Anima: A Divine Dungeon Series (Artorian's Archives Book 6)

by Dennis Vanderkerken

  Artorian frowned deeply, trying to follow. Talia understood the difficulty, and continued her explanation. “Cal, the dungeon we reside in, carries a burden that one Wisp cannot fully contend with. While Grace may not be his direct Wisp, she functions as a member of his family line. In that family line, it is incredibly beneficial for Cal to have a daughter who is young. Her giddy, childlike laughter sets him at ease.”

  She made a welcoming hand sign. “This lessens his heavy burdens. While she could have chosen to grow up, in order to best assist with her function in the family line, she remains as such. We are all aware of the situation we find ourselves in, and do not find this choice uncouth. In the age of old, this behavior would have been crass, as the supported motion would be for her to find her own dungeon. Those who know of the original court rules turn a blind eye, as that isn’t properly possible here.”

  Talia motioned at the vast Silverwood Tree above them. “While Cores do grow, they cannot flourish. Not here. All but a few rest in slumber eternal, waiting to be released so they may properly awaken and grow in a place where there is an over-abundance of their particular Essence combination. This is the function of the dungeon Core, after all. To balance the world where it has excess Essence. To curate that which would otherwise overflow, and wreak havoc.”

  Illuminating!

  Artorian didn’t make his customary ‘go on’ hand motion. He felt that, in this instance, it would be rude. Talia appreciated the restraint as she explained a tidbit of Wisp culture, as it was more dangerous for Artorian not to know at this point. “In our social convention, while it is allowable to speak of another Wisp, it is not allowable to speak for them. Thus why I rested Invictus, and now speak myself. If a Wisp of higher court status wishes to speak, the rest must fall silent. This is the way.”

  The Administrator stood again, performing the appropriate bow for the situation. It was sufficient, and Talia sat. Grace shot forwards since the others were done, her arms stretched out wide towards him. He had learned what she wanted him to learn, and it was time for him to go before her mother showed up. “You have awms now! Up!”

  Stifling his own laugh even as the smile slapping his face couldn’t be stopped, Artorian dropped to a knee in order to hug the sweet Wispling, picking her up to carry her like any other five-year-old that needed to be held for a while. He released a deep exhale, vision returning to stare up at the vast silver-leafed tree. “Right. Well then. That was incredibly insightful. I suppose it would be best if I go ahead and get to work.”

  Grace squeezed her arms around his neck. It seemed he was going to have a tag-along. Marie walked within twenty paces of them. Though not a single inch closer. More mystery hierarchy? She cleared her throat, and pointed at a specific branch a mile or two up. “Henry’s over in that cluster. Mind if we start there? On the way up there, you can tell me how you figured out humanization in… what? Two hours? It’s farther than it looks.”

  With a nod, and additional bow to excuse himself from the Wisps, both the Mages shifted their flight into activity, bursting from the ground like fireworks. Artorian released a liberated *Whe~e~ee*!

  It was good to be in a comfortable body again.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Grace’s smile spread wide as they zipped between massive branches. Her screeches erupted proud and loud as Artorian practiced his flight skills by taking some peculiarly sharp turns. He needed to make sure that the Dragon-bone Runescripting was properly repressed. It seemed to be, but that wasn’t good enough.

  Marie shouted after them as she followed from behind. Irritated, since rather than a straight journey to Henry as she’d wanted, this had been an exercise in detours. “Will you stop playing around!”

  Artorian considered it for a moment, then whispered the question to a clinging Grace. “Should we slow down?”

  The Wisp shook her head ‘no’ with resolute vigor, instead sharply pointing upwards with an antagonizing arch of her brows. Onwards! Well. Grace had spoken. The Administrator glanced over his shoulder, replying to the Queen. “Sorry, Marie~e~e! Gotta go fa~a~ast!”

  Marie’s helmet fluted like a fully charged pressure cooker, her armor glowing hot and red as a cracking boom expanded from the Administrator’s vacated position. That cheeky brat had taken off at Mach five! Between Silverwood branches! When she caught him, she was going to tear him a new one! “Artoria~a~an!”

  *Boom*.

