The Dungeon Keeper universe.
Underground Lair of the Mentor.
"I'm disappointed in you Horny." Softly spoke the Mentor the most evil being in the enter underground whose current form took the appearance of a wizardly bald old man with a long grey beard that reached his knees while he wore a black robe with demonic pulsating runes etched into it. "I gave you one simple task to kill the defenders to the portal, which lead to the surface world." The evil being eyes that looked like twin black pits glared at his most loyal demon servant who was kneeling down before him. "But instead of a gateway to the surface, we now have a locked door with no way to open it except for gathering the portal gems that are now scattered throughout the underground." The Mentor released a small amount of his colossal magical energy as a way to show the red reaper that he was very displeased with this whole fuck up. "So tell me Horny just how did you fail so spectacularly at such a simple task!" The ultimate evil of the underground demand to know while never once taking his black pits for eyes away from the horned reaper.
"I have no excuse, my lord." Horny gritted his demonic fangs in barely suppressed rage at the whole situation that he had found himself in, after all, it wasn't his fault that the humans had place far more defences then either he or his master had first thought. "I can only ask that you allow me the chance to redeem myself by collecting the portal gems that have been scattered to the fifteen human lords and their underground fiefdoms." The red reaper swallowed his pride and bowed his head in subservience to show that he really did want to fix his mistake when it had came to securing the surface worlds portal gate.
Mentor hummed thoughtfully while stroking his grey beard. "Very well, you shall have your chance to fix this mess." The ancient evil saw Horny's subtle grin which shined with bloodlust the scythe-wielding demon was properly thinking about all the humans and their non-human allies that he could violently murder. Which was understandable because although the demon reaper was undeniable loyal to him, the red reaper was still a demon, a creature that reviled in carnage. And what better way to indulge in such a thing then by attacking and destroy the human kingdom that had the nerve to enter into the underground a place that only the evilest of monsters had any right to call home.
"But you shall not be taking on this grand task alone." Mentor had already leaned his lesson with trusting Horny with such tasks alone, and he was determined to not repeat it again. Especially with a job as important as gathering the fifteen scattered portal gems which they needed to open the surface portal gateway. "You'll be receiving help from a dungeon keeper." The Mentor felt his lips twitch upwards for a brief second when Horny snarled at the mention of dungeon keepers. Unsurprising really as the red demon had a rather low opinion when it came to the creators of the underground dungeons that some of the many monsters that lived within the underground called home.
"Which for the oh so glorious keepers will I be teamed up with for this task my lord?" The red scythe-wielding demon asked just barely keeping the contempt for the dungeon keepers out of his voice.
"None of the current ones I'm afraid," Mentor told his servant while walking towards one of the lairs old withered walls. Once he was standing in front of it, he waved his right hand, causing the wall to glow in strange runes before lifting itself upwards reviling a single room. With the only thing inside being a blackthorn styled pedicel with a purple cushion that had a crystal ball resting on top of it. "Since none of them are truly loyal to our cause I am now forced to summon forth a new keeper one that we can mould into a suitable champion for the forces of darkness." Honestly, the evil being really didn't want to create a new keeper. But with the other current Keeper's more focused on satisfying their own desires rather than dealing with the human kingdom problem that was currently knocking at their doors he was forced to resort to such measures to secure the future of the underground.
"My lord, how will we know that this newborn keeper can even succeed with retrieving the gems from the human lords that now guard them?" Asked the horned reaper who had moved to stand beside his dark master.
"It's quite simple, my dear servant." Mentor grinned evilly while placing his aged hands upon the crystal ball that was around the size of a fully grown man's head. "I shall cast a slightly different spell than the one I would normally use to create a new keeper." The dark being began to channel massive amounts of dark magic into the crystal. "Which will summon forth a creature that is most suited for the task at hand." He left out the part that the person summoned could even be outside of their own reality. Such was the power of the spell that he was about to perform to bring to him the champion who shall finally destroy the human kingdom and its goody two shoes followers once and for all.
"That sounds like quite the spell my lord." The demon reaper said while scratching one of the many white horns that randomly appeared across his demonic face. "I hope that it isn't a human because the last time a human keeper was summoned, the fool got himself and his whole dungeon destroyed by the kingdom and their horde of well-trained knights." The reaper scowled at the memory of the incompetent idiot that he had the unfortunate luck to serve when his master had first expressed the desire to invade the surface world. The stupid Keeper had arrogantly thought that he could destroy an encampment of over thirty well armoured and trained knights with nothing more than goblins. The arrogant fool lost his whole army almost overnight, and when the knights had finally found his dungeon, the human Keeper was powerless to stop them from destroying his dungeon heart.
"Yes, let's hope that we don't have a repeat of that particular incident." Mentor snarled darkly as he to remembered that fool of a keeper and the only thing that the evil ruler of the underground regretted about the whole incident was that he hadn't captured the incompetent imbecile's soul so as to torture it and show the rest of the dungeon keepers why failure wasn't an option. But alas the human fool's soul had long since vanished from the underworld leaving him with nothing but a destroyed dungeon and wasted monster lives and if there was anything that the king of evil hated more than the human kingdom it was wasted resources and minions.
