Abby’s heart didn’t want to settle down. She paced in the entrance to the village, distantly heard Owyn urge the kids to go home or play or whatever. They complained for a while, since they hadn’t even found any dungeons yet, but when Owyn gave them the full core Abby and he had earned, they quickly forgot about it.
“What was that Owyn.” Abby whispered.
“I don’t know.” Owyn said, frustratingly calm.
“Bullshit!” Abby shouted at him, startling the kids running home in the distance. She lowered her voice to a threatening whisper. “You figured something out! There’s no way you would have listened to it otherwise!”
Owyn’s eyes widened a touch. He looked Abby up and down, focusing his mana sense on her. She contained no trace of dungeon mana on her. She was entirely out of its influence. Was he?
“Abby? Am I a thrall?”
Abby looked shocked that he would ask such a thing. But she still checked, just in case.
“No, it doesn’t matter if we’re both enthralled.” Owyn muttered, waving her off before she could respond.
“You’re not.” Abby insisted. “You didn't feel that core like I did. I would know if we were enthralled.”
“Fuck.” Owyn cursed. His knee started bouncing like it did when he was nervous.
“We’re not enthralled, are we? If we’re both enthralled, how can we really tell? Oh god, what if we’re being prevented from noticing it so we-”
“Abby!” Owyn barked. “Think about it for a second. What do dungeons do in order to enthrall people?”
Abby flinched, but calmed down when she saw Owyn’s stare. “They remove all free will from their victims.”
“Exactly. And what did the dungeon tell us to do?”
Horror dawned on Abby’s face. “It told us to leave. And we did! Owyn! We’re-”
Owyn shook his head. “It told us to come back tomorrow.”
Abby didn’t understand. So Owyn continued.
“Meaning if we don’t go back tomorrow, that means we still have our free will. We’ll have evidence that we’re not enthralled.”
That calmed Abby down. She nodded to herself. “Right. Yeah, we don’t have to listen to it. That’s easy. We could just go back the day after? No! No, if we resist it for longer, then doesn’t that mean we’re really not under its control? But what if we still want to go back? Oh god Owyn, I want to go back!”
Owyn tensed. He was beginning to see a futility in trying to argue with her. “You’re an adventurer. One who seeks adventure in the unknown, correct? It make sense that you want to go back. But if it eases you a little bit, we can go see Baroness Bellamy and she can make sure we’re ok.”
Abby nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah… yeah, that makes sense. She’d know what to do. Ok, let’s go.”
The Bellamy residence sat just outside town, situated in the middle of a frankly wasteful amount of land. They weren’t farmers, or such was their excuse for not using all that land for crops or livestock. However, they were the closest thing this town had to a government entity, so who were the uneducated masses to argue.
It took Abby and Owyn fifteen minutes to walk from one end of Setterton to the other, and another ten to reach the doors of the mansion. Normally they would complain about the scenery, chastising the wasted land while secretly coveting that kind of wealth, but today they walked in silence.
They opened the ‘public’ door without resistance or hesitation. They’d been here before to read some books in the library, with Lady Bellamy’s permission, so their presence wasn’t even questioned by the odd staff member they passed. Abby asked a few of the servants for the whereabouts of Baroness Bellamy, but all they could tell her was that she was in one of her usual spots. That could mean one of a dozen different places, meaning Abby and Owyn had to work their way systematically through the house in order to find her.
They were stopped before they could exit the library. Faux, the librarian, had noticed their distressed faces.
“Something the matter?” He asked politely. Despite his intimidatingly dark color pallet, Faux was always remarkably patient with Abby and Owyn. A very welcome presence.
Abby realized that in absence of Baroness Bellamy, Faux would probably be the best person to talk to about their circumstance. “Faux, are we enthralled?”
Faux sat up straighter on his stool, surprised. He gently closed his book and eyed the two adventurers over the rims of his reading glasses. “No, you’re not. What happened?”
Abby told the story in a great rush, now absolutely grateful for confirmation that they weren’t dungeon thralls. Owyn pitched in his own observations when he thought they were necessary. In particular, he mentioned the odd behavior of the dungeon's thralls. Its slaves did nothing to harm either of them. After he mentioned the mimic crabs and their attempt to initiate some sort of ritual with him, Abby mentioned how the fish in the pond were all entirely under the core’s control, but all they did was guide her towards the core!
“All of the fish?” Faux mused.
