“Focus on the darkness in your core. The corruption is trying to feed on your own power.” I sat across from Andy, examining his core carefully. The corruption manifested in each of my companions differently. While my own had been like a snake in my core, and I’d used my mana to kill it, it was different for each of us.

Andy sat in front of me, sending pulses from his core at the corruption, but no matter what he did, the pulses of mana would surge out of his core, into the corruption, then simply return to his core. The corruption was like a thin layer of muck over the top of pure water, different and distinct, but you couldn’t get to the core without going through the corruption mana.

Chavez and Carter sat on either side of Andy in our four-person circle. We’d figured out how Chavez would deal with his corruption. His core wasn’t so much a sphere like the rest of us. It seemed to have a primary point where the power came out of it, like a well with water coming in and out. The corruption mana sat like a rock on top of his mana well. Even as I watched, he formed his mana into a large battering ram, which slammed against the solid nature of the corruption.

Carter’s corruption was the most similar to my own, the mana seeming to flow like water. Mine had been more like a snake, and while they moved similarly, Carter was trying to use fire primarily to burn the corruption away.

That left Andy. He used a spear of fire to strike at the mana, which flowed around his spear without being harmed until his concentration on the spear broke, and the mana spear withdrew back into his core. But the corruption didn’t so much as flow, as it… billowed. It billowed out, like smoke around his core, and the smoke tried to smother the mana in his core, at times pressing down, then simply hovering around the core.

Of course, Bragg was still with us, but he had decided to hit the sack earlier. His condition was improving, and his mind seemed to be drifting off less often, but his core was still dark. It sat there, no corruption present, but no other mana either.

“Let’s stop,” I said. We’d been at it for hours since sunset. “I’ll take first watch.”

“You sure?” Andy asked. “We’re all much stronger. We can keep going.”

“Speak for yourself,” Chavez said. “I’m not some invincible, special forces badass. I need to sleep sometime.”

“If you spent less time resting and more time focusing on your core, you could probably destroy the corruption.”

“It’s not like that’s a big problem anyway,” Chavez said. “I can keep it from growing, and I’m able to chip away at it slowly. I’ll get there eventually.”

“We may not have eventually,” I said. “We have to make it to Corpus Christi, and any dungeons along the way are only going to be getting stronger.”

“You just want to stay up and talk to Corey more,” Carter said.

I looked up at her. I’d told them all about Corey, but I’d also told them not to talk about him where anyone else could overhear us.

“No one is around, big guy,” she said. “And I’m not complaining. In fact, I think it’s good we have some kind of source for information.”

“Yes, I’ll talk with him more,” I said. “I’m not sure how helpful he’ll be until one of us is ready to move to the next stage. And you all aren’t at…” I looked down, recalling the rank Corey said I was, “citrine rank.”

“Why is it that it goes from a rock to a fruit, then to a color?” Chavez asked.

“What?” I couldn’t have been more confused by the comment, and judging by the looks on everyone else’s faces, they were in the same boat.

“Why does it go from Quartz to Citrine, then to Jade?”

“Citrine,” Carter said, emphasizing the word. “Not citrus. And jade is a rock. The color is named after the rock. God, sometimes I worry about you.”

“Is Citrine a kind of rock?” Chavez asked.

“Yeah, not super rare, and not terribly valuable.” I tried not to laugh as I said it, but I couldn’t help the smile on my face.

“Must be more rare than quartz”, he said. “At least I’ve heard of that.”

“Anyway,” Carter drew out the word as she looked back at me. “Let us know if he comes up with anything new.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I threw a lazy salute from my seated position. I received an annoyed look from the border patrol agent.

“You technically outrank me,” she said.

“Technically, we’re in a different chain of command,” I answered.

“Even more technically,” Andy said, “we don’t work for the U.S. Government.”

“What do you mean?” Bragg had rejoined us now that everyone had finished their meditations.

“Andy and I are on the chain of command that doesn’t officially exist,” I said. I looked over at the man. “You really want to get into this now?”

