The nobleman that the core guardian was talking about was Sophia’s father.

He tried to help the people of Sange.

Now he was dead.

Sophia cried into the ground at the feet of her father’s image. Charlie hurried over to her. The dungeon core in his hand made crawling a little awkward. He wasn’t experienced at consoling people, but he remembered the cart ride they’d shared on the way to the daycare. He remembered holding Sophia’s hand and how it had seemed to help. Charlie wasn’t sure a simple touch would be enough now, but it was something.

When he reached her, curled up in the dirt, he put a hand on her back. He gently stroked her. She didn’t look up. Charlie frowned.

He didn’t know what to do.

He looked back at Luc and Lyra. Lyra approached and starting whispering to Sophia, offering her support. Luc had turned his face away and was wiping his eyes with a finger.

The Nae Glera spoke to Charlie alone, projecting its thoughts instead of using Sophia’s father. “Some things can only be healed by time, little one. There are things I would show you if you allowed me. Things you need to see before I ask of you what I want to ask and before I give you the gift I have to offer.”

“Show me?” Charlie asked, looking toward the creature.

Sophia’s dad nodded. “I can share my memories with you if you allow me. But once I have passed them along, I will lose them shortly after. I have done this many times over recent years, but I have never shared these particular memories. Now, I am grateful for that, for there has never been a better person to share them with. I believe it will help with the decisions you now have to make. So, will you partake in my memories, little one?” the Nae Glera asked.

Charlie thought about it for a moment. He knew little about this world. If he could learn something, anything, it would be a valuable opportunity. The mayor had said this core guardian was an ancient creature. If it thought there was something Charlie should see. He wanted to. “Okay, I’ll see them,” Charlie said.

Sophia’s father nodded again. “Then approach. Place your hand on my form.”

Charlie didn’t want to disturb Sophia’s grieving. So, he patted her one last time, and then crawled over to spherical Nae Glera, rather than the form of her father. He gently placed a hand on the cold liquid body of the core guardian.

An aquamarine man hobbled through a dark hallway, holding a gaping wound in his chest closed. He was in a dungeon, or perhaps a cave. Either way, it was dark and there was a chill in the air. Droplets of water fell from the ceiling as he moved. He looked over his shoulder as he ran. A chorus of footsteps reverberated from the hallway somewhere behind him.

Charlie could feel several frantically beating hearts and something akin to blood pumping through the creature. The tunnel the man was running through opened up, and he burst into an open room. It looked much like the center of Sange’s dungeon, except there weren’t any human decorations. In place of the smooth domed ceiling the dungeon had now, there were jagged stalactites hanging down, threatening to fall at any moment.

The creature sucked in deep breaths, staring up at the ceiling.

Behind him, one of his pursuers had finally caught up.

“You’re finished now,” the pursuer said. It was a man with low cut jet-black hair. He wielded a massive sword with hair-like things poking out of its hilt. The man had a powerful aura about him. Even through the constraints of the memory, Charlie could feel it clearly. A power so great it could be felt across time.

The Nae Glera man held a hand up. “End this. We do not need to quarrel any longer. The fight is over.”

The man snarled, his teeth straining against one another in anger. “Your kind sided with Cendra!”

“The alternative was death.”

The man scoffed. “And yet here you are, the last of your kind. How did that little partnership work out for you?” He sneered and turned to spit against the wall. The saliva slowly dripped down the wall where it landed.

The Nae Glera sighed. “I gave you a chance to flee. For what it’s worth, I am sorry. There was no need for further bloodshed.”

The rest of the hunting party had finally caught up. So many lives wasted. The knight lifted his blade and shouted. “Silver Hex Se—”

The aquamarine man held a hand toward the tunnel. “Burst.”

The tunnel exploded in a burst of green fire. The Nae Glera shook his head. It was such a waste of life.

His hand quivered. “That last attack used magic I didn’t have,” he said, shaking his head.

He flung his left arm toward the tunnel, now filled with smoke and rubble. The arm separated from his body and dissolved into droplets and small puddles. The newly separated liquid inched forward, trickling into the cracks and crevices of the cave in. It would retrieve the magic essence left behind by the dead humans and return to him.

For now, he needed rest.

Awake. How many years had passed? Decades? Centuries even? He had not anticipated ever waking again. There should not be any external magic essence to stimulate his senses. This place should have served as a grave, and yet, he was alive. He turned to look around the cave’s room. It was largely unchanged.

Except for the tiny red dungeon core in the room’s center.

It surprised him, though it should not. During hibernation, a small amount of excess magic would seep into the world around him. Given time, that excess energy would eventually form into a core. So, it had been a long time. Several centuries, judging by the size of the core. It was still a newborn.

In time, though, it would grow.

