Malachi Armstrong

Malachi surveyed the Sixty and the cavern with a satisfied smile. Approximately three-fourths of the cavern was currently under their control. It was a tenuous grip, but they held it. Every foot of territory had been hard-won with their sweat and sometimes their blood. Miraculously, death had been pushed off to another day. Several times they had barely warded it off. For the sake of safety, Malachi sent a few people back already. Leon had been the first, and Vincent almost the second because of his recklessness. Instead, Anastasia was the second to return due to nerves and Jorgenson due to extreme exhaustion. The stormy spells were effective but apparently took a heavy price in Mana.

Still, he was in a good mood and saw that reflected in the faces of everyone else. They were exhausted and proud. There wasn’t anyone who didn’t seem to glow from their efforts. Their leader felt no shame in deciding it was time to turn it around. No one can say we didn’t give it our best, grinned Malachi in thought. Time to go before we end up pushing too far.

His smile wavered when he looked at the ascending tunnel. A rush of various emotions sprouted up whenever Malachi’s eyes took it in. It wasn’t a solid tunnel like the descending ones. It was honeycombed with side tunnels. Light from the phosphorous flora was brighter, but haphazard. Creating crooked pools of light bordered by deep areas of darkness. It was frightening to think about what lurked inside the tunnels. He felt a thrill at the idea of seeing how the environment of the first layer would alter. It was exhausting to consider that there was more to explore. Chilling to think what would become of the Ratsins they saw darting into it. All of this rushed through his head all at once.

His sense of duty held against the emotional turmoil. There was only the right thing to do. As much as Malachi desired to push further, he knew it was time to call it. He signaled for the party leaders to huddle together. Phelain and Warner separated from their people. It had surprised him at the first huddle. The third-party picking Phelain to represent them wasn’t something he predicted. It concerned him that they did. The sword acolyte didn’t feel like the aspiring warrior was taking The Pit seriously enough yet. If leadership is really in his future… I need to take more of an interest in him, considered Malachi. I have to make sure he knows the weight of the duty he’s taking on.

Once all three stood together he began simply, “Welp, we’re done. There isn’t any reason to push further today.” Malachi paused, waiting for them to respond.

Phelain’s eyes flickered to the others, examining them. He nodded with understanding

The brawler’s eyes shifted to the ascending tunnel. There was a yearning that the sword acolyte felt a kinship with. When Warner turned back, a shade of stubbornness had appeared in the set of the jaw. “Perhaps,” said the shoulders. “I could push a little further with my group.”

Stone-faced, Malachi steely replied, “No one is being left behind. We’re all too exhausted to avoid mistakes. The day is done.” Before the brewing argument could take root, the chosen leader added, “Also, there are the cores to be divided. We’ll need to decide how to do it.” Warner frowned thoughtfully and finally rolled his shoulders in a stiff shrug.

“Alright, good point,” grumbled Warner. “Ain’t gonna say I like this quitting. We had a nice roll going.”

“I share the sentiment,” replied Malachi with a smirk. “If I thought it was safe, I would push on. My gut tells me otherwise. I don’t want us to get cocky, and then tripped up.”

Breaking into their conversation Phelain said, “I gotta say calling it just sounds wonderful. Maybe you guys are used to long hard physical days, but even with this body, I am all wrung out. I’m not the only one either. I know with my party our turn for resting was becoming necessary rather than just a nice break.”

A look of surprise flashed across Warner’s face, “Huh, I hadn’t really thought about that. Makes sorta sense. Ain’t just about being in shape, but knowing how to move, right? Never considered that before. Alright, alright, let’s head back. I don’t want to tucker out my team either.”

“Glad we’re all on the same page,” smiled Malachi and shot Phelain a grateful look. The aspiring warrior blushed over the flash of a pleased grin. “Here’s what I would like to do; all three groups will back out in sync. My party will hold the center while you two take the sides. Warner, you’ll be picking up Soren as you go. The Sisters will be yours to collect, Phelain. In theory, there aren’t any monsters between us and the Hall. Despite that, we can’t allow ourselves to dismiss the chance. Caution preserves lives.”

