Charlie

Charlie frowned. They were running out of time. The knights were on their way. The wyrm would eventually wake up and attack again. Of course, there was also the fact the Zephyr was trying to seal them all inside the dungeon for some reason. He still didn’t quite understand what that was all about.

Bleedy and Mousifer had ridden on Geby’s back toward the cave-in that had trapped them in the room. Orb went to supervise and Boop followed him around like a shadow. Themis had asked Geby to try to clear a way out for them, though he admitted it was a long shot. She could only work so fast. It was unlikely they had an escape route before Zephyr finished what he was doing, or the knights arrived. Vetica was still holding Charlie. The rest of his friends, Merlin, Themis, and Canano, were all racking their brains for solutions. Talmot sat cross-legged on the floor a little away from them. He’d said he needed to do some thinking of his own.

Charlie had an idea. “Hey Koi! Can you hear me?” he asked.

Koi Levi’s voice appeared in his head almost immediately. “Of course, I sensed fighting earlier. Is everything alright?”

Charlie nodded. Then he realized Levi couldn’t actually see him. “Yes, everything is fine! I won. Do you think you can eat a skeleton monster thing?”

“Of course you won, powerful noble child. As for your question, it might be possible. But I’m afraid I must refuse to do so. I enjoy living. If I was to absorb the essence of the dead, I’d risk becoming undead myself in future evolutions. That is unacceptable. You will have to find another way forward, inquisitive noble child,” Levi said.

Charlie frowned. “Oh. I don’t want you to die or become undead. I’ll find another way then,” he said.

“I’ll be here if you require further assistance.” With that, Levi’s voice faded from his mind.

Well, with that option gone, he was at a loss. “I asked Levi, but he said he couldn’t do it,” Charlie said.

“There isn’t much time. Soon, we’ll have to make a decision. If we can’t seal the creature on our own, our best hope is to flee and hope we can escape the dungeon before Zephyr completes the seal,” Themis said.

Talmot overheard the researcher’s words. “But wait, that would leave the rest of the knights trapped here. We can’t abandon them!”

“You might not be able to, but we can,” Vetica said. “Just because Charlie saved you doesn’t mean he’s obligated to get trapped in here with everyone else. I won’t let him waste away in this place.”

“Vetica, we’re not leaving until we know the creature won’t wake up. I don’t want to just hope that Zephyr is successful. I want to make sure the people of Arcadeya are safe. The knights are here because of me. Even if we think they’re wrong about us, we led them here. I know it doesn’t make much sense, but if I don’t make sure we put an end to that thing, I’ll feel bad about it.” The thought of Arcadeya being destroyed really bothered him. These people were innocent. They’d already been through the stress of hex knights and beast fighting in their streets. He didn’t want them to have to worry about a giant undead serpent on top of that. It wouldn’t be right to just give up.

Orb rejoined them. He seemed to have lost interest in watching Geby smashing rocks with her tail. “We really need to figure something out soon. There isn’t any telling how much time we have left before big ugly wakes up,” he said.

The dungeon rumbled. The pile of rocks atop the wyrm started shaking. Orb paled. “WE REALLY NEED TO FIGURE SOMETHING OUT SOON. BIG UGLY IS WAKING UP!”

“Stop yelling in our heads,” Merlin cried out, covering his ears as if that would help.

Charlie shook his head. It was too soon. His powers were still acting wonky, and he was weak from the previous battle. How had the wyrm recovered so quickly? The others slowly backed away. Vetica looked down at Charlie, a worried expression on his face.

“Charlie, can you fight yet?” Themis asked, eyeing their slowly rising enemy warily.

“I’ll try my best,” Charlie said.

Themis’ head fell. “I thought as much.” He turned to look toward behind them and yelled out. “Geby! We need you!”

To his surprise, to all of their surprise, Geby ignored him.

Charlie tilted his head to the side. “That’s weird. Geby loves to fight.”

But Geby and the minions were focused on the rubble from the cave-in. She slowly backed away from the pile of rocks blocking the exit. Temporarily distracted, Charlie and the others watched as a strange shovel like appendage popped through the dirt. Another followed it, and then another. Before they knew it, a hole was rapidly being dug out from the other side. A group of strange creatures with four arms and armored bodies slowly entered the room.

