Chapter 68: Waves

Saturday, April 15th, 10:10 AM

Dungeon Ciara

Sven waited until all the Dungeon’s residents had gathered and the main hall’s doors were shut.

He gazed at the human younglings with a heavy heart.

“Michael Elliott and Rihelah Najibi are alive.”

[What?]

That caused an uproar.

Mike’s eyes watered and he blinked several times as he stood. “Where, Sven? Where is my boy? Where’s my daughter-in-law?”

“There is no easy way to say this. Lord Auronox has transported them to Gaia. They are on His world, in the Andromeda Galaxy.”

Mike, Joe, Siobhán, and Joy all stood speechless, with their mouths hanging open.

“When are they coming back?” Mike lowered his chin and gazed reproachfully at Sven.

I hate giving good people bad news.

Sighing, Sven locked eyes with Mike. “There is very little chance that Michael and Rihelah will ever return to Earth.”

“Don’t you say that, Sven…” Mike’s body shook as he set his jaw.

Mike slammed his fist on the stone table, breaking it in half. “Don’t say that about my children!”

The others caught the pieces and Ciara mended the table after they pushed it back together.

“Why did Auronox come here? Couldn’t he have left Earth alone?”

“The Dragon who seeks to consume your world arrived first, and Auronox chose to contest that claim. Without our Lord, your world would have ceased to exist seconds after the first bomb exploded.”

President Thomas raised his hand, wearing a deep frown.

“You may speak,” said Sven.

“I hate… that you aren’t lying,” said Thomas quietly.

“So, I’m never going to see my kids again?” The dam had broken and tears streamed down Mike’s cheeks. He was breathing hard.

The poor man.

Sven grimaced. “I cannot say for certain. But it is unlikely, and I am truly sorry. Please know that those few who receive the Mark of Balance can attain power far beyond what any of you are all capable of, with the possible exception of Ciara. You can rest assured that they are alive at this moment.”

Mike leaned forward. He rested his hands on the table and leaked tears in silence.

“Why would Lord Auronox take them from us? Why now, when we need them most?” asked Joe, his eyebrows twitching.

“I do not know the specific reason, but suffice it to say—that pair is special.”

“They are… but that’s no excuse—” Mike collapsed back into his seat and covered his mouth with his hands.

“There is a chance they could return one day, but that depends on them—just as Earth’s survival depends on you.”

“Is there any way to see them or talk with them, like we do with you?” asked Joy. “You’re on Gaia, right? Can we talk with them?”

“It may be possible. But first, you must—”

A sickly feeling tickled Sven’s ethereal projection, and he knew his time was short.

[What is it, Sven?]

“I sense foreign mana, and it’s stronger than before. You must make ready to defend. I—”

The sliver of Sven’s consciousness projected to Earth returned to his true self near the Dwarven kingdom of Kigrund. He frowned.

That feeling… The enemy’s forces know, and they are moving.

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Sven disappeared.

Everyone left the castle in a rush to get ready to defend the Dungeon.

[Um… everyone, the ocean is retreating.]

“It’s what?” my residents asked in unison as they stared at the bay.

The water had retreated far enough that my tide pools were draining. I plugged the holes to keep water inside for my crabs.

“Oh, crap,” said Joe. “A tsunami.”

That hit me hard. I remembered the videos of what had happened in 2011, and the ocean was doing the same thing here—on a much larger scale. I plugged the tide pools off much more soundly and hardened the stone.

When that was done, I set about sealing off all the minion highways that led into my Dungeon, along with the inflow tunnel for my third floor.

President Thomas stared at the retreating water, then said, “He’s right.” He pressed a button on his lapel microphone. “Admiral, there’s a tsunami coming. The ocean’s already retreating. Get the carrier group out to sea. I want all helicopters airborne as fast as possible.”

The Navy headquarters erupted with activity.

[Girls, I want you to tell the humans who were rescued this morning that there’s a huge wave coming, and then get down inside the Dungeon with them. Run all the way to the forest inside, and lead the people with you.]

[Yes, Mommy!] they replied. The Labs bolted from the beach on their mission.

I finished sealing my minion tunnels in short order, blocking and welding each shut with a full meter of hardened stone. The work was fast, since I could handle more than a hundred at a time, and it only took around half a second to do that many.

