by TJ Reynolds
What do you mean, Ban? Answer me! Kai demanded, not quite mentally putting his hands on his hips, but nearly.
The sound of Ban clearing his throat filled Kai’s mind, an odd sound considering the dungeon lacked a throat to clear. Then he said, I really don’t want to upset you further, Kai, but you poured your ether into me and healed my broken body. We bonded. That can only mean one thing. You are a dragon.
Kai shook his head, unsure of what to say. Finally, he settled on what seemed to be obvious. But, I don’t have wings, Ban!
Dragons have wings, and sometimes they don’t. You say your mother was a human, and I believe you ... But who was your father? Ban asked patiently.
Kai thought about the question for a while. He knew nothing of his father. His paternal heritage was a blank, a nothing, a hole in his past that nobody had ever taken the time to fill. Kai’s uncle had called him a war brat a thousand times, a product of the war somehow. His mother was a soldier, so Kai assumed she’d made a… connection with some other soldier she was with. Exactly who his father was, Kai hadn’t a clue. He told Ban as much, his shoulders slumping.
Well, Kai. It might sound impossible or strange, but only dragons have the power to create Earth Cores. To be honest, I didn’t know they had the power to heal them as well, but what else could it be?
I don’t know, Kai admitted. I don’t understand.
Then shrugging off the mystery, he asked, What about that rat? I’m starving. Apples won’t cut it. Either I eat something more substantial in here or you let me out.
Ban’s voice returned, as chipper and bright as ever, Well, my friend, a rat I can summon. I have a little ether in my reserves, thanks mostly to that tasty dagger, but I can’t summon both of them. Can you find another weapon? I’ll summon a rat, but I can’t kill it.
That, Kai, will have to be up to you.
6
Rules of the Game
Bancroft
Never in his previous experience with dragons had Ban reason to fret about their wellbeing. But just a glance into the boy’s, no, the man’s, he reminded himself, just a glance into the man’s own core told the plain truth: Kai was a man in turmoil.
A bit of food could help that along, but Ban couldn’t help but worry about their dealings to come. Would Kai be able to rise to his own potential? Surely, even a half-blood dragon would make for a fearsome and glorious creature.
Ban pulled his ether together, pooling it into a mass just a few feet away from the young man, and warned him before the summoning took place, Now, Kai. Be ready. It’s only a rat, but dungeon-born creatures are always fierce. Okay?
“I’m ready. Do it, Ban!” Kai said aloud. He had no reason to speak aloud, but Ban figured it might have something to do with the sweat dripping down his face and the wobble in his knees. The young man was afraid.
Kai held up a leg of the long-abandoned table. The wood was not exactly strong any longer, but had remained dry and free of insects while it rested within Ban’s chambers. It was brittle, but not rotten.
If Ban could shrug, a most useful gesture, he thought, he would have. Then he let the ether collapse. To summon a creature, Ban forced his ether to solidify, joining it to the specific material needs that creature required and fixing both into its pattern.
Then he released it—an odd feeling. The ether would fall or tumble into place, joining with the creature design he had assigned. Ban only had access to a few creature maps, some of which he was not sure he could summon yet, so complex were they in form. It had been so long since he had done anything complex, but a rat? That much any Earth Core could summon.
As a young dungeon, a mere Amber 2, Ban could only amass 150 ether. With such a limited pool, Ban would have to be creative as he worked to rebuild his ether stores.
Ban felt his reserves dip, his pool of Available Ether falling from 15 to 10. The ether coalesced and the minion solidified.
Kai squealed even louder than the enormous rat that appeared before him. It was a big rat, at least sixty pounds and fierce as a second wife, but Kai was a dragonling. He would need to stiffen his spine if this bond was to work out.
“What the horse cren is that thing?” Kai shouted, his voice disturbingly shrill.
It's a rat, Ban said, suppressing the annoyance in his voice. You’d better whack it soon.
“Well, why’s it so huge? Gods, its teeth!” The would-be adventurer prodded the animal and was rewarded with a hiss. Then, the rat pressed forward, darting toward Kai’s leg. Kai tried to dodge the attack, but tripped over his own feet.
