The villagers all rushed out onto the surface, excited to just be out under the sun once again. The elation came short lived, as the smell of blood washed over them. Corpses of humans and monsters both laid about the fort on the surface. Owyn was concerned though, for an entirely paradoxical reason.

Simply put, there wasn’t enough blood.

There should be more knights. At least enough to overwhelm Lucid’s upper cave monsters. Though the human sized fish monsters had been reduced to nearly a third of their original number, there shouldn’t be any left! And Owyn couldn’t see any high ranking members of the church here. Where was Garroway?

“Everyone to the woods!” Baroness Bellamy shouted.

“But our homes-”

“We don’t know if they’re trapped!” Her shout silenced those that had been urging others to join them in a mad dash towards Setterton. “We’ll reconvene at a place in the lumber woods! Everyone find a monster to follow and scatter!”

A few villagers went to Lucid’s various mimic crabs, in some cases picking them up and running with them in hand. Most of them just ran alongside the crabs though, one of the very few monsters they were able to recognize. A small handful of them plainly broke off from the rest, heading directly for the village.

Owyn found himself counting the survivors. Out of the almost one hundred and twenty villagers, only a hundred made it out of the caves. Of Lucid’s monsters, the mimic crab children, about sixty of them, also made it out. Damian, Grant and his mother, the Dungeon Rat kids, the fish monsters, and a few small creatures like the Sneakies were all that was left.

Mycroft! Owyn remembered. Rather than running with the rest of the villagers, he spun around and ran back into the cave. Lucid had prioritized the children, even within his own monsters. Even though Mycroft was far larger, and far more capable in a fight than the other children, surely Lucid had rescued her as well!

Owyn found Mycroft stuck in the smallest part of the cave. Her body was too big to fit through. If Owyn didn’t dread the God Core’s dungeon creeping up behind her, he would have sighed with relief. Instead, he just got down and pressed his body against hers.

“You’ve gotta back up buddy, come on. We’ll get you through. There you go, you’re free again. Ok, you’re going to need to open your mouth. All the way. Go back to the next room if you need space. There you go.”

Owyn guided her through the process of making herself as short as possible before manually shoving her across the cave stones towards the exit. She only fit by some miracle, and with no small amount of scraped along the bottom of her carapace and the insides of her mimic mouth. She whined the whole way, a process that would normally involve using her tentacles to poke and prod at Owyn. Now though, her various plates along her body stayed firmly shut, dribbling small amounts of blood. She smelled of the stuff. Her body was slick with it. If Owyn hadn’t been blinded by the smell of blood outside, this would have overwhelmed him.

Mycroft flinched at the sight of the sun, hiding her eyes in her shell until she got used to it. Owyn guided her for a while, but when she got used to the light, she began guiding him. It wasn’t easy for Mycroft to travel through the dense woods, she toppled a few saplings along the way. But eventually, after about half an hour of walking, they came upon everyone else.

There were fewer villagers again, Owyn noticed. Only about twenty remained. One of them noticed Owyn’s confused look.

“After we all met up, Lucid gave us the chance to scatter again. Well, some of them never showed up in the first place.”

“Where did they go?” Owyn asked.

The villager shrugged. “Who knows. Lucid warned them of potential dangers, especially with the church. He suggested finding different villages to go to, ones without a major church presence, or ones with family they could trust enough to hide with.”

“You’re no prisoner either.” The Baroness joined the conversation, walking towards them with Lucid’s core cradled in hand. “The offer extends to you. If you don’t want to stay, you don’t have to.”

Owyn scoffed. “As if. What’s the plan?”

“Kill.” One of the fish monsters growled. A giant one, standing nearly as tall as Grant’s dad once stood, with a translucent bulb dangling out from its forehead.

Mrs. Vernant confronted the monster with a hand on her son’s shoulder. “How, exactly? What could we possibly do to make their sacrifices worth it?”

“We need to live.” A villager said. The old leatherworker. “That’s how.”

“Are we supposed to run?” Another asked.

“What does Lucid say?”

All eyes turned to the Baroness.

“Keep talking.” She said. “We’re all in this together, so everyone’s voice needs to be heard. Lucid meant what he said, nobody here’s being forced into anything.”

“Does he have a plan?”

“An idea.” She nodded. “But it’s not perfect, so if-”

“Oh for fucks sake!” The villager next to Owyn cried. “We’re all here because we chose to be. We’ve learned to trust Lucid enough already, just tell us what needs to be done!”

