“Wait a bit…,” the older flame elemental interrupted, while they listened in on the trio of women's conversation in the clearing. “Do you mean to tell me that this core has been sending out constructs into a children’s playground?!” His tone and volume rose incrementally until reaching a climax on the words “children’s playground”. The flames around him stuttered and flared out in fury, he whirled around to fix the full intensity of his glare on Rick, “The humans will eliminate all the dungeons when they realise this. Make it stop!”

Claire’s avatar stomped over to the elemental, then stared him down with her hands on her hips. Claire felt a slight trepidation as she completed this action. It was so different from who she was. In her previous life she would never have confronted someone in this way. But she was a core and this was her domain. He had no right.

“How dare you,” she spoke angrily to the elemental. Her new voice, childlike though it was through her Carlie-avatar, echoed in the emptiness of her core chamber. “This is my home and even if you’re Rick’s master, you are still a guest here. Don’t you ever speak to me, or about me, like this again. Not in my house.”

The being blanched, his little flames flickering in alarm. Motioning urgently behind his back, he whispered, “Student, get control of your core! We can’t afford any incidents!”

Now Claire too turned to glare at Rick. “Rick, please tell your master that if he has something to say, he can address me and do it politely.”

“Student, do something,” the master hissed.

Rick’s head swivelled back and forth between Claire and his master. He wished for the comforting fires of his home dimension. He should’ve basked in them for a few more days before geting back to work, but it was too late now.

“Uhm, Claire, could you possibly give me a moment with my master? Please?” he implored in the face of her continued gaze. She nodded tersely and stomped off into one of the adjoining corridors, her core floating after her.

Of course she was still aware of everything in her core chamber, as she was aware of everything that happened in her territory. She briefly debated whether she should withdraw her awareness to give Rick more privacy, and then shook her head stubbornly. This was her domain. If they wanted real privacy they could go talk outside. Rick’s master didn’t acknowledge her human nature anyway, so what would he care if they were overheard.

“Claire, can you still hear us?” Rick called out, as if could guess her thoughts. Not that he needed to call to her; she would’ve heard him regardless. She sighed. Doing the right thing was hard sometimes.

“Yes – just a moment, Rick,” she called back, as she blacked out the chamber where the two elementals were and focused on the other activity around her territory. “Okay, you’re good! Please let me know when I can return!”

<>

In the clearing Agnetha still huddled with Widow Hari and Lily. Little Harry also tried to squeeze in, but Agnetha had given him a stern look and he went back to his chosen observation post under the trees. The three women had also moved closer to the dungeon aperture, putting themselves between it and the playing children. From this position Agnetha and Widow Hari could watch the opening, and Lily kept an eye on the children. Instead of everyone playing together now, the crowd of children were dissolving into smaller groups. It was like the string that had baled them together had loosened its knot and the bale was now slowly disintegrating. Lily also couldn’t see the girl named Carlie anymore. Probably lunch time at the manor. There was still something about her that niggled at Lily. Something that didn’t quite fit. She dismissed the thought, however, in order to concentrate on Agnetha and Widow Hari’s discussion.

“… we cannot allow it to exist. This close to the village, not to mention the children. We’ll be overrun and we’ll never know what happened. For the sake of the Gods and all their blessings, you said it’s anomalous too!”

“Yes, yes, yes, I know, but just listen to me. I went to see Cornelia yesterday …” At this Lily paid even more attention. So that was where Agnetha had gone. But who was Cornelia? She didn’t know this person.

“… she told me that all is not so plain with anomalous cores. It can go either way – some of them had even helped to shape a few of the great olden heroes for the sake of everything holy.”

“Keep your tainted assassin’s tongue off the holiness of the Gods,” Widow Hari hissed. Then she continued in a more normal tone, “So what if some of them might be different. Tell me this, have you ever in your lifetime heard of even a single harmless dungeon? Have you?”

“I think this one might have saved my life,” Lily offered in the silence that followed.

“Lily, what do you mean?” Agnetha said. “You haven’t mentioned this to me before.”

“It was that day on the beach when I sto… got the compass,” Lily continued, giving a short recitation on what had happened.

“Coincidence,” Widow Hari sniffed.

“Come on, Hari,” Agnetha pressed. “Think about this. We don’t know this dungeon’s nature yet. What if it is one of the good ones? No one knows of it, and this close to the village? Think about what it could mean for us, for the people of our community.”