“You don’t have to warn me twice,” said Phelain grimly. “The shadows in a cave can hide just about anything. I’ll never forget that thin rat thing ghosting out of the darkness. Terrifying sight.” The aspiring warrior shuddered.

“I wish I had a chance to fight one of those skinny boys,” remarked Warner punching at the air. “Seemed like a good fight from what I saw of ‘em. My group didn’t run into any of them this run.”

“I’d be careful what you ask for, Warner,” cautioned Malachi. “They are the most unsettling of the bunch. There is something… extra horrid about them.” Shaking his head, he got back on track. “Right, lady luck willing, the whole way is cleared and we’ll get out easily. Let’s move out and keep an eye out for cores. Pretty sure we tossed all of them down our tunnel, but let’s be sure. That’s our food and more. Let’s move out!”

Both men nodded back and all three headed to their groups. What followed was a small crawl toward where they came from. Eyes flickered for monster movements and any missed cores. Once Soren and the Sisters were picked up, the young Ratsins began to skitter into the open area. By the time the Sixty were descending their tunnel the sounds of Ratsin fights were echoing again in the cavernous area. An aura of bitterness fell upon everyone's shoulders. The quick return to normalcy was depressing. However, the sight of the giant pile of cores waiting for them, where the tunnel leveled out, was a complete mood changer.

Malachi grinned at the sight. The build-up of worry evaporated with one look at the field of starry stones. Colored ones were mixed throughout a majority of gray ones from the young Ratsins. Red, green, and blue glowed in the gloom. That is a beautiful haul, thought the chosen leader. Double at least, if not triple, in gray cores. I wonder if the colored cores count for a different amount? Video game logic would suggest that since they came from stronger monsters… but that is a dangerous thing to rely on.

Using Clarissa’s method, the Sixty moved the cores out of the tunnel into the hall. Once the cores began thumping onto the polished floor, a crowd formed. Leon, Anastasia, and Jorgenson quickly joined in moving the cores through. The three acted awkward at first for being the first to return. Shared smiles quickly assured those three that no one held it against them. Malachi was glad to see it. That had been the hardest part about sending them back. All three had to be convinced that it wouldn’t be seen in a bad light. Even Anastasia who was having half a panic attack after a starving Ratsin almost took her head.

The extra hands saw the cores were piled quickly in an enclosed area created by some pushed together couches. Sleepily everyone milled about talking. Those that hadn’t gone were pestering those who had with questions. Sighing in relief, Malachi thought, Thank the lady, I brought everyone back. I did it this time. I might not be able to every time, but I did it once. So I can keep doing it.

He called out to get everyone’s attention,” Alright, we did it!” There were cheers and smiles all around. At a lull, Malachi spoke up again. “I have no doubt we gathered enough to keep us fed for a bit. You might see that we have quite the haul, so we’ll need to divide it up. Obviously, that’s going to take some time. Please go get some rest while the council takes care of that.” Malachi decided it was time to take the step to make the council more official. If it was accepted here, the authority became real.

The only complaint came from Clarissa who complained about being given extra work. The rest of the raid members gave their thanks to Malachi and those staying behind. The council members looked at him. “Grab a table and rest a bit. I’m going to check something out with the cores. After that, we’ll get started.” The redhead grumbled more as she picked a round table to sit at. She threw her feet out on a dragged-over chair and to all appearances fell asleep. It was the quietest Malachi had ever seen the archer.

Julia and Anastasia were finalizing the count when he came over. “What’s the final count?” asked the bearded leader.

“Well, gray wise we got four hundred sixty-three,” read Julia. She smiled at Anastasia with a nod of dismissal. The blonde woman smiled back and headed off towards the rooms. “Blue cores are at fifty-seven, green ones at thirty-three, and the reds only at seventeen. Not the easiest numbers for dividing smoothly.”

