Lyra shook her head. “Luc, what are you talking about?” she asked.

Luc couldn’t look her in the eye. “I wasn’t strong before Lyra. I don’t have any powers. But like this, I can fight!” He stared down at his hands, slowly squeezing them shut. “I don’t want to be weak anymore.”

“Luc, you can’t do this. You’d be throwing away years of your life,” Lyra said.

His face darkened. “Snatchers die all the time. Not all of them are red eyes. So that means even if we turn the children back, it’s too late for some, Lyra. Even outside of Sange, people are suffering all over the world. People who need help.” He turned to look at her. “I can help those people now. I can be a hero. That’s all I care about. Those children wanted to escape this place too. They had dreams of their own. I’m going to fight for them, for all of us. To stand up against people like that.” He pointed to the mayor, who still wriggled in pain as the Scalers bit down on him.

Charlie looked up at the Nae Glera. “Is that even possible?” he asked it.

“Yes, if that is the boy’s desire. I will leave him as he is. Even after I fade away, his powers will remain. Sen used a lot of power converting him. When the boy roused himself during the process and set himself free, he inadvertently stole a great deal of power. Of all the Limblings, he is second only to one.”

Before anyone could ask who he meant, the core guardian glowed. Charlie’s eyes flashed, and he saw visions of snatchers all over Sange and, even beyond it, shrinking, returning to their original ages. They had done it.

They’d saved the children.

The quick vision ended. “Only two remain now over which I had authority. Tomas, and Luc. Both of whom have requested to keep their forms. I have honored their request. The red eyed Limblings are few now. Soon, the battle for Sange will be over. Your allies have all but won.”

“Let me go!” the mayor shouted; an aura formed around him.

Charlie waved a hand away, and the snatchers biting the mayor released him, backing away.

The mayor, despite his injuries, stumbled to his feet and hurried toward the Nae Glera. Which each step, he lost a small portion of his stolen youth and left behind a trail of blood from his wounds. His hair was just starting to grey when the process stopped. “Stop this! You are ruining everything,” he said.

“He was much older than that in the memory!” Charlie said. He wore a slight frown on his face.

“As Luc said, youth can only be returned to those still around to claim it. The mayor ensured that would not occur to him. He has protected himself from this,” the Nae Glera explained.

The mayor ignored them. “It’s not too late. We must preserve the nobility. You don’t understand. You may not agree with the morals of my allies, but they ultimately have the best interests of the kingdom in mind. There are others who betray us and sell our secrets to enemy kingdoms. Without my allies getting in their way, they will doom us all. Please reconsider! We won’t use this power anymore, but don’t undo what has already been done.”

The Nae Glera rippled, and the mayor jumped back, falling on his feet. His injured legs could not handle the sudden movement. “It is already done. Even now they are turning, paying the debt that must be paid. It is over, human.”

The mayor’s eyes scattered around, looking for something. “Sen? Are you there? I need your help! Please!”

Charlie felt something stir inside him for a moment. Then it went quiet.

The Nae Glera hummed in amusement. “Your pleas have been heard, and they have been ignored.”

Luc stood next to him. “What do we do with him?” he asked.

“Kill him!” Sophia said.

Charlie and the others turned to look at her. Her eyes were red and puffy. There were teardrop trails running down her face where the tears had washed off some of the accumulated dirt from her time in the dungeon.

Sweet Sophia calling for a man’s death. It pained Charlie.

The mayor looked shocked. Charlie crawled over to him, inspecting the man.

The mayor recoiled as he approached. He’d seen what Charlie could do, and he wasn’t aware Charlie’s powers had run out. “Spare me! If nothing else, spare me! I will change! I’ll work to better the kingdom and do everything in my power to protect it! Just give me a chance. If you truly despise what I’ve done, killing me would make us no different from one another!”

Charlie tilted his head. Was that true? He thought about it for a moment. He believed people could change for the better. Merlin had proved it. Vetica was…working on it. Even Brel, who lay lifeless on the ground on the far side of the room, had done something noble in the end. People could change.

