Orb

Orb floated at the end of a stone table inside Charlie’s dungeon. He faced away from the table as Merlin and Vetica entered the room and took a seat. A lesser dungeon core might succumb to social pressure and turn around to face them. But Orb was no lesser dungeon core. He understood the importance of dramatic effect.

He waited for just a moment longer and then rotated in the air to face them.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’ve called you here today,” Orb said.

Vetica rolled her eyes. She sat with her arms crossed on one side of the table. Merlin sat on the other.

“I was until I noticed the giant sign behind you that says, ‘Christmas planning committee’,” Merlin said. “How did you make that, anyway? You don’t have hands, and where did you get all that parchment?”

Orb sunk in the air an inch. “You weren’t supposed to read that yet. I’ll have you know that I’m a very capable dungeon core and I can make posters all by myself, hands or not. It’s quite orbist of you to assume otherwise, actually.”

“Squeak!” Mousifer said, scurrying from under the table. A piece of hair was stuck to one of his rear paws and he had red smudges around his mouth.

Merlin scooted backward in his seat to inspect Mousifer. “Oh, I see. Mousifer helped you, didn’t he? Wait…is that a piece of one of my wigs?” Merlin’s eyes went wide, and he looked up at the poster. “Did you get all that parchment from my wagon?!” He looked up at the sign behind Orb and then back at Mousifer’s stained mouth. “And wait, you used crushed berries to write that! Those are my berries! I was saving those—”

Orb cleared his mental throat. “We should get started. We’re really behind schedule. The reason I called all of you here today is that I think Charlie could use some fun after everything we’ve been through. I thought there was no better way to lift his spirits than to celebrate a popular holiday back on Earth. Christmas!”

Vetica perked up. “A holiday? What exactly does celebrating it entail? A hunt? Ritual combat? Or…oh a sacrifice of some kind?”

Orb tilted slowly. “Um, more like giving out presents and stuff. To be honest, I’m starting to think I should’ve left you out of this meeting. Anyway, it’s just a very happy occasion. Bleedy and Mousifer are on board already, and Parent helped me set up this meeting room. I figured if we all work together and rope in Koi Levi as well, we should be able to have a good time. So, what do you say?” he asked them. Of course, Orb was more than capable of putting it altogether himself, but every great dungeon core has minions. It’s only appropriate to involve some of his own if he’s going to undertake something monumental like this. And Christmas, from what he knew of it, was monumental indeed.

Merlin sighed. “I’ll help. But you have to promise to stop taking things from my wagon without asking. My supplies don’t exactly grow on trees.” He squinted. “Well, except for all the plants…and the fruit…and the wagon itself is made of lumber, I suppose…never mind. Just please ask before taking my things.”

Vetica cracked a smile. “If it’s for Charlie, I’ll help. Just tell me what we need to do.”

Orb smiled. “First things first. We’re going to need some decorations.”

***

Charlie was taking a nap. Though he slept pretty rarely whenever he eventually laid down, he usually conked out pretty hard. So, while he rested, the others took the opportunity to prepare their surprise.

They decided to use the throne room for the festivities. It made sense. The rows of supporting pillars gave them something besides the wall to actually decorate, and of course Koi Levi lived just behind the throne itself, so he could assist them.

Since things were kind of last minute, they were forced to improvise. Unfortunately for Merlin, he was the only one with anything to improvise with. So, they raided his wagon for supplies again. Vetica, Bleedy, and Mousifer tied long strings of popporri weed together and filled them with berries to create a festive plant to hang around the support pillars in the room. Koi Levi used his long tendrils to fasten the plants to the top of the pillars and then slowly wove them around in a circular motion until they reached the base of the dungeon. Merlin practiced with his magic and combined emerald elemental hexes and scarlet searching hexes so he could affix Christmas colored lights to the walls and ceilings of the dungeon. He worked with Orb to make sure he got the effect just right. He even made it so a few of those hexes would move at his command to create a subtle light show of sorts. Just enough to catch Charlie’s attention when he first entered the room.

“Alright, this looks quite nice, I think,” Merlin said. “What’s next?”

Vetica raised a hand.

Orb bounced in the air. “No sacrifices!” he shouted.

Vetica scoffed and put her hand down.

“There are a few more things I have in mind. But the most pressing is that we need a tree. I’m not actually sure how we can pull that off, though.”

