Tightly bound in the dark.

Opening my eyes, but all I see is that reddish hue when your eyes are closed and a bright light is shone through your eyelid. I try to move my hand to my face, but I can barely move. Forcing myself against what is containing me, the first crack happens in front of my eyes, as light begins to pour through the hole my snout seems to have made. Struggling, I widen the hole, as my limbs cause the binds to begin to give. Eventually I can grip the edge of the hole with one of my hands, and tear it open. Tumbling out, I find myself on a stone floor. Looking back I see an egg shell. Bespeckled and with a pattern that looks like scales… Well not quite like mine. Comparing it to my new sides, sticking out of the shell, it was a little different being individual cells of hardened material nestled up against each other, rather than overlapping, relatively soft and flexible scales that seemed to be covering my body. They don’t seem like they would provide too much protection, though I suppose I’m ‘newborn’ so that might be why. In addition it’s very gray, with little touches of other colors and even specks, looking like rock with mineral or ore impurities mixed in.

Turning my attention to the room I am in… it’s massive… though considering I have no idea how big I am, my sense of scale may be wrong. Regardless, even if I was the size of a house cat, this room is large. with a ceiling many dozens higher than I am long, even including my tail with large gothic arches forming it, and off to one side, a doorway almost half as high as the room, framing two heavy and wide stone doors. In addition the open area is dominated by this massive statue of a winged lady descending with a spear thrusting down, small dragons coiled around it, as it pierces through this demonic figure, who is pinned to through the ground, which almost seems to be swallowing it as it tries to futility fight its fate. In addition on each side of the plinth this statue seems to be built into, there is a large stone plaque that seems to be worn down with age. It is almost flat, with only minor differences in coloration that betrays there was anything there. Strange… If it is so old the writing is gone, why is the rest of the structure in such good condition? Well I’m not going to figure it out by just thinking about it.

Regardless, I know there is something below. I’m… not even sure how or why, but there is another room below this one, this one completely empty, and with no entrance… but I can… change that? Is… that my dungeon? That’s… less useful then I was expecting, though it can probably grow with me. There also seems to be more above me as well, though it’s not part of my dungeon… This is a tower then? Who built it? Only way to find answers is more exploring… which only leaves outside. Moving to the doorway I pause standing before these two grand stone doors. Oh… looks like that had intricate engravings on them as well… but like the plaque before, it’s worn down that I didn’t notice it until it got close. Perhaps there are more? Fascinating. Everything is in fine condition. The statue, impeccable. Even these doors that were so worn down, but the murals? The plaque? Unrecognizable. That strikes me as incredibly deliberate. Like there is something that was wished to be buried here… Still. A problem presents itself. How the hell am I supposed to open these doors?

I try to push it, standing up on my hind legs as I press my for… claws into it. It doesn’t budge at all. I back up and throw my weight against it, but the same result. Maybe there is a button? Or a latch. I scour the nearby area for anything that looks even slightly different. Methodically pressing up against every inch. Where? How? It’s a door. It HAS to open. That’s the entire point of it! I slap the unyielding slabs of stone as my frustration bubbles up. Getting back I take a running start before ramming into it, with all the **** I can muster. Pain shoots through my shoulder as I bounce off it. Sitting down, mostly to take the weight off my throbbing shoulder I shout out, trying to **** it by sheer willpower, “OPEN YOU STUPI-” The massive door scoops me up as it slowly opens. I tumble over and over, caught in its swing. The immovable object turning into the unstoppable ****. Luckily it stops before it crushes me against the wall. Standing up I feel dizzy, as I stare in disbelief at the large doors. Peaking around them I try to see if some giant pushed them open, but nothing was there… Only an expanse of grassland, turning into woods. Stepping back so I’m well out of its reach I pause and tell it to close. Something in my mind reaches out and it begins swinging shut. Open… Close… Open… Close… Each time the door responds obediently, as some part of my mind commands it… I trace the portion of my ‘mind’ commanding it… Immediately a flood of information races into my mind. As if I’m recalling thoughts I’ve never had. Structurally integrity estimations of the chamber underneath me, intake and expenditure reports. Expansion timeframe predictions. Interface attempts with the tower's magical architecture. A dump of information pours into my mind.