Abby shied away. “Well, maybe not all. Most, for sure. I saw a few strays eating two other fish corpses.”
“There’s something I don’t understand.” Owyn started. “Actually a lot, but the main one is that it had enthralled two thausens, and somehow killed a third. Thausens are thaumivores, they consume mana. Besides that, they’re partially intelligent creatures, possessing far more will than most other creatures. There’s no way a young dungeon could possibly enthrall something like them, much less mimic crabs at the same time.”
“What makes you think that?” Faux asked patiently.
“We clear out the whole dungeon over the course of a week. Right to left, with some pattern changes when we have the other parties join in. At most, that dungeon should be a week old. It shouldn’t have the mana necessary to convince something like a thausen to join under it. Mimic crabs are stubborn. While they will willingly serve a dungeon core, the dungeon core first needs to be of a certain size. It needs to entice them with power.”
“And?” Faux asked. “Are you suggesting that it can’t have one without the other?”
Owyn shook his head. “Not within a week. I think that what we found wasn’t the entire dungeon, but instead an extension. We’ve long since known that the pond water needs to drain somewhere, so maybe a lower dungeon extended itself upwards through whatever hole it drains through.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Faux leaned back a touch. “I see. It would make sense for the dungeon to move its core closer to the surface if it didn’t know humans were up here. By comparison to the lower levels, it would probably feel safer up here.”
“Fine, we’ll say it’s a lower dungeon core reaching upwards. So then, how big do you think the core was?”
Faux held his hands up. He held them about a hand width apart. “What shape was the core?”
“Spherical, but you’re too big.” Abby told him.
Faux raised an eyebrow, but shrunk his guess a touch.
Abby skipped right to the answer. She held her fingers up for him to see, indicating about the size of a marble.
“Bullshit.” Faux spouted uncharacteristically. “That’s a newborn core. Not-”
“Not more than a week old.” Owyn finished, face set hard. “So let me reiterate, there’s no way it should have mimic crabs. There’s no way it can convince thausens to serve it. Definitely not both at the same time. And above all, there’s no way something like that would be able to scare us into thinking it had us enthralled. And we still haven’t talked about the blue square yet!”
Faux’s expression grew more conflicted with each passing statement. His eyes wandered into the distance with thought.
“I… don’t have the answers for you. Especially with that blue square with text. I was hoping to avoid talking about it altogether, since embarrassingly enough, I don’t have a clue about what to tell you about it. However, I’m not one to just leave mysteries unsolved. I will do some research here, and in the meantime, I can tell you that the Baroness and her daughter are out back, practicing magic. Perhaps they can give you some advice.”
Abby and Owyn gave a quick bow of thanks to the librarian.
“If you find anything else, please let us know.”
“Yes. And if what you said was true, I would highly suggest you don’t go to the dungeons at all tomorrow. However, this isn’t something we can ignore for long. Check on it the day after tomorrow. If you can, try and break the core from a distance, as sneakily as you can.”
Owyn nodded once again before following Abby out of the room. Now armed with direction, Abby ran through the halls of the mansion, aiming for the back door. She spoke to Owyn in order to assure herself.
“So we’re not enthralled.”
Owyn grunted an affirmative.
“And if we don’t go tomorrow, we’ll be even more sure.”
Another grunt.
“And the dungeon is for sure less than a week old.”
Owyn couldn’t assure her of that much.
Abby ran in silence for a while. Then, in a quieter voice, she spoke her worries. “But a dungeon that small shouldn’t be that powerful. I… I think it was holding back.”
“Why would it do that?” Owyn asked. He hadn’t been in physical contact with the core, and yet, he’d felt the core's intent from across the pond. It was common sense that one could only ever be influenced by cores if they were in contact with them. Yet somehow, the fact didn’t reassure him.
True to Faux’s mention, Lady Bellamy was practicing magic with her mother watching close by. Baroness Bellamy sat in a fragile looking lawn chair under an umbrella, sipping tea. A servant next to her noticed Abby and Owyn approaching, and alerted the Baroness. She turned to see them before returning her attention to Lady Bellamy. For the time being, she ignored the two adventurers.
Lady Bellamy held a wand in on fist. A magic core sat at the end, entwined with wood attaching it to the end. Though it was only a fragment of a dungeon core, it was still a rather large core. Just another sign of the Baroness’s wealth, that she could use such an expensive core for practice.
