Dungeon of Knowledge

 

Aliandra

 

Ali snapped awake, bumping her head painfully on the wall of bone beside her as she tried to shake off the recurrent nightmare. Malika and Calen had been hunting her for what seemed like days, and when she finally reached the safety of the library, she had run into Mato’s snarling angry bear. She had fled, and Ryn was there, but instead of helping her, Ryn had changed into a giant black dragon that ate books and breathed fire that seared her flesh.

 

Ali groaned softly and sat up, her eyes slowly taking in the dimly lit expanse of the library’s lower floor. Her hip ached from sleeping on the hard flagstones covered in rough bone and she seemed to be covered in dust and dried mud. She had a pounding headache and a giant void in the center of her chest that threatened to consume her. Everything was gone, her parents, her friends, her town, her domain, her home. She had nothing.

 

I don’t deserve anything, I’m a dungeon.

 

People killed dungeons. People enjoyed killing dungeons. If nothing else, Roderik proved that. She shuddered.

 

She glanced around at the giant doors behind her which leaked the strangely wild mana into the ancient, ruined chamber, taking note of her spot nestled up against the wall in a hollow of encrusted bone. How did I get down here? The jungle was untamed and dangerous.

 

“Ali? Ali… are you in here?”

 

The sudden voice breaking through the stillness of the library set Ali’s heart pounding. She panicked, They found me! She knew they would come for her, but she wasn’t ready to die yet. She scrambled behind an ancient decaying bookcase, urgently sending out a mental summons to her minions, but almost all of them were too far away – deep in the jungle for some reason.

 

“I heard something, over there…”

 

One, however, was right beside her. With two heavy steps, the Forest Guardian approached, lowering its great head to nuzzle her back.

 

A broad-shouldered figure emerged from the darkness, approaching her hiding spot.

 

“Ali?”

 

The sound of Mato’s familiar voice cut deep. That her friends had been the ones to come hunt her hurt badly enough, but he even had the sound of concern in his voice. How could he?

 

“Go away!” she screamed at him. “Leave me alone!”

 

“Ali, you’re alive!” Malika cried, appearing beside Mato. A moment later Calen emerged, his blonde hair mussed up with his bow resting in his hand.

 

“You’re just here to kill me now that you know I’m a dungeon,” Ali yelled. Anger and rage surged within her, and she called out to her Forest Guardian. It responded, charging toward them in a thunderous Rush that echoed loudly in the stone chamber. Mato stepped into its path, and with an enormous crash, he was tossed flying, bouncing off a bone-covered shelf and cartwheeling out of sight. The Guardian stood protectively over Ali, head lowered and rumbling threateningly at Malika.

 

“Ali, we already knew you were a dungeon,” Malika said.

 

What?

 

“You knew?” Ali gasped. She stood and stared at Malika, grappling with the torrent of conflicting emotions her words had unleashed. She had expected anger and hate toward her as a dungeon. She had expected them to try and kill her. But this was not something she had imagined in even her worst dreams.

 

“Yes, we’ve known for a few weeks,” Malika replied, far too calm for the feelings warring inside Ali, emotions stretched taut, well past their limits.

 

“And you didn’t tell me?” she screamed again, her voice echoing hoarse and ragged, provoking a sympathetic roar from the Guardian towering above her. “They tried to kill me! They burned my forest!”

 

“I’m sorry, Ali,” Malika said, still calm and not moving even in the face of the ferocious roaring Forest Guardian.

 

“Go away,” Ali said quietly. “Just leave me alone.” It was all too much for her. She wanted to sob, but her anger was too strong. She had been prepared for their hate, been prepared to fight them. But this felt like a fresh betrayal, and it gouged deep wounds into her heart.

 

Why didn’t they tell me? Had they been plotting all those weeks while being nice to her face?

 

“Ali, I understand you’re probably feeling hurt and betrayed by us,” Malika said. “We didn’t know what else to do and I’m really… sorry. I know this must hurt, but please, listen to me. We need your help. This person is dying. This Dryad… please help her.”

 

Ali’s anger surged at Malika’s audacity to ask for her help after hurting her so much, and she was about to scream for her to leave. But the anger evaporated the instant she saw the slender, frail-looking woman leaning on Calen for enough support just to be able to stand.