But even if that was true, the mayor didn’t deserve a chance too.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re evil,” Charlie said. Sophia was right. He deserved a punishment. But was death the worst thing Charlie could do to him?

He looked up at the Nae Glera. “Can you take the rest of his youth away? Even if there is no one to give it back to?” he asked.

Waves thrashed on the edges of the Nae Glera and droplets flung into the air excitedly. “That is possible,” the Nae Glera sounded almost eager. It, too, had a reason to hate the mayor.

Charlie looked back at Sophia. “Would that be alright with you? The mayor did all this to be young. We should take that away from him.”

Sophia blinked. “Charlie?” she asked.

She’d seen him do incredible things already. She’d watched him fight. But she was hearing him for the first time now. The conditions for his communication were getting less strict, or maybe it was something else. Whenever he left this place, he would need to seriously examine what was going on with his powers.

She composed herself, looking between the mayor and the core guardian. “Yes! Do it.”

The mayor shook his head. He turned and tried to scramble to his feet. But the Scalers caught him, biting down on his limbs, hard, and dragged him toward the Nae Glera. Luc approached to help. He lifted the mayor in the air with a single hand. The two Scalers, biting on his arms, were lifted into the air as well. They clamped down even harder, clearly enjoying the opportunity to let loose.

The mayor screamed. “No! Stop this! Please!”

Luc positioned him just in front of the Nae Glera and turned to look at Charlie for confirmation.

Charlie nodded.

The Scalers let go and scrambled away. Luc smirked.

“I won’t kill you, but you slapped my best friend.” He held out a flaming fist in one hand, firmly gripping the mayor’s back in the other. “Burst.” He brought the hand smoothly across the mayor’s face.

An agonized noise escaped the evil man’s mouth, and the flames danced across his face. Luc shoved him inside the Nae Glera. The liquid grew murky and violently thrashed like storm waters. The mayor’s limbs flailed inside. He was fighting with everything he had. But the Nae Glera had waited a long time for this day and wasn’t letting the man free.

Burst of liquid flew through the mayor and impaled him, over and over. The wounds healed, only to be reopened. After a moment, the Nae Glera relented, and spat the mayor out face first in the ground.

The mayor’s hair was white and wispy. His limbs and body were thin like branches on a small tree. His skin appeared sunken and heavily wrinkled. A large handprint remained on his face where Luc had burned him, tiny green flames still protruded from it.

They weren’t going away.

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The mayor sucked in a great gasp of air and looked around the room. He noticed one of the mirrors and hobbled over to it. He fell, and the glass shards halted. Instead of moving to the ceiling mirror, they waited and allowed him to inspect himself. He patted at the flames tormenting his face. He wiped the mirror with a sleeve as if he hoped the reflection was an illusion.

Then the man collapsed, curled in on himself, and wailed.

The Nae Glera calmed. “That is satisfying. There was a great deal of youth stored within him and I have no one to return it to. I would offer it to you, Charlie, but the System has placed some kind of barrier in place. I am unable to alter your age.”

Charlie had noticed something like that during the fight. The Nae Glera’s ability didn’t work on him when Sen tried to turn him into a snatcher. “Why don’t you give it to Luc?” he said.

Luc turned to look at him. “What?”

Charlie smiled. “You said you wanted to help others, right? Well, with this, you could do it for a long time!”

Lyra frowned. “How would he be any different from the mayor if he accepted that power?” she asked.

The Nae Glera spoke. “You said you wished to be a champion for those who came before you, did you not? You said you wished to fight on their behalf? If that is truly your wish, then this makes sense. Carry the energy of their life with you. In some small way, would it not be like taking the lost children with you?”

There was a glint in Luc’s eyes. “I could carry them with me?” He tightened his fist. “Then I accept. I’ll use this power to protect everyone I can. I’ll make every second count. They won’t have died in vain.”

