Chapter Thirty-Five

Aftermath

Toot coughed out a mouthful of dust as he awoke. Whatever Dev had been attempting to do had gone awry. The fact that he hadn’t been atomized was a testament to his own durability and Dev’s control. The entire surface of their little cavern had turned to does by the release of energy. Toot’s clothes, as well as all of his body hair, had been singed off. The core’s companion could also feel that the topmost layer of his epidermis had been burned away leaving him red as a boiled lobster. He was sore, but his healing factor was already kicking in; Toot could feel his flesh returning. The itching was going to drive him crazy for the next minute or two until he recovered the outer layers of his skin. His hair would come back quickly, too.

Toot stood and dusted himself off. He had a thin layer of pulverized cave stone covering his body, and more in his mouth and nose. His nudity didn’t bother him at all; he still thought of himself as a tutorial and had not gotten comfortable in his own skin. He hoped that in future years this would change, but for now, he couldn’t help but consider himself an all-knowing disembodied voice that was kept in a box and used to break in new dungeon cores.

Toot was still stunned by the blast that had hit him, or his first thoughts would have been about getting to Dev, but deep down he knew the core was all right through their unbreakable bond. His footing was unsteady and he ached all over. The cavern was clouded by a haze of stone particulates so thick that Toot could hardly see a thing.

He tried to get his bearings but had been blown across the area when Dev exploded. He had been ripped from his lotus position and tossed like a rag doll. He might have hit his head and been knocked unconscious, and if that was true then he might even have been damaged worse than he realized. He healed quickly, and if he was out while his body repaired himself then he’d have no way to measure how much time had passed. For all he knew, now that he thought about it, he’d been burned down to his muscles. It was not inconceivable for that to have happened.

“Dev,” Toot called out, “Dev, can you answer me? Are you awake!?!” The not-so-old man was concerned. Dev hadn’t outlined his plans and maybe Toot shouldn’t have let him go off without discussing things with him first. Toot was there for guidance but had gotten so wrapped up in building his energy channels that he’d neglected his highest priority. Taking care of Dev.

“Hurka,” was his reply. Dev’s voice was shaken and confused sounding. It was raw emotion amplified and distilled. Toot couldn’t feel the core but turned towards the area the noise had come from.

“Toot?” It was Dev’s voice, and it was coming from the opposite direction that his voice had come from seconds before. This time he could feel his connection and so he reoriented himself and headed for his friend.

“Dev, what happened? What did you do?” Toot kept his voice steady, filled with concern, but did not let the worry he was feeling creep in. He still could not see very well, and the dust was making it difficult for him to breathe.

“Sorry,” the core responded, “I tried to expand my soul and then split it in half.”

“Can you get rid of this dust?” Toot wasn’t worried about his breathing but knew that finding the core would be a lot easier if he could see.

“Yes, give me half a mo’,” the core replied. The cloud that had been hanging in the air since Toot awoke began to thin and he found it easier to draw a breath. The cavern was still pitch black until Dev populated it with numerous funglows. His explosion had obviously incinerated the pre-existing mushrooms. With the advent of the fungi’s light Toot was able to see Dev’s rocky form lying on the floor exposed to the world. He went over and picked his friend up carefully.

He had intended to place Dev back on his pedestal but that had taken the brunt of the explosion and had been cracked and shattered to a point that less than a foot of it remained standing above the ground.

“You really did a job on our secret lair,” Toot said with a pinch of snark. He could see that every inch of the ceiling, floor, and walls was covered with small cracks and fractures. “Maybe you should do some repairs or the two of us make a quick trip elsewhere. I don’t feel safe here.”

“I’m going to redecorate and,” Dev said slyly, “I thought you liked caves?” Toot watched the walls reseal themselves as Dev spoke, the air was filled with a crackling as missing stone-filled back in the empty spaces that threatened to collapse the entire space in on itself.

