Chapter 98: The Madness of Sanity
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Chapter 98: The Madness of Sanity
Delta watched with some hints of worry as Jack reformed. The price had been costly but she had a lot of Mana left over from absorbing the various rooms and monsters. The idea of waiting for the five days had crossed her mind but in the end? There were more pros than cons to that idea that went along nicely with Delta’s own guilty feeling that she led Jack to his demise.
The Kobold shuddered once as his body settled on the stone floor of the lab. He blinked a few times as he licked his scaly snout as if tasting the foul air for the first time.
“The afterlife is filled with smut,” he croaked. Delta sighed with a smile. Good ole Jack was back. Doctor peered him over.
“He’s breathing and isn’t leaking anything. I assume he is in good health,” he announced. Delta turned her presence to him with a long look.
“I never said I was a medical doctor,” the gargoyle said promptly. There was zero hint of shame at this.
Delta watched as Jack wobbled to his feet and stared at his claws.
“I... where was I? I... did anyone see a chap in a bathrobe?” Jack asked the group but turned away before anyone answered.
“I need to find housewife porn and offer it to the great beyond,” he said in a hushed tone of someone who had seen... something.
“Jack? Are you alright?” Delta called and the Kobold turned to look somewhat skyward towards the garden of Delta’s Dungeon.
“Aye. Just met someone I can’t remember rightly. They liked books of that nature and if I die... I wanna make sure I earn brownie points. Grease the system, right!” Jack turned, that mad glint in full force.
“You saw someone?” Dozer asked rudely. Jack raised one claw then dropped it.
“I don’t remember but I have the oddest urge to eat hamburgers,” he announced and looked at the ruined crater where the cauldron of slime used to be.
There was a large dark smear now. It reeked of troll soup.
“That’s gonna be one to remember,” he mused. Vanguard kicked a soot pile and half dissolved weapons shifted about. Vanguard looked annoyed.
“I’ll get you a nice sword,” Delta offered shyly. Vanguard paused then nodded silently in thanks.
“So, not to be rude or ungrateful or myself but why bring me back? Cost ya a pretty penny right?” Jack stared roughly at Doc where Delta was watching from. Delta cleared her throat.
“Your knowledge, oh mad Kobold, is needed. You know this place better than anyone,” she said with the grace of a Dungeon core, or so Delta imagined.
“You felt bad about me blowing myself up,” Jack stated, picking his teeth with a bone shard he found. There was zero doubt.
Delta puffed her cheeks out.
“I can feel both cunning and sappy,” she said defensively. The monsters around her all shuffled in silent avoidance. None of them agreed or disagreed.
Delta deflated.
“Fine, I felt bad. Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked Jack.
“I blew up the old slime maker. That put me in a damn good mood,” Jack grinned maliciously at the smear. Delta had to agree.
The idea of some pot or cauldron able to endlessly make an army of acidic slimes was... worrying. Jack crossed his arms and looked around.
“Well, I owe you twice over for my life now. Guess I can show you around, now that we aren’t drowning in slimes,” he agreed. Delta watched as the Kobold looked around as if to get his own bearing.
“Right, the few times I was held prisoner here, the place was run like a business model with extreme consequences on fucking up. Tons of arrogant apprentices deciding they could do anything and if they screwed each other over then that just meant more subjects to experiment on,” Jack frowned. He pointed to the many side rooms.
“The rooms closest to the exit belonged to the lowest dregs. Barely smarter than a rock or ethical enough not to do shitty things to earn favour,” he moved the clawed finger up the side of the room.
“The closer you are to the end room, the more of a shitnoser you were and more dark things you had done. Human experimentation, mutation, weird things... see how they’re bigger and have better toys?” Jack grunted.
Delta frowned as he finally pointed to a set of stairs that lead down into a lone basement door. It was set in the farthest wall.
“That was the head honcho. The smartest, cruelest, most dangerous egghead here,” Jack’s voice had dropped to a tiny echo.
“Most times I was here, there were a lot of new leaders. Scientists that managed to kill or dethrone the previous one by making some new way to kill people. But I heard rumors... there was a guy in charge. A real scary looking fella. He ran things for the longest time before the great collapse. He made that slime cauldron and a lot of the really freaky shit a long time ago,” Jack hopped down and the goyles followed him to the basement door.
“That guy locked the head office and since then noone could get inside. A real asshole move I kinda respect. The guy office-blocked any head scientist to come,” Jack knocked on the solid steel door.
“What was his name?” Doctor inquired with deep interest. Jack shrugged.
“Never heard it. Kinda busy being tortured,” Jack grinned darkly at the goyle. Delta shot him a look.
