Chapter Twelve

Self-Discoveries

Dev marveled at the dim light. The bioluminescence of the Funglows was nice, but it couldn’t compare to what was streaming from the opening that he could now sense was closeby. It hadn’t entered his field of vision yet but he could tell its position and approximate distance by the way the rays of light streamed into his small cavern.

He had deviated from his course, for good reason, rather than heading right to the opening. Dev had found a bevy of decomposed bodies that he could not resist munching on. The makeshift mortuary revealed itself as a boot came into his field of vision. Naturally, he had to investigate. The boot contained a foot, and the foot turned out to be attached to a leg, and so on until the whole body revealed itself. The further he went the more he found.

Unable to pass up such easy patterns to absorb Dev had happily scarfed down everything in the immediate area. Unfortunately, this path took him away from the opening he was supposed to be annexing. He’d eaten another six bodies, and gotten the commensurate number of boots, belts, and other sundry clothing items that one would expect. These bodies only carried copper coins and no weapons at all. He considered them to be junk food. Something to nom on, but wasn’t filling or satisfying at all when it was said and done with. He regretted his decision to follow the bodies rather than getting to the fissure as Toot had asked. He’d exhausted himself moving so quickly and was forced to pause long enough for him to recover.

The core was disappointed in himself. He’d meant to listen to his companion and not let himself get distracted. Now he doubted that he would be able to make it to his destination on time. He looked back at the area he’d just come from. He had made considerable progress, in terms of distance, but he only held a tiny corridor of space leading from his central sphere of influence. Truthfully, it made him ache.

If he’d had a body he would have called it a headache brought on by his wonky vision. He could see everything within the radiance of his sphere easily, but where he’d tunneled it was compressed, blurry, and foggy. It wasn’t natural, and he instinctively knew that he’d done something wrong.

For one thing, he wished he’d talked to Toot about the growth process more before the old man had left. He had been able to gain ground by literally consuming it, but that hadn’t flowed like he thought it should. Instead of increasing in size and expanding in the same way lungs do when they breathe in he’d felt like he was shoving two boulders apart with his bare hands. It was workable, just not feasible.

The second thing he reflected on was replacing what he’d “eaten”. Did he need to replace what he absorbed? If not then he would cut his time exploring and expanding in half. Looking at where he’d been, he could not tell the difference between what he’d taken into himself and what he’d replaced it with. The replication process had been exact and seamless, but would it hurt him to not put back what he had taken?

To be certain, it would leave an obvious path in the form of a smooth floor and walls, but it would also give him the freedom to move ahead faster. He was sure that was how most dungeons expanded their area of influence. They just ate whatever they encountered and then made changes to the environment later that suited their needs. Dev was different, though. He was a deviant dungeon. He didn’t have to play by the rules. He could try or just do different things. Couldn’t he come at the growth process from a different angle?

Was it the volume of space he was trying to claim that slowed him down? It was possible. To test this he began to channel out a circular tunnel that was a half-inch in diameter. He pushed two feet ahead and observed that he’d claimed the space within seconds. It had been almost effortless, but it still didn’t feel right. He’d expended a goodly amount of energy for a very small return. Dev was certain that that the distance to energy expenditure ratio was off.

The core burrowed again using the same tunnel as before; this time he reduced the size of the tunnel to that of a quarter-inch. He pushed through another two feet in half the time of the previous try. Which was great news if he wanted to expand himself two-foot quart-inch increments. Realistically, it wasn’t any better than what he’d been doing before.

He mentally crawled into the tunnel. His mind fit in there quite well, and it wasn’t as cramped as he’d expected it would be. The odd thing was that his vision of the area he’d burrowed out was crystal clear, and the area of his core was now blurry. So, he could focus on wherever he put himself when he wasn’t in the standard sphere, but then the spherical space fuzzed out. If he hadn’t done a different geometric shape would it have made a difference?

Dev focused on the area of his tiny tunnel that changed sizes. He intended to create a small sphere at the junction and see if it helped. He started, but immediately felt the slow tedious process the sphere required. He could make small straight lines in no time, but could not acquire the necessary space to make it worth doing so. The sphere was slow but gave him the space he needed. It was a catch twenty-two situation, no matter what he did his progress was retarded.

He had to take a breath and think. He paused and considered just letting everything go and return to what he was doing without the replacing of what he took. If he did that then he would be able to double the size of the area he claimed. Or he could just scoot ahead and leave the space the same size. Either way, he should be able to make it to the crack by the time Toot returned. He was starting to get a sense of where the man was, so he was probably getting closer to him. There wasn’t any mental contact available, but at least he had an idea of where Toot was in relation to his core.

Dev stopped. He’d overlooked something important in his reverie. Toot wasn’t important right now. His job was to claim land and while he’d been doing so he’d overlooked one small factor.

He hadn’t just been taking the space from the ground. His one square foot of influence also extended into the empty space above it. In truth, Dev had only taken two inches of rocky matter from the ground. The remaining space above that two-inch depth had also been claimed by him. He knew this because he could see in that area, but not outside of it. He had claimed empty space.

