I took smaller steps and tried to set my feet each time, ready to strike out with my staff. I didn’t want to be caught out again like I had been with the possum. But nothing else attacked me. Complete silence had returned to the forest. The sound of the fallen leaves rustling in the breeze sent goosebumps along my arms. With the void energy’s effects being so prevalent in this part of the forest, I was sure there must be more infected animals. But where were they?

I could see the trees end up ahead. I’d reached my destination. I breathed a sigh of relief. A part of me had worried I may have gotten the direction wrong and that I’d end up lost and wandering too deep into the woods. Stepping out and stopping at the edge of the clearing, I sent my glowing orb forward to its maximum range, lighting up as much of the area as possible.

I was surprised by what appeared at the edge of my light. The previously empty clearing was now occupied by some kind of pillar, standing there completely out of place in this natural setting. Just in front and slightly to the side of it stood two skeletons, identical to the one in the park.

I tensed up, expecting them to run at me like the other one had, but they didn’t attack or respond to the light in any way. Keeping my staff up in front of me at the ready, I took a quick look over the odd structure between them. It was about as thick around as my torso and fairly tall, coming up to around my chest. Judging by the disturbed state of the ground at its base, it looked like it continued down into the earth, meaning it was even taller than that.

From this angle it was difficult to tell, but I was fairly sure the main body had five straight sides. The top part of the pillar, about 30cm, was angled so all the sides came together into a point. The surface was a dark gray color, and from here appeared to be completely smooth.

“What the hell is that? And what are they doing?” I thought to myself, shifting my focus to the skeletons. “Why aren’t they attacking me?” The one in the park had been aggressive, but apart from moving their heads slightly to focus on me, these two hadn’t reacted to my presence yet. I shuddered as I realized they didn’t have eyes. Just two dark pits in the middle of their too-white skulls. I hadn’t noticed that with the first one I fought as I had been caught up in defending myself.

Since they didn’t seem like they were going to move any time soon, I wanted to take the chance to cast Analyze. They should be within range of the ability. With three targets, it would take 15 mana, leaving me with only 21 / 120 mana points. I wouldn’t have enough left to heal myself until my center could pull in more mana, but it was important I knew what I was dealing with. It would only take a few minutes to regenerate enough mana to have enough for a heal, so I should be ok until then.

I used the ability on the two undead and the strange structure. They didn’t react to the ability at all. I was relieved to see the skeletons were both level 1. The information I got on the pillar didn’t help me much.

Undead Shard

Health: 300 / 300

Level: 2

300 health?! But it was only level 2! I was level 2 but I only had 120 health points. I wasn’t sure what its purpose was or what kind of threat it posed, but it sure was durable. I considered what to do. Could I handle this, or should I leave now and try to get the authorities involved to deal with this? My newfound resolve to take care of this myself was still present, but that didn’t mean I was going to make a stupid decision that could get me killed. Cax stayed silent. This was my fight and my decision to make.

Even though there were two enemies to fight, I thought I could take them based on my encounter with the first skeleton. They were weaker than me and not as fast. If I was careful, it should be possible to beat them without getting injured. The problem was the shard. What was it capable of?

I thought for a minute, then decided to go for it. Sure, the shard had a lot of health, but it didn’t look like it could move. I would stay as close to the trees as possible so I could use them for cover just in case it was capable of launching some kind of an attack. If it wasn’t, then once I took care of the skeletons, I could take a closer look at it and work out what to do about it.

I took a step towards the skeletons, angling slightly for the one on the right. They shifted a little to keep me in front of them, but otherwise didn’t move. It almost seemed like they were guarding the shard. I took another step, but still they didn’t make a move for me.

Suddenly, there was a disturbance in the space next to the skeleton on the left. The air was shimmering slightly. My attention was pulled back to the two skeletons as they abruptly lurched towards me. I had closed to within a few meters, so I didn’t have much time to react. I stepped to the right and swung my staff at the skeleton on that side, holding the piece of wood in the middle with my hands spread slightly.

The right end of the staff hit the skeleton’s side and pushed it into the other one, knocking both away from me. I quickly stepped back closer to the trees, wary of whatever was happening with the shimmering air in front of the shard.

My attention was pulled away from it as the skeletons came at me again, this time one in front of the other. I repeated my swing from earlier, but I aimed higher and went for the head of the skeleton in front. It raised its arm and blocked it, but the blow was still strong enough to push it to the side. These things were extremely off-putting, but they actually weren’t that dangerous. I was starting to feel pretty confident.

That feeling quickly disappeared as the skeleton behind it rushed towards me. I couldn’t position my staff in time. I quickly tried to retreat to give myself some room to swing, but my back hit a tree. This allowed the skeleton to close with me. It started hammering its fists into my body, each blow causing a small amount of pain and dropping my health bar by a little. It might not weigh that much, but it was somehow still able to put a fair bit of force behind its punches.

