The Dungeon's Worst Little Mistake

Green and blue filling her vision, the sound of wind gently rustling through the branches overhead filling her ears. The feeling of grass against her exposed skin and the smell of fresh earth filling her lungs. Elaine looks around and finds herself sitting beneath the trunk of a massive yew tree at the top of a hill of green. Its old body and sheer size suggest that it has seen many generations pass by over the years, but its trunk is solid and sturdy, promising that it will continue to stand for many more generations to come.

Against her back, that sturdy wood is strangely reassuring and comforting. Despite how hard its bark may be, for Elaine it feels almost as if she is being held in a hug from behind by a loving family member. The temptation to fall back asleep in this embrace is sorely tempting. To just close her eyes and relax under the loving canopy of branches shading her from the sun. To just sleep and let all her troubles disappear without a trace, left behind to be held up by the strong tree standing tall behind her.

But Elaine resists the urge to close her eyes, her hand going up to gently pet the bark.

"Thank you for letting me rest here. You're a nice tree."

The tree's branches shake little in the wind, seemingly in response, and Elaine smiles.

Shifting her gaze away from the tree and its canopy that impossibly reaches up into the sky, Elaine looks around at her surroundings. She is sitting atop a hill in the middle of a field of green grass, the occasional boulder peaking up out of the green like tiny islands on the sea. Even further out, separated by lines of dirt roads and little creeks of flowing water are even more fields, but this time of golden wheat that stand tall enough to swallow a child whole.

As a breeze flows along the wheat and the grass, it all moves like a wave, a familiar scent of nostalgia being carried along with it.

Elaine can't help but to take in a deep breath and sigh. It smells like home.

"Is this a dream?" Elaine asks the tree, knowing full well that she won't get a response.

Still, she smiles and returns to looking around.

There, off in the distance she finds a little village. Probably where the farmer who tend to these fields live. She can't see anyone living there, however. No one is out and about. No mothers are doing the laundry, no fathers are tending to their tools, and no children are out playing games or doing chores.

A pang of nostalgia hits her as she looks upon this place from atop her hill, far in the distance. Faded memories tickling at the back of her mind and begging to brought to the front.

Had she lived here once?

… No. This was not home. This nostalgia has a different taste to it. A different feel from home.

"I… I used to play there? That's right. I used to go and play with the other kids there, didn't I?"

Elaine rests her head against the tree and lets its cool bark hold her head with a gentle, loving hug.

"But I can't remember any of them… Did I used to live around here? Where is home?" Elaine asks the tree, hoping that is will point the way.

The wind shifts slightly, and the branches shake, drawing her attention off to the side. Following a road she had not been able to see previously, by whatever logic of the dream, she finds a simple manor of old stone sitting off in the distance. Old garden walls surround its perimeter, and a stable for horses is not but a short walk away. She can even see an old well with a familiar rusty old metal rooster perched atop it, turning and creaking to point to where the wind blows.

The nostalgia hits even harder now, turning into full on homesickness as she gazes at those old walls. With her lips trembling and a tear threatening to fall from her eye, she goes to stand. One hand against the tree's solid body to help her up, she tries to get up, but she can't.

She is stuck, entirely unable to move from the spot. Even with the tree trying to help her get up and stand, she can't remove her bottom from the grass where she sits.

There is suddenly, or quiet possibly she is only just now noticing it, a weight on her legs.

Elaine looks down to try and find what it is that is keeping from standing, and much to her surprise, but also, in a strange way, much to be expected, she finds a little boy holding a small drum.

His body is like if someone had tried to form a human child out of grey clay with their bare hands and only the vague idea of what a human child looks like for reference. He has no nose, only two little holes for breathing. His ears are far too round and too big, like circles stuck on to the sides of his head. And his head itself might as well be a ball for how round it is.

There is not a single strand of hair atop his head and nor does he have eyebrows or eyelashes, as if adding them or any further details had been far too difficult of a task to manage. But there are two details of this little boy's face that are clear and perfectly defined.

