No Need for a Core?

The silence was deafening, with even the guards having frozen in the middle of putting the gifts onto the table. After a moment, Mordecai’s grandson turned towards the guards. “You should probably finish that before you drop something. Also, I’d appreciate if you don’t gossip about this too much. Word will spread of his return to those who care soon enough, if they’ve kept an accurate record of his name, but there is no need to speed that up.”

Mordecai frowned as the implications of those words began to dawn on him, but it was Kazue who recovered enough to speak first. Well, ‘recovered’ as in began to panic. “Wait, does that mean I’m your step-grandmother? Nooo! I’m too young to be a grandmother! Especially to an elf who could be my grandpa.” She turned to Moriko, whose expression had shifted from shock to mixed horror and amusement. “We really did marry an old man didn’t we? He practically robbed the cradle! And now we’re both going to be grandmas! Grandmothers are old and wrinkly, I don’t want to be old and wrinkly!”

He stared at the back of the kitsune’s head for a moment as Moriko had her hands full with the fox-girl, caught between laughing at and consoling her. Most of the time Kazue was a competent young woman, but sometimes she acted young for her age, mostly when overwhelmed by her imagination or emotions. That could be dangerous for her if she didn’t learn to rein it in when she needed to. But that was something he’d need to talk with Moriko about later. For now, he turned back to Traxalim.

“I am glad to know my bloodline is doing well, but the way you said that concerns me. Did that damned cult survive?” Flesh and blood were more vulnerable to surges of emotion than cores of crystal were, but he could feel both aspects of himself fighting to keep the raging memories at bay. There was no one to be angry at here, there was no point in indulging in it when there were other things that needed to be done.

“Yes. They are rooted most strongly in the northern empire, but there are traces of them even here and in Danuana. It’s changed a bit, especially among the shorter-lived populations, but the core of it is still racial purity. They’d love to purge not only your bloodline but everyone like your wives as well.” He paused, waiting a moment for the guards to finish and leave, then lowered his voice. “The entire Azeria clan is considered contaminated, and they don’t even realize the matriarchal line is descended from you. Same with the royal bloodline of Kuiccihan. The first king and queen were a human and a kitsune. Together they founded the Apifera dynasty, but when her husband died the queen handed the kingdom down to their children and claimed the Azeria forest as the home to a new clan. She was one of your bloodline and had found her own path to longevity well before she met her deceased husband. She chose not to linger in the city that would only remind her of her grief, as she would not pass on any time soon.”

This extra level of confirmation and detail about his descendants surviving brought joy, but the knowledge that there were still those who threatened their existence brought back memories of the remote town he had founded for those of his blood; The town he had rushed to save after hearing word of the attack far too late, finding only still warm ashes that had consumed the entire valley, and the marks of ravaging magics. The rage that had consumed him, the threat to all that he held dear and the raw power of his core letting him twist what was supposed to be an emergency measure into an offensive power.

The dragons he had created with strength and abilities few wyrms could ever hope to obtain, creatures that were never supposed to be seen outside of the depths of a dungeon, or perhaps the darkest reaches of the abyss. These were the things that he sent out into the world above, that he pushed to war. Dozens of retired avatars temporarily restored to be active during the emergency state, only he didn’t let it go dormant as it should have within a day. The monsters he created swarming forth, to clash with armies and wizards and knights, destroying anything that stood between him and his vengeance. His own avatars using that raw violence and chaos as cover so he could break through carefully woven wards. The men and women who died by his hands, some simply doing their duty, others the targets of his rage. In the end, every person he could identify as holding a level of responsibility for that attack lay dead, every form of scrying he could conjure verifying it. Then, he left. Returned to his dungeon, and shut out the world.

Mordecai shook himself and looked around. Traxalim looked sympathetic and understanding, but Moriko and Kazue were staring at him, looking a touch ill. Shit. He hadn’t even thought to try and filter his thoughts and emotions, they’d just been shoved full of them. “This might not be the best time to discuss things. People are waiting, and we are still processing everything. You did a good job getting a wide selection.”

Traxalim shook his head. “Thank your wife for that, this was all organized by her.”

Well, he’d do that then. Mordecai turned to the two women, who were still recovering from everything they’d just experienced from his slip of control. “Moriko my love, thank you very much for arranging this. It means a lot to both of us.” He chose to speak on Kazue’s behalf in part because she looked to be taking things worse than Moriko, and in part to split Moriko’s focus to include the kitsune as well. “And I am sorry for you having experienced that. We can discuss that later. All of us.” He shifted his attention to Kazue. “Sweet love, I wish I could just let you recover, but we have something we need to do, and I think it might help if you temporarily distract yourself. Let’s focus on assimilating the gifts, shall we? Please?” He didn’t move closer to them, things felt delicate right now, and if either one of them flinched, well, he didn’t want to find out how much that would hurt.