The Nae Glera extended a piece of itself toward Luc, and Luc grabbed onto it, his eyes flashed aquamarine and then returned to normal.

“It is done. You will age far more slowly now,” the Nae Glera spoke. The depiction of Sophia’s father moved. “There is something I wish to show you, Sophia. If that is alright?” The words came from her father’s mouth this time.

She looked up, a startled expression on her face. “You sound just like him…”

“I was not sure I could recover this, but I was able to find this amongst his memories. His final thoughts. Would you…like to hear them? It seems he had regrets he could not share them with someone. But now, in a way, he can.”

Sophia covered her mouth with a hand. She didn’t say a word. Instead, she nodded.

Her father spoke, putting his last words into thoughts.

“House Callandra was always supposed to be a beacon to others. A light to show the way to those that were lost. It seems I’ve made a misjudgment. I’m going to meet my end inside this creature. But the hope of House Callandra endures. I’ve left behind two wonderful children. Callum will be a soldier unrivaled. I firmly believe his sword will cut down the wicked, and set free the oppressed, and then, of course, there is my Sophia. She is shy, but her heart harbors a kindness unlike any I’ve ever seen. This world is a cruel place, but she will endure. She will inspire so many and be a beacon of goodness so bright it shines in the darkest corners of the world. A father’s greatest wish is to see what his children grow up to be. Though I cannot see with my own eyes, I can see it clearly in my mind. I am so proud of them. I love the two of them more than I could ever express.”

When he had finished speaking, Sophia ran forward and hugged her father.

The liquid man appeared confused. He suddenly looked around the room with widened eyes.

The Nae Glera grunted in their minds, and the spherical form started to dissolve. The link between it and Sophia’s father faded.

For a just a moment, Sophia’s father looked down at her. “Sophia…” he said. “How are you…” And then he wrapped his arms around her, returning to her hug. He leaned forward and whispered something in her ear.

Sophia’s eyes grew wide, and she looked up at her father. “Daddy…”

He started to melt. “I don’t understand what’s going on completely, but I have an idea. Do not let the darkness of my passing consume you. Do not let it consume your brother. You must be a beacon not only for the world but also for each other. Remember what I said. I love you so much.”

Sophia nodded, fighting back tears.

With that, her father melted. The droplets moved toward the Nae Glera, but suddenly halted. “That was a mistake.” The Nae Glera said. “I am losing control. It is time, little one,” he said toward Charlie. “There is a power inside you that you have not yet realized. But it is awakening, soon. I will add a portion of my strength to that power. My final gift to the world is this. A power that one such as yourself may take advantage of. You might not understand yet, but soon, you will. The awakening is nigh.”

Charlie shook his head. “I don’t understand. What power?”

Charlie’s hand started tingling. It was the same itching sensation that he had felt inside the dungeon of Sirra.

The tendrils.

That strange voice again.

“Transfer.”

The tendrils shot forward and connected with the Nae Glera. They greedily wrapped around portions of the creature and shot back inside Charlie’s hand before returning for more. They writhed and devoured over and over. One tendril stretched farther than the others and wrapped around one of the human organs.

A heart.

The tendril dissolved into the Nae Glera before it could retreat with its prize.

“Enough! I have given what I wish to give. You will take no more from me,” the core guardian yelled at them.

The tendrils shrank back and retreated into Charlie’s hand. Only a few still peeked out.

Several streams of liquid shot out from the Nae Glera and burrowed into the ground. They churned the dirt and slowly removed something from the ground. It was an enormous skeleton. More of the Nae Glera covered the creature, and the skin regrew until finally, it was clear what it was.

A giant boar, reminiscent of the one Charlie had seen in the vision he had where he told the boars to stop attacking humans.

“This is the former chief boar. When a chief dies, the boars bury it in the center of their dungeon home. I have restored it for you.” The Nae Glera directed its next words at the tendrils themselves. “Take it and go.”

