There was a feeling, as soon as Charlie ate the core. There was a shift in the air around him. “What’s going on?” he wondered aloud for Orb and Parent to hear.

“The destruction of a dungeon often releases significant magical potential into the air. It will gradually dissolve over the next few days.”

“Dungeon Decay…” Geron said aloud, staring at the brittle shards falling from the ceiling all around them.

Somewhere in the distance, Roan groaned as he pulled himself together. “This your work, Geron? All that magic woke me right up.”

Geron shook his head. He knelt down to inspect Tirille, then turned to look over his shoulder at the small hole in the door. He squinted, returning his gaze to Tirille. Geron studied her.

“I believe Tirille might’ve had an outburst. We’d lost. It seems we got lucky," Geron said.

Roan struggled to his feet. He limped toward a still unconscious Samantha. “Whatever she did, there’s no sign of the core guardian. Think she got the core as well?” he asked.

Geron shrugged. He lifted Charlie high into the air and inspected him. “Hey bud. You alright?”

Charlie giggled, and Geron grinned. He set Charlie down in the baby carrier and checked the straps to make sure he was tight. “Good. I’m glad to hear that laugh, Charlie. I was worried about you.”

***

They sat around a campfire in a clearing outside the dungeon. Geron and Roan had worked together to free Samantha. She woke up, and though her leg was sore to walk on, she managed. Geron carried Axel and Tirille over each of his shoulders after applying first aid. The door sealing off the exit crumbled quickly, weakened by the removal of the core. Everyone had since woken up. Axel’s shoulder was heavily bandaged. Samantha fixed a splint for Roan’s arm.

Charlie had saved them. They didn’t know it, and that was okay. They were alive, and that was all he cared about.

He only wished he’d acted sooner. He wished he had saved Vicke as well.

The entire party had gathered around a fire. “So, your hex had something to do with memories?” Axel asked.

Tirille nodded. She hadn’t spoken much since the incident.

“Do you remember the fight? How you killed the core guardian?” Roan asked.

Tirille didn’t say anything for a moment, and then she stood up and walked into the forest.

Roan quirked a brow. “Guess she’s gotta piss.”

Geron shook his head. “Outburst can be… traumatic.” He exchanged a look with Axel. “I’m gonna check on her.” Geron stood and followed her into the woods, beyond the light of the fire.

Tirille turned at the sound of a snapping tree branch. A look of relief crossed her face when she saw it was him.

And then her eyes fixed on Charlie.

“Tirille, are you doing okay?” Geron asked.

“Geron, I need to talk to you.”

Geron looked surprised. “That’s what we’re doing…what is it?”

Tirille’s eyes focused on Charlie. “I need to talk to you alone.”

Geron turned around to look over his shoulder. The others, aside from Charlie, were all still sitting around the campfire. “Tirille, we are alone.” He realized she was staring at Charlie. He looked down. “You can’t be serious? He’s a baby. He doesn’t understand anything you’re saying.”

Tirille looked down. “Geron, Charlie’s not normal. I didn’t fight the core guardian. I…my hex activated. After I broke free from its effect, I saw a dungeon core floating beside me. And then Charlie opened his mouth and ate me! When I woke up, I was in the middle of the room you guys were in. I didn’t fight!”

Geron studied her. His face was serious.

“Charlie, this isn’t good,” Orb said.

Charlie swallowed.

“Tirille, an outburst can be…difficult. It often affects us…or those around us, in ways we don’t realize. Your hex deals with memory. It’s not surprising that it’s affecting your own. Especially after an outburst.”

Tirille shook her head. “No. I can remember clearly. I know what happened.”

Geron frowned. He looked down at Charlie. Charlie pretended not to notice. He made a show of putting his fingers in his mouth and drooling. Merlin always called it a gross baby thing. Charlie forgave Merlin for his poor taste, but if Geron thought the same way, it might prove to him Charlie was just a normal baby.

“My outburst wasn’t like yours,” she muttered.

His jaw dropped, and his gaze fell down. “So that’s what you saw.”

Tirille realized what she’d said. “No, I didn’t mean it like that. I just—”

“It’s fine. We should get back, Tirille.”

She started to protest. He held up a hand. “I’ll keep an eye on him if it makes you feel better. But Charlie’s just a baby. Promise. Don’t…mention this to the others. They don’t understand what it’s like. To experience something like that.”

Tirille offered a reluctant nod. “Geron…” she said. He waited for her to finish her question. “Did they do it? Did Axel’s brother and Matthew beat the dungeon?”