 

She had green skin and seemed to be clothed entirely with oak leaves. All over her body, black patches oozed dark sap and leaked twisted, ugly, death affinity mana into the surroundings.

 

Dryad [Great Mother of the Deep Woods] – Sylvan, Tree Spirit – level ??? (Nature)

 

Her gaze reached the soft, brown, pain-filled eyes, and Ali experienced a jolt of recognition.

 

“Aunt Lira?” Ali asked in a tiny, aghast voice, automatically speaking in ancient Dal’mohran.

 

“Aliandra?”

 

The ancient Dryad spoke Dal’mohran in the same soft, kind voice Ali remembered from her childhood, though hoarse and short of breath now from her weakened state. Her heart wobbled wildly in her chest as she gasped at her relative. This… she could not bear this.

 

“What are you doing here, child? I thought you perished three thousand years ago along with the great city.”

 

Not quite believing what she was seeing, Ali emerged from under her Guardian’s protective bulk and tentatively approached, reaching up and taking Lira’s hand like she used to when they would go on walks through the forest looking for pretty flowers. She gasped at the touch, and Lira did not evaporate, dispersing like a half-remembered dream. Nor did she turn to hate and try to kill her. She simply held her hand.

 

“Mom saved me with her magic,” Ali finally answered, looking up at her.

 

“Elowynn still lives?” Lira asked, her eyes widening at the news.

 

Ali shook her head sadly. Blinking back fresh tears at the painful memory, she said, “She spent her life energy protecting me from Nevyn Eld. She died with the city. She gave her life to save me, and her magic is the only reason I’m still alive.”

 

“I’m truly sorry, Aliandra,” Lira said, compassion replacing the pain in her eyes for a moment.

 

“Why are you here, Aunt Lira?” Ali asked, switching back to Common finally. “And why are you so sick?”

 

“Aunt?” Calen echoed in shock. Malika hushed him.

 

“My forest was destroyed by foul necromancy, and I was driven out,” she answered. “But I’m glad I got to see you before I die.” Then, as if noticing it for the first time, she glanced down at Ali’s hand clasped in her own and recoiled, severing the connection. “We can’t… the blight…”

 

“I…” Ali swallowed and ate her words at the sight of fresh pain in Lira’s eyes, and the hand that had just been holding hers clutched to her heart. Instead, Ali focused on Lira’s story, “Your forest is… gone?” Ali had always known Lira had a domain in the southern forest before she even knew what ‘domain’ meant. She had always accepted that Lira could only visit for a couple of days at a time – it was just the way things worked. Now, having experienced a domain personally, she finally understood. “You have domain withdrawal?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How long?”

 

“The cursed necromancer, Alexander Gray, poisoned my mana and infected me with the undead blight, I have a few hours left at most.” Lira’s kind face twisted into an ugly emotion when she named the necromancer, an expression the likes of which Ali had never seen marring the face of the kindly old dryad. “I came seeking the dense nature mana emanating from this town in hopes I might find an oak and establish a new home. I never expected to find you here, dear.”

 

“If you have an oak, will you be able to recover?” Ali asked, her heart grasping for hope like a lifeline.

 

“If I establish a new home in a mana-dense area, I should be able to rest in the tree and regenerate. Provided the mana is compatible,” Lira said, but her entire frame radiated despondency. “But it’s impossible, now.”

 

“They burned my forest, but I think there might be some oak trees back there,” Ali said, pointing back to the giant open stone doorway leading to the jungle. There was a blank spot in her memories and she couldn’t quite remember what she had done, only that she had spent quite some time in there with her Grimoire. “You can have as many trees as you want.” If a tree could save Lira, Ali would give her a thousand – she simply couldn’t bear seeing Lira so frail. Gently, she tugged Lira’s hand, drawing her toward the jungle.

 

Meantime, Ali shut down all thoughts, all doubt, not daring to meet her friends’ concerned gazes. They had come for her. They knew – they had kept the horrific truth from her – and still… her mind balked at the implications. They… no. There had to be some trick, surely? Yet none of that mattered, not while Aunt Lira was dying. She crushed her emotions and shoved them away. Later.

 

But as they approached the doorway, Lira recoiled. “I can’t, the mana within… it is twisted.”

 

“There is a large cavern above the library,” Calen suggested. “Maybe you have the time to grow some trees up there?”

