Cat Core 3, Chapter 40 + 41.

Chapter 40

Aaron Lavelle fought to keep his mind from screaming in pain. Any disruption brought the wrath of the Berikoz, and the cruel monster seemed to delight in torturing him. The pain receded to the point where he could bear it again, and if he was being honest with himself, that was a bad thing. As the pain faded, so did a little bit more of Aaron, the lich feeding greedily upon his essence as he pushed him further and further from the control of his core. It wouldn’t be long before nothing of him was left and the core would be the lich’s alone. Already, he was cut off from his defenders; the lich had corrupted the humanoid core and turned his defenders into undead things.

Aaron didn’t see the whole picture, but he knew that something big was happening, something that had even the lich concerned. With the lich focused elsewhere and the pain receding, Aaron could once again look over his fading empire, this dungeon he had such hopes and plans for. He couldn’t remember much of his previous life, but he remembered that he had been human. An unhealthy portion of his life had been spent on gaming, and that gaming knowledge was likely the reason his soul was snatched up at the time of his death and he was transformed into what he was now.

Being transformed into a dungeon wasn’t too bad, but soon after he started, the lich had come and forced himself into Aaron’s core, creating the home he now lived in full time. A core wasn’t able to contain two intellects, and one would eventually subsume the other. Aaron was the weaker, he knew, but he also didn’t want to give up. He wanted to live. He wanted his life back. Berikoz was too strong, though, and it was tempting to just submit, to let the lich have a grand feast upon the last of his essence and fade in painless oblivion.

His dungeon seemed empty, and a quick check showed that the lich was pushing all his defenders into a tunnel that led toward another core. He could feel that core. It was linked to Berikoz in some way but not controlled by him. Instead, it was actively resisting, but given the state of the battle, the other core was losing. Another giant and a handful of warriors were resummoned, moving from their assigned places in the dungeon toward the tunnel opening Berikoz had placed near the entrance. At the other end of that tunnel, the last of the defenders fell and the undead horde charged into the other dungeon, seeking the core inside.

Movement near the entrance caught Aaron’s attention. He could sense someone watching. A blurry figure was hovering near the entrance, waiting as the undead defenders entered the tunnel. A few moments later, he could feel it; his dungeon was being invaded. He almost shouted in alarm, pulling Berikoz’s attention away from his imminent conquest of the other dungeon, but he held back as he watched the strange procession that entered his lair.

A large white tiger led the way, looking for any threats. Next to enter was the last thing he expected to see: an old woman walking with a cane. Behind her was a man tightly clutching a small lute and softly humming a tune. Another man entered, large and burly but not wearing any armor or carrying any weapons. A girl with light green skin was next, her body glistening as if she had just jumped out of a pool. The last one inside was a gnome. This one came prepared, wearing bits of armor and carrying a pack loaded down with gear. The gnome held some sort of strange gun at the ready, but his diminutive size made him look more ridiculous than dangerous.

As odd as the group was, Aaron kept turning his gaze back to the old woman. She was the leader of this group, and there was something familiar about her. The link with the lich flowed through her and into his gem, unlocking a memory that was likely to fade away as soon as the lich took his next bite of Aaron’s being. He knew this woman, and he had an image of her in a store, playing a card game with the other patrons. He played there, too. It was a place that held good memories for Aaron, a place he wanted to return to one day.

That woman and her unlikely party were coming to deal with the lich, but they had no chance against such a powerful being. As soon as Berikoz spotted them, he would send his army to wipe them out. The choice was there before Aaron. He could continue as he was and let Berikoz absorb him completely, or he could try and find a way to help this woman destroy the lich, but that would also destroy their core and Aaron with it.

He didn’t fancy himself a brave man, in fact, he had avoided conflict most of his life, content to just get by and get along. Now he was faced with a choice that he couldn’t avoid. Do nothing and help the lich or try and act, helping the old lady from his previous world. Aaron chose the latter, and while he didn’t have any control over his defenders or the traps and dangerous areas of his dungeon, he did retain the ability to silence the warning going off in his head, the warning that intruders were inside.

