The Core's Origin

Hild was silent as they left the cave. Regardless of the team’s success or the importance of the information they were bringing with them, she had failed. Theo had lost a foot.

He had been saved and would live, but he would never again be a soldier or a warrior.

Magic was capable of many things, yet even gifted healers like Hild could not regrow a missing body part. The spells to do so simply did not exist. Short of a divine miracle, there was no way for Theo to regain his left foot after it had been lost.

Hild thought back to the battle, still obsessing over those final moments.

Things had been going well for them against the massive, disgusting centipede. Theo and Ackley had kept the beast back with their shields while Edgar and Burt had managed to pierce its thick armor with the spear and numerous arrows.

Suddenly, after bashing its head against Theo’s shield and then grabbing it with its pincers as it had done at least a dozen times before, the centipede had changed tactics. Every time before, it had switched from one shield bearer to the other after having its attack thwarted, but this time, that did not happen.

Instead of turning away, the centipede dropped to the ground and struck like a bolt of lightning beneath Theo’s shield. Ackley had seen the attack coming, but being a mute, he had not been able to shout a warning. Theo’s vision had been blocked by his own shield, and his first warning that things had taken an unexpected turn was when he abruptly lost his balance.

Almost instantly, Burt, Edgar, and Ackley had all shot forward, saving Theo from being poisoned and killed, but unable to recover the man’s booted foot, which had already disappeared into the beast’s belly.

Limbs could be reattached, but not regrown. Without something to work with, there had been nothing Hild could do.

She blamed herself, as Hild knew that she could have placed a barrier on either of the shield bearers in order to provide a bit more protection, but she had relied on Philip’s barriers during the battle, as the entire team had done since the barrier specialist had joined their team for the second trip into the caves.

She also could not understand why none of the men seemed to blame either her or Philip. What had the four soldiers lived through that the loss of a limb could be so easily ignored? It was Theo’s foot that had been lost, and yet while it was clear that he was suffering the loss, he had already started making jokes with Burt about becoming a cripple.

Ackley had practically carried Theo from the cave, as the man had refused to lay on a litter and be carried out. Instead, Theo had insisted on hopping out on one foot while being supported from the side.

Hild had been able to staunch the bleeding, and had even healed the stump that remained, but Theo would need a wooden foot made, or at least crutches to get around for the rest of his life.

His time as the captain of the second brigade was already over.

Things were a bit subdued once they reached the final stretch of the cave, and they emerged to find a welcoming party waiting for them.

The team had returned once before after they had retreated when Harold had been injured, and they had delivered an initial report at that time. It had been decided that Harold would be replaced, just as he had requested, and also that a single brigade from the army would remain stationed outside of the cave. The scope of what they had found utterly dwarfed all expectations, and the king was uncertain of the implications.

Soldiers hurried forward to grab Theo and relieve Ackley of his burden. At the same time, other healers stepped forward to check all of the members of the investigation team, but since Hild was more skilled and more accomplished than any of them, they were really only present for the unlikely event of her being unable to fulfill her role, or simply not returning.

Further back, several higher-ranked individuals waited. They were ones who would hear the initial report, and then escort the team back to the king to deliver a full report on all that had been discovered within the cave.

Hild, Burt, and Philip started making their way to the people waiting in the back. Upon seeing them move, Theo shook off the soldiers trying to attend to him, and grabbed hold of Ackley’s shoulder so that he could hop behind the rest of the team to deliver the report.

Naturally, Theo’s injury was the first thing that was noticed by the two generals, and General Simon briefly frowned before simply ignoring the matter.

Hild would never be able to understand soldiers. How could they be so callous?

Burt, Edgar, Ackley, and Theo all delivered a salute to the generals, and Hild nodded to High Priest Aaron who stood beside the generals.

General Simon looked straight at Burt, and simply stated, “Report.”

Burt nodded, and then immediately shared a summary of what they had encountered on their second trip into the cave. During the several weeks they had spent together, Hild had finally reached the point that she felt she was basically able to overlook the man’s heavy accent, and simply listen to what he said. “We made it through the first cavern, same as before with no surprises until we got to the end. There, instead o’ a big ol’ deer, there was a bear. Big ‘un, and it was on fire.”

