Draconic Karma Dungeon

Chapter 84: A Queen or A Mother, Rarely Ever Both

Enania Delonix-Regia had inherited both the elven Queendom of Alfamér and its Royal Dungeon upon her mother's tragic death by unicorn. Her mother, Queen Saida, had been the one to both discover and quickly tame said Dungeon, around which she built the foundations of Alfamér. She had already been the unspoken leader of her nomadic people, who had been wandering around looking for a place to settle down, so the transition had been smooth.

And over the decades her Queendom had grown. The cheap and constant labor of the beastkin herd Queen Saida had introduced had massively sped up the process, but Enania knew none of it would have happened without the guidance of her mother.

As a new Queen, inserted into the rule before her time, Enania had tried to avenge her fallen mother, only for her effects to be met with threats of war. Her mother was called evil and deserving of her fate. In that eerily polite and formal way all correspondence between Royals were. The human nation of Windin even declared that should she or anyone else attempt to kill or simply harm the unicorn in question, then the two nations would be going to war.

And while Enania wanted to avenge her mother, she knew she would lose such a war should it happen this early in her reign.

So, she had to regrettably let it go.

All she could do was warn her people of the dangers of unicorns and train her only daughter in how to fight them.

So, that such a fate would never again befall them.

While the early and sudden beginning of her reign had been tough, Alfamér had eventually bloomed under her rule.

And so had her daughter.

Her precious, independent girl.

If only she could finally find herself a husband!

But no. Those things couldn't be rushed. Shouldn't be rushed.

Alfamér had improved its relationship with all of the neighboring nations, even the unicorn loving one. Windin with its short lived human rulers had seemingly forgotten their hand in her mother's death.

Even if the people of Alfamér hadn't.

Even so, the current rulers were different people than the ones who had ruled back then. They were no more at fault for what had happened than her own daughter was.

… Even if the current people - rulers and Ambassador included - still love, love, loved their many unicorns!

At least they respected that not everyone felt the same. Reportedly they liked to ride around on unicorns, but a polite 'no' from the elven Queen had made them leave the unicorns behind while visiting.

All in all, they were tolerable. Even pleasant to talk to at times!

The Windin Ambassador was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Nalaea Acacia, one of Enania's Advisors who hadn't been needed for this particular meeting.

"My Queen," Advisor Acacia gave her Queen a deep and respectful nod, which conveyed to those aware of the custom that she followed her Queen because she wanted to, but that she didn't need to, due to either physical prowess or social standing.

In Advisor Acacia's case it was the latter.

Those without enough status or power to potentially challenge the person they were addressing would perform either a bow or curtsy both performed to a 30° angle along with their greeting.

Of course this only happened in formal situations, anything else would be tiresome.

As the superior of the two - both in physical prowess and social standing - Enania responded with a short upwards nod.

"Royal Guards," Advisor Acacia continued, this time with a short downward nod, instead of a deep one, signifying equality or near equality. Enania's personal Guards were her Partymembers, and where her mother hadn't seen her own Guards as anything but that, Enania was well aware of how often they had saved her skin in the Royal Dungeon. As such, she had shortly after her coronation declared that they be given respect befitting of their duty.

"Fellow Advisors." Again a short downward nod of equality.

"Ambassadors." The last greeting was given with the same upwards nod her Queen had just given her.

Not that the Ambassadors, foreign as they were, understood the meaning being the movement.

Having greeted everyone in the room, Advisor Acacia returned her attention to Queen Enania. "I'm afraid I have received terrible news regarding the Crown Princess from my youngest daughter, my Queen."

Enania's heart sank as she looked around the meeting room. "Do you wish to tell Us the news in private?"

Advisor Acacia thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I believe the other nations will soon be informed either way, my Queen. It would only delay it momentarily."

"Very well. Continue." Enania knew her mask was good even when she felt like she was falling apart in fear for her daughter.

"Sarzina, my youngest, has recently become the dungeon mistress of a newborn Dungeon to the south. Her Dungeon was invaded by a cult earlier today known as The Order of The Broken Goddess. Said cult appears to contain mostly mind controlled members who serve the cult against their will."

Advisor Acacia took a deep breath before continuing. "Your daughter, the Crown Princess, has been found to be one of these mind controlled members."

"NO!" Came the instinctive cry of despair from the Queen.

"I'm afraid so, my Queen."

It took several deep breaths before Enania could regain her usual mask.

No matter how much she wanted to act like a mother, she had to be a Queen first and foremost.

Seeing her Queen regain her composure, Advisor Acacia continued. "The good news is that simply being in my daughter's Dungeon seems to slowly eradicate mind control. The Crown Princess has already been in the Dungeon for several hours."

Those news immediately sent relief through Enania. She'll be okay. We can fix this.

