Happy Father's Day, went to see my dad this morning. Wasn't too happy with this chapter, but posting it anyway. Going to spend two hours on editing Town Builder and then write 584, if I finish it still puts me behind a chapter on Soldier Seraphim for the week I think.

Chapter 583:

We had spent half a day in the moss room. The others gathered berries, and I did my best to exsanguinate the greater doppelgangers. The blood had several alchemical uses, including serving as an important ingredient in a tier-three potion called polymorph. I struggled with tier-two potions, but maybe one day I would have time to practice alchemy in greater depth.

On entering, the safe room strangely brought back fond memories, even though when Maveith and I arrived here, I thought it was a good possibility we would die in the dungeon. “This is where Maveith and I appeared in the dungeon,” I said aloud to the others.

“There are no sleeping accommodations,” Alhar noted. “This room was designed as an exit from the dungeon, not an arrival point.” The oily back archway was a taunting presence the last time I was here, but now it was a way out.

“Well, the dungeon dropped us in here,” I retorted. Alhar locked eyes with me for a bit before shrugging and looking away. I knew it was likely the dungeon dropped me in here, and Maveith was unfortunate enough to be with me. On my first trip into the dungeon, I had entered the dungeon, released a goblin from my dimensional space, and then killed a bear with my dimensional space. These actions likely drew the attention of the dungeon. From my extensive readings, it was possible that the dungeon thought the first level of its dungeon was not challenging enough for me.

The others started to settle into the safe room. “I can’t believe you and Maveith defeated those doppelgangers alone,” Castile said, filling the silence. She knew my spatial kill could only be used once, so we would have to have fought at least one of the creatures.

“We almost didn’t,” I said, not elaborating further.

“They were creepy,” Lexi added, getting no objection from anyone to her statement.

“I plan to get a few hours of rest in the dreamscape. Once the doppelgangers return, we can kill them and the fire bear again,” I declared. My space was around 80% full, so I was likely done with the apples, but the healing potion and pelt were welcome.

“Do we really need to rest?” Alhar said, sounding annoyed.

“We do, because of these.” I held up the two apex illusion essences. “Lexi, Castile, and I can all benefit from them.”

“Who gets the apex reasoning essence from the chest?” Konstantin inquired. The old man had shattered the chest, collecting the contents.

That was a terribly difficult mental essence to come by, but I wanted to improve my aether sight with the illusion essences. I found dividing up the loot was so much harder with such a large group. Castile had seemingly done it so easily for the company. When it was just Maveith and I, he didn’t care at all about the essences. Now everyone here was covetous, even if they didn’t voice it aloud.

“Castile and Lexi can have the first two apex illusion essences, and I will claim the next two. You and Alhar can decide who gets the reasoning essence,” I addressed Konstantin.

The dreamscape amulet appeared in my hand as I got comfortable against the wall. “Can I join you?” Lexi said before I channeled aether into the device. “I know how they work, and I have used Evie’s.”

I thought it might be a good opportunity to talk with Lexi in private, and Castile didn’t object or even look our way. She still held the prismatic sphere in front of her, lost in the swirling colors. She had taken multiple essences over the last day and probably wanted to maximize this one's effectiveness. I could tell the euphoria of consuming it was warring with her common sense, but she did pocket it for now. “Fine,” I agreed, and she eagerly settled beside me. “Channel aether after me,” I said and disappeared into the dreamscape.

I appeared in the entry room, and Lexi appeared a moment later. She was wearing a sheer white priestess gown with a golden medallion of Asclepius, the Telhian god of healing. There were temples to many of the Ancient Greek gods in the empire, but they were not worshipped in reverence. I surmised the First Legion arrived before the Romans had renamed the Greek gods. She looked embarrassed and quickly shifted her outfit to what she was wearing in the dungeon. “What was that about?” I asked.

“In Gramney, when we travel to heal others, it is what Castile has me wear. She wants me to project a certain image,” Lexi said, embarrassed. Her staff appeared in her hand, and her face aged a few years, as her body filled out as well. She was trying to appear more mature in my company, but I think it was more subconscious on her part.

I teleported us both to the scorpion room. “I assume you wanted to study something.” I gestured at the impressive library. 

She stumbled over her words. “I…I…I wanted to learn more about my staff.” She finally decided.

I closed my eyes and created a compendium on dungeon staves. I don’t think I had anything on Magus staves, but it should help her. I handed her the book and focused on why I came here. The ring appeared in my hand and slowly grew until I was inside it. “What are you doing?” Lexi asked, she had been ignoring the book and throwing the ball for Oscar.