Instead of trying to defend myself, I ignored the pain its blows were causing and tensed my body. Then I used the tree I was up against as leverage and pushed off, shoving the skeleton back. That gave me the space I needed for a proper swing, but before I could do so there was intense pain in my upper left arm, causing me to drop the staff.

I’d been so focused on the enemy in front of me that I’d forgotten about the other one. The first skeleton had recovered and taken advantage of my inattention and bitten my arm. It opened its jaws and got ready to clamp down again.

I swung around and grabbed it around the throat with my right hand, barely managing to hold its teeth away from me. Shifting my body, I rammed it back against a tree and slammed its head into the trunk a few times. Its health bar only budged a small amount.

I remembered that my cricket bat wasn’t able to do much damage because it was made out of ordinary material. I guess that applied to the tree as well. It wasn’t reinforced with extra mana like I and my staff were, making it largely ineffective as an impromptu weapon against the skeleton.

I had learnt my lesson and kept an eye on the other skeleton, so when it ran at me again, I was ready. I turned and pushed the one I was holding into it. They tripped each other up and went down. I hurried to retrieve my staff, and then checked my health bar. 102 / 120. It didn’t seem to be going down any further, so I mustn’t be losing too much blood from the bite wound.

For a second I considered drinking the health potion, but then I saw that the shimmering air by the shard was taking on a suspiciously familiar shape. Another skeleton?! Crap!

I had to hurry up and deal with the first two before their reinforcement finished materializing. Two were causing me more problems than I anticipated. I didn’t think I’d fair well if it were three on one. One of the original skeletons was almost back on its feet. Without thinking, I thrust out with the butt of my staff, hitting its sternum and knocking it back down. That was lucky, I thought with relief. It could have just as easily gone straight through its ribcage and gotten tangled up. Need to be more careful.

I moved closer and started smashing them in the head like I had done to the first one I fought, alternating between them to keep them from getting up. They were unable to put up much of a defense while lying on the ground, their arms simply getting knocked back into their heads when they tried to shield themselves. I kept an eye on the third skeleton that was forming while I laid into them. Its features were almost completely visible now.

The sensation of slight warmth in my chest as some of their energy entered me was a good indication of their deaths, along with the sudden absence of their health bars. I ignored their glowing bodies and kept my eyes on the third skeleton. I took a couple of steps back to give myself more room to prepare.

Apart from the pulsing pain coming from the bite wound, I was in pretty good shape. I was a bit out of breath, but my health pool was still high. With only one clear danger remaining, I decided to save the health potion for an emergency. I promised myself I would look into ways to improve my mana regeneration as soon as possible. Having a healing spell but not enough mana to freely use it was starting to feel pretty shitty.

Once the skeleton finished materializing, it moved into position directly between me and the shard. Yep, they’re definitely guarding it. I didn’t rush in. I wanted to finish this quickly before another enemy magically appeared, but I took the time to analyze my last remaining foe, regretting the loss of mana but knowing it was necessary to know what I was dealing with.

I was glad I did when I saw that this skeleton was level 2. It had slightly more health than the other ones, but nothing else seemed different. Hopefully, its higher level wasn’t going to make it too much of a threat compared to the level 1 versions.

With no more reason to delay, I swiftly approached it. Once I got within 2 meters, it finally moved and came towards me. I had a pretty good strategy for dealing with these things now. I shifted my grip and hit it in the side as hard as I could, like I was trying to smash a ball over the fence. It stumbled instead of going down, but one more hit across its bent back sent it to the ground. Then, after several well-placed blows to the skull, it was finished. Its extra level hadn’t helped it one bit.

With no more clear dangers present, I relaxed a little but didn’t let down my guard. I got closer to the shard and walked around it, trying to work out what it was. My heart jumped out of my chest as my glowing orb chose that moment to go out. I cast the spell again as fast as I could and relaxed when the light revealed the same scene in front of me. The irrational part of my mind had half expected to be confronted with another enemy. This is not a horror movie, I reminded myself. This is real life. As weird as it is now.

I continued my inspection of the shard, but I couldn’t determine anything about it. I had been right, though. It had five equal sides and was completely smooth, without a single mark anywhere. It wasn’t reacting to my presence or doing anything at all that I could make out.

I took a step back and gripped my staff like a bat again. Let’s see if I can smash it apart. Putting everything I had into it, I whacked the shard as hard as I could. My weapon rebounded and flew out of my numb hands, landing several meters away. I shook my hands out, swearing up a storm as I looked at where I had hit it. I saw that my blow hadn’t left even the slightest scratch. The health bar hovering above it hadn’t changed at all.

This thing was tough. Brute force didn’t seem like the way to go. I asked Cax for his insights.

“Well, I am not sure how to destroy it, but I do have a theory as to what it is. Did you notice the way the last skeleton magically appeared? It looked remarkably similar to what happens when Create is used.”

I’d thought the same thing. It was the same kind of shimmer that I had observed when making my staff.

