The cavern was a scene of chaos. Somehow, they had returned in the middle of an ongoing fight. Andrew was standing in front of Twonger, who looked to have been shot and burnt by something. Zoz was standing in front of Andrew.
“Ah, I was hoping to have this done before you returned. Then again, I was also hoping to wait until you had collected all your friends, but it’s too late for that, I’m afraid.” Zoz said.
“What do you mean? What the hell is going on, Zoz?” Andy shouted. It looked like Ralth’s fears had manifested, but he still wanted to know why Zoz had decided to attack them after helping them for so long.
“Mana like yours doesn’t really exist inside this region of the abyss. This is where dreamers create new realities waiting to be born. The raw mana bursts forth and coalesces into something usable when their seeds burst forth. Well, imagine my surprise when I felt you and your friends somehow burst through the membrane and enmesh yourselves into them. Even more to my luck, you, Andy were very close. All I had to do was pull you towards me, and then I could have my very own source of refined mana. Who knows, I might even be able to find a way to take your core from you, but then, even better, I learned all your friends have mana-channeling abilities as well. Now if only the high dreamers weren’t aware of my activities, I could have captured you all, but I suppose six will have to do.” To Andy’s surprise, Zoz answered.
“Andy, just go. Do not try to fight him. It’s how Twonger ended up like this. Rip open another hole and go. Don’t waste time worrying about directing it! Just go!” Andrew yelled at them.
“What about you?” Andy did not want to leave his older self behind, and he’d rather not leave Twonger either.
“Don’t worry about me. I’m the only one of us without a source of mana. He can’t drain anything from me. Get Twonger and go, dammit!” Andrew screamed in answer as he charged at Zoz. This apparently had been what they had interrupted as Andy now noticed one of Zoz’s antlers had been broken and Andrew already had a large stick.
“Ralth, grab Twonger. This is going to be a rough ride without Zoz’s energy to actually rip open a targeted destination.” Andy grabbed the first pulsating mana thread he felt and ripped as hard as he could. He did his best to focus on what Ralth had said regarding the mana web and then mimicked Zoz’s actions to the best of his ability.
There was a rending sound in the air as a warped portal appeared in front of them. It was nowhere near the smooth, glassy surface that Zoz was creating, but it looked like it would work. Ralth threw Twonger into it before Andy could take a deeper look. That meant there was no second guessing now, so leaped through after the unconscious man. Libby, Bill, and Ralth followed just as the portal sizzled out of existence behind them.
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“Hey guys, I was worried we’d never see you again.” It was Serilina’s voice. Somehow, they had found her. “Wiggly here felt you reaching out, so he gave you a good pull. Sorry, it took so long to find you. Apparently, this is where Wiggly was born and something here had him really worried about my safety. Wait, where’s Andrew?” She rambled out a bunch of statements before the final pressing question.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit, we can’t leave him behind even if he told us to!” Andy yelled in frustration and hit the cave wall nearest him.
“We didn’t have much choice. Andrew was likely right about the mana problem. We’ve seen what Zoz can do when we feed him any mana, and look at Twonger down there. Imagine if he had gotten ahold of Libby or Ralth. Both of you are practically bursting with mana,” Bill said.
“I don’t know that I am anymore, but my core is still something that would be very dangerous for him to get ahold of. That said, I have a strong feeling this won’t be the last we see of him. Now that I’ve felt it again, I’m sure I’ve encountered his energy source before,” Ralth responded.
“Yes, it is best he wasn’t able to drain my energy sources. I’d rather not go inert,” Libby added
“So what do we do now?” Andy asked. He was feeling lost. He was tired of being in charge, as always, everything was going wrong around him no matter how hard he tried to hold it all together. Someone else could do the planning. He needed to rest. He slumped down against the wall and put his head in his hands.
“We wait. You all may be idiots, but I’ve grown to like you. Plus, Mother needs friends. I believe certain events are unfolding in a very unexpected way for Zoz as we speak.” To the surprise of everyone, Mr. Wiggles was the source of the words.
“Aww, Wiggly, you’ve decided you like them. I’ve never seen him actually talk to anyone else. He must really like you.” Serilina said in response.
“It has much more to do with being back in the proto realities. I am able to bond to all you like I have mother. It makes it easier to convey my thoughts in a way that makes sense to your language processing. Dreams are a complicated and chaotic thing, rarely fully understood, but you’ve all made some significant progress on unraveling them. Most mortals would have long gone mad here. I believe that Zoz has actually done a great service for us all, though I doubt he has realized it yet. Somehow, you’ve all managed to blunder your way through danger after danger, but I urge you to beware of his wrath in the future. I cannot be everywhere, nor will I have the strength for any direct opposition.” Mr. Wiggles continued his speech, toning down the insults this time.
He then drew a single claw across the air, ripping open a new portal.