Berikoz would figure it out before long, but just maybe he could buy this lady and her companions enough time to reach his core and do whatever it was they planned to do.

Chapter 41

“It’s kind of empty in here, isn’t it?” Fizz said as they moved through the lich’s dungeon.

“Poorly decorated, too. You’d think a lich with an almost unlimited lifespan would learn some taste at some point. Sure, he’d probably want a dark and evil-looking place, but this is just bland,” Florence said as they passed through yet another empty, rock-strewn chamber on their way to the lich’s core.

“Hold. Another trap,” Hendry said, appearing from stealth to fiddle with something under a nearby rock. The rogue had insisted on joining them, despite Reggie and the other rogues moving away from the dungeon, not wanting any part of the direct fighting, if they could avoid it.

Florence was thankful for Hendry’s help and told him that she would make sure Bhargath knew how nice he had been. Already, they had avoided three traps that would have not only hurt like crazy but also likely alerted the lich to their presence. It was going better than she thought. Florence was worried the lich would detect them as soon as they entered and either withdraw some of his forces to stop them or have a small army ready for just this sort of thing.

“How much of this place is left?” Patricio asked. They had descended four levels so far, and the passage leading down to the fifth was right in front of them. As soon as Hendry was done, they could go.

“We’re good,” was all the rogue said, going back into stealth to serve as their scout and trap detector. For not being all that sharp, Hendry was really good at his job, and Florence was tempted to poach him from the guild if she could. Doug fancied himself a commando kitty, but without opposable thumbs, there wasn’t much he could about traps other than pointing them out and hoping there was a way to avoid them.

“You! How did you slip inside my dungeon?” the voice of the lich boomed in her mind.

“Cut out the theatrics, Berikoz. Your whole scary guy routine doesn’t work on me. You came into my home uninvited, and I thought I would return the favor,” Florence said.

“Unlikely. My army is already on its way back to deal with you, though I may keep you around for a while. A dungeon core that can walk around free has some interesting possibilities, and I do enjoy some experimentation.”

Florence redoubled their pace. It didn’t sound like the lich had left any forces behind to defend himself, and those creeps in the tunnels would take a while to get here. Well, except for the ones that walked into the tunnel when they entered the dungeon. The pull of the other core was getting closer, and she could feel it was on this level. There was something else in there as well, another presence with the lich, one that was growing fainter by the minute.

“As soon as we find the core room, one of us needs to touch the core, no matter what might be waiting in there for us,” Florence said. If she or any of those linked with her could touch that core, maybe she could shatter it and the lich inside. She didn’t think it would be that easy, but it was worth a shot.

“I can feel them coming up behind us. Let me slow them down,” Hendry offered. Florence could sense it, too, the first of the dungeon creatures had doubled back and were running full speed toward them.

“Do it, but get yourself back into hiding as soon as you’re done,” Florence said. Hendry didn’t say anything else. He just started working, pulling out a few simple traps that all the rogues carried and were trained to use.

“We’re lucky that Hendry is part of the guild. They like to focus on traps that hamper pursuit, which is exactly what we need right now,” Patricio said. The core room was just ahead, beyond the empty chamber that held the dungeon champion. She didn’t recall who the champion was for this dungeon, but it must have been one of the giants that attacked in the tunnel.

“Uh, I think they forgot to bring the champion along on their invasion,” Doug said as the far wall opened and the biggest giant they had seen stepped forward, roaring a challenge to the party. The roar stunned Patricio and Hendry, who was trying to put the finishing touches on his traps. Thankfully, the battle cry had no effect on the others, who were linked to Florence’s core and immune to that kind of nonsense.

“No holding back. Through this guy and the lich is ours!” Florence shouted, already summoning her first kitty. With her mana just over three hundred, she could chain off the summon spells as long as that giant didn’t stop her. Kind of like Crusher, this giant had two heads but only one pair of arms. One arm held a stone club with runes etched into it, and the other held an oversized axe that glowed with an enchantment that alternated between blue and red.

