Chapter 60: First Three (Patreon)

It took just an instant, yet quite literally every single creature inside Aby’s myriad halls suddenly felt their creator reach out and directly touch their minds. For some, mostly the small creatures, this contact was over nearly as soon as it started, and was forgotten not long after. For many more, they felt a few instructions, some information, or even loose ideas start being fed to them as this touch was further strengthened. Not many of these creatures began doing anything immediately different, but they all seemed more focused, more intent. One specific resident received even more than that, and Sela was jolted to attention by the androgynous voice of her partner, four simple words that made her worry more than anything else had in some time.

“Sela, home, please hurry.”

Funnily enough, this meant the dungeon was the calmest it had been in a very long time. Everything seemed to slow down while Aby started planning, most creatures went from fleeing a predator or chasing those very prey to simply idling along, so as to be sure they were prepared for their creator’s commands. The only real activity was because of the three groups that were still inside of Aby’s halls before this unknown showed up, and the core wanted them gone as soon as it could possibly manage, preferably with no loss in resources as it did so.

Thankfully, one of those groups seemed to get a message from someone outside through what the core was reasonably sure was a communications crystal, or at least what most of its plundered knowledge suggested it was, and left. The other two were more stubborn, but the core didn’t have time to deal with stubborn, and began herding them away from each other. The first was going to be brought to one of the deeper floors, where the dragonkin or wyrm could take care of them faster and more cleanly than elsewhere, and the second was being pressured into a dead-end hall on the fifth floor, where all four stars would be present.

It was the best Aby could come up with in a short amount of time, and while there was likely a better way to deal with the nine stragglers, this small creature took priority. He had just stood up, and hadn’t even started moving before a profound smile was plastered across his face. The core would be upset at the display of wide-eyed wonder that it was getting if it weren’t for the fact that already something was not right.

This was the first time in so long the core felt something that was giving off more mana than it drew in, and not by a small margin. Essentially, this thing had a denser concentration of mana than Aby, and the core was certain that he knew how to use it too.

It wasn’t long before the invader grew tired of simply standing around and basking in the scenery, and with a speed that defied the fluid he was neck deep in, he bolted to one of the colonies of coral on the edges. Aby had no idea why he simply sat down beneath the water when he reached it, or how the apparent air-breather was able to speak so clearly and rapidly while doing so, but it saw an opportunity to figure out just how correct its instincts were, with a few of the remnant silver-streaked barracuda.

Much to the core’s chagrin, the four near-invisible fish made it a meter away from the thing, before the water around them simply held them in place. Aby knew of no better way to describe it, one moment they were racing towards him and the next, they couldn’t move, something wouldn’t let them. The man took a second more to finish his sentence to himself before he finally stood up and turned towards the helpless creatures. 

The smile never left his face even while he began scolding the four creatures, telling them how ‘impolite’ it is to try and ambush a ‘guest’ like that. Apparently he felt that they were sufficiently reprimanded after that, and he simply walked by them. The four were still locked in place, as were a few of the slower fish that had managed to reach him, while he continued his ramblings. This time he was looking at nothing in particular and simply said “I forgive you, though.” And began laughing, something the core was even more unnerved by.

The man had already turned a few more corners before whatever he had done seemed to wear off, and the fish were released from this unseen grip. Aby never saw anything happen to hold them in place, no grand chanting or elaborate spell, nor did it see why they were free, only that this happened to pretty much every other creature he had come across by the time he was halfway through the first floor.

It was then his apparent ‘guest’ ran into something more than fish, the earsplitting bang that sounded throughout the hall signaled his first encounter with one of Aby’s more successful creations, though the effect was disheartening, to say the least. Rather than clutch his head and scream in pain, or better yet, simply fall down, he just tensed up for a brief moment, then turned to the opening that the shrimp had lodged itself in. The poor crustacean never even got the chance to fire a second time before the man’s focus shifted to it. 

Aby was already dreading what the invader would do in response, hoping that he’d at least give the shrimp a quick ending even though it had done nothing in response to the previous attacks. Instead of any number of outcomes Aby had been dreading, though, the man simply gave a quick gesture towards the shrimp, and it took just a moment before it was in his hands, and being examined with an intensity that rivaled Aby’s own gaze.

Throughout the entire process, the white haired invader never stopped chittering away, from rapid mumbling to excited shouts when something new caught his eye. The shrimp was cast aside in just moments, left to be held by some unseen hand like everything else, and the man was off once again. The next few shrimps received the same treatment, too, before he’d apparently grown bored and just ignored them entirely during his stroll onwards.

And that was all it could be called, a stroll. Despite already being three quarters through the first floor, he hadn’t once quieted down, nor had he ever gone faster than a brisk jog, and only that was because some new curiosity presented itself. Just one floor, and the core was already starting to feel more concerned than ever. 

Thankfully, some things were still going according to plan, and the fifth floor had been freed up by the time this interloper reached the descent to floor two. A small victory but a victory nonetheless. Aby relished the feeling for as long as it could, holding onto the feeling of control as the other group continued to be forced backwards, almost at the mouth of the thirteenth floor.