The Baroness hesitated. But in the way that indicated she was listening to Lucid. She nodded.

“Very well. But we still need to have a discussion. For now though, we need to know if everyone’s of the same mind. The church has done many heinous acts. Even though we all got lucky that Lucid is who he is, the church still ‘fed’ us to a dungeon. Not to mention the fact that they apparently worship a dungeon they call the God Core. Not only that, they claim to want to ‘conquer the surface’. Are any of these acts amenable?”

“They killed my husband.” Mrs. Vernant said, hard as stone.

“Stole me house.” A villagers grunted.

“Killed the lumberjack and his son.” Owyn added.

“They need to pay.”

“Kill!” The large fish agreed.

“Something needs to be done!”

Baroness Bellamy raised a hand for silence, which she got. All eyes were on her. “Good. Then first thing’s first, we need to go to the capital. Even if Everlast isn’t the home of the God Core, it’s at least the home of the church. The church is the main epidemic, spreading their roots around to villages like Setterton. We cut them off at the source.”

Owyn smiled. He liked that plan. Knowing Abby, she’d want to fight the church head on too. She probably led Barry and Isabelle to Everlast too, meaning they’d be likely to meet them there. Still, “That’s going to take a while. Even if we went in a straight line, it’d still take something like three or four days. Since we’re going the long way, we should take even more time to collect some more animals for Lucid. Build him up again so that-”

“Wait, hold on. Who said we’re going the long way?” The Baroness asked.

Owyn cocked his head. “Isn’t it obvious? We need to avoid detection. People and monsters walking side by side is a sure way of gathering attention. It’ll basically be announcing our arrival days before we get there.”

“...”

One of the villagers uncrossed their arms. “Oh, no fucking way.”

“We’re actually going straight there?”

“Like you said, we’ll be gaining attention.” The Baroness said. “Our goal is to eradicate the church. What better way to draw them out?”

“Whatever you’re thinking, it won’t work.” Owyn said. “They have a literal army on their side and we have…” Owyn gestured in a circle.

“We don’t need an army.” The Baroness said, though her face scrunched up. Whatever Lucid was saying through her, she didn’t agree with it. “Lucid asks if we’ve ever heard of ‘criers’?”

Owyn touched a finger to his cheek, pointing to his eyes with a questioning look.

The Baroness listened to Lucid for a second before huffing. She passed his core over to Owyn.

Almost immediately, Owyn was transported to Lucid’s world. He saw scenes of war, some futuristic, some modern, with swords and shields. He saw rich aristocrats kneeling before some gallows, with crowds of people before them. One person shouted for the aristocrats' death, and soon, others joined in. The scene shifted, and suddenly he was in a bar, surrounded by the patrons. He heard whispers of dissent, and began believing in them, despite not really knowing the context.

Owyn returned to the real world with a rush and a gasp. “Oh.”

“What?”

“A crier is an instigator.” Owyn told the villagers. “They start the momentum going, get people riled up for a certain cause.”

“Meaning?”

Lucid spoke to Owyn, who said them aloud. “Meaning none of you will be needed for fighting. Lucid’s going to hang behind a bit, and the rest of you will go on ahead of us, spreading rumors in Lucid’s favor. Seed the idea that the church has been up to something shady recently. You can even tell them the truth! That the church has been feeding dungeons, that they don’t believe in the Goddess, all the things they did to us! Oh! But Lucid says to be careful and not actually mention that you experienced it personally. He says that you’re supposed to tell it like you’re spreading a rumor you heard from someone else.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Baroness crossed her arms. “What will that do?”

As Lucid kept explaining things, Owyn was getting more and more behind it. “The church’s main power is the command it has over regular people. Citizens who believe them simply because ‘they are the church’. If word gets out that the church is actually evil, people will be paying a close eye to things, specifically about the church. They might say things like ‘Hey, doesn’t our cardinal look like he’s not quite fully human?’ or ‘Why haven’t they conquered that village that destroyed Setterton?’, stuff like that. Soon enough, word will spread to the other survivors, people we haven’t even included in the plan, and they’ll only reinforce our story. Eventually, it’ll become a large enough movement that people higher up can’t ignore it!”

“Like the King.” A villager whispered with a small amount of awe.

“Someone who has a literal army.” Owyn nodded. “If we do this right, and we out the church for who they really are, we won’t even need to lift a finger of our own. Once we think the rumor’s gone far enough, Lucid says he’ll take things from there.”