Parent floated up to them. He was currently inhabiting his caladosian rings. He’d agreed to help, but since fixing a meeting space up for Orb, he’d mostly been keeping a keen eye on them to ensure they didn’t mess up the dungeon. “Hm, that’s not a problem at all.”

“Transfer.” Parent activated Charlie’s ability and disappeared.

“Transfer.” They heard again in Parent’s voice. He reappeared, floating several feet above Orb. Next to him, a giant tree with blue and gold leaves crashed toward the ground, roots, and all.

Orb barely managed to float out of the way as a tree branch whizzed by. “What the heck, man? You could’ve killed me!”

Vetica clenched a fist. “We were so close to a Christmas miracle.”

The tree landed and tilted over, but Koi Levi wrapped his tendrils around it to settle it. The tendrils worked to dig a space out for the roots, and slowly but surely, Charlie’s core guardian had planted the tree in the center of the room.

Orb studied it. “Well, that’s more of an oak tree than a Christmas tree, but it’ll do. Merlin?”

Merlin nodded and went to work.

“Emerald Hex Elemental!” He shouted. He repeated the chant several more times. Each time, he summoned a different elemental effect. Or the appearance of an effect. Tiny balls of fire, small sparks of electricity, drops of water and a few others all layered the tree. They alternated, over and over, until he achieved the desired effect. Merlin smiled. “I call it ‘Merlin’s string of hex lights.’ What do you think?”

“Squeak!”

“Bleedy!”

“It’s festive as heck. Great job, Merlin!” Orb said. The lights all flickered out. “Come on, man! I just complimented you!”

Merlin wiped his brow. “It’s a bit taxing to light the entire room, plus the tree. But I’ve got it down now. When we’re ready for the big surprise, I’ll have it all ready. Trust me. So, we have lights, decorations, and a tree. You said something about presents?”

Orb bounced in affirmation. “That’s right! I already have that covered. Check this out!” He turned toward Bleedy, who scampered off behind a pillar for just a second before hurrying back. He carried a singular small piece of rock in his mouth. It was shaped like a small tube.

Merlin and Vetica tilted their heads in unison. “Uh, what is that?”

Vetica pursed her lips. “It looks like a long rock. What kind of gift is that, Orb?”

Orb deflated. Could they really not tell? “It’s a mini pillar! Charlie loves pillars. He fights with them all the time. He’s gonna love it. Trust me.”

Merlin facepalmed. “I just worked for like two hours so we could give Charlie a rock? Are you kidding me, Orb?”

“Well, I figured it was better than one of your ‘miracle’ healing elixirs or the Vetica stabby stabby Christmas experience. So, unless you have a better idea, shut it.” Orb turned to look at the present. Was it really that bad? He’d thought Charlie would like it. But…maybe it was kind of dumb. It wasn’t anything Charlie couldn’t make himself.

Merlin sighed. “Let’s just move on. Lights, tree, present, what else? Surely there’s more to it?”

“Yeah…there is one more thing. But I’m not really sure how to make it work. You see, there’s this guy named Santa, right?”

Merlin and Vetica exchanged a look. Of course, neither of them knew what he was talking about. Santa might come a long way from the North Pole, but not as far as Aysela.

Orb continued. “But... we don’t really have everything we need to make that work. So, I’m trying to think of a replacement. I mean, it’s not like a reindeer is just going to stroll right in or something—” He paused as a scaler walked right into the room. It froze and looked up at the giant tree that hadn’t been there before. Orb tilted in the air to stare at the creature.

The creature noticed him and stared back. It licked its eyeball. “If I could smile, I’d be smiling,” Orb said.

***

It’d taken another hour to get everything prepared, and it was truly an all hands-on deck kind of experience. But finally, they were ready to go and pick up the guest of honor in style.

Merlin looked unsure of their plan. “It sounded so cool in theory until you told me I had to drive it. Also, I definitely don’t have any berries left, do I?” he asked, looking down at his outfit. His usual purple cloak was now heavily stained red. Bleedy and Mousifer had spent the better part of the last hour crushing berries against it until it was the right color. The result was a purplish-red monstrosity that the real Santa would shoot with a shotgun if he ever saw it. But it was about as good as it was going to get. Luckily, Merlin had some hats. They were close enough to be festive, and Merlin looked like the perfect bootleg Santa. He looked less like a shopping mall Santa and more like the Santa you catch behind the shopping mall, partaking in illicit substances.