“That’s not funny,” she chided. Jack rolled his eyes.
“Maybe you can open the door once you do the Dungeon thing here,” he suggested. Delta closed her eyes, feeling her Mana. It brushed up against the entrance to the lab but even with the cauldron slimes gone... there was something projecting enough energy to act as a barrier.
Delta had a bad feeling on where the source might be.
“We need to get inside that door,” she declared grimly. Jeb waddled over.
“Move aside, please!” he rumbled. The polite troll reared back one fist and her gargoyles scrambled.
There was a loud crash and the door became alight with glowing symbols along the frame, dark lightning crackling furiously as the troll’s fist was stopped inches away from the surface. Jeb pulled his fist back to show blackened skin and bone.
He stared.
“Door not like punching,” he declared. Jack snorted.
“I love this guy,” he said with a shake of his head.
“The guy was a magical scientist. I’m pretty sure he did more than just lose the key. People have been doing all sorts of things to get inside over the years,” Jack offered as Vanguard tried to jam a metal rebar into the frame which the door simply melted.
“Which means we need magic to open it?” Delta guessed. Jack shrugged with an apologetic look.
“Magic is as diverse as the people of the world,” he offered. Dragon stopped breathing fire on the door - it was having no effect - and looked annoyed.
“And that means what?” he replied with a wave of one claw.
“It means Magic is bullshit,” A new voice interrupted.
Everyone spun. Delta gave a small noise of surprise. She had been so focused she hadn’t felt Quiss reach the third floor.
“As your teacher, even now, let me teach you something, my dear Gilly. It is not ourselves that matter in the field of science. No, it is the results and knowledge we leave behind that is our true salvation. I will go when the time is right. I will use my greatest tools to see, to learn how a god can be sealed in a container with no walls. I will learn this. Then I will finish the greatest container... the greatest prison known to this world. I will die so that my knowledge will complete the last pulsing cell in my heart,” Japes was standing now and he was aware of every pot in his home was shaking with his excitement.
“Your work... don’t tell me you finished phase 1?!” Gilona screamed in disbelief.
Japes merely tore his shirt open from the front to reveal a deep empty hole in his chest. A glass surface, a tough alloy that Japes had crafted, showed Gilona his actions.
The orb was struck silent.
In the window. Most of Japes’ heart was gone. Neatly cut away over time. He smiled, a small gentle smile. This seemed to scare Gilona more than anything else.
Odd.
“I believe that if I wasn’t willing to pay the price, I didn’t deserve to see the reward,” Japes hummed and looked out the window.
“But... who? You don’t trust! You don’t have that ability. So who did you give this power to?!” Gilona asked with fear. The orb’s crack was slowly healing. Good, Japes would hate to have made a shoddy prison.
“The only person who ever made my heart feel warm,” Japes admitted.
---
Delta felt she didn’t understand what she was seeing.
The large circular room was bigger than the side rooms of the main hall. The curved walls taken up by endless books. Many were cracked and dog eared. Every so often, a portrait with amazing style and detail of landscapes and fantastic sights of green waterfalls, blue forests glowing with crystals, fields of flowers that bloomed like stars broke the books up to give the room a more personal feel. The inner circle of the room had a large desk facing the door with mounds of tiny apparatuses that had gears and flippable switches.
Another desk held many rusty instruments stained a dark brown colour. Boxes of dry clay or other kinds of soil were on the floor and scoops from each seemed to be missing.
It was not as bad as Delta was expecting... except for the giant tree in the middle of the room that instead of bark on one side, had a broken sac filled with some dry sludge. A large tear on the sac showed where something had either been cut free or broke free.
The tree reached to the ceiling and Delta was reminded of Maestro where the branches turned into roots and dug into the soil. The large pool of dusty green slime that must have been in the sac stunk even now of alcoholic disinfectant and earthy plants.
“I live in a town where weird crap happens, so trust me when I say I know weird, and this... has left me speechless,” Quiss stated, breaking the odd frozen grip over the group.
“If someone emerges from the shadows with blond hair, wearing sunglasses underground at night, we shoot first and ask questions later. I won’t have stupid puzzles in my Dungeon!” Delta said, words just tumbling out her mouth. Her monsters all seemed to look confused at this but honestly, Delta was creeped out by the vegan version of a horror movie mad scientist monster test tube!
“I know that wood,” Quiss’ voice was flat and Doctor turned to see a heatwave shimmering off the man and the floor under his feet began to bubble. Quiss took a shaky breath and the heat vanished. His eyes began a glowing white ember as he glared at the wood.
He was closer to the test tube tree and Delta watched as the wood itself seemed to ripple as if trying to ooze away from Quiss.