General Simon just arched a brow at that, though the other general and High Priest Aaron both clearly wanted to interrupt and ask something. A slight raise of General Simon’s hand was enough to keep his two companions from actually speaking, and Burt continued as though he had not noticed anything.

“The bear was a bit shorter than the deer, but prolly weighed just as much. There were flames on the whole thing, well, maybe it was just the fur, but it looked like there were flames coverin’ it. The only flames that were any problem were the ones on its claws. Those things could slice through a man like a knife through water, but Philip’s shields held up jus’ fine. Ackley’s, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well.

“After that, we found the reward for gettin’ through the forest was smaller than before. Prolly by ‘bout half.”

At that point, Hild made a point to pull out the bag of uncut gemstones they had collected throughout the three caverns, but the three men listening to the report completely ignored her and the bag.

“We rested in the tunnel past the forest cavern before movin’ on to the swamp. It was in there that Philip really started provin’ his worth. He stopped any o’ us from gettin’ hurt by the birds in there, and we didn’t have much trouble gettin’ through and dealin’ with the snakes ‘n such that showed up too.

“At the end of the path through the swamp, we ran into a salamander. Was even bigger n’ the bear, but didn’t hit so hard. Biggest problem with it was that it could use some sorta mud magic, which kept us slippin’ all over. Also, the thing’s skin was slippery, so the swords n’ such didn’t do much without a direct hit.

“We picked up the reward and entered another tunnel, where we slept in shifts to rest. After that, we ran into the last section, and that was pure hell.

“Weren’t no cavern at the end, but a maze o’ tunnels and rooms. We ran into all different bugs, ants, n’ creepy-crawlies in there. Worst were the worms, which just popped out o’ the walls, floor, or ceilin’s without warnin’. Nasty buggers.

“Took a long time to get through that mess, and the last thing waitin’ for us was a massive centipede.

“Hold on, I brought back some pieces of it.”

Burt pulled off his pack and started undoing some bands on it to remove the vile green pincers that were all that remained of the centipede.

“The nasty thing started disappearin’, ‘n all that was left was its two fangs. Not sure what can be done with ‘em, but thought I’d bring ‘em back just the same.”

Unlike when Hild had pulled out the bag of gemstones, all three of the men listening to the report quickly stepped forward to examine the pincers that Burt had recovered after the centipede had disappeared.

No one, not even Burt, dared to make any physical contact with the glowing green pincers, and they radiated a sense of danger that left everyone’s hair standing on end. It was readily apparent that some of the centipede’s poison still clung to its pincers.

Also, with all of the commotion from Theo losing his foot, Hild had completely overlooked the fact that the centipede had melted away before their eyes. No, not melted; evaporated? Disintegrated?

Hild hesitantly raised her hand, uncertain as to how to go about addressing the men receiving their report. “Um, do any of you sirs have any idea what might have caused the centipede’s body to… fade away?”

The question brought three pairs of eyes to lock onto Hild’s face, and Burt started awkwardly shifting his feet. While Hild had been distracted from what had happened, Burt had been trying to distract himself from the matter. The woodsman had always been uncomfortable with anything supernatural or magical, as he had always viewed such things as the domain of higher beings. It was one thing to see the mages invoke the gods in order to perform spells, or a powerful beast utilize magical abilities, but to witness something truly inexplicable such as the centipede just fading away had been beyond disturbing to Burt’s mind, and he had been doing his best to ignore the entire matter.

The two generals and the high priest all glanced at each other, but voiced no response. The high priest was the most qualified to give an answer, but he had absolutely no idea as to what could have happened.

After an uncomfortable silence, High Priest Aaron finally replied, “We’ll investigate that matter and try to uncover the truth of what you saw, don’t worry.”

There were a few more questions posed by the generals and the high priest, but Hild tuned the rest of the matter out completely, still caught up by the disappearing corpse. Why had the pincers been left behind? Was there something special about them when compared to the rest of the creature?

She simply could not move past the memory of that sight, unwilling to acknowledge that her obsession was mostly a distraction she was using to avoid thinking about her earlier failure.

***

The investigation team had returned, and their initial report delivered. A more in depth report was scheduled for a few days later, as well as one that would be given to the king and his advisors.

In truth, Simon did not know what to make of the information he had received. An underground forest and swamp? Plants and animals living as though they were under the sky? A potentially deadly trial with no apparent purpose, but rich rewards? A disappearing corpse?

