Blue Core Week Thirty-Four (Patreon)

Day 129 - Giorn

It had been ages since they’d been to north Tarnil. There wasn’t much up there but the Waste and after seeing that the once even his wife’s curiosity had been satisfied. Though most of it looked the same as ever, the mana was now incredibly different. He assumed it had to do with the vague hints the Grandmaster had dropped about Shayma, but he couldn’t imagine what would cause such a drastic change.

He couldn’t tell the Affinity either, which was a little worrying. There was just the feeling of the mana density increasing, without any of the effects on the plants or animals that came with Mana Springs or dungeons. Between the two of them, he and Sienne could usually puzzle out what the local mana was like and what they might be facing, but not here. His wife’s void Affinity had left her paradoxically sensitive to mana flows, but even she was having trouble figuring out exactly what was going on.

“Anything yet, love?” He held his current weapon at the ready. All that mana with no beasts or monsters was putting him on edge, as if he weren’t worried enough to know that Shayma was involved with some sort of Power.

“Nothing so far.” Her eyes were narrowed and her ears twitched as she scanned the surroundings, fingers resting on the sword at her hip. Really she was absolutely breathtaking when she was serious like that, but he couldn’t take the time to admire her. Not in potentially hostile territory. “No, wait,” she corrected herself. “There was a shift in mana density up ahead just now.”

“Then let’s go check it out.” He took the lead, the tree trunk he’d trimmed slung over his shoulder. Sienne leaped up to ride atop it, her weight barely anything to his Skills. Not only did that give them extra height, but he could literally hurl Sienne at a threat, making up for her lack of movement Skill.

It was surprisingly effective.

They didn’t find a threat, though what they did find was stranger. A large archway stood in the middle of the woods with a clear portal in the middle, something that would normally take a mage an immense amount of work and mana to create and wouldn’t simply be in a random spot in a forest. A strange forest, at that, far too regular and young to be natural.

As if that weren’t enough, what was visible on the far side of the portal was a city, specifically a mansion with the banner of the Tarnil royal house on it. The entire thing was incredibly suspicious, as if it had been placed there precisely for them to find. Which was probably what had happened, considering the power potential around them.

“Soooo.” Sienne said as she poked at the stone with the tip of her rapier, producing a scraping noise and not much else.

“Aye,” he agreed. “So.” A man appeared on the other side of the portal, one of Queen Iniri’s guards by the uniform and one that seemed vaguely familiar to Giorn.

“I’m pretty sure this portal was meant for you,” he told them. “Unless there’s anyone else over there?”

“It’s just the two of us. Giorn and Sienne Ell.”

“Harold Tiun, Queensguard” the guard introduced himself. “Come on through. You must be important if Blue decided to give you special treatment like this.”

Giorn exchanged a glance with his wife, then tested the portal with his tree trunk. Not that he thought it was a trap or illusion, under the circumstances, but with something as esoteric as spatial magic it paid to be careful. When the trunk caused no issues, not even the slightest hint of destabilization, he took Sienne’s hand and they stepped through together.

It looked like any normal city but the mana density stayed high, far higher than the mundane surroundings would imply. He would have expected something more like Wildwood Retreat, lack of Affinity or not, especially considering the scent of trees on the wind.

“So where is this exactly? Our daughter told us to come up here. Shayma Ell.”

Harold’s eyebrows went up.

“Oh, you’re Shayma’s folks? That explains a lot then. Anyway, welcome to Meil, just taken back from Vok Nal.” He waved around them. “You’re as safe here as anywhere, really.”

“What do you mean, ‘that explains a lot?’” Sienne demanded. “Where’s our baby girl?”

“Look, ma’am,” Harold put his hands up, palm outward, and Giorn winced. Sienne’s eyes narrowed dangerously. She wasn’t going to let anyone dissemble about Shayma. “I can’t discuss anything under Crown seal,” he continued, which at least defused Sienne’s temper. “I’ll notify Her Majesty that you’re here and I’m sure she’ll explain everything.”

“Is she safe, at least?” Giorn asked. “She seemed fine in her message, but…” But it had been years. Years that he’d missed of his daughter’s life, years where the entire coast of Tarnil had been impossible to get to. Years they’d spent trying to get powerful enough to be able to travel there, and then she’d somehow gotten a high-powered sending to them out of the blue. He wanted to believe she was fine, but knew that just wanting it wasn’t enough.

