The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2)

by Jonathan Brooks

  Luckily, two of the Raiders had Amulets of Illumination, which helped to brighten up the room – though cave was probably more of an apt description. Sterge sucked in his breath at what he saw – or more accurately, what he didn’t see – and he felt a sharp pain stab at his chest again.

  It was gone. It was all gone: the trees, the plants, and even the dirt that previously filled the floor – it was as if it never existed. All that was left over was a plain, unadorned cave of stone.

  “What happened?” he asked in a whisper, though he was pretty sure he knew.

  “The Core of this dungeon was destroyed, that’s what happened,” Jesper answered, using the same volume of voice. “We need to get going, before whatever did this comes back up.”

  It was destroyed? Just like that?

  Sterge was in a daze when someone helped him up and they started their way out of the dungeon. Every room they passed was the same as the one they just left – completely bare and empty of anything. Either it was the pain from his arm and chest still making his mind a little slow, or he just didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t process what had happened.

  The outside was bright when they finally emerged, and looking at the sun in the sky he realized that only about 10 minutes had passed since they entered the dungeon. So much has happened in the last hour that I’m having trouble understanding. Their world had been turned upside-down when the dungeon had been found; now that it had been destroyed, it felt like it was happening all over again.

  Sterge looked back at the entrance, which looked as dark and empty as it was throughout the entire dungeon. With a shake of his head, he turned back to the others and heard Jesper say, “Let’s go. We need to hurry and get everyone to evacuate as soon as possible. I don’t know what did this – and I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

  The Village Chief could only nod his head as he started down the mountain, lagging behind with Gwenda as they nursed their injuries. “What do we do now, Gwenda?”

  “I don’t know, Sterge. I just don’t know.”

  Chapter 29

  Council Leader Malachite flew through the doorways of the Council chambers, stretching and yawning as he continued to wake up. I’ve got to start getting more than an hour’s sleep once a week. He knew that probably wasn’t going to be likely with the way things were going, but he could always wish, couldn’t he?

  Head Instructor Lapis and some of the others Malachite had brought into the Council – at least on a temporary basis, once he figured out where the rest of the normal members were – had been constantly visiting with those Dungeon Assistants who had survived the destruction of their Cores over the last few weeks, so it had been up to the Council Leader to help run things while they were away. That had been the official reason for his supreme lack of sleep, of course, but in reality it was because he had trouble sleeping even when he was exhausted. Worry and concern over his Dungeon Fairies, the Dungeon Cores they were assisting, and the fate of the entire world weighed on his mind.

  Thankfully, over the last month, the number of Cores that were being destroyed had fallen to only 1 per week; still way too many to be comfortable with, but it was certainly an improvement. With that good news came an equal amount of bad: Every Core that had been destroyed had taken their Assistant with them. Of all 23 Fairies who had managed to escape being killed over the last year, every single one of them had been released from their Bond to warn the DPRC of the danger to their Core; whether the ones who had perished had either voluntarily refused to break their Bond or the Core refused to break it was still unknown.

  Some other useful information came about from the investigations, or at least that was what the Head Instructor said he had compiled after listening to all of the survivors’ stories. That was the reason he had cut his sleep short today, at least, because he was due to hear about it.

  “Ah, there you are,” Lapis said from across the room, beckoning the Council Leader over as if he were some sort of servant. Malachite pushed the anger born from utter frustration of the situation and little sleep down and away, as he flew over to the Head Instructor to see what sort of news he had.

  Lapis launched into his report without so much as a hello. “So, from what information we have gathered, here are the statistics regarding everything that could be categorized. In all 23 of the cases, they reported that the deed was committed by groups of Raiders; this we already knew, but after some more digging we discovered that there were two main types of Raiders that destroyed these Cores. In 9 of the cases, the culprits were groups of 8 to 10 typical Raiders, usually much stronger than what the dungeon would be suitable for. In 13 of the cases, the murderous scoundrels were much larger groups of rough-looking individuals, usually not too powerful, but there were way too many in quantity for the Core to handle. In one case, the Assistant was told that there were Raiders coming to destroy their Core, but they never actually saw them in person, nor through a remote viewing connection with their Core, and never got a description of them before their Bond was broken and they Translocated away.”

  The way the Head Instructor was reciting all of these facts made him seem a bit impersonal about it all, but Malachite knew that he really cared about all of his students, be they survivors or those who had died. The fact of the matter was that he had done a remarkable job, and now they had something to go on. “Very good, Lapis; that certainly—”

  “Oh, but there’s more,” the Head Instructor interrupted him unapologetically. Malachite swallowed the anger that threatened to burst out of his mouth in a bout of verbal abuse – and he nodded, as he didn’t trust himself to speak. “After going over all of the records of the Cores that were destroyed, all but one of them that had survivors were under Core Improvement Level 28; the original statistics were a little muddled, as they had been organized by how long each Dungeon Assistant had been in place and not by the Core’s relative CI Level. The lone outlier there was a CI Level 37, but even that isn’t that too far off in strength from the others – especially when you compare it to those that didn’t have survivors.

