It had been the full 7 days since Porky's suicide by goblin. the last thing I saw through his dying eyes was the two children making a break for it. Wonder if they ever made it home.
In this time, I managed to gain a bit more energy and biomass, courtesy of the hen eating fox. He always left a few scraps and bones behind, and was starting to become quite plump. Time for Porky to shine.
Best case scenario, I can make a fox using it's corpse and biomass. Worst case scenario? The fox gets away and I get nothing.
The things we do to relieve boredom.
As soon as the fox entered the henhouse, I spawned Porky. I have never seen a fox fly. Porky treated him like a hacky-sack. I swear, he got 15 hits in a row into the air, no lie. Needless to say, I now had a fox in my collection. This little guy was made to go out and hunt small game, and even better hide from anything dangerous. He could bring me steady amounts of biomass, albeit small ones, and even energy if he managed to keep his prey from dying before they entered.
With slow and steady infusions of energy and biomass, my front yard began to actually form. I now had 10 square meters of land above ground. I made it into a lush grassy garden of flowers, with two fruit trees on each side. The berry bushes I relocated to my walkway, going up the middle. I set up a fence, and placed the sign at the entry gate. Sealed shut until the toll was paid. And that's when it happened.
People.
Lots of people.
I was used to one person traipsing into my cave, looking around, camping for a night or two. But this? There were a good dozen people out front.
All of them threw some random items into the box and strolled in.
They trampled my verdant grass.
They plucked my cultivated wildflowers.
They climbed my trees and ate all my fruit.
They even knew to avoid the poisonous berry bush.
I hate people. The noise, the drama, the chaos, the litter! It didn't even qualify as materials or biomass, so I simply had to put up with it. then they all tried to go into my cave.
Hehehehehehe.
The first one fell a short distance onto some very sharp sticks. Dumbass.
The others immediately began working as a team to attempt to get him out of the pit, pulling out rope and readying to descend.
'Not in my dungeon,' I thought to myself as I closed the trap, leaving their friend pierced through the thigh to rest in the dark, alone and scared.
"Barry! Barry!" A woman was screaming and crying into the floor trap, hammering on it, trying to get him out. "Barry! I'm here! Stay strong, please!"
Everyone around her was silent for a moment. A few whispered to each other, unsure what to do or say. She just lay there, water pouring down her face, fist pressed against the earth.
'Tears. Those are called tears,' I thought to myself. The trap door slowly swung open, revealing Barry's unconscious form. The girl, unthinking, dove forward into the pit, shouting "Barry!" as she fell towards the spikes. Her companions leapt forward to catch her, falling short by a hairsbreadth.
The girl say herself falling face first towards a spike and, knowing it was useless, covered her face with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut.
<----------Third Person PoV---------->
Thud. The sound of her hands hitting packed soil startled her. To her left, Barry was now resting in the pit, bleeding heavily from his wounded leg. No trace of spikes remained.
"Well? Isn't he important to you? Enough to risk your life over? Don't just lie there. Pick him up."
A strange voice spoke in the pit.
"Who- who are-"
"Girl, I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with you. Either pick up your friend and get out of my yard, or I will put the spikes back and leave you there. Your call."
Blanching at the angry tone, Ariel immediately grabbed her brother, Barry, and bound his leg with a strip of cloth from her shirt. A ladder formed at an angle next to the pit.
"I do thank you for attempting my dungeon, but as you can see, you and your brother both would have died here, so kindly exit and don't come again," the surly voice said.
Slowly hauling her brother up the ladder, with a grunt, Ariel passed him to the others waiting above. Before leaving the pit, she turned back and in a quiet voice said, "Thank you."
-
"Two down. Ten to go. Dunno why I spared them. Maybe I'm going soft or something." Orion grumbled to himself. "Let's see, who's next."