My mind moves through the stone, buoyed along by the Dungeon Core. The Core is delighted by all the work I’ve been giving it of late. We zip through veins of rock like electrons on a circuit, flashing through the network of spells strung together throughout the fortress by threads of mana-conducting stone. It’s enormously complex—more than my mortal mind can comprehend at once. But for the Dungeon Core, picturing all these intricate and interconnected threads of rock is trivially simple. I wonder if it’s some sort of magical AI, like Echo. Even the Dungeon Core doesn’t seem to know what it is. Not that it ever really thinks about it.
We finish threading the last bits of mana ore into the throne room, where every spell circle in the palace eventually feeds back to. It’s tricky to find a path that doesn’t interfere with another spell circuit. Add too many spells, make the system too complicated, and one small, overlooked error could bring down the entire network. Which is why we have to be careful. Take our time with each new strand.
If only time was something we had in abundance.
A vast distance away, I can feel something faintly tugging on my arm. I want to resist the pull and take one more pass through the stone circuit the Dungeon Core and I just built, ensuring the stone was transformed into the right element properly, and along the correct pathing, but I know better than to leave my body for long. Reluctantly, I release the Core’s interface and let the physical sensation guide me back.
“...Fyre? Hey, wake up!”
I crack an eye open, and Dizzi’s face is before me.
“How long?” I ask.
“Seventy-two seconds,” she says, letting go of my arm.
We’d decided not to let me immerse myself in the Dungeon Core’s interface, separated from my body, for longer than I could reasonably hold my breath. Just in case, you know, my body stops remembering how to breathe while my mind is elsewhere. Perhaps overly cautious, but merited, given the potential worst-case scenarios.
“Is the circuit done?” Dizzi asks.
“I’d like to triple check it, but yes, I believe it’s ready to be wired into the network.” I glance around the cavern and find the stone Dizzi’s marked with a spell circle. I head over to it. “Is this complete?”
“Yep,” Dizzi says, planting her hands on her hips as she looks over the chalk drawing. “Ready to go.”
“Then let’s.” I put my hand on the stone and nudge the Dungeon Core into action. As it’s done five times before now, it begins eating away at the chalk, carving the spell circle into the surface of the stone. At the same time I give it the mental image it needs to shape the boulder into its appropriate form. A few seconds later, and the spell circle is now embedded in a giant, vertical slate of shale.
“My turn?” Dizzi asks.
“Go for it.”
She puts her hand on the carved spell circle, and it lights up with her magic—a lime green color. The magic wraps around the fin of rock, reinforcing the material while maintaining its thin and lightweight nature. The light also spreads through the fin and vanishes into the nearby rock, following the circuit of stone I’d created back to the throne room. Using the Dungeon Core, I cast my mind toward the throne just to be sure.
“It’s connected,” I confirm.
“Whew.” Dizzi lets go and wipes a sheen of sweat from her brow. “Six down, six to go.”
“We should finish by the end of the day, if you’ve got the energy to keep going,” I say.
Dizzi nods, expression determined. “Doesn’t matter if I’m tired. We have to keep going. These control surfaces aren’t going to build themselves.”
I just hope they’ll be enough—and that we’re fast enough. Creating the dozens of house-sized stabilizers all across the fortress is only step one—but it’s the step I need Dizzi for, given her understanding of spell circles and magical networks. And we have to finish all this before we can move to step two.
“We better head to the next location, then,” I say. “No time to waste.”
“Right.” Dizzi grabs her water flask and takes a swig as we pack up and get ready to move.
She’s taking all this magic work a lot harder than I am. Is it because so much of what I do is through the Dungeon Core’s interface? None of it is really my magic. All I can do without the Core is summon fireballs. Perhaps it’s taking on the arcane strain in my place. Interesting. Something to experiment with, perhaps—at a later date.
Just as we’re preparing to leave, a kitten-sized white spider comes rushing down the hallway. It skids to a stop at my feet, looking up at me expectantly. Up close, it’s clearly made of silk, like a crochetted toy. There’s a piece of paper strapped to its back.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
I lean down to retrieve the message, then unfurl it and read it aloud for Dizzi’s benefit.
“Status report: Troops have been spotted at the foot of the Jorrian Mountains,” I read. “They still appear to be gathering. We now estimate two days before the siege—less if they start marching today.”
Dizzi grimaces. “Two days isn’t a lot of time.”
“We might have more,” I say, considering what I’d do in their circumstances. “Given they’re still gathering, and the limited daylight is nearly over, I suspect they’ll at least wait until tomorrow, so they can be sure they’re not marching into a trap. They’ve seen the canyons I can open. If they wait until the next daybreak, we’ll have at least another 18 hours before they start moving. With only five hours of sun, they might camp on the ice overnight, and close the final distance over another day after that. That should give us three to four days, I think.”
I flip the paper over and write out a quick ‘received’ message to send back to Mirzayael.
“I’m still not sure four days will be enough,” Dizzi says.
“It will have to be.” I send the spelled spider off, then turn for the next passage. “Let’s make sure it is.”
----------------------------------------
Stage two of the plan is tricky. In theory, it should be simple: exchange all of the stone at the base of Fyreneth’s Fortress with another. Like the dracid chamber which I altered to have better insulation, only on a city-wide scale. However, in practice, it isn’t so simple.