 

Ali didn’t trust herself to answer him. Instead, she created a broad barrier powered by her domain mana and led Lira onto it, allowing Mato to join them supporting Lira on his arm. Then Ali levitated the three of them up through the central atrium, following the light of Calen’s brilliant wings. Malika sprinted alongside, her feet occasionally touching the pillars or railing, but more often than not simply stepping on empty air.

 

At the top of the atrium’s spiral staircase, she found a landing. Large boulders and rubble had been recently moved, shoved up against the side of the walls, revealing a passage that led out into an enormous dark cavern.

 

I didn’t even know this was here. She gazed around, but all she could see were rocks and dirt, several ancient, blackened tree trunks supporting the rock far above their heads, and some pinpricks of reddish light in the distance that might have been fires. She stepped off her barrier and onto the dirt right at the edge of her domain leaking up from the library below.

 

“Thank you, young Druid,” Lira murmured as Mato helped her off the barrier.

 

She doesn’t have much time. Ali summoned her Grimoire and got to work at once. She channeled her mana for several minutes making a giant white oak that would hopefully become the first tree in Lira’s new home. Ali glanced at Lira leaning on Mato and studying her magic with curiosity. She needs the mana too. Lira had mentioned requiring a mana-dense area several times. All I have is my domain, she thought, but it was going to take a lot more than just a tree. I can make mana. Dense mana. I have the imprints… I just hope there’s time.

 

She quickly considered and discarded several options as she paged through her Grimoire before she summoned two Moss Creepers and a Spore Spreader. “Fill this area with Verdant Moss and Common Glowcaps,” she instructed. They scampered off to begin seeding the area around the tree for her domain to grow. Then she paged back to the grass chapter and summoned a dense half-circle of Living Bamboo around the oak. It was her strongest nature affinity plant, and it immediately began spilling dense mana into the area. I just hope it’s enough. Come on, grow! Work!

 

“It will take some time for the mana to build up properly,” Ali explained, studying the trickles and flows of her domain as the new plants began to draw it in, linking themselves to the mana emerging from the library.

 

“Thank you for helping, Ali,” Malika said.

 

“I’m still mad at you guys,” Ali snapped. In truth, she didn’t want to talk to any of them. “Could you leave us alone for a bit?”

 

Her words hit Malika like an invisible gut punch, and she winced, her countenance crumbling in an instant. Ali felt a brief surge of satisfaction that she would experience a little taste of the pain and betrayal that still raged in her heart, yet the sensation felt hollow and she regretted her reaction at the same time.

 

“Come, there are still Kobolds in here, let’s make ourselves useful,” Mato said, drawing a choked-up Malika away with him. Calen eyed Ali for a moment with an unreadable expression before he spun on his heel and followed them.

 

Ali plopped herself down beside Lira, overwhelmed by the intense feelings that churned inside. Her friends had returned, but they had betrayed her. How could they do this? She couldn’t trust them ever again. I’m a dungeon, I can’t trust anyone.

 

“You have good friends,” Lira’s soft voice intruded on her thoughts.

 

Ali’s eyes snapped up, meeting those kind hazel eyes filled with wisdom and patience. She looked away. “I’m a dungeon, Lira. How could they keep that from me? A powerful mage came to kill me, just because of my class. He was enjoying it – he was excited to see me suffer and bleed.” Roderik’s gloating face loomed large in her mind; lit with joy and pleasure every time his magic struck her, every time he made her bleed.

 

Lira sat calmly beside her, quietly listening to her pain.

 

“What do I do, Lira? I’ve lost all my friends. Nobody is going to help me because of what I am.”

 

Ali looked up at a touch on her hand, but it was simply Lira offering her own to hold. She took it, taking comfort in the contact.

 

“Did you know your father was a dungeon, too?” Lira asked.

 

Ali’s head snapped up as she stared in surprise at Lira, but the Dryad’s face contained no trickery, only sadness and kindness.

 

“He was?” she asked, feeling tiny all of a sudden.

 

“Yes, dear. Do you remember him teaching you about domain withdrawal, and the reason he couldn’t travel with your mother?” Lira asked. “Do you remember his shrine? While some resourceful mages have learned to make shrines, they are pale imitations of the shrines grown by a true dungeon.”

 

Ali could scarcely believe what she was saying, but her rational mind put all the pieces together, finding that they all fit. Her Shrine of the Ancient Grove had been her father’s shrine, and from what Malika had said, it was vastly more capable than the one possessed by the town. It was even the reason she had been able to offer class advancement to Ryn and Basil, and the novice guild members.