Slowly Kazue’s eyes cleared as she got a hold of herself, and she nodded, though she didn’t say anything to him. Moriko stayed glued to her side, and the two made no move to get closer to him. He was pretty sure they could get past this, but he had to admit to himself that he was worried about how traumatized Kazue was going to be from experiencing his own trauma like that. He’d had at least a millennia of sleep to recover. But there was nothing he could do about it right now, so he too turned his attention to the gifts.

Many of the nonliving things were basically scraps of course. For purposes of being able to recreate the materials they didn’t need more than a sliver of metal or the equivalent, and these were things that a moderate-sized city could be expected to have around, such as a variety of textiles and other crafting materials. But there was an unusual amount of random rock, plants, and small animals. “How did you get so many things for us?” He asked, glancing back at Moriko, who was beginning to look better and managed a smile.

“I made it a game for the kids, a competition to find the most interesting materials and creatures, and I made sure they knew that living things were more valuable than others. I, um, maybe could have phrased that more clearly. I still have no idea how one of them caught that.” Moriko pointed at a large jar that held a small whirl of dust and pebbles, along with some random shiny objects for it to play with. “This one, kind of weird boy got it into his head to find a living stone. And, well, somehow he did.”

Huh. That was the tiniest earth elemental he’d ever seen. Mordecai mentally nudged awareness of the elemental towards Kazue and took up some more of the load of other stuff they were still incorporating. For that matter, it seemed best to let her handle all the invites, and she sent a small surge of gratefulness his way while he took care of the more mundane stuff. She did enjoy interacting with new creatures after all, and successfully invited all of them. While this was going on, Traxalim occupied himself by inspecting the various shrines.

When everything was done, they returned their attention to Moriko, since she had apparently arranged this entire event. “Um, so what’s next?” Kazue asked.

“Mm, well, we have a bunch of teens and kids who want to run the puzzles along with a handful of parents to keep them reined in, we have a couple of traders who have some offers for you, and few people with some battle experience who want to give your battle path a go. But I think we should let the traders and veterans wait, the young ones do have a request for you.” Moriko shuffled a bit. “This part wasn’t my idea, one of them asked me a question, and, well, you’ll see. I hope you guys can help them out.”

The two dungeon avatars exchanged puzzled glances, but both nodded in agreement. “Alright,” Mordecai said. “We can do that.” Admittedly, part of him was anxious to see his combat trials actually put to the test, and trading could be very useful, both for rarer stuff to incorporate into the dungeon and for materials that could leave the dungeon without being claimed as loot, even once they’d been crafted into something else.

Moriko popped out to wave the families in. Few had both parents with them, and some had an older teen leading the group, which made sense as few families could afford to have both parents head off like this. Several of the family groups were carrying or leading what were clearly pets or other beloved animals, all of whom appeared old, ill, or permanently injured. Mordecai had a sinking feeling he knew what was going to be asked of them.

One older boy stepped forward, carrying an older orangutan. “Um, hello, er, I give greetings to the dungeon?” He shuffled uncertainly, and Mordecai couldn’t help but smile at the polite awkwardness. Kazue stepped forward to speak up for them before he had a chance to.

“It’s okay. I’m Kazue, and the scary-man here is Mordecai. But it’s fine, he’s actually a big softy, so don’t let him intimidate you. How can we help you? I, um, don’t exactly know much healing magic, and I don’t think I could do much about their age if I did.”

The boy shook his head. “No, I mean, yes, that’s kind of the reason we’ve brought them, but not like that. Well, is it true that dungeon creatures don’t age? ‘Cause my mom made friends with Horace here like thirty-five years ago, and I was hoping you’d be able to take him in, make him healthy again. We all are.” He looked around at the others who nodded, then he looked back to Kazue and Mordecai.

Kazue looked uncertain, then looked to Mordecai hopefully. He was thankful that he’d already started figuring out their capacity for more, and that simple animals took up almost nothing as inhabitants because that look would be hard to say no to. He laid a comforting hand on Kazue’s shoulder with a nod, then turned back to the boy. “Yes, we can do that, but a few things: One, if they ever leave, they will return to the age and health they are now. Two, they have to accept the invitation. Many animals are extremely loyal, they may not want to leave you even in the face of death, though if you can promise to visit that may help. Three,” here he paused to look back to Kazue, conferring via their bond to make sure that she was fine with the condition, “your animal friends may change at some point if they become interested in a change we are offering. While it is not a large burden, it is a burden to take them in, and the only price that I ask is that you accept they may choose to become something else, probably bigger.”

The boy in front of them nodded and then leaned his head against Horace. “Hey, they are going to offer you a new home. I want you to take it, please? I promise we’ll come by and visit you.” The orange ape looked confused, which is when Mordecai stepped in to create the offer, shaping the dungeon magic to make clear the two paths to chose between. The orangutan considered the offer longer than most animals did, then gave a nod and slipped from his human friend’s arms. As Horace accepted the invitation, he straightened slightly and his fur turned a brighter orange.

He gave a soft “ook”, and patted the boy's arm before walking to the edge of the room. Then the stream of other animals began, and in short order almost all the animals had accepted the offer. The few that didn’t were being held very tightly by their teary-eyed humans.