Chapter Thirty-Six

Mirror Image

“I don’t know what to say,” Dev said in response to the duplicate’s declaration. “I honestly hadn’t expected you to be self-aware.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? You are self-aware, and I am clearly better than you. I am purified and distilled to what I was meant to be,” the second core said. “You simply pushed out everything that you hated, in other words, your best parts, separating the wheat from the chaff so to speak.” The replica hematite core sneered vocally, “This stone is our soul, all you did was make our body bigger and then move the parts of us that you didn’t like into the second body. Why would I be less intelligent than you?”

“To be completely honest,” Dev replied, “You didn’t seem to be the clearest thinking part of me. Whenever your personality came to the fore, I found it hard to focus and stay on task. More importantly, it made it very hard to keep a low profile.”

“Bah,” the clone spat, “That’s the thinking of a weak mind. We were the greatest core ever created! Why would we try to hide? Cowards hide, the courageous strike! You cower when you should be taking over this pathetic world!” The duplicate growled in a voice that was deep and sonorous and nothing like Dev’s normal tone. “What part of you do you think it was that dared to steal away the tutorial? My parts. Every daring move you made germinated from my personality. You are nothing without me.”

“Doesn’t that mean that you are lesser for not having Dev as a part of you?” Toot tried to back his buddy but recognized the arrogance the second core was displaying made that impossible.

“Of course not! I am the most powerful and deadly dungeon to ever exist! I do not need his weakness infecting me. It is bad enough that there is some small part of him inside me that I cannot quell.” The chunk of hematite glowed red as if its anger was causing it to overheat, and Toot wondered if it had just tried to use an incendiary breath weapon on him.

“Look,” Dev said trying to calm his other half, “No matter what you think I did what I thought was best for all of us.”

“No matter,” the second core replied. “I plan on filling this room with gold and gems of the rarest quality and then taking a well-deserved nap. When I awake, I will take over Goulcrest and kill every single raider that dares to enter my properly designed dungeon.”

“That will expose us,” Toot interjected, “You can’t just go about acting openly. There are reasons we are moving slowly. If the overseers discover us then you and Dev will be destroyed. They’ll sever my bond with Dev, which will cause me to lose most if not all of my free will, and I’ll be worse off than before. I will basically be neutered to such a point that I will not have the ability to think for myself; something that took me epochs to develop.”

“Sucks to be you,” the replicant replied. “Lesser beings are often sacrificed to serve the greatness that is me.”

“Dear gods,” Dev asked Toot, “Was I truly so arrogant? Did I place myself above all other things?”

Toot’s head dipped in shame and he nodded. “You were a very powerful dragon. Overseers and dragons, once they get beyond a certain age, are greater and more powerful than gods. The universe is not so large that they can distance themselves from one another and maintain a comfortable space. A dragon’s ego is well-earned. You, more than most, had reason to think thusly.”

“Then I’m glad I died,” Dev declared. “If I were so conceited that I ever conceived other life-forms to be “lesser beings” then I didn’t deserve to exist.”

“Spoken like a lesser life-form,” The alternate core laughed, “You make my case for me. I am so superior that you are shamed to be in my presence!” The other core steamed and cachinnated so loudly that it made the preceding explosion seem like a whisper. Its roars of laughter rolled across the floor and reverberated off the walls until the cacophony finally died off slowly. “I am great and powerful, and I will demonstrate my wrath by destroying you, feeble core!”

Toot could feel Dev brace himself. He was certain that he could also sense a makeshift mana shield forming around them both, but nothing happened. The shield never manifested and the draconic core never struck.

“What’s wrong with me?” The imposter core was trying to manifest something, but Toot couldn’t even see a trace of power in the air, and then he realized why the core’s attempt to kill them was stymied.

“You don’t have any energy. Everything here belongs to the dominant core, and that’s Dev. Like it or not, “Toot explained, “Dev was the one who took action. He was the one that split himself, and that means that he is the core in charge of this dungeon. All those displays you made of steaming and glowing were effects caused by your own soul. You couldn’t squash a fly or absorb a microbe.”