“For us, and our community, you say? None of the villagers will be able to defend themselves when we are overwhelmed by dungeon mobs in our beds. And who is it that commits us to this peril? Do you think you have the right decide for the whole village? About something that places all of them in danger?”

She doesn't include herself with the villagers, Lily realised. Did that mean she is not in danger from the dungeon? Or is she simply relying on her Gods to protect her? It was hard to be sure.

Agnetha deflated a bit at Widow Hari's words. “True,” she acknowledged. “This is not my decision to make, and neither is it yours. This dungeon could very well annihilate our little village. On the other hand, we could also prosper from its vicinity to us. We'll need to call a village meeting to discuss this.”

“But you already know what they will say,” Widow Hari pushed. "Our villagers aren't knowledgeable enough about dungeons, and especially anomalous cores, to reason this through."

“No, we don't know what they would decide,” Agnetha argued. “And if they need information they can be informed.”

“Informed? By who? You?” Widow Hari sneered. Agnetha glared at her.

“By all the Gods, Hari, ’tis difficult to be your friend sometimes.”

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“Well, if you’ll just be more willing to listen to the will of the Gods, it would not have to be.”

“The will of the Gods as interpreted by you?” This time Agnetha sneered and Widow Hari glared. Lily shifted uncomfortably in the tense atmosphere, racking her mind for a way to defuse the situation.

Skill increase: Quick thinking +1

“Wait, I know,” Lily said. “Agnetha, why don’t we get Cornelia to come and explain to the villagers? She knows a lot, doesn’t she? And she told you all about the anomalous cores. She can inform them too, and answer their questions.”

Both Agnetha and Widow Hari looked at her in surprise, and then Widow Hari looked at her with a wicked delight.

“What a good idea!” she said. “Yes, Blessed Lily, yes. Furthermore, you will be the one to go fetch her in High Plantation and bring her here while Agnetha and I stay on guard.”

New quest: Bring Mistress Cornelia to village meeting

You have been instructed to travel to High Plantation and bring Mistress Cornelia to the village meeting. The fate of your community lies in your hands, Blessed Lily! Will you answer the call?

[Yes] [No]

Well great, Lily thought as she mentally accepted the mission. Even the system was referring to her as “Blessed Lily” now.

<>

“Claire?” From her core Claire saw her Carlie-body startle at the sound of Rick calling out, and then she saw her core through her Carlie-avatar’s perspective. It was a bit disconcerting. Good thing she was a core currently at 100% of her processing speed. She had been so absorbed by the trio of women above that she hadn’t paid attention to Rick’s approach from her main cavern.

“Claire?” Rick called again as he bobbed into the corridor behind Carlie and her core. “The master and I are done. Do you want to come back to us now?”

“Only if you’ve talked some sense into him,” Claire muttered, temporarily backgrounding her new concerns about the upcoming village meeting. She was also curious about what Mistress Cornelia had to say about anomalous cores, given everything Claire had read over Layne’s shoulder. It occurred to her that Layne might be interested in that too. That thought was swiftly shelved. And then she sighed and unshelved it. It wasn't right to let her prejudices interfere with something that could save her dungeon from extermination.

“Yes, I know, I’m sorry,” Rick replied to her statement. “He ascribes to the school of thought that considers cores to be mechanistic beings, only responding to cause and effect from within the confines of the system’s guiding framework. From his point of view, elementals as living beings with free will are clearly superior.”

“I’m not considered a living being?”

“No, of course you are a living being. I know that and I’ve told him so. It’s just that he doesn’t believe me yet.”

“Can we get rid of him?”

“What? No! Claire, you should know better – we can’t just kill living things!”

“Has your master infected your mind?” Claire asked. “Of course that’s not what I meant! And wait, don’t dungeons routinely kill humans?”

“Ah, oops, sorry. I should have more faith in you. As for the humans, dungeons don’t kill them. They just set challenges that have the potential of being deadly if the adventurer isn’t properly prepared to overcome them.”

“I’m not sure I see the difference,” Claire said. “But let’s talk about that again some other time. There’s something else I need to discuss with you. And … I suppose your master as well.” Her avatar’s lip curled upward with distaste.

And noticing Lily’s departure from the clearing, at the same time, Claire also sent a butterfly to follow her. She wanted to see for herself where this Mistress Cornelia came from and what she did.

<>

The day was hot and humid, as days on the island tended to be. Sweat ran down Bastian’s back as he and his band made their way down the road from High Plantation. They had gone there to gather supplies and were now heading back to the Baron’s village. As always, he kept vigilant watch for any opportunities that may cross their path. And looking into the distance with his far-sight, he saw the one he had been searching for.