He approached it and tenderly lifted the core into his hand. It pained him, but he knew what he needed to do was for the best. Dungeon cores weren’t welcome in this world anymore. Both of them, young and old, would die in this place. He would snuff out the energy from it and then end his own existence as well.

It was time to let go of the past. A past he was a part of. A past full of sin.

And then, moments before he crushed the core in his hands, it spoke to him.

“Hello.”

He blinked, a droplet falling from his eyelid and onto the ground below. “Hello, you’re sentient?” he asked it. He hated the question as soon as he said it. The proper term was sapience, but the System didn’t designate them as such. It favored humans over all other beings. Even the ability that some dungeon cores had that granted intelligence to other creatures was labeled as such. But that was the way of the world. The way of the System.

The core paused for a moment before answering. “Hello, I don’t know.”

“This certainly complicates things.” He hadn’t expected a sentient core. They were rare. What were the chances? This changed everything. He could not snuff out such a life. It was a mere child. He would spare it, allow it to grow in this place. They were deep enough that no one should ever find them.

He would return to his slumber and fade away. The cores fate was its own. He sat the core down on the ground and allowed his form to melt into a puddle. He had the worst crick in his neck from sleeping on one side for all those centuries. This time, he would take on a more relaxing form. There was no need trying to appeal to humans anymore.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Hello,” the core said again.

A mass at the center of the puddle rose and turned to stare at the dungeon core. “I’m trying to sleep. What is it?”

“Oh. I’m sorry. Before you sleep, can you tell me something?”

The puddle rippled. “Okay, what would you like me to tell you?”

“Anything! It’s boring here.”

That wasn’t very specific. Well, he supposed he could indulge the core for a few moments. He could tell it about his people, the Nae Glera. But with him, their story would fade. Perhaps it was best left untold. What then? He wondered. What to talk about?

He thought of the knight that had followed him into this place. That had driven him deep into the underground.

He decided he would tell the dungeon core about humans.

The dungeon core woke him often. Always curious. Always eager. He had regaled it with tales of humans and their deeds. There was a dark side to humanity, as there are to all things and peoples, but he chose to omit that. They were many, many miles underground. Even if this dungeon expanded its influence significantly, it was unlikely it would ever cross paths with them. Over time, he developed an affection for the core, as a parent has affection for a child.

When he was asked to give it a name, he named it Sen, because it was sentient. It was custom for sentient cores to have a name with only three or four letters. Over the years, he taught it a great deal.

During this time, their shared magic essence expanded, their energy cycling between them and growing stronger in this isolated place. The Nae Glera had returned to good health, stronger even than it was before. The dungeon core had become powerful in its own right, despite never consuming other creatures to expand its power.

Their shared essence was so great that it spilled into the earth around them. Kierstone started to form on the walls, and then slowly but surely Sen decorated their home. He would ask the Nae Glera about human furniture and decorations, and then do his best to recreate them.

The memory paused. Charlie looked around as his vision went dark.

He felt a sadness. A memory laced with regret. It was a pure, raw emotion that lingered in the air.

“I failed to realize the depths of greed that humans have. I never could have imagined that encounter would take place,” the Nae Glera told him, intruding on the memories Charlie was watching for a moment.

“Imagined what?” Charlie asked. The memory resumed.

Sen spun in a circle, listening to the Nae Glera talk. He’d taken the form of a human and sat crossed legged in front of the spinning core. “There are other worlds, too. Some are full of humans, and others—”

Rock crumbled.

The Nae Glera turned to look at the caved in entrance, taking on a spherical form and facing the tunnel. A green aura formed around it. What could this be? A hex beast this deep underground? Perhaps it had sensed them and come to fight? Regardless, he would put an end to it quickly.

His many hearts skipped a beat at once as the figure emerged, climbing through the opening in rock.

Charlie recognized the old man. Or rather, he recognized the old man’s features. The man wasn’t nearly as old in the present day. Now he was young and wailing in the background as the Scalers bit down on him.

It was the Mayor of Sange.

“So, that’s how you met the mayor?” Charlie asked.

Charlie was suddenly in a black void. Before him, the Nae Glera took the form of the man in its memories. “Yes. During the many centuries that passed, a town was built over our home. The kierstone that developed because of our excess magic energy had spread to the surface. The people started mining it, and the mayor became obsessed with finding the source of the magic energy. Often, powerful weapons, armor, or treasures that have been lost lead to the creation of dungeon cores. Some delve into dungeons to exterminate them, so they won’t draw in hex beasts. Others seek whatever powerful artifact lies in the center of the dungeon, to claim resources for themselves.

“In this case, it was my energy that led to the creation of the core. But for the mayor, this was even better than some trinket. Sen befriended him, against my advice. But I had filled his head with so many stories of humans that it was impossible to convince him that this one did not have his best interest in mind.

