((SYSTEM)) message uncomprehendingly. She glanced at the pair currently bleeding all over her floor while trying to stab/bite the other. The animal-like one seemed to be missing an appendage. The goblin hissed loudly as he was thrown off the animal creature, his own knife somehow finding itself in his gut.

  She looked back at the text box. Right. She needed to resolve the situation.

  Resolve meant to fix, so… she looked back at the Bipeds. The blood was supposed to be on the inside, wasn’t it? The animal stood shakily, staggering toward the goblin, clearly intending to kill. Ah. That wasn’t resolving anything. She glanced at her lurker in the corner, and he obliged. Standing up to his full height.

  His oily black hair dripped with distinctly non-boggy water. His yellowish-tan skin seemed to be a little shriveled, and his glowing white eyes cast locked onto the animal. The Lurker’s gills sucked shut and he begrudgingly activated his lungs.

  “Ss-s-st-tay.” The lurker rasped.

  The animal staggered back, causing more of her blood to fall out. Sanctuary didn’t think that she understood, and was probably afraid, poor thing. The runt let out another shriek as he pulled the dagger from his stomach, causing more of his blood to fall out as well. Eternal Goodness, how much did they have?

  Sanctuary hesitantly reached for her ((MANA_POOL)). She glanced at the ((SYSTEM)) message again, as if asking permission. The message shifted.

  “\_(0_0_/” ((9/16)) said,

  She started with her father’s goblin. She gathered the ((MANA)) into a ball and shoved it into the bleeding bits. It was the first time she had tried to infuse her ((MANA)) into something without the ((SYSTEM’S)) help. It felt slippery at first. She impressed her will onto the unruly energy, and it melted into a thick paste. She moved the ((MANA)) around the damaged skin, and the goblin’s purple eyes fluttered shut before he fell to the floor.

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  “Infernal.” Sanctuary muttered. The text box floating beside her flickered again.

  Uh. Congrats? You “healed…?” LV 34 Goblin Runt “Runt” for 13 heath points of damage.

  “Hm.” Sanctuary said, turning her attention to the animal.

  The animal biped was clutching at her bleeding stump, still staring at the Lurker, who stared back. Sanctuary gathered another ball of ((MANA)) paste, and pushed it toward the animal. The animal recoiled, grasping at the rapidly closing flesh of her right arm. Sanctuary fed the ((MANA)) into a long grasper shape, mimicking the shape of her Lurker’s arm. The animal’s skin began to stretch to match the ((MANA))’s shape. Thicker red skin and bones grew out of the stump and turned into a viable appendage. Although, it didn’t grow fur to match, instead it stayed pink, like her tail and nose.

  Congratulations! You’ve formed a… tether? With LV 14 Opossumkin “Xulminavera” and have healed her for 17 health points of damage.

  The ‘Opossum’ stumbled backward and collapsed onto the floor. Her eyes flaring white for a moment before shifting to black.

  Congratulations! Despite your unorthodox methods, you have resolved the invasion! +50 mana, you have leveled up!

  STATUS:

  Name: Sanctuary

  Mantra: N/A

  LV: 2

  EXP 0/150,00

  Gender: Female

  Affinities:

  Class: none

  Race: Undefined

  Nodes: N/A

  Spawners: N/A

  Retainers: N/A

  Tethers: Xulminavera

  Traits: Reserved

  Blessings: Blessing of Bastion

  Curses: N/A

  Titles: Daughter of Catacomb

  INT: 6

  SOUL: 10

  WILL: 5

  MAG: 4

  STR: 0

  DEF: 0

  CONS: 3

  You have 3 attribute points!

  Sanctuary panicked. She didn’t mean to level! So many options, and how was she supposed to chose any of them? What if she crippled herself before she figured out who she was supposed to be? What if-?

  Her father’s ((GAZE)) rematerialized inside the ((SANCTUM)), and Sanctuary relaxed, he would know what to do.

  father? welcome backe. ” She said,

  “sanctuary? art thou unharmed? didst t reacheth thy ((CORE))?” His purple ((GAZE)) swept through the room,“it’s still alive?”

  “i level'd up. ” Sanctuary said, “i has't points anon, but i don’t wanteth to maketh a misprision. ”

  “you hath left t alive?” Catacomb said, incredulously, “how didst it receiveth anoth'r arm?”

  “oh. ((SYSTEM)) hath said i needeth to resolve the invasion so i hath used ((MANA)) to maketh those folk not kicketh the bucket anym're and that gent hath said yond i did fix t, but didst t weird. “ sanctuary said,

  Catacomb was silent for a moment. “daught'r. ” He began cautiously,

  Sanctuary’s ((GAZE)) shrunk. Had she done something wrong? Had healing Runt and Xulminavera messed her up?

  “it seemeth to has't w'rk'd out this time,” catacomb said, and sanctuary relaxed slightly,

  “but,” catacomb continued. Sanctuary’s ((GAZE)) dimed

  “but t is incredibly, incredibly dang'rous to alloweth those folk liveth. At which hour yond beastkin wakes, 'twill killeth thee, and if 't be true t doesn’t killeth thee, t is because t is afraid of what i shall doth to t if 't be true t coequal lays a fing'r on thy ((CORE)). ” catacomb said,

  Sanctuary looked at her father's ((GAZE)) “what art thou going to doest?"

  Catacomb hummed. Sanctuary always liked listening to her father hum, it was a deep hum, much nicer than her high-pitched whine.

  “i supposeth if 't be true thee don’t wanteth to dealeth with t, i can has't one of the ratlings popeth in and receiveth did rid of t. ”

  Sanctuary dimed. “fath'r! prithee don’t did hurt h'r!”

  “daught'r,” Catacomb said patiently, “it hath tried to killeth thee,”

  “she didn’t doth t v'ry well!” Sanctuary protested, “can’t we just putteth h'r outside?”

  “i am currently fending off a raid of mine own, Sanctuary. ” catacomb said,

  “well aft'r?” she said

  “we aren’t going to leaveth t h're to waketh up and attacketh thee. ” Catacomb said,

  “please fath'r!” sanctuary said, “She's sleeping. T can’t doth aught. ”

  Catacomb looked at his daughter’s pleading ((GAZE)), and it caused his own to soften. “fine. But if 't be true aught liketh this happeneth again, i’m not putting the safety of some bip'd above yours, doth thee und'rstand?”

  “i und'rstand. ” sanctuary said, hrr ((GAZE)) brightening.

  “now, the onyx king just ent'r'd flo'r seven, we shall break with this lat'r. ” Catacomb said, then his ((GAZE)) vanished