Riviera pushed back a strand of my silver hair behind my pointed ears, leaning in close. "The Crimson Wraith hasn't quite awakened in you yet, but I think you're already quite beautiful."
"C-Crimson Wraith?" I stuttered, trying to keep my head around this girl, who, by her own admission, was the floor guardian of lust.
"Yup!" She turned abruptly, and I let out a sigh of relief as she withdrew from my personal space. "Crimson Wraith's are pretty cool, they skulk in shadows and mirrors, and then when they strike, they dye the world in blood! Hahahahaha." She imitated a sudden strike with one of her hands then burst out laughing. "People think they're immaterial, because of the way they can move in and out of conceptual space, but actually they're physical beings just like the rest of us. What do you think of my choice?" She added, coyly lifting a finger under my chin.
"Um," I stepped back, still very unsure of how I felt about intimacy from this girl. "Your choice?" I frowned. "So…did you…choose me, as well? Or…?" This was yet another deviation from what I'd been led to expect from both the goddess and the other floor guardians.
"Yup!" She put her hands behind her back, and twirled on one foot. "The floor guardians all have the right to choose their progeny. Of course, Our Lady has to approve, but I did rather push for the runt of the god's litter to receive her blessing. After all…" She looked at me concerned.
"Do you know why you didn't receive a blessing from the other gods?" Her tone was suddenly more serious.
"Um…" my mouth went dry. "No? I mean, or…isn't it because Melphinoe claimed me?"
"Lady Melphinoe," Riviera corrected with a shake of her finger. "If you have to say her name, say it politely, please."
"R-right," I took a breath. Why was I always on the backfoot in conversations with these floor guardians? They were never especially forthright or fair with me, and yet I couldn't seem to assert myself when I was around them. "So?" I tried to get back to the question at hand.
Her face turned serious again. "They didn't claim you, because they had already planned your death."
I froze, my eyes widening. "So those…"
"Those monsters weren't just war hounds. They were the divine beasts of Frenir, god of the hunt, the Mob Pack. Their job was to separate you from your friends and kill you off—to scare the rest of the heroes into taking their jobs more seriously."
"How…" I took a breath, trying to regain my hold on the situation. "How can I trust you? How do you know? You guys say thing after thing to me, and then the very next floor you tell me something else that's nearly contradictory? Where do you get off? What's the truth in all this? How do I know it wasn't something you guys did, just to entrap me in your plans!?" I was venting, I was angry, not just at the roundabout truths that the floor guardians seemed to speak in, but also at the world, at the gods, because if what she said was true, then I was even more insignificant than I first thought, and I didn't want to face that reality.
"Ray," she said softly, hesitantly reaching out a hand towards me, but then thinking better of it.
I started at the sound of my old name. I hadn't heard it in so long, not since I had died and been resurrected in this strange place. Am I still even Ray Gardner? "Status." I muttered hoarsely.
[Name: Pick one! ;)]
[Race: Night Skeleton]
[Sex: F] [Age: 17 (Current form: 1)]
[Lvl. 9]
[HP: 675/675] [MP: 450/450] [SP: 550/550]
[Skills: Dark Slash lvl. 7, Dark Vision lvl. 10, Spirit Sight lv. 4, Dark Magic lvl. 8, Improved Balance lvl. 10, Improved Reactions lvl. 10, Corrupting Touch lvl. 10, Corruption Magic lvl. 3, Evernight Touch lvl. 3, Evernight Well lvl. 1, Summon Weapon lvl. 5, Living Form lvl. 4, Read Memories lvl. 3, Ice Magic lvl. 2, Drain Energy lvl. 1, Wind Magic lvl. 4, Mind Numbing lvl. 2, Cold Resistance lvl. 2, Mental Resistance lvl. 1]
[Titles: Undead, Blessed of Melphinoe, Dragon-Slayer, Infused Knowledge, Survivor of Arthuss, the Immortal Storm, Contracted Familiar: Rufi, Last System Backup: Night Skeleton lvl. 9]
I stared at the name plate, the blatant "Pick one!" That had been there ever since the Goddess had fixed my system screen. I closed my eyes. It was time to make a choice. Time to choose my side in all of this, to choose a part, to choose a future. Because I was angry now, and if I didn't choose where to direct that anger, it would choose for me.
"Rivi," I looked up at the beautiful dragon girl in front of me. "Do floor guardians ever get to go out of the dungeon? Or do you have to stay to tend to things on your floor?"
"Depends on the floor guardian, why?" She frowned at the sudden turn in the conversation, still looking like she wanted to come over and comfort me.
"What about you?"
"Me?" She grinned. "Rivi is free to do whatever she pleases!" She twirled again. "Within reason of course. Sisters would come to get me if I spent too long out of the dungeon."
"Rivi, I…" I looked at her silky black hair with its red streak, her soft alabaster arms tinged with just the slightest hint of pink, her cheeky, carefree grin as she twirled without a care. A part of me felt like I was making a terrible mistake, that I was doing something that couldn't be taken back, that I didn't have nearly enough information. But…this girl cares about me. She rushed to my side when I had my panic attack, and she's been pouring over me in concern ever since she got here, but even so she holds herself back from touching me when I look like I don't want it. And if what she says is true…she's the reason I'm still alive, the reason the Goddess took me in when the other gods rejected me. Probably…the reason I'm a girl, too.
"Rivi," I took a steadying breath. "Can you…be my master?"