Rhen exhaled a small breath of fire into the monster’s face, hoping to blind and surprise it. The creature roared and reared back, blinking madly.

“I thought the plan was stealth!” Aki taunted.

A brilliant aurora of purple and teal surged past Rhen’s feet like a river. It washed across the floor and rushed up the monster’s thrashing body, entrancing it.

“Hurry! It is strong, and I cannot hold it!”

Rhen charged forward with swift twitch, bounding off the cavern wall and slish-slashing the hound’s massive throat. Blood rushed down its chest and it broke free of the charm. Rhen was batted out of the air by its enormous paw. He sailed backwards and smashed into Jakira.

Rhen scrambled to his feet. “Run, Jak!”

The hound opened its mouth to bark, but a hoarse exhale was all that came out. Rhen deactivated caress of night and used the added anima for another swift twitch while the monster was still confused. He leapt up and blasted the monster’s face with a cloud of acid, burning his own mouth as he did.

Aki pulled the aurora of colors back into him. “Shadow Snare!”

The monster swiped at Rhen in comically slow motion. Rhen ran his blades down the monster’s arm until he gained purchase, then he climbed it. The creature slowly chomped at Rhen, getting a mouthful of water instead. Rhen climbed up to the monster’s back to see Aki, cradled in Jakira’s arms, with just a tiny bauble of water surrounding him at the back of the room.

The hound coughed, expelling the fluid before Aki could drown it like it had done the other. Rhen held tight to one of the spiked plates on the monster’s back and used his other hand to slash the back of the beast’s neck. The cuts split several inches into the beast’s hide, but it wasn’t enough to get to anything vital.

“This won’t work either!”

The beast tossed itself toward the wall. Rhen jumped from its neck and rolled out of range. The monster smashed its plated back against the wall and the cave trembled. A stalactite dropped from high above them and shattered against the floor.

Even at a slowed speed from shadow snare, half blinded from acid spray, and bleeding out, the hound was staying on the offensive. It lunged forward and Rhen dodged left, snatching the hound’s lip with his crescent blade like a fishing hook. He yanked, ripping the beast’s cheek open to expose even more teeth.

The hound kept charging; its wide-open mouth aimed at Rhen’s friends. The hound would get to them before he could do anything, before they could even move, unless he did the unthinkable.

He had to.

Rhen reached out, summoning the forbidden spell that could save them; [Piercing Detonator].

Hot power surged down his arm and into his palm, culminating in a ball of liquid anima that took everything from him. A vicious vibration erupted from Rhen’s palm as the projectile blasted forth. The shot pierced the hound’s back and imbedded deep in its muscle with a splash of blood.

Explosions rippled against the beasts back, shattering the many hard plates and exposing its spine. Liquified guts splashed out the hole he’d made with the projectile and the hound collapsed. It slid across the floor and Jakira leapt out of the way with a yelp. The monster’s face smashed into the back wall, the exit covered. Rhen jumped on its back, punching his blades into the exposed spinal joints until the beast finally stopped moving.

Weary, Rhen slid off the monster’s back and leaned against its side. His hands trembled with weakness, his anima totally drained.

“That was incredible! What was that spell?” Jakira asked, elated.

“Tremor blast,” Rhen lied, and gave her a weak smile. “I’m just glad we didn’t die.”

“Same for me.” Aki pulled the water from the ground and made himself a body, then swam out of Jakira’s cradling arms.

The deceased hound’s stomach rumbled, then it let out a long, whining fart. Despite his lack of energy, Rhen couldn’t help but laugh.

“Ugh, gross! I need some air!” Jakira ran for the blocked exit. She pushed on its massive face. “Oh gods, it smells! Help, please. I have to…” Jakira retched. “Have to get out!”

Aki’s watery hands glowed a soft yellow and the water in the cavern came to life at his command. The streams changed course, surrounding the beast until it hovered just a hair off the ground. He slid the body backwards a few feet and Jakira rushed through the gap, gasping for air and making horrible burping sounds.

Aki released the spell on the enchanted water. The beast dropped to the ground, splashing water across the cavern and pushing Rhen over on his side. Rhen moaned in protest, but couldn’t find the energy to get up.

“Do you think she will be all right?” Aki asked as Jakira’s retching receded up through the cave tunnels.