  Avoiding even the largest of branches was a true test of Mage dexterity and response time. Especially when going at these breakneck speeds. Grace didn’t in the slightest mind the rollercoaster ride, shrieking to go faster.

  Artorian agreed wholeheartedly with a ‘Ha!’ as his face dodged a lesser branch. He wanted to speed up some more, but a powerful grip squeezed around his ankle before he could turn and up the ante. Marie’s grasp threw him off-course entirely. He sped up, but only enough for him to slam flat against his back along the underside of a bigger branch. Mach five or not, the Silverwood Tree didn’t even dent. *Ooofooo*!

  “I. Said. Stop. Playing. Around.” Marie’s armored digits drummed loudly on the metal of her bicep once she came to a standstill, her hover a menacing one. Her armor was still sizzling, and Artorian shook his head to get the daze out.

  “Fhoo. Well, I’d say I can fly well enough. How are you holding up, Grace?”

  The humanized Wisp had also smacked her face against a minor branch while mid-swing, but no amount of leaves between her teeth was stopping that boundless enthusiasm. “More!”

  “Young lady, that is quite enough!” Grace’s mirth dropped to a cold shiver. Her human form vanished with a pop as the purple ball quickly hid inside the chest pocket of Artorian’s robe.

  Dani was here.

  Her voice matched Marie’s in its upset cadence, but Artorian pulled his robe shut just a little bit more, clearly pretending he hadn’t the foggiest where Grace might be hiding. No matter how much the bump in the cloth covering his heart shivered.

  He shot Marie an innocent smile. “See, Marie? Dani agrees with me, and even considers you a young lady. It was fi~i~ine.”

  *Thunk*.

  “Ow!”

  Both of the Administrator’s hands moved to the bruise on the top of his head. Dani had reprimanded and smacked him with some solid Mana. Even though she was in her orb form, he could feel the judging glare. Though the furious red color may have had something to do with it.

  Dani wasn’t happy. “Not a peep out of you. You steal a body out of Cal’s warehouse, change it without permission, and then wriggle the most secret of information out of a talkative Wisp? Invictus isn’t going to get half the beatdown you’re about to get!”

  Artorian’s jaw clamped shut, and not by his own volition. He mumbled something, but even that was stifled in front of the two rather… displeased ladies. His straightened finger, present to make a point, curled in weakly, then fell away entirely as Grace peeked from the inside of his robe.

  Dani was cross with her as well. “Come. Here.”

  Grace looked up at Artorian, but he was all out of options to protect and defend her at this point. The purple Wisp sighed weakly, bobbing in a half-hearted wave over to Mom. Her head hung when she pulled up next to the currently furious red mommy Wisp. “Good. Marie? I’ll take it from here. I’m not letting you suffer antics from our Administrator any longer. Please take my little one to Henry so she can repair that connection… a task she should have been working on this entire time.”

  Grace turned a queasier shade of purple, and silently bobbed over to rest in Marie’s upturned palm. Her armor wasn’t red hot anymore. That was a… plus? Artorian mentally winced at the thought. He was still in the fire as Dani snapped at him. “You. With me. Now.”

  The Administrator wasn’t about to fight with the Wisp Matron. After a slight wave to Grace, he couldn’t suppress feeling Marie glare at him from behind her helmet. Her free hand sharply extended to point in Dani’s direction.

  He didn’t need to be told
twice! “I’m going, I’m going!”

  Dani took off, and he swiftly followed. Their journey was one spent without words, and perhaps that was for the best as Artorian watched Dani shift between a variety of colors that showcased her personal emotional states shift through fields and varieties of ‘upset.’ He supposed he had just gotten a hold of rather valuable information. He doubted that giving Grace a laugh was a sufficient reason for this much anger.

  Dani led him straight to his own Core, where another Wisp was waiting impatiently for them. Wait. He had a Wisp? He wasn’t a dungeon!

