Exodus of Gnomes (God Core #2) - A Dungeon Core LitRPG

by Demi Harper

  And I never will if we end up failing here.

  Timing our leap carefully, we waited for just the right moment. This was undoubtedly the last chance we’d get.

  When the trogloraptor stumbled on its injured leg, we saw our chance, and leapt.

  Ris’kin’s reaching hands closed firmly around the creature’s furry palps. Unbalanced by the sudden weight hanging from the half-limbs that guarded its mouth, the trogloraptor lurched downward. Its head and thorax dipped low enough for Longshank to scramble up and drive his crystal spear into the back of its head.

  But the spear would not go all the way in. The spider’s chitinous exoskeleton was much harder around its body than its legs, it seemed, and no matter how Longshank pushed, the spear would not go any deeper.

  However, it did seem to be hurting the creature somewhat. Though it didn’t push through its physical armor, it did at least seem to penetrate the fog of whatever magic held it in thrall, and it shrieked in pain, lowering itself even further to the ground to escape the crystal point.

  Time remaining for Exodus: 2 minutes, 39 seconds

  Her feet firmly on the floor, Ris’kin released the trogloraptor’s palps. Now safely inside their reach, she grasped the spider’s chelicerae instead. The sharp mandible-like appendages still held my gem fast in their grip.

  The ‘fury’ status was flashing in the top of my vision, warning me that the effects of the furynut brew would wear off in a few seconds, but a few seconds was all we needed.

  The last fury effects pulsed through Ris’kin, empowering her limbs, and I threw all of my will into further bolstering her strength and resolve. Bracing herself against the floor, she gripped the chelicerae firmly and pulled.

  They barely budged.

  No! Come on!

  Ris’kin heaved again, her efforts joining mine in a mental scream as we strained with all our strength to release my gem from the enemy.

  The fury icon flickered and died. My gem remained in the trogloraptor’s grip.

  My avatar let go. Barely noticing the burning of cramping fingers and overworked muscles, she took an uncertain step away from the trogloraptor, unsteady with the aftereffects of the fury juice as well as my mentally reeling with my own realization of our failure.

  The spider shifted, doubtless about to throw Longshank off and make another run for it. I considered just letting it. But only for an instant.

  No matter how much we despaired, there was no way I’d let it go and give up our tribe’s entire future. Even if it meant we wouldn’t complete the exodus on time, even though I’d end up starting over at tier one and likely wouldn’t advance enough in time to stop our enemies—of which we apparently had more than we’d realized—from wiping the last of the gnomes from this earth, it was my duty to make sure we claimed this place as our own. To at least give them a chance of surviving what was to come.

  Ris’kin bent wearily to collect her fallen spears.

  When we faced the trogloraptor again, though, something was different. Though the red film still marred its eyes, suggesting it was still being controlled, it no longer seemed interested in either escape or attack. Instead, we watched, barely comprehending as it lowered itself to the ground and deposited my gem at Ris’kin’s feet.

  Something flashed in my vision. I frowned, thinking it was the ‘fury’ warning again, but that had been replaced with an ‘exhaustion’ icon—something Ris’kin’s trembling limbs and palpitating heart had already told me.

  Time remaining for Exodus: 120 seconds

  We stared down at my gem, confused by the sudden turnaround in circumstances. Then everything hit me at once, above all the fact that there was still time.

  Time remaining for Exodus: 112 seconds

  “Corey, come on!”

  It seemed Ket was finally back with us. Ris’kin had already snatched the gem and started running, exhausted limbs screaming their objections at being pushed so far beyond the limits of their endurance. But if our journey had taught me one thing it was that my denizens’ limits were far beyond anything I’d ever given them credit for, and Ris’kin was no different.

  We hared through the wreckage of the encampment toward the ruined temple, disheveled gnomes parting to make way for my avatar.

  10 seconds…

  Shards of crystal crunched beneath our feet, pricking painfully at the pads of Ris’kin’s soles as we sprinted up the curved steps.