“Don’t think it’s legitimate but who ever grew this knock-off... made sure it remembered me,” Quiss spat.
“What is it?” Dragon hummed.
“Some homegrown World Tree. It’s already dying and it was never meant to live long... but to get a sample would have been insane,” Quiss’ fury turned to actual honest curiosity.
“Suppose if there were two world trees... it kinda loses its shine as a title,” Dozer agreed. Quiss shook his head.
“It’s weird. The tree is strong, magical, real magical. Nothing about this tree here wouldn’t be useful in some spell or potion. Your average hedge mage could be a small force by himself if he used the tree right. The person who did this, however, used the tree, then just threw it away. That scares me more than growing a second tree,” Quiss admitted.
Delta then focused on something that was niggling her senses.
“That tree... is the source of the barrier stopping me from getting my Mana in,” she said quietly.
“So, we need to destroy it to get the labs under our thumb? Kind of a bummer if we can’t take the tree in. I bet that'd give you some nice things,” Dozer hummed. Vanguard looked like he agreed.
“Can’t be helped!” Dragon grinned and gave the tree a taste of his fire breath. The tree... was untouched and didn’t even seemed to notice. Dragon blinked.
“Now that tree really needs to die,” he growled and tried to slash his claws over the bark. He simply slid off the remaining wood and left no marks.
“Allow me,” Quiss said and he held out his hand. An orange flame gathered on one finger. This action alone got the tree’s attention and it began to wriggle, futile as it was a mutated thing, bound to the room.
“This... is going to feel amazing,” Quiss promised aloud. His eyes flashed and his whole body became wreathed in a cloak of fire.
He inhaled and Delta felt something that made her very heart grow afraid. His fire turned bright and bathed the room in silver. No shadow could escape.
He didn’t burn hotter or denser. But his silver fire seemed to seek life... to seek thoughts and emotions.
Quiss gritted his teeth and the fire reluctantly left her monsters alone and began to surround the shaking tree that was trying to grow half broken thorns. A screaming face formed in the bark as if Quiss’ fire gave it life as well.
“BURNER!”
Quiss’ fingers snapped once.
“Murderer,” Quiss replied far too calmly.
The silver fire devoured the tree like a beast and the howling and barrier vanished as the thing was reduced to ashes.
The silver fire chewed... it roared... it laughed.
Then it was gone and Quiss stood over the remains with a large smile.
“I love it when I’m right. That felt... good,” he grinned and Delta was too scared for her monsters to make a sound. The fire mage turned and he schooled his expression.
“I... uh... saved you the hard piece of wood and a bit of sac goop,” he offered awkwardly.
“Please don’t ever say those words to me in that order again,” Delta replied blankly. Doctor was all too quick to repeat her words.
Quiss blinked.
“Pardon? I put a lot of effort in holding back my white hot force so you could enjoy the outcome. I could have just covered it all and left you disappointed,” Quiss frowned. Delta covered her ears.
“I can’t hear this!” she yelled.
Quiss just threw his hands up.
“I’m going to go back to Seth before he sleeps with your pissed-off tree,” he declared. Delta uncovered her ears.
“What? Tree... Quiss?! What is Seth doing to Wyin?” she demanded. Quiss quickly hurried as to give her Mana the space to work.
“QUISS?! WHAT IS SETH DOING TO MY POOR MURDEROUS TREE?!”
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Chapter 98: The Madness of Sanity
Delta watched with some hints of worry as Jack reformed. The price had been costly but she had a lot of Mana left over from absorbing the various rooms and monsters. The idea of waiting for the five days had crossed her mind but in the end? There were more pros than cons to that idea that went along nicely with Delta’s own guilty feeling that she led Jack to his demise.
The Kobold shuddered once as his body settled on the stone floor of the lab. He blinked a few times as he licked his scaly snout as if tasting the foul air for the first time.
“The afterlife is filled with smut,” he croaked. Delta sighed with a smile. Good ole Jack was back. Doctor peered him over.
“He’s breathing and isn’t leaking anything. I assume he is in good health,” he announced. Delta turned her presence to him with a long look.
“I never said I was a medical doctor,” the gargoyle said promptly. There was zero hint of shame at this.
Delta watched as Jack wobbled to his feet and stared at his claws.
“I... where was I? I... did anyone see a chap in a bathrobe?” Jack asked the group but turned away before anyone answered.
“I need to find housewife porn and offer it to the great beyond,” he said in a hushed tone of someone who had seen... something.
“Jack? Are you alright?” Delta called and the Kobold turned to look somewhat skyward towards the garden of Delta’s Dungeon.