“Identifying a ring I found,” I replied as I studied the highlighted runes. It was a very complex ring with more than triple the number of runes I was accustomed to.

“Can I help?” Lexi asked, appearing beside me and leaving Oscar barking frustrated outside the enclosure.

“Probably not, since you haven’t studied runic script, but I will explain as I figure it out.” Oscar appeared inside the ring with us, as I didn’t want to let him bark endlessly while I worked.

I spent a few minutes going over how runes generally interconnected with each other, two and three-dimensionally. Then I started to explain, “You see these patterns here. The ring enhances this aspect here…fire. It is an elemental fire ring, reinforcing the wearer’s fire attribute.”

“Do you have the fire affinity?” Lexi said, enthralled.

“No, I don’t, and without an aspect of fire on my aether core, this function is useless to me.” I started tracing the next set of runes. “Ah, but here it provides protection against fire… but draws on the wearer's aether to do so. It does not have to be fire-aspected aether either. I think the wearer could withstand the flames of a dragon as long as their aether held out,” I said after a few moments of tracing the complex runes. I still wasn’t done either, as there was still another set of runes I hadn’t deciphered.

“Who is getting the ring?” Lexi interrupted.

“Well, it is mine, but I don’t have the fire affinity. I may keep it or give it to someone who can make better use of it,” I said. I knew a number of Death Sentinels that could make good use of it, and also Raelia and Rena had fire affinities, although Rena’s was much stronger.

“I still haven’t figured out all its functions,” I said, trying to map out and decipher the last rune set. How something so small could have three functions was unbelievable. It went against everything I had learned about artificing. It even put Hephaestus’s skill to shame. One function was passive, while another drew aether as needed, and this last function required the wearer to trigger the effect with fire-aspected aether. “Well, that is remarkable.”

“What?” Lexi pressed closer to the wall.

“The ring can manifest a fire elemental…” I stopped. “No, that is not right…it can feed a fire elemental.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Lexi asked, perplexed.

I only considered it for a moment before answering. “Well, there are spells to create a fire elemental, spells to summon fire elementals, and also spells to control fire elementals. If you can command an elemental, then you can grow it with this ring. There are other creatures that live on fire-aspected aether too, that I suspect could be fed by this ring,” I said. Elementals were highly concentrated aether aspected to a particular element, with a primal intelligence.

The massive ring disappeared from around us, and Oscar thought it was time to play. He barked excitedly and dropped his ball at my feet. I threw it a few times before sitting in my reading chair. Oscar reluctantly hopped up to get attention.

“Can I look through the library?” Lexi asked.

“What are you looking for? Since I manifested most of the books here, I can compile what you want,” I replied. Lexi was being evasive about why she wanted to enter the dreamscape.

After a moment of thought, she spoke, “I want to learn about the demons since we might have to fight them. Everything about how they got here…”

“I already told Evie, you cannot go back to Earth,” I said patiently. She instantly quieted, and I believe I hit the nail on the head. I had already removed all the references from the dreamscape on the World Gates to prevent Evie from researching it.

“I…I…I just want to know more,” Lexi said weakly. I assumed that any information Evie had, she shared with Lexi in her dreamscape amulet.

I held out a thick tome. “Everything on the demon-titan war and the Telhians’ failed attempt to open a gate back to Earth.” The compilation was more of a history lesson than a source of specific details. A warning of the dangers of World Gates.

“Can I look at other books too?” Lexi asked before taking the tome. I nodded but I was going to check what she read after she left the space.

I changed my focus to researching the powerful elemental ring. There was a recorded air elemental ring and a water elemental ring. Both these rings were similar in construction, having one passive ability, one triggered ability, and one activated ability. Interestingly enough, both rings could be traced back to Caelorian elves. The water elemental ring was lost about a thousand years ago, and an Esenhem archmage was listed as possessing the air elemental ring. That entry was three hundred years old, but it was likely that the particular elf was still alive.

I read the discarded Magus staves reference before having Lexi exit the space before me. After she departed, I looked at what she had been reading. She was researching the history of otherworlders, mostly humans but a few elves as well. The library had mostly accounts taken from the Death Hunters on Sanctuary. She was clearly hunting for information on the World Gates, and I suspected she was colluding with Evie. Now that Evie had her own dreamscape amulet, she no longer needed to use mine.

I stepped out of the dreamscape. “It’s about time,” Alhar grumbled.

“I was only gone four hours. I thought elves had eternal patience,” I replied.

