Chapter 316: An Explosion of Chaos

Dust.

The word ash stayed with Alex, even during his next trip to Thameland.

Time’s passage ground people to nothing more than dust, as Baelin had said.

How many Heroes, knights and soldiers of Thameland had been killed in the wilderness somewhere? The Heroes would at least be laid to rest in tombs within the capital. History books would remember their names, but for those who had no glowing golden marks?

They were largely forgotten, except in vague mentions of great sacrifice. No more than numbers on a page.

Like dust. Irrelevant.

The more Alex thought about that, the more he decided he didn’t much like the idea of becoming dust. At least not without leaving a mark on the world. He wanted to be remembered for his deeds, for his life. Regarded as something beyond some passive aggressive historical account of a Fool who fled their ‘duty’. What would happen if he were to die tomorrow? It was something to think about. Others certainly seemed to be thinking about it.

Alex and his friends had returned to find the camp on high alert.

“Monsters,” Watcher Shaw growled, briefing the returning researchers and surveyors. “They’ve been testing our defences.”

Alex heard a loud gasp; Carey looked pale as she watched the map with large eyes. She’d been jumpier since the attack, distant…more focused on the walls and skies, than on people around her.

‘Dust,’ Alex thought. ‘I wonder if dust is on her mind too; we might all be closer to it than we’d like…if things go wrong.’

Whatever her thoughts, everything Watcher Shaw was saying clearly wasn’t comforting her.

“We’ve found small groups of Ravener-spawn pushing into Greymoor in the past while,” he pointed to two areas on the map. “Silence-spiders in the west and in the north. We eliminated those, but the monsters learn, they’ve gotten smarter.”

He drew a circle with his finger on the map around Greymoor. “We’ve had scouts report seeing more of those spiders and other spawn circling our territory. They were outside the moors, lurking in forests, but one thing’s clear: they know we’re here, and they’re watching us.”

Murmuring filtered through the tent. A researcher raised his hand as Carey’s body language stiffened.

“Yes?” Watcher Shaw grunted.

“What do we do, sir? Hunt them down? I mean, have the survey teams hunt them down.”

“Yeah, that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve sent a few hunting parties out scouting the woodlands and wilderness around the territory, but they haven’t turned up anything significant.” He frowned, looking back at the map. “They know the terrain better than we do it seems. They know when to hide, and they only come out on nights where there’s little light, or nights when the fog’s thick like soup. We haven’t been able to rule out the possibility of another dungeon nearby…but we’ll keep looking.”

Watcher Shaw examined the map as though trying to find something he might’ve missed.

“We’ve also met with Sir Sean Swift of Luthering,” he added. “His reports say that Ravener-spawn have been skulking around his village, but his knights made short work of them. But even so, he decided to send rangers outside of Luthering to monitor what’s been going on out there.”

He turned from the map, his eyes searched the group listening to his briefing, sizing them up, noting who looked scared. “In a nutshell, you mining teams, make sure you watch your surroundings like you’re a starving hawk looking for your last meal. Or a rabbit looking out for that starving hawk. Be vigilant. We don’t want a repeat of being caught off guard like we were with those two dungeons. We stood our ground, but better we should see them before we’re ambushed. We’ll be increasing mining and building shifts as well. The faster we get our fortifications ready, the better: with this new threat, I’d prefer if too many of our fighting force weren’t outside Greymoore hunting dungeon cores until we have ourselves properly fortified here.”

He tapped the map near Luthering. “We’ll be coordinating with Sir Swift for the time being which’ll let us cover more ground. If you see anything that makes you the slightest bit suspicious, let command know right away, even if you’re not 100% sure. We can’t be too careful. That’s all for now. Let’s get to work.”

Muffled conversation spread through the tent as the teams rose and headed out into the damp. Darkening clouds stretched across the sky in a patchwork, turning it grey. Thameland was chilly as autumn temperatures steadily dropped, mixing with wind and dampness to form a nasty chill that slipped beneath cloaks and overcoats.

Crash.

But work didn’t stop, cold or not.

On the far end of camp, stone was being shaped into blocks using earth magic. By now, they’d successfully excavated tons of stone: their supply of massive blocks rose higher than the earthen walls.