“Aye. Just met someone I can’t remember rightly. They liked books of that nature and if I die... I wanna make sure I earn brownie points. Grease the system, right!” Jack turned, that mad glint in full force.
“You saw someone?” Dozer asked rudely. Jack raised one claw then dropped it.
“I don’t remember but I have the oddest urge to eat hamburgers,” he announced and looked at the ruined crater where the cauldron of slime used to be.
There was a large dark smear now. It reeked of troll soup.
“That’s gonna be one to remember,” he mused. Vanguard kicked a soot pile and half dissolved weapons shifted about. Vanguard looked annoyed.
“I’ll get you a nice sword,” Delta offered shyly. Vanguard paused then nodded silently in thanks.
“So, not to be rude or ungrateful or myself but why bring me back? Cost ya a pretty penny right?” Jack stared roughly at Doc where Delta was watching from. Delta cleared her throat.
“Your knowledge, oh mad Kobold, is needed. You know this place better than anyone,” she said with the grace of a Dungeon core, or so Delta imagined.
“You felt bad about me blowing myself up,” Jack stated, picking his teeth with a bone shard he found. There was zero doubt.
Delta puffed her cheeks out.
“I can feel both cunning and sappy,” she said defensively. The monsters around her all shuffled in silent avoidance. None of them agreed or disagreed.
Delta deflated.
“Fine, I felt bad. Are you sure you’re alright?” she asked Jack.
“I blew up the old slime maker. That put me in a damn good mood,” Jack grinned maliciously at the smear. Delta had to agree.
The idea of some pot or cauldron able to endlessly make an army of acidic slimes was... worrying. Jack crossed his arms and looked around.
“Well, I owe you twice over for my life now. Guess I can show you around, now that we aren’t drowning in slimes,” he agreed. Delta watched as the Kobold looked around as if to get his own bearing.
“Right, the few times I was held prisoner here, the place was run like a business model with extreme consequences on fucking up. Tons of arrogant apprentices deciding they could do anything and if they screwed each other over then that just meant more subjects to experiment on,” Jack frowned. He pointed to the many side rooms.
“The rooms closest to the exit belonged to the lowest dregs. Barely smarter than a rock or ethical enough not to do shitty things to earn favour,” he moved the clawed finger up the side of the room.
“The closer you are to the end room, the more of a shitnoser you were and more dark things you had done. Human experimentation, mutation, weird things... see how they’re bigger and have better toys?” Jack grunted.
Delta frowned as he finally pointed to a set of stairs that lead down into a lone basement door. It was set in the farthest wall.
“That was the head honcho. The smartest, cruelest, most dangerous egghead here,” Jack’s voice had dropped to a tiny echo.
“Most times I was here, there were a lot of new leaders. Scientists that managed to kill or dethrone the previous one by making some new way to kill people. But I heard rumors... there was a guy in charge. A real scary looking fella. He ran things for the longest time before the great collapse. He made that slime cauldron and a lot of the really freaky shit a long time ago,” Jack hopped down and the goyles followed him to the basement door.
“That guy locked the head office and since then noone could get inside. A real asshole move I kinda respect. The guy office-blocked any head scientist to come,” Jack knocked on the solid steel door.
“What was his name?” Doctor inquired with deep interest. Jack shrugged.
“Never heard it. Kinda busy being tortured,” Jack grinned darkly at the goyle. Delta shot him a look.
“That’s not funny,” she chided. Jack rolled his eyes.
“Maybe you can open the door once you do the Dungeon thing here,” he suggested. Delta closed her eyes, feeling her Mana. It brushed up against the entrance to the lab but even with the cauldron slimes gone... there was something projecting enough energy to act as a barrier.
Delta had a bad feeling on where the source might be.
“We need to get inside that door,” she declared grimly. Jeb waddled over.
“Move aside, please!” he rumbled. The polite troll reared back one fist and her gargoyles scrambled.
There was a loud crash and the door became alight with glowing symbols along the frame, dark lightning crackling furiously as the troll’s fist was stopped inches away from the surface. Jeb pulled his fist back to show blackened skin and bone.
He stared.
“Door not like punching,” he declared. Jack snorted.
“I love this guy,” he said with a shake of his head.
“The guy was a magical scientist. I’m pretty sure he did more than just lose the key. People have been doing all sorts of things to get inside over the years,” Jack offered as Vanguard tried to jam a metal rebar into the frame which the door simply melted.
“Which means we need magic to open it?” Delta guessed. Jack shrugged with an apologetic look.
“Magic is as diverse as the people of the world,” he offered. Dragon stopped breathing fire on the door - it was having no effect - and looked annoyed.
“And that means what?” he replied with a wave of one claw.