“She’s out on a mission at the moment,” Harold said. “You just missed her. That’s all I can tell you.”

“Of course we did,” Sienne sighed.

“If you’ll leave your…” Harold eyed the two of them with disfavor, especially Giorn and his enormous tree trunk. “Your weapon outside I’ll show you in.” Harold pointed at the manor with Iniri’s flag. “You’ll have to pass a Status check, of course.”

“That is acceptable.” Really, the reason he just used tree trunks was because his chosen weapon type was far too large to lug around cities or into buildings, so there was no point in fashioning anything permanent. He’d used stalactites and stone pillars before too, whatever was to hand. Even if someone felt the need to take a random hunk of wood lying around, he wouldn’t feel its loss.

Giorn leaned the tree trunk against a nearby building and then stared as the stone of the street grew around the base, holding it in place.

“...what.”

“Hm. Blue is paying attention to you,” Harold mused, eyeing the stone.

“Who is Blue?” That was the second time the color-and-name had been mentioned, and it was pretty clear this ‘Blue’ was enormously powerful. Which wasn’t exactly the sort of being he wanted to pay attention to him.

“Meil’s dungeon,” Harold said, walking over to the manor door and opening it for them.

“What.” Sienne didn’t budge. Giorn eyed his weapon, having second thoughts about giving it up.

“It’s fine, Blue is friendly. I’d explain but Her Highness would have my head if I told you instead of letting her discuss the full story.” He waved them in, guiding them to one of the lower-floor rooms. It was clearly outfitted for adventurer use rather than nobility, with cold cuts and bread and cheese on a far table and an adjacent washroom. There were closets and strongboxes for storing kit, not magically locked but still having simple tokens to register what was where. A few Classers were waiting there already, none he recognized but to judge from the feel of their mana all second tier.

“Feel free to relax for a bit. Her schedule is pretty packed, so it’ll take a little bit even though I’m sure she’ll want to squeeze you in.”

“Thank you,” Giorn said, glad that someone here actually knew how to properly cater to Classers. After returning from a high-mana area, any Classer wanted calories, cleanliness, and a safe place to relax. Despite needing higher mana densities to properly level, it was easier to solidify any adventurer’s understanding of the advancements in their Skills back in low mana areas. Which this was not, but the lack of any surrounding Affinity made it close enough. Once Harold left, Sienne dragged his head down for a kiss.

“I desperately need a shower,” she said. “Keep watch first?”

“Absolutely,” he said, taking her backpack for safekeeping and holding it open so she could retrieve her toiletry box. “Go get clean, love.” He punctuated that with a light swat on the rear, she squeaked and stuck her tongue out at him before heading into the washroom.

Giorn took advantage of the storage closets, deciding that it wasn’t likely they were going anywhere until Shayma came back, and freed of his burdens aside from his own shower-pack and new clothes, wandered over to the food table to stock up. One of the other Classers looked at his piled-high plate with some degree of astonishment, but Giorn was used to that. He was a big guy and had a big appetite.

Sienne emerged soon enough, hair and fur tousled, attracting a different set of stares. Giorn grinned, stealing another kiss from her and handing off the storage token so he could clean himself. Some Classers, like nobles or sponsored third-tiers, had the money for magic items to mimic amenities in the fields, but he and Sienne had always been independent so after several weeks traveling they were a little ripe. For himself, he liked the way Sienne smelled but it always felt good to get properly clean.

The shower failed to unknot the core of worry in his gut that he’d carried ever since they’d heard Tarnil had been invaded. It had been a long several years, especially when they’d found they had nowhere near the power to move around safely. Seeing one of Tor Kot’s elites from a distance had dissuaded them and sent them back to Nivir to try and get better. They had no idea what had happened to Shayma, to their shop, to Invin itself.

They could only take so much of that though before heading back to Wildwood for something less stressful.

When Shayma’s sending had found them, it had been a relief to know she was still alive, but less so to know she was assaulting a mage-king held city. Madness, suicide, and worse, to anyone who had seen the entire kingdom fall practically overnight, or had seen the power the monsters they produced en masse could wield. Yet somehow that assault that had clearly succeeded. A somehow that was a vast gulf of incredible power, or more likely, Power.