“No, but I didn’t expect to be that lucky,” agreed Malachi drily. “Have you noticed anything about the color cores? Beyond the color I mean.”

“Hard to say,” thought Julia. “Counting the cores gave plenty of time to study them. Each is unique in patterns if you compare them. Sure, they have the same spiral galaxy pattern, but the star stuff that makes up that pattern is like a fingerprint. The colored ones are even more varied. The intensity and spread of the color is different in each. Not sure what that means.”

“Hmm, good to know,” said Malachi. He took her hand for a moment and squeezed it. Both of them blushing, he added, “I figured you would see it if there was anything to note. Anyways... if you want to join the others, I’ll be over in a moment. The colored cores needed to be tested to see their value. Otherwise...”

“Otherwise how can we properly plan,” injected Julia to finish the thought. “Makes perfect sense.” The shieldmaiden touched his shoulder as she passed on her way to the table. Malachi ruefully turned his head to watch her leave. The little brunette swatted Clarissa awake and stole the chair. He chuckled at the antics.

His attention turned to the pile of cores that reminded him of a ball pit. It would be a terrible idea to jump into that, thought Malachi. The hard crystal gleam of the cores promised pain to anyone who tried. There will be no swimming in those… no matter how much you wanted.

Stacking spheres wasn’t easy, but they had tried their best. The colored cores were largely grouped together on one side of the couch container. He sorted through the options for his test. Picking out a dim red one, like a single drop of blood in water for low color choice. For the medium color, he picked a green one and then a bright blue one that was half-filled with color.

Holding them to his body with one arm, Malachi headed over to the closest screen. Whether because of distance or something else, maybe intent, when he got close enough the screen greeted the sword acolyte. A moment later it was on the main screen asking what he would like to do. Selecting to bank the cores, the sword acolyte slotted the cores in the tube. He smirked when a loading symbol appeared before his eyes.

A heartbeat or two and the screen blinked to show the cores that had been popped in. Next to each was a total worth. The red had come to a value of three cores, the green was five, and the blue came out to a surprising nine. The strength of color does seem to have an effect, thought Malachi. I wish I could afford to test more thoroughly whether the color itself makes a difference. Seems unlikely, but I don’t think we're anywhere close to being able to take anything for granted.

Before heading to the meeting, he took a moment to look up a couple of things in the item shop for pricing and ideas. Everyone looked weary when he took a seat at the table. Even Warner looked ready for a nap. The only one who looked ready for more was Harken, who had decided to join them it seemed. Let’s make this quick, noted Malachi to himself.

“Thanks, everyone, there are only a couple of things I want to talk about,” said Malachi.

“Ugh, couldn’t we all be busy beavers tomorrow?” asked Clarrisa acidly from her arm fort.

Sighing, the bearded leader replied, “Unless we want to try dealing with hungry people rioting, there are a couple of things to decide now.” The redhead grumbled something about busting heads, but didn’t add anything aloud. “Now, I’m sure Julia has already done the math on what we can baseline give to each of the Sixty.”

Blushing a little, Julia referred to her notebook, “Right, yes I did come up with a number. Everyone can take seven gray cores and one colored core. That would leave a remainder of forty-three gray cores and forty-four colored cores.”

“Does that take into account the three cores I took?” asked Malachi.

“Yes it does,” assured Julia.

Warner looked suspicious, and a little confused, “You took three colored cores?”

“Yes, for testing,” answered Malachi. “There was little point discussing how to sort out the cores if we weren’t sure of what being colored meant. We know from Clarissa that gray gets you one core value. I got a range of three to nine from the colored ones. So those are worth more.”

“This is obvious but, that’s a lot of potential value to sort,” pointed out Phelain. “Do we hold it as emergency rations or like a group fund?”

“Honest answer is that we split the surplus to those who went out there and got in the first place,” rumbled Warner. “Only fair thing to do. Everyone can get more supplies, but they get to see an incentive for going out themselves.”

“I’m not entirely against that idea,” said Malachi honestly. “I had a similar idea, but not for all of it.”