“It means Magic is bullshit,” A new voice interrupted.
Everyone spun. Delta gave a small noise of surprise. She had been so focused she hadn’t felt Quiss reach the third floor.
“As your teacher, even now, let me teach you something, my dear Gilly. It is not ourselves that matter in the field of science. No, it is the results and knowledge we leave behind that is our true salvation. I will go when the time is right. I will use my greatest tools to see, to learn how a god can be sealed in a container with no walls. I will learn this. Then I will finish the greatest container... the greatest prison known to this world. I will die so that my knowledge will complete the last pulsing cell in my heart,” Japes was standing now and he was aware of every pot in his home was shaking with his excitement.
“Your work... don’t tell me you finished phase 1?!” Gilona screamed in disbelief.
Japes merely tore his shirt open from the front to reveal a deep empty hole in his chest. A glass surface, a tough alloy that Japes had crafted, showed Gilona his actions.
The orb was struck silent.
In the window. Most of Japes’ heart was gone. Neatly cut away over time. He smiled, a small gentle smile. This seemed to scare Gilona more than anything else.
Odd.
“I believe that if I wasn’t willing to pay the price, I didn’t deserve to see the reward,” Japes hummed and looked out the window.
“But... who? You don’t trust! You don’t have that ability. So who did you give this power to?!” Gilona asked with fear. The orb’s crack was slowly healing. Good, Japes would hate to have made a shoddy prison.
“The only person who ever made my heart feel warm,” Japes admitted.
---
Delta felt she didn’t understand what she was seeing.
The large circular room was bigger than the side rooms of the main hall. The curved walls taken up by endless books. Many were cracked and dog eared. Every so often, a portrait with amazing style and detail of landscapes and fantastic sights of green waterfalls, blue forests glowing with crystals, fields of flowers that bloomed like stars broke the books up to give the room a more personal feel. The inner circle of the room had a large desk facing the door with mounds of tiny apparatuses that had gears and flippable switches.
Another desk held many rusty instruments stained a dark brown colour. Boxes of dry clay or other kinds of soil were on the floor and scoops from each seemed to be missing.
It was not as bad as Delta was expecting... except for the giant tree in the middle of the room that instead of bark on one side, had a broken sac filled with some dry sludge. A large tear on the sac showed where something had either been cut free or broke free.
The tree reached to the ceiling and Delta was reminded of Maestro where the branches turned into roots and dug into the soil. The large pool of dusty green slime that must have been in the sac stunk even now of alcoholic disinfectant and earthy plants.
“I live in a town where weird crap happens, so trust me when I say I know weird, and this... has left me speechless,” Quiss stated, breaking the odd frozen grip over the group.
“If someone emerges from the shadows with blond hair, wearing sunglasses underground at night, we shoot first and ask questions later. I won’t have stupid puzzles in my Dungeon!” Delta said, words just tumbling out her mouth. Her monsters all seemed to look confused at this but honestly, Delta was creeped out by the vegan version of a horror movie mad scientist monster test tube!
“I know that wood,” Quiss’ voice was flat and Doctor turned to see a heatwave shimmering off the man and the floor under his feet began to bubble. Quiss took a shaky breath and the heat vanished. His eyes began a glowing white ember as he glared at the wood.
He was closer to the test tube tree and Delta watched as the wood itself seemed to ripple as if trying to ooze away from Quiss.
“Don’t think it’s legitimate but who ever grew this knock-off... made sure it remembered me,” Quiss spat.
“What is it?” Dragon hummed.
“Some homegrown World Tree. It’s already dying and it was never meant to live long... but to get a sample would have been insane,” Quiss’ fury turned to actual honest curiosity.
“Suppose if there were two world trees... it kinda loses its shine as a title,” Dozer agreed. Quiss shook his head.
“It’s weird. The tree is strong, magical, real magical. Nothing about this tree here wouldn’t be useful in some spell or potion. Your average hedge mage could be a small force by himself if he used the tree right. The person who did this, however, used the tree, then just threw it away. That scares me more than growing a second tree,” Quiss admitted.
Delta then focused on something that was niggling her senses.
“That tree... is the source of the barrier stopping me from getting my Mana in,” she said quietly.
“So, we need to destroy it to get the labs under our thumb? Kind of a bummer if we can’t take the tree in. I bet that'd give you some nice things,” Dozer hummed. Vanguard looked like he agreed.
“Can’t be helped!” Dragon grinned and gave the tree a taste of his fire breath. The tree... was untouched and didn’t even seemed to notice. Dragon blinked.
“Now that tree really needs to die,” he growled and tried to slash his claws over the bark. He simply slid off the remaining wood and left no marks.