 

“Your father was a dungeon, and he married your mother, and they had a beautiful daughter. He was a respected and valued member of Dal’mohra,” Lira said. “Do not give up hope, there is a path for you.”

 

Ali’s heart reeled from the news, but some sliver of hope desperately clung to her Aunt’s words. Maybe, just maybe there would be a way that didn’t force her life to be Ali versus the world.

 

“Sometimes loneliness will find you, and there is nothing you can do,” Lira said, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “After the fall of Dal’mohra, I chose loneliness and isolation, and I suffered greatly because of it. I’m sure your friends had their reasons – even good friends may make mistakes and hurt one another – but they have been searching for you for days, worried that you were dead or dying. That Ahn Khen girl loves you; it is plain to see. The others too, in their way. If you will accept the advice of an old woman who has made more mistakes than you ever will, do not throw them away without good reason. Certainly not just because you feel hurt and didn’t want to try.”

 

Ali fell silent, the thoughts and the emotions within her churning. Her hurt and pain did not pair well with Lira’s words, but she was unable to deny the wisdom of what she had said. Nor was she able to ignore the thoughts and experiences of someone so close to her heart.

 

Someone who was spending her dying moments trying to help her avoid being alone. The conflict in her heart raged without easy resolution.

 

“Do you think the mana is strong enough?” Ali said, not quite ignoring the issue, but putting it down for the moment to address the urgency of Lira’s affliction.

 

“I believe it is.” Lira carefully got to her feet and approached the oak.

 

“How does this work?” Ali asked. She had no idea what establishing a domain entailed for a dryad. Hers had happened entirely by accident overnight.

 

“I will claim the tree, and establish my mana within it,” she answered, reaching out a hand to the trunk of the tree. “I just hope my mana doesn’t conflict with yours.”

 

“We’re family.”

 

The Dryad smiled. “We are.” Yet her tone betrayed what they both knew: when it came to mana, that simply might not matter.

 

Within Lira’s body, a dense emerald-green orb of pulsing mana condensed near her heart. Brilliant, living tendrils shot out, flowing down through her arm toward the fingers that rested lightly upon the bark of the tree.

 

The instant Lira’s mana pierced her tree, Ali doubled over screaming, and dropped to the ground, the brutal stabbing pain of an overwhelming dungeon-rage tearing through her, ripping her apart from the inside. Where Lira’s mana met hers, there was only violence as the flows of mana annihilated each other in an endless, silent explosion visible only to her mana sight.

 

“Oh, no! I’m sorry, Aliandra,” Lira gasped, turning to her with a horrified expression on her face. “Our mana is destroying each other. I will release the tree and free you from this.” Immediately, the streams of mana flowing from Lira’s fingers began to recede and with them, the pain eased.

 

“No!” Ali shouted in desperation as Lira withdrew her mana. “You’ll die!” Ali’s health spiraled rapidly dwindling; torn away by the proximity of the mana annihilation just like domain withdrawal, only vastly quicker.

 

“Don’t be silly, child, I will not be responsible for killing you to save myself. You cannot survive this,” Lira said, her frail body shaking from the effort, and presumably the pain she too felt.

 

There is no time. The thought appeared with stark clarity in Ali’s pain-ravaged mind. Her health continued its downward plummet, but if Lira withdrew her mana, she would most certainly die.

 

Acting on instinct, she turned on her Sage of Learning and then slammed her mana into Arcane Recall.

 

Time stopped.

 

The sudden release from excruciating pain hit her with a shock almost as powerful as the pain itself, and it took a few moments, frozen in the grayness of the strange static world, for her mind to restart.

 

Ali had no idea what she was going to do, but this place – her mother’s refuge – would buy her a moment to think.

 

Out in front of her was a frozen explosion-front where the green-and-gold of her domain met with the emerald-green that was Lira’s – a concentrated wave of annihilation – now visible as a gray moment stretched well beyond its time.

 

But it was the concern and worry etched into Lira’s dying face that struck her hard, piercing the void of emptiness and loneliness deep within her heart. Frozen in time as it was, her devastated expression could not be missed, and more than any of the words, her selfless consideration for Ali and her wellbeing weighed on her, heavier than the entire mountain. She struggled to breathe under the pressure, not remembering that in this place she didn’t need to.