“What’s that mean?”

“KILL!” The fishman shouted. He flinched immediately after, cowering like a scolded child.

Lucid’s attention returned to Owyn. “Lucid says we’ll figure things out when that comes around. If we really do get the King’s attention, he’ll try opening dialogue. If the people begin rioting, Lucid’ll… figure something out. Right now, the best plan is to just get the pieces moving and adjust to the situation appropriately.”

“I can agree to that.” Several villagers nodded assent.

“Good.” The Baroness took a seat and cleared out some space on the forest floor. “Then let’s get to specifics. Between us and Everlast there’s two cities and seven villages. Who wants to-”

***

Owyn watched the mimic crabs wander about the area of forest Lucid had claimed. Well, ‘claimed’, since in the outdoors, he couldn’t actually claim any territory. In fact, in order to heal any of his injured thralls, he had to be touching them directly. Which was why Owyn was sitting on top of Mycroft, with Lucid’s core tucked between his legs and resting on her shell.

The Baroness accepted gifts of dandelions and berries from some of the friendlier crabs. The ones with humanoid bodies. Owyn found it passively fascinating that each crabs personality was somehow reflected in their appearance. The combat oriented ones were off putting, and typically aggressive, even with their own brothers and sisters. Arty hardly interacted with anyone at all, choosing to find the center of the camp and shove his pointed feet into the earth, anchoring him there. The Sneakies, all five of them, had decided to nest in his cannon. Owyn suspected they found it comfortable, similar to the cracks and crevices they were used to traversing.

I have no idea when I got five. Lucid told Owyn.

Owyn just grunted.

He was the only ‘free’ human left. All of the other villagers had left to spread rumors like Lucid had told them to. They’d spent nearly two hours talking about what rumors they should spread, and how they should present them. Since everything they were saying was the truth, it wasn’t hard to decide on topics. It did build a fire under the villagers though, as they all realized exactly what sorts of things the church’s actions implicated. Had they done this before? What other villages were completely wiped off the face of the earth, only for the church to ‘save the day’ later? They only knew the truth about their own village, but everyone would imagine.

“Krr…” Mycroft purred, reaching up a tentacle for Owyn. He sighed, idly holding for comfort. His own, or Mycrofts, it didn’t matter.

“I hope Abby’s ok.”

Grant turned to look up at him from his mothers embrace.

Owyn gave the bat-skeleton hybrid of his friend a smile. “And Barry and Isabelle too, of course.”

Grant nodded and went back to snuggling with his mother. She rubbed his skull, staring blankly into the fire before her.

It was odd to think that he was the only real person here. At least, by the common sense of the world. Baroness Bellamy, Mrs. Vernant, and Grant weren’t technically supposed to be regarded as human any more. Well, fair play in Grant’s case, but it was harder still to imagine him as anything but human. The Dungeon Rat kids too. The two oldest, Tyler and Arianna, definitely didn’t look human. Cuddling Clyde, like they were while sleeping, they almost looked like a family. And then there was Lucid. The definitely not human, never was, and yet, at one point had been.

Life had become far too chaotic for Owyn’s liking. He liked it when things were routine. Of course he knew that he couldn’t stop change from happening, but that didn’t stop him from wanting things to go back to how they were.

Even if that means not knowing the truth about the church? Or meeting Mycroft and Lucid? Owyn didn’t know. He hung his head and sighed.

You good? Lucid asked.

Just tired is all. Owyn lied. He didn’t need to respond aloud any more. Besides him, everyone was connected to Lucid.

Fair enough. Lucid nodded. You’re lucky that you can just go to sleep. Have sweet dreams.

I don’t dream. Owyn said.

Then I really pity you. Lucid sighed. I miss being able to do whatever, whenever I want to. Summon gods to fight to work through my anger, or play with kittens to relieve my stress, or just experience new things.

You say that like you were a god yourself. Owyn said. I thought people in your world were the same as here.

Less so! Lucid chuckled. We don’t have magic back where I’m from. Everything we’ve achieved was through technology. Just really fancy windmills and carriages. No, the whole summoning gods thing only happens when I’m asleep. I lucid dream. Do you know what that is?

Your name?

Lucid dreaming is the ability to control your dreams. And yes, it’s the inspiration for my name.

What’s your real name then?