Now she was out on another mission, and she hadn’t even had a Class when they’d taken their trip!

He took a breath, snorted hot water from his moustache, and got out of the shower. Considering they were supposed to be meeting Queen Iniri he’d chosen his better set of clothes, though he wouldn’t exactly consider them fit for nobility. Though, nobility had to bend at least a little when it came to adventurers. When he returned he found that Sienne had piled her plate nearly as high as he had, though with her void Affinity that was par for the course.

“Nobody here knows where Shayma is,” Sienne sighed, offering him a wedge of cheddar, his favorite. “Most of them don’t even know who I meant. What sticks in my mind is that Queensguard knew her and didn’t much like her. Sounds like there’s trouble and maybe with the Queen.”

“Our girl, in trouble? Surely you jest.” Giorn chuckled, nibbling on the cheese. “If she’s making enemies it must mean she’s doing something right. Especially when it comes to the nobility.” Sienne groaned.

“I thought we went off adventuring so we could avoid nobility.”

“So you could avoid them. I’m just a simple country boy and never get near them anyhow.” Sienne snorted and elbowed him, pointing to a couch.

“Come on, let’s rest our feet while we can. Soon as we find out what our girl has been up to we’re going to be busy. I don’t know how yet, but we are.”

He chuckled and joined her, reclining and trying to relax despite his anxiety. The only reason the furniture didn’t groan under his weight was his Skills keeping him relatively light. Sienne snuggled in against his side and he put his arm around her, watching her fingers flick slightly as she worked through some of her Skills. She was so close to a Class breakthrough, but it had to be taken carefully. Only a fraction of void Skills could be used without ruining the user or endangering everyone around. At least with her inherited Class she knew how to get there, no matter how slow it might be.

On the other hand he’d finally broken through to his third Tier, Champion, when they were in Wildwood, and he was still getting used to the new and improved Skills. While they were fairly late in reaching the third-tier level since they had taken time off to raise a child, he was proud of the fact that they’d made it now. No sponsors, no groups, just the two of them. Now that Shayma had some sort of Class, it might well be three, assuming they could cajole her away from Iniri.

Assuming he could. They’d gone to scout Nivir’s dungeon in preparation for bringing Shayma there and offering her the path of the [Void Duelist Inheritor], but a couple of months had turned into long years and he couldn’t really know who is little girl was now.

If he was uneasy, Sienne was impatient, years of adventuring or no, glaring at the grandfather clock on the far side of the room on occasion as the hands slowly inched around. Giorn noted that none of the other Classes had been called either, so even if they’d jumped the queue they still hadn’t made it above whatever other issues the Queen was addressing. The minute hand was well on its way to completing its second revolution when another Queensguard opened the door to the waiting room and beckoned them.

“Finally!” Sienne leapt to her feet and Giorn allowed her to drag him afterward, light as a feather. Iin a fit of whimsy he let his feet leave the floor, bobbing in the air while she pulled him through the door. No one else seemed to notice, but that hardly mattered since he found it amusing.

The Queensguard led them to the top story of the mansion, where another pair waited to take Sienne’s rapier. Not that most Classers needed a weapon to be dangerous, nor could they do anything to break through the Shield of Tarnil if the stories were true, but nobody was allowed weapons in the presence of the Queen. Of course, Sienne had a dozen more weapons downstairs – she was rather hard on them, after all – so she didn’t think much of handing that one off.

“Giorn and Sienne Ell.” The guard announced them as they entered, the two of them kneeling on the plush carpet. Giorn was pleased to find that with his third tier his knees were far more amenable to that sort of exercise than they used to be, not protesting at all as he genuflected before the queen.

“You may rise.” Iniri’s voice was a lot wearier than he had expected, and when they were standing again she waved to the chairs at the other end of her large desk. “Take a seat,” she added. “I was not expecting you so soon, or for you to come while Shayma was away.”

They followed her instructions, settling in across from Queen Iniri. Giorn studied her, surprised to find that the young woman actually looked worn down, though considering everything that had happened over the past few years it shouldn’t have been unexpected.

“Pardon my forwardness, Your Highness,” Sienne said. “But where is Shayma? People have been –” She hesitated just long enough that Giorn knew she was swallowing sharp words and trying for something milder. “They’ve been hinting at things and promising you’d explain it.”