The rat flew at his face.
Smash it, Kai! Don’t be a fool. Just kill it! Ban chastised, concern eroding his normally composed demeanor.
Either the boy was favored by Yugos or had the luck of Andag, because as Kai swung blindly at the rat with the table leg, he connected squarely and sent it sprawling across the chamber.
Barely injured and far from broken, the rat sprang up and attacked again. Kai scrambled to his feet, and this time when the rat attacked, he was ready. Not even Yugos could compensate for his lack of skill, however, and he swung and missed as the animal darted forward. The rat reached him and stood on its hind legs, biting into Kai’s injured thigh.
Blood shot out of the wound, and Kai screamed. He kicked the rat off, knocking it back a pace, then swung with all his might. Thankfully, this time, he caught the beast in its mouth. Several of the rat’s teeth broke off and scattered across the floor.
In a fit of clumsy rage, Kai charged the stunned beast and pounded the rat’s head in.
Kai panted, and the creature’s ether leaked into the air. A portion seeped into Kai’s chest, and Ban absorbed the rest. The telltale clink of a coin dropping and bouncing on the ground followed.
The small return of ether made the dungeon feel much better. Having such a low reserve made Ban anxious. He wouldn’t exactly die if he reached zero ether, but the pain and disorientation it produced was well worth avoiding.
Ban had thought to allow the young man time to bind his wounds and recover from his ordeal. But when Kai picked up the single copper that had fallen, threw his fist in the sky, and shouted, “Hurrah!”, the dungeon could not hold his tongue.
Silence your silly and unearned celebrations! You could have been killed … by the weakest creature I can summon. Wake up, boy!
The smile on Kai’s face refused to fade. “I’m sorry.” He nodded solemnly. “You’re right, of course.” He prodded the carcass with his table leg. “Honestly, that’s the biggest thing I’ve ever taken down. And besides, it dropped a shivving copper, Ban!”
Ban sighed, realizing his new dragon was far worse for wear than he’d realized. Yorick had never cared for coin, though come to think of it, he’d never had to. They used to have a veritable trove of riches here. Very well. Just try not to die on me. The rat will have given you 2 Progression back, so just 49 more of the beasts and you’ll get your Crimson ascension. For now, though, let’s figure out how to make a fire.
Then, finding joy in a new task, Kai practically shouted in his head, Okay, Ban. I’m on it! But please, let’s talk about the coin. Do all beasts you summon drop them?
Ban chuckled, watching the young man limp around, dragging the rat’s corpse into the far corner. Yes. Loot is a huge aspect of what makes dungeons unique. Yet nothing is free. I used 5 ether to summon the rat: 4 for the beast and 1 for the loot.
Kai did the math, then shook his head. If it took you 5 ether to summon, why did I only get 2 Progression when I killed it? Given 1 for loot, shouldn’t I have received 4?
Questions, questions. We’ll get to it all soon enough. For now, know that you absorb half of the ether I spend on a minion and absorb it as Progression when you kill it. As it was killed in my dungeon, I get the other half converted back into pure ether. The relationship between ether used in skills, spells or in the act of creation, and the Progression you need to ascend, are equal. It is the same energy but used and stored differently. This is the ca
se for all creatures killed in my dungeon—unless I kill a soldier or an adventurer, then I get to absorb all their ether and store it as Progression like you.
Gods, Ban! I hope you don’t make a habit of that. Won’t make either of us popular, Kai said, but continued his work as if unperturbed by the idea. Hold up. So you can gain Progression as well? And then ascend?
Yes, Kai. All creatures can condense ether into Progression.
Ban’s final answer seemed to give the young man enough to consider, and he fell silent. The Earth Core scanned his body and realized there were far too many wounds for him to heal without depleting himself entirely. When the rat had died, Ban had regained half of the ether he had invested in it, and another point had regenerated in the short time that had elapsed.