Following his instincts, he went back to the place that he had left off with on the floor. As he began increasing his spatial dimension in the cave he opted not to do a square foot of space, but only take two inches from the ground in a foot wide swathe. He even replaced what he took just to be certain that nothing else was different. By the time that he’d bore a foot in distance he recognized that he could only see in the space that he had taken material from. It was from a worm’s point of view, considering that it was underground, but it was as easy to see from there as it was any other spot he’d taken so long as he put his consciousness there.

This gave him pause. Why didn’t he own the aerial space above the section he’d just claimed? Continuing his hunch he imagined the full one square foot space over the area he’d just taken and tried to consume it.

There it was. He now owned the space. All he’d done was push outward like a balloon expanding until he hit the edges of his spatial boundary. It took no effort. So what did that mean? He could claim all the empty space in the cavern? That would help him see better, but he’d still have to munch on the ceiling, floor, and walls if he wanted to build there.

The question was, was the expansion easier because it was simply empty space, or was it because he already claimed an adjacent area? He returned to his core, eager to test a new idea. The first thing he had to do actually study how he expanded from the center of his sphere.

He mentally pushed outward, and he saw a slow progression. He took a special interest in noting that he claimed empty space just as quickly as he did solid rock. What he was doing, he excitedly observed, was taking his mana and pushing against the world. As the world gave way he claimed its space. Technically, he did not exist on the world of Anoubliette. He existed as a pocket dimension within it.

Dev stopped expanding and considered. He tried to eat a three-foot area of emptiness that was three feet in space but in the opposite direction of the crevice. It took him just as long as before when he was just consuming the strata of the cavern. This meant that it wasn’t the matter that had slowed him down. It was the subjection of reality itself that took time. The process viewed each and every part of the outside world as the same thing, as far as the infiltration was concerned air was as dense as stone or water. It did not differentiate.

That led to the question as to why Dev had been able to claim the air above the two-inch space so quickly. It was connecting to a pre-existing tunnel and was able to grow up from where the air tunnel ended and expand to the point that the reclaimed stone was completed. It was like filling an empty balloon that was laying on the ground. Air pushed in from one end and inflated the ballon’s area until its shape was completed.

Dev wondered. Was it as simple as laying out an outline and then filling in the spaces? He had to test his idea! He returned his attention to the place he had dug out the circular tunnel. He began boring through the air with a tunnel that was the width of a human hair. Thankfully, the bodies had provided him numerous examples of such things and he drove the spatial converter outwards so that it was ten feet above the original tunnel. Dev stopped once they were of equal length.

The core then slipped his mind back into the tunnel he had occupied earlier and felt for his other area of influence. He felt it quite easily. Then he performed an action that was similar to holding your breath and puffing out your cheeks. He could feel his mana course upwards from his little tunnel and smash into the small fracture he’d laid out moments before. He had claimed a thin slice of space in seconds!

Now he turned his attention to the unclaimed distance from the wall to his sphere. It was all air, not that it made a difference to his spatial absorption process. He puffed his metaphoric cheeks again and watched as his own presence flooded the area. He noted that he could see better in some spots now as they had reconnected with the sphere.

Believing that he now knew a better way to gain ground, Dev began sending out razor-thin tendrils in multiple directions. He made huge linear lines that extended fifty feet away from his sphere’s edge and formed a perfect square. He was going to see if he could alter his area of influence’s shape or if he had to be a ball. The activity went quickly, but still took the better part of an hour. Dev perceived that the square extended above the earth’s surface. So, he would be outside no matter what if this worked, but he had been careful to make sure he included the opening that Too had asked him to claim.

Now, Dev pushed. He wasn’t using the mana, at all. It was more like the power-infused the space he wanted and then let itself be reabsorbed as he made his way to where it was waiting. Looking at it from the perspective of a dungeon it was as if he had built a mesh, and was now creating new space over the old. The time delay was a result of the dimensional fabric resisting being eaten. Dev was a moth in the universe’s wardrobe. He could now feel reality becoming porous as pumice and experienced the way that his mana seeped into those holes and replaced its fabric with his own.

It made him realize that he really wasn’t a part of this new world. He also began to wonder if he was from this reality. His soul could have come from anywhere. Did that make him a parasite or a symbiote? Could he integrate into this reality peaceably? There were so many questions, but he put them aside when his cube had filled itself in. He was whole once more, and could see clearly. Dev might not have the process perfected, but he had it down enough that he would be able to expand rapidly from this point onward. He was sure that he and Toot could hash out the finer points of growing his territory when the elder returned. He wondered what the old man was up to, and if he was alright.

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Toot sauntered away from the cart without a glance back. All traces of advanced age in his movements was lost and he went along like a man in his twenties without a care in the world. He walked into the small shop after ducking beneath a low hanging sign that read Booked Up. Hanging on the door was a wood sign that featured an open book that had the words Open for Business painted on the pages.

