Cat Core 2, Chapter 2.

Chapter 2.

Welcