Chapter Fifteen

Don’t Panic

“I did not see that coming,” Dev said with a light burp. “They doused that Rufus fella with a highly potent poison. It was concentrated enough to kill three hundred men if they were holding hands. That stuff enters the blood-stream and then comes right back out through your pores. It’s a contagious poison. A small dose can take hours to kick in and one individual can potentially infect dozens of other people, and then they themselves a dozen others, before the potency wears down. It’s meant to wipe out family lines or whole swathes of contenders for a throne. The amount he had on him was enough to murder a small country.”

“Sounds like someone unknowingly wasted a valuable resource on my murder attempt. I would suspect that there is a spell, or some sort of curse or other, attached to the poison itself,” Toot said in awe. “I knew such things existed, but it is something I would not expect in a place like Goulcrest. This is a backwater town. It was a perfect location for us since no one ever came out this way.”

“Yes, well, something tells me there is more going on here than you realized if that’s the case. This was meant for you, you know.” Dev had a trace of concern in his voice. He couldn’t afford to lose Toot. He was just starting out and while things were exciting they were also scary. The core doubted that he would be able to succeed for long without his tutor. It wouldn’t take long for him to get discovered without Toot’s help, and then it would all be over.

That meant that he’d step into oblivion and be no more. No afterlife, just nothingness. He wouldn’t even register darkness, because if he did that it would mean that he’d still exist in some raw state. That wasn’t going to happen. He’d been consigned to the void the moment he began his new existence, the most he could be now was a previous core. He couldn’t even call it demised, as that would imply he’d moved on. His history would have been comprised of a blink and you missed it moment, with the missed it part stretching out into infinity.

He couldn’t let that happen! He was too important not to go on. Far, far too important. He was meant to do things no other core could do. He’d stolen away the overseer’s tutorial. He was going to subvert the overseer’s goals to his own. There was so much that he was meant to do! He couldn’t die now. He couldn’t.

Dev caught himself. He had lost control. That was a spiral that bottomed out into the land of insanity. His head was swimming, but he’d gotten hold of a floatation device. The core chastised himself for being so selfish. Toot could have died and the first thing he did was to worry about what would happen to him if the old man died. He promised himself that he would not be so self-centered in the future. It was a part of his old life coming back again. Dev couldn’t imagine how egocentric and self-centered he could have been. Was he so vain that he put his own self-interests ahead of a close friend like Toot? He’d been a real monster, that much was obvious. It was so clear to him now. He’d been someone so wrapped up in how important he was that no one else mattered.

Thankfully, becoming a core had changed some of that but Dev had to admit that his reactions, things that were reflexive for him, tended to be horrible personality traits. What did he display? Avarice, a greed so great that he nearly lost himself to a piece of gold. Vanity, he cared so much about himself that he never considered the repercussions for Toot. What was next? Wrath? To be honest, Dev was feeling that too. He wanted to lash out at those who dared to try to harm his companion. He choked that reaction back before it could grow. It was hard enough dealing with his greed issue.

Dev could feel a tingle in the back of his mind. It was his other half, the part of him that loved wealth, gold in particular, and it was starting to realize that its hoard had not grown. Dev knew that one coin was not going to be enough to keep it quiet much longer. At some point in the near future, it was not going to be satisfied with a single gold piece. They would have to get real gold soon.

Toot had helped break the spell the money held over him by making Dev realize that the coins of gold he’d materialized were not the genuine articles. If he wanted to maintain control and keep his other half quiet he was going to need more of the real stuff soon.

Again, it had been Toot who had saved him from himself. Toot had been there for him when Dev needed him, and hadn’t thought of himself one in spite of the fact that Toot was in the same boat as he was. When the companion died he was most likely going into oblivion too, but he went out there risking his life for the two of them without a thought that he might not come back. From what Dev could see Toot had already been threatened and had killed a man for it, and had come into conflict with another man in the process of securing items for Dev to consume.

That man was doing everything he could to secure a safe place for them to live and help Dev grow as a dungeon core. What had he been doing? Eating and expanding his gut like some pompous fat noble while Toot had gone out into the wilds looking for ways to improve their situation no matter the unseen dangers that were out there. He’d already been attacked twice. What perils had Dev battled? Conquering unclaimed land didn’t exactly qualify as life-threatening for him.

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Dev was ashamed of who he was and who he had been. It was time for him to become a better core. He couldn’t wall of his other imperfections just yet, but he swore that once he managed to level himself he would stuff his vanity and anger into tiny little boxes and hide them away forever. That would work. Right? He couldn’t see how repressing his natural urges, which were negative things, could hurt him.