Truthfully, what bothered Simon the most was not any of that, but the writing that had decorated the walls at, reportedly, four different locations. Warnings and rewards. There was clearly an intelligence behind this entire matter, though its purpose was beyond anything that Simon could unravel.

He had been deployed to fight back against the worst subterfuge imaginable, and had carried out similar atrocities for his king and kingdom, yet nothing he had witnessed or experienced could make heads or tails of this bizarre cave. From what Simon could see, Aaron was in the exact same position.

The two of them were supposed to provide their opinions and recommendations to the king after he received the report, yet Simon had no idea where to even begin.

The rewards were truly exorbitant, and the risks were not too severe. It was clear that the investigation team had been too powerful for what they had faced, and the only reason that any of them had been injured at all was because they had lacked the necessary information before facing their opponent.

With the current information, it would be relatively safe for a well balanced, reasonably powerful team to accomplish the same feat as the investigation team, despite their elite status.

In some ways, Simon wanted to keep the cave open and available, as he could see it becoming an invaluable training tool for the military. However, without knowing the purpose behind the cave and the rewards it was offering, Simon was simply too wary to pursue such an avenue.

***

Aaron was facing a crisis. He was the high priest responsible for providing the temples’ recommendation to the king, and while that meant that Aaron needed to receive the joint decision of the three temples, he was also the one present and observing the matter up close, and so his opinion would likely sway the temples’ opinion as well.

What was Aaron to think?

There was clearly magic involved in the appearance of this cave, and unbelievably powerful magic at that. There were new species of plants and animals present, and while it was possible that such things had been brought from far away, Aaron felt that was not the case. Rather, he felt it far more likely that the new species had been designed or made in some fashion, and that was a truly horrifying prospect to consider, as that was a realm of magic that had long been believed to be reserved solely for the gods. After all, all of the spells and magic that mankind had access to had been gifted to them by the various divinities. What Aaron had witnessed spoke of new, unknown magic, which should have been impossible.

Any new revelation from one of the gods was heralded by grand signs so that their messenger would be recognized and given the proper respect.

This cave had been discovered by accident by villagers in the middle of nowhere.

Worse still, whatever was behind this cave had created it entirely undetected by the kingdom. Such a massive undertaking should have sent ripples and waves through the mana nearby, alerting even the rawest of acolytes to the matter if they had traveled even remotely close to any part of the cave system.

Yet Aaron knew for a fact that he and several other priests had traveled a nearby road to visit another temple just a few months back, yet none of them had felt a thing. Such a massive project should have taken years of effort, and decades of trial and error, yet not a single thing had been noticed during that entire time?

Given all of that, as well as the writing on the walls, Aaron was almost tempted to believe that this cave was divine work, but there was an issue with that as well: none of the high priests of any of the three temples had been given any information by their gods.

While the gods were normally rather silent, it was possible to pray to them for divine guidance, or to use spells to perform divinations. Both methods had been employed as soon as the cave had been reported, and it was the lack of any sort of answers that had led to the investigation team being sent.

Without answers from the gods, people had to rely on themselves.

Could a new deity have been born?

To Aaron’s understanding of the scriptures, a new god had not been born in all of human history, but he would have expected such an event to be heralded by even greater signs than when the gods gifted their mage priests with a new spell. After all, how could a bit of new magic possibly compare to the arrival of a new god?

Aaron was at a complete loss, and that terrified him. Always before, he had known what to do or how to proceed, at least so long as he gave things a bit of thought. This time, he had not even the slightest idea of how to move forward.

***

Burt was feeling completely relieved. He had been on edge from the moment he had first stepped foot into that freakish cave, but finally, he had done his duty, finished the mission, and returned alive. Everything that happened after this was someone else’s responsibility, which was just how Burt preferred things.

He was at his element in the woods or in combat, but magic and politics both completely terrified him.

In fact, the only reason Burt had even managed to become the head scout for the Shadow Guard was because Simon had risen to his position from being born as a commoner, and he had promoted his men based solely on their abilities. If Burt had ever needed to bootlick or even attend an interview to be promoted, he would have been lucky to even remain a member of the military at all.

Unfortunately, even before entering his tent, Burt could see that he had a visitor waiting for him. There were no footprints, but the opening to the tent had just been passed by, and Burt could even hear someone quietly breathing inside.