“Allow me,” Quiss said and he held out his hand. An orange flame gathered on one finger. This action alone got the tree’s attention and it began to wriggle, futile as it was a mutated thing, bound to the room.
“This... is going to feel amazing,” Quiss promised aloud. His eyes flashed and his whole body became wreathed in a cloak of fire.
He inhaled and Delta felt something that made her very heart grow afraid. His fire turned bright and bathed the room in silver. No shadow could escape.
He didn’t burn hotter or denser. But his silver fire seemed to seek life... to seek thoughts and emotions.
Quiss gritted his teeth and the fire reluctantly left her monsters alone and began to surround the shaking tree that was trying to grow half broken thorns. A screaming face formed in the bark as if Quiss’ fire gave it life as well.
“BURNER!”
Quiss’ fingers snapped once.
“Murderer,” Quiss replied far too calmly.
The silver fire devoured the tree like a beast and the howling and barrier vanished as the thing was reduced to ashes.
The silver fire chewed... it roared... it laughed.
Then it was gone and Quiss stood over the remains with a large smile.
“I love it when I’m right. That felt... good,” he grinned and Delta was too scared for her monsters to make a sound. The fire mage turned and he schooled his expression.
“I... uh... saved you the hard piece of wood and a bit of sac goop,” he offered awkwardly.
“Please don’t ever say those words to me in that order again,” Delta replied blankly. Doctor was all too quick to repeat her words.
Quiss blinked.
“Pardon? I put a lot of effort in holding back my white hot force so you could enjoy the outcome. I could have just covered it all and left you disappointed,” Quiss frowned. Delta covered her ears.
“I can’t hear this!” she yelled.
Quiss just threw his hands up.
“I’m going to go back to Seth before he sleeps with your pissed-off tree,” he declared. Delta uncovered her ears.
“What? Tree... Quiss?! What is Seth doing to Wyin?” she demanded. Quiss quickly hurried as to give her Mana the space to work.
“QUISS?! WHAT IS SETH DOING TO MY POOR MURDEROUS TREE?!”
Chapter 98: The Madness of SanityDelta watched with some hints of worry as Jack reformed. The price had been costly but she had a lot of Mana left over from absorbing the various rooms and monsters. The idea of waiting for the five days had crossed her mind but in the end? There were more pros than cons to that idea that went along nicely with Delta's own guilty feeling that she led Jack to his demise.The Kobold shuddered once as his body settled on the stone floor of the lab. He blinked a few times as he licked his scaly snout as if tasting the foul air for the first time.The afterlife is filled with smut, he croaked. Delta sighed with a smile. Good ole Jack was back. Doctor peered him over.He's breathing and isn't leaking anything. I assume he is in good health, he announced. Delta turned her presence to him with a long look.I never said I was a medical doctor, the gargoyle said promptly. There was zero hint of shame at this.Delta watched as Jack wobbled to his feet and stared at his claws.I... where was I? I... did anyone see a chap in a bathrobe? Jack asked the group but turned away before anyone answered.I need to find housewife porn and offer it to the great beyond, he said in a hushed tone of someone who had seen... something.Jack? Are you alright? Delta called and the Kobold turned to look somewhat skyward towards the garden of Delta's Dungeon.Aye. Just met someone I can't remember rightly. They liked books of that nature and if I die... I wanna make sure I earn brownie points. Grease the system, right! Jack turned, that mad glint in full force.You saw someone? Dozer asked rudely. Jack raised one claw then dropped it.I don't remember but I have the oddest urge to eat hamburgers, he announced and looked at the ruined crater where the cauldron of slime used to be.There was a large dark smear now. It reeked of troll soup.That's gonna be one to remember, he mused. Vanguard kicked a soot pile and half dissolved weapons shifted about. Vanguard looked annoyed.I'll get you a nice sword, Delta offered shyly. Vanguard paused then nodded silently in thanks.So, not to be rude or ungrateful or myself but why bring me back? Cost ya a pretty penny right? Jack stared roughly at Doc where Delta was watching from. Delta cleared her throat.Your knowledge, oh mad Kobold, is needed. You know this place better than anyone, she said with the grace of a Dungeon core, or so Delta imagined.You felt bad about me blowing myself up, Jack stated, picking his teeth with a bone shard he found. There was zero doubt.Delta puffed her cheeks out.I can feel both cunning and sappy, she said defensively. The monsters around her all shuffled in silent avoidance. None of them agreed or disagreed.Delta deflated.Fine, I felt bad. Are you sure you're alright? she asked Jack.I blew up the old slime maker. That put me in a damn good mood, Jack grinned maliciously at the smear. Delta had to agree.The idea of some pot or cauldron able to endlessly make an army of acidic slimes was... worrying. Jack crossed his arms and looked around.Well, I owe you twice over for my life now. Guess I can show you around, now that we aren't drowning in slimes, he agreed. Delta watched as