Lucid. The dungeon responded easily. I’m not afraid of that fact. I simply am who I am. No point in running away from that. Just have to take responsibility is all.

I don’t envy you. Owyn’s eyes drew around to the hundred odd creatures settling in for the night. The fish monsters prowled the outer edges of camp, keeping everyone safe in shifts. It’d weigh pretty heavily on me too, to be responsible for so many lives.

It’s the deaths that weigh on me the most.

Owyn couldn’t argue with that. I’ve never killed people before.

It’s not difficult. Lucid said, a little sadly.

I know. But it’s harder than killing an animal. Or monster. Or dungeon. No offense.

They’re all equal. Lucid said, a little harder. A life is a life. The people who decide who lives and who dies are just people looking out for their own best interests. It’s in everyone’s evolutionary advantage to ensure their own survival. That could mean that taking a life could mean everything, or it could mean nothing. And people like me, who view taking a life as nothing, we need people like you, who view taking lives as something meaningful. Otherwise we lose ourselves, and we lose the value that a collective brings.

Too wordy. Owyn smirked.

Friends good. Lucid grunted with a simple, guttural voice. I need advice.

Owyn shifted position. He laid down on Mycroft’s shell, looking up at the forested sky. What’s up?

The God Core pushing my territory back, and the killing of the church on our way to the surface. They both gave me a lot of mana. And now that everything’s settled, I need to use it. Like, my dungeon instincts have been SCREAMING at me to use them to enthrall more things for a while. To make up for lost numbers. Or at the very least to expand my territory.

But you can’t do that here. Owyn wasn’t even worried that Lucid could have basically enthralled him whenever he wanted.

No, not outside. And I could use my mana to evolve some of my guys, but I’d have to be touching them to do so. My dilemma though, stems from something else. I want to enthrall humans. Like, I COULD evolve everyone, but I WANT to enthrall humans.

Owyn felt a shiver roll down his back. Though he knew better, Lucid’s statement felt like nothing short of a threat. You’ve done so a bunch already. Six out of the seven humans here are your thralls. Well, if we’re counting Grant at least.

I know. And besides Felecia they were all willing. Again, Grant’s situation is a gray area there. But… I don’t know. I wanted to take something from the God Core. And since it’s using humans, I thought I could just take those away from it.

The church isn’t enthralled to the God Core. Owyn pointed out.

No, they’re not. Lucid sighed again. That’s the only reason why I thought I could do it. I’ve had no problem stealing thralls before, but against that? No. There’s no way. The dungeon’s just too strong.

They sat in silence for a while, just absorbing everything. Owyn processed what Lucid had said, and he had no doubt Lucid was going over the creatures the God Core had sent. Though he’d saved so many humans, Lucid had lost so many of his own thralls. Some of them were villagers, sure, but…

How are you holding up? Owyn asked.

He could feel the question cutting deep into Lucid’s core. Not the physical thing under his arm, but his very being.

I’ll be fine.

What a very human response…

What do you want me to tell you? Owyn asked. Are you asking for my permission to enthrall humans?

Lucid took a while to answer. I guess what I’m asking is… should I save my mana to enthrall humans later, and keep a low profile now? Or evolve the kids?

The humans or the crabs? Owyn asked.

Both, I suppose. Lucid laughed softly. I’d like to evolve Clyde to match the other two, but…

He’s not evolving.

Why? Lucid asked.

You tell me. Owyn said. I’m just the dungeon expert, not the actual dungeon.

You think I’d ask if I knew? Lucid sighed. I don’t want to push him obviously, but we’re down quite a bit when it comes to fighting forces. I don’t want him to be helpless when the time comes.

He won’t be. Owyn assured the dungeon. Everyone has their roles. Maybe he’s just not suited for combat.

Lucid said nothing for a while, simply ruminating on Owyn’s statement.

Owyn filled the silence, finally finding an answer for Lucid’s original question. If you have an excess of mana, you need to create an outlet for yourself, even if it’s something small. Burn your energy slowly and carefully, saving the majority for when and where it’s really needed. If you need to enthrall things, then do that. Catch some squirrels or something. Otherwise, I’d say this is the perfect opportunity to experiment with evolving. We still have to evolve that magic detection organ, remember?

Right. Lucid seemed to accept the decision lethargically. Alright, fine. Mycroft, could you pass me over to this little guy here? I’ll see how much progress I can make overnight.

Good night Lucid. Owyn said, handing the large core over to Mycroft.

Good night Owyn.