"The bad news," Advisor Acacia unfortunately continued, making the Queen tense up again in response. "-is that my daughter's Dungeon has been reported by several different sources as being highly unusual. While this actually makes the Dungeon near harmless to most people it makes it far more dangerous than its young age suggests to others. Such as anyone under mind control."

"Meaning?" Enania needed to hear it said out loud. She couldn't risk something getting misunderstood.

Advisor Acacia inhaled and exhaled sadly, in a way only a fellow mother could. "It means that either the Crown Princess will exit the Dungeon any moment now, free of mind control. Or she won't leave the Dungeon at all, my Queen."

Enania barely had time to process the news, before Ambassador Lagurith suddenly rose from his chair and turned to leave.

"Ambassador?" Queen Enania questioned sternly.

Seemingly startled, the siren turned to look at the elven Queen, and blinked rapidly before answering in a confused stutter. "I-I… I need to go pray? ... To the holy System! … So… For guidance? For the Princess! Of course!"

Enania didn't believe that lie one bit. "Go on then." The Queen stated as she retrieved one of several fans she had in her purse. These fans could convey different things to her Guards depending on which one it was and what she did with it.

The chosen fan pictured a midnight sky filled with stars and a full moon. It was for messages regarding spies. For instance, if she hid her mouth with it, she told her Guards she would tell this person as little as possible as she suspected they were a spy. Her Guards would then know to follow suit in telling them nothing, while contacting her Spymaster and have her discover the suspected spy's true allegiance.

But that was not what Enania chose to do today. Instead she - as casually and subtlety as possible - pointed the fan at the retreating Ambassador, before stating. "Ralnor will escort you out."

The Guard in question was quick to react to the command and immediately left his position behind his Queen to clap the retreating Ambassador on his back.

Perfect. Just as always.

"I don't need to be escorted!" The siren was almost shouting. "I know the way out!"

And you just confirmed my suspicions. If you simply wanted to pray you could have done it silently in this room. At most you might want to seek some place quiet. There are plenty of empty rooms in the palace for such a purpose. No need to leave entirely.

No need for you to 'know the way out' as you say.

No. You want to warn someone. You want to warn them so desperately that you couldn't even wait for me to excuse you.

"Very well. You're excused." The Queen said as she spread the fan in her hand, still lazily pointed in the siren's direction.

With a quick nod Ambassador Lagurith left the room.

Ralnor Liriodendron waited exactly 10 seconds, during which no one spoke, before he followed him.

With that dealt with for now, Enania could dial back the Queen in her and focus more on the mother.

"Is there any possible way We can aid my heir? Or must We simply wait for news?"

Advisor Acacia shook her head sadly. "By the time backup arrived, even if by the fastest of means, her fate would already have been decided, my Queen."

Enania closed her eyes for a moment to regain her composure. "Then We'll simply have to focus Our attention on the cult in question. What exactly do we know about them?"

"Their primary method of recruitment is through various levels of mind control. They worship a fake goddess who they believe is the System's soulmate but who has been broken into uncountable pieces. Each piece is supposedly held prisoner in the deepest room of a Dungeon by the Dungeon itself. In other words they believe each Dungeon Core is a piece of their broken goddess and their goal is to retrieve each one of them. Which would naturally cause the Dungeon in question to collapse." Advisor Acacia paused for a moment to think before nodding to herself. "I'm afraid we know nothing more about them at this point in time, my Queen. My daughter is already doing her best to rectify that. I am confident we will know more shortly."

"Very well. How does one identify if another is under someone's thrall?"

Once again, Advisor Acacia shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid it's quite difficult. The only certain way I know of is through my daughter's Dungeon."

The Queen sighed. "Which is not an option for the entire Queendom."

"The entire Queendom, your majesty?" The Ambassador of Windin asked.

"Of course." Enania nodded. "This needs to be rooted out completely."

"And, if I may,-" Advisor Acacia began. "-the cult contains members of every sapient species, so it might be necessary for each of your own nations to do the same."

This suggestion caused the room to fall into discord. Clearly the Ambassadors had thought the cult was an internal problem and not an international one.

But unfortunately for them, the situation wasn't that simple.

Enania let them talk. Maybe one of them will come up with a good idea.

They didn't get the chance to before Advisor Acacia's purse began blinking a vibrant purple, indicating an incoming call to an emco hidden in the purse.

"Take it." The Queen commanded.

It could be the news We're waiting for.

"Yes, my Queen!" Advisor Acacia promptly took out her emco and accepted the call.

"She's okay. The Crown Princess is out and free from mind control. Exhausted and a bit burnt and such, but she'll recover just fine. I'll call back with more details later."

Then the call was over. Advisor Acacia hadn't even said a word.

But it was enough to calm the mother in Enania.

Time for the Queen to step back up.