the Kobold looked around as if to get his own bearing.Right, the few times I was held prisoner here, the place was run like a business model with extreme consequences on fucking up. Tons of arrogant apprentices deciding they could do anything and if they screwed each other over then that just meant more subjects to experiment on, Jack frowned. He pointed to the many side rooms.The rooms closest to the exit belonged to the lowest dregs. Barely smarter than a rock or ethical enough not to do shitty things to earn favour, he moved the clawed finger up the side of the room.The closer you are to the end room, the more of a shitnoser you were and more dark things you had done. Human experimentation, mutation, weird things... see how they're bigger and have better toys? Jack grunted.Delta frowned as he finally pointed to a set of stairs that lead down into a lone basement door. It was set in the farthest wall.That was the head honcho. The smartest, cruelest, most dangerous egghead here, Jack's voice had dropped to a tiny echo.Most times I was here, there were a lot of new leaders. Scientists that managed to kill or dethrone the previous one by making some new way to kill people. But I heard rumors... there was a guy in charge. A real scary looking fella. He ran things for the longest time before the great collapse. He made that slime cauldron and a lot of the really freaky shit a long time ago, Jack hopped down and the goyles followed him to the basement door.That guy locked the head office and since then noone could get inside. A real asshole move I kinda respect. The guy office-blocked any head scientist to come, Jack knocked on the solid steel door.What was his name? Doctor inquired with deep interest. Jack shrugged.Never heard it. Kinda busy being tortured, Jack grinned darkly at the goyle. Delta shot him a look.That's not funny, she chided. Jack rolled his eyes.Maybe you can open the door once you do the Dungeon thing here, he suggested. Delta closed her eyes, feeling her Mana. It brushed up against the entrance to the lab but even with the cauldron slimes gone... there was something projecting enough energy to act as a barrier.Delta had a bad feeling on where the source might be.We need to get inside that door, she declared grimly. Jeb waddled over.Move aside, please! he rumbled. The polite troll reared back one fist and her gargoyles scrambled.There was a loud crash and the door became alight with glowing symbols along the frame, dark lightning crackling furiously as the troll's fist was stopped inches away from the surface. Jeb pulled his fist back to show blackened skin and bone.He stared.Door not like punching, he declared. Jack snorted.I love this guy, he said with a shake of his head.The guy was a magical scientist. I'm pretty sure he did more than just lose the key. People have been doing all sorts of things to get inside over the years, Jack offered as Vanguard tried to jam a metal rebar into the frame which the door simply melted.Which means we need magic to open it? Delta guessed. Jack shrugged with an apologetic look.Magic is as diverse as the people of the world, he offered. Dragon stopped breathing fire on the door - it was having no effect - and looked annoyed.And that means what? he replied with a wave of one claw.It means Magic is bullshit, A new voice interrupted.Everyone spun. Delta gave a small noise of surprise. She had been so focused she hadn't felt Quiss reach the third floor.As your teacher, even now, let me teach you something, my dear Gilly. It is not ourselves that matter in the field of science. No, it is the results and knowledge we leave behind that is our true salvation. I will go when the time is right. I will use my greatest tools to see, to learn how a god can be sealed in a container with no walls. I will learn this. Then I will finish the greatest container... the greatest prison known to this world. I will die so that my knowledge will complete the last pulsing cell in my heart, Japes was standing now and he was aware of every pot in his home was shaking with his excitement.Your work... don't tell me you finished phase 1?! Gilona screamed in disbelief.Japes merely tore his shirt open from the front to reveal a deep empty hole in his chest. A glass surface, a tough alloy that Japes had crafted, showed Gilona his actions.The orb was struck silent.In the window. Most of Japes' heart was gone. Neatly cut away over time. He smiled, a small gentle smile. This seemed to scare Gilona more than anything else.Odd.I believe that if I wasn't willing to pay the price, I didn't deserve to see the reward, Japes hummed and looked out the window.But... who? You don't trust! You don't have that ability. So who did you give this power to?! Gilona asked with fear. The orb's crack was slowly healing. Good, Japes would hate to have made a shoddy prison.The only person who ever made my heart feel warm, Japes admitted.