Gods damn it. They broke the barricade. It had been a shitty one granted, but I hadn’t expected anyone to enter the dungeon today either. It had been years since the last one. I started counting on my fingers. The elves, it had to be those fucking elves again. Adventurers would show up at random intervals, but the elves were like clockwork. It was a predictable annoyance. The elf before had broken the last of the entrance traps when they set it off. I had tried to fix it, but the old mechanisms couldn’t keep up with that particular elf’s freakishly strong build. I suspected they had been a warrior. After six thousand years surely they would stop sending their kin into the dungeon. At the very least word of all the traps that had once littered the entrance would have frightened them off. Yet, here they were. I really need to get around to making more.

Especially if I wanted to avoid getting woken up by them again. At first, I wasn’t sure if someone had entered the dungeon or if some part of it was finally giving in to its age. There had been more and more areas starting to crumble over the last couple of decades. It made traversing the dungeon more difficult than it already was when it was time to resupply. Luckily, the next level had an abundance of lower-level monsters. A scream roared through the dungeon. Then I knew. I quickly grabbed a rusted sword from the room I was hulled up in and shifted into a falcon so I could swiftly jam it through the door’s handles. Unfortunately, the sword snapped under pressure. I wondered how strong this one would be.

Now, I could hear small footsteps gently creeping towards the door. Panicking, I turned into a bed.

As the door creaked open, a long ear peak through and then one blue eye. Yep, an elf. Slowly, they stepped through. Pity, this one was pretty. I watched as her cautious expression shifted into one of relief. She let her guard down far too easily. She couldn’t feel me watching her as she tip-toed through the room. She wouldn’t last long, especially if she managed to make it to any of the lower levels. Whatever business her kin thought they had down here, she wasn’t fit for it. She didn’t have the instinct for it. I had been around long enough to tell. There was no magic coming from her. Except, wait, how the fuck did she get a dungeon key? My vision caught a glimmer of it hanging from her neck. This could be trouble. Hopefully, she would figure out that there was nothing useful in the room and leave.

Eyeing each dusty box with curiosity, she made her way through the room. Her golden hair fell around her shoulders as she leaned down to open them. A cloud burst from the box. She clutched her chest and started wheezing. I could have told her that there was mold in there. She definitely wouldn’t survive, but more importantly, she was too close for comfort. I could smell her. A lingering scent of honey and oak moss drifted off of her and flooded my senses with memories of the outside world. I had nearly forgotten what sunshine tasted like. I was used to the decay of the dungeon. This was sweet and wild.

The elf girl walked over to the door and peeked out. Thank the gods, she was leaving. But then, she turned around and set down her bag. What was she doing? No, go away.

“Well, I guess this is as good a place as any,” she groaned.

“Musty but safe.”

Oh, gods no.

Her body landing on mine snapped me from my form.

“What the-,” the elf girl screamed as we both fell to the floor.

Her face turned to meet mine and her eyes widened. I didn’t know what else to do so I smiled.