Charlie
“It worked…” Charlie let out a sigh of relief. His plan had worked. King Scalea and the other injured scalers were safe, at least for now. He severed his connection to his sphere of influence as soon as Bonehead and the others retreated, with their injured companions in tow.
Around him, Merlin, Bleedy, and Mousifer leaned forward, waiting to hear what had happened. Orb floated beside him. The message Charlie had asked Merlin to write out on the ground was still etched in front of him. Charlie had messed up a few words and left out some letters, but overall, he was pretty happy with his work. At the very least, he’d gotten the message across. It wasn’t true that he’d taken the creature in the cage hostage. He’d just taken advantage of the info Orb and Bleedy had collected. For some reason, Arroane seemed to value the creature. With a little inspiration from Merlin, Charlie bluffed to get Arroane to spare King Scalea.
Charlie gave his friends a brief rundown of what had transpired. Koi Levi’s tendrils wavered in the background. He wasn’t able to leave the vault room, which was further inside the dungeon, but his tendrils didn’t seem to have any limit on how far they could stretch. Charlie and his friends had created this space so the vault room wouldn’t be harmed during the upcoming fight. “The scaly ones are alright? That’s good to hear, noble little one. But we cannot rest yet. The true fight is yet to come,” Koi Levi said.
Merlin let out a deep breath. “Don’t remind me. I’m doing my best not to hyperventilate but…I don’t think any of you understand how bad this is. If we’re really dealing with the Lord Arroane, this is terrible. We can’t fight him! Do you know what this means?” he asked, speaking inside of their minds.
Charlie frowned. “It can’t be that bad, right Vetica?” he asked, turning to look at her for confirmation.
She sat on a small rock nearby. One of her legs bounced nervously, and she rubbed at her temples. She glanced at him. “It’s bad. It’s really bad.”
Orb bounced in between them. “Okay, spill it. Who the heck is this guy? I’ve never heard of him. Is he a big deal or something?”
“Big deal? Yeah, you could say that. You’ve heard about the hero of Aysela. Well, there were two others who traveled with him throughout most of his adventures. Lord Arroane was one of them. He was the right hand of the hero from another world,” Merlin said.
Charlie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Wait, that man is a hand? But he looked like a normal person!”
“It’s a figure of speech, Charlie. He means this Arroane guy was supposedly a sidekick to the hero from another world. If that’s true…he’s gotta be strong, right?” Orb asked.
Koi Levi rumbled in the background. “He most certainly is. Even now I can feel the approach of a powerful adversary.”
“Squeak!” Mousifer said.
Charlie looked at him. “Mousifer’s right! We should use this time to come up with a plan. Arroane sent all the other cultists back, so we’ll outnumber him.”
Merlin sighed. “That’s nice and all, but we know little about what his powers actually are. I’ve heard plenty of stories about the hero and his companions, but none of them mention what Arroane’s actual powers are. Most people hide their powers intentionally, but usually something slips through the cracks. A rumor, gossip, something. Have you heard anything, Vetica?”
She crossed her arms against her chest. “Unfortunately not. I don’t like the idea of something called a death hex, though. It’s definitely a unique one. Based on how it affected the scalers and ate through Charlie’s wall, it’s certainly dangerous.”
Charlie looked between them. “Don’t worry! We’ll be okay!”
“Bleedy!” Bleedy agreed. He carefully used his paws to position the wolf-teeth dentures into his mouth. Bleedy grew twice as big, and his form changed to his wolf-like state. He was ready to fight, too.
Charlie didn’t want Bleedy getting involved in something so dangerous. Some of the scalers had already gotten hurt. Bonehead was taking King Scalea and the others to the scaler nest to rest and gather their strength. Charlie and the others would have to fight Arroane without their lizard friends. Before he could tell talk Bleedy down, however, he got a sudden notification.
“Dungeon Integrity has plummeted to 60% and is continuing to fall rapidly,” Parent warned him. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but it seems Arroane is taking action.”
Charlie blinked. He knew Arroane was powerful, but what could he possibly be doing to deplete Charlie’s dungeon integrity so quickly? “How? He didn’t even hit me!” Charlie protested.
“Now that we are inside the dungeon, actions that affect it will also affect your dungeon integrity. Most dungeons cannot manipulate their layout while invaders are within. You do not share this restriction, and instead must manage your dungeon integrity. This makes your dungeon overall less stable than most but offers you the freedom you have taken advantage of during combat. Whatever Arroane is doing is causing harm to your dungeon.”
Koi Levi’s tendrils whipped into a fury. “I should have anticipated this. We spent too much time laying traps and not enough reinforcing the dungeon. My apologies, noble little one.”
Charlie shook his head. “It’s not your fault. We’ll know better for next time.”
Merlin covered his face with both hands. “I really hope we have a next time.”
A snapping noise pulled their attention to the hallway beyond the room’s entrance. Charlie leaned forward. “What’s that?” he asked.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Cracks.
A series of cracks shot into the room. As soon as they crossed the door’s threshold, they split apart and spread throughout the room. They covered the ground, the walls, and the ceiling. It was like an invisible spider spinning a web within the dungeon’s walls itself. When the cracks crossed paths, they redirected until the room was covered. Merlin hopped around as if he worried the cracks would spread to his body as well. But they didn’t.
When the cracks had thoroughly spread throughout the room, they traveled beyond it to the hallway leading to the center of the dungeon. The hallway leading to the vault room.
“What are these?” Charlie asked, plopping a hand atop one of the cracks to see if anything bad happened.