He let out a sigh. He recognized his visitor already.

Gathering himself for a moment, Burt entered his tent. “Evenin’, General. Got more questions you thought of after hearin’ my report?”

“Sit down and have a drink, Burt, and stop with the ‘general’ bit. You trained right alongside me when we first joined the army, and it still doesn’t sit right having to order you around.”

With another sigh, Burt took a seat on his pallet. While it was true that he and Simon had been friends for many years, Simon had quickly surpassed Burt, and it was also clear that this was not a personal visit. There was no way that Simon had time for such things before everything about the damn cave was settled.

As soon as Burt was sitting, Simon pulled out a small bottle and passed it to Burt. “Brought some of that stuff they brew in your hometown. Can’t stand the swill, but thought you could use it after what you just went through.”

That had always been a key source of Simon’s success; he understood people, got to know them, and more importantly, got to understand them. This was true of both those above him, and those who followed him. He remembered the little details, and while he never performed any grand or excessive gestures, realizing that the man remembered something little about them never failed to have an impact on people.

Even worse, Burt knew that Simon was being completely genuine. He had truly only brought the bottle of booze for Burt because the general knew that Burt had only agreed to participate in the investigation team because Simon had requested it.

Still, Burt could not deny that he wanted a drink, and nothing he had ever found could beat the stuff they made back home.

Burt popped the bottle open and took a drink and closed his eyes for a moment to savor it.

Before Burt’s eyes opened back up, Simon spoke up again, “I’ll be honest, Burt, I don’t know what to do this time. I can see both opportunities and risks, but more than that, I see too many questions. There’s more to this than meets the eye, and I can’t even find where to start looking.

“Tell me, what’s your feeling about this place?”

Burt sighed. This was the one question he had dreaded the most, as not only did it mean that he had to try to be analytical about things, he also had to think about memories that he had been avoiding as much as possible. “Simon, the place’s incredible, ain’t no denyin’ it. It’s beautiful in a way I can’t even tell you. Honestly, in that forest, there were times I forgot where I was, and that scares the hell outa me. Any place that can get a soldier to drop their guard like that is dangerous, let alone a place that’s actually tryin’ to kill you!

“I can guess what you’re thinkin’, and you’re right, this cave would make for great trainin’ and practice for new teams to start workin’ together. Rewards seem to be good, and the battles weren’t too tough, til we got to the end of each cavern, at least. Those un’s were problems, and even you’d struggle with that last bug.

“Still, not too bad overall.

“Nah, what gets me is what gets you, I know. Who’s behind this? What they want? Are we already givin’ it to ‘em? I can’t answer any of those for you, but I’ll tell you this: there’s rules, and if’n we can determine what those are, we should use this.”

“Rules? What do you mean?”

“As soon as we turned around to leave, nothin’ touched us. ‘N fact, nothing even showed up in front of us. I tested it out a few times, ‘n when just one of us went back, we’d be attacked, but when we all tried to retreat, we weren’t touched unless we turned back to push on again.

“We were never touched in the tunnels, and nothin’ chased us into ‘em, neither. There’s rules in there.”

Simon nodded solemnly, processing this new bit of information. Burt had not mentioned such details when delivering the initial report, but Simon also understood that Burt only ever reported facts, never conjecture. It was what made him an invaluable scout.

Having gotten what he had come for, Simon rose to leave. He knew Burt well enough to know when the man was done speaking.

However, just before Simon turned to leave the tent, he noticed a pensive look on Burt’s face. “What is it?”

“...Not sure, but I’d swear that somethin’ was watchin’ us in there the whole time. Strange thing is, I’m used to feelin’ eyes on me, but this was something different. This felt like somethin’ was looking right through me, odd as that sounds. Still, never felt like there was any anger, hate, aggression, nothin’. It just felt like… like when a kid starts lookin’ at bugs. They’re curious, might stomp ‘em ‘n kill ‘em, but they don’t hate ‘em. Make sense?” Burt spoke hesitantly, and given his words, Simon understood why.

From someone else, Simon would have dismissed such things as mere nerves, but he had once watched Burt sneak into an enemy camp in broad daylight and take out the commander when he got caught trying to steal their orders. The man was certainly not fearless, but he was very pragmatic when on duty.

Simon had much to think about.