Maud

  Maud wasn’t sure what to make her new life. It was somehow both her favorite dream and worst nightmare. She was glad her parents hadn’t been alive to see it. Sure, she had gotten some of her wildest wishes fulfilled; she could do magic. She was off in another world, competing in something she didn’t entirely understand. She was surrounded by all kinds of fantasy races. John had even reunited with his dad. But the world had been nearly destroyed in the process. So many people had been killed, and so many more were going to die before they got everything working to feed the planet.

  Her dad had spent a lot of his life doing logistics for both public and private places, and it was a nightmare. Supply chains, when they broke, could cause catastrophic effects worldwide, and this was beyond a simple break. This was a complete destruction. She also knew there wasn’t anything she could currently do about it, and that was why she kept up the positive front. John didn’t need her to be sad; he had plenty of that on his own, and somehow, for the first time in a long time, he was starting to come out of that. So that meant she was fun Maud.

  Not that fun Maud was some construct. She was always there, lurking below the surface. Professional Maud was the fake one, the one the world demanded to see. She much preferred fun, Maud, and now she got to live that life at the expense of so many others. She didn’t remotely consider the trade-off worth it, but she couldn’t change what had happened. She could grow, learn, and make sure it didn’t happen again, though.

  She had heard all about the Twinoge's homeworld and fully intended to help them free it when the time came. And poor Glorp and his siblings would need help there, too, and Alex would need a ton of help with the baby. Yep, there were plenty of things Maud needed to help everyone with, and she would make sure she did them all. What was she forgetting? Oh, she had to help the Jritotle. She had no idea what that would actually be, but she’d do that too.

  These thoughts racing across her brain had distracted her from the chamber. That was why, when Corey called for help, she’d raced after them. Her mind had just been occupied elsewhere, so she went into autopilot. Corey needed help; Maud was helping. Luckily, by the time she’d reached the new chamber, most of the monsters were already dead, but she’d managed to take out another herself.

  She was glad that Dave hadn’t been upset with her about that. She still didn’t fully know what to make of the man. John had told her some stories from his youth, and he seemed nice, but there was also a lot of pain in John around the divorce, so for now, his feelings would be her priority if there was any conflict between John and his dad again. She hoped there wouldn’t be, but she wasn’t great at understanding interpersonal things like that. Give her animals any day. Those were the easy ones to figure out.

  In the next room, she managed to pay attention to everything and follow Dave’s lead. Until the giant rabbit had popped out of the ceiling, and she leaped back in terror. The nightmares of the giant carnivorous rabbits played out in her memory. How had they known about her dreams? As scared as she was, she still managed to hit it with two blasts of lightning and watched as it crashed to the ground, now a shapeless blob of goo.

  ‘Uh, what was that?” she asked, confused.

  “Looked like a weird scorpion to me,” Dave answered.

  “It looked like a void to me. I believe it based its shape on some sort of perception field of the person that saw it,” Corey added.

  “Oh, so that’s why it was a giant rabbit. God, I hate those,” Maud said, forcing her smile back on and spotting a weird look on Dave’s face at her words. She decided it was best not to elaborate and started off after Corey slowly.

  Corey

  Corey still didn’t know what to make of its existence. They knew regret now. They were sure that was the proper term. Why had they ever tried to take Dave’s body? Even in its earlier madness, the violation of such an act filled them with a deep hatred for its own kind. Had Corey never met Traveler, they weren’t sure if they would ever trust any other cores. Dave, though, was interesting.

  Dave presented something new for Corey. Dave was a friend, and that was something they didn’t fully understand, but it meant a possibility for growth and change. It also meant the possibility of helping more of its kind awaken and learn about this world without the madness they had felt. Corey was happy about this future. Corey was reasonably sure of what this would entail when it came to Dave’s core and damaged mana channels, but that was fine. They had been prepared for that possibility all along.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  The fact that Dave trusted them enough to be willing to even consider it filled them with a sensation they had trouble understanding. Was it purpose? They hoped Traveler would arrive soon to discuss these oddities.

