The cores, it turned out, were stored in a maintenance room near Elody's old office. Alex, determined to do something this trip, had decided to accompany me to grab them, despite my claims that it was likely to be nothing special. Inside the room, all we found were a dozen cores sitting in sockets similar to what Traveler utilized near the gate.

"Hey, are any of you guys awake? Can you hear me?" I asked, not expecting an answer. Elody had warned me after all. There wasn't so much as a pulsation to alert me to any of them hearing my voice.

"Dad, these don't seem very alive. I don't like how they look at all," Alex said, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah, neither do I. Come on, let's get them out of these, and we can try to awaken them once we are back home," I said. Had these cores always been this way, or was this something that had been done to them? Traveler had said some never truly awoke, but this still seemed odd. How had they gotten a dozen of them in this state?

"Hey, is this thing working again? Can you all hear me?" Timon's voice suddenly came out of a speaker.

"Yes, we can hear you," Elody's voice responded.

"Something is going on outside, and I don't like it, so you better hurry yourselves up and get out here," he continued. I shook my head, wondering what was happening now. Couldn't anything ever go according to plan?

"I've got them all over here," Alex said, interrupting my ruminations as I also grabbed my last one.

"Good, come on, let's go see what Timon stepped in," I said as we made our way back to the others. Pryte and Yorela were already back by the time we rejoined them. Pryte was standing noticeably away from her.

"Are we ready to go then?" I asked, looking at Elody.

"As ready as we can be, from here, at least. The real work is likely to be on the highway trip home," She replied. At least this time we could take the elevator in groups. The idea of smashing even more of us together in there was not a pleasant one, and I was glad to have avoided it.

I stepped off the elevator just as Mel appeared from a door that I was sure hadn't always been behind his countertop. "I take it that was your secret cache?" my eyes narrowing as I tried to look past him.

"It is, now I'd appreciate it if ya minded yer own damn business, 'sides we gotta go see what the idiot got himself into," Mel said as the wall behind suddenly slammed shut.

Moments later, we had the answer to what Timon was worried about. Outside the transport bay were more sharkipedes than I could count. While none of them quite reached the size of the one that had nearly killed us in the desert, a couple came close. Though it wasn't the size that worried me now, it was the pure numbers.

"Uh, Dave, I think this means we didn't fully take down that dungeon," Elicec whispered behind me. I had already come to the same conclusion.

"YOU HURT US," an ear-deafening roar of a voice shouted from all of the creatures at once. That confirmed that theory.

"Close the bay door now!" Elody yelled. I wasn't sure exactly what Quarilyn did, but she drew a symbol on what I had thought was a whiteboard near where we had entered. Instantly, the door that had vanished when we first arrived reappeared, sealing us inside.

"How long will that hold?" I asked, not expecting it to be very long. Dammit, we needed these vehicles. We couldn't have the fight inside here.

"They won't be getting through the door anytime soon, though, without dungeon cores operating the mechanisms, they will eventually," Yorela answered.

"Is eventually longer than a few days?" I asked, wanting a more exact idea of how much trouble we were in.

"Yes. We are quite safe here for the time being, at least from the core beasts. We are not safe from every other problem," Elody answered.

"Then the next question is, how do we stop them without destroying anything in here?" I already knew the answer to my question was to go out there. I just didn't want to say it yet, in case there were better ideas.

"We're thinking about this all wrong. We don't want to stop 'em," Mel announced from near the ceiling. His color had taken on a vibrant shade of green I had never seen on him before, and his voice sounded less angry now, almost determined.

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"Hmm, are you considering giving them the Archives?" Pryte asked as he tilted his head upward.

"Yep. Right now, once the Triox get here, they're gonna know someone stole everything. What if we just let the dungeon core take this place?" Mel replied, a smile crossing his face.

"I suppose that means we're bait, since it clearly seems to be able to sense us," I said, motioning to the brothers. "I'm guessing what Timon and Mel are planning to drive these things won't work if you leave one behind, will it, so can anyone else drive one?"