“She had to get acquainted with the rigamaroles of death eventually. She’ll be fine, and if not, we’ll give her some money to get back to Desedra.”

It was really starting to smell rank in there. Rhen sat up. “We need to get the core. I’ve got ideas for this things bones too, but I’m sure it’ll take some effort to get them out before the dungeon consumes the body.”

“Then we had better set to work.”

After a few more minutes of letting his anima regenerate, Rhen was able to stand and help Aki with the nasty business of stripping the monster meat from the bones. Rhen cut away the hide and tendons while Aki used the stream water to power blast the bones clean.

Deep in the rib cage, they found the core. It was an incredible thing, three times the size of Rhen’s head, but a deep crack ran through it from where Rhen’s piercing detonator spell had struck true and leeched the power needed to kill the monster.

“How did that happen?” Aki asked.

“Dunno, must’ve been the force of tremor blast. I put all my energy into it.”

“Interesting.”

Rhen looked around the room, desperate for a deflection. “There has to be a node in here. This beast was too big to be guarding a cavern full of father’s fennel.”

Aki cast an aurora of light across the walls, revealing another tunnel opening at the other end, but no nodes. Rhen scowled at all the sparkling green padreote. Not a single node.

“Perhaps it is in the next room?”

“Yeah. We have to finish up with this beast before we explore. I want all the bones.”

“Why for?”

Rhen grinned. “You’ll see.”

Jakira returned a shade lighter in the cheeks. “I’m ready to help.”

“Your tummy okay?” Rhen asked sarcastically.

“I will shank you,” she threatened, whipping out her dagger.

Aki paled, his tentacles wiggling uncomfortably. “Would you bring the cleaned bones to the surface?”

“You got it,” she said with a chipper smile. She stuck her tongue out at Rhen and sloppily sheathed her dagger.

When Jakira left with the first pile of bones, Aki cut his water blast and looked to Rhen. “Should we not tell her to leave?”

“What? Why?”

“She threatened to harm you!”

“She’s not going to stab me. She was just joking, buddy.”

Aki pulsed yellow at the use of the friendly moniker and calmed. “How do you know?”

Rhen remembered that Aki was not familiar with the common language, nor the common culture. “Hmm. I guess it was the tone of her voice, and the way she stuck her tongue out at me.”

“I understand. Do you think she threatens to harm you because she cannot admit her true feelings of affection?”

“I don’t think that’s how women work.”

“And you know all women well?”

Rhen frowned. “I didn’t say that, I just… it doesn’t seem like something that they would do. I don’t know.”

“What if it is a specific Cadrian woman behavior? Do you know many Cadrian women?” Aki asked, fluttering with excitement.

“I don’t, but the Cadrians have been merged with the common society longer even than my people, the Shin’bara, so I doubt she’d have many, uh, native tendencies? Why don’t we just… get back to cleaning some bones.”

“Of course, buddy.”

They got half-way through cleaning the monster bones when the discarded flesh began to sparkle a soft orange and melt into the floor. The dungeon reclaimed deceased bodies after a time, fueling itself with more anima from the consumed matter. Rhen wondered if it was the crystal core inside them that kept them safe from the dungeon eating them, too.

They rushed the remaining cleaned bones to the surface and left the rest to be reclaimed by the dungeon. Rhen flopped down in the grass next to the cluster of bones, panting. The sun was just past its apex, and Rhen’s stomach howled in protest of more work.

Jakira got out the creamy, jam sandwiches for them, and Aki retreated to the river for a meal of his own. Rhen couldn’t stop staring at the massive monster core, thinking about all its possibilities. If they fed half of the anima to the mastery node, who knew what kind of abilities would be unlocked?

“So, what’s the plan for all these bones?” Jakira nudged a femur with the toe of her boot.

“I had a few different things in mind.” Rhen grabbed one of the long canine teeth out of the pile and placed it spike-side-out on his shoulder. “Armor upgrades for one. We can bring some of these materials in to get custom affixed to our gear. A good crafter will be able to bring out the material’s natural strength with different syntials.”

He rolled one of the thinner straight bones toward him. “This could be a flute. Again, a skilled weapons crafter could make a bard’s instrument unlike any other. With its natural power of that howl, defender’s cry, the instrument could produce the effect when played correctly.”