The store’s interior was darker than he’d expected, but he also recognized that paper and open flame didn’t work so well together unless you were looking for a conflagration. He could see well enough and so didn’t complain. His eyes saw well enough in the dark that he wasn’t concerned that some crazed book dealer was going to catch him unawares and stab him in the back. Considering the welcome he’d gotten from the mayor and the owner of the Dog’s Hair tavern he didn’t think he’d be too far out of line for thinking such an event might just take place.

He saw a woman in her late thirties behind the counter. She had long blonde hair, a wan complexion, and the face of a goddess. She wore small circular wire-rimmed spectacles that covered her sleepy eyes and was reading a book whose title Toot could not see. She sported a simple black dress with no adornments whatsoever. She didn’t look up from her page but greeted his presence with a nod.

Toot’s stomach dropped at the sight of her. He had never felt this way and he feared that she had some magic at her disposal that made him nervous and weak, but no matter how much he wanted to leave he could not tear himself away from her visage.

“I, uh, have come for some books,” he said dryly. She glanced up and waved her free hand around her shop indicating that she did, in fact, have books.

“I need,” Toot cleared his throat, “books on local history, mathematics, economics, anything scholarly really, and any magic tomes you might have. Oh,” he added hastily, “and a reading primer. I have a friend who is illiterate and could use something simple to get him started.”

“I have a few books on magical theory, a couple on application, and one that contains several spells. That one’ll cost you,” she grinned, and her smile nearly knocked Toot off his feet. What was happening to him? “I’ll give you the primer for free, no point in charging people who want to learn for free, am I right?”

“No object is money,” he stammered. “I mean, Is money an object?” He realized what he was saying but hadn’t been able to rearrange the words in time not to sound like an idiot. She had just said the primer was going to be free, now he was stumbling over a purchase like someone trying to learn how to barter while they had negative scores in wisdom and charisma.

“What I mean to say is,” he began.

“That you have coin to spare and lots of reading time to look forward to?”

Toot nodded numbly, his head moving but he couldn’t feel a bit of it. Surely he had been hit with a spell of confusion.

“My name is Too,” and then he stopped himself. He could not tell this woman that his name was Toot. Q’uillen had mistaken its meaning for a fart. He had to amend his wording quickly!

“Too?” The bookdealer looked shocked. “Your name is, Too? As in meaning also or like the number?”

“Most definitely not as a preposition,” he stammered. Then he smacked his hand over his eyes and wiped his palm down his face in shame. Toot rolled his eyes and shook his head. Why had Dev cursed him with so silly a name? Now he was using his pseudonym with her.

“My name,” he began again after taking a deep breath, “Is not Too, it is Tooth. I just bought a few lots over on Oleander Street. We’ll sort of be neighbors I suppose.”

“Tooth? As in the carnassial sense? I can see you have an edge under that fluffy exterior.” She assessed him from top to bottom. “I’ll bet you are a huggy bear with sharp fangs!” Then she flashed him a quick wink.

“My name is Nix, a pleasure to meet you, Tooth.” She said his name playfully like she knew it wasn’t his name, but that she’d play along if it made him happy. “The few friends I have call me Steva. Welcome to the neighborhood.” She put her book down and went to her shelves. She as she began pulling tomes down and stacking them in her arm she softly hummed a bright little ditty. Her voice was like golden tones in his ears. Just hearing her humming sent his stomach into a butterfly infested wilderness. Within minutes she’d compiled a healthy stack of books on the subjects he’d mentioned.

Toot watched as she went about her task. It was like she could see who he really was down deep. Her assessment of him had hit closer to home than she realized, his huggable fluffy form was hiding something dangerous. Not that he would ever consider harming Steva.

Toot noted that there were books on engineering, a history book, a book on herbs, and all the others he’d asked for. Steva had gone to the back to get his spellbook. When she returned she was carrying a book that was at least sixteen by twenty inches in size.

Toot could see at a glance that it was bound in an exotic leather, probably the hide of a mystical creature. That was good. Dev could still get a little information on whatever it had been made from, and would most likely be able to reproduce it in one form or another. She placed the large book off to the side of the pile and lovingly caressed its spine. Nix glanced at the pile of texts and said something Toot hadn’t expected.

“Would you care for some tea, before you go? You’re buying a lot of books, and for that price, I think I can spare a few minutes and a warm cup with you.”

Toot briefly considered Q’uillen’s time frame and then dismissed it. He could make time to chat with this intriguing woman. If they fell behind he would just take what he had and go back to Dev. The overseers weren’t arriving tomorrow, and if they were he would still want to spend time with the book dealer. What happened after that wouldn’t matter, because he knew what was best in life. It had nothing to do with crushing your enemies, hearing the lamentations of their loved ones, or even seeing them flee in abject terror while pissing their pants, but rather revolved around this gold dust woman. Of course, all that other stuff was fun, too.

“I think I would enjoy a nice cup of hot tea,” Toot said as he brushed aside his mustache so that he could drink without dunking his hair.”

“Excellent,” Nix beamed, “What do you take in it?”

“Honey, if you have some,” he replied cheerily, “Lots of honey.”