by Dakota Krout
~ Chapter Forty-Three ~
I kept holding the portal open and studied it as I waited for anyone to come back through. My insight into time and space jumped by leaps and bounds as I existed on both sides of time simultaneously. It was such an interesting portal and had only come into being through the power of chaos. The intermixing of infernal and celestial had created an interspatial flux. This was an uncontrollable portal, something that couldn’t be replicated intentionally. Such is the power of chaos, I suppose.
I noticed a light in my influence and glanced over to see Dani, Hans, and the rest all come through the tear in space at almost the same time, though Dani had entered it over an hour before the others. Time seemed to have been running faster on the other side of the portal. They all fell, complaining savagely as the air was knocked out of them. They should be happy that they didn’t all explode or mesh into a single being! Crazy people, jumping through random portals. Dale’s body dropped to the floor, and if I hadn’t had my new knowledge, I would have let them keep the body for a memorial service. Instead, I quickly absorbed my discarded husk.
Wait a second… Dani came through the portal? My mind screeched to a halt as my bond to her reconnected. Her light slowly started to shine brighter, and she began moving faster.
“Cal!” her tiny, perfect voice called out.
“Cal!” she happily screamed, flying toward my mountain at great speed. She exited the sewers as a blur, only growing faster as she got closer to me. She kept emitting brighter light as more potent Essence entered her body. “You’ve gotten so strong!”
“What?” she exclaimed, moving even faster. “You’re amazing! I need to hear all about it!”
Again, I would be crying if it were possible. She was above the mountain now and briefly stopped.
“You… you brought the entire mountain?” she admonished, half awed and half horrified.
“I love you!” she bawled, flying down to the portal system. I approved. Going through the tunnels would be far too slow. She burst into my Core room, barely sparing a glance for the golems and paths. She reached the Silverwood tree as I registered her words.
Unknowingly, she had entered my area of greatest influence. The Essence in her body glowed even brighter, and as I proclaimed my love for her, the Essence was replaced with Mana. A beam of light linked us like it did the day we met, and our souls were reintegrated and healed. The light connecting us passed through pollen that was falling from the Silverwood tree, subtly changing it into something greater. At that moment, we experienced the effect that Elves the world over were looking for, the greatest ability of Silverwood pollen. The Essence that had been in her body was mingled with mine and condensed. A tiny, purple Wisp coalesced next to Dani, slowly floating around. It seemed confused. I was more confused. Dani seemed shaken.
“I… I think we just had a child!” We watched the tiny Wisp explore her new home. Oh right, apparently the Wisp was female. I have no idea how I knew this. The whole ‘no external genitalia’ thing was coming into play again here.
“We teach her, and love her, and… we should probably name her?” Dani ended the last as a question.
“Perfect. Grace. I love the name!” Dani made her final decision and named our child before I was even able to register what had happened.
I watched the tiny copy of Dani moving around and had to nod.
~ Dale ~
Dale's eyes fluttered open, and the beautiful Silverwood tree was the first image he saw. “Mmm. Peaceful.” He sighed contentedly. It was at that point that his memory started coming back to him.
More and more memories came to him, in fact everything that he and the dungeon knew. He felt no fear anymore, no worry. He fully opened his mind, connecting to… himself.
“So this is why we couldn’t stand each other?” Dale stated with a wry voice. “We were too similar?”
“How did you make me a distinct personality? You’ve never been able to copy your mind into another Core before.” Dale was starting to get a slight headache from all the information he had to filter through. “Oh, wait… I know this, too.”
“And making clones of yourself would eventually devolve into competition with yourself,” Dale took over the story while nodding. “So you shifted thought patterns and made me the dominant personality for this body.”
“Why, thank you, me!” The air was full of chuckles for a moment. “That explains why our humor has always been so perfect.”
“I know. I’m going to be stuck in your aura until I am able to generate Mana. No leaving the city for a few years.” Dale shrugged expansively. “So what’s different for me? I know what you know, so I’ll be able to progress at a much faster rate. I finally have my cultivation technique back.” He gave a mock glare at the floor.
