A Demon's Core

There is a lot to do now. The first is to learn what will actually happen if my core were to leave the dungeon. Thinking of the possibilities is nerve wracking. It is hard not to focus on the worst case scenarios.

What if my consciousness, memories and personality, everything that makes me ‘me’ can only exist with the dungeon. Would it be erased if my core is taken outside? Would it be restored it if came back?

Or maybe nothing will happen to me personally, but I will instead lose connection to the dungeon and everything in it. Including all of my creatures. Would they be okay if that were to happen? Honestly, I am sure they would, but would I?

I even considered the possibility that going outside might damage the core in some way, but that seems unlikely. If the humans want mana crystals, I doubt they would do anything to risk damaging the core.

No. I need to stop only thinking about the worst possible outcomes. None of those things seem likely anyway since I am pretty sure my core is the center of my existence and everything is connected to it directly. I am just stressing myself out imagining improbabilities.

That does not mean there would not be consequences at all, but that is why we are doing this test, to find out what they are. I do not think I need to go far. Just one step outside my domain should be enough. I do not even need to leave this floor to do that.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Rose asks as she stands before the door to one of the unclaimed rooms, holding my core in her hands

Not at all. But it is necessary. We need to know if you can take me with you or if you will have to leave me behind when you evacuate.

“We would never leave you behind! If you can’t leave then neither will we.” She rebukes. “Please don’t say such things.” I feel her grip on my core become a little tighter.

I know they would never leave me. That is why I hope this works, so they will never have to make that choice. Several imps have gathered. They became curious when they saw Rose walking out to the hallway holding my core. I briefly explained what we were about to attempt, further increasing their curiosity.

Except for Violet. She protested this experiment entirely. She remembers what happened last time I tried to enter the void. Only this time it could be worse because it is actually my core going out. She is not wrong and as I look at the darkness, I cannot quash the terror I feel rising up. But this needs to be done.

At my direction, Rose steps forward. As my core passes the threshold into the void I feel a familiar pain. It is worse this time and for a while there is nothing but agony. When the pain fades and I can finally focus again all I see around me is darkness.

There is nothing but the void around me in all directions. There is no sight, there is no sound. It is terrifying to be so completely blinded like this. But I have not completely lost all sensations, I can feel something. Rose. I can feel her all around as she hugs my core close to her.

That was extremely unpleasant, but I think I am okay.

If she replies verbally I can not hear it at all, but I can feel her squeezing my core more tightly. I can not feel the presence of any of the others except Violet. But I expected that. I can not feel their presence when they go out into the void. So it makes sense that the same would happen when I do it. It is comforting that I can still feel my connection to Violet at least.

‘Magentam are you okay?’ Violet's voice sounds desperate and worried as she contacts me. It is good to know we can still communicate like this even in this circumstance.

Yes, I am alright. It was painful, but I am fine now. How is the dungeon, is anything strange happening?

'I can’t see anything unusual happening. Everyone is getting a bit distressed though. They can’t feel your presence anymore. Are you coming back soon? I don’t like this.'

I think we have learned everything we need to. We can go back now. I tell Rose.

Sight returns to me as Rose steps back into the hallway. The imps are fidgeting nervously. Even the hellhounds have gathered now. From Noctis, I can feel she is nervous and confused.

I am sorry for upsetting you all. This was an important experiment that needed to happen, but it was not my intention to cause you distress. I say to everyone.

My body is gone again and I am reduced to only my core once more, but I expected that and it is easy to fix. Rose takes my core back to its place with most of the imps following along, still not fully reassured.

“Everything’s alright now. We’re making preparations for the future, but there’s nothing to worry about now.” Rose assures them. Some of them have questions, but I let Rose handle them.

I need to look around to see if anything has changed as a result of me leaving like that. The interior of my domain seems unchanged, but things feel a little fuzzy at the edges. It feels like all the mana filaments had begun to fray and disintegrate. The effect is more noticeable on the stairs where the area has only been claimed in thin strips. Now those strips have become a little thinner.

I suspect if my core were to be removed for any significant length of time, I would lose most, if not all, of my claimed territory. Which means, If we do leave, there will not be anything left to come back to. So I need to be completely sure that it is the right choice before making that decision.

The mana crystals do not seem to have been affected in any way. William did say they degrade outside of high mana environments. My core was not gone long enough for the mana to dissipate from this area. I should do something to make sure they are ready to be moved. It would be a terrible waste to leave them behind.

Rose managed to calm everyone down. Apart from the momentary distress, I do not think there has been any negative impact on any of my creatures. That is the most important thing.

Over the next few hours I take some time to speak with each of my imps personally. I expected at least some of them to be a little resistant about the possibility that we may have to leave, but none of them seem to mind the idea. A few even expressed excitement at the prospect of going somewhere new.