“We’re in the field, and the chain of command is broken. I need all the help I can get, and at the moment, they are it.”

“Have we become invisible?” Carter whispered to Chavez.

“Oh, hey!” Chavez faked surprise. “How long have you been there, Carter.”

“Excuse me, you important army men!” Carter waved her arms to get Andy’s and my attention. “So, what is going on?”

“It’s classified,” I said.

“And I’m about to declassify it for you,” Andy said. He met my eyes for a long moment.

“It’s your call.” I shrugged.

“Forest and I don’t technically work for the US government because we work for a division of the government which doesn’t exist.”

“Yeah, you said you were Black Ops when you showed up at the border,” Chavez said. He looked between the two of us. I was glad to see he’d set aside his usual joking manner. “But that’s not what you’re talking about.” He nodded to himself. “Why don’t you just tell us what you want to tell us.”

“What I’m going to tell you is classified, and only known at some of the highest levels of intelligence.” Andy took a deep breath. “Our assignment was to apprehend a target with connections to a terrorist organization that claimed it could ‘end the world’.” He used air quotes as he said the last three words.

“You didn’t have a prisoner when you came back,” Chavez said. “I was there when your team came in.”

“The mission was to bring him in alive. Contingency was to take him out.”

“So you killed him,” Carter said.

“Yes.” Even as he said it, Andy’s eyes flicked over to me, though it was so brief I doubted the other two picked up on the meaning. Or would have cared.

“So you killed a terrorist,” Chavez said. “Probably routine for a team like yours.”

“But you said ‘end the world’,” Chavez said slowly. I could sense her putting together the pieces. “If you were here on a related mission, that means someone higher up thought the threat was real.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“Wait.” Chavez was still a couple of steps behind Carter. “So your team caused the end of the world? By killing this guy.”

“The power went out before he died,” I said. “But it was immediately after we grabbed him from his home.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” Chavez said simply. “I don’t believe for a second that any government or terrorist organization is able to cause this shit. I won’t accept any explanation short of fucking aliens.”

“Yeah, I’m with Chavez,” Carter said. “There’s no way some group of terrorists caused this level of destruction. Most of the population of an entire city and its suburbs turns into monsters. That’s beyond any kind of chemical warfare anyone has.”

“Well, that’s not the direction I thought this conversation would go,” I said to Andy.

“We still need to plan what we’ll do when we reach Corpus Christi,” he said.

“We make it to Corpus Christi, and you can pick up some SEALs from the base there.” It was a ludicrous statement, something Andy didn’t hesitate to point out.

“There is no way for them to corroborate that we’re with the military. We might be able to convince some national guard officer who hasn’t been down in the muck like we have, but there’s no way I’m going into a Navy base, claim to be Army with no papers, and not get overruled by whatever captain is there. Shit, I’d be more worried if they did let someone walk off with a team of SEALs. My best shot is to convince them to let me be part of a team that heads to D.C.”

I thought for a moment. “Do you think I could convince a team to go inland, toward San Antonio?”

“If they’re smart, they’ll send a team there,” Andy said. “But if they’re even smarter, they have a team assembled already. We won’t get there before they take off. It will take us — at this rate — five more days to get there. I would be surprised if they haven’t already put together some kind of team to meet up with the local Coast Guard to get control of the local situation. Five more days and they should already have a team on the road. And that’s assuming we don’t run into any kind of delay.”

I nodded, one of those rare moments where I didn’t have anything to say.

“Let’s bunk down,” Andy said when it was clear I didn’t have any more input.

Everyone set up their bedrolls and sleeping bags.

I looked at our surroundings without really examining them in detail. It was a McDonald’s right off the highway. Twilight muted the garish red and yellow of the interior. It must have been one of the last fast-food restaurants in the country with a playground. After the pandemic twenty years ago, most of the fast-food restaurants closed the already-vanishing play places and never reopened them. We’d torn up the booths and rotated them, so the backs were against the still-intact windows. We’d also created a crescent of chairs and tables around us. We had only one way in and out, but anyone trying to attack us would have a hard time pushing through our metal barricade.