“Oh, yeah, those Runes they have on their buildings are insidious. I’m going to need those stones though. I can’t exactly use all the ambient Essence in your aura. I need to learn to use Essence and Mana as a human.” Dale’s brow furrowed. “Should be interesting. Compare notes every once in awhile? I’d like to find ways to merge how we use our power. Perhaps we can find a way to keep you safer or make us more powerful by doing so.”
“I think you are correct.”
“Wait, what?”
~ Epilogue ~
“Well, what do you propose we do?” Father Richard glared at the assembled people. The council had gathered, but without Dale to force them to get along, they were becoming quite fractious. Since there was no clear leader f
or the city, many people were putting their hat in the ring.
“We need someone who can talk to the dungeon!” Minya spoke demandingly. She had been rescued by Prince Henry, having been taken captive and kept in Mana-sealing bindings by the necromancers. She was intended to be a sacrifice for the dungeon and would have been if the rescue had happened even a day later.
“He would have wanted someone who wasn’t a Mage to run things!” Tyler shrewdly raised an eyebrow and quirked his lips. He was currently the favorite amongst the common people.
Amber snorted at him. “How would you propose to get the dungeon to move again? It has been two days, and here we sit in the middle of a ruined city.”
“I can’t believe this is happening now. He hasn’t been gone a week!” Chandra chided the assemblage.
“We need a clear chain of command!” Richard thumped the table. For the city and the Guild! With Frank gone, we need another trustworthy Guild Leader to take his position!”
“*Ahem,*” a person clearing his throat tried to interrupt.
“The city needs to train these cultivators, and we need to sort out logistics to feed everyone,” Richard continued speaking. “People are looking to us to lead, and we-”
“*Ahem!*”
“And someone apparently needs to go to a cleric to get a cough looked at!” Richard bellowed, turning toward the noisy individual. His next words died on his lips, as did all sound in the room.
Dale strode forward and took the empty seat at the table. “I think I can help a little with your leadership issues.”
“Imposter!”
“Nope, it’s really me.” Dale smirked at the stunned faces. “What? Can’t a guy die again and not be thought of as a fake?”
Amber gasped and pointed a shaking finger at him. “Impossible! He’s real!”
This made many people stand and draw weapons. Dale waved his hands. “Whoa, whoa! What’s the deal? Yes, I’m real, and yes, I’m Dale!”
“Prove it,” the portal Mage, Justin, demanded with cold fury in his voice.
Dale looked at him, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Get off my mountain.”
Justin forcefully turned and started jogging away. “Not again! I believe you! I believe you!”
“Come back!” Dale yelled as the people around him started laughing. The tension now broken and his legitimacy proven, it seemed Dale had a lot of explaining to do.
~ Cal ~
“Just don’t overextend yourself, Cal. I watched you working on your ‘body’ for the last couple days, and with all your memories, I think that Dale is going to be able to exploit a lot of things that other people would miss. I can imagine him needing a bit stronger armor and popping in and using a secret passage to get to a storage room.” Dani was chasing after a speeding Grace, trying to keep her from running into walls as she laughed.
I whined at her at first, then thought about it.
“Uh-huh,” she commented dryly. It was good to have her back.
I took a deep breath, this time with actual lungs, and smiled grimly. The necromantic filth of this world had earned my anger and deserved retribution. They should run in terror, for I was coming for them. I looked at Dale as he went about his day. This ‘Master’ had gone way too far. He had stolen Dani and killed Dale. His servants had killed me. I was going to be the first person in history to take revenge for my own murder.
‘The Master’ was going to pay for his actions. Where Dale and the people seeking refuge on my mountain had earned my amity–a time of peace and my friendship–the only amity that would be granted to these necromancers… was a Calamity.
