by Dakota Krout
The odd collection of people nodded to Dale as they sat. Adam stared at his team leader with glowing yellow eyes, disconcerting not only because of the color, but because he seemed to need to blink only a quarter as often as a normal human.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen.” Dale stood, preparing to go to bed.
“Dale,” Adam softly voiced, “you need to tell us. Things will go… poorly if you refuse at this point. Strange things are happening. The dungeon is changing, as are you, and we need to have trust between us. Refusing now will lead to strife amongst us.”
Dale hesitated. Adam had gained the odd ability to see and understand situations at a strange level after being exposed to an inconceivably concentrated influx of celestial Essence. This, more than anything, made him sit back down and reluctantly begin telling them what had happened. Hans stopped him when Dale started to talk about things they didn’t know. A strange wind began circling them, cutting off sound from the area around them.
“Burning-wind wall,” Hans muttered a quick explanation, “Heats the air to create a distortion that just kinda... stops... sound. Feel free to explain now. No one is listening except us.”
Dale nodded his thanks and continued his tale. His friends gasped at all the right places, shaking their heads at revealed wonders. The dungeon was alive and intelligent. It relied on a Wisp–a creature of legend–to function properly and remain mentally balanced. The Wisp had been taken, and people were getting worried. Most importantly, their team leader had a Beast Core in him that connected him to all of this insanity and potentially called his judgment into question. Dale stopped talking and looked around at the incredulous faces.
“That is really good to know, but what about you, Dale?” Rose took it upon herself to ask the unfortunate questions no one else wanted to. “Are you compromised? Are you a Beast now? Will you go crazy if the dungeon does? We all know it is getting worse.”
“You sound just like Madame Chandra.” Dale chuckled softly. “I can totally see the relation.” Rose huffed at him and arched a brow. “I’m... okay. Having something to do helps me to not worry, which is why I’ve been pushing myself so hard. I’m not compromised, and my mental defenses have allowed me to ignore the dungeon in the past.”
“That is why you were so twitchy? There was a thing whispering in your mind?” Tom interrupted in relief. “Oh good! I had been concerned that you were simply not up to the task of being a battle leader. It is a trait that not many have, after all. I am quite pleased to know that you are mentally sound.”
“...Thanks? Twitchy?” Dale replied half questioningly with a confused look around at the nodding heads. “Also, I am not a Beast. I do have a Core in me, but no one has been able to tell me what that means. By rights, I should be dead from Essence loss many times over.”
“Death arrives for everyone eventually, Dale.” Tom gripped Dale’s wrist. “No need to invite it.”
Dale continued his story, “At this point, I’ve been doing everything I can to prepare. I want to go after the Wisp, Dani, but I’ve been infernally busy with rebuilding, repopulating the area, and my own training. Not to mention our dungeon excursions.”
“You’ve been doing well, Dale,” Adam said as he looked around the room with his faintly glowing eyes. “About half of the surviving fighters didn’t come back after receiving their reward. Their choice is no great loss to us, though. With the dungeon giving out such high amounts of resources on a successful run, dozens more are showing up than those that are leaving. Daily.”
“It was also a great idea to build a big tavern right away!” Hans grinned as he took a gulp of his ale. “Plus, since you technically own it, I am loving the discount.”
“I’m seeing fewer familiar faces, and morale seems to be getting higher as the survivors’ stories are drowned out in the sea of bodies.” Dale put forward his thoughts, agreeing with Adam’s assessment. “As for the higher rewards, the risks have really gone up as well. I’d be surprised if the Guild doesn’t try to rank it as a C-ranked area soon. At least that.”
Before, there had been clear-cut areas for each type of monster in the dungeon. The big Cats stayed on the fourth floor, there was a clear progression of difficulty, and the rewards had been calculated based on how well a group did overall. Now, the Cats showed up wherever they wanted. If they weren’t so lazy, they would have overrun the dungeon by now. Typically a Cat would now only attack if you invaded ‘its’ territory. Unfortunately, that territory shifted by the hour. The Goblins stayed on their floor but did nothing to slow the Mobs running rampant in the dungeon.