 

She did not need to be alone. Not while people like Lira lived.

 

The gray world flickered then, and the white oak she had planted vanished, replaced with a frozen scene of Lira lying bleeding on the ground, while Mato, Malika, and Calen battled two glowing spectral wolves. It appeared like a painting of an epic battle, only rendered in exquisite detail. Right then Ali knew what she had to do.

 

But first, I must save Lira.

 

The world flickered again, snapping back to the new majestic oak and the picture of exploding mana. She studied it closely, wishing she could approach to see it a little better. But her Arcane Insight skill provided enough resolution for her to perceive the detailed structure of her domain, and the similar, though incompatible structure emerging from Lira’s body.

 

It seems to be a matter of alignment, she realized, while her Sage of Learning drew heavily from her mana pool. And my arcane affinity mana. Her mana was more analogous to a crystalline lattice with threads of nature mana woven around an ordered structure of arcane. Lira’s mana worked more like Mato’s Sanctuary aura, more fluid, but seemingly structured and ordered too. Where the two met, they collided, causing the arcane to slice the nature mana, severing it from the structure, and the release of energy was ripping both ordered structures, just like the tearing of paper propagating a rip across the entire surface.

 

But how do I fix it?

 

She recalled to memory a passive mastery she had not yet figured out how to use and studied the description of her Domain Mastery skill.

 

Domain Mastery – level 9
You can manipulate the structure and mana of your domain. All your magic within your domain is empowered by the domain itself.
Mana: Adjust the shape and composition of any non-living material that is part of your domain. Range: Domain.
Nature, Arcane, Mastery, Domain, Intelligence

 

That must be the clue. Can I realign my domain so that it is compatible? She tried, but her skill did nothing here. Ali briefly considered that messing with her domain might be a disastrous idea, but she pushed that aside. Lira simply did not have the time for her to be cautious.

 

Carefully, she considered her options, studying the mana structure further. I need to release it and fix it in the real world. But then she would need to maintain her focus while under the agonizing pain of the full dungeon-rage and survive long enough to figure it out and make the change. Hopefully, she could understand it well enough to get it right, because her Arcane Recall skill required a full day to recharge before she could use it again.

 

She studied the structures of the annihilating domains, committing everything to memory before she finally summoned her Grimoire and began to create the minion that would end her Arcane Recall spell. She braced herself, anticipating the sudden return of the brutal pain.

 

Her spell completed, and the golden-scaled Kobold Acolyte she had chosen to make suddenly appeared beside her. The gray world vanished, replaced by one of color, and the pain hammered into her mind, driving her to her knees in agony once more. She ground her teeth, tasting blood as she battled the dungeon-rage, struggling to regain control. Dimly, she registered a surge of holy mana beside her; the instant pillar of bright light as her Kobold immediately went into overdrive healing both her and Lira.

 

Ali cried out and reached for the fabric of her domain. Enhanced by the magic of her Domain Mastery skill, she gripped, twisting and pulling with the urgency of pain driving her on, and the knowledge that both their lives were at stake.

 

It slipped out of her grasp, and the backlash sent her reeling. She blacked out momentarily and came to screaming, gripping her head in her hands.

 

“Aliandra!”

 

“I’m… ok,” she said, forcing the words out between clenched teeth and shoving the pain down. “I’ve got this.” She was most certainly not ok. She had just passed out, and her health was in a rapid downward spiral, kept alive only by the constant stream of healing magic that her little Kobold was valiantly pumping out.

 

If she passed out for good, she would never wake up.

 

She reached again, grasping the fabric, somehow finding a way to hold it firmer and more securely. Fortifying her mind against the pain, she delicately twisted the mana of her domain, feeling it shiver and slip at her touch, but somehow, she held it. She twisted the rest of her nature mana in the opposite direction, trying to line it up with Lira’s domain and how she had memorized the structure layout. Then she pulled, warping her arcane mana in a direction that she couldn’t find a name for, and didn’t make a whole lot of sense to her mind, but somehow felt right. Then she shoved both, meshing the two domains together – Lira’s one of nature and fluidity, and her newly aligned more crystalline structure.

 

Something snapped, releasing Lira’s mana in a surge to flow unrestrained into the tree. Everywhere the domains touched, mana flared into brilliance as the structures interlocked, reinforcing and enhancing each other in a runaway, rising crescendo of mana that filled the tree and erupted outward into the air around it.