“Yes,” Toot agreed, there is something sinister afoot in this town. I have met several humans of high caliber character, and several on the other end of the spectrum. The problem is that the individuals of high moral fiber seem to be the average for the town; the others feel like outsiders who have taken over. Goulcrest is under siege by nefarious forces.” Then he let out a great belly laugh. “I’m kidding. This is an average town on Anoubliette. It has good and bad people, but I will agree that this contagious poison seems far afield of where it is normally found.”

“I have examined it and can replicate the toxin, but not the magic. Not yet,” Dev said disappointedly. “I’m not sure how to work on magic just yet, but I can see what you are talking about.” The core glowed a sour yellow light. I can’t ever duplicate the poison as it was due to the magic involved. So, if you want to poison someone you’re going to have to do it the old-fashioned way, by coating it on a knife and driving it into someone’s back.” Toot nodded with a smirk in understanding.

“Is it a spell or a curse?” Toot was clearly hoping that if he knew more about it that he would be able to guide Dev in how to approach the arcane energies.

“I can’t tell. My display only lists it as an unknown magic. It won’t tell me what school of magic, whether it’s wizardry, sorcery, ritual, curse, divination, and so on,” he paused, “Pretty sure it’s not divination but you get the point.”

Toot’s head bobbed up and down once more, but, lost in thought, he said nothing. His face indicated that he was deep in contemplation. Dev left him to his thoughts. Minutes passed before Toot finally broke out of his reverie.

“Tell me how you claimed so much territory in the time I gave you. I ask because I didn’t think that you would have made it to your target in the time I gave you.” Toot raised an eyebrow, “I wanted to give you a goal to aim for, not something you might actually achieve. Then we would be able to sit down together and go over the techniques you used and focus on what would work better for you in the future. You’ve been busy and working hard, and we have more hard work ahead of us, but I might have an idea that will help.”

Dev explained everything from what was on the bodies he’d found, to how he had managed to expand himself like a balloon to gain ground. He told Toot how he managed to quiet the part of him that was drawn to the gold and that had let him focus on matters at hand than try to ignore a constant distraction.

“What did you discover that you found odd or interesting from those experiences?”

Dev considered the question. He’d made it to the surface and could take any ground that he connected to, but he had not been able to absorb the buildings that were adjacent to the crevice opening. He could also take anything on the ground but he could not eat the worms, ants, or beetles he found in the earth’s depths.

“That’s because of the same reason as the spider,” Toot explained regarding the lower life forms, “Just because you hold the ground it doesn’t mean that you can just absorb them. You could, I suppose,” he ventured, “Encase them in stone and let them die of deprivation in order to access their meshes.”

“No,” Dev quickly responded, “That would be cruel. I will either kill them quickly or not at all.”

“That surprises me,” Toot said. “I would have thought that you wanted to get every mesh you could. No matter the manner in which it was earned.”

“I’ve had time to reflect,” Dev said quickly, “I don’t know what kind of person I was before I became a core, but I don’t think I was very nice. I don’t want to continue the way I was. I can see what my obsessive personality is like and how it is detrimental to me and those around me.”

“You mean me,” Toot said with a grin.

“Of course, we are partners. If I allow past patterns of destructive behavior to dominate me then I will take you down with me and I don’t want that to happen. I have a growing emotional awareness and want to correct issues before they get out of control. It is easier to nullify a behavior in the beginning rather than after it is well established I’m sure.”

“I appreciate that, more than you know.” Toot scratched his beard and then added, “I know going against your nature is hard. What you feel are mere echos of who you were. The process of becoming a core reduced the power of those feelings by a factor you would not believe if I told you. It is the reason why you are the first of your kind to become a dungeon core and the reason that no matter what the overseers did they would never be able to eliminate such elements completely. Vanity, greed, wrath, those are things to watch out for, but eventually, you will also need to keep an eye out for being obstinate, overconfident, and slothful. Your people wield incredible power and awe in any who come into contact with them; they also inspire fear and dread.”

“You know what I was before becoming a core?” Dev’s voice wavered. He wasn’t sure if it was excitement or fear. Did he want to know? Would his knowing help him?

“I do,” Toot whispered. “Would you like me to tell you?”

“I’m not sure,” Dev replied solemnly.

“I don’t blame you. Finding out what you once were, and can never be again can be hard to accept.”

Puzzle pieces swam through his head. He felt ancient. He was greedy. He wanted to make others suffer for their transgressions against him. Toot had added in several other clues. Top that with the fact that he loved being underground, going so far as to say that he was comfortable there. The clues all added up to one thing. He’d been a monster of immense power and evil. He almost regretted saying the word in his head, but it flared like bright morning light on a snowy landscape.

“I think I know,” Dev told Toot.

“Then say it,” The old man encouraged.

“I was a,” Dev held a nonexistent breath, “I was a…dark elf.”