"Anyway let's forget about that fool and instead let us focus on summoning our newest ally." Releasing a cruel laugh, the absolute master of evil began to chant in an unknown language. Which was never meant to be heard by human ears. The words flowed softly from his wicked tongue and with which syllable that left his lips the world around them seemed to scream out a truly terrifying sound like the magic spell was literally tearing into reality like a hungry bear ripping apart a helpless deer. The two evil entities ignored this of course as they have heard this sound hundreds of others times when the keeper summoning spell was being used.
"~Oh chosen one from this world or another~"
"~I call you forth to spread darkness and terror~"
"~Oh dark champion born from darkness as black as a starless night~"
"~I summon you forth to show the beings of the light your cruel and evil mighty~"
"~Oh dark child I call you here to become a protector of evil both far and near~"
"~Evil one who shall complete the task to reunite the gems so that we the dark ones my finally pass through the gate of light~"
"~With your grand power that shall eclipse the sun the days of the human kingdom shall soon be gone~"
"~So oh Keeper whose power shall be unmatched came forth from your home and destroy the humans who have arrogantly thought themselves are match~"
"~Great Keeper the time has come~"
"~For I the Mentor of evil to summon you forth!~"
When Mentor said the last verse of the dark spell there was a sudden burst of purple light that came from the crystal ball the ominous light shined so brightly that the master and servant duo had to cover their eyes less they go blind from the purple light. Though thankfully the light only lasts for a few seconds before disappearing, allowing the two of them to see again. And when their eyes scanned the room, they saw a body laying down nearby the crystal balls pedicel with small clouds of black smoke slowly rising off of it signifying that it was just summoned into the room.
"Yes, the summoning spell worked!" Grinning like a madman Mentor kneeled down next to the unconscious champion of darkness that he had just summoned. "Hum a shadow demon how interesting." He curiously stared at the oddly dressed twelve-year-old blue-skinned demon girl. However, he was unsure if she was really twelve years of age since demons sometimes like to take on a youthful appearance as to fool humans into letting down their guard before attacking them.
"A shadow demon huh haven't seen one of those in nearly a thousand years." Softly muttered the horned reaper who was silently grateful at not having to partner up with a human keeper again although he would have to keep a close eye on this girl as he could easily tell thanks to his many years of living around other demons of all kinds that the blue child was rather young for a demon and as an ancient demon lord who has lived since the dawn of creation it was his sacred duty to look after the girl until she could take care of herself as demons were very protective of their offspring plus Horny had been recently thinking about teaching the next generation of demons and what better way to start now then with this new demon keeper.
"Well, in any case, we better get the imps to take her to one of the unoccupied bedrooms to rest until she awakens," Mentor said. While standing back up while sending a telepathic message to one of the many small miserable worker class creatures that served the forces of evil.
"What shall we do while the young one slumbers my lord?" Asked the red reaper while an Imp ran into the chamber its large black eyes scanned the room for a second before it saw the young shadow demoness laying on the ground. With its target in sight, the tiny pink-skinned demon let out a triumphant screech that honestly made the red reaper want to skewer the annoying creature that had the nerve to share the same species as him on the tip of his scythe. Still, he ignored that impulse as the little demon swiftly ran across the room gently picking up the peacefully sleeping girl and then proceeded to run out of the room quickly heading to one of the many empty rooms that filled the Lair.
The Mentor grinned evilly while leaving the summoning room, followed closely by the demon reaper. "Isn't it obvious old friend." The seemingly old man replied whilst mentally ordering the summoning rooms wall/door to close, making it seem like the very room which had called forth the newest Keeper had never even existed. "Whilst the young one sleeps, we shall plan out how to go about attacking the human lords that now posses the portal gems." The ultimate evil of the underground walked over and sat on his throne, a twisted thing made up of human bones and black metal.
"Plus the little problem with the gateway works both ways." With a knowing gleam within his eyes, the Mentor pulled out of his robes a white portal gem one of the sixteen that was needed in order to reopen the portal to the surface world. "So long as we have this portal gem within our possession the foolish human lords can't call for reinforcements from the surface, meaning that they can only use the resources available to them right now." Truly the human wizard had done him a favour when he had tried to prevent Horny from capturing all the portal gems. Because now the human lords were trapped within the underground. Meaning that he and his new demon keeper can do away with them without being overrun by the kingdom and its massive army that would have undoubtedly flooded the underground if they thought that their control over their little fiefdoms was threatened.
"But my lord wouldn't the fools banded together to protect themselves while they try to reopen the gateway?" Questioned Horny while leaning against one the many pilers that stood within the large chamber.