Ban’s Available Ether, or AE, was at 12, precious little to boast of, but he invested 10 into Kai’s body. He stopped the bleeding and purged the rot that was already beginning to settle in the nasty bite the rat had left and the other festering wound Ban found on Kai’s leg. The bruises and the broken skin the dungeon found on his knuckles, arms, and face, Ban left to heal on their own.
He watched as Kai crossed over to the remainder of the fallen table and kicked off the other three legs. He set them in the middle of the floor in a stack and looked around, as if searching for something else. Kai shrugged, then pulled something out of the small sack he carried.
The flash of sparks filled the room with yellow light. Then Ban understood what Kai was trying to do.
Wait! No, Kai. Sorry, well done and all, but please, if you use the hearth, I won’t have to clean up your mess.
Kai looked around, puzzled again. Hearth? What hearth?
Ban wished he could point, but just described as best he could. Come back downstairs please. Bring the wood. There is a small hearth my master used to use. It’s a simple thing, but it will vent the smoke and catch the ashes.
Kai stood, and for a moment. Ban worried that he might not listen, obviously afraid, and why shouldn’t he be. The last time he had been down near Ban’s core, the dragonling had nearly died.
It will be okay, Kai. I promise. Please, just trust me this far. I’m sure things will work out.
Kai nodded, and then, gathering up the wood in his arms, headed back down the stairs.
Placing the wood in an actual fireplace seemed to jog the man’s memory somewhat. Using his knife, he sliced and peeled away a handful of splinters from one leg. These he placed in a loose pile and lit first.
To their mutual satisfaction, the fire lit quickly, the ancient wood so dry it practically lapped up the flames.
Kai cut long strips of meat off one of the rat’s haunches and set them down on the stone hearth next to the flame. As the meat crackled and smoked, Kai returned upstairs to tear down the rest of the table. The wood was so dry, he finished the job easily; when he was done breaking apart the table, he figured he had enough fuel to last a few hours.
Ban watched as Kai sat and warmed his hands, waiting for the meat to finish cooking. After a few moments, the young man glanced at the wounds on his leg. Checking himself twice over, Kai stood up with a start. “Wait,” he said aloud, “did you fix me? I feel a lot better.”
Ban laughed. They would make it just fine. Sure, Ban thought, shielding his thoughts from Kai’s, I may have a broodling whose head is filled with cotton for a master, but he has a fair heart. At least he listens.
With a warmed heart, Ban answered. I healed you. And I’m all out of dungeon juice for the moment, so please be more careful in the future. Now, eat up!
Ban watched as the man ate, finishing more of the rat leg than he’d thought possible. Ban absorbed the rest of the rat, startling Kai. He explained what he’d done afterwards.
“So, how do you make things, then? You mentioned treasure earlier. What can you make and how?” Kai asked, his voice steady and calm. Ban could practically see the exhaustion in his eyes, but he humored the man.
I am a creature of ether, just like you. I have a pool of AE, something you will gain once you ascend. When I am full of ether, and have the right materials, I can create anything that I’ve consumed. I can reproduce that shoddy dagger, for instance. To do so though, would consume ether.
Kai nodded his head along with the description. He held up a hand, then asked, “Wait though ... if it takes ether to summon a minion and you only regain half of what it costs to make when it dies, how do you gain ether?”
Ban considered how best to answer then continued. Well, I gain ether naturally. It builds up over time, especially when I am in the company of my dragon. Rather than veer off on that uncomfortable tangent, Ban continued, I can also consume things I haven’t created and convert them into ether. For instance, my dungeon was once smaller than it is now, just a simple cave. When my master invested himself here, creating me, I began eating away at the stone at the back of the cave and eventually, I made this chamber and the rooms by the entrance. You probably noticed the two additional wings I forged as well, but I’m afraid those were destroyed.
“Yes, I saw them. And I’m sorry. But what’s left, the rest, it’s lovely,” Kai said as he yawned. “I fancied the vines in the room upstairs most of all.” He stretched out on the warm stones before the hearth.