Still, that bit of relief wasn’t enough to make this interloper turn around, and the man’s leisurely pace continued for much of the second floor, before the royal rifle shrimp had managed to drag himself out of one of the tunnels. Aby was keenly aware of the hitch in the man’s breath when he laid eyes on the resplendent critter, and was almost a little uncomfortable with just how intently he was staring at the shrimp. Apparently the little king wasn’t a fan either, nor were the many followers he’d brought with him. 

The burst of light was blinding, no different than normal, and Aby knew the noise was carried deep into its halls. Anything standing in that place was sure to simply not be there when the dust settled, or sand in this case. Anyone but this uninvited guest, it would seem. And so, Aby was forced to watch as his eyes literally sparkled, and his grin turned positively predatory towards the king. It had to feel the king’s thoughts turn from pride and smugness at what it was certain was a successful strike, to confusion when he saw the big thing still standing, to fear when he was suddenly frozen, and then in the big thing’s hands.

It was distinctly uncomfortable to Aby, and the shrimp himself had never been so afraid in his admittedly short life before. He was certain that this was the end, it was simply fact. Somehow, he wasn’t enough, his entourage wasn’t enough, and he was going to be eaten. He just wished the thing would do it already, that it would quit examining the king and finish the job so he needn’t live in shame any longer, and yet, it never happened.

Even the king wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, just that one moment, he was being studied down to his smallest detail, and what felt like the next, he was floating, mostly alone, in the hall he’d come to originally. His followers were still alive, but completely still, and the few fish were just as stuck. That was how they remained, king included, for some long moments, before they were suddenly free again. The king floated back to the floor, dazed and confused, before he realized that his Creator was still frantically sending information to him, about the intruder’s whereabouts, about how long he’d been dangling there, about everything it seemed, and he grew frustrated.

Even worse, he knew that, because the thing was already on the third floor, he, his troops, and his authority wouldn’t be of much use for much longer, and so he needed to hurry back into the Paths or be left behind. Most of his troops were following, though the fish themselves weren’t able to follow, nor fast enough to make it for another round.

Aby knew this too, it was probably why they were only freed after the intruder had walked far enough away, so that nothing could rejoin the fight. The core had a sneaking suspicion that it was more likely that he simply didn’t want to examine the same creatures again, and that nonchalance only served to stoke Aby’s budding frustration, though it also fanned the flames of fear that it felt just as much, if not more.

Unfortunately, the core couldn’t really do much with these feelings, beyond simply try that much harder to remove the source. This was easier said than done, obviously, but the core felt a small bit of hope when the kobold tribe had finally mobilized in full force. It even widened a path from their tribe to the third floor to make it quicker, and it was less of an organized march upwards, and more a mad dash, mostly since it was basically a sheer vertical swim.

It was only a matter of time before they reached the third floor, and Aby was desperately hoping that they could do what the rest couldn’t and it sought to delay the man as much as possible so they’d encounter one another on roughly even terrain. That’d be much better for the kobolds than trying to start some sort of battle underwater, certainly, and Aby needed every advantage it could scrap together. 

Thankfully, the man in question couldn’t walk more than ten meters before coming across something new that drew him in, and had been gasping in amazement or sighing in contentment far more than anyone inside of Aby’s domain had any right to do. He had just gotten his tiny hands on one of the rogue serpents, laughing as it squirmed and tried to bite him, when the tribe were on the third floor.

The chief and drake-kin both were the first to push aside the massive fan coral that vaguely hid the hole in the wall, and both of them stood tall in waters that were, to them, merely waist high. The latter took a moment to shake her head, the feathers on her scalp practically raining seawater for a short moment. The drake-kin merely took a deep breath as the rest of the tribe gathered behind them. Most of the kobolds, the young ones especially, were fidgeting some as their chief barked orders. Their wyrmscale armor glistened in the radiant light, the deep blue luster standing out against the mostly pallid scales the kobolds themselves had.

While the chief was busy getting the tribe in something resembling an orderly formation, the shaman began preparing her own spells. She had a much easier time than the mages, simply needing to chant all but the final verse in a spell, or make all the motions of a ritual without triggering it, and could complete it at any time she felt so long as she said nothing before then. And so, her grey scales had taken on a slight red glow, the power within ready to be used when she called for it.

This was in stark contrast to the kobold rider. Her kelpie was already upset at not being able to complete his hunt just a little while earlier, and was eager to make up for lost time. It took everything she had, be it promises or threats or anything else, to keep the oily horse in line, and even then he was practically shivering in anticipation. She leapt onto his back once he finally reformed correctly, though some crude approximation of an eel’s tail still dangled where a horse’s should be, and that was when the chief signaled for them to follow.

Aby watched as the tribe began their march, the largest band it’d ever seen from them, as they trekked backwards through floor three to meet this invader head on. All the while, the invader in question was happily playing with this creature or examining that elemental stone, completely unaware and likely uncaring of the first of Aby’s true forces to be sent his way.