"I can. I won't claim to like the idea of destroying this place. It deserves better, but it will secure the information better than anything else we can do at the moment," Elody said, her tone somber.

I sighed. "Is there a back door to this place. We are going to need to lure them out away from the front and then let them back in while the fleet escapes here."

"Yeah, I'll take you to it. Timon, once the creatures have been gone for around thirty minutes, I recommend leaving as quickly as you can. We will do everything we can to keep them here, but do not risk them changing their minds on targets," Elody answered, three books appeared in front of her head as she spoke. They began slowly circling on level with her upper pair of eyes.

"Dave, put your shields around each of us, and try to keep them up the whole time. Elody, we are going to chase after you as fast as we can," Elicec said as I headed for the front of the bay.

I didn't like the plan at all. I didn't like destroying this place. It had been my first feeling of comfort after Earth had been invaded. But Mel was right. This would cover our tracks better than anything else I could imagine.

"Dad, be careful!" John yelled from behind me. I heard his sister's voice affirming the demand. I'd do my best, but I wasn't exactly great at being careful in high-stress situations.

"It's not just me, right? Destroying this place feels wrong," Cecile said, having caught up to me on the other side of the bay.

"No, it's not. But Mel is right, this will buy us time to figure out how we want to use the Archive back on Earth. I hate the idea of doing this, but we have to remember we are going to make sure it lives on in spirit and intention," I replied.

"Thank you, Dave. I really mean that. I gave up years in an attempt to keep this place running, and this feels wrong, even if I know we need to do it," Elody added. Her words did not match her tone. The sadness was still clearly there. I knew because I shared it.

"Everyone ready?" I asked as I placed shields around each of us. The brothers just nodded while Elody walked to the bay door.

"The smaller door I'm opening will close in ten seconds, so get outside fast. Work to clear us a path and then follow me," Elody said, lifting her fingers to the door and again tracing some symbols on them.

The door vanished, and in its place stood so many of the creatures that I could barely see space to fit through. I reversed the gravity under them as I charged forward, attempting to force my way out of the door. Dozens of them rocketed into the air. They weren't as strong as I expected them to be. I supposed that made sense. We had grown by leaps and bounds in the Arena. They had just been left here with nothing beyond the desert to feed their growth. Their numbers may have been overwhelming, but their power wasn't.

"Come on, this way!" Elody yelled. She and the brothers were both in the space I had made, and she was now sweeping out with an oversized version of her sword as she read from her books. Monsters parted as she ran. We stayed in her wake, keeping her safe from any attacks coming in behind.

"FLESH YOU CANNOT ESCAPE!" Dozens of the creatures roared as they collectively turned in a giant swarm to pursue us.

Several fireballs and a hailstorm later, we had broken free of the swarm and started to gain space in front of it. The ground behind us trembled under their momentum. I knew we could outrun them now if we tried, but that wasn't the goal; we had to stay slow enough that they followed.

>Dave: Is it normal for a dungeon core to grow to hate someone as much as this thing seems to hate me?

>Gamma: I do not know.

>Corey: What is going on?

>Dave: The desert dungeon core we killed looks like we didn't get it all, and now it's chasing us around the Archives. Don't worry, we aren't in any real danger, but it seems to hate me beyond anything I'd consider normal.

>Corey: At first, I hated you beyond belief from what had happened. So, without another option, yes, it does seem possible.

>Dave: Damn, too bad we won't be able to try and save it. Add that to a list of future goals, I feel guilty leaving it here again.

>Corey: Noted. Please stay safe.

"Over here," Elody yelled, ending my soul chat. She was standing near an open door.

Dungeon growth requires energy, the more energy fed to a core, the quicker it can grow. It radically slows down when separated from its dungeon, and while it can continue to mutate and infect other mana beasts, it will not be able to draw energy from outside the universe it occupies. These cores often become scavengers unless they can find a new means to construct their dungeon. Usually, this happens if they come across another mana orb or manage to take the body of someone strong enough to do it for them. The new dungeons they construct are almost always far more dangerous than the originals.

A Study of Dungeon Cores by Brij Flun Kerg Pil-Flin V

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