We stayed around for a while at the oasis and interacted with the parmadillos. They were curious at first, but after a few minutes of sniffing and snorting around us, they became bored and moved along. Any sudden movement would cause the ones close to curl into a ball so we had to move slowly. Ella looked around the area and dug some plants out of the ground putting them in a bag she brought from one of her fallen comrades.

“I'll try and plant these. Some of them look like plants we used to grow back in my village.” As she walked around looking at the plants I walked into the water. It was a perfect temperature and felt amazing. I saw grime slide off my body as I slide in deeper. I hadn't actually washed myself in over half a year. Not that it bothered me, I didn't sweat or anything like that so I didn't realize how dirty I was. I sat soaking in the water until the sun started to go down.

“Hey, it's time to head back,” I said to Ella as I ordered the poison spiders to head back. Ella finished her collection of plants and headed back to the vortex. We entered an interesting site. The tanks were both standing at the entrance to the cave, bodies bent down in an American football lineman stance. They were straining to hold their ground as Elton leaned against them trying to push into the cave. Its large lumbering body was actually pushing two of my tanks back.

“Be careful,” Ella said reaching into her pack and pulling out a flowering bulb she had taken from one of the cacti. She ran over to Elton and held the bulb in front of his nose. It sniffed it aggressively and turned away from the tanks following Ellas as she walked backward. The tanks let out a long sigh and slumped back. I could feel the exhaustion oozing off of them.

“I didn't think Elton was welcome inside of the caves.” Daisy’s voice sounded a little irritated. I thanked her and sent the two tanks back to rest and ordered the third to come to take over the watch.

“Hey, Ella. Lead that one back through the gate and let him be.” I started to explain everything I had seen and down to Daisy as Ella led Elton around.

“He doesn't want to go back through,” Ella said after a few moments.

“Well, we can't have him stay here. If he goes into the caves he will set off the traps and hurt himself.”

“Well, I don't think we can force him out.” I doubted it as well since the tanks were having such a big issue just holding him in place.

“Well, find a way to put it back, or keep him out of the caves. If not I will be forced to kill him.” I was not going to risk my dungeon for a pet.

“Wait. hold on.” Ella rummaged through her bag again and pulled out a weed. She held it to Elton's face and he backed away shaking his head. “Ha, I got it.” Without another word, she turned around and jumped back through the vortex. Confused, we just waited in the tree room for about an hour before a panting Ella came back through. Daisy was fully updated as Ella pilled mounds of the weed in front of the cave entrance.

“What's this?”

“No idea. I tried to feed a few of them when we were on oasis and they seemed to really hate this stuff.” She explained as she pulled out another bulb and led Elton to the cave entrance. He was excited until he reached the weeds and stopped short stomping his massive paws snorting. After a few failed attempts to go past the weeds, he gave up on the meal and walked away.

“Well, I'll take that as a success.” With the immediate problem solved, I left Elton and Ella in the tree room and headed back to my throne. I doubted that there would be any issues with them. From what I had seen, there was no real threat from the armadillos. “So, if we leave the dungeon, will it eventually go away?”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“Correct.”

“How long will it take for that to happen?”

“Unsure.”

“I'll have Ella put some of that grass on the other side of the gate to keep any more Elton's coming over. I also need to find a way to get our Elton back through to his dungeon before they separate. I think if I got everyone together, scare him into a ball, we might be able to roll him out of the dungeon.” I rolled the idea over in my head. “The biggest problem is the fact we have two people with arms, the rest all have weapons or tools so lifting him up might be a pain.” I sat down on my throne and closed my eyes. I was more tired than normal.

“When you leave the dungeon, you are further away from the power and energy of the dungeon causing increased fatigue.”

“Thanks, Daisy. I'll keep that in mind. Wake me up in a few days.” I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I felt much more rested after a few days of sleep. Elton was still moving around the tree room enjoying himself. There was a large pile of cacti near the gate that Ella had gathered for him.

“Where is Ella now?” I asked after checking the map and not seeing her icon.

“She has been moving between the dungeons over the past few days. She has brought food and plants from the other dungeon.” As she said that Ella came back through the vortex with an armful of cacti and a bulging backpack. After dropping the food in the pile she went to her hut pulling off her pack. The area she had been working up was larger and had a variety of plants. She proceeds to pull plants and bury them in the tilled ground.

“At this rate, we will have a massive garden here.” Although I didn't mind much. It’s not like I used that room. The sunlight was a little too much for me, I much preferred to be inside the caves.

Over the next couple of weeks, I visited the other dungeon a handful of times. Everything between our two sides was peaceful. We kept fresh weeds that blocked the paramdillos from accidentally wandering into my dungeon. Elton was still around, but it was about time to have him go back. It had been a little over a month since we connected with the dungeon, and I was sure that we would separate at any moment. I headed over to the tree room. I was planning on going through the gate today and saying goodbye to the paramdillo king. While they were docile and couldn't talk, I had grown slightly attached to the big guy. The few times I went to the oasis we would hang out at the pool. Maybe it was because we were both dungeon masters but I felt close to him.

“Ella, I’m going to the oasis, want to come?” She was watering her plants. “This will probably be the last time I go in, we will most likely be separating from the dungeon soon.”

“Really?” She looked sad. “I guess it can't be helped.”

“That also means we need to get Elton back to his dungeon after we come back.”

“I know.” She sounded even sadder now. We headed out to the other dungeon. The surveillance spider had really enjoyed the trip and often rode on my back when we went in.

We came to the other side of the gate to the familiar hot sandy environment. I closed my eyes against the sun.

“What the hell is this?” Ella’s voice made me open my eyes again. I saw exactly what she was looking at. The sky had a massive crack in it that stretched all across the sky.