Geron’s soft smile didn’t reach his eyes. “They did. Axel got me and the others out. Along the way, the dungeon started to decay. They were successful.”

Tirille nodded. They walked back to camp in silence. Charlie could feel Tirille staring at him. He looked up at the stars instead of returning her gaze. Charlie pointed up at one particularly shiny star. Geron followed his point. He laughed. “Matthew loved stars too.”

Charlie looked up at him. There was a strange, peaceful expression on his face. He turned to look and see if Tirille had reacted. Their eyes met. She looked like she was searching for any sign of intelligence in his gaze. Charlie offered nothing. He felt bad for deceiving her. But it wouldn’t be good for anyone if they discovered his secret. Merlin had warned him to be more careful about who he shared it with. Five new people at once was too risky. He wouldn’t mind Geron knowing. But he wasn’t sure about the others, even though they all had grown on him.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

When they made it back to camp, Tirille was the subject of conversation for a while. Tirille explained how her power worked. She didn’t tell them what memory she’d seen. She just said it had been something from the past. Something private. Axel and Geron exchanged a look. Axel nodded. As if they had spoken in the subtle motion.

Roan seemed the most excited about her power. “That’s a big deal. A power like that could end up being one of the guilds’ strongest. That hex might be even more valuable than ole Geron’s.”

Samantha scoffed. “How so?”

Roan smirked. “Say some noble has a secret he doesn’t want out. Tirille can learn it. Or we catch someone that doesn’t want to rat out his friends. Tirille can find them. All she has to do is search in their memories.”

“I don’t know if it works like that yet,” Tirille said.

Roan shrugged. “You’d be surprised how flexible a hex can be in the right hands. Hell, with the right training, you can do almost anything. Samantha used to be a glorified lightbulb. Now look at her.”

A slender flash of lightning struck his thigh. “Ow!” He jumped up.

Samantha waved her hand, letting her hex fade.

Axel leaned forward. “There could be combat applications as well.”

Roan cocked a brow at this, still rubbing his leg. “Huh, I suppose you’re right.”

Tirille looked between them. They seemed more excited about her powers than she did.

Roan paused, stooping down to pick up a small piece of wood with his good hand. “Wood out here looks good for whittling. Pack this up for me, Tirille. I think I’ll make me mum a bear with it once my arm heals up.”

Samantha eyed him. “You don’t even like your mom.”

“That’s right. When I give it to her, I’m gonna say I made her out of wood.”

Charlie zoned out. A lot had happened in the dungeon that he couldn’t explain. The fact that Tirille’s hex had affected him as well. He wondered if she knew that. If she knew that those memories could be passed on. He wondered if she knew whose memories it was she saw at the end. She’d been asleep longer than Charlie had. Had there been a piece of that memory he missed out on? Had she seen more than he had? Who was that man and why was he there where the dungeon core was buried?

And then there was the fight itself. Why did the creature continue regenerating? From everything they said, this dungeon was supposed to be an easy one. A test run.

The first time they’d gone in the dungeon since Axel and Geron had lost their loved ones, Charlie realized.

How long ago was that?

A year? Two? More than that? How long had they avoided exploring, only for their first time back in a dungeon to end with more death?

All of them had almost died. Maybe they should stay away from dungeons from now on.

Tirille’s mind seemed to wander in the same direction. “We shouldn’t have left Vicke.”

The conversation stopped.

“His body was torn in two. We can’t transport it like that. And we can’t go back into town. It’s part of being an adventurer. You die in the dungeon, you stay in the dungeon,” Axel said.

“Whole thing will collapse soon, anyway. In a way, it’s the same as a burial,” Roan said.

“No. No, it’s not.” Tirille left the fire and stormed off to sit on her own.

Everyone was silent for a moment. “Should I go talk to her?” Samantha asked.

“No, give her some time. She’s still processing,” Geron said. He paused. “We need to talk, anyway. That dungeon…”

“Aye, I was thinking the same thing. The core guardian was easily Minotaur class. Way too strong for a newborn dungeon.” Roan took a sip from a canteen.

Samantha shook her head. “No. It wasn’t eighth rank. But it was stronger than average. If I had to rank it, I would say it was likely fifth rank, anomalous Vanara.”

Roan spat his drink out. “Fifth? I know anomalous variants are stronger than usual, but…that’s crazy. It wiped the floor with us. There’s no way—”

Axel held a hand up. “Samantha knows what she’s talking about. If she says it was Vanara class, it’s Vanara. But still, it wasn’t just the core guardian that was stronger. Those six-crow were abnormal as well. It’s not possible for all of a dungeon’s beast to be anomalous…is it?” he asked.