“I’m sure,” Iniri sighed. “Some of it is effectively a crown secret, though much of it is an open secret at this point. There is a story of how Shayma came to be in my service, but I will let her tell that as it is merely history now. The important part was that several months ago she made a Bargain with a Power for my protection.”

Sienne let out a slow hiss of breath. Giorn didn’t know what to think. That just wasn’t a series of words that made any real sense. She might as well have said that Shayma had turned into a dragon and flown to the moon.

“So,” Giorn said, drawing out the word as he tried to think of something appropriate to say, “what does that mean? Your Highness.”

“First, Shayma is perfectly fine. In fact, she’s happier now than I have ever seen before. That said, her Bargain ended up with her…” Queen Iniri paused, and Sienne gripped Giorn’s hand. He didn’t like that pause any more than she did, it spoke of complicated things the Queen didn’t want to talk about. “She is bound to, part of, in some ways, the Power in question. A dungeon named Blue.”

“Meil’s dungeon?” Sienne said, more sharply than one ought to when speaking to royalty. “How does that even work?”

Iniri shook her head.

“Blue is his own person, that he currently is Meil is due to the fact that he was instrumental in taking it back from Vok Nal. I’m sure you’re familiar with dungeons, but you mustn’t think of Blue as one of the ones you’re used to. He has no monsters, he moves quickly, he knows things only a Power would know, and he can perceive anything within his territory. I’m certain he’s paying attention to us right now, in fact, but Shayma is the only one who can speak with him.”

When she mentioned it, there was indeed a feeling of pressure, something more than just mana. It prickled the hairs on the back of his neck, but none of his instincts warned him that it was dangerous. Just that it was there. With a flash of black, two glass tumblers filled with some sweet-smelling blue juice appeared on the desk in front of them. He twitched, since there wasn’t any sort of mana surge to accompany the teleportation, and Sienne frowned at the glass in front of her suspiciously. Iniri laughed, a surprised and amused sound as the drinks appeared.

“That would be Blue, by the way. Saying hello. As I said only Shayma can talk to him, and I mean that in a broader sense than just being able to hear his voice.” Iniri waved that aside. “The juice is quite good, by the way. Restores stats.”

“Hmph.” Sienne just eyed the juice, but Giorn reached out to try a sip. It was good.

“So our daughter is some Power’s” Sienne gestured aimlessly. “What? Slave?” She was leaning forward in her chair, and Giorn put one massive arm over her shoulder, pulling her back gently as he gave her a quick look. She frowned at him and he frowned back, tilting his head fractionally in Iniri’s direction to remind her that they were in the presence of a Queen. It wouldn’t do for Sienne to give her a tongue-lashing.

“She’s anything but.” Iniri assured them, another glass appearing in front of her. The mana around them shifted subtly and suddenly Giorn could feel his stats recovering. “Thank you, Blue. Now, I admit that the Bargain means that she’s completely under Blue’s control, but he’s never exercised it. Actually she argues with him quite a bit.”

“You make it sound like they’re married,” Giorn muttered. Iniri’s eyes widened as if the thought had never occurred to her, and this time her laugh was louder and more genuine.

“That’s not too far from the truth,” Iniri said. “It may be best to consider Shayma married to a Power.”

“To a dungeon,” Sienne said. “I don’t—” Her mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. “How?” She demanded.

“I understand the difficulty,” Iniri sympathized. “It took me a while to accept Blue was a person, myself. If he could actually speak to us that would go a long way toward convincing people, but he can’t. Even Powers have limitations, it seems.” She waved a hand vaguely upward. “According to Shayma’s he’s quite personable, though. She even thinks he’s funny.”

“Of course Shayma thinks he’s funny,” Sienne groused. “She thinks her father is funny.”

“Hey now, I’m hilarious,” he protested, which got a smile from his wife.

“Be that as it may,” she continued, “Shayma did not even have a Class when we left. Your Highness, may I know why you sent someone with so little experience on what is clearly an important mission?”

“I did say she made a bargain with a Power. As a result of this Bargain, Shayma got the Class of [Trickster]. Shapeshifting, [Illusion], teleport abilities, and [Seeker].” She ticked off the Class features on her fingers. “It’s the most powerful starting Class I’ve ever seen. All that, and she’s immune to Depletion. The mission was more her idea. Our entire stratagem is her idea, in fact.”