  Glorp

  Glorp had his plan. It was simple: the moment the path opened up, he’d grab whatever he had to grab and race to the end of the line, and then he’d start checking on the others. That moment happened with a loud slamming sound behind him. Instantly, he saw an egg as a passage opened before him. The noise of the opening slamming shut had been like a starting pistol for him as he took off at top speed. The egg disappeared into his storage without him stopping.

  By the time the first monsters had realized he was there, he was two chambers past them. Onwards, he ran, his speed building ever more as he went. As long as he didn’t stop, he could keep going faster; well, as long as his body could handle the damage from the atmosphere at that speed, but his stats were improving there, too. One day, there would be no speed beyond his ability to handle.

  Within minutes, he had found the end of his path, and in the center was a raised platform with a spot for each of the eggs and five other passages off the room. He quickly dropped his egg into the first spot, scratched a marker on the passage he had come from, and ran down the one to its right. Someone was down here, and they may need his help.

  He was only partially right, as he quickly found Rabyn. The orc was maybe a tenth of the way through but looked completely fine. Strangely, he was smiling.

  “Need any help?” Glorp asked as he skidded to a stop in front of the man.

  “I do not, but good thinking. Try to find Dave. He may be the most in need of assistance,” Rabyn said.

  “Got it,” Glorp replied, turning around and running back to the hub, turning down the next path to the right. He was over the moon that Rabyn had approved of his idea. He wasn’t sure if the more trained people would agree, but so far so good.

  “Glorp, is that you?” Elody’s voice called from down the passage, somehow hitting him before he could see her, but only a split second before. He forced himself to a stop before responding.

  “Yep, need any help?” He asked. She didn’t appear to, but he wanted to be sure.

  “No, please continue on. I will be fine,” she said with a smile, all of her eyes focused on him. He could feel something from the top set but didn’t know what to make of it. Instead, he nodded and ran for the next path.

  This time, he found Connie much further along than the other two had been, dancing her way across the ground. She shooed him away before he even had a chance to ask if she needed any help, but the giant smile on her face told him she meant well. Back he went again, and only two choices left.

  “Ugh,” he heard Maud’s voice yell out down this passage as he ran. This had been the right one, finally, and it sounded like they needed him.

  He pushed himself on with a new burst of speed, burning half of his mana pool to do it, and was glad he did when he spotted Dave, Maud, and Corey further down the path, around a bend. Corey was on the ground unmoving, while Dave was hitting a rock creature with his fists as it held Maud aloft. Instead of reducing his speed, he pulled out one of his new daggers and pushed himself forward, holding it in front of him.

  He felt the impact in his bones as his speed finally dropped, but not enough to save the monster. Glorp had rocketed through it; his dagger shattered as it pushed out the other side, but that didn’t matter as the creature crumbled to rubble behind him. Glorp’s speed burst had cost him a lot, and his breaths were coming in heavy gasps, but he had gotten here before the worst had happened, and that was what mattered.

  “Hi guys,” he said between pants.

  “Good timing, man,” Maud said as she pushed herself back to a standing position.

  “Yeah, that could have gone very poorly. The creature had managed to drain some of my mana, which was enough to down Corey, and Maud just wasn’t ready for something like this,” Dave said, smiling at Glorp.

  “No problem, took me forever to find you, though. I’ll stick with you til we get to the end; the least I can do considering my family is safe now,” Glorp replied, returning the smile, and incredibly glad to have found them.

  The rest of the passage was slow going, at least by Glorp’s standards, with the other two beside him. Corey had to be returned to Dave’s storage for now. At least there weren’t any other difficult monsters hiding around the corridors. The few that were left were easily dispatched. Glorp figured that that one had to have been the scary thing in the passage, and they had just had the bad luck to find it first.

  As the exit came into sight, a giant creature roared from the final hub room.

  Are mana orbs actually unique? While categorizing their types and sources is commonplace, it is often done in ways that are mostly nonsensical because people are continuously determined to put a square peg into a square hole despite other shapes fitting just as well. I question how useful these distinctions actually are. Mana orb growth can often unlock paths that seem as though and sometimes do fit within the growth paths of other orbs. Someday, I may move my studies there as well, but for now, cores are far more interesting.

  Karlinovo, when asked the difference between mana sources and mana types during a lecture.

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