Magical Engineering

Alex

“When you say we have to ignore what the dungeon says to us, what do you mean?” I asked. Yorela had been explaining what it was like inside of a chaos dungeon while we shared breakfast a couple of days after leaving the planet, and that little nugget had stuck itself into my brain.

“Have you heard any of the dungeon cores talk about their fear of corruptors?” Yorela asked.

“Uh, maybe? I think Corey talked about them once when they were explaining their fear of dungeons.” I wasn't actually sure that was what Yorela meant. I had talked to most of the dungeon cores, of course, many times. We had covered a lot of things, but mostly they asked me questions about Earth and the various plants and animals that existed here.

Alpha had always been especially interested in the birds. I'd caught them staring out the window, both cats in tow, many a morning, just watching them. Sometimes I could sit William right with the core, and he would smile and laugh, and they would almost babysit him while I watched from a nearby chair.

The memory made me smile. It almost made me cry. Soon, William, soon we’d have you back.

“Yeah, that's probably what they were talking about. Well, out here in chaotic space, those voices are a lot louder, so loud that everyone hears them. I figure they're the same thing as the dungeon cores here. No real proof, of course. Like most things in chaotic space, no one is stupid enough to try to come and study it, well, other than Squiddy. But chaos dungeons have never been his forte.”

“Lots of things ain't been my forte, but I've seen a Chaos Dungeon or two,” Squidlen’s voice came from behind us. “What are you two yapping about anyway?”

“Just what exactly it feels like to be inside one of those things. At least Alex hasn't really been inside a normal dungeon, so she doesn't have any preconceived ideas that will hurt her once she steps foot in it, but that isn't true for everyone else here. I'm actually pretty worried about Mel. He's got the bluster, alright, but those chaos dungeons, they throw you for a loop your first time,” Yorela explained.

“Yeah, you're not wrong there. First time I was in one, I thought I had gone insane. That's the real reason I tend to avoid them. That and most of the beauty you see out in chaotic space is pretty absent inside of those places. The monsters inside just seem to feed on it,” Squidlen said.

“Look, I appreciate the warnings, but nothing is going to stop me from getting to William.” My tone sounded surprisingly hopeful instead of the depressing conviction it had had so often when we first left Earth.

I coughed as Yorela clapped me on the back. “That's the spirit. There's no damn way we're leaving that dungeon without the kid. How long till we dock, Squiddy?”

“Couple of hours. That's actually why I'm down here. I want your help at the helm when we do this. Well, I’ve got full faith in the current crew. I'd be a fool to waste your expertise.”

“Alright, let me finish up, and I'll meet you there. Alex, you should join us. This is something you may never see again,” Yorela replied.

“Yeah, I'll be there. I'm going to go check on Mel and Sanquar first,” I replied, grabbing my empty bowl to drop it off on the way out.

Mel had wanted to get some last-minute training in with Sanquar and the kid we had found. I figured adding another fighter, especially one as powerful as Sanquar, to our ranks could only help. I was entirely behind the idea, I wasn't sure Dad would have been, though. He was pretty protective of the bird.

As I walked through the halls of the ship, I spotted the moose vanishing out of the corner of my eye. What was he up to now? Not that I had time to go check on him, but hopefully, he was preparing in whatever his own manner was for the dungeon. I knew there was no chance of leaving him behind, especially when you consider he had managed to sneak aboard the ship with us. He was here for the long haul.

I opened the door to the training area just in time to see Sanquar crash against a wall. “I told ya not ta try and take flight. Focus on what yer new core lets ya do on the ground first, then figure out aerial combat. Dammit, Sanquar, ya ain’t new at this. Ya know how much harder it is ta fight in the air,” Mel bellowed.

Sanquar pushed himself back up to his feet, looking slightly ashamed. “I know, I know, but I should already know how to do this. Do you know how frustrating it is to have the memories locked in the back of your head of being a champion-level fighter, and now you can barely land a kick?”

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“Yeah, I kind of do. Or did ya manage to forget just what I was like before we got my tree? Sure, I ain't as old as ya, but let's not pretend I haven't had nearly as much stripped away from me as ya have. My life ain't exactly been great, but here I am floating and fighting, and I expect nothing less of ya,” Mel's bellows continued. Though they softened towards the end, with a hint of compassion growing in them.

The man cared far more than he was ever willing to admit. At least most of the time, he wasn't willing to admit it. I had seen below the veneer he kept up. It was something I wasn't sure I'd ever see again once we had William back. But knowing it was there was enough.