“Oh yeah, that’s just what we needed. Get him, Spud!” Florence shouted as her first summons turned out to be one of her champion kitties. Spud was a mean old kitty and needed no prodding to get him to attack. As big as the cat was, big enough to serve as a mount, he only came up to the giant’s shin. As agile as any kitty, Spud dodged both the axe and the club, running by to rip his claws into the giant’s calf. The wound was deep, but a creature of this size had a health pool to match.

A bolt of lightning shot out from Fizz, the latest version of his Fizzbolt 2000 functioning correctly for once. The giant roared again as the bolt hit him, but it was a roar of pain, not another ability to stun her party.

“Florence, we’ll keep him busy. You get to the core!” Doug shouted as he charged in, attacking the giant and using his big kitty claws to climb up and slash behind the knee. Her companion had read the fight correctly. If they could hobble or knock the giant over, they’d have a much better chance.

“I’m on my way,” Florence replied, summoning as she hustled toward the core room. The next cast brought the two hallway commando kitties, Buddy and Princess, who charged off after the giant. Halfway across the huge chamber, Florence watched as the axe finally caught up to Spud, taking him out with a single blow. That giant wasn’t messing around, and if one hit could kill Spud, it would likely do the same for the rest of her party.

Another summons brought out Stubbs and Scylla, a brawler and a water mage, to aid in the fight. She got off a final spell as she entered the core room, using a hundred mana to bolster her defenders, raise their level, and make them even tougher kitties, Doug included.

The core room was just as bleak as the rest of the stupid dungeon, except for a golden pillar where a dirty white core hovered. Nothing was in here to stop her, and Florence moved toward the core, feeling the pain of George being killed by the giant champion. If she survived, George would respawn, but to survive, she had to reach that core gem. A blast of mental energy slammed into her; the lich had unleashed something similar to how her Shake the Cane ability pushed back enemies.

Stupid mind magic didn’t work on Florence, though. She walked right through the energy and reached out to touch the gem.

As soon as her hand touched it, she could feel two presences. One was the lich, screaming horrible obscenities at her, and the other was someone else, the true owner of the core. Her view faded and she found herself in a small room. On one side was a young man chained to the wall. He looked gaunt and half starved. On the other side of the room was the lich, looking just like she remembered, but kind of less scary, probably because he was so much weaker now. In the center of the room was a representation of the core gem. All she had to do was touch it and it would be destroyed, along with both of its inhabitants.

The young man looked at her, pleading for her help. There was no argument from him. He wanted to join her, wanted to be free of the lich. She was more than happy to save the guy, but there was one problem. If she moved to save that kid, she would let Berikoz open the door and possibly escape. This was her goal. This was what she had been sent to do: destroy the lich. If Berikoz got away, she might never catch him again. The time that Michael had given her to complete the quest would run out, and she would face some horrible eternal fate.

That kid, though, looked like he was in his early twenties, and not only that; he also looked familiar. A memory popped up. She remembered who this was. It was the kid that got in her way as she left the game shop that first time. The kid she tried to push out of her way, the one that caused her to fall in front of the truck that ended her first life. He was the reason she was stuck with all this dungeon core nonsense.

Florence took a step toward the gem in the center of the room, Berikoz alternately cursing and pleading with her to leave it intact. She took another step toward the gem, only needing to reach out her hand to end this.

No… she had to be honest with herself, consarnit. Florence knew in her heart that the kid wasn’t at fault for her first death. She was a different person back then, unhappy and angry at everyone. It was her anger, that desire to push someone away, that had led to her demise. There was nobody to blame but herself. That kid didn’t deserve the fate he had received, perhaps even less so than Florence. Decision made, she turned from the gem and walked over to the young man. She heard the door open and the lich escaped, even as she touched the chains binding the kid, releasing him from his torment.