“Naturally, I like caves,” Toot said, “But not when they are about to fall in around me.” Toot looked around for a place that he could place Dev’s core, but couldn’t find a single place. As if sensing what Toot was looking for a small alcove appeared in the wall before them. Toot gently placed Dev into the recess and stepped back. It wasn’t as regal as the pedestal, but it did its job.

The niche was a half ovoid shape that went into the wall for about half a foot. Dev set inside perfectly, which he should have since he’d made the are specifically for him. Toot heard a familiar sound and saw a new column rising from the ground on the other side of the cavern. Atop it, under a glass dome sat Dev.

Toot blinked and turned to look at the core he had just set into the wall space. Dev was still there. He was looking at the original Dev. The one currently under glass had to have been the “cloned” version. The only reason Toot could think of for Dev to make a second core was to separate himself from his more primal instincts. It had been a good plan, the core had just executed it poorly.

Splitting a soul was a dangerous proposition, and the small burst of resultant energy had been negligible compared to what could have happened. They were fortunate that the entire town hadn’t been destroyed. Soul power was very touchy. That was why few dungeons used life energy, and gods primarily used prayer power. Prayer emanated from the soul and was some of the purest and most powerful stuff a dungeon could use as a power source. Splitting a soul was not unlike splitting an atom, Toot knew, and the resultant energy released by that event paled in comparison to souls being cut in half.

Toot swallowed. They were very lucky Dev had managed to contain the energy fairly well, all things considered. The little core was progressing quickly. From what statistics told him most souls didn’t even attempt to manipulate souls in any capacity until they were hundreds of years old. Dev wasn’t even a week old yet and he had just pulled off a technique that even aged cores failed at doing. At least it seemed like a success. He had no connection to the second core.

Toot knew that by the simple fact that he wasn’t being bombarded by errant thoughts and emotions. Whatever was in that duplicate core had no ties to him at all. It had Dev’s voice, but it didn’t seem to be as sapient as he was. It was sentient, but barely.

Toot’s mind whirled. What were they going to do with a semi-aware core? Should he bond it to an animal? It was going to need some sort of companionship or it would devolve into madness over time, which to his eyes, didn’t seem to be too far a step if it was nothing but the dragon-stained bits of his soul. Dev could barely control himself when he was whole. Take away his stable side and you would be left with a mountain of issues all struggling for dominance. That core, whatever they decided to call it, was in for a miserable existence, and Toot’s heart went out to it. It was a part of Dev after all.

“I take it that is all of your crazy parts,” Toot said pointing to the second core.

“Not all of them, there was backwash. It couldn’t be avoided, there is a small part of the stable “core” me in there as well. It was just impossible to separate both parts of my soul completely.” Dev was almost distanced from the idea of the other core being a piece of him. Toot wondered if he viewed what he did as a person might cut off a gangrenous limb or a frostbitten appendage.

The problem was that Dev’s gangrenous limb had a life of its own. It was still alive and while it would no longer affect Dev’s mental stability it was undoubtedly going to pose a threat to them at some point in the future.

“That’s another thing on our plate,” Toot said as he pointed at the second core, “I think our eyes are getting too big for our bellies. We have a pending raid to contend with, overseers to hide from, and things to learn, grow the dungeon, level up, or any other dozen things. What are we going to do with that?”

“The imperative was getting me out from under its influence. We can figure out what to do with it later. For the moment it seems stable and can be set aside for at least a few days, I’m sure. It’s not like it’s going to start creating problems for us in the span of hours.”

Toot looked over at the other core expectantly. It would be fitting that right as Dev said what he had about how long they had to worry about Dev number two becoming a problem that gold coins would start falling from the skies. Nothing happened, and Toot realized he’d been holding his breath waiting for just such an event.

“Thank the gods for that,” Toot said. He didn’t know if he could handle one more problem. He just wanted to settle into the town and do a nice quiet takeover as they expanded.

“Indeed,” the other core replied in a relatively stable voice.