It struck Ban that Yorick had often slept there, as well. There had once been a fine rug before the small fireplace and a bookshelf filled with valuable tomes, all long gone, but that didn’t matter now. The boy … the young man, Ban reminded himself, who reclined so naturally in his core room, is my new master, now.
A warmth spread through Ban, making him feel anything might be possible.
Thank you, he thought at last. Thank you. Yorick liked the vines as well. As you can see, an Earth Core like myself can grow in many ways. I can gain size and ethereal density over time. I can eat my way into the heart of a mountain and gain all the ether I want. Both methods are relatively slow though. The fastest way to gain ether is to absorb the life force of something one of my minions kills.
“So if Karsen and Roarke had come inside and… I don’t know, broken their neck in a fall, you could consume their ether?”
Just so, Kai. Just so. It was never something I desired much, but I want to grow, to become truly magnificent.
Kai’s eyes studied the stone ceiling above him for a few minutes before he asked, this time quietly inside their shared mind. Why?
Ban respected the simplicity and earnestness of the question. In part, to please you, Kai. You are my dragon, my master, now. Earth Cores exist for the sole purpose of pleasing and protecting their dragons.
Kai yawned wide again, dramatically portraying his fatigue. Ban could not read his mind, not yet at least, but he figured the man was thinking of his mother and father. Learning you were a different species than you had always thought would make an impression on any mind; however, Ban did not pity him one bit.
Whatever was on Kai’s mind, exhaustion won out in the end. His eyes drooped and finally closed, the crinkle and pop of the embers in the fireplace soothing even Ban’s busy mind.
Yet Ban was an Earth Core. He did not sleep.
Instead, he watched the young man doze off, his chest finding an even rhythm at last. While his new master slept, Ban busied himself with the endlessly entertaining task of improving his dungeon. It had been decades since he had had a chance to clean his corridors and chambers.
He intended to enjoy every minute of it.
7
Sense and Suitability
Bancroft
Watching his dragon sleep, safely tucked away in his core chamber, was as satisfying as it ever had been. Ban had heard of the humans’ messy and exhausting process of childbirth, and though he could not relate to the concept in the slightest, the idea of protecting something dear to you made infinite sense.
Ban was an Earth Core, though, and soon he felt the deep and uncompromising urge to grow. This instinctive drive combined with a desire to provide Kai with a more accommodating home
. It nagged at Ban, that he had lied about not being able to unseal the cave entrance. It would have been a simple thing to consume the stone he had placed there; he would have gained ether, not spent it. But the young man was so fragile, his core still diffused and unfocused, that Ban feared to let him out of his sight. Feeling justified in his decision, Ban thought to himself, We will reopen the dungeon once he ascends.
Ban began to clean house.
The dust was the first thing to go. Ban raced his awareness across the ceiling of the dungeon, then the walls and the floor. Consuming the tiny particles, numerous as they were, only gained him one unit of Base Material. When he fell to cleaning the rest up, however, the piles of cracked stone and spilled mortar, what remained of the shattered table upstairs, Ban gained significantly more.
Ban reviewed his reserves and sighed. His AE, Available Ether, was still frightfully low, a pitiful 12 units. His pool of Base Material sat at 133, most of which he gained during the clean up. The 15 units of Intermediate Material he’d absorbed from the dagger made him feel somewhat better, though. Common items in a dungeon were made with BM, and like his old master had liked to joke, this was because most things in the world were shit. That made Ban think of Yorick’s detailed description of the other meaning of Base Material’s acronym. Defecation is truly as fascinating as it is horrendous.
Shaking these thoughts from his mind, Ban tried to focus. He thought first of Kai’s needs and formed a new design for his dungeon. Before he could start building though, he needed to consume as much material as he could. Only then could he begin the arduous task of converting it to ether.
The core room was as deep as his previous master had wanted him to delve. Yorick had always preferred simplicity. He had asked that Ban only make a few comfortable rooms for him to rest in. The dungeon had been a pleasant distraction from his duties as a Hintari court scholar. And yet, oddly enough, all he wished to do when he had leisure time was continue his studies in private.