The boy looks up at Elaine with his eyes like red rubies and smiles with a mouth that stretches from ear to ear with pearly white, razor-sharp teeth.

How it is that she can tell it is a boy, Elaine can't really say. His little body made of grey clay, while lacking clothing, doesn't exactly have the parts that would indicate his gender. Looking further down his body, his poorly sculpted legs don't even end with proper feet, but instead flat things like someone had tried and given up halfway when it was too difficult to finish making proper feet. But still, Elaine is certain that this is a little boy currently smiling up at her, his drum protectively hugged to his little chest with his sticklike arms.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Elaine smiles back, "Why, hello there. Where did you come from?"

"Mmm…" The child looks down a little and shrugs.

"You don't know? What about your parents? Where is your mom at?" Elaine asks sweetly.

The child starts to look a little embarrassed as he looks away and blushes, unable to answer. But when Elaine asks about his mom, he looks back up at her, wide eyed and responds, "Mommy?"

"Mhm, do you know where your mommy is? Is she around here, maybe in the village?"

The little boy just looks around, hugging his drum tightly as he looks for his mommy, his big smile slowly dropping into a concerned frown.

"Mmm…"

"Don't know where she is? Ok, how about we go together and try and find her? How does that sound?"

The boy looks back up, clearly worried, and nods his head.

"Alright, just have to… I can't get up. Can you help me up, I can't move with you sitting on my lap?"

The boy just tilts his head curiously at that and then looks down at his legs. He tries to move the malformed sticks of clay, but the best he can do is shake them around a little. They won't even bend at the knees, and if he tried to force them, they would surely snap.

He just frowns and looks back up at Elaine, shaking his head no.

"Oh… Well, I guess were stuck here for now. But at least we are together. We can both wait here until your mother shows up to find you, ok?"

He nods, his smile starting to come back.

Thinking for a bit on how to pass the time, Elaine looks down at the kid again and notices his drum, she gives him a big smile.

"So, do you like to play the drum?"

His smile grows bigger, and he nods his head happily. "Mmm!"

"I like music too. Can we play together?"

"Mmm! Mmm!"

"Hahaha, ok. Let's play together while we wait. See if we can make a song."

"Mmm!"

With the kid finally being back to smiling literally ear to ear, Elaine helps to rotate him in her lap so he is sitting against her and she can wrap her arms around him in a hug, the both of them able to play on the drum as Elaine rests her cheek against the back of his head, his giggles reverberating into her chest.

With his back to her body, and Elaine's back to the tree, the two begin to play and hum together as the sun slowly crawls across the sky and towards the horizon. The wind flows across the fields of grass and wheat turning golden as the sun eventually begins to set. The tree, in its own way, joins in their music with the rustling of its leaves and the shaking of its mighty branches, its tall shadow stretching further across the fields with each passing minute.

Together, they play and make music until the sun eventually sets and becomes nothing but a sliver of light on the horizon. Pangs of nostalgia are slowly forgotten and worries of missing family set aside for now. They simply have each other and their song, and nothing else matters.

Slowly but surely, just as the sun must set, their song and to their play comes to an end, Elaine giving the child a firm hug from behind as the two of them giggle and laugh. The dream will come to an end soon, and they both know it.

"That was a lot of fun. We should play together again some time."

"Mmm!"

Elaine looks towards the fading sun and seems to remember something.

"Ah. Wait, what's your name? Mine is Elaine."

The kid smiles, his ruby eyes reflecting Elaine's own pair of sapphires, and responds with his raspy little voice, "Mimmie!"

"Mimmie, huh? Nice to meet you. Let's make lots of music together, ok?"

"Mmm!"

And with that, the two share a hug, the dream slowly fading away as the sun finishes setting.

…

"Yaaaaaaaaahnnn~~~"

Waking up inside the safety of her shell, Elaine wakes up and pushes the lid open, stretching as she untangles herself from the big grey tongue she was cuddling with as a hug-pillow. Hair a mess, t-shirt all wrinkled up and in need of a wash, she scratches at her scalp as she blinks and looks around at her surroundings.