The tendrils shot forward like starving predators. Just like when Charlie had absorbed the Scaler King and the other Scalers before he’d befriended them. The tendrils wrapped around the creature and slowly retracted. It turned to dust, and then, after a moment, the tendrils were gone, and the portal closed.

“Charlie, are you okay?” Luc asked, trying to process everything he had just seen.

“I think so…” Charlie asked. “What just happened?” he asked.

“As I said, you will understand soon. These gifts will serve you well,” the Nae Glera said. At its base, a puddle formed. “My end is nigh. I have but a few moments, and in them, I wish to share with you a dream, Charlie.”

“A dream?” he asked.

Inside the Nae Glera, the likeness of a man formed from its liquid. It was the same form the creature had taken in the memories it had shown Charlie. Several hearts moved inside it, as well as a brain and some other organs. The man swam forward and then stepped outside of the sphere. As soon as he left it, the liquid behind him lost its shape and flowed in every direction.

The cool liquid splashed Charlie as it spilled past. Only the man remained. He sat with his legs crossed on the ground in front of Charlie. “In ancient times, dungeon cores were not enemies to humanity. They worked alongside the humans to better the world. But that was lost with the rise of Cendra. I wish I could describe it all in more detail, but I have passed those memories on already. But my dream, my desire, is for that world to return one day. A world where Sen can experience the world that I once knew. The world I told him about in my stories.”

Charlie’s lips parted. It suddenly made sense to him. “That was why Sen wanted to take over the kingdom, wasn’t it? So, the two of you could live alongside humans, like in your stories?”

The man nodded. “It was. He came to believe if he ruled over Aysela, he could change things. But he was corrupted by the influences here and lost sight of the atrocities he helped commit. You can show him another way. Bring that dream to reality and show him a better path. If it pleases you, bridge the gap between humanity and dungeon cores in a way that only you can. My memories are gone, but others are old enough to remember. I am certain you will cross paths with them. When you do, learn of the old world. In the days before the stories of the Hex King, and the rise and fall of Cendra.”

Charlie perked up. “So, the Hex King was real?”

The Nae Glera looked at Luc. “It is not my place to say. Some see him as a religious figure. But the stories of a world ravaged by hex beasts, of humanity driven to a single nation in search of refuge. Those are true. That is where the kingdom got its name. Aysela is an ancient word for asylum. A place where all living things could take refuge from hex beasts.”

That was so much to take it. And yet, Charlie had one more lingering question. “Whose form is this?” he asked, looking at the man before him.

The Nae Glera smiled. “You have a knack for asking the right questions. I believe you will do much in this world. You overcame not one, but two powerful dungeons. The path you walk is not an easy one, but if you walk it, you will surely influence this world as you have Sange. Your power is great. You interrupted the connection the Scalers had with the dungeon, and through your actions, allowed Tomas to regain more of his humanity. Go forward, and improve this world, little one.” With that, his form gave way, and he melted until nothing was left.

The extinction of the Nae Glera was complete.

Charlie frowned. It was sad, knowing the Nae Glera were no more. He wanted to know more about them, about the past. But he knew it was time to leave. To regroup with his friends. Merlin and Vetica were waiting. The other children as well. It was time to go.

Luc grabbed the sniveling mayor by the back of his shirt and dragged him along with one hand. With his other, he picked up the unconscious child who had recently been a snatcher. Sophia knelt to pick something up where her father had dissolved and then walked alongside Lyra. Lyra stood close to the still grieving girl and cradled Kyo tightly. He still happily played with his green dungeon core.

Charlie climbed atop the friendly Scaler’s head. The other Scalers fell in behind him.

He turned to give the dungeon one last look, frowning when he saw Brel’s body still laying on the ground. The red-eyed snatcher that had been monitoring the mayor didn’t move. It stared blankly off into the distance. It would fade with the dungeon. Dungeon decay had already begun. Glimmering shards fell from the ceiling and dissipated into the air.

In a few days, the dungeon of Sange would be gone completely. It would never harm anyone again.

Charlie sighed. It was time to put this place behind them. He’d done what he’d came here to do.