<>

Lily was sweating as she rode Agnetha’s donkey down the road to High Plantation. Agnetha had explained to her how to find Cornelia’s shoppe, and now she just had to get there and bring the woman back to the village. That was easy enough. The heat though, it was something terrible. Lily much preferred the forest shade area surrounding the Baron’s plantations and their village. It was still hot and humid, but at least you weren’t roasting in the sun as well.

A vague sense of danger flickered in her mind, but before she could act on it, it was too late. She was surrounded by the bad people from the beach, with her personal nightmare stalking down on her. It happened too fast. This time she couldn’t run, and couldn’t hide.

“You,” Bastian said as he grabbed her by the arm and wrenched her off the donkey. Lily cried out as she fell, skinning her knees and palms on the hard road surface. Scrabbling onto her hands and feet she attempted to get up, only to fall on her face once more as Bastian kicked her in the hip.

“Please, please, I’m sorry, please don’t,” she begged, rolling over and raising her arms to try and ward off further attack.

“No, you are not sorry yet,” he yelled, raising his foot to kick again.

Lily felt the air whoosh by as his foot flew by, missing her face by a hair’s breadth. Looking up in surprise she saw the axe woman and the tracker holding Bastian back, one on each arm. She immediately tried again to get up and run, but collapsed lopsided as pain shot through her hip.

“No, no, no,” the nasty, dishevelled one sang, pushing down on her injured hip with his foot.

“Hang on Bastian, this is not the place,” the tracker was saying as Bastian glared at her with death in his eyes.

“Come on Bastian, you know he’s right,” the woman on his other arm affirmed.

“Where is my dungeon compass you little harlot,” Bastian demanded.

“I, I don’t know,” Lily tried to hedge and then flinched back as Bastian shrugged the other two off and stomped forward again.

“Every single word out of that pretty little mouth is just a lie, isn’t it. Which fool do you think I am?”

“No, no, I don’t think you’re any fool, sir,” Lily squeaked. “Please don’t hurt me, I can help you to find it!”

At that Bastian threw his face up and laughed into the heavens, stopping just as abruptly as he started.

“You can help me find it? You? You know what, yes. I do believe you can. Yes, you will help me find it, and I will help you. You’re from the sugar-cane village, aren’t you? Yes, you knew “young master Layne” on the beach. So, tell you what.”

Bastian crouched down, bringing his face level to Lily’s.

“You will ‘find’ my compass, and bring it to me in the village. And until you do, every single day one of your precious village kids will disappear. It’s dangerous out there by the plantations, isn’t it? Kids fall. They get bitten.” His voice fell even lower, “They get eaten.”

Abruptly rising again he took hold of the donkey’s halter. “One kid a day, starting tomorrow,” he called over his shoulder as he led it away. The other three rushed to follow him, the tracker giving Lily a sympathetic glance in passing.

<>

“Wait, wait,’” Claire said, as she watched the scene playing out on the road. She had just informed Rick and his master about the women’s conversation in the clearing, and the village meeting scheduled to happen.

“You sound worried, what is it Claire?” Rick asked, fluttering up to her avatar.

“Look at this,” she said, projecting the scene on the road. They watched as the ambush of Lily played out. For once the master was also quiet.

“A kid a day…,” Claire said in shock.

“Humans,” the master responded. “That’s why elementals guide dungeon cores.”

“Wow,” Rick responded. “Claire, what can we do?”

“What do you mean what can you do?" the master interjected. "We do not involve ourselves in human affairs. Even if a dungeon core has the delusion of being human.”

Claire ignored the master. This development was too important.“Lily will probably be fine, seeing as who her two friends are. But I think we'll need to jump in to help protect the children.”

"Yes, those three can only be in so many places at once. But what do you mean about her two friends?"

In answer, Claire displayed Agnetha's and Widow Hari’s information.

Thagnea Darkblade

Assassin Level 20

Hari Skari

Zealot Level 18

“See what I mean?” Claire said.

“Yes, indeed,” Rick replied.

“Two highly developed individuals,” the master nodded in approval.

It was true. Lily would be fine, as long as she leaned on her two friends. Which brought Claire to her other thought. As she explained it, Rick once again began to flicker wildly while the master screamed “No! No! No!”

It was good to have Rick back. She had missed talking to someone about her ideas. Having the master here though? Not so much.

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