“Colonel Hart, have your marines gather the civilians and get as many on those choppers as you can. Take them to high ground. Somebody contact the Adventurer’s Guild…”

While the President handed out orders and the ocean dropped to nearly ten meters below its normal level, Joe, Mike, Siobhán, and Joy looked at one another.

Mike said, “Schimpf, you’re on the guild. Siobhán and Joy, housing. I’ll get the construction teams and miners. Everyone needs to get the hell down into the Dungeon and fast.”

Thomas grabbed Mike’s arm while the others raced off and balked, “In the Dungeon? It will flood!”

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“No, it won’t. Ciara can seal it off as long as we get everyone far enough in. We’ll be safe inside. Just get the helicopters airborne and get anyone who can’t get on them down inside. Send some down through the mining cave and the castle as well.”

[Mike’s right, Mister President. Get everyone inside my Dungeon, and fast! I can see the wave crashing onto shore near Bodega Bay, and it’s enormous—more than a hundred meters tall and still rising. You have a few minutes at best.]

The entire area around my Dungeon had erupted with people. Families with children were among the first to heed the warning, and they rushed inside the Dungeon alongside the Adventurers Guild as the military worked hard to save lives.

It was like someone kicked a beehive as streams of people poured into the Dungeon, though one couple scoffed at there being any danger, since the ocean had been retreating rather than rushing inland. They didn’t know it was already rising fast.

I turned my attention to Rachel Wallace and Steven Miller.

Steven, you’re supposed to be a scientist. Granted, your focus was biology, like me, but we had to learn basic physics as well! Damn idiot.

Rachel and Steven moved at a languid pace, collecting their belongings into bags with sour faces as my two beans, Joe, Mike, and the military, rushed as many people as possible down into the Dungeon.

Joe was the fastest, so I alerted him.

“Those damned idiots.” Joe groaned and dashed toward their house.

Most of the helicopters were airborne and headed for the mountains to find places to land and wait out the wave. Only three remained on the ground, and their rotors were already spinning up.

With a quick thought, I absorbed as many beds as I could from the structures I’d made—enough for around six hundred people, or twelve hundred if people huddled up together.

With the ocean cresting over the outermost portion of my protected harbor and three of six frigates churning like mad on their way out to sea while the others prepared to sail, I sealed off the first of my entrances with five meters of hardened stone. Everyone who had run for the mining cave was already deep inside and still moving.

Water rushed onshore, but I was unable to seal off the Crow’s Nest since people were still running down into the Dungeon. More than a hundred were trapped outside, because people deeper inside had slowed down once they felt safe. But that backed traffic up and prevented others from reaching safety in time. Most were Marines. Siobhán and Joy were with them.

[Beans! I’m opening an extra tunnel in front of the castle! Get everyone up there and down inside as fast as you can!]

“Okay.” Siobhán’s voice wavered, and from the look in her eyes I could tell she was panicking as she watched the enormous wall of whitewater that seemed to rise forever into the distance. It would reach their group in less than ten seconds.

Joy moved and yelled, “Everyone, get your asses in gear and follow me! There’s another way inside! Let’s move!”

The others listened, and they sprinted toward the castle behind Joy.

When they were clear, I sealed off the Crow’s Nest entrance and the tunnel that led deeper with several meters of hardened stone.

Inside Rachel and Steven’s room, Joe grabbed both and hauled them over his shoulders.

Rachel exclaimed, “Hey! What the hell are you doing, Joe? I mean, sure, I’ll sleep with you if you want, but come on!”

Joe rolled his eyes.

Steven glared at Rachel, and both kicked and fought against Joe until they were out the front door and saw the wall of water that was nearly at Joe’s feet. Then they shut up and clung to him like barnacles.

Joe took off as fast as he could manage while carrying his unwieldy cargo.

One of the massive Chinook helicopters had yet to become airborne at the new airfield, and the surging whitewater knocked it over just as it lifted off. Its two spinning rotors exploded into shrapnel as they struck the pavement, and the rising water picked up the ruined machine.

I heard screams from inside the doomed aircraft as it was carried away.

Ships in the harbor tore free from their moorings and drifted inland.

Joy and Siobhán got everyone into the makeshift tunnel I’d created by the castle, but people had stopped with some of them too close to the entrance when the water arrived, so that I couldn’t seal it off.