“Oh?” Giorn had to control his enormous grin at hearing that from a Queen. His Shayma, the strategist.

“We need the Adamant Fortress, and Shayma is the one who found out it existed. She’s found every piece of it so far, usually at great risk to herself. She’s brought me four of the five pieces, some of which were in very obscure places, and the last one is in Duenn. When she gets back, we’ll have everything we need to move against Tor Kot.”

That was another set of words that made almost no sense. Legendary Artifacts weren’t just found. But he couldn’t help a grin of pride as he considered it. His daughter, reaching to such heights before even becoming a Classer. And that Class! It was a bit of a shame she wasn’t going to take after Sienne and follow the path of the [Void Rapier], but it was true that Class wasn’t for everyone.

“You’re taking this more calmly than I expected,” Iniri noted.

“I’m not taking it at all,” Sienne said bluntly. “Until I see Shayma it’s not really real, Your Highness. We go out for a short jaunt, war breaks out, and when I finally hear from my daughter she’s—” Sienne let out a low growl. “She’s married to some strange thing we can’t even talk to!”

“I know, it’s a lot to take in,” Giorn said, putting his huge hand on Sienne’s shoulder, “but just think about the fact that Shayma’s already good enough to go on special missions for nobility, and she has a powerful backer. I won’t be happy either if this Blue doesn’t meet muster, but if Shayma is happy that’s a point in his favor.”

“Can we meet Blue?” Sienne asked. “How do you meet a dungeon anyway?”

“You already have, more or less.” Iniri indicated the glasses on the desk. “Blue does have a core room, but even you’re not likely to see it. Shayma speaks for him, so while she’s gone he doesn’t have any way to properly discuss things.”

“That’s…” This time, he had to censor himself from being too sharp in the presence of the Queen. “That’s troublesome.” How was he supposed to interrogate Shayma’s boyfriend without her? More seriously, it meant that Shayma’s freedoms would be drastically restricted as she was the only conduit he had to the outside world.

“Very,” Iniri agreed. “It would make my life so much easier if—” She stopped as a flash of black deposited a piece of parchment on her desk. “Oh. There is that. Blue can deliver us notes from Shayma, though there are obvious limitations to that method.”

The Queen picked it up and read it, nodding, before handing it over to them. Sienne took it and Giorn peered down at the scrawl that was, indeed, Shayma’s handwriting.

Here at Duenn. Tor Kot had a lot of defenses along the way but nothing we couldn’t handle. He is a lot more prepared than Vok Nal. I’ll be heading in soon to get the last cube, Cheya’s helping me bypass some spell lines. With luck we’ll all be back in a few hours.

Also Blue says my parents are there! Hi mom and dad! I can’t wait to get back, I have so much to tell you! Blue better be treating you right or I’ll give him an earful.

“She sounds cheerful,” Giorn said.

“If only she weren’t about to go into a mage-king held city,” Sienne sighed. “I suppose she is my daughter.”

Day 129 - Shayma (Part Two)

The moment the bells started to ring, Shayma could feel a pressure bearing down on her. It seemed to skate off her like the Depletion did, but it was there nonetheless.

“Goddamn stupid Red Core— ugh, sorry, ANATHEMA is making me tetchy. I hate it. Anyway I think the dungeon is actually paying attention to you now.”

“Oh, hornrot,” she cursed, which was something she’d picked up from Iniri. It wasn’t exactly applicable to her, but she liked the way it sounded anyway. She dropped the major illusions, since they weren’t of any use anymore and she was certainly going to need the mana, and used [Ghost Step] to teleport directly upward just as whispering footsteps sounded outside the treasure room. Then teleported a second time, getting onto the roof.

At least she didn’t have to worry about the dungeon changing the city on her. There were still monsters, of course, but hopefully that was something she could outrun. She was sure Tor Kot had things in place to deal with rogue Classers; he’d demonstrated that much on the way in. With any luck it’d be a lot easier to get out.

“Blue, LAE,” she said, as she shifted her arm. [Ghost Step] kept her running across the rooftops, but she was sure his monsters were tracking her and the LAE was the only weapon she could use while running. Though she had no idea what would happen if she used it while she was in [Ghost Step].