  “Of those, all but 2 were calculated to be over Core Improvement Level 40, though some hadn’t had reports in nearly a decade; at DAPS we teach that it’s important to check in every 5 years even if nothing significant happened, so there had been some slacking on the part of the Assistants. I blame the Cores for that.”

  Of course he does, otherwise it could be a black mark on their teaching ability if they weren’t following the proper guidelines. It didn’t really matter, though, as any chastisement would be worthless, given that there were no survivors.

  It was worrying that he and the other Council members and their own assistants had missed that vital piece of information. That none of the Dungeon Assistants made it out alive from the more powerful dungeons was something that should’ve been alarming – though even now he had no idea what it could mean. While it was more likely that the Assistants that were Bonded to a Core that powerful would want to stay with their Cores until the end, he couldn’t and wouldn’t believe that all of them had chosen to do that.

  “Furthermore, while there was no direct correlation between the locations of those Cores that had been destroyed when viewed as a whole, when you break it up between survivors and non-survivors, a clearer picture is revealed. All but 2 of the Cores with survivors were located within the most populous areas of the continent of Abenlure: right inside what I’ve heard is called the ‘Girdle’ by some of the Raiders. Or at least that was what it was called over 1,000 years ago – so that might have changed by now.”

  Lapis seemed to be rambling for some reason, but the Council Leader thought it was probably because the Head Instructor was excited to have found out some useful information.

  “Regardless, nearly all of them were located near the center of the continent, with the outliers sitting a bit further away – but close enough that they could easily fit into the same subset.” As he described his findings, Lapis floated over to th
e map and started gesturing to the general area where most of them had been found. Malachite lifted up a little higher and he could definitely see what the Head Instructor was talking about. The continent of Abenlure was a bit flared to the north and south, and it narrowed towards the center – which was where at least 70% of the mortal races on the continent lived. It was also where quite a few dungeons were located, more so than other areas, so that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

  “Yes, but—” the Council Leader tried to bring that point up, but was interrupted again – to his extreme displeasure. Having two leaders in the same building working on the same project isn’t healthy for our relationship. Or his own health for that matter – because I’m this close to strangling him.

  “I know what you’re going to say, but if you look at the data from the non-surviving Assistants – and their Cores, of course – you’ll find that all but 1 of them completely avoided the ‘Girdle’ altogether. They are scattered all over the continent in no discernable pattern, in all different locales, and—oh, no,” Lapis said suddenly, pointing to the southern part of the map.

  There was a relatively faint light on the northern edge of the Wentrylock Mountain Range – and it was starting to blink. Not another one! He remembered when that one had appeared a little over 2 years ago, and it had caused a little bit of a stir since no one could remember any Dungeon Cores ever being located in either the northern or southern mountain ranges before. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for a Core to show up someplace odd like that, though, as there had been some that showed up in the middle of the ocean before, but this had been recent enough that he remembered it.

  “There goes your theory, Lapis. That Core there is very new; in fact, it took almost a year for a Dungeon Assistant to actually stay Bonded with it for more than a few seconds, because it remained entirely uncooperative and kept dissolving the Bond over and over. Actually, if I remember correctly, Lily had sent our little helper there…” He trailed off as he thought about the whole situation.

  “What helper are you talking about?”

  Malachite shook his head as he watched the light of the Core blink faster and faster…before it disappeared completely. “Huh? Oh, uh, Tacca, obviously.” Is that just coincidence? Is it possible that some of these Cores that were destroyed had some sort of connection with Tacca GloomLily?

  “I can see you thinking exactly what I’m thinking, Malachite. But…how? Why? What exactly is going on?” the Head Instructor asked. The Council Leader just shook his head again, as he had no answers.

  Both of them fluttered over the map for a while, silently contemplating whether they had missed something. They had already gone through all of the records concerning who their little helper had contact with, and apart from this one that had just been destroyed, they couldn’t find any sort of correlation or connection. Tacca hadn’t ever visited the Cores herself as far as they could tell, she hadn’t ever met the Dungeon Assistants that were helping those Cores, and the very few times she had a run-in with any Fairies near the DPRC were with Assistants that were still alive and with their Cores. Other than Lily, unfortunately, but she had disappeared with every other Council member and DPRC employee at the same time.

  There was a commotion at the entryway of the Council chambers and one of the Instructors that had come with Lapis poked her head in. “Council Leader? There’s someone here who insists on speaking to Lily. I tried to tell him that she’s away at the moment, but he is insistent. He says it has to do with something about his Core in the southern mountains.”

  Malachite glanced down at the map at the same time as the Head Instructor. Lapis beat him to it, however. “Send him in.” The Council Leader nodded his approval towards the Instructor at the door, before he turned back to Lapis, who was already mumbling under his breath. “Well, it’s another outlier…still fits within my theory…survivors were Bonded to a Core under a certain Core Improvement Level….”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Malachite saw a Fairy fly inside, his dark-gray hair in complete contrast with his Mood Clothes, which were such a jumble of different colors that it was hard to tell what the frantic-looking Dungeon Assistant was feeling at that moment. Probably a result of his Bond being dissolved and the loss and confusion that comes with it.