[Beans, keep those people moving! I can’t close that entrance with them so close!]

Joy bellowed commands, but people stood and stared, shocked by the sound of her voice reverberating in the tunnel—until cold ocean water flowed around their feet.

Then they ran, and some climbed over the people next to them in their panic. By the time I could close that entrance, they were like turds being flushed down a drain.

I’d already had to seal off the castle, so Joe kept running inland, carrying Rachel and Steven.

I absorbed the seawater that had infiltrated, and the Dungeon appeared safe.

Joe neared the wall to the north, so I opened a hole for him and he ducked inside with his foolish passengers.

[Keep moving, Joe. I need space to close it behind you.]

Did I ever.

Rachel was awakened, and she had to be forty-five meters away before I could affect the stone. I connected that tunnel to the redwood forest and drew my minions back to the bottom of that floor.

Once all that was done, I enchanted the castle’s stone to strengthen it, and covered the front door with a wall. The mana draw was more than I’d hoped, and I could only finish half the structure from the bottom up before I had to wait for my mana to recharge. Fortunately, a million and a half denizens fed me, so it was only ten seconds before I finished the rest of the castle.

To get a sense of what was happening, I raised a pillar of enchanted stone near the wall I’d opened for Joe, up to a height of 300 meters.

[The aircraft carrier group is being pushed closer by the wave. The Wharf has been utterly destroyed along with whatever remained of the city. All the cargo vessels that came down from Seattle are being tossed inland like children’s toys, and the three frigates that failed to make it out of the harbor in time are already passing the pillar I made on their way toward the mountains.]

“No…” President Thomas winced and ran a hand through his hair.

[It’s bad. The water’s up to 80 meters and rising fast. The other three frigates appear to be okay so far. They’re fast, and it seems like they might ride this out.]

As the water continued to rise, I remembered something my father taught me about how much pressure a column of water exerted.

With that in mind, I enchanted the ceilings of my first and second floors in wide bands to keep them strong enough to hold up under the weight of all that water.

I started with the first floor, and none too soon. Saltwater already leaked through in some places, so I reinforced those and plugged the leaks to prevent failure.

After a few minutes, I felt confident that I could withstand what was coming.

I checked to the north; the wave had obliterated the Golden Gate Bridge. The narrow channel caused it to rise farther than against the surrounding hills, and the entire San Francisco Bay Area was doomed as the titanic surge of water continued inland.

Even California’s Central Valley wasn’t spared as a twenty-meter remnant of the wave crashed over Lodi and Stockton. By the time it reached Modesto, it was down to fifteen meters, and Sacramento “only” received nine meters of inundation. Much of the water rushed south along the valley, flooding across Fresno and Visalia, and it didn’t flow back to the sea.

I recalled something about that area.

Oh. Tulare Lake… the place that was drained for farming. Looks like that’s going to be an inland sea.

Thirty-five minutes after it started rushing inland, the wave crested at 249-meters tall near my Dungeon. Over the next thirty minutes, it rushed back out to sea, depositing ruined ships and debris across the landscape. All three of the doomed frigates were deposited against the hills near Soquel, and I saw crew members climb off them before they rushed toward higher ground.

I couldn’t blame them.

When the residents were informed how tall the wave had been and the President told his people, the mood darkened.

“That was only the first wave,” said Mike.

There will be more?

“There are always more. With so much displacement, it could take twelve hours or more for the ocean to calm down.”

I was impressed that my castle survived the wave intact. However… the houses I’d built, and those made by the awakened humans, were annihilated.

The ships that escaped to sea didn’t return before the second wave hit, two hours after the first. That one crested at 291 meters and sent even more water to fill Tulare Lake. Much of the central valley was still under water by the time the third wave struck just over four hours after the disaster began.

At a mere 274 meters, it signaled the ebbing of the disaster.

People in the Dungeon mostly congregated on my second floor, and I created a temporary tunnel system with long straight hallways wide enough for five people to walk abreast. From that passage, I shaped hundreds of bedrooms interspersed with bathrooms.

The fourth wave, at six and a half hours, reached 210 meters, and everyone knew it was going to be days before they could leave the safety of my halls.

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Floors: 5

Minions: 411/600

Residents: 12/20

Denizens: 1.51M

Traps: 10/25