“All ready. I hope you don’t have to use it. Bit worried about the potential collateral damage.”

“Not until they let people outside.” The sound was dampened, but she could tell the big bells in the center tower were ringing. Not any of the ones she’d heard before, but something deep and ominous. She could tell there were ripples of mana associated with that, though she couldn’t tell exactly what they were meant to do. Blue’s own power seemed to be protecting her from whatever it was, letting it sluice past.

She leapt from rooftop to rooftop, heading back out toward the edge of the city. With everything looking identical she wasn’t sure she was taking the exact line back, but it was close enough. With the ocean to one side, she aimed for the distant line of the wall and sprinted. The bell kept tolling, ceaseless peals that she could feel through her feet.

“Behind you, to the left.” Blue murmured, and she glanced back to see a bonfire of mana from some monster following her from the street. If it weren’t for [Promise] the outline of the actual creature would probably have been lost behind the glare from her mana-sight. It seemed to be one of the caster mantises, with a black rock embedded in its forehead, and Shayma waved the LAE at it in an attempt to repeat what she’d done before and explode the gem.

It turned out that kind of precision was nearly impossible to achieve while sprinting, and instead she scored lines across buildings and scorched window shutters, at least for those parts that weren’t pure white. The monster took note of the damage and began to try and dodge the beam, though its random skitterings back and forth didn’t have much impact. Blue said the weapon was hitscan, and she had to admit it was eerie how it didn’t have any sort of projectile or anything to be dodged. It simply was there.

She slid to a halt, bracing herself for a moment while still in [Ghost Step], and focused directly on the monster. While she didn’t manage to get the gem, she did clip its eyes, and it abruptly stopped dead before fairly flying back the way it had come, mana swirling in its wake.

“Blinded it, I bet. I think you’d be blind too if it weren’t for [Promise] and [Regeneration], with all the close up glare you’re getting.”

Blue’s voice seemed to be more detached than usual, but considering his outburst before he was probably just trying to keep from swearing at the monsters again. Shayma continued her headlong flight over the rooftops, and considered how she was going to deal with the spellwork triplines outside the city. It was far too late to worry about alarms, but anything else might slow her down.

Then she remembered the jump she’d made up the wall, and decided if nothing else she could simply leap over the spellwork. From what she’d seen on the way in, it didn’t extend very far up, but she’d still have to be careful not to touch it. She was almost to the wall, which was now lit with much denser mana than before, enough to make it impossible for her to step through it. Over it worked just fine, though. She jumped past a mantis warrior, the bug twitching and swinging wildly at where she had been a moment prior, and hit the ground at a dead run.

At that speed, in [Ghost Step], her leaps were long, floating things, carrying her well above the triplines placed in the ground. She hadn’t come out of Duenn at quite the right spot, and was forced to angle back to where Cheya and Annit and Keri were hiding, but she was doing pretty well at outpacing whatever pursuit was being organized to go after them. She wasn’t sure how long that would last, but all she had to do was reach them and Blue could take care of the rest.

Shayma popped out of [Ghost Step] as she crossed into the treeline, branches bending and breaking as she smashed through them into the little clearing where she’d left the women and the boat. All three of them were on alert, combat-ready as she stumbled in.

“Here,” she said, skipping over all the questions they might have had by tossing Cheya the cube from her [Phantom Pocket]. “Blue, get us out of here!” She crouched down to put her hands on the ground and Blue growled in her ear.

“Well, dammit, that fucking Red Core is doing something with those fucking bells to make this harder. Hang on.” Blue’s mana buzzed as he forced it out into the earth, shaping together a teleporter at, for him, a glacial pace.

Then the bells stopped.

The sudden silence was more ominous than the noise, and whatever interference was going on with Blue didn’t stop just because the sound did, to judge by his muttered imprecations. With a final curse, Cheya popped out of existence, but the other two didn’t.

“Oookay so I can’t do everyone at once, that’s good to know.”

“What’s going on?” Annit asked, blowgun at the ready and her eyes darting about.

“Blue has to push past the local dungeon. Don’t worry, you’re next,” Shayma promised. As to what else was going on, Annit’s guess was as good as hers.