  5 seconds…

  On the far side of the altar, Gneil reached over for the gem, fingers stretched to their fullest while his lips moved in fervent prayer.

  3 seconds…

  Together, Gneil and Ris’kin touched my Core to the stone altar, none too gentle in their haste. We all stared down at it, wondering if it had been enough.

  The timer had stopped counting and disappeared. The absolute lack of prompts from the Augmentary, of confirmation of either success or failure, was not encouraging.

  Did we make it? Or were we too late?

  Everything was still. Gnomes, badgers and rampaging trogloraptor alike waited in silence. The tension in the plaza was so thick I could hardly breathe.

  Then:

  Altar successfully sanctified. Exodus complete!

  Sixty-Seven

  Epilogue

  Corey

  I hardly heard the cheering of my denizens. My entire being rang with shock, disbelief, and pure unbridled relief.

  The humans’ appearance at the top of the trail was cause for even more happiness—almost as much so as the ten full globes of mana pulsing tantalizingly in a vertical stack in the right side of my vision.

  I’ve missed you so much, I told them. I—wait. Ten?!

  Apparently I exclaimed that last part out loud, because Bekkit said, “Indeed. By completing the Exodus, you fulfilled a holy covenant between yourself and your denizens. If you look more closely, you’ll also see that all of your adult denizens have unlocked the next tier of worship. This is just one of the reasons nomadic elven civilizations of the past were so powerful…”

  I tuned him out, entirely caught up in the buzz of Ascendancy and success. The sight of my mana globes, as well as of my vastly expanded map, of the grayed-out tabs in the Augmentary lighting up in their various colors once more… I doubted I’d ever see anything so sweet again.

  I was proved wrong mere hours later when Binky appeared, along with Flea and Sir Fura. The unlikely trio were bloody and beaten, with wounds that looked suspiciously like they’d come from bear claws. Now that my precious eight-legged friend was fully terrestrial, it seemed his mind was as independent as his body, and he’d taken it upon himself to scout the surrounding area and dispose of any threats he encountered. If I’d had corporeal eyes I’d definitely have had to wipe away more than a few tears. They grow up so fast.

  Longshank had refrained from spearing the now-docile trogloraptor to death, but rather dismounted cautiously and allowed it to scuttle off to lick its wounds. The relationship between him and Gneil was still not exactly what one might call friendly, but the high cleric definitely seemed to regard the hunter with more respect than before. I wondered how much of that was down to Longshank escorting my gem safely to its new home, and how much was down to the hunter saving Hoppit during the fangfin attack at the river. I decided I was happier not knowing.

  The sight of Lila had been a shock, but clearly not as much of a shock as it had been to Coll and Benin. Apparently she was the one responsible for the dire creatures, but she’d also been directly influenced by malevolent forces—as, apparently, had Coll.

  It seemed that whatever outside influences had affected them were banished with the restoration of my Sphere. According to Benin, they’d likely remain protected so long as they stayed within its boundaries. By the Sphere’s magic, yes, but also by me.

  I swear it.

  As much as I reveled in borrowing Ris’kin’s body and experiencing the wonders of tactility, it felt truly amazing to float in the air, once again in my god’s-eye form. I
took more delight than I ever had before in supervising my busy denizens, flitting from builders clearing rubble to botanists planting mushrooms in an instant using nothing but my own thoughts.

  It’s good to be a god again.

  Though I was now able to venture all the way up to the full height of my newly expanded Sphere—which I suspected would take me above the clouds if I so chose—I had yet to summon the bravery to do so. I was much more comfortable with the sky than I had been at the start of the journey, but still.

  One step at a time.

