Charlie

With every passing moment, the dungeon was becoming more unstable. A series of tremors increased in both power and frequency the more time that passed. They hurried through the forest of stone hands Charlie had created earlier to preserve the tunnels integrity. The hands grated against the dungeon as they moved aside at Charlie’s command. Repositioning themselves so that they could still hold up the crumbling sections of the dungeon while allowing Charlie and his companions to pass. But even with the makeshift supports he’d created; the dungeon’s destruction was picking up. If things continued as they were, Charlie wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep his friends safe. They had to hurry and get out of this dungeon.

Geby was still shouldering the weight of the unconscious pair, Themis and Dalys. Merlin and Vetica ran beside Geby. Vetica watched Dalys carefully in case she should somehow overcome the poison running through her system. Though Vetica said that was unlikely. Merlin focused on the path ahead, scanning the ceiling for signs of cracks or further damage. Orb and Boop floated just behind Merlin, and Mousifer, of course, was perched in his usual spot on Charlie’s shoulder.

“We really should’ve caught up to Canano and Bleedy by now. We’ve almost reached the point where we split up,” Merlin said, a frown etched on his face.

“Yeah, so much for him being faster than us,” Orb said. “If you’re going to make a statement like that, you really have to follow through on it. It’s really embarrassing otherwise.”

Charlie stared further down the tunnel. It was true. No matter how you looked at it, it didn’t make sense that Canano and Bleedy hadn’t caught up to them yet. He just hoped it wasn’t because they were in danger, or something had happened to them. With everything going on and the dungeon’s unstable state, it wasn’t impossible. They needed to find to them soon.

They passed the sauna, officially crossing the point where they’d last seen Canano. Shortly after, they neared Canano’s study. A little while longer and they reached the bedroom where they’d all slept the previous night. But just as they hurried past the study, the sound of rustling papers caught their attention. Charlie turned to look at Canano hurrying around the room. Bleedy stood atop the table in the room’s center, watching the coyuta work. For some reason, Canano was wearing Merlin’s cloak.

Merlin twisted his head to the side. “Uh, hello? The rest of us are in the process of evacuating. Why are you rummaging through papers at a time like this? Also, why are you wearing my cloak?” he asked.

Canano’s head snapped toward them, and the surprise was obvious in his widened eyes. “Sorry, I know we’re pressed for time, but when I saw how bad the dungeon was getting, I realized this may be my last chance to save our work. Even if the lab falls, Themis and I can start somewhere else. But if we lose everything then—” Canano finally noticed Themis hanging limply from Geby’s mouth. “Themis! Is he okay?” he asked, running over.

Vetica held a hand up to calm him down. “He’s fine. He hit his head during a run in with the knights. I’m sure after a good nap he’ll be up and moving again.”

Canano nodded, side eyeing the night draped over Geby’s neck. “And the hex knight? Haven’t you all learned your lesson by now? Kidnapping a hex knight is what got you into trouble in the first place.”

“We aren’t kidnapping her!” Merlin protested.

Orb bounced in the air. “Sure, we aren’t. We just knocked her unconscious, and now we’re relocating her to a place of our choice. Totally not kidnapping,” Orb said.

“That’s not…okay, I see your point. Regardless, we have to go, Canano. We don’t have time for this. It won’t matter if you have a copy of all your research if you just end up buried with it. Let’s move.”

Canano’s jaw parted. He turned to look over the room. “But…”

Charlie frowned. He understood how much the two researchers valued their work. He hadn’t gotten to spend much time with the coyuta, but he’d heard a lot about him from Themis during their lessons. Merlin and Vetica seemed to have formed a quick bond with him as well. If Charlie could help, he wanted to.

“Vault Transfer!”

In a flash, the contents of the room disappeared. The desk, the bookshelves, even the table Bleedy was sitting on. Bleedy tumbled to the ground. He looked around in confusion for the missing table. Canano suddenly seemed moments away from a panic attack. “Where did it all go?” he asked no one in particular. “I know we have to leave, but you didn’t need to destroy it. Why would you—”

“Easy wolf-man! Charlie didn’t destroy it. He just put it inside his dungeon for now. You're lucky too. You might’ve made it out with your papers, but I highly doubt Geby was going to lug out that big ole desk for you. Charlie’s really doing you a solid here,” Orb said.

