Chapter 6

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Chapter 6: The Failed Deal

The pages of the book were filled with densely packed words, clearly promising the powers, authority, wealth, and knowledge that a covenanter could possess, just as the book had described. The pages were decorated with dazzling beautiful patterns, almost crawling slowly if stared at for too long. The blank space in the bottom right corner called for Tasha to fill in the gap, to complete the final flaw with her name, achieving perfection. Tasha instinctively gripped the pen, as if it would fly to fill the empty space if she didn’t.

"What do I have to give?" Tasha asked.

"We are talking about what you can get," the Book of Dungeons said enticingly.

"Then let’s talk about what I have to give now," Tasha said. "I don’t believe in a free lunch."

"There is no price— if I say that, it must be a lie," the book said. "But what’s the difference between a trivial price and ‘no price’? For example, the Northern witches need a dragon’s breath for their potion, which is insignificant for the dragon to provide; a witch’s clipped nail can cure a lizard disease that could be fatal to a hatchling dragon, such a cure is a simple task for them. You can think of me as a merchant, acting as an intermediary between clients who cannot communicate directly. All I ask for is a small reward from you."

A corner of the page curled elegantly, making a gesture of "a small reward," Tasha was amazed that a book could have such rich body language for the first time.

"Give me your name, that is the price," said the book. "You will have a dungeon, and the dungeon will have an owner, an exchange. A dungeon without an owner is just a ruin, look around! Who would let a treasure trove turn to dust over time?"

Tasha pondered, not answering immediately.

"Think about it, a dungeon!" encouraged the book. "It can bring endless wealth, and you will become the master of a city or even a country, your power will make this world tremble. I, the Book of Dungeons, will also share knowledge with you from now on…"

"I think," Tasha said, "No, thank you."

The pages of the book remained still for a whole second.

"What?" the voice in her mind asked in astonishment, "Sorry?"

"I said no," Tasha replied, "I quite like my name and I don’t want to give it to you."

"No, no, no, you probably misunderstood," said the book. "Of course, you can continue using your name, why not? But you need to sign it, right here, see it? You sign it, get a dungeon, an underground kingdom, a source of knowledge! Don’t you want to know who you are? Don’t you want to know your past, to solve the puzzles bothering you?"

"Actually, it doesn’t matter," Tasha said, "I think things are fine as they are now."

"Pretty good?" the Book of Dungeons said incredulously, "You are already dead! You are a ghost who will disappear in a few years, empty-minded and not remembering anything, unaware of your situation, aimlessly drifting underground. Do you think you’re doing fine? Now you have a chance to return to the human world, to one day bathe in the sunlight again, and seek out those you love. This is the only chance you have for a future!"

"Since I don’t remember anything, what’s the point of doing all this?" Tasha said.

"Don’t you want to seek other possibilities? Don’t you want to have some fun in your final moments?"

"No."

"…"

The voice was silent for a few seconds, then it didn’t speak again. Instead, words appeared on the page, "So, what do you plan to do next?"

"Let me think," Tasha pretended to pause, "I’ll probably just continue drifting until I disappear. I’ve been wandering around this area for so long and haven’t seen another ghost. What a shame."

"Fine. Fine," a voice gritted through clenched teeth, "I hate doing this, you forced me."

The room suddenly lit up.

The patterns on the floor shimmered brightly, Tasha felt herself sinking down and unable to move. The patterns came to life, intertwining like a group of snakes, wrapping around the ghostly figure and restricting its movements under the strange ropes of light and mist. Tasha took a deep breath, the room itself seemed to breathe, and suddenly, every star on the ceiling shone brightly, like tiny suns.

They were burning.

The stars, meant to shine for centuries, were rapidly consuming their lives, awakening the dormant room forcefully. Tasha began to tremble uncontrollably, spots of light burst before her eyes, dimming the ghostly figure. For a moment, she glimpsed a grand library, countless books filling every shelf, whispering treasures of endless ages, secrets from various times and spaces, lost knowledge, mysteries, stories… Gazing at them was like looking up into an infinite starry sky, enough to bring any scholar to tears.

"Come, write your name!" the Book of Dungeons said wearily.

It transformed back into its original form, full of text with an empty space in the bottom right corner. The pen stuck to Tasha’s hand, and the patterns climbing her body were pressing her towards the book.