“I became Sen’s core guardian, to ensure his safety, but I didn’t realize how powerful he had become over the years. Eventually, the mayor convinced Sen they could save humanity by working together. Sen became obsessed with it. The idea of working with humans. So, when the mayor said they should utilize my power to extend the lifespan of influential humans, Sen did not understand my refusal. He used his power to override me, to bury my soul deep within my consciousness. He usurped control and promised to set me free when their goal was accomplished. Gradually, I escaped my mental prison, and was able to watch what was going on within the dungeon. That was when I met Tomas. But that is not my story to tell. Nor do we have time for such matters.”

Charlie frowned. “So, even after being friends for all that time, Sen betrayed you?” he asked.

The core guardian looked up, staring off into the void. “It is a matter of perspective. In Sen’s eyes, I was the betrayer. He thought me jealous of his affection for humans. But I simply wanted to protect him. The influences of Sange and the nobles who visited corrupted him. A corruption I exposed him to with my carelessness.”

It was a lot to process. One question burned in the back of Charlie’s mind. “Why did you show me all this?” he asked.

The guardian waved a hand, and the void faded. Charlie’s senses snapped back to reality. Sophia still cried. Lyra still comforted her. It was like the entire moment had passed in an instant.

Maybe it had.

“You came here to destroy the core, but I ask that you spare it. Ultimately, the decisions are yours. I will not fight you; even should you refuse my request. But the world is a complicated place, and people make decisions for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes our enemies aren’t bad people, they just have different goals. I raised Sen, and I failed him. The mayor pretended to befriend him and used him. Sen is a product of the people around him. But I believe with the right influence, he could change. With your influence, Charlie. I showed you, because I thought you should see how it was Sen came to be what he is.”

“If Sen liked the mayor so much, why did the snatchers ignore his orders? It was like the mayor was losing control of them.”

“As Sen’s sphere of influence grew, the mayor’s true intentions became obvious to him. But he had learned how to deceive others and manipulate them to get what he wanted. Sen pretended to follow orders but planned to take control of the kingdom for himself. The mayor didn’t start to realize it until the very end. Even now, I’m not convinced he understood the depths of Sen’s resolve.”

Charlie looked at the core in his hands. “Can you ask him to stop the red-eyed snatchers from fighting? Or give them new orders?” Charlie asked.

A bubble surfaced from the spherical Nae Glera. It almost seemed like an odd way of sighing. “You defeated him. He lives, but he is dormant. All of his magic essence was drained. Until he regains it, that is impossible.”

Charlie sighed. “Okay.” He looked at the dim dungeon core in his hand. The core guardian had given him a lot to think about. For now, he thought it made sense to think about it some more. He held the dungeon core to his mouth, plopped it inside, and swallowed it whole. It tasted sweet and a little spicy. He liked it.

Sophia’s father gasped. Luc seemed to have noticed it, too. “Uh, Charlie? Did you just eat that dungeon core?”

It was such an absurd thing to hear that even Sophia and Lyra looked up at him.

Charlie nodded. “Yes! I’ve done it before. They’re very good! You should try one sometime! Well, only the ones who don’t talk. It’s different when I eat one!”

The Core Guardian leaned in to examine him. “I see, I sense him, inside you somewhere. So, this too, is a part of your power. Then you have chosen mercy?” it asked him.

Charlie held a hand to his chin. “Hm, for now! I’ll think about it some more.”

“That is all I can ask. Now, we must proceed. The snatchers under my command are no longer fighting, but if we are to turn them back, we should hurry. My time is limited now. Have you all decided?” it asked them.

“My votes yes. I don’t care what happens to all those nobles. They don’t deserve to live forever, especially not at the cost of other people’s lives,” Luc said.

Lyra frowned. “I’m still worried. If our government really falls apart, and another nation invades us, it could be just as bad as before. I mean, we’d be free of the daycare. But if another nation invades and enslaves us, nothing will have changed…I still want to help the children. I just wonder if there isn’t a way to make sure things don’t all fall apart.”

Luc placed a hand on her shoulder. “From now, we’re gonna be heroes, remember? Even if something like that does happen, we’ll stop it. I bet Charlie would help too!” Luc turned and winked at Charlie.

Charlie grinned. “Of course, I would!”

Kyo giggled, snuggling further into Lyra’s shoulder. Lyra smiled, rubbing Kyo’s back. “Okay. I’m in. Charlie? Sophia?” Lyra asked.

Sophia said nothing but nodded her support.

Charlie thought about it. “Yes. Turn them back. Those old mean people used kids for selfish reasons. They deserve to lose everything they have, and if they don’t lose everything, I’ll go beat them up too.”

“That’s the spirit!” Luc said, pumping a fist in the air. “We’ll go kick those old geezers around!”

Sophia’s father nodded. “Very well. It will be done. I will return the children.”

“Wait,” Luc said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“I want you to leave me like this. Don’t turn me back,” he said.