Canano looked at Charlie, as if to confirm. Charlie smiled. “It’s okay! I’ll give it back when we’re out of here, okay?”

The coyuta nodded. He seemed at a loss for words.

Canano took off Merlin’s cloak and handed it to him. “It was easier to put it on than to carry it, sorry. The rest of your clothes are in a pile on the—” he looked around, realizing all the furniture was gone. “Well, I suppose they’re in the dungeon now.”

Merlin shot a look at Charlie.

“Hehe…oops,” Charlie said. He focused on the pile of clothes and transferred them back from his dungeon.

Merlin quickly got changed, so he didn’t have to run in a bath towel anymore. He also strapped on the baby carrier and put Charlie inside it.

With that settled, the group continued onward. Now with Bleedy and Canano joining them. Canano took the lead. “There’s an emergency tunnel that leads out of the dungeon. We’ll come out on the bottom of a cliff not far from Arcadeya. Your horse and wagon are already there. I stocked the wagon with supplies last night after you all turned in. If we can reach it, we can leave this dungeon behind us.”

Merlin grinned. “That’s good! Finally, some good news. How long do you think—”

Charlie ignored the others talking in the background. He looked over his shoulder. “Parent, are you there? We’re leaving. You and Zephyr have to catch up soon. I don’t know where you are, and I don’t know what happens to you if your rings get trapped here. Please hurry! We’re moving down a path that leads out of the dungeon. Zephyr should be able to show you how to find it. Let me know if you get this message.” Charlie waited for a moment; hopeful Parent would zoom after him with those new rings of his. But he didn’t. Nor did he respond. Charlie was starting to question if those rings were really an upgrade. Whatever good they did was irrelevant if he couldn’t even get in contact with his interface when he needed to.

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Something moved in the shadows behind them. Charlie squinted and rubbed his eyes to see if it was a trick.

Nope. More movement. It almost looked like…

His eyes shot open. “Guys! The tunnel behind is collapsing!” he called a warning.

Canano risked a glance over his shoulder. “Can you stabilize it, Charlie? We need to wake Themis up so he can put a stop to all this. Even if he can’t fix the entire dungeon, he should still be able to help keep the escape route intact.”

“His body is flailing wildly around, hanging from Geby’s mouth. I’m not sure what more we can do to wake him up if that isn’t working,” Merlin said.

Charlie focused and created a row of pillars that shot up and rose to support the ceiling. But he quickly realized it wasn’t just the ceiling giving in. The walls were too. It was a full-blown cave in, and it was moving fast. “Guys! I can’t stop it!” Charlie yelled in their minds.

As one, they all turned to look back.

“We’re so dead,” Orb said.

“How much further until we reach the exit?” Vetica yelled.

Canano shook his head. “We’re way too far. We can’t make it…”

Merlin craned his head, looking further down the tunnel. “What about that door up ahead? Where does that lead?”

“What room? There aren’t any—” Canano saw it too. “That door shouldn’t be there.”

That was strange. Charlie wondered if maybe Canano had just forgotten it. Or perhaps Themis had created a new room without telling Canano. That could be a possibility, right?

When they were about ten feet away from the door, the tunnel beyond it suddenly started collapsing, too. They were surrounded.

“No…” Canano said under his breath.

“What do we do?” Merlin yelled.

Vetica took the initiative. “Inside the room now! Charlie get ready to reinforce it. We’re taking shelter here!”

Charlie nodded. “I’m on it!”

They scrambled into the room, one after the other. Luckily, the door was large enough for even Geby to squeeze through. She pulled the last part of her tail inside just in time. Mere seconds before the two collapsing sides of the tunnel collided with one another.

Charlie readied himself to brace the walls, but as suddenly as the cave in had started, it stopped.