Merlin studied the cracks and then leaned forward. “Uh, guys…look at this,” he said. He pointed at a crack running straight through the room. It was pulsing. Unlike the other cracks that formed and then went dull. This one was pulsing. The pulse was an ominous, eerie, black.
Orb floated closer. “It’s creepy as heck, but what does it mean?”
Vetica was the first to realize. “It’s a path. These cracks filled the room and then showed the path forward. If he has a power like this, then--”
It hit Charlie too. “The branching paths won’t slow him down! He’ll be able to come straight here!”
A slow clap echoed from the darkness.
“That’s right. Very good work. I’m impressed you figured it out so quickly.”
It was him.
It was Arroane.
The sound of each footstep beating against the hallway leading to the room where they waited sent a shiver down his spine. He thought they would have more time. He thought they’d be able to prepare.
Vetica drew her blade. Merlin stepped in front of Charlie. Bleedy bared his wolf like fangs, and Mousifer scurried up Charlie’s shoulder. Koi Levi swam through the air behind them, his tendrils at the ready.
Orb dimmed. “We’re so dead.”
Arroane finally reached the entrance and stepped into the room. His brown hair was well-maintained and long for a man. It fell just past his shoulders. His face was clean shaven, and though his eyebrows weren’t especially large, the hair was thick and well-groomed. He wore a nice, tan button-up shirt that was tucked into flowing brown pants that were banded towards his ankle.
Arroane surveyed them, one by one. He seemed surprised to see humans, not to mention a baby. But despite the mouse on the baby’s shoulder, the flowing tendrils in the background, and even the wolf-racooneever hybrid, his attention fixated on the floating dungeon core.
He was focused on Orb.
“You’re intelligent, are you not?” Arroane spoke toward the core. “You keep odd pets. Why are there so many humans in here? Or are they some kind of hex beasts? Shapeless? No. That one seems far too weak. I don’t sense any magic about him. A shapeless that could imitate a human that well would be powerful.”
Charlie had heard the term shapeless before. It was a word that represented beast species like the Nae Glera. Though the Nae Glera in Sange was the last of its kind, there were weaker creatures that were distantly related to them from what he knew.
Merlin finally realized that Arroane was talking to him. “Hey! I’m not weak! Well, I am, but you don’t have to say it.”
Arroane glared at him.
Merlin’s eyes went wide, and he held his hands up. “Never mind, carry on.”
“Charlie, your dungeon integrity is approaching 36%, if this continues, you won’t be able to fight back. Whatever the hex is doing to the dungeon is wreaking havoc upon it. We must take action soon or this fight will be lost before it starts,” Parent warned him.
“How do I fix it?” Charlie asked, panicking a little. He couldn’t afford to waste all of his dungeon integrity. His friends would need help against an opponent like this.
The dungeon shook. A deep, guttural roar came from the center of the dungeon. It was Koi Levi.
“Put your faith in me, noble little one. I will aid you, as is my responsibility. This hex will run rampant no more!”
Arroane’s gaze shot toward the hallway leading to the vault room. His brow quirked. “This power is interesting. I don’t recognize it. What manner of beast might it be? I wonder—” His head dodged to the side as several tendrils impaled the air where it had been a moment ago. Charlie turned to look back and saw a mass of swirling, swarming tendrils filling the hallway behind them.
The tendrils exploded into the room and scattered. They dug into the walls and ceiling. It reminded Charlie of when he had first encountered an unhatched Koi Levi in his dungeon. The egg had taken Bleedy, Mousifer, and Orb hostage. Back then, he’d been facing Koi Levi. He’d watched the creature usurp a portion of his dungeon. But now that same power belonged to a friend.
Charlie smiled. He already knew what that friend was capable of.
The tendrils burrowed deep into the dungeon, and the tone and color of the dungeon brightened. Koi Levi was taking control of it. Charlie watched as the cracks caused by Arroane’s power disappeared. They faded, and the material of the dungeon repaired itself. Koi Levi’s voice boomed throughout the dungeon so that even Arroane could hear it.
“You will kneel before my master, the noble little one. The powerful little one. King and ruler of this dungeon. Kneel, or die!” Koi Levi commanded.
Arroane looked around at the tendrils burying themselves into the walls. Some of them poked back out and dangled in the air. Those that did were all pointed in one direction. Directly towards Lord Arroane.
Arroane laughed. “I’ve never been very good at dying. But if you think yourself capable, by all means. There’s only one man I’ll ever bow to, and he’s left this world for good. I certainly won’t bow before a dungeon core and its pets.”
Orb half-rolled into the air. “Wait, you think he’s talking about me? I’m not noble at all.”
Arroane blinked. “So, you are intelligent? Excellent. Still, you underestimate me if you think I’ll fall for that—” Arroane paused and then he studied Charlie for a moment. “This presence…it was you. You’re the one who watching me earlier. But how?” He shook his head. “No, it matters not. Turn over the core and I’ll spare your lives. I have need of it.”
Charlie sneered. “Did the dungeon integrity settle?” he asked parent.
“Affirmative. It is now at 29%.”
Charlie nodded. “That’ll have to be enough.” He focused his thoughts on Arroane. “You can’t have him. Orb is my friend. But I’ll spare your life if you surrender and answer some questions for us.”
Arroane smirked. “Absolutely not.” A hex formed in front of him. “It seems we have a fight on our hands.”
They both leapt into action at the same time.
“Death Hex Damnation!”
“Dungeon Manipulation!”