  It was a green Wisp. Oh no. Not another mind trying to keep him on point. Why did this keep happening? He had Zelia! Before that… ah. Gran’mama, Jiivra, Yvessa… Right, this seemed to be a bit of a trend. It might ever so slightly be helpful when he had someone to prod him to do specific work. Though green Wisps bonded with… what was it, Fire Cores? Red Cores were lazy… he wasn’t lazy! A moment of consideration later, and he was already thinking about being buried neck-deep in a room full of pillows. Where nobody could bother him. Okay… a little lazy. Just a little!

  Dani stabilized when she hovered next to the waiting Wisp, who performed the Wisp version of their court bow. Visually, the act was little more than a bob in mid-air, but it had nuances to it. There was also something oddly familiar about the green dot. He couldn’t put his finger on it until the Wisp spoke. Well, abyss, he knew that voice. Dani addressed her, checking up on current progress. “Yvessa, how does it look?”

  Hearing it confirmed stirred Artorian. Maybe this was all a set of curious, accidental circumstances? “Uhm. This isn’t the Yvessa I know, right? She should be safe on my wall.”

  The green Wisp altered her pending response, as a salt-boulder-sized chip needed to be removed from her shoulder. Her color flared, voice booming. “You insufferable codger! You kept me on a wall for celestial-knows-how-long. Were you trying to get away from me? Do you have any idea how angry I was at learning you’ve been keeping the entire Fringe village tidy and snug on a wall? I woke up inside of a room I couldn’t in the slightest recognize, and suffered a week of headaches as I was explained all I had missed. Push comes to shove, and the culprit responsible is the same nosy Elder I used to swaddle. Because he just couldn’t wait to poke at more of his corruption. I found out a week ago that you were a Mage, and yet: surprise, surprise. No amount of support staff keeping you on track seems to work. What a shock.”

  Artorian forced a smile, eagerly looking around for an escape route. Given his Core was right there, and that a Wisp version of Yvessa was hovering dangerously close right above it. Best to just… let her at it. “Then I get asked very kindly if I would be up for helping to handle a slightly out of control Administrator, as I had prior experience. The only downside was that the body I would need to inhabit wasn’t a human one.”

  A harmless-looking wooden spoon appeared next to the green Wisp. “A small price to pay to do this to you.”

  The spoon whapped down on the celestine colored Core. It was the pearly center of an unfurling silver flower on one of the many, many lesser branches. When the wooden implement struck, Artorian’s entire world shook. The world itself didn’t budge; but the transfer of information between his current body, and the Core he was actually in, experienced serious turbulence. His flight winked out on the spot, and he scrambled to grab the side of the wide branch as he fell, hauling himself up while existence spun.

  Wisp-Yvessa leered at him. “Paying attention now?”

  It took several minutes for Artorian to be willing to have anything less than a clinging death-grip on the branch below him. That was how long it took for the vertigo shocks of even that tiny impact to go away. Crackers. That was one abyss of a weakness. “M’here… I’m here. Please don’t do that again. That was… awful. So awful.”

  Yvessa threatened to bap the Core again, and Artorian reflexively went right back to clinging to the branch below him. His face scrunched in expectation of being struck by nausea. The vertigo didn’t come, and he opened an eye to peek before looking up at the Wisp duo. Dani hummed bright pink satisfaction. That devious little… he felt a sizable chunk of empathy for Cal. Wisps were cheeky!

  “Alright. Alright! I lose. What’s the deal?” He groaned out the words, forehead pressing to the pleasantly cool temperature of the branch.

  Yvessa made the spoon go away. Had he heard right? If she’d barely been a Wisp for a short length of time, how was she so good at… Wisping? How did you describe being a Wisp and being good at what a Wisp does? No idea. Didn’t currently matter. Yvessa huffed. “That’s better. In short, you need supervision. So I’m going to tag along and stick to your shoulder. We’re going to check and repair every single Core on the tree, and only after do you get to go galivant.”

  Artorian silently replied with a thumbs up. He wasn’t fighting this either. “You got it. How do we get started?”

  Dani bobbed at Yvessa, again with defining nuances that told the observer it was a motion of appreciation. One that included an ‘I leave it in your capable hands.’ Yvessa proudly returned to her natural coloration, hovering above the celestine Core. “You can start by getting up and touching your own Core so we can get your current mind aligned. Then we can start mending the connection.”