~ Afterword ~
Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading my book. I hope that you loved it! If so, please leave a glowing review. The more positive reviews I have, the more likely it is that other people will read my books as well. Then when enough people are reading, I can do this full-time and write a dozen series! You can leave a review at the end of the book or just click here: https://goo.gl/N4JHCJ
This series is not over, but I am going to be writing additional series as well! Take a look at the preview of the next series I am writing after the appendix.
~ Appendix ~
Adam – A mid-D-ranked cleric who joined Dale’s group. He was corrupted by a massive influx of celestial Essence which may have given him powerful abilities.
Adventurers’ Guild – A group from every non-hostile race that actively seeks treasure and cultivates to become stronger. They act as a mercenary group for Kingdoms that come under attack from monsters and other non-kingdom forces.
Affinity – A person’s affinity denotes what element they need to cultivate Essence from. If they have multiple affinities, they need to cultivate all of those elements at the same time.
Affinity Channel – The pathway along the meridians that Essence flows through. Having multiple major affinities will open more pathways, allowing more Essence to flow into a person’s center at one time.
Amber – The Mage in charge of the portal-making group near the dungeon. She is in the upper A rankings, which allows her to tap vast amounts of Mana.
Artificer– A person who devotes himself to creating powerful artifacts either by enchanting or inscribing them.
Assassin – A stealthy killer who tries to make kills without being detected by his victim.
Assimilator – A cross between a jellyfish and a Wisp, the Assimilator can float around and collect vast amounts of Essence. It releases this Essence as powerful elemental bursts. A pseudo-Mage, if you will.
Aura – The flows of Essence generated by living creatures which surround them and hold their pattern.
Bane – An F-ranked Boss Mob that is a giant mushroom. He can fire thorns and pull victims toward him with vines made of moss.
Basher – An evolved rabbit that attacks by head-butting enemies. Each has a small horn on its head that it can use to “bash” enemies.
Beast Core – A small gem that contains the Essence of Beasts.
Flawed: An extremely weak crystallization of Essence that barely allows a Beast to cultivate, comparable to low F-rank.
Weak: A weak crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate, comparable to an upper F-rank.
Standard: A crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate well, comparable to the D-rankings.
Strong: A crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate very well, comparable to the lower C-rankings.
Beastly: A crystallization of Essence that allows a Beast to cultivate exceedingly well, comparable to the upper C-rankings.
Immaculate: An amalgamation of crystallized of Essence and Mana that allows a Beast to cultivate exceedingly well. Any Beast in the B-rankings or A-rankings will have this Core.
Luminous: A Core of pure spiritual Essence that is indestructible by normal means. A Beast with this core will be in at least the S-rankings, up to SSS-rank.
Radiant: A Core of Heavenly or Godly energies. A Beast with this Core is able to adjust reality on a whim.
Brianna – A Dark Elf princess that intends to build a city around the dungeon. She is a member of the council and knows that the dungeon is alive and sentient.
Cal – The heart of the Dungeon, Cal was a human murdered by Necromancers. After being forced into a soul gem, his identity was stripped as time passed. Now accompanied by Dani, he works to become stronger without attracting too much attention to himself. This may soon change.
Cats, dungeon – There are several types:
Snowball: A Boss Mob, Snowball uses steam Essence to fuel his devasta
ting attacks.
Cloud Cat: A Mob that glides along the air, attacking from positions of stealth.
Coiled Cat: A heavy Cat that uses metal Essence. It has a reinforced skeleton and can launch itself forward at high speeds.
Flesh Cat: This Cat uses flesh Essence to tear apart tissue from a short distance. The abilities of this Cat only work on flesh and veins and will not affect bone or harder materials.
Wither Cat: A Cat full of infernal Essence, the Wither Cat can induce a restriction of Essence flow with its attacks. Cutting off the flow of Essence or Mana will quickly leave the victim in a helpless state. The process is quite painful.
Catalyst – An item that allows an Inscription to be powered with less Essence.
Celestial – The Essence of Heaven, the embodiment of life and considered the ultimate good.
Center – The very center of a person’s soul. This is the area Essence accumulates (in creatures that do not have a Core) before it binds to the Life Force.