If the adventurers took a day off for some reason, the dungeon would double its population. It didn’t matter if the whole place was full to bursting, more Mobs would spawn. Dale had had to offer extra incentives for groups that went in first in the morning to trim down the overwhelming numbers, just to ensure that they went through level-by-level instead of hopping to their floor of choice. Of course, his team was now the first in every day so they could be one of those that claimed the treasure that piled up overnight. The loot would increase at a constant rate as well, and a chest untouched for a full day might contain anything–from nothing to a child-sized pile of gold coins or an obscenely dangerous trap. The traps had been getting more numerous of late. Still, the danger and hardship, coupled with having all of his affinity channels open, had done wonders for Dale. He had flown through the rankings, reaching D-rank four in just a month.
“Look. I know you mean well, and I know it’s been a rough few months, but right now, I need to sleep. We will talk later today after finishing our run through the dungeon, okay? I’ll make sure to clear my schedule, and we will just chat. Deal?” Dale looked around, the others seemed to agree, and responded as such.
“Deal.”
~ Chapter Two ~
Cleaning up the dungeon had only taken a few hours. The walls were quickly repaired, and Mobs not in pristine condition were culled and replaced. Traps were reset, and rewards were returned to regular–yet profitable–levels. Looking at my interior like this led me deeper inside myself as well. I looked at the aura representation of my mind and soul, noting that they seemed patched up and tattered. I tried to smooth them further, sinking into my Chi spiral. Introspection is a beautiful event. Staring deeply into myself, I admired the galaxies of interconnected Essence pulsing and shining. This was my mental space, a pocket dimension only accessible via following my Chi spiral to a tiny hole in my soul. It was peaceful. It was healthy and whole. It was beautiful. I began to drift off. All I wanted was to stay here forev-
“Cal? Are you listening?” Minya called into an empty room again, the third time this morning. Her voice grated on my nerves as it shattered my tenuous illusion of peace.
My annoyance began to build as my attention slipped from my projects and self-serving repairs. Does Minya not understand how our bond works? It was early enough in the day that there was no one else around, so of course I’m listening! I really have no choice but to listen at this point. Stupid bond. Why are sentient beings so annoying?
“Cal, slipping into madness won’t help you to…” She took a deep breath, seemingly near tears. “I know that it is getting harder for you to understand me, and your bestial instincts are taking over. I just hope that speaking to you will help bring you back…”
Enough was enough!
“Cal! You’re here!” she called happily. “I’m so glad you are speaking rationally again; I have so much to discuss with you! Also, I think you are in denial. There are serious issues in the dungeon! Just look at the-”
“...No, but we have some leads now… someone bought an island recently. We think it was-” She lost my interest as soon as she admitted her failure.
focusing on my current reconfigurations. How had I taken so much damage without noticing?
“I want to-”
“I need to talk to you, Cal!” she roared, catching me entirely off guard. I was so startled that my focus slipped and a small group of Bashers got a wash of Essence, bumping them up a few rankings. Muscular forms lengthened and tapered a bit, and now they looked similar to long-eared dogs. Maybe that would...? What was I doing?
I sighed at her when I realized she wasn’t going to go away.
“No need to be a jerk, you overpowered rock.” She took a breath to calm herself a bit, but I could see that her hands were still shaking. “The council has been debating coming in here to kill you. You’ve been showing signs of severely dangerous behaviors, and every dungeon before you that lost their Wisp has gone insane and caused a continent-scale disaster. Now that they know you are aware of any actions they may take, they need assurances that you won’t start releasing diseases or something like that.”
“Because you are angry?”
“You aren’t? What abo-”
Minya stayed quiet for a moment as my rage abated. “I know. I’m sorry. What can we do, Cal? How can I help you? I am here for you, you know that!”
I paused, thinking. I needed plenty.
“What can I, personally, do for you?” Minya questioned me in a conciliating tone. Calm words on her end drew me back to the issue at hand, and I shook off my near-overwhelming fury. I needed to be practical.
I thought about what I had been working on. Just before I told her everything, I mentally shook my head. She didn’t need to know about these projects just yet. My words came out calmly.