Orb laughed nervously. “Oh, you have plenty of berries left, don’t you worry. We made sure not to use all of it.”

Mousifer looked up at Orb nervously. “Squea…”

Orb spun toward the tiny black mouse. “I know we used it all, but he doesn’t need to know that. The last thing we need is a grumpy Santa. Besides, everyone knows holiday episodes never have any real consequences for the main story. We can get away with whatever we want. It’s totally not canon.”

Merlin glared at him. “You made sure I could hear that on purpose, didn’t you?” He turned to Vetica. “Hey Vetica, can I borrow your knife?” he asked.

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She looked at him from the passenger’s seat of ‘Santa’s sleigh’, otherwise known as Merlin’s wagon. “Sure, how come?” she asked, passing it over without a second thought.

Merlin grabbed it and stood. He looked down and sized the difference between where he stood on the driver’s bench of the wagon and where Orb floated a few feet away from it.

He jumped.

Orb hadn’t quite realized what Merlin was doing until it was too late. Merlin came crashing through the air toward him, knife in hand.

“No consequences, hey? We’ll see about that!” Merlin screamed. Just before he reached Orb, a series of tendrils shot forward and wrapped around his waist. Merlin floated in the air.

“Merlin, we’ve spent a lot of time preparing for Charlie’s surprise. Kill the dungeon core after. I’m not sure if Orb bleeds, but we shouldn’t ruin Santa’s outfit before the noble little one sees you,” Koi Levi said.

Merlin sighed. “Fine.” He let the knife fall to the ground and crossed his arms as Koi Levi returned him to the wagon. A tendril picked up the knife but didn’t return it to Vetica.

Having narrowly avoided a tragic death during the equivalent of a Christmas fan-service episode, Orb straightened himself and floated to inspect their work.

Merlin, of course, was dressed like Santa. Vetica had removed her vest and instead wore her simple green shirt with gold symbols etched along the sleeves. Orb had convinced her after twenty minutes of arguing back and forth to wear a festive green hat to match. She was playing the role of Santa’s elf, because of course she was. Every Santa needs an elf.

With very little time to prepare, the wagon was about as good as it would get for a sleigh replacement. But the ‘reindeer’ really brought it all together. Eight Scalers were affixed to the front of Merlin’s… Santa’s wagon. Koi Levi had even made them attachable antlers out of boar tusks he’d absorbed in Sange. They were the creepy, slinky, scaly counterparts of Santa’s reindeer back on Earth. But Orb knew Charlie would absolutely adore them.

“Alright, what now? Shall we go pick Charlie up?” Merlin asked.

Orb bounced in the air to imitate a nod and then floated over to the wagon and plopped down on the bench in between the two of them. “Alright, Santa! Let’s get this show on the road!” Orb said excitedly.

Merlin nodded and shook the reins in his hands. They weren’t sure how the scalers would react. It turned out they didn’t react at all. Luckily, King Scalea had come to supervise. He clung to the ceiling and watched. When he realized Merlin was ready to go, he barked.

“Arca!” The order echoed throughout the hallway. It was exactly what the scalers needed to hear to kick into action. The kick was a bit harder than they expected. Faster too.

The wagon lurched forward so fast that Orb smacked into the back of the bench. The scalers were moving way faster than he’d imagined them capable of. Merlin pulled against the reins, to no avail. Scalers weren’t used to pulling wagons. For all they knew, Merlin pulling on that rein meant they should pick up the pace.

It wasn’t how they interpreted it, though. Oh no. They decided to climb up the freaking wall.

You’d think that would leave the wagon crashing onto its side. But whether it was the pure speed at which they were moving, or some strange alteration of physics by the dungeon itself, that didn’t happen. Those scaly sons of other scalers pulled the wagon right up the wall with them. As the three of them, Merlin, Vetica, and Orb, were pressed back into the bench by the sheer speed with which they traveled, the dungeon’s hallway was a blur. Mousifer and Bleedy screamed somewhere behind them, holding onto the canvas of the wagon’s outer covering for dear life.

At some point, either because Merlin’s brain had been pressed too hard against his skull, or because he’d decided to give in and make the best of their suicidal scaler sleigh ride, Merlin leaned into it. “Ho Ho Ho!” he yelled. “Merry Christma—” he stopped before he could finish.