He carried on. “When I checked the skeleton’s memories and saw the orders it received, there was something familiar about it. It was similar to how I used to order my dungeon creatures around. It was different enough to make me believe I was simply interpreting the information wrong, but now I’m not so sure.”

I understood what he was getting at, but I was confused. “This can’t be a core, though. It doesn’t look anything like you did.”

“Correct. And it is just sitting out here in the open, vulnerable, instead of being safely underground.”

“Not that vulnerable,” I reminded him. “I hit it as hard as I could, and it did nothing.”

“That’s right!” he said eagerly. “A dungeon core would have received some damage from that.”

“So, you’re telling me it’s not a core then?” I asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know,” he responded happily, probably enjoying having a mystery to solve. “It could be a core, and this is simply how they look and behave on whatever planet it is from. Or it could be something else entirely that just happens to have abilities similar to a core. The differences between the world I came from and yours has taught me that anything is possible. Who knows what kind of things are out there on other planets.”

I took a moment to process that. I hadn’t really considered it like that before. Aliens were real. I had an alien inside me, and there was another one right in front of me. I didn’t know whether to be amazed or horrified.

“There’s one more thing you don’t seem to have noticed. Look around and tell me if you notice anything unusual.”

I looked around the clearing but didn’t see anything. “I’m assuming you don’t mean all this weird shit,” I said, gesturing at the undead I had just made re-dead. “So, I’m going to say no.”

“Look at the ground.”

I did as he said. At first, I couldn’t work out what he was talking about. Then my eyes widened as it clicked. “The grass is green. And there’s none of that black stuff!” I moved my light around with my mind and confirmed there was no trace of the infection caused by the void energy in the clearing at all. There was a perfect circle of health surrounded by sickness.

“Exactly!” Cax said. “But why? This is where the portal opened. This is where the energy was entering this world. This spot should have been the first affected.”

“Can you tell if the energy is still coming in? Maybe it stopped and the problem is clearing up from the center out,” I suggested hopefully.

“I rely on your senses, remember. What you can feel, I can feel.”

“That’s a ‘no’, then. Add ‘energy sensing’ to the long list of things I need to work out how to do.”

“There’s another possibility for why this area is clear,” he started to say.

“The shard somehow cleared out the void energy?” I guessed, having already had the same thought.

“Yes! It would explain why the skeletons had no trace of that black substance on them,” he said excitedly. He was in his element trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together. “It’s another reason to believe it’s some kind of dungeon core. Just like you saw with your dungeon, there’s an aura that extends out, putting the surrounding area in its influence.”

“The skeletons might not have been affected by the void energy because they weren’t technically alive,” I pointed out. “But yeah, your guess for why this area is clear seems pretty good. It would have been nice if this was a case of ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, but it’s clearly not. Even though this shard might be keeping the void energy at bay, we still need to destroy it. If we left it alone to deal with the infection, we’d just have a different problem in the future. The quest wanted us to deal with this, not the void energy, so let’s focus on that.”

We were both silent as we turned our thoughts to ways of destroying the shard.

“Try to use your mana on it,” Cax suddenly told me. “How it reacts might give us some ideas.”

“But I don’t know any attack spells.”

He thought for a second. “Put your hand on it and cast Analyze. It’s a ranged spell, but it will also work through contact. The shard won’t know that it isn’t an attack. It should simply sense the mana and then react.”

“I already used that spell on it. Nothing happened,” I reminded him.

“Yes, but this time the physical contact should increase the likelihood of a response.”

“Are you sure about this?” I asked him skeptically. Nothing had happened when I hit it with my weapon, but that was no guarantee it was safe to touch. “If this is some kind of core, what if it can do the same thing you did to me? When I touched you, you managed to lock my body down.”

“You’ll be fine,” he replied. “I could only do that because you didn’t have your mana channels open, so you didn’t have the protection of large amounts of mana running through you. Also, I was much more powerful than you. Based on this shard’s level and the strength of the creatures it made, it must be fairly weak, so it won’t be able to influence you like that. Go ahead.”

I couldn’t think of a good excuse not to. “For the record,” I told him, “I’m not a fan of this plan. I don’t have a better idea, though, so here we go.”

Holding my right hand out, I scrunched my face up and turned it slightly away, leaning my body back at the same time. My hand touched the shard. Nothing happened. I relaxed a little, my shoulders untensing. I activated my ability and as the mana left my center, it ran down my arm and out of my palm, following the easiest path. Before my mana even had time to return the information it collected, I jerked my hand back in pain.

“Son of a bitch!” I said through gritted teeth, shaking my hand around quickly. The shard had suddenly become extremely hot and burnt me.

“Well, we got a reaction alright,” I said, nursing my injured hand. It had been a painful experiment and used up 5 mana, but at least it had worked. As I stood there trying to adjust to the pain, I considered what the shard’s response meant. An idea for how to use what I’d learnt was already forming. For the first time since waking up and being confronted with the blue screen for this quest, I was confident I could complete it.