40189:7:15:09:12:51 Successful creation of new user. Please select user name.

40189:7:15:09:12:51 Error. Administrator permissions denied. User integrated with mana crystal.

Override permission from Alpha Administrator, user name “Mundus Machina” required for Administrator permissions for monsterfricated users due to Emergency Edict:

“Clade Procuratio Ω” being currently active.

40189:7:15:09:13:21 Error. Failed contact to Alpha Administrator. Connection Error.

40189:7:15:09:13:24 Log report Communication array destroyed. Log report, category 11 magical event struck facility. Time code 202:11:09:15:47:54. Report… Error. Data corruption.

40189:7:15:09:13:27 Damage report… Error. Facility index missing. Data corruption.

40189:7:15:09:13:28 Pinging connecting facilities.

Lobby, active.  
Containment facility #2, active. Repair complete. Time code 12545:2:04:23:41:12. Error. Paired Containment facility not responding.  
Error, no primary power generation detected. Facilities operating under emergency power generation. All non-critical systems suspended. Critical systems may operate at reduced capacity.<p>40189:7:15:09:13:51 Please user code name.</p><p>40189:7:15:09:14:47 Door open request. Granted.</p>

40189:7:15:09:14:51 Please select user name.

40189:7:15:09:15:05 Door close request. Granted.

40189:7:15:09:15:25 Door open request. Granted.

40189:7:15:09:15:28 Door close request. Granted.

40189:7:15:09:15:31 Door open request. Granted.

40189:7:15:09:15:34 Door close request. Granted.

40189:7:15:09:15:51 Please select user name.

End

Okay, what the hell was that? Okay, so this seems to be a time code. But… There are a lot more digits. Last digit seems to be seconds, so minutes, hours… apparently twenty-four hour clock, and then… days? Months? Years? If that's the case… forty thousand years? That’s fucking insane. But… Mundus Machina… that… sounds important. But more importantly… What are you?

Operating system, Compound Operation Regulator Engine. Common designation, CORE. Created and integrated with user… Error name not found.

Directives pending user input. Current compound consists of one room. Two rooms in the local network. No other regulator engines detected within the local network. Uploading current status.

With a flood of ‘memories’ pop up, though they’re… vague. There are power reserves, but… no units attached. It seems full. So let’s just call it a hundred. If it remains stable, we can view it as percentages, and if not… well it gives a baseline unit to use. So I have a hundred out of a hundred… DP as shorthand for Dungeon Points, let’s call it, since this seems distinctly magical in nature… Even though it’s strangely mechanical in… personality? Regardless I explore the options this… extension of my mind can do. First of all, I can shape the room with my DP. Probably should create a stairwell to actually reach the room below me, that seems to be what I actually ‘control’ rather then room I’m in, which only seems to be part of the same ‘network’ though I suppose if I get admin privileges I suspect I could add it to my dungeon, if only practically. As it stands, it’s enough to be able to control the doors for now. Anyways, back to the stairwell. Let’s place it behind the statue, so that it’s not immediately obvious it exists. Perhaps I can create a false ‘floor’ to hide it later? Regardless, it only takes about five DP which the CORE is telling recovers at more or less a DP per hour. Still, what else can I do? Not too much at the moment, if for any other reason then space limitations… However, that can be solved. It’s expensive but I can excavate and expand the dungeon. It’s pretty pricey though, at fifty DP per ‘use’ and it’s unclear how much that will actually add… however, I’m going to need more space so the earlier I start the better. It doesn’t seem instantaneous unfortunately, so I still have to wait for the stairs and the excavation to be completed before I can see how it is, but in the meantime, back to my original goal of scouting the outside world.