  I was plenty high enough right now to get a much better look at the dragon skeletons that cluttered up the north-eastern edge of the caldera. Both dragons’ jaws were frozen wide, and they clutched at each other so tightly that in places the claws had actually punctured flesh and pierced bone. At first sight I’d thought them to be embracing, but from my new vantage it was clear they’d actually been fighting. I tried to imagine such fierce animosity. As much as it pained me to admit it, I suspected my own self-preservation instincts—in this life and my former one—would never allow me to plummet to my own death simply to ensure the destruction of my enemy.

  The thought of enemies weighed me down. With Grimrock vanquished, we’d originally thought Varnell to be our only enemy. But what Benin had told me about Lila suggested we had another foe in the form of this “Lord of Light”—not to mention the theory the mage and I shared about the Zolom having been the avatar of yet another Core.

  On top of all that, the memories that had flooded me after the failed crossing—the memories that I was trying to push down while we became better acquainted with our new surroundings—had essentially added yet another name to the list.

  Melakor.

  Whoever he really was, the memories I’d regained made it very clear that he was not only responsible for betraying me and my former allies, he was also directly to blame for trapping my soul in its gemstone prison and stealing my dark elf body for himself. I was torn between wanting to hunt him down and make him pay—perhaps even fulfill my old dream of taking back my body—or accepting that my former life was behind me for good. It was a huge decision, a millstone around my entire being, which was why I’d been trying hard not to think about it.

  Luckily, I had plenty of distractions.

  Rolling my eyes at the sound of grumbling, I zoomed down to see what Benin was whining about this time. As ever, the source of his complaining—which was far more good-natured than it used to be—was the pair of scavengers, whom he’d caught yet again going through his things.

  However, this time it appeared he had not caught Swift and Cheer in the act of stealing his chemsphere, but in bringing it back to him. He seemed taken aback when he realized this, and after an uncertain pause, he said, “You know what? You can keep it.”

  They remained standing there, knees trembling under the weight of the sphere, forced grins fixed on their faces. Cursing, Benin knelt, took it from them, then immediately handed it back, pointing from himself to the chemsphere to indicate it was a gift. Their faces lit up in understanding, and they scurried back down to their lair quickly as though afraid he’d change his mind.

  Swift and Cheer had been the first to venture back down to the magma-pit cavern—which I’d dubbed the Gnexus—and during their explorations they’d found a workshop. Among the Gnexus’s extensive series of caverns—the entire place really was a maze—the ones adopted by Swift and Cheer were filled with metal contraptions and shelves of tablets containing diagrams and instructions. The scavengers had already begun tinkering, disassembling, their eyes alight with wonder and curiosity.

  Ket, too, had squealed in delight at the workshop. The way she flitted from room to room, touching surfaces and critically examining half-assembled objects, made me certain she was familiar with this place, though I had no idea how that could be possible. I still sensed confusion and conflicting emotions from her, though, and decided to give her some time to come to terms with them. My questions could come later. That would also give me more time to digest my own recent revelations.

  A tug at the edge of my consciousness alerted me to an intelligent presence entering my Sphere. I frowned. The presence was unfamiliar. It was followed by two others.

  They’d entered my Sphere halfway up the main trail, which meant the warriors on patrol there would soon challenge them if they hadn’t already. If they were no threat, the warriors would send them on up here with an escort. I didn’t have to bother myself personally with it until that point. All I had to do was wait.

  But the arrival of strangers so soon after our settlement made me uneasy, and I sped down to where the new arrivals stood on the trail.

  When I saw them, the bottom dropped out of me and I felt like I was falling.

  It can’t be…

  Three figures dressed in ragged attire stood on the trail, their hands raised in the air. All three were a head taller than the gnomish warriors that barred their way, shields raised, spears pointed firmly at the intruders. Their knuckles were white where they clutched their weapons. Every one of them was clearly on edge. And with good reason.

  The figure at the head of the trio tilted its crocodilian snout toward where I floated above and behind my warriors. Crimson scales flashed in the sunlight.

  The edges of my vision fuzzed with darkness.

  “Hello again, little god,” said Grimrock. “We need to talk.”

  A Message From Portal Books

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