“We have interminable life, not patience,” he retorted sardonically.

I considered what would help me most in the fight. I produced the apex water essence from the frost drake and consumed it. My veins went icy as the water aether ran through my body before pooling in my aether core. My skin bristled with goosebumps for a few seconds before the aether completely settled. That should have increased the water affinity enough to increase the power of thicken air by twenty percent or so.

“I am ready? Same plan?” I asked.

“Konstantin, Alhar, and I will handle one, and you can handle the other,” Castile offered. “This time Lexi will not enter the room,” Castile said warningly to the young woman.

Lexi straightened and, as defiantly as she could, rebuked Castile. “I could have stunned it.” I didn’t think her stun would have been strong enough to affect the powerful creature. It wasn’t lost on me that Lexi only stepped into the room because she was worried about Castile.

“You are not here to fight, only to heal,” Castile said with finality. In response, Lexi made a show of consuming the illusion essence. I think Lexi had been planning to give it to Castile, but Castile didn’t even wince, just nodded in satisfaction at Lexi.

Konstantin had been an observer and marched down the corridor rather than participate in the discord. I followed and exchanged magebane for Rhuuk’s bastard sword. The heavier blade would be more effective against the powerful creature.

The two elven children were made whole again and were waiting for us in the center of the room. Konstantin reached the threshold first, “Ask your questions and lets get on with this.”

“You didn’t get the reasoning essence?” I surmised by his attitude. A grunt from the old man confirmed it.

“No answers will be given this time,” the girl announced before I even asked a question.

“Why not?” Konstantin barked back.

A creepy smile formed on both the elven boy’s and girl’s faces. “Because the dungeon wants to surprise you.”

“You said you didn’t know what was in the other rooms,” I said gratefully.

“That is true, and not true,” the boy said unhelpfully.

“How many elves did you kill when you were trapped in the dungeon?” Alhar’s voice echoed behind me. I looked at the elven assassin and then back at the doppelgangers. I had told Alhar the doppelgangers entered with the Caelorian refugees, fleeing the Telhians.

The girl had a toothy smile. “It was so long ago. I find it hard to remember.”

“Try,” Alhar said icily.

“Forty-seven?” the boy said uncertainly, but I knew he was teasing Alhar.

“Forty-nine,” the girl said with more certainty and a malicious smile.

Alhar didn’t wait and stepped into the room. This time the doppelgangers didn’t transform, instead sprinting barefoot across the moss at Alhar. Castile’s shadow chains raced along the moss carpet toward them. I was faster than Alhar and got in front of him in three strides. The boy was my target, and I was his as we closed on each other. I brought the sword two-handed to the side, readying for a swing. I could tell the elven boy was watching and waiting for movement. I shifted the blade, bringing the tip down at the last moment, using it as a lance. He tried to dodge, but once the tip caught his sternum, our bodies did the rest, driving the sword through his torso. He tried to slash me with his claws, but only activated my aether shield.

The girl screamed in frustration that her partner had been killed so quickly. Maybe they thought the smaller bodies would be more agile in the fight. I released my grip on the blade and drew my dagger to flank the elven child. The body of the elven boy was dead and reverting to its true form.

Alhar and Konstantin reached her at the same time, followed by a wave of shadow tendrils. Her hands had grown long black claws, but she was being pressed from both sides, and her back was open to me. The claws cracked and snapped as she blocked the runic weapons, and her voice was more a hissing, spitting anger. She knew her fate was sealed. She tried to take Konstantin with her, giving Alhar an opening, but the shadow chains entwined around her legs and torso hindered her movement.

I went to retrieve the bastard sword, planning to behead her, but it was unnecessary as Alhar drove one of his stilettos into the elf girl’s eye. The reward chest confirmed our victory was complete.

“What was that about?” I asked Alhar.

“The dungeon told me of the past. My ancestors were delvers of this dungeon. When the city was besieged, my ancestors were among those who took shelter in the dungeon,” he said gravely. I just nodded in understanding at his vengeance, and the collector came out. I heard Konstantin announce he found an apex perception essence in the reward chest. My prize from this fight was the two apex illusion essences I took from the doppelgangers.

“Are we gathering berries or going back for the fire bear?” Castile deferred to me as the loot was accounted for.

“Can you all handle the fire bear?” I asked.

“Why, where are you going?” Konstantin asked suspiciously.

“Just a quick side trip to the room where I found magebane,” I said truthfully. This got Alhar’s and Konstantin’s attention. “Why do you want to come?”

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