Orb strained to look at him. “Oh, don’t tell me you’re one of those ‘Happy Holiday’ guys!”

Merlin pointed to his throat. “I think I swallowed a loose scale.”

Gross.

***

Despite the unexpected ride, they made it safely. If you consider crash-landing making it safely. They disembarked from Merlin’s wagon. Which wasn’t so hard since it was now lying firmly on its side. When they entered the room, Charlie was just waking up. He rolled over from the comfy sleeping bag he was curled up inside and looked up at them. He covered his mouth as he yawned. “Oh! Hey everyone! What are you doing?” he asked, noticing their odd clothes. His eyes went wide. “Wait, did you join the cult while I was asleep? I knew I should’ve stayed up!”

Merlin blinked and then looked down at his clothes. He exchanged a look with Vetica, and then they burst into laughter. Charlie couldn’t help but join in, despite not knowing what was so funny. He just liked to laugh.

Orb floated over to Merlin. “Get it together Santa. We’re on a mission, remember?”

Merlin cleared his throat. “Right! Charlie, I’m Santa, and this is Santa’s little help—”

Vetica punched Merlin square in the shoulder. “This is Vetica, who doesn’t appreciate being called anything but her name, apparently,” Merlin corrected.

Charlie tilted his head. “Why are you crying, Merlin?”

“Because that really hurt.” He shook it off. “Anyway, we have a surprise for you, and we’d like you to come with us. We even have transportation. You get to ride in Santa’s sleigh,” he said.

Charlie’s eyes lit up. “I don’t know what’s going on, but that sounds like fun!” he said. Vetica hurried over and picked him up and then they all hurried back outside.

Orb scoffed when he realized Bleedy and Mousifer still hadn’t flipped over the wagon. “Guys, I gave you one job. Seriously? Good minions are so hard to find these days.”

Charlie created a stone hand that righted the wagon again, and a few moments later, they were off.

The ride back was much slower, and they took their time so as not to traumatize Charlie. He asked several times why Merlin smelled so good and was also curious about the weird antlers on top of the scaler’s heads. But overall, he was taking this Christmas celebration in stride. If anything, he was just happy to be involved.

Eventually, they reached the throne room. Charlie tried to peek inside, but it was completely devoid of light. He frowned. “Why is it so dark?” he asked.

That was Koi Levi’s work.

The scalers pulled into the pitch-black room and Charlie looked all around from Merlin’s lap, trying to figure out what was going on.

Merlin leaned forward and held his hands out. “Merry Christmas, Charlie.”

The room erupted. Red and white hexes danced and shimmered along the walls. The Christmas tree illuminated the room, filling it with a myriad of bright, cheerful colors. The festive plant strings that Vetica and the others had strung together hung beautifully and brought life into the room.

There was even something that surprised all of them. Snow. Gentle white flakes were falling from the ceiling. “How is that possible?” Merlin asked.

Charlie held out his hand and snowflakes fell into his palm. His mouth fell open.

“Orb mentioned snow is especially welcome during Christmas time. I discussed it with Parent, and we found a way to make it happen. I hope you enjoy it, cheerful noble one,” Koi Levi said.

Charlie nodded fervently. “This is awesome!”

King Scalea and many other scalers climbed along the walls, chasing after the lights. Each of them had the makeshift antlers on their heads like a horde of scaly reindeer.

Marvin the horse was eating hay in the corner with a festive red hat on his head.

“Squeak!”

“Baby!”

Mousifer and Bleedy joined in on the holiday cheer. They ran off together behind a pillar in search of something.

Charlie giggled. “This is so cool! Why did you do all this?” he asked.

Vetica smiled. “It was Orb’s idea. He wanted to do something nice for you. And of course, anytime it’s for you, the rest of us have your back, Charlie.”

He looked up at her and smiled really big. Then he turned to Orb. “You really came up with all of this?” he asked.

Two little blush marks appeared on Orb’s exterior. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just figured you might appreciate celebrating a holiday back from your world! What do you think so far?” he asked.

Charlie grinned. “I love it! It’s really cool. I kind of want to climb the tree.”

Merlin sighed. “Of course, you do. You’d probably have enjoyed ritual combat, too.”

Charlie gasped. “Oh! That sounds fun! Who are we fighting?”

Vetica jumped up and pointed toward Merlin. “I told you!”