“What else would we spend it on?” questioned Rueben. “Be better for us to get the fighters better equipment, yeah?”

“Equipment is important, but I was thinking of a celebration,” grinned Malachi. At this turn of the conversation, Clarissa perked up. “We know now we can take on the tunnels, and the big area, with what we got. So, my thoughts are we turn to the mental health of the Sixty. We all awoke here for reasons beyond us. That isn’t something that leaves people in a good place. Time for a pick me up.”

Opening and closing his mouth several times Warner finally said, “I want to argue with you on this, but I can’t find a reason that I want to. Damn, a party sounds just fine.”

“Hell yeah it is!” cried the archer, now bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. “Let’s rock out with our socks off!”

“Is that a saying about sex,” asked Rueben curiously. “Or is it just a saying because it rhymes?”

Rolling her eyes, Clarissa replied, “Gods I don’t care, let’s party!”

Laughing, Malachi interrupted the cheer, “Not right now, tomorrow after we get some rest. First I want to settle the cores, then we’ll talk party details. To sum up my thoughts, we give each member of the raid an extra color core. The rest we use for the party and buying emergency restoration potions.”

“I second this motion so we can talk about the PARTY!” said the redhead in a rush.

“That’s square to me,” agreed Warner. “Though what about the extra colors you took Malachi?”

Malachi tried his best to keep his smile from faltering, but the silent accusation stung. Carefully he answered, “We’ll use my account to purchase the party supplies and potions. Thus leaving me with a similar pool to everyone else.” The man with giant shoulders nodded as if it was unimportant. A general acceptance followed after. The best thing about this thing between me and Warner is the flaws are banged out after he’s finished needling me, complained Malachi to himself.

“Yes, yes, blah, blah, party!” insisted Clarissa.

Clearing her throat, Julia turned to him and asked in a stately tone, “So a party. What supplies were you thinking of?”

In good humor, he explained, “I took a look at what the item shop had to offer. There’s a surprising amount you can buy in bulk for decent prices. Most food, sadly, is out of our costs for now. Drinks, however… A keg of alcoholic punch is only ten cores and enough cups will cost us four cores. Cookies will cost us another ten. Should be plenty of cores left to buy a few potions and the clock.”

“The… the clock?” asked Julia with great trepidation.

Breathing in dramatically, Clarissa pushed, “Dungeon Standard Time Clock?”

“Yup, I found a lovely grandfather clock that is also a cuckoo clock,” described Malachi with excitement. “It is self-winding, so perfect for the grandeur of being the clock of DST. We’ll unveil it at the party as another thing to celebrate and mark the day.”

“I can’t believe you're going with that name,” groaned Julia.

“I don’t understand why you don’t like it,” said Malachi, perplexed. “It’s clear and well named.”

“I don’t know… it’s embarrassing,” whispered Julia. The bearded leader could only look on in confusion.

“I love this moment,” declared Clarissa.

“Well, all in favor of the party plan?” asked Malachi trying to move past the DST issue. He was quite excited about the clock choice. There was a shining hope he held onto that the sight of the clock would clear the cloud holding gloomy over Julia.

“Was beer not an option?” asked Warner. “Are we really goin’ be celebrating with a punch and cookie party?”

“Beer kegs started at fifty cores,” said Malach sadly. “Maybe for the next one, big guy.”

“Sigh, I guess I can accept it,” responded Warner. “At least there’s some booze.”

“A party is a brilliant plan,” agreed Harken with a small smile. “The morale of the Sixty could use the mental break.”

“I’m in, though mostly cause this seems the last we got between us and bed,” voted Rueben. “Normally, I say we should talk over what happened out there. But, frankly, my Mana usage has taken it right out of me. All I want is a conversation with my pillow.” A gleam in the eye of the rest said they noticed this too. The plan was agreed on. Quickly, they decided to meet in the morning to gather everyone for dividing the cores and setting up the party.

Malach was as happy as the rest to hit his bed. Tomorrow should be fun, he thought as sleep took him.