“What are those?” Merlin asked. “And should we be worried?”

“I don’t believe it…those are Thunes. But why are they…” He stopped speaking as a horde of Scalers poured into the room.

Vetica squinted. “You have scalers too?” she asked.

“No…I don’t,” Themis answered.

Charlie recognized some of them. King Scalea and Bonehead were at the head of the swarm. But how were they outside of his dungeon? He hadn’t let them out. Oh, no! “Geby don’t eat them!”

But Geby seemed a bit overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the scaler horde. She was too overwhelmed to move from where she was standing. The scalers ignored her, splitting and moving to either side of her as they filled the room. They didn’t pause at all. They charged directly toward the still rising wyrm. Its head had just broken free of the pile of rock that had collapsed on it.

It enjoyed that freedom for all of a few seconds before the scalers leapt on it. Charlie wasn’t sure if their claws and teeth could actually penetrate the bone skin of the creature. But whether or not they were hurting it, the creature was roaring in anger. He looked down and realized King Scalea had paused at his feet. He spit something out.

A pair of caladosian rings.

Charlie blinked in confusion.

Themis fell to his knees and scrambled toward the rings. “Zephyr! Are you alright?” he asked.

“I thought you pretty much said that he had turned on us. Why do you sound so concerned about a traitor?!” Orb demanded.

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Themis shot the dungeon core a look. “I’m concerned for a friend.” He looked toward Charlie. “How did you do this? These are your creatures, right?” he asked.

Charlie threw his hands up. “I don’t know! I don’t think I did anything.”

A familiar voice suddenly intruded on their conversation. “Apologies Charlie. I had to make use of your powers to ensure I could offer my assistance. I would’ve been here sooner, but it took some time to force those creatures to dig for us. There is a lot I’d like to discuss, but for now, we need to deal with that creature,” Parent said.

Zephyr’s rings started floating. Scaler saliva slowly dripped off of them. “Themis, the System has—”

Themis held a hand up. “I know. It’s not your fault. But we have to do something to stop this. Can you help me?” he asked.

Zephyr’s voice sounded strained. Could an interface be in pain? Charlie wondered. “You have to cut me off from the System. If we’re to do anything, that must happen first.”

A surprised look crossed Themis’ face. That surprise turned to lament. “You’re sure? You know what will—”

“Do it.”

Themis closed his eyes. “I understand.” He held a hand up and aimed toward Zephyr. The dungeon core on his arm was still glowing. Did Themis somehow still have access to it because Zephyr was nearby again? “Seal!” the researcher said.

Zephyr’s green aura turned into a bright white one. “This will depend on your resolve, Themis. I leave it to you.” Zephyr turned to face Parent. “I wish I had been stronger. Strong enough to resist the System overriding my will. When the time comes, you must do what is necessary to protect your master. I failed to do that. Instead, my original master was forced to protect me. Use what I have taught you to guide this boy. One day, he may accomplish that which even we were unable to.” Zephyr’s rings started to fade.

“Uh, should we get him a new pair of rings or what?” Orb asked.

“Quiet, Orb,” Merlin said. A solemn expression on his face.

Themis held both hands out toward the skeletane wyrm. It was barely visible under the mass of scalers. If not for its roars, it would look as if they were simply climbing an odd rock formation.

“Seal!” Themis shouted. A bright light reminiscent of the one around Zephyr encompassed the wyrm.

King Scalea roared, and the other scalers leapt away from their skeletal prey. The wall behind the wyrm exploded forward and wrapped around the creature. It was like watching it sink into quicksand. After a moment, the creature was gone, its body pulled completely into the wall.

Orb floated forward a bit. “Uh, that was really creepy. Did you get it?” he asked.

Themis didn’t say anything. He stared at Zephyr. The rings that Zephyr inhabited were slowly crumbling into dust.

“What’s happening?” Charlie asked.

Parent floated up to Zephyr. “I don’t understand. What’s causing your rings to—”

“Thank you, Parent. I didn’t want to betray Themis and the others. Thanks to you, I didn’t have to. There is more I wished to teach you that I was forbidden too. But today I hope you learned a much more important lesson. The System is not some benevolent force. We are carefully monitored. It watches our actions and corrects them when it sees fit. You defied the System despite this. I’m not sure if it’s because of the dungeon core’s Sentience ability, or something else. But today you gave me hope. When you learn the secrets of this world, I believe you’ll be able to do what my original master and I could not.” With that, Zephyr and his rings ceased to exist.