Geron turned to look at the dungeon’s entrance. “What if it wasn’t the beast? What if the dungeon itself was different?”

Samantha’s mouth fell open. “An anomalous dungeon…wait…” Her eyes went wide, shooting from side to side. “It makes sense. The dungeon itself was different. The beasts inside just grew stronger as a result. But if that’s true, then…we need to return to the guild as soon as possible.” She looked up at each of them.

“What does any of that mean?” Tirille asked. Charlie snapped his head toward her. He hadn’t even heard her walk up. The others were just as surprised. Tirille shrugged. “You guys were loud.”

Axel leaned forward. He steepled his hands. “It means the rules are changing. Dungeons always pop up and grow in the same, familiar ways. It’s how we’ve regulated them for years, culling them before they grow too dangerous. But if other dungeons start to form that can develop this quickly, then…that’s it. Humanity loses.”

***

Charlie pretended to doze off. Geron had made him a surprisingly comfortable bed out of blankets and a few of his shirts. He fastened a makeshift barrier around the bed of twigs and rocks to make sure Charlie didn’t wake up in the middle of the night and crawl toward the burning fire in the center of their camp. Or out into the forest. He’d taken great care to make sure none of the sticks were pointy. He’d entwined them in such a way that Charlie wouldn’t poke himself or anything. Most of the others all slept on the ground, on makeshift bedding.

Roan leaned against a tree, flipping a dagger in his good hand over and over. He’d agreed to take first watch. Every once in a while, he looked up into the woods to check their surroundings. Geron slept a few feet away, snoring soundly in his sleep. Axel slept leaning against a tree stump. Charlie rolled over. Samantha was sound asleep. He lifted his head a bit. Tirille wasn’t in her bed. Roan looked up, seeing Charlie sit up in his peripheral. He noticed Tirille’s absence immediately.

“What the hell?” he said. He looked around the camp, and then his eyes fell on tracks. They led to the dungeon. “I looked away for two seconds and she went to get the body. Stupid girl!” Roan started to run in after her before he stopped. He turned back to look at the others sleeping and shook his head. He hurried back and shook Samantha a few times.

“What?” She groaned.

“Tirille went into the cave. Keep watch for a bit until I’m back,” Roan said.

“Yeah, sure.”

Roan rolled his eyes and set into a jog. He disappeared inside the cave.

Samantha didn’t wake up. She went right back to sleep.

Charlie rolled back over. Axel and Geron were still out cold. The day’s battles, and their injuries, meant they needed rest. He doubted they would wake up anytime soon. “Orb, now’s our chance!” Charlie said.

Orb sent him a mental yawn. “Alright, grab on tight.” He rolled out from under Charlie’s bedding. Charlie grabbed him, and Orb slowly levitated up and out of the camp. Charlie turned to look over his shoulder at the sleeping adventurers. The dungeon should be safe now, and Roan would be back soon. He hoped Geron and the others were safe in the meantime. He wished he could try to wake Samantha again. But he’d never be able to escape otherwise.

And now, in this moment, reflecting on his short, but impactful journey with them, Charlie thought of an answer to his question. He’d asked himself in the dungeon if he would want to be the first to charge into battle, or one of the heavy hitters. Or maybe even a leader. But as he thought about his experiences with them, he realized he wanted to exist somewhere in the middle.

He wanted to be the first one on the battlefield. Not the last. He didn’t want to save the day at the last second. He wanted to use his strength to keep people from getting hurt in the first place. He wanted to grow stronger, like Geron, and learn to use magic as effectively as Samantha. He wanted to be someone people could rely on. There was a lot of pressure on Axel to call the shots. But that just meant it was another way Charlie needed to grow. He wanted to become someone dependable, that could handle that pressure. Someone smart, that could tackle opponents with strategy, in addition to power. Charlie smiled. He knew that was all a long way away. He had a lot to learn. But one day, he hoped he could live up to that goal.

He didn’t want to be protected, retreating before the wall slammed shut and sealed them in. Next time, he would fight. He would keep his secret safe as much as he could. But he would fight.

So people like Vicke didn’t die. His lips twisted to the side.

He would miss Geron and the others. He sighed. But he missed Bleedy, and Mousifer, and Merlin, too. And they were all waiting for him.

He had a thought.

“Wait!” Charlie said. Orb paused.

“What is it?”

“I need to go back and grab something.”

A few minutes later, they were off again. Charlie grabbed onto Orb with one hand.

In the other, he held onto the baby carrier.