A dream she just had is floating around in the back of her mind, and thinking about it makes her feel happy and fluffy. But the more she tries to draw it to the surface, the more the dream fades away like smoke between her little fingers.

Slowly forgetting about the dream, she looks around at the unfamiliar scenery. Had the Dungeon always looked like this?

"Oh, finally awake?" She hears someone ask.

Turning, Elaine finds Susan and Bug tending to a simple fire in the center of camp, a wall of Undead blocking off the hallways.

"Mmm… Sissy! Good morning~"

"Hmhmhm, it's not really morning, but yes. Glad to see you finally awake, Elaine. Was starting to get worried again." Susan giggles.

"Told you she was fine." Bug says as she hugs her knees and watches Susan stir the fire from a safe distance.

"Mommy! Good morning!"

Bug smiles at her, "Good morning, sweetheart."

Elaine looks around again, taking in her changed surroundings. It's a lot greener than she remembers…

"Where are we?"

Bug answers for her with a proud smile, "Were in the next layer finally, floor twenty-three! Couldn't find the Safe Room yet, so we set up camp here."

"Oh, yeah?"

Elaine remembers that Bug wants to reach the bottom because of reasons… something about killing and eating the Dungeon.

Wait, I get to eat the Dungeon! Mommy said so. So… getting deeper is a good thing!

Elaine cheers, "Yes! Eats the Dungeon!"

Bug snorts, "There we go. Now then, with Mimmie finally awake. Who wants cake?"

"Cake!? Yes!"

"Were finally eating it? I was starting to think we never would…" Susan asks.

"I said we would when we reached the next layer, and I meant it." Bug responds with a side eye at Susan. "Just wait a bit and I'll make our plates."

"I want a big piece!"

"Yes, yes, Mimmie gets a big piece. And… here you go. Enjoy, sweetheart."

"Yay!!!"

Bug hands over a plate with fat slice of black spongy cake to Elaine. Dressed in black icing and black shavings, and black wedges, and black slime oozing out from the within, and black dollops of even more icing plopped on top, the thing is black through and through and smells like heaven.

"What is it?" Elaine asks curiously as she examines the black treasure in her hands.

"Chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake. Redacted said she went a bit overboard making it and went nuts with the chocolate." Bug says excitedly as she passes a plate over to Susan, her eyes never leaving the treat as she is practically drooling over it. "So excited to taste it!"

Elaine goes to grab her slice of cake, but Susan quickly stops her and reminds her to use a fork. In the meantime, Bug finishes making her own slice and then raises her own fork.

"Let's eat!"

They all take a bite.

""MMMMMMmmm~~~!!!""

"Goddess, this is the most sugary thing I have ever eaten!"

"I'm dying. I can die happy now~"

"Mehemereeaahhhhbb~ SO, GOOD!"

With all of them having foodgasms, they can barely even talk as they wolf down their slices of sinfully chocolatey cake. Elaine can hardly even think as her brain is flooded with the pure pleasure of sugar.

Of course, Susan has to go and try to ruin it.

"This is some pretty good wedding cake, huh Bug? Haha!"

*Splat!*

A smack from a fuming Bug's wing has Susan's plate smashing into her face, covering her in chocolate.

"Shud up! I told you already, that doesn't count! I'm not married!"

"AHH, you ruined my cake! Give me yours, rat lover!"

"No! Ahhhh! Don't get it on me! Don't ruin the cake! Mimmie, save Mommy! Save me!"

But Elaine is too busy enjoy her own treat to help, every bite being like a firecracker going off on her tongue. As she happily watches her family wrestle and play, a grey tongue raises up beside her. Elaine takes a piece of cake and plops it on the tongue which quickly snaps it back into the chest.

"Hmhmhmhm~"

Turning around, Elaine reaches back and pets the lid of the chest, a pair of ruby-red eyes looking up into her sapphire-blues.

"Pretty tasty, right?"