 

It finally stabilized, leaving an enormous sphere of softly pulsing dense mana the likes of which Ali had never seen before. Both structures were present, overlapping painlessly, and enhancing each other beyond what either was capable of on its own.

 

“What did you do?” Lira gasped, staring at the tree in awe.

 

“I think I introduced our domains and they finally made friends,” Ali answered, sinking to the mossy ground and allowing the pain to flow away, leaving her with a profound sense of relief and peace.

 

It worked.

 

“You don’t really know what you did, do you child?” Lira chided, looking over at her.

 

“Not really, no,” Ali admitted. “But I think it worked?”

 

“That it did,” Lira answered, some amazement spilling over into her voice. “I have never seen two domains coexist like this; they seem to be reinforcing each other in this tree – both more powerful together than separate.”

 

“Is it enough to save you?” Ali asked. For now, she didn’t care about the amazing synergy, nor how it had been achieved. She just cared if Lira would be taken from her.

 

“It is more than enough,” she answered, a smile finally gracing her lips. “Thank you, Aliandra. I will need to rest for a few hours.”

 

Lira approached the tree, and then slowly began to merge herself with it, falling deeper and deeper into the trunk. Fascinated, Ali watched as more and more of her mana soaked into the oak, stretching and flowing up through the branches, and down through the roots into the ground below.

 

Just before Lira was fully absorbed into the tree, she met Ali’s eyes. “Please consider making up with your friends. At least try?”

 

“I’ll think about –”

 

“Promise me!”

 

“I… will, I promise,” Ali answered, not wanting to at all, but understanding that it was the wise course of action. She was happy Lira would only be gone for a few hours, and then they would be able to talk again.

 

“Good friends can be your strength,” she said as she completed her Tree Meld.

 

She sounds so sad.

 

Ali sat for a long while under the spreading branches of Lira’s tree, basking in the warmth of the dense mana it was emitting. She was still in shock having found someone alive from her past life, and someone so important to her. She sighed considering Lira’s wisdom and the undercurrent of personal pain in her voice when she had spoken. She didn’t know what had caused her to experience so much pain, but it lent a lot of weight to her suggestion. Ali considered Lira, and her friends for a long while.

 

I had better get a good apology, like the best apology in the last three thousand years! she thought, turning to her glowing Grimoire once more and summoning a new Forest Guardian.

 

“Please guard this tree, and the Dryad within,” she instructed, receiving a rumble of acknowledgment as the huge Elemental lumbered over to stand beside the oak. Ali was not certain it would do anything, but she hoped the Guardian’s regeneration aura might help Lira recover quicker. Then she set to the task of summoning plants to bolster the strength of her domain mana in the area, heavily favoring the Living Bamboo for the nature affinity mana Lira needed.

 

Arcane Insight has reached level 25
Sage of Learning has reached level 18
Domain Mastery has reached level 12 (+3)
Arcane Recall has reached level 5

 

She sat, soaking in the feeling of the intense field of mana, strong enough to make her skin tingle, but it felt alive, unlike the dangerous mana of the nature spawning pool in the jungle. Within the tree, the emerald-green of Lira’s mana gradually brightened, while little by little the dark influence of the blight began to fade. In the distance, she heard the muffled sounds of battle as her friends fought the Kobolds.

 

Friends.

 

The word felt loaded with emotions, emotions she struggled to untangle. Carefully, she rose to her feet and returned to the familiar library by way of the newly excavated passage, leaving her Forest Guardian to watch over Lira and her tree, deciding that she needed to make herself busy.

 

She flew down into the library and retrieved Nevyn Eld’s dangerous book before descending to the bottom level. A connection existed between whatever domain she had in the jungle and the tree she had made for Lira up above, but the connection felt tenuous and fragile. She wrestled with her memories, but they remained opaque. Like nothing existed after she had entered the library, fleeing the Town Watch. After she had dropped the Lich’s book, her mind was blank until she had woken by the doorway and found her friends and Lira.

 

She hadn’t found much time to restore the library, save what she had cleaned up on the top floor. Down here it was still very much a ruined mess of bone and rubble. Summoning her Grimoire, she got to work, taking some measure of solace in the act of creating jasmine and ivy to cover all the pillars, and using her Domain Mastery to erase the ancient layers of bone and dust. A simple task to strengthen her domain and give her room with her thoughts.