Walls that were quickly changing.

Outside and beside the front gate, teams of earth wizards and summoned elementals were hard at work. The wizards collapsed the earthen wall in sections, melding it back into the ground below. Then the earth elementals lifted the stone blocks, set them in place and sank them partway into the ground with their innate magic. Earth mages then sealed the soil around the stone blocks, and hardened everything. Builders applied a mortar mixture to the stones, then let the earth elementals slide them together. Then came more mortar and more stones being slid on top of each other.

Together, the wizards were crafting two walls: an outer wall that would be surrounded by a dry moat, then an inner wall that would surround the main keep and out-buildings. The inner wall would replace the earthen wall that protected the encampment, while the keep and out buildings would replace the tents.

Alex shook his head, watching the work being done. Back in the church school, he’d learned that castles often took a decade or more to build. At the rate the Generasians were going, the research castle would be finished in only the space of a few months.

Magic really was astounding.

“Well, no time like the present,” Khalik said, stepping forward. “Stone will not pull itself from the earth, and every moment we waste, is more time for our enemies to organise.

Alex frowned as the prince walked away.

‘Dust,’ echoed in his mind.

“Hey, you sure you don’t want to maybe switch to the builders’ teams? Probably safer.”

Khalik looked at Alex like he’d been insulted. “I do not cower, my friend. I have started a job and I intend to finish it. Besides, I learn much about earth magic from my peers.” He grinned. “Do you worry for me, Alex? How touching! Perhaps you can give me a token of your affection, so that I might return to you!” He laughed.

Alex frowned. “Nevermind,” he said. “I hope monsters eat you—Argh!”

Partway through the sentence, Najyah swooped down at his head, buzzing him and catching him by surprise. His arms shot up in defence, but with a screech that sounded like laughter, the mischievous bird was long gone.

Alex shook his fist at her.

“See? I have a protector,” Khalik said.

As he and Najyah moved to join the earth mages, their other friends—who had patrol duty—went too.

“Be careful,” Alex called to Theresa.

“We’ll be fine!” she called back.

Alex was left standing with Isolde and Claygon.

“And so they go,” she said. “Work is calling them as it calls us.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, turning toward the research tent. “Yeah.”

‘Dust,’ echoed in his mind.

Dust was what the researchers were experimenting with today: the dust of the dungeon cores and more. Notes from weeks of consistent testing had nearly filled their data sheet, and all that was left was to finish describing the characteristics of the substance by doing a few more tests to confirm their previous results were replicable.

They also had an experiment to do to learn if, and how, dungeon core remains would react with chaos essence.

It would be the only experiment conducted outside the research tent.

“Today you’ll be in support positions,” Professor Jules said when the full complement of researchers had assembled, all suited up in their protective gear. “Whenever one experiments with chaos essence…one can never be entirely sure what will happen. After all, it is the essence of chaos. And for that reason, we’ll be going a short distance from camp to conduct today's experiment. Should things become…volatile as they can at times with chaos essence, we won’t endanger other team members in camp, or our equipment.”

“Just ourselves,” someone said, drawing a series of chuckles and groans from the others.

“Indeed, but we’ll be taking full precautions to avoid that scenario. Now, come. I didn’t recruit you all to be cowards. Safety, bravery, together. Let’s get this done.”

The walk from the encampment was a nervous one that reminded Alex of their first trip from Luthering to Greymoor. Even though the research team was accompanied by a group of Watchers and half the medical blood mage team, folk eyed the surrounding hills like waiting dungeon spawn were concealed there.

Alex—and the rest of the team—was glad Claygon was along. The golem’s head swivelled with each step, scanning the surroundings as Alex had instructed him to do.

Professor Jules was flanked by four Watchers and two rather large, sealed boxes being transported on forcedisks. One contained a sample of dungeon core remains. The other, a sample of chaos essence.

Belted at her waist were a number of tools, and a strange construct trotted beside her. A golem of some sort, human in size and equipped with ten arms, some ending in different magical tools.