---Delta felt she didn't understand what she was seeing.The large circular room was bigger than the side rooms of the main hall. The curved walls taken up by endless books. Many were cracked and dog eared. Every so often, a portrait with amazing style and detail of landscapes and fantastic sights of green waterfalls, blue forests glowing with crystals, fields of flowers that bloomed like stars broke the books up to give the room a more personal feel. The inner circle of the room had a large desk facing the door with mounds of tiny apparatuses that had gears and flippable switches.Another desk held many rusty instruments stained a dark brown colour. Boxes of dry clay or other kinds of soil were on the floor and scoops from each seemed to be missing.It was not as bad as Delta was expecting... except for the giant tree in the middle of the room that instead of bark on one side, had a broken sac filled with some dry sludge. A large tear on the sac showed where something had either been cut free or broke free.The tree reached to the ceiling and Delta was reminded of Maestro where the branches turned into roots and dug into the soil. The large pool of dusty green slime that must have been in the sac stunk even now of alcoholic disinfectant and earthy plants.I live in a town where weird crap happens, so trust me when I say I know weird, and this... has left me speechless, Quiss stated, breaking the odd frozen grip over the group.If someone emerges from the shadows with blond hair, wearing sunglasses underground at night, we shoot first and ask questions later. I won't have stupid puzzles in my Dungeon! Delta said, words just tumbling out her mouth. Her monsters all seemed to look confused at this but honestly, Delta was creeped out by the vegan version of a horror movie mad scientist monster test tube!I know that wood, Quiss' voice was flat and Doctor turned to see a heatwave shimmering off the man and the floor under his feet began to bubble. Quiss took a shaky breath and the heat vanished. His eyes began a glowing white ember as he glared at the wood.He was closer to the test tube tree and Delta watched as the wood itself seemed to ripple as if trying to ooze away from Quiss.Don't think it's legitimate but who ever grew this knock-off... made sure it remembered me, Quiss spat.What is it? Dragon hummed.Some homegrown World Tree. It's already dying and it was never meant to live long... but to get a sample would have been insane, Quiss' fury turned to actual honest curiosity.Suppose if there were two world trees... it kinda loses its shine as a title, Dozer agreed. Quiss shook his head.It's weird. The tree is strong, magical, real magical. Nothing about this tree here wouldn't be useful in some spell or potion. Your average hedge mage could be a small force by himself if he used the tree right. The person who did this, however, used the tree, then just threw it away. That scares me more than growing a second tree, Quiss admitted.Delta then focused on something that was niggling her senses.That tree... is the source of the barrier stopping me from getting my Mana in, she said quietly.So, we need to destroy it to get the labs under our thumb? Kind of a bummer if we can't take the tree in. I bet that'd give you some nice things, Dozer hummed. Vanguard looked like he agreed.Can't be helped! Dragon grinned and gave the tree a taste of his fire breath. The tree... was untouched and didn't even seemed to notice. Dragon blinked.Now that tree really needs to die, he growled and tried to slash his claws over the bark. He simply slid off the remaining wood and left no marks.Allow me, Quiss said and he held out his hand. An orange flame gathered on one finger. This action alone got the tree's attention and it began to wriggle, futile as it was a mutated thing, bound to the room.This... is going to feel amazing, Quiss promised aloud. His eyes flashed and his whole body became wreathed in a cloak of fire.He inhaled and Delta felt something that made her very heart grow afraid. His fire turned bright and bathed the room in silver. No shadow could escape.He didn't burn hotter or denser. But his silver fire seemed to seek life... to seek thoughts and emotions.Quiss gritted his teeth and the fire reluctantly left her monsters alone and began to surround the shaking tree that was trying to grow half broken thorns. A screaming face formed in the bark as if Quiss' fire gave it life as well.BURNER!Quiss' fingers snapped once.Murderer, Quiss replied far too calmly.The silver fire devoured the tree like a beast and the howling and barrier vanished as the thing was reduced to ashes.The silver fire chewed... it roared... it laughed.Then it was gone and Quiss stood over the remains with a large smile.I love it when I'm right. That felt... good, he grinned and Delta was too scared for her monsters to make a sound. The fire mage turned and he schooled his expression.I... uh... saved you the hard piece of wood and a bit of sac goop, he offered awkwardly.Please don't ever say those words to me in that order again, Delta replied blankly. Doctor was all too quick to repeat her words.Quiss blinked.Pardon? I put a lot of effort in holding back my white hot force so you could enjoy the outcome. I could have just covered it all and left you disappointed, Quiss frowned. Delta covered her ears.I can't hear this! she yelled.Quiss just threw his hands up.I'm going to go back to Seth before he sleeps with your pissed-off tree, he declared. Delta uncovered her ears.What? Tree... Quiss?! What is Seth doing to Wyin? she demanded. Quiss quickly hurried as to give her Mana the space to work.QUISS?! WHAT IS SETH DOING TO MY POOR MURDEROUS TREE?!