 

I’m a dungeon.

 

It was a fact, and how she had not seen it before had to have been willful ignorance. All the signs were clear to her – now – and it was not just Malika, Calen, and Mato who knew. Even Naia had outright told her, and she had simply chosen to misinterpret her.

 

They will try to kill me.

 

Perhaps the most terrifying experience had been facing Roderik. It wasn’t just the power of his overwhelming ice magic – it was the fact that he had clearly been enjoying the process of hurting her, and desperately wanted to murder her in the most painful way possible. She knew he had damaged her in ways that would not heal easily – her own value, her self-worth struggled to cope with the tacit, palpable existence of a person who would make her suffer for his enjoyment.

 

He's dead now. I killed him.

 

How she was calm right now was rather beyond her. Looking about, she found she liked the much cleaner ground floor. Turning the pages, she began to create granite planters filled with her blue mana grass, bolstering her domain to spread it throughout the space, while also offering a soft glow to illuminate it.

 

Her mind replayed the image she had witnessed while in her Arcane Recall – the picture of the others fighting to save Lira.

 

“…they have been searching for you for days, worried that you were dead or dying.” Lira’s words came clearly to her mind as she saw the image.

 

She pushed the words away. She knew now that they had not been trying to kill her, but the sense of betrayal still twisted like a knife in her gut. How could they have withheld something so important? They had set her up for facing Roderik without any defenses or knowing any better.

 

“That Ahn Khen girl loves you; it is plain to see. The others too, in their way.”

 

Love?

 

She was about to angrily sweep the thought away when she recalled the look on Malika’s face when she had angrily told her to go away. A look of anguish and profound pain. There had been defeat in her frame as Mato led her off to fight the Kobolds.

 

What do I feel?

 

The question popped into her head so suddenly, she stopped working. It shifted her thinking in an entirely new direction. She had been upset about what they had been thinking, what they had been feeling.

 

But what do I feel? To her surprise, the answer did not come easily to her. When she reflected on all that she had experienced, she found a torrent of confusing images and memories. She had awoken to this time in fear and weakness, only to be saved from certain death by all three of them. She had helped them with their classes. Cried with Malika over their past. Endured the ruins of Dal’mohra with Mato and his violent Primal Rage. She had thrown herself off the floating city to save Calen and had stood by Malika, refusing to let her face Adrik and Edrik alone. Countless times, she had saved their lives and been saved by them.

 

To her surprise, she found that she would do it all again, in a heartbeat, just because it was them. Is this what she meant? Ali thought, finally beginning to make sense of Lira’s parting words.

 

I think I owe them an apology. She hadn’t even acknowledged Calen, who must have been the one to find the way into the huge cavern, saving Lira. She had attacked Mato with her Forest Guardian, and he hadn’t said a word. In her selfish pain, she had lashed out, dismissing Malika without even asking why she had done it.

 

She continued her cleanup of the library for a while, dwelling silently on her thoughts.

 

“Ali, can we come down?” Malika’s voice broke through her somber mood triggering a flash of guilt at the events which forced her to ask if her presence was unwanted.

 

Ali took a deep breath and swallowed, looking at the expectant, hopeful eyes of her friends.

 

“I’m sorry I hurt you, Malika,” Ali rasped, managing to get the words out past the lump in her throat. “You didn’t deserve that.” Malika’s mouth opened, but she said no words and closed it again, her face a study in conflicting emotions.

 

Ali turned. “Calen, thank you for finding Lira in time to save her. It means so much to me to have her. And thank you for searching the mountain to find me.” Calen nodded to her, but she could tell her words, her acknowledgment had touched his heart.

 

“And Mato, I’m sorry I hit you with my guardian. Thank you for giving me room to think.”

 

“No problem,” he answered gruffly.

 

“I was scared you all would hate me like everyone else. I thought you were here to kill me. When I heard that you already knew what I was, I felt hurt and betrayed. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t tell me something so important.”

 

She stood silent for a moment, trembling a little and unable to continue, overwhelmed by the raw hurt and the vulnerability of opening up and sharing her pain.

 

“I’m really sorry, Ali,” Malika said, quietly filling the silence. “I wanted to tell you so many times, but I was afraid I would lose you as a friend. I know it’s not a good excuse and it ended up hurting you a whole lot more. I hope you will forgive me.”