The young girl concentrated, and a ball of fire appeared before her. With a flick of her wrist, the first shot across the bare dirt, smashing into a sturdy stone wall at the other end. A small dark mark showed exactly where her previous shots had landed.
“Isabelle darling, are you tired?”
“No mother.” Lady Bellamy responded to the Baroness.
“Then would you be able to explain why your fireballs have been growing progressively smaller?”
Lady Bellamy eyed Abby and Owyn. They were sure that if they weren’t there in the presence of the Baroness, she would have made an exasperated sound. Instead, she settled for a light sigh.
“I’m just getting bored is all. This isn’t fun.”
“Magic doesn’t need to be fun.” The Baroness stood, placing her tea to the side. She collected the wand from Lady Bellamy. “It needs to be second nature.”
With a flick of her wrist, a large fireball spawned and shot out in the same instant. It slammed into the stone wall at the other end, detonating on impact. A portion of the wall crumbled in the center. She handed the wand back to her child.
“Magic requires both mana and will. Not intent, not desire, will. It is not enough for you to just imagine a fireball, you must will it into existence. It’s not as if it were natural, it must be natural. Magic is a tool, and you must wield it like anything you can hold. You may have a larger mana pool than most kids your age, but if you ever meet someone with more will than you, like a dungeon, your life will be in danger. And I will not allow that.”
“Yes mother…”
The Baroness nodded at her, patting her head. “It’s not anything that can’t be achieved with practice. But for now, we have guests. Come, have a break with me.”
Lady Bellamy broke away from her mother to greet Abby and Owyn. “Good morning Abby! Hey Owyn.”
“Lady Bellamy.” Owyn greeted for them. “Baroness.”
“I do believe you should be in the dungeons about now, shouldn’t you?” The Baroness mentioned. “Is there any specific reason you’ve decided to visit at this time of day?”
“There’s a dungeon that acted weird.” Abby summarized, knowing that the Baroness couldn’t care less for the specifics. It helped that she’d got it out of her system with Faux.
“Weird in such a way that you decided not to claim it?” She asked, reclaiming her seat in the delicate chair.
Abby shifted uncomfortably. She was right, in a way. If Abby had just destroyed the core, she wouldn’t be worrying so much.
Owyn took a half step forward. “Weird as in dangerous. We couldn’t have been sure that it would be safe to interact with the core in any way whatsoever. Abby and I are just grateful that we weren’t enthralled.”
Lady Bellamy quickly made cutting motions across her throat. When her mother raised an eyebrow and turned to face her however, Lady Bellamy’s hands shot behind her back.
“Very dangerous indeed. Isabelle, you and your friends are forbidden from entering the dungeons until this threat is dealt with. Clear?”
“Crystal, mother.” Lady Bellamy muttered.
Baroness Bellamy nodded approval. “Is this a matter beyond the two of you? Or is there anything I can do to help?”
Abby shook her head. “We were just caught unprepared the first time. Faux advised us to go back to the dungeon in two days, so we’ll do that with clearer heads.”
“Well said.” Owyn murmured the compliment.
The Baroness nodded approval. “So long as you think you have things under control. Though I would suggest passing the word around. It is always better to be informed. I will take measures to send messages out to the Viscount, as well as the neighboring villages. I don’t expect anything to come of this, but it’s better to be safe.”
“Indeed.” Owyn agreed.
“In the meantime, I ask that you pass word around Setterton. No need to tell everyone, just the local gossips. And the other adventurer parties of course.”
“Of course.” Owyn repeated.
Abby bowed slightly. “We’ll make sure they all know that the dungeons are off limits for a short while. Personally.”
“I trust you will.” The Baroness dismissed them with a gesture.
Abby and Owyn left the Baroness’s estate in order to warn the town. Like she said, there probably wasn’t anything to worry about, but they wouldn’t take chances. First, Abby and Owyn would warn the other adventuring teams. Hopefully their parents would pass the message along to the neighbors from there. All told, that meant nine stops. Grant and Barry from Bellamy’s Troop, the four boys from Greater Slayers, and three other ragtag kids of varying ages from the slums who called themselves the Dungeon Rats.
It worried Abby that these nine kids, plus the Bellamy household and Abby and Owyn themselves comprised the entirety of Settertons military force. If the dungeon somehow managed to grow out of hand too fast, she wasn’t entirely sure they would be able to keep the whole town safe.
All she could hope was that the dungeon was truly young, and still discovering its abilities.