“Anything.”
“It is a common magical trap. People who collect rare creatures or easily damaged items can purchase magical containment devices. It is highly likely that he had a net-like version,” Minya responded instantly, “what else?”
“Thank you. I’ll work on finding things that you will find useful. Also, to your earlier question, I do have an opal for you.” Minya opened her bag, pulling out a shimmering stone that scattered light like oil, allowing colors to play across its surface. “It is the highest grade stone I could get my hands on. You would have had it days ago if you would have talked to me.” She couldn’t help but throw in an admonition.
“So infernal Essence really does move through opal better? That wasn’t just a myth? For some reason I assumed that kingdoms made that story up to catch naive necromancers! This is really something that will help you to become stronger?” Minya’s eyes lit up as she realized how helpful she had just been to me. Now I felt bad for yelling at her.
Minya’s face flushed. “Erm. Well, after the infection went through the Lion Kingdom…”
“Yeah… the entire country is drawing outcasts and is totally lawless. Huge tracts of land have no guards nor anyone to enforce the law.” Her voice became softer, and she trailed off, “On the plus side, the booming black market has all sorts of ‘forbidden’ things. I can find traps, enchantments, and war Runes that are much more deadly than is typically allowed to the population.”
Minya was soon outfitted with money and trade goods such as gems. Armed with a list of goods I was interested in, she prepared to leave the dungeon and start her black market shopping spree. At the last moment she hesitated, seeming to argue with herself for a moment before finally putting voice to her thoughts.
“Cal, do you remember much of the last month?” Minya guardedly questioned me.
I thought.
“I don’t want to upset you Cal, but… you were seriously acting insane.” Minya started to talk.
“Can you access memories from Cores like this?” Minya held up an empty memory gem.
“Good enough. Wait a moment.” She held the gem to her head and concentrated. After a few seconds, the gem began to glow brightly with swirling light. “Cal, I’m… sorry about this.” She preemptively apologized as she smashed the gem.
My thoughts were filled with horror as I watched what she had seen in my dungeon for the last few weeks. Rooms were heavily scarred, statues and walls half formed and grotesque. Mobs damaged and malformed, out of their minds with pain. Swarms of creatures disproportionate to party size and ranking wiping out dozens of adventurers. Worst of all… unfair traps. Traps and dangerous things that there was no chance of defeating. Walls that closed and filled the enclosed space with poisons or acids. The only saving grace of these traps was that no one survived to tell about it, or my reputation would have been destroyed. I likely would have been as well.
how lying to me. Unfortunately, that was impossible with memory stones.
“You told me, Cal. You laughed and raved at their stupidity. You… forced me to watch as you killed them. Somehow, something brought you back from the edge. I don’t know what changed today, but for the first time in weeks you suddenly started talking to me normally,” Minya told me sadly, “I bet you don’t even remember the majority of our conversations. Truthfully, if I weren’t bound to you, and I knew this… I would have killed you myself.”
I softly exhaled.
“Which is why I am telling you now. We need to hurry along with our plans. We need Dani back to even you out.” She waited a moment for me to reflect on my actions. “Are you sure you will be okay?”
“Not going crazy right now, at least. I suppose that is all I can ask for. Take care, Cal. I’ll be back soon.” She paused, turning to look around. “One last thing, Cal. Would your Wisp have wanted you to be so angry all the time?” She stepped into the portal after releasing these cutting words and was gone.
I had not been idle this month, I knew that much. Through my, uhm... indiscretions? I had somehow remained focused on the goals I had set for myself. I had been exceedingly busy. Now that my mind seemed to be clear, I could finish my tasks much quicker; I could find Dani, I knew I could. Unfortunately, undeniably, infuriatingly, I couldn’t do it alone. Yet. My plans for the future were slowly coming to fruition, but I had no idea how long Dani could last without me. To further my goals, I had been digging... no, that isn’t the right word. I had been boring my influence downward. A huge amount of Essence had been devoted to the project. It was only a thin tendril of influence, not even a half inch in diameter, but it was growing deeper by the moment.