“What do you think will happen?” Isolde asked Alex. “From a stance of mere conjecture of course, since it is quite impossible to know what will occur with certainty. I cannot help but consider that this experiment will produce nothing spectacular: the core remains are similar enough to chaos essence that they might simply join into one substance with little difference.”

“It’s possible,” Alex said. “Part of me is wondering if it might reconstitute the original dungeon core. Chaos essence is powerful stuff and if it mixes with the dungeon core remains, we might be able to reconstruct the original core.”

“I wonder…” a soft voice said from nearby.

Carey had quietly made her way through the hiking team members and slipped up close to him. Actually, that wasn’t quite right. She’d slipped up close to Claygon. He raised an eyebrow.

The silence-spider attack had her really shaken.

“What’re you thinking, Carey?” He asked.

“Well…I wonder if it might warp into a completely new substance. The dungeon core remains are similar to chaos essence, but still different. Perhaps they’ll combine and form something never seen before. It’s possible, at least.”

“That is true,” Isolde said. “It appears we shall soon find out. Look.” She inclined her to the front of the line. “The professor’s stopping.”

Professor Jules and the four Watchers had paused at the foot of two hills. “Listen up everyone. The dungeon core remains and chaos essence will be taken up the hill on the left, and we’ll be observing the reaction from the hill on the right. They’ve been prepped in advance of the experiment.”

Alex looked at the peak of the hill on the right where a wall of reinforced earth and stone had been raised, about as high as his chest. Cover.

“We’ll be watching the reaction through shielded spyglasses; they have lenses coated with a darkening film to protect our eyes in case of any sudden or extreme flash of light. Combined with our goggles, they’ll provide an extra layer of eye protection. One can never be too careful, I always say. I expect everyone to take thorough notes in your journals on what you see. We’ll cross-reference everyone’s observations later. Now, off we go.”

The construct and the two forcedisks carrying the dungeon core remains and chaos essence, moved up the hill to the left, while the research team headed up the right one, taking positions behind the wall.

Professor Jules distributed the spyglasses, everyone went silent with anticipation. Alex’s Wizard’s Hands were already recording his observations in his journal through mana manipulation, while he pressed the spyglass to his eye. Isolde was beside him.

Even the wind seemed to still as the construct manoeuvred the two forcedisks beside each other.

“Alright,” Professor Jules said. “Erecting a wind and rain shield.”

A bubble of force appeared around the test site on the next hill.

“Erecting forcefield.”

A bubble of force—which emitted a lot of mana—appeared inside the first bubble, sealing the test site off.

“Erecting a secondary protective wall.”

A wall of transparent force—as tall as Claygon—materialised in front of the wall of reinforced earth, adding another layer of protection.

“Note that both samples are now being removed from their protective casing.” Professor Jules announced.”

Alex held his breath as the construct opened both boxes with care.

The black dungeon core dust and the swirling chaos essence were seen clearly through his spyglass lens. Both were stored in sealed flasks.

He had Wizard’s Hands note:

Observation 1. Dungeon core remains and chaos essence appears normal.

“Combining both samples,” Jules said.

The golem gently retrieved the samples then extended an arm which ended in a clear beaker. Unsealing both flasks, it poured the dungeon core dust and chaos essence into the beaker together.

Alex held his breath.

Observation 2. Chaos essence is combining with and breaking down dungeon core remains. Both are swirling together. Reaction appears energetic.

A few minutes passed, but the two essences merely swirled in the beaker.

Observation 3. Reaction observed to be stable.

“Alright,” Professor Jules said. “I will now have the golem run mana through the substances to see if the reaction changes with additional energy.”

The golem extended an arm that ended in a mana conductor—into the mixture.

“Starting conduction now.”

Alex watched intently. The mana conductor began glowing slightly, indicating mana was entering the mixture.

Suddenly, the dust began swirling faster. More vigorously.

Much faster.

Mana flared in Alex’s senses.

“The reaction’s destabilised!” Professor Jules shouted. “Get dow—”

With honed reflexes, Alex grabbed Isolde and Carey, pulling them down on either side of him.

Light flared in the beaker, as bright as a miniature sun.

‘Dust,’ was his last thought.

There was a blinding flash.

Boom!

Then the shockwave hit.