Mentor chuckled at his oldest living friend's question. "Have no fear Horny the foolish human lords will do what humans have always done since they first discovered how to create fire." Waving his withered old hand in the air, the master of the underground conjured a silver jewel-encrusted goblet filled with steaming hot blood. Whose it was would forever remain a mystery as the old human-looking creature took a small sip of the goblets countenance a sigh of delight left his wrinkly lips as the life-giving liquid slide pleasantly down his throat. "Which is to backstab and abandon each other when the dangers they face become too hard for them to handle." And when that time came, he and his demon keeper would be there waiting in the shadows ready to strike and destroy them like the pathetic insects that they truly were.
"I see," Horny smirked while pulling out a whetstone from one of the leather pouches that line his belt. "In that case which human lord do we attack first?" The demon reaper placed the stone onto his scythe's blade taking long slow strokes to help sharpen the deadly weapon which had been used many a time to cleave the heads of his enemies off from their shoulders.
"Hum," Mentor hummed in thought while stroking his grey beard. "I do believe that our first target should be the lord, Antonius." The man was the weakest not to mention the poorest of the fifteen lords that now barded his way to the surface world and from what he could recall the foolish knight lord had only a small militia made up of mostly human peasant levies with a few novice dwarf workers. To maintain the equipment they used for fighting and to help build new tunnels to expand their area of control. Though from what he had recently heard from a few of his spy's that were hiding nearby the fiefdom. The dwarfs had stopped tunnelling a couple of days ago as they had been needed to help look after the many villages that were scattered around lord Antonius's domain.
"Not a bad idea, my lord." The ancient demon grinned evilly while scraped the stone across the scythe creating sparks which made Horny's eyes glow ominously within the dim lighting of the chamber. "Antonius is nothing more than an arrogant brat whose hatred for anything non-human is quite well known throughout the underground." It was true as the twenty-something-year-old knight had done everything within his power to make the lives of the non-humans within his domain a living nightmare with them not allowed to enter any village or hunt within the woods that had somehow managed to grow in the underground and if they were unfortunate enough to be caught doing either of those things than the non-human would be killed on the spot regardless of the reason that they were there in the first place. The only reason that the dwarfs weren't treated the same way was because the local lord needed them to work on his armies equipment and to help maintain the villages.
"Yes the foolish lord Antonius will be a fine first opponent for our champion to face." Mentor grinned in satisfaction plus from what he was currently sensing the newly made Keeper's dungeon heart had appeared not too far way from Antonius's domain. Honestly, it was like fate was saying that the lord knight was destined to be the first one of the fifteen knights to die by the shadow demoness cold blue hands.
"She'll have to be trained first in how to be a proper keeper before she can face Antonius." Horny reminded his master while putting away the whetstone. Because no matter how much the red demon reaper was itching to go and violently murder some human soldiers the fact of the matter was that he and the shadow child both shared this mission to gather the portal gems. So leaving her behind wasn't an option plus he wasn't comfortable with the idea of leaving the child alone in a lair filled with dark creatures that wouldn't have a single problem with hurting her if they truly felt like it. Though if they ever did try hurting the young one, then they would face his wrath and Horny would gladly remind them all just why he was considered the most powerful demon in the whole underground.
"True." Mentor agreed as the girl would need training on how to be a keeper before allowing her to go off to retrieve the portal gems. Though he highly doubted that the young demoness would face too much trouble when it came to dealing with Antonius. As the foolish man had driven away all of the kingdoms non-human allies. Thus leaving only humans and dwarfs to deal with and since the knight lord was poor as dirt. An assault on his territory should be rather easy, especially as none of the races that he had driven away would ever imagine helping him against his newest dungeon keeper.
"Still, I have to wonder just how the child shall handle her new responsibilities." Quietly pondered Mentor while conversing with his demon friend over just how to properly train the newest Keeper. "After all, not many children become keepers and those that do usually face many problems when it comes to adapting to their new lives." He had seen it happen to hundreds of child keepers throughout his many aeons of existence some adapted quite well to their new roles bringing with them new and imaginative ways to kill the pesky heroes of the kingdom while others, unfortunately, couldn't handle the stress of being a keeper and thus committed suicide via allowing the kingdom to destroy their dungeon heart.
"I'll have to keep a close eye on the girl in order to make sure that she doesn't go down the same path as those who couldn't handle the responsibilities of a dungeon keeper." The master of evil concluded within his mind while telepathically telling some of his Imp minions to keep a close eye on the young female demon and to immediately report to him when she finally wakes up from her slumber. As he would need to inform the demoness of her new life and responsibilities. Such as getting the portal gems so he could finally return to the surface and place that arrogant human king's head onto a bloody spike for ever daring to try conquering his home.
Still, even if the girl was to fail in retrieving the gems, it wouldn't matter much in the grand scheme of things because he was the Mentor master of evil and king of the underground. A timeless creature that has survived for countless millennia whilst other lesser evils have died at the hands of the kingdom's heroes, and their name which had once caused nothing but terror and despair throughout the land. Were reduced to nothing more than old barely remembered myths that old women would tell their children at bedtime.
"Yes, it doesn't matter in the end because true evil always survives anything that the forces of good try to throw at it, because true evil always finds a way."