"Wait!" Tasha managed to speak in the gust of wind, "What do you want, exactly?"

"Merge your shallow soul with me, open the door to the abyss, return to where I should have gone four hundred years ago!" the book said impatiently, "Foolish mortal, you’ve turned a splendid deal into a low-class, tasteless farce! Curse it, I’ll be mocked for centuries!"

"Don’t worry," Tasha said, "You won’t get that chance."

The ceiling collapsed.

Three huge rocks fell from the sky, making a loud noise when they hit the ground. Unfazed by the impact, the rocks quickly got up and lunged towards the Book of Dungeons hovering in the air. The book rose in surprise, evading one pair of sharp claws but not the other two.

Tasha’s moles pinned the book firmly to the ground. The three miners received orders from Tasha during her negotiation with the Book of Dungeons. Without stopping for a moment, they kept digging down. Just a few minutes earlier, they were only a few inches away from the soil here. When the Book of Dungeons ran out of options, it was the perfect time for them to make their entrance.

"Gnome?" the book exclaimed in disbelief. "How can this be?"

"Why not?" Tasha asked.

"No way!" the Book of Dungeons shouted, its pages fluttering under the mole’s claws, almost breaking free. Tasha signaled for another mole to sit on top, and as its sandy dusty bottom touched the page, the Book of Dungeons let out a piercing scream that made heads ache.

"Get off!" its voice now devoid of special effects, with a hysterical hiss, "You filthy lowly creature! I command you to move away!"

"Number three, number four, I command you to squeeze your bottoms onto it too," Tasha said. She didn’t actually need to speak aloud; she was just trying to annoy the book.

Now all three moles were sitting on the page, surrounding the book, preventing it from moving.

"This can’t be!" the angry Book of Dungeons roared, "I am the Book of Dungeons! Without me, how could you gain access to the dungeon?!"

"I don’t need to get out of the dungeon," Tasha said, "I am the dungeon."

The biggest mistake of the Book of Dungeons was that it didn’t know Tasha was not a ghost.

Tasha was cautious about this book from the beginning. Her life experience taught her that things advertised too attractively were likely scams, like fruits by the roadside – there’s definitely a trap somewhere. A book promoting itself for a contract, isn’t it suspicious? Tasha is not a girl from Hogwarts who enjoys chatting with a book that replies automatically.

At first, she was tricked, thinking the book knew her background and why she crossed over. But as she continued to probe, she realized that the Book of Dungeons was not as all-powerful as it claimed to be. The book had knowledge unknown to Tasha, but Tasha had her own trump cards: a ghostly body she could discard at any moment, and her identity as a dungeon. The book’s final actions turned out to be crucial to its own failure when this room was activated, Tasha’s consciousness lit up here without the need for moles to connect the joints.

Once this room started, it returned to the jurisdiction of the dungeon. If it belongs to the dungeon, then it belongs to Tasha.

The Book of Dungeons’ struggles ceased, and Tasha wondered if that yellow-eyed one would be shocked with widened eyes.

"Nest Mother, you are Nest Mother," the book murmured to itself, "but why can’t I sense the abyss? This is impossible. When the Dungeon Core is activated, the abyss should be connected to here, right?"

Its voice sounded almost pitiful, and Tasha suggested, "It looks like a lot has happened in these four hundred years, like the abyss being destroyed?"

"Absurd!" the Book of Dungeons snorted, "You may be able to destroy a cloud, but how would you destroy the entire sky? Even if all the gods fall, the abyss will remain immortal!"

"Why can’t you feel it?" Tasha asked sincerely.

The book didn’t answer, it started muttering in a language Tasha couldn’t understand.

Tasha paused, looking at the stars burning on the dome, most of them carved from Blue Ore. Half of them had burnt out in a short time, which was quite heartbreaking. After waiting for a while, the Book of Dungeons still ignored her, so Tasha spoke again.

"You said I turned a beautiful transaction into a low-class, tasteless farce. Now I’ll give you a chance to explain again," Tasha said, gesturing for moles to leave the book and pointing sharp claws at the pages. "You see, I am a dungeon myself and don’t need a Book of Dungeons to add unnecessary details. So why should I keep a dangerous and useless you, instead of turning you into a pile of scrap paper?"