“Keri first,” Annit said firmly, and the healer vanished even as she opened her mouth to protest. The next few fractions of a second were completely silent, utterly still, and trickled by like chilled honey. Then there was a clap like thunder and man stood within the clearing.

A massive wave of magic rippled out from him, hitting Shayma with physical force and making Annit sway drunkenly, nearly collapsing before she vanished with a faint pop.

“Oh hell, that’s Tor Kot.”

She could have guessed that without Blue’s confirmation. He was tall, but nothing like Vok Nal’s grotesque proportions, being merely something over six feet. Tor Kot had an elderly air about him, but wasn’t quite aged, with fine wrinkles on his face,white hair, and a bushy white beard. Incongruously, he was dressed in an impeccably tailored black suit and carried a pure white cane, the overall effect being that he looked more like someone’s wealthy uncle than a powerful sorcerer.

“That is a fascinating application of dungeon magic, Miss Prinn,” he said as Blue struggled to pull back from the teleporter. It took her a moment to realize that she still had [Illusory Presence] running, and for all his evident power he hadn’t managed to pierce it. The mage-king seemed to stroll forward, but he was next to her in an instant from some sort of movement Skill. Additional soft popping noises heralded monsters teleporting in; clearly Tor Kot’s elites from the armor and weapons they had, even if they did look exactly like his other monsters.

“Uhhh, Blue?” She whispered, still unable to move and waiting for the recall.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry, he’s making everything super hard I’m going as fast as I can.”

“Take your time, I’m in no hurry.” Tor Kot crouched down beside her, leaning on his cane as he peered at her hand. “I have never seen anything like that! If I may be so rude, what exactly are you? Not a monster, certainly, but that’s not normal mana inside you either. It’s almost like you’re a controller but there’s simply not enough power there.”

“Punch him right in his stupid face!” Blue yelled, then immediately made a discontented noise. “This is awful. I can’t think straight and it’s making it harder than it should be. Done! Recall!”

There was a pulling sensation, but Tor Kot put his hand on her shoulder before anything could happen. Her tail frizzed instantly, and she tried to pull away but found she couldn’t. It wasn’t so much that his grip was that firm as that there was some sort of inevitability about it, as if his hand was simply going to be there and that was how the world worked.

“Oh, please, stay a while,” Tor Kot said genially. “You’re the most interesting person I’ve seen since I arrived here! Which of the Council do you serve?”

“Dammit, that Red Core stuff! You may as well try to talk him into letting you go or something. I don’t think I can teleport you while he’s touching you— Blue’s voice trailed off into that awful hiss that she’d heard when he’d lost himself fighting the Meil dungeon, making her heart lurch before it came back. “—maybe I can burn him with Bane mana somehow—”

Blue sounded wildly out of control, going from rage to resignation to consideration in a few words, which was far from comforting. Still, she screwed up her courage and put on the face she used when she was representing Blue.

“I’m not with the Council,” she told Tor Kot, proud that her voice didn’t tremble.

“No? I don’t see how any rogues got over here except— ah!” He thumped the ground with his cane. “I know. Your master took my experiment, didn’t he? That scoundrel.”

“What experiment?” The words just slipped out, but Tor Kot brightened as if she’d asked after a favorite son.

“All our cores have the same mana Affinities, you see. I thought maybe maturing them away from any Affinity influence might change it. Then there was the hope one might develop Depletion resistance from being exposed to the other, but you wouldn’t be interested in that, would you?” He waggled a finger at her. “After all, you’re already resistant, aren’t you? Hmm? Hmm?”

“This guy’s bonkers.” She just shook her head.

“I don’t…” Shayma swallowed, losing her words, and tried again. “You’re a lot different than Vok Nal.”

“I should hope so! Vok Nal is a useless waste of a core and I don’t mind who knows it. Not a fan of any of the Voks but, politics, you know.” He sighed. “When did you meet Vok Nal, hmm? Oh, I see. You were there when your master took over the Meil core. Yes, boorish isn’t he?”

Shayma was more than a little disturbed by how he didn’t seem to need her to actually reply to anything, wondering if he had some sort of mind magic on his side. She didn’t even know where to begin to defend against that sort of thing.