“I don’t understand. Did he use up too much power or something?” Orb asked.

Themis frowned. “For Zephyr to disobey the System, we had to be sealed off from it completely. But that connection is what sustained him. It was the only way forward, but in the process, he lost his life.”

The group was quiet.

Parent spoke his next words just to Charlie. “Do you think that wording is appropriate? Was Zephyr really alive? He said that interfaces weren’t people, so is Themis’ wording correct?”

Charlie turned to look at the floating rings that held Parent within. He knew what Parent was really asking. “Yes. He was alive, and so are you.” Parent didn’t respond.

Charlie turned to look at the space where Zephyr had been recently. It was sad. He’d liked Zephyr, and he knew Parent liked him too. He looked down at the gathering horde of scalers. They stared at him and King Scalea, waiting for orders.

Charlie smiled softly. “Back inside, you go!” he said, creating a portal. King Scalea barked an order as well, and the scalers hurried back to their dungeon home. Charlie looked around at his friends. “We need to get going!” he said.

Themis looked up with watery eyes. He rubbed them on his sleeve. “Of course, you’re right. The tunnel is clear now. We can take it until we reach your wagon and escape.”

Charlie nodded, but noticed Talmot was now standing in front of them. Had he changed his mind about letting them go?

Vetica studied the knight carefully, wary of him attacking. Merlin held a hand up toward her to calm her. “Talmot, are you alright?” he asked.

The hex knight was quiet for a moment, and then he bowed. “Thank you again for saving me.”

Charlie smiled. “You’re welcome!”

Talmot looked up in surprise. “The talking baby thing is going to take some getting used to. You all should go. There’s not much time left. You have minutes at most before Brandt and the others arrive.”

Charlie and his companions hurried out into the tunnel, leaving Dalys in Talmot’s care.

Before they’d made it far, Charlie heard a familiar noise.

“Arh!”

Charlie turned around, whipping his head to look back. “A scaler?” he thought.

Bonehead caught up to them. Apparently, he hadn’t gone back with the others. “What are you doing?” Charlie asked.

Bonehead tilted its head at Charlie and then vomited something white onto the ground.

Charlie looked expectantly at Merlin.

“What? I’m not picking that up! It’s disgusting,” Merlin protested.

Charlie puffed out a lip. “Please!”

Merlin sighed and bent over to grab it. He started to hand it to Charlie when he suddenly appeared more interested in the object in his hand. It looked like a necklace, and it was made completely of bone.

Talmot

Talmot sat against the wall of the protective dugout where Merlin and the others had left Dalys during the fighting. He sighed. “Brandt and the others will be here soon. You can stop pretending to be asleep now,” he said.

Dalys cracked open an eye. “Really? You could tell?” she asked.

Talmot shot her a look. “Of course, I can. I’m surprised you didn’t try to stop them.”

The woman sat up and shrugged her shoulders. “You’ve got seniority. Figured I’d let you make the call.”

“That doesn’t sound like you at all. So, what do you want?” Talmot asked. He was old enough to know how these things went.

Dalys smirked. “Smart boy. I want into that little boy’s club of yours. I can’t go any further in the knights without a recommendation from one of the twelve. Problem is, I’m not exactly a people person. So, you give me what I want, and I’ll keep all this to myself. All of it.”

Ambition. Ambition was good. It was predictable. Talmot was not an ambitious man, but he was glad Dalys had goals of her own. Those goals meant she’d stay true to her word. “If you tell anyone after, my recommendation would be declared invalid,” he reminded her.

Dalys smirked. “That’s how you know you can trust me. So, do we have a deal?” she asked.

Talmot eyed the wall where Redrick’s unconscious body was still sleeping. “We do. But you were unconscious the entire time. You didn’t see anything about the boy. None of his powers. Nothing. Understand?” he said.

Dalys nodded, and they shook hands.

Talmot sighed and leaned back against the wall. He had a lot to think about, indeed.