“I can only select one type of stone at a time,” I explain to Mirzayael and Dizzi over lunch, as I take a rare break to scarf down some stinger stew. “And the Fortress is made of hundreds of types of rock. I should be able to, say, select all the granite in the area at once and replace it, however I won’t know the consequences of such wide-scale alterations until after the change has taken hold.”
“You’re worried it might cause structural failures,” Mirzayael surmises.
I nod. “The Dungeon Core gives me incredible power over the geology here, however it provides me no insight into the implications of such changes. I desperately wish I could run some simulations before committing to each of these alterations. In the meantime, I’m going to have to limit myself: start small, altering just local areas, and gradually increase the range as I grow more confident in the structural stability. Dizzi and I have tested it out on a small scale and the theory is sound, but given the stakes, there’s no room for error.”
“How much have you already transformed?” Mirzayael asks.
“Uninhabited houses in the lower city, mostly,” Dizzi says. “We figure no one will miss a couple of abandoned buildings if we break them.”
“That’s not much,” Mirzayael says.
“I know.” I run a hand over my head, ruffling the feathers there in place of hair. “We need to scale much faster.”
“The troops have begun to move,” Mirzayael reminds me. “It will be less than two day until they arrive.”
“I know,” I repeat, my stomach churning. “But this plan has to work. It has to.”
“It’s an ambitious plan,” Mirzayael says. “But right now we need to survive today. I’ll prepare my troops. And you need to make sure you save enough mana for yourself. Don’t let the Dungeon Core consume everything and leave you defenseless.”
“I won’t,” I assure her. But in the back of my head, I’m rationing how much mana I can afford to keep for myself. It’s already going to be tight.
I try to take a sip of my soup, but there’s a pit in my stomach. The lack of sleep over the last couple days probably hasn’t helped, either. “I should get back to it.”
Mirzayael nods, then pauses to regard me. Her brows knot in a concerned frown. “You’re doing alright, aren’t you?”
“Best I can manage, given the circumstances,” I say.
“Make sure to get some rest before they arrive.” Mirzayael glances at Dizzi. “You make sure she stops to rest.”
“I’ll take a nap once I’m done with the stone conversions,” I promise. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’ll actually be able to fall asleep. I spent all of the previous night tossing and turning, anxieties and images of the coming battle waking me before I even fully fell unconscious.
“I’ll do my best,” Dizzi tells Mirzayael. “But ultimately, I don’t think I’ll really be able to stop her from working if she’s set on it.”
Mirzayael huffs. “Disappointingly true.”
I stand, taking my bowl over to the basin for cleaning. “Let me know if anything changes.”
“Of course.” Mirzayael sets her half-eaten meal down as well. I guess I’m not the only one who lost her appetite. “Good luck.”
We’ll all need it.
----------------------------------------
[Area selected. Mana cost: 2853]
My eyes are closed so I can focus on the Map Interface. Initiate material replacement.
[Initiating.]
Through the Dungeon Core, I can feel the stone change. Bits of the rock are replaced and instantly filled in with different ore the Dungeon Core had already consumed and stored in its inventory. The new rock tastes less dense. Crunchy and light. A hint of sourness. The Core finds it very tasty, but even it isn’t tempted to consume rock it’s already eaten once before. That’s just weird.
[Replacement complete.]
I open my eyes. Visually, it doesn’t appear any different. Running my hands over the stone, it doesn’t feel different, either. But I know it is.
“Next?” Dizzi asks.
“Keep going,” I say. Over 80% of the conversion is complete. Still, there’s hours left of work to do.
“The next zone is this way,” Dizzi says, consulting the grid she’d laid out as we walk.
It helps to have some of the work offloaded from my mind. I’ve enough to keep track of as it is. I shake my head, trying to dispel some of the heavy weariness that’s gathered over the last few days. It’s fine, though. I can push through. Soon enough, we’ll all have much bigger things to worry about than a little sleep deprivation.
“Here we are,” Dizzi says after a time, gesturing to the walls.
“How many more zones?”
Dizzi consults her notes. “Sixty-four down, eleven to go.”
We’re so close. I place my hands on the stone and close my eyes, summoning the Dungeon Core once more.
[Area selected. Mana Cost: 2931]
As I initiate the conversion process again, a familiar staccato of footsteps comes racing down the hall.
“Fyre!” Mirzayael cries, her voice distant. “Fyre!”
“Here!” I call back, removing my hand from the wall. She’s coming herself, rather than sending one of her spells as a messenger. I know what that must mean. My heart sinks.
[Conversion complete.]
Mirzyael skids around the corner, fear stark on her face. I’ve never seen it so plainly visible before. No attempts at disguising her anxiety. She looks at me, and I don’t even need her to tell me.
“They’re here.” I didn’t finish in time. Will I be able to do the rest from the throne room? It will cost more mana to reach deeper into the fortress and alter the stone remotely. Mana we desperately need for the coming fight.
I suppose we won’t have a choice. We’re out of time.
“Fyre?” Mirzayael says.
I exhale all my hesitations and worries out in a single breath. “Let’s go. We’ve a battle to win.”