  Getting up and pressing his hand to the orb, clarity rushed to Artorian’s faculties. Connecting his mind to his body served as a breath of fresh air for his weariness. Like he’d just woken up from a week-long nap. His thoughts filtered in easily, and the difficulty in remembering ceased. A sharp pitch in his ears also subsided, and he noticed only because it was now missing. He appreciated the relief regardless. “That is much better. I’d prefer it to stay like this, rather than feel some kind of splintering. How do I help prevent this from happening again?”

  Yvessa was glad she didn’t need to get the whip out right away. Or spoon in her case. “It was explained to me that, in this world, something tore. The tears are physical, and destroy or shatter what they touch. Some of those tears happened in this tree, or moved through it. We are tasked with finding these tears, and filling them back up. Someone named ‘Cal’ is healing the tears from this area first, even if he doesn’t seem to be aware of it, which is a topic I just don’t understand. Then again, I don’t need to. See that big cut in the branch where you were lying? Add Essence to it.”

  Artorian looked to the spot. Now that he was specifically looking for it, he did notice a wire-thin cut that went rather deep. Kneeling down next to the wound, he hummed to himself. How best to heal a tree? Well, maybe just ‘adding Essence in’ was the way to go where this was concerned. Normal botany was out of its depth when it came to Silverwood Trees.

  Keeping his hand pressed to the wound, he invoked his Mana, directing it to restore harm, as that seemed more effective than just pouring some on. It appeared shortly after that it hadn’t mattered much. Mana was small cheese compared to Spirit, which appeared to be what was required.

  The natural density of his Mana allowed for the conversion to happen apace. His Tower tier easily allowed him to release a quality of Essence that didn’t need to condense or gather further for a trade to occur.

  His Mana just globbed, filling the space as the wound closed up while Yvessa hovered nearby. With the Wisp’s careful attention, the wound closed. Gently melding new wood with the original as the energy altered to form Silverwood matter at her direction.

  Clearing even that small cut made a pleasant warmth cross Artorian’s shoulders as the connection to his celestine Core came that much easier. Yes. This was important. Standing, he half turned with hands pressed on his hips, and Yvessa was pleased the old codger still retained his work ethic as he spoke. Youthful body or not. “Where is the next one?”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Exactly how much time was spent mending the scars was an uncertainty, though the guess would have to be measured in months. Artorian just knew he’d needed to stop and cultivate like the old times, twice. Cultivatin
g had offered a nice break from an activity that had otherwise turned out to be monotonous.

  Surely this wasn’t what Scilla had needed him to hurry for? Since all he could do was play Mana battery for a process only a Wisp could handle, Artorian spent a large amount of time seated in meditative self-reflection, letting his Essence fill the damage while his taskmaster worked to apply the healing.

  The taxing process was less dull when surprise visitors dropped by to check in on them and their progress. Unfortunately. He learned that during such events he needed to keep working. He couldn’t stray too far from a wound currently being tended once his Mana transfer started. Such was the way of things. So Yvessa did the talking.

  Marie and Henry had come by, delivering good news that Aiden’s Core was close to safely reconnecting. Artorian had asked Henry how he’d gotten a body, and Marie cut in that he’d copied the cheat Artorian had used himself. A Beast body that was compatible, reformed into a convenient human one.

  Good to know that worked for more than just him. Even if it made the Administrator suspicious. Artorian was locking down his entire Presence and Aura capacities just to keep this human form. Henry didn’t have those skills, yet was visibly having far less difficulty than him to attain the same result. Definitely suspicious. Artorian was sad that he hadn’t the chance to ask before they left.

  Chandra had also come to say hello, but more because Yvessa and Artorian had run into a snag with a particularly confusing wound. The piece of Silverwood was infected, rather than missing wire-cut chunks. Chandra had directed them to excise and cut the damaged parts away, and to burn them after. The downside of cutting away the afflicted patches was that those sections would have to be replaced entirely. A price they’d have to pay, as the tarry bits would otherwise spread. Given it was only Yvessa that could modify the Silverwood, that did provide Artorian some cultivation time.