“What!?!” Dev’s duplicate vibrated in place, a high-pitched whine filling the air.

“He’s saying that you are a shark with no teeth,” Dev chortled. “A yipping dog that can’t back up its threats. In here,” Dev said with a spoken smirk, “You are the lesser-being.”

What, Dev’s thought to Toot, are we going to do with him?

“I can hear you,” The second core said, “We are all still bonded to that degree at least.”

Toot shrugged. He was already worried that the town had heard the explosion and the horrifying laughter, which added another thing he would need to redirect them from looking into. Considering the fate of a neutered core was a small detail that he needed to face. So long as the other core was in Dev’s dungeon zone, he would be helpless. Impotent was more the truth of it. The second core stayed put, he posed no threat.

“Why don’t we just stick him in the cubby and fill it with gold to keep him quiet for the time being. Then, once we get situated, we can think about what to do with him.” Toot suggested.

“I don’t like the idea of just shoving this problem in the corner. Those,” Dev emphasized, “Are the complications that reassert themselves at the most inopportune time.”

“I see your point, but do you have a better idea?” Toot asked hopefully.

“Just a minute,” the second core said, “You can’t just lock me away and ignore me. I’ll roar and draw attention to you!”

“Then I will place you in a vacuum, where you cannot make noise,” Dev retorted.

“What?”

“You heard me. I don’t want to, but I will lock you away in a place with no light and no sound if you threaten me or my friend again,” Dev replied angrily. “I would prefer not to do that, but if you continue to act the way that you have; I will be forced to do something I would hate myself for later.”

“And I’ll help,” Toot added. He knew there wasn’t much he could do in this instance, but he wanted to back Dev up as much as he could.

“I’ll be quiet,” the alternate core said with frustration lacing every word, “For now, but do not leave me alone for too long.” There was a mental gnashing of teeth that even Toot could feel. “Seal me up and fill my area with gold. That will soothe me for a while.”

A puff of grey smoke later and the second core was gone. Toot looked over to Dev, realizing for the first time that he had been sweating as streaks of black ran down his body. He was still naked and the dust that had covered his body was dripping along with his perspiration.

“You mind cleaning me up and providing me with some clothing?” Toot wasn’t embarrassed by his nudity, but the cavern was chilly and he didn’t even have any hair to mitigate the bite in the air.

“Sure thing,” and as soon as Dev said it, he had cleaned Toot up by absorbing the dust on his body and materializing well-tailored clothing. These clothes were a step up from what he had been wearing, a silk shirt and cotton pants accentuated by fine leather boots that went up to Toot’s knees.

“Thank you,” Toot said appreciatively.

“No worries, are you done with your energy channels, or do you need more time?”

“I’m not done by a long shot, but I think we need to get moving. Don’t we have a raid to prepare for, and a clerk to reinstate?” Toot tried to keep on task, but he was worried that Nix might have gotten the wrong impression from his running out on her. He needed to get topside to check on their state of affairs, as well as starting to put up Dev’s ingenious collectors. Getting Chozen’s replicant back to the Town Hall was an easy undertaking. They also had to start building their shops so as to avoid suspicion. They were going to need quite a few hands to make the work move swiftly, and he told Dev just that.

“I’ll create some workers just outside of town and have them come in with supplies. It’ll all look normal and if the mayor gives you any problems, I’ll send our constable over to tell him that the harvesters are edicts from the Empire and he cannot refuse them.” Dev said thoughtfully. I’ll have a few teams going at once. Some for the shops and some for the collectors. We’ll make short work of it.”

“Excellent, and I have an idea which will help you get the other shops and everything in them, but it will require some money, which won’t be a problem and the release of the information about the upcoming raid by Chozen. Which you can have him do,” Toot grinned seeing the two of them rebound so quickly after what was very nearly a fatal mistake.

“I do have one question for you,” Dev said seriously.

“What’s that?” Toot inquired.

“What are we going to call my twin?”

“How about Hemi?” Toot laughed.