  “Hello! Where is Lily? I need some help!” the Fairy started to shout, and both Malachite and the Head Instructor waved him over.

  “Shale? Is that you?” Lapis asked as soon as the obviously exhausted Fairy flew closer.

  “Head Instructor Lapis? What are you doing here? Never mind, it’s not important; I need help—”

  “Calm down, calm down; we already know. Now, this might be a shock to you, but your Core was destroyed.” The Head Instructor had his hands around the young Assistant’s shoulders in a comforting manner, providing much needed sympathy that Lapis was much better at conveying than Malachite ever had been.

  “Wait, what—?”

  “Now, I need to ask you some questions so we can try to figure out what happened. Did your Core do anything to warrant being destroyed? It seems unlikely for one so young, but it happens.”

  “Uh, no; why are you wasting time, we need to—”

  “How long after the attack began did your Core dissolve your Bond? Did you get a good look at the Raiders that did this?” Lapis was back to his investigation mode, and Malachite could tell he was mentally ticking off all of the questions on his list – all while trying to keep the young Assistant’s mind off the hurt he must be feeling.

  “Huh? Wait, I don’t think you understand—”

  “What’s not to understand?”

  The young Dungeon Assistant seemed to not really understand what had happened. “Head Instructor, maybe it would be prudent to give him a few minutes to come to terms with what just occurred. He just lost his Core, after all.”

  “WOULD YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME!” the frantic Assistant shouted so loudly it startled both the Head Instructor and the Council Leader. It had been so long that anyone had spoken to him at such volume that Malachite was speechless – and so was Lapis, apparently, as the young Assistant continued without interruption. With a softer voice this time, at least.

  “I don’t know what you think happened, but you’re wrong – her Core wasn’t destroyed.”

  Malachite finally got his voice back. “The map doesn’t lie, boy. We saw the light go out, ourselves.”

  “I don’t care what that showed…because my Bond with Tacca’s Core was never broken. It’s still there, though I can’t sense exactly where she is – which is why I need help.”

  That didn’t make sense. When a Core was destroyed, the Bond was always broken – because it couldn’t exist without both a Dungeon Assistant and a Dungeon Core. Either the Assistant was delusional from the sudden loss (especially if the Bond wasn’t dissolved before the Core was destroyed), or he was lying. He had plainly seen the light go out—wait…did he say Tacca?

  Before Malachite could say anything, the Council Leader heard Lapis gasp and he figured that the Head Instructor had realized what the young Assistant had said. When he looked over, though, Lapis and the other Fairy were looking down at the map below them.

  Right at the extremely dim light that appeared in the southern mountain range.

  “Shale…it looks like we’re going to have a very long conversation.” Malachite couldn’t help but agree with the Head Instructor.

  Chapter 30

  Tacca drifted in and out of consciousness for what seemed like years, as her soul was ripped apart and put back together over and over again. The only saving grace through the whole ordeal was the fact that there was no pain at all, just a vast, empty expanse where her scattered thoughts and awareness stretched out in all directions with no end in sight. Is this some sort of afterlife? Is my soul to be eternally ripped apart only to be put back together again?

  She experienced a bout of sadness over her situation, because she really was hoping to have survived the explosion. Who k
new that would happen when those bags ruptured? She had only been hoping that the magic in those innocuous-looking pouches would make the explosion strong enough to kill the invaders, but so much was unknown about them that they were unpredictable when messed with in that way. The only reports in the past of Cores trying to access them using brute-force applications of Dungeon Force varied in result, and none of them had used as much energy as she had with the DF-based synergy explosion.

  Regardless, it had worked, even if it worked a little too well. All of the blue-skinned invaders – and even the purplish-skinned one – were dead, and that metal thing strapped to its chest was destroyed; not that she had lived long enough to revel in her victory. Her one consolation was that Shale had managed to get away, and had likely been far enough away to have avoided being hurt by the explosion – though she had no way of knowing how powerful it ended up being. With how much energy was pushed into the wave, blowing up half of the mountain where her dungeon was located was a distinct possibility. She wondered if her Bonded Hill Dwarves had survived, but she was also currently in a place where she couldn’t really care about them all that much.

  Eventually, something changed in her perpetually bland and strange existence. Hazy waves like the waves of heat she occasionally saw coming off of stones on a hot and sunny day surrounded her consciousness, and she felt what she considered her…self start to stretch and condense – like someone or something was kneading her soul like a hunk of bread dough. Again, it wasn’t necessarily painful; if anything, it was weird and uncomfortable. This went on for she knew not how long, until the “kneading” stopped – only to be replaced by a sudden, powerful contraction.

  That was when the pain started.