It is difficult for me to picture being somewhere other than here; I suppose that is because I have never been anywhere else. But thinking about leaving is pointless if we do not actually have a place to go.

Igneous, I need you to do something for me. Before I even finish he is already unfolding from his rock disguise. He responds with acceptance, though I have not even told him what I want him to do yet.

I need you to do some scouting. Find a new place for us to live. Somewhere outside the city, away from the humans. Are you alright with a longer mission? He nods.

Thank you. I appreciate your help with this. It would be a lot harder without you.

I could have my imps scout out some temporary evacuation zones in the city, but staying within city limits would be too dangerous. There is too much risk of being discovered again. All it would take is for one human to spot one of my imps in the city and they would know that we are still here somewhere.

There are some things that need to be done here as well. We need ways for the imps to move around the building without relying on the stairs. I think I will ask Violet to help with what I have in mind.

The walls in here are pretty easy to climb right? She looks towards the nearest wall, scanning it up and down.

“They should be. Why?” She asks. She moves over to the wall and runs her claws lightly across its surface before digging them in. She climbs half way up the wall in a flash. Pushing off the wall, she drops back down to the ground.

“Yeah, easy.” She says.

What do you think about digging holes through the floor so you will have another way of moving between floors besides the stairs. Her eyes light up as she grins.

“I think that’s a great idea. Where do we start?”

I think it would be best to have two holes on each floor. One in the furthest room from the stairwell and one somewhere around the middle. For this floor I would start in Room 7 and Room 2. Probably in the bathrooms since they are not useful for anything else. If you hit any pipes, just try to go around them if you can.

“Do we need to make the holes big enough for the hellhounds?”

I had not thought about that. Would the hellhounds be able to jump down from one floor to the next safely. When I ask Noctis, she feels confident that they could jump down, though she is uncertain when I ask if they could climb back up the same way.

Yes, make the holes big enough for the hellhounds. Ask others for help if you need to. I do not know how easy it will be to dig through these floors.

I know Violet and the other are capable of digging through the walls without much trouble, but the floors are much more solid. As I look at the wall that Violet had climbed, seeing the holes left by her claws, I am actually a little surprised by how weak the material is. Perhaps I will have to tell my imps to only climb up through these holes in an emergency or there will soon not be much wall left to climb.

I am concerned that making holes big enough for the hellhounds means the humans will be able to fit through them as well. But that might not matter as they would have to know about them first. All the humans who have come here so far, besides the first group, have come straight for where they think my core is without stopping to explore anything else.

Even if we do not need to leave, these holes will allow my imps to easily move to a lower floor to sneak up behind any humans coming up the stairs.

It would also be beneficial to set up a watch rotation again. But not in the stairs this time. I can keep watch on the stairs well enough on my own. I want to know if there are humans coming before they even reach the building. Having outside patrols could be dangerous if they encounter the humans directly though.

Having imps watching the streets from the roof might work. If I have Igneous up there as well, he should be able to hear any humans before they are even in view.

But that is a lot of area to cover. Having only one imp watching from the rooftop may not be enough. I would probably need at least two to be properly effective. There will also need to be someone on watch at all times since I know humans may come at night now.

For that, I am going to need more imps. It is about time to summon another one anyway. I let Rose and Violet know I am going to summon another imp and they are soon waiting by the rift. When I feed mana into the rift nothing happens for a little while. Then the rift starts drawing more mana than I expect it to for an imp. I immediately warn them that something unusual is happening and to keep their guard up.

What appears is two imps tightly holding on to each other, one male and one female. A welcome surprise. No one is really too shocked though since we already knew this was possible. I wonder if they are mates or siblings. Rose heads back to the storage room to get another set of clothes.

The two new imps are looking around the room in wonder when Violet approaches them with a beaming smile. Their eyes go wide as they look up at her, marveling at how tall she is. Violet does not wait for Rose to get back with more clothes and wraps her arms around them. One of them returns the hug gleefully, while the other looks a little baffled.

When Rose returns with the clothes, they quickly put them on at her direction. Violet grabs them both by the hand excitedly to show them around. While she does that, I explain my intention to have a twenty-four hour watch rotation to Rose and ask her to set up a schedule.

If I am going to expect to have imps and Igneous on the roof regularly then it would be best if I claimed that area. I know my imps prefer being in my mana field and I assume it is the same for my other creatures, so it would be more comfortable for them if it was part of my domain. It would also allow me to communicate with them while they are up there.

Going up the stairs would be a wast of time and mana so instead I will just go straight up through the ceiling. Simply following a wall all the way up until I reach the roof would be the most efficient method.

With preparations underway, all that is left to do now is to wait and see what the humans do next. I do hope William can follow through on his promises. But I do not feel optimistic about it.