“Vrilk, I want ya ta show him exactly how ta tap into his core again. Then I want both of ya ta run that maneuver a hundred times in a row. Once you get it perfect, then we're going ta try a fight. Not before, ya hear me this time?” Mel's drill sergeant voice had returned, louder than I’d heard it in a while. He really was back at his prime.

“Everything going okay in here, guys?” I asked, not because I didn't think it was, but I needed some way to make it known I was here. Questions were a good way to cover the anxiety of entering a room full of people. It was something my dad had taught me young, not that I had ever needed it quite as much as he or John did.

“Yeah, just running these new recruits through some drills. Can't say I ever expected a time I'd run Sanquar through training. Then again, can't say I ever expected a time I'd be capable of fighting again either. Life's taken a pretty strange turn,” Mel paused, looking back towards the other two, who would stop their practice and turn their heads towards me. “Did I say ya two could stop? Get yer damn asses back ta work. We ain’t got much time left!”

I stifled a laugh, one of the few I had felt in weeks. Apparently, the closer we got to saving William, the more my mental stability finally took hold. I hope that was a good sign towards our success, not that I intended to return if we failed.

“Just wanted to check in. Apparently, we're going to be docking at the dungeon in a couple of hours. So any last-minute things you want to get done, get them done now. I have a lingering feeling we're about to walk into some sort of hellscape.” That thought had been bothering me more and more since I had first learned about the voices you heard inside of chaos dungeons.

And the fact that it was apparently tied to the corruptors that the dungeon cores were so scared of further impressed upon me the danger. It was something I intended to have a long discussion with Corey about when we returned to Alexandria.

I rolled my eyes on a reflex as I thought about the name of that city. It was a name I would likely always hate. Why the hell had Dad ever agreed to that? Then again, I wasn't sure he had much of a choice.

“About damn time. Ya heard the woman. Double time, boys. We ain't got much time left ta practice!”

I nodded at Mel and exited back the way I came. I passed some remaining time checking through a few of the various places on the ship, mostly as a means of distraction. I consider checking in on my brother, but I figured he and Maud could use what little alone time they had left before this delve.

By the time I found myself at the helm, I couldn't even remember exactly how I got there. I had let my thoughts wander far more than I should have. But it had cleared my mind, and that was important considering what was about to happen.

“Good, you made it. Stand over there near Squiddy and watch the view,” Yorela instructioned, spotting me enter the room.

“No matter what you see, try to keep your voice down. I don't want her distracted,” Squidlen whispered.

I almost questioned what he thought would leave me so in awe before the port window lit up in a cascade of colors. Had those been the only things, though, I still would have questioned it. The creatures swimming across the void of chaotic space in all their magnificence were what he had meant.

Colossal beasts of dazzling hues were everywhere I looked. Several of them turned, staring at us with their giant eyes. Had Squidlen not remained perfectly calm, I would have worried we were in danger, but he just stared ahead, a giant smile across his face.

“Ain't they beautiful? For some reason, there is always a cluster around chaos dungeons. What the behemoths can get from it, I've got no idea. But they're big enough that the dungeon can't really prey on them. That said, they're what make this whole thing hard. Yorela's got to navigate around them and carefully find a safe docking point,” his voice was still a whisper.

What he was warning about soon played across my vision. I watched a slight worry gripping me as Yorela weaved between creatures that could easily swallow us whole. But somehow she managed to find a small outcropping on the side of a giant rocky structure floating in space. It looked far more like a pretzel than it did a planet.

In the moment the ship made contact, I felt something wash over me. There was a new presence in the back of my mind. It wasn't loud, at least yet. But it was there, whispering quiet words. They were too quiet for me to fully make out yet, but they sent a shiver down my spine nonetheless.

One of the deadliest mana beasts I ever encountered in my journeys was a beautifully colored and exquisitely scented flower. That was how it tricked its victims, carefully luring them to a fate they never expected. I'd love to claim that I managed to avoid such a fate. But no, Daphne tricked me as well.

In my case, at least, though, I did already know she was a mana beast when I began communicating with her. What I didn't know was how many corpses lay deep in the Earth, entangled in her deceptively large roots. In my fight to free myself, I did manage to leave her alive, though gravely wounded. For now, I have had her planet sealed off for the danger it is.

Someday, though, I intend to return and try to convince her to see the light of another way. It would be a shame to deprive the world of such a beautiful flower.

Feral Mana Beasts, Danger and Change by Roril Thorl, Paladin of Conservation Grand Warden of the Order