“Hey Corey,” I said after I picked him up. “How was your day.”

“Exactly the same as yours, but I had no one to talk to, and I didn’t get any exercise.”

“Well, I’m talking to you now,” I said.

“Which means the number of interesting people I will speak to today remains at zero.”

“Would you rather speak with Andy or one of the other team?”

“And let them contaminate my core? No, thanks. No telling what filth is still in their bodies before they rank up.”

“Surely, nothing so insignificant as a monkey could contaminate the purity that is the great and magnificent Corey.”

“Finally, you are acknowledging my greatness… What do you want?”

“Can’t I just–“

“Oh, you can, but you wouldn’t.”

“I do want to pay you an honest compliment, however.” I paused dramatically. “You are an invaluable resource for information.”

“Is that it?”

“I did say it was an honest compliment.”

“Forrest, I’m not entirely sure how to say this,” Corey began.

“But I’m sure you’ll figure out how,” I cut in.

“But you are an asshole.”

“Pot. Kettle.”

“Is this another stupid human saying?”

“It comes from the saying ‘the pot calling the kettle black’.”

“How would an inanimate object with no eyes or mouth call another inanimate object anything, let alone a color?”

“Do you not realize the irony of that statement?”

“Oh shut up. Ask me your question, so I can get back to the more entertaining part of my life where I’m left alone.”

“Cool. What can you tell me about dungeons?”

“Well, I pretty much already told you everything I can.”

“But there’s more that you can’t tell me?”

“Correct.”

“Why can’t you tell me?”

“It would be against the rules.”

“What rules?” I frowned, uncertain of what that meant.

“I can’t tell you that either.”

“Because it would be against the rules?”

“Bingo.”

“So, what can you tell me about dungeons?”

“Each dungeon has a theme and a rank. The theme is always related to the location where the dungeon is, which is always a notable or important location. The rank is the ranking of you mortals.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

“What about everything else you said about destroying dungeons before they become too strong?”

“Oh, well. I can tell you that because it’s in my own self-interest. If you get rid of some of the long-term competition, then that makes my job in eternity even easier.”

“The rules can be broken if it’s in your self-interest?”

“Yes. Sort of. Someone said at the zoo that they’re not so much like rules as they are ‘guidelines’. Of course, that was right before he stuck his fingers through the chain-link fence, and they were bitten off.”

“So, is it in your self-interest to tell me anything else about dungeons?”

“Not particularly.”

“What happens to you if we die in a dungeon?”

“I would probably be absorbed into the other dungeon. There would be an epic battle of wills where I pit my will against the other dungeon, and we fight. The dungeon would have just absorbed your bodies and would likely have plenty of energy to spend, and I would lose. Doomed to have my personality matrix absorbed into another dungeon core.”

“And now I have a way to get rid of you. I just drop you off in another dungeon. Even if we don’t die, you won’t be coming back.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“Of course I would.”

“No, I’m far too valuable. You said so yourself.”

“Not if you can’t give me any more information.”

“I can’t give you any information _now_. It would be against the Rules.”

“Rules that you can disregard anytime you want.”

“My dear forrest monkey, there are rules. And there are Rules.” He said the last word with a special emphasis. I could even feel an underlying pressure as he said the word. Like when a breeze blows by and tugs at your clothing. However, instead of ruffling my clothes, it touched my core, and possibly something deeper. The presence was looking at me and deciding whether or not I was… I had no fucking clue what. Some kind of decision was made, and the pressure left.

“What was that?” I said. I tried to keep from shrieking, but all I managed was a high-pitched squeak.

“That is what happens when you know too much. You have to play by the rules, and the rules are enforced.”

“Ignorance really is bliss.”

“And you’ve only experienced a fraction of the truth.” Corey’s usually playful attitude was gone now, and I saw him for what he was. A dangerous individual — okay, dungeon — with a force of nature for a personality.

“When I get home,” I said, thinking carefully about my words, “I want to make you a proper dungeon again.”