A Serpent's Tale

The next morning, after a night of fun, I checked out how long left I have of being mute. And what I saw shocked me.

[(10057:14:32)]

I rubbed my eyes to make sure that I wasn't imagining or dreaming things, and sure enough.

[(10057:14:23)]

It was real, it was counting down, and I'd managed to knock off well over a thousand hours somehow! Well, I knew some of it came from last night, but where did-

'Of course! That wolf man I ate yesterday! I completely forgot I did that.' The reason so much of my timer had gone down was because of all of that life force I 'extracted' out of him.

'Maybe I should do that more often?'

If I do that 'performance' at least once a month, then maybe, I can get my voice back!

No! I need to control myself, I can't let my desire take hold of me, otherwise I might start craving people faster.

Maybe every three months? That sound reasonable.' And as I was thinking about the future, I felt something shuffling up against me.

I looked to my side and saw my beautiful stag lover cuddling up with me. I stroked her silky blond hair, waking her up slightly as she pulled herself up to my face and kissed me with her soft pink lips.

"Morning love." She mumbled.

I kissed her back and ruffled her hair as my own way of saying good morning.

"Mnn, any plans for today?" She asked.

"Mhm."

"Well then tell me."

I shook my head. "Mm mm."

"Oh, a secret, huh? Well, I shan't force you to tell me, I have no reason to pry." She said, lying back on the bed and going back to sleep.

As for me, I got out and over to my own wardrobe that I was gifted a while ago to put my clothes in whenever I get any.

Once I got dressed, I went back to the library to read some more about smithing, and possible methods to help me create the gift I was planning to gift Cythistia at the Winter Advent.

I wanted to use the Dungeon Core, but had no idea how or even if I could do this myself. I may have to ask for some help from my seniors for this one.

Either way, I'd inquire about it when I went back tomorrow as I had the day off, which was good because that would give me more time to do some research.

I soon found all the books I thought would be relevant and began reading.

_

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Sometime later, I went out and headed to the workshop after lunch, to see if my idea was even possible.

When I got there I was met with a shocked Harmur when I told him my idea.

"YA WANT TO WHAT?!?!?" He screamed so loudly, that I think the whole workshop heard him.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes, contemplating. "Hmm..." he scratched his beard, thinking about the practicality of the process.

"Haaahhhhh...." He gave a deep sigh and looked at me with a serious look. "Are ye sure that ya wanna do this?"

'I am.'

He sighed again before he spoke, "Well, if we're gonna do 'is, then we'll need at least half of the workshop ta lend a hand."

'But it is possible, yes?' I reaffirmed.

"Hmm…" He scratched his beard while looking up at the ceiling. "Theoretically, yea, it is, but it ain't gonna be easy te actually do."

'So when can we begin?' I asked expectantly.

"Err… t'morra at the earliest, I'd say."

'Great!' I smiled. 'Is there anything I should do to prepare myself in the meantime?'

"Uhh… Make sure ye actually bring the core in for starters. Uhh… Also bring any text material that ye think may be of use in as well. And uhhh… Thas all I can think of fer now."

I nodded in understanding, thinking about all of the books I'd need to bring in, and my shoulders slumped because the more I thought about it, the more books that were actually relevant would have to be brought over.

"What's with that look lassie?"

Thinking about all the books I told him, 'I might just bring all the books over now because there's a lot of them.'

He raised his eyebrow and said nothing, just getting back to his work.

I took that as my que to leave and did so.

I went back to the manor and asked for some help from Kyristhus whom I found on my way to the library. When he asked what I was doing I simply told him I needed them to help with the gift I was making for Cythistia. He could probably infer what I was going to do with the books I was having moved.

We got most of them over by the time evening came around and I would take the last few with me tomorrow along with the core.

Dinner came and I ate with Kyristhus and my lover. We talked about how everyone was doing and other general small talk. Cythistia did bring up what we were doing earlier but I just smiled and said nothing, giving her the hint.

_

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_

I barely slept last night, my mind abuzz with hundreds of ideas, but I eventually managed to get some sleep.

When I woke up, I immediately got dressed for work, grabbed the last of the books and the Dungeon Core and set off early to work.

I arrived at the workshop and was greeted by Harmur along with several other dwarves whom I assumed were going to help us with this project.

Several of the dwarves greeted me with a short hello, "Mornin."

"Mnm." I greeted them back.

"So, have ye brought the last of it?" Harmur asked, referring to the books and the core.

I nodded and took out the last couple of books out of my bag, which was more of a satchel, and the bright, glowing Dungeon Core.

They all looked at the green orb with an awestruck wonder in their gazes.

"This me first time seein one, but damn… It's beautiful." One of the dwarves said after looking at it for a couple of minutes.

"Indeed, and we get the honour of craftin it inta a masterpiece." Harmur agreed, everyone else sharing a similar sentiment.

*Cough*

I Coughed to shake them all out of their trance.

"Right. This is yer thing that yer lettin us help ye make, but uhh... what are we even makin anyway?"

'A ring.' I stated.

"..." A silence fell upon the group, the only sound that could be heard was the clashing of metals from those who weren't involved with this project.

"Ye want us," Harmur gestured to the people surrounding the workbench we were at, "To help ye turn that," he pointed at me, then the Core, "Inta a ring?"

I confirmed with a simple, "Mhm."

They all groaned simultaneously, with Harmur giving his decree.

"Fine, we'll help ye make this ring. Why'd ya wan it made anyhow?"

'It's a gift for my, I guess my fiancé. I plane to give it to her on the day of the Winter Advent."

"The Winter Adv- Tha's in like three weeks!" He screamed, stopping himself partway through. he then gave an exasperated sigh. "Whatever... I can't promise anythin, but we'll do our best ta help ye."

I smiled and bowed to show my gratitude.

"Ah, don't sweat it lass, we'd work on this regardless of what ye wanted te get out o' this. We mainly just wanna have the chance te work on a Dungeon Core, as is not often we get opportunities like this."

I got up and smiled some more, tears welling up in my eyes at the compassion they showed me.

"Ahh, dun cry, we've got work te do!" Harmur said.

I wiped the tears from my eyes. he was right after all, we had work to do, and the sooner we completed it, the better.