“Don’t worry, my dear. I can’t read your mind, only your face.” Tor Kot chuckled. “And ears. Demihumans usually have such expressive ears!” He reached up to touch his own, normal human ears. “I’m rather envious, really.”

“Oh hell he’s a cold-reader. Because of course he is. Uhh maybe you can distract him, otherwise he’ll just figure out everything by asking questions and I realllly don’t want him to know I’m a self-aware dungeon Power yet.”

Shayma was still struggling to deal the situation in her own mind. Despite the fact that his hand was still resting on her shoulder, Tor Kot hadn’t made any other aggressive moves and his elites were all standing quite some distance away. Though it was unreasonable to ascribe human emotions to the monsters, she thought they looked somewhat exasperated. Something about the set of their limbs.

“What...what do you want?”

“What do you want?” Tor Kot countered. “You burgled someone’s house, which, frankly I don’t care about that much. Odious people, the Llyns, but necessary. But what could a controller possibly need that he couldn’t simply ask me for? Or more importantly, make himself?”

“This is not for a…” Shayma frowned as she repeated the term he’d used. “A controller. This is for Queen Iniri. She wants her kingdom back, and since you took it from her I doubt you’ll just give her what she asks for.”

“Oh dear,” Tor Kot said. “Oh dear, oh dear. Yes, it is quite an unfortunate circumstance. But!” He spun his cane, thumping it against the ground. “Did she take the core for herself?”

“No,” Shayma said shortly, unwilling to say more than that.

“Oh, come on, you can tell me,” he wheedled. “Honestly I feel for her, I really do, but it wasn’t like we had any choice.”

“What? Why not?” She gawped at the man. The mage-king had seemed almost sympathetic until he’d said that. Now he sounded like one of those wild-eyed fanatics her mother had warned her against.

“Aaaa why isn’t this doing anything!? Stupid trait points!”

While she was glad Blue was trying to do something, she didn’t like the apparent failure of whatever it was. In fact she almost had to ignore him, his muttering distracting her from the very dangerous mage-king in front of her.

“The rift grows wider by the day. By the hour! Even the smallest action possible is one that must be taken. You should know that want we want matters very little in the face of that. Or don’t you know?” Tor Kot peered down at her. “Your master isn’t even vaguely associated with the Council, is he?”

“No,” she admitted, since he could probably figure it out anyway.

“Wait,” he said. “If you took Meil and you’re not Council, what did you do with the Core? Oh, I see it’s fine, but what about Vok Nal?” Tor Kot peered at her face. “Oh dear. He’s not well, is he? Did you kill him? Oh my, that is unexpected. But...Miriam? Did Shadow report that Vok Nal was dead?”

He glanced over at one of his mantises, which shook its head. Once left, once right, very slowly. Like all the other monsters, it didn’t seem to say anything but Tor Kot seemed to have no trouble understanding it.

“It sounds like he’s been shirking his duty! I know he’s a transfer but that’s no excuse—” He stopped, glancing over at one his silent monsters. “No, you’re right Miriam, complaining won’t get me anywhere.”

Tor Kot lifted his cane and pointed it off to the side. Nothing happened. He frowned, and she saw mana flare slightly, but still nothing happened.

“Oh?”

“Oh yeah, I’m pretty sure that Shadow guy got free. If that’s even a thing that happens?”

“That is decidedly odd,” Tor Kot said, pointing the cane at the mantis-monster he called Miriam. “I need you to track down Shadow, because if I can’t call him something’s certainly the matter!”

While Tor Kot was distracted, Shayma focused on the hand resting on her shoulder. She knew she couldn’t pull away from it; whatever Skill he was using to hold her was far too powerful for that. But she’d had a little bit of success dealing directly with mage-kings before. Shayma reached through [Promise], pushing as much will and mana as she could against the hand. It was like running against a brick wall at first, but instant by instant, as she pushed against her Skill, she could feel the wall crumbling under the pressure of her mana.

Suddenly it all clicked into place, and Tor Kot’s hand crumbled to sand, blood spurting from the wrist.

“What!?” The mage-king was suddenly across the clearing again, another thunderclap and gust of wind announcing his motion. The realized illusion was already breaking, his hand reappearing hale and whole, but it was enough.

“Gotcha!” Blue exulted, and the clearing vanished, the familiar walls of the cottage appearing around her with a sharp snap.