“So, anyone have any idea what to do about the fact the moose ate a shield mana orb?” I asked, knowing this was mostly my fault. Apparently, after not being able to figure out why the moose had a shield, Maud and John figured the best idea would be to grab a different shield mana orb and use that to remove the first shield. Instead, the moose leaned over and swallowed it before charging off into the woods.

  I learned this fact from Maud as we chased after it, to no avail. The moose just led us back in a circle toward the house before teleporting to the other side of it, which was why we were now in the dining room discussing what this meant. That, and I was incredibly hungry.

  “That’s a new one for me. Primal mana beasts already weren’t really something I knew much about,” Pryte said between bites of a burger. He had really taken to the food, though he preferred stranger toppings on it than most. His choice of condiment was grape jelly, with cucumber slices as a garnish

  “Interestingly, the head of the Paladins of Conservation herself wishes to see the moose. She is planning to be here in two weeks, so hopefully, she will have more answers. Since I also don’t know why an animal would be eating mana orbs, it’s likely best we wait for her. That generally seems more like something a dungeon core would do,” Elody replied, she was slowly working her way through a plate of mushrooms and sweet potato fries. She had found beef not to her liking. Apparently, the texture reminded her of an unpleasant experience, but she had refused to elaborate further.

  “It is possible that dungeon cores and primal mana beasts are not that different. What if we dungeon cores are just that energy directly imposed onto a natural mana orb instead of onto a mana beast?” Corey asked.

  “That is an interesting theory. I’ve heard it proposed before, but I can’t recall which book I read about it in. I’ll have to check my research notes. Once Traveler is here, I’m sure we can begin collecting the various reference material that exists on dungeon cores, at least what’s easily available,” Elody replied.

  “So then no one is overly worried about the moose? If not, I’m calling it an early night,” I said, looking around at the others.

  “Yeah, don’t really seem like any bigger of a problem,” Mel said, confirming what I already thought.

  “Glad to hear it, then. You all enjoy yourselves. I’ve had a busy day, and I want to get some sleep,” I replied before making my exit. As I climbed into my cot, I realized I was looking forward to the day I would have my own bedroom again. Not that I didn’t enjoy having my family here with me. I just wanted a bigger bed again and possibly a door I could lock. Privacy was something you started to miss once you lived in a room with a large metal door that could be slid open from either side.

  I opened my eyes to the sight of a roaring fire and Santa sitting across from me. It had been a while since I had seen the man. Assuming that was what he was. I had been wondering if he was okay.

  “Glad to see you’re still in one piece,” I said.

  “Yes, after you handled those creatures, the life around here has become quite peaceful again. I’ve been exploring the odd space around your world more, but even more interestingly, the longer I stay in proximity to your world, the more I think I remember about myself. I feel so incredibly close to understanding who I am. Do you ever just have a moment where a word is on the tip of your tongue, but you can’t seem to grasp it?” Santa asked.

  “Yeah, and it’s a miserable experience every time. So what happens when you do figure out who you are?” I asked. It wasn’t like we had ideas on how to pull him free of this existence just because he suddenly had a name.

  “Not really sure. Mostly, I’m hoping just to understand my existence a little more. I feel incomplete right now, if that makes any sense,” he replied. It did make some sense. Those moments when you are trying to solve a problem and grasping for the missing piece always were the worst.

  “Well, then what brings me here to you tonight?” I asked, curious as to why he had wanted my presence.

  “Honestly, I just wanted to talk. The downside to all of this is it’s kind of lonely sometimes; it’s just me,” he replied.

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  “Oh, huh. Wait, do you think you can pull others in? I know the soul chat system seems to work, but could you actually grab anyone else connected to it?” I asked. I figured if he was lonely, why not add a few more friends?

  “I hadn’t considered that. I was so used to just you. I somehow hadn’t thought of trying any of those cores or that woman that are all connected now. Let me try,” he replied. Moments later, all around the fire, one after the other, each of the cores in their tools popped into view, followed by Corey and lastly a very confused looking Maud.

  “Hello, Santa,” Corey said first.

  “Wait, is this the Santa? The yellow-text guy? I have been wanting to meet you for, well, not that long, but at least several days!” Maud yelled in excitement.

  “It is nice to meet you in person as well, purple-text girl,” Santa replied.

  “Why are we all here?” Beta asked, sounding agitated.

  “Nothing to worry about, everyone. Santa is a friend. Corey can vouch for him. I just figured, why not have us all here for a friendly chat? Let the man actually enjoy socializing again,” I answered.

  “So what do you remember about yourself? Have you always been our Santa?” Maud asked with wide eyes.

  “No, I pulled this form out of Dave’s memory as it seemed one of the lesser offensive ones, more connected to joy, but not as directly connected to Dave’s personal memories,” he replied. I was glad he had changed up from his first form. When he had taken on the guise of my father, it had just felt wrong.

  “Aww, I was hoping for gifts. Wait, do the cores even know what Christmas is? Dave, we have to have a giant Christmas this year. Gifts for everyone, tree, the works!” Maud said, her excitement quickly climbing with her idea.

  “I think we can do that, assuming we make it to the holiday,” I replied.

  “Yes!” She said.

  “Hmm, that’s curious,” Santa said suddenly.

  “What is?” I asked, worry creeping into my voice.

  “There is some sort of energy draw on your planet near one of the poles; it feels odd. I wonder how I didn’t notice it before,” Santa replied.

  “That is what we believe to be a newly forming dungeon,” Corey explained.

  “Interesting. I think I’m going to investigate the energies a bit from this side. I appreciate all of your company, as brief as it may have been. Go enjoy the rest of your dreams,” he said.

  I woke up, realizing I had not even had time to say goodbye to him before he had removed us. I wondered how much was actually his curiosity or if we had accidentally overwhelmed him with so many people. I’d have to check on that next time I saw him.

  I stood up, gave a big stretch and a yawn, just as the garage door opened wide to reveal a floating Mel on the other side. “Get yer ass dressed and out here in five minutes. We’ve got practices to run!” he shouted at me.

  In my haze of just having woken up, I didn’t have any counter to his words, so instead, I yawned again and asked him to close the door so I could get dressed. He did so without another shout, but on the other side of the door, I heard him catching Glorp instead. It seemed he had been serious about our training today.

  I was the last one to join the group in the yard, and by the glare of Mel, he was pretending not to be happy about it. The problem with his drill sergeant act at this point was I knew it was just an act. I had seen how much the man cared, but for the sake of what we needed to learn, I was just going to give into it for the day.

  “Now that Dave has been so kind ta join y’all, we can finally get started. Today yer all gonna fight a friend of mine that was kind enough to volunteer to help,” Mel said. He then whistled a strange trilling sound.

  From the woods, a giant dragon that I somehow hadn’t seen when I came outside floated up above the tree line and started on a direct path for us. It looked remarkably like the speed dragon we had fought already. The fire it launched at us also felt pretty similar.

  Dragons are a strange occurrence throughout virtually all worlds. Long before they ever connect to the Spiral, any world with a sapient population seems to have a legend that translates to dragon. And as far as anyone can tell, there is no reason this legend should exist. How have so many completely unconnected places developed a collective knowledge of the same creature? What makes this all the more strange is that this occurs the same in worlds without dragons as in worlds with them. Now, the legends often vary greatly on form, size, and abilities, but they still tend to share a few characteristics. Like the vampire, it is one of the persisting conceptual ideas throughout the multiverse. I doubt we will ever truly learn why.

  Otis, a Chronicler of the Odd

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