Orb floated over toward the back of the wagon. “Alright before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s time for the most important part of Christmas,” he said.

Charlie looked back. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Help me out back here, Vetica,” Orb said. The assassin nodded and stepped over the bench to join him in the back, where they’d left the tiny pillar Orb had insisted they wrap for Charlie. They’d used a piece of spare canvas Merlin kept for repairing his wagon. Vetica picked it up. The package split in half and fell into two pieces.

She looked up in surprise. “Oh no. It must have broken during the wagon ride to pick up Charlie. I’m sorry, Orb,” she said.

Orb sunk in the air several inches. “Oh. That’s…wow. Well, Christmas is ruined. That’s just freaking great.”

He turned as he heard Charlie giggling really hard outside. “What’s he so happy about?” Orb and Vetica peeked back over the bench to look.

Mousifer was wearing a miniature set of the makeshift reindeer horns. Bleedy had somehow found one of the festive hats Merlin and Vetica were wearing. They stood in front of Charlie, each of them offering him a paw-full of berries.

Despite the fact they were technically his, Merlin didn’t make a fuss over it.

Charlie giggled. He took some berries and then stared at Merlin. Charlie smashed them against his onesie.

This only made him giggle harder. He took some more, and crushed some more, and kept going until the front of his onesie was absolutely covered in squished berries. Merlin laughed just as hard. He took the hat off of his head and sat it on Charlie’s.

Charlie shrieked in excitement. “I’m Santa too!” he said.

“No, you’re even better. You’re baby Santa.” Merlin grinned.

Orb rolled to the side. “I don’t get it. The present was ruined! Presents are what Christmas is all about!” he said.

Vetica smiled. “I don’t know much about your holiday except for the fact it could use a little more violence just to keep things interesting. But from all this, I don’t think it’s about the presents. Look at Charlie,” she said.

Orb turned to look. Charlie was having a great time. He was goofing off with Mousifer, Bleedy, and Merlin. A few of the scalers had even joined in. He floated over to Charlie. “I’m sorry, Charlie. We did all this to get you a present, and it broke. I hope you aren’t too disappointed.”

Charlie stopped laughing and turned to look at Orb in surprise. “Disappointed? I’m having a lot of fun. Thank you, Orb. Can we do this more often?” he asked.

“Really? But you didn’t get anything! How can you have fun without gaining material wealth? I don’t understand. I mean, Jeff Bezos didn’t create Christmas just so we could sit around hanging out with our loved ones for free! We’ve got to give each other things. Think of the shareholders!”

Merlin frowned. “I wouldn’t say for free. After all, most of this stuff came from my wagon.”

Orb had an epiphany. “Oh, I see where I went wrong now. I could’ve turned a profit if only I’d focused on selling tickets instead. I mean, look at all these scalers, enjoying my Christmas lights and tree and decorations for free. I understand now, Jeff. I see the light. I don’t mean the hexes; I mean the metaphorical light.”

“Vetica, will you hold Charlie for me?” Merlin asked.

She blinked but took Charlie and sat on the front of the wagon with him.

Merlin held a hand out and a tendril carefully dropped the knife he had dropped earlier.

Orb realized he was in danger. “Oh. This is the part where you chase me, isn’t it?”

“Yup,” Merlin said, checking the sharpness of the blade.

“Got it. Well, Vetica did say she wanted more violence.”

“She sure did,” Merlin said, rolling his neck.

Charlie

Charlie laughed as he watched Merlin chase Orb around the room. He looked up at the pretty tree and the flickering lights. He watched the scalers chase each other and the tendrils wave back and forth peacefully in the distance. Snow piled against the dungeon floor, and the branches and leaves of the tree. It was beautiful.

It was Christmas. Charlie loved it. He was surrounded by the people he cared about, and they had put all of this together to show him just how much they cared about him as well. He understood in that moment what Christmas was all about. It was more than the lights, the decorations, and even the snow. It was about your loved ones. The people you want to be around. The people you want to celebrate with. It was about the Merlin’s, Vetica’s, and Orb’s of the world.

It was about family.

“Merry Christmas, Charlie,” Vetica said.

“Squeak!”

“Baby!”

Charlie smiled. He still didn’t know what everyone meant by that, but he thought it was funny and giggled as he said it back.

“Thanks. Hairy Cribnest to you too!”