She picked up the femur. “And this could be a club!” She gave it a few swings. Her balance was good, stance nice too. The weapon seemed a little more natural in her hands than the dagger.

“Want to spar with that, see how you like it?” Rhen asked.

Her cheeks sparkled. “If you want to.”

“Yeah.”

Rhen smiled and jumped to his feet. He picked up two of the shorter, smaller bones to accommodate his fighting style. Jakira walked toward the grass closer to the tents and took a timid fighting stance.

“My anima is still low, so go easy on me.” Rhen bowed, then put his weapons up to rest on each shoulder.

She chuckled nervously. “I don’t think I’ll be landing any hits.”

“Don’t discredit yourself so quickly. Now, come at me like you want me dead.”

Her forehead wrinkled and she grimaced. She licked her lips, gave a few heavy exhales, and then put her battle face on. She charged with a roar, swinging her club hard from the shoulder and leaning in. Rhen turned into the strike, blocking with his escrima-style bones. Her strike trembled up through Rhen’s arms and he shoved her club back.

The force of his parry pushed her off balance, and she turned her back. He could’ve given chase and whapped her from behind—a killing strike—but he refrained. He didn’t want to damage her confidence so quickly.

“That was a strong hit, but you leaned forward for the strike.” He leaned forward, holding his little sticks like her club. “When you put too much weight in the front foot and lean your upper body, you become less stable in your balance. Try that move again, but instead, try to keep your shoulders over your hips.”

Jakira nodded vigorously, and took up her offensive stance again. She charged and he parried over and over until his shove no longer threw her balance. She used the momentum of his push to bring the club back up to her shoulder and went in for a second, overhead swing. Before she could complete the move, Rhen dodged left and smacked her belly with his escrima. Jakira oofed and slammed the club into the dirt.

“Be mindful of your opponents’ weapons. I have two small weapons. My arms can move independently and much faster.”

“Got it,” she gasped, leaning on the handle of her bone-club. “I think I’m done for now.”

“Practice is essential for growth,” Aki said.

He had gotten back from the river, several fish clutched in his tentacles. They were surrounded by auroras just like Aki had cast on the hounds in the cave, immobilizing them, but keeping them alive.

Jakira sighed. “A few more, then.”

She attacked again and again, sweat gathering on her dark brow and messing her fiery braided crown. Her speed was slowing, and she was getting sloppy, but Rhen could see the determination in her eyes.

“Come on. Hit me!” Rhen urged.

Jakira growled, swinging up from the hip. Rhen turned and blocked, as usual, and pushed her away. She swung the weapon up to her shoulder and Rhen went in for a belly slapping kill. Jakira changed her grip, moving her hand to the ball-end of the femur, then pulled the bone to her chest to block.

She pushed Rhen back and swept the bottom of her weapon upwards at Rhen’s head. He leaned back to avoid the swipe and Jakira changed her grip again, meeting the other hand at her shoulder.

The weapon flowed easily from one pose to the next as Jakira swung from the shoulder. Rhen used both escrima to block, but at his awkward angle, the force of her strike pushed his weapons down against him. His shoulder throbbed from the hit and he stepped back, rubbing the painful muscle with one hand.

“Ouch.”

Jakira rolled her eyes. “Liar. You let me hit you.”

“I would never.”

“It’s okay. I mean, it felt kinda nice finally get you back.” She rubbed her stomach. “Still, I’d like to do it on my own.”

“I saw every move in great detail. Your grip change surprised him, and he was not prepared to dodge the strike. His wrist positioning would not allow him to put more strength into the parry, and so in fact, you did hit him all on your own.”

She crossed her arms. “Sure, but if his anima wasn’t so low he could’ve used one of his abilities to blow acid in my face, or duck super fast.”

“You’ll get abilities like that, too.” Rhen assured her. “We just need to explore more and level up the mastery node.”

“And you will get stronger with practice.”

Jakira chuckled. “Okay. Thanks, guys. But no more practice for now. I think my stomach is bruised, or I’m hungry… not sure which.”

Rhen cringed. “Probably both. Why don’t we head down and feed half of this jumbo core to the mastery node, then give ourselves a boost? I bet with all the work you’ve done at the inn you’re well at your anima capacity already, Jak. You could get a syntial without having to use any of the monster cores.”

“You think so?” she asked, giddy.

“Let’s find out.”