 

Ali trembled, but tried to nod. “Yes.”

 

“I’m sorry, too,” Calen said before Ali could recover her voice. “It was my skill that let us know you’re a dungeon. I was the one who suggested not telling you. I thought it was best to not give you more trauma than you already had. I realize now that I had no right to make that decision for you.”

 

She nodded again, struck by a particular note in his voice – caring, maybe? Had they been trying to protect her… from herself? “Thank you.”

 

“I’m also sorry, Ali,” Mato said. “I was really worried you were hurt. I’m just glad you made it through ok. And your Guardian hits wicked hard. That really hurt – but I probably deserved it.”

 

“I felt so alone,” Ali said, finally finding her voice. She hadn’t known what to expect, but their words were genuine and heartfelt, and she struggled with the emotions that flooded her heart.  “Were you guys really searching for me?”

 

“Yes, for four days,” Malika said. “After we killed the guys who were attacking you.”

 

“You killed them?” Ali asked in surprise.

 

“Yes,” Malika said, her mouth compressing into a grim line. “There was a whole group of Town Watch thugs hunting you down and burning everything in sight. They blew up the passage to the ruins and attacked us immediately, knowing we were your friends. We had to kill most of them, which is good for Myrin’s Keep, but it means we’re probably outlaws, now. I was terrified they had killed you already, but Calen could tell you were in the library, so that’s when we started searching for another way in.”

 

“I had to kill someone, too,” Ali said, shuddering at the memory of Roderik’s sneer and gloating voice while he hunted her down. She retrieved his gear, offering it to Malika. “He was playing with me. He enjoyed hurting me.” She hated that the memory of him made her shiver with fear and disgust.

 

Malika simply stepped forward and knelt, offering her a hug, and in her face, Ali could find only concern and kindness.

 

She reached out and hugged her friend, and her pent-up emotions finally overwhelmed her, spilling tears down her cheeks and onto Malika’s shoulder.

 

When she finally straightened up and wiped her face, Calen picked up the white robe.

 

“You killed Roderik Icecrown,” he said, letting out a low whistle.

 

“Shit,” Malika exclaimed, with both worry and admiration in her voice.

 

“Who’s that?” Ali asked. She remembered the man only from the Goblin siege – a person from the Town Watch sent to help them.

 

“He’s nobility – the most powerful ice mage in Myrin’s Keep – but he’s a true monster. We probably made a lot of enemies killing him,” Malika answered. “And many friends among the commoners.”

 

“It doesn’t matter, we’re already all outlaws,” Mato said. “So, what did you do while you were down here?”

 

Ali still didn’t really remember, so she just pointed at the doorway to the jungle. With a look of curiosity on his face, Mato walked over and looked through.

 

“Holy… holy shit!”

 

Everyone scrambled to see what had caused such a reaction in him.

 

The dense jungle that had once encroached right up to the ruined library was gone, replaced with a field of total devastation for hundreds of meters in all directions. There were bodies of all kinds of monsters strewn about. Large trees lay on the ground, snapped like kindling. Scattered all throughout were hundreds of glowing golden shards of her barrier magic, kept alive by her domain mana. They stuck out of the ground, like a forest of shattered golden spears, driven through trees or impaling bodies. Some of them even simply hovered in the air.

 

“Scary,” Calen said quietly.

 

“What did you do, Ali?” Malika asked, staring at her.

 

“I don’t really remember,” she answered. The devastation of the jungle was just as shocking to her as to them. And I did that by myself. Perhaps they’re right to call me a monster.

 

Just as Ali began to worry about her fragile reconciliation, Mato broke the silence, “So… would the scary dungeon girl like some dinner?”

 

She began to growl, “Mato, I don’t think –”

 

That was the moment when her stomach voiced a loud, eager gurgle.

 

The Beastkin grinned, “Is that so?”

 

“Mato!” Her stomach let rip a second time. Ali blushed furiously. “Well, it’s probably been four days since I’ve eaten …”

 

Despite the emotional rollercoaster of the last week, she couldn’t help but laugh, and soon everyone was laughing too. While they set up a makeshift camp and Mato began to cook, Ali could tell everyone was tiptoeing around the fragile and tentative mood, but at least it was a start.

 

 

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