Merlin let out a sigh of relief. “Oh good. Great work, Charlie. We’re trapped for now, but at least we’re alive. What the heck is this room, though?” he asked.

Charlie frowned. He started to correct Merlin but realized it didn’t really matter as long as they were safe. He looked around and realized this room looked like a much larger version of the training room he’d spent several days in with Themis. Much larger. The room was in the familiar shape of the training room, but it was easily six or seven times bigger. They could fit entire neighborhoods full of houses inside this space. So, what exactly had Themis created it for?

Canano helped Geby ease Themis to the ground. He looked up at Vetica. “Do you still have any of that poison I gave you?” he asked.

Vetica nodded. “I do. Do you need it?” she asked.

Canano nodded, and the assassin pulled a slender vial from a hidden pocket inside one of the many belts wrapped around her shirt. Canano took it and uncorked it. He waved the vial under Themis’ nose.

“What are you doing? We’re supposed to wake him up, not kill him,” Merlin said.

Canano didn’t look up. “Themis has always had a rather sensitive nose. I thought that maybe—”

Themis suddenly leaned forward. He coughed violently, swatting Canano’s hand away, vial included. Luckily, the coyuta managed to keep his hands on it. He corked it again and returned it to Vetica.

“Themis, are you okay?” Canano asked.

Themis looked around at all of them, and then at the room itself. “I’m fine…where are we?”

That was the last thing any of them expected to hear him say. “Uh, we’re in your dungeon. Did you hit your head so hard that you don’t remember a room that you made?” Orb asked.

Themis frowned at the floating blue dungeon core. “A room I made? I’ve never created a room this large.” He struggled to rise to his feet but managed. He noticed the collapsed tunnel, and his eyes went toward his arm. Themis quickly lifted his sleeve and examined the dungeon cores embedded in his skin. Of the two previously remaining, one was now dormant, like the others. His final core wasn’t dormant, but it was fading quickly.

“I don’t understand. The rogue core was destroyed, so what exactly is draining your powers?” Merlin asked.

Themis deflated. “Zephyr. Something must be wrong with him. I can’t communicate with him, and now my powers are fading. The rogue core might have affected him as well. It could be something else but I can’t imagine what that might be.”

Another quake rocketed the dungeon. This one was much more powerful than the previous ones. It forced almost all of them to the ground. Everyone except for Geby and the dungeon cores fell. Vetica managed to retain her balance at the last second. But the others fell to the ground.

The quake didn’t stop, though. In fact, a loud grating noise filled the room and was growing louder by the second.

Charlie realized he’d heard it before, though admittedly it hadn’t been this loud before. It was the sound the skeletane wyrm had made. His eyes shot open when he realized what that meant. On the far side of the room, the wyrm shot out of the wall. It was much larger than it was before. Its jaw was stretched wide enough to swallow a man whole. Conveniently enough for the wyrm, there was already one in its mouth.

Sir Redrick stretched his hands up to hold on to the sharp fangs of the creature, pressing with his arms and legs to keep it from shutting its mouth on him. The creature poured into the room, wrestling with Redrick as it did so. If this was the knight’s true power, he had really been holding back in the rental room.

Redrick grunted loudly and pulled one hand free. He leaned slightly forward, farther into the creature’s mouth, and grabbed a hold of something. He pulled that same something out of the creature’s mouth.

A person.

It was Sir Talmot. The scrawny knight flew through the air before smacking into the ground with a thud. The skeletane wyrm seemed angry that part of its prey had escaped. It rocketed forward, straight into the wall across from the one it had entered, taking Redrick with it.

The red-haired knight slammed into the opposite wall at such a high speed that he sunk deep into a crater formed by the impact. Satisfied, the wyrm reared its head back and turned to look for Talmot. But before it located him, it noticed the others in the room.

It noticed Charlie and his friends. The creatures tail continued to pour into the room from the hole. Charlie thought the creature’s body would go on forever. Section after section of it flooded the room. It slowly stretched its head forward to inspect them.

In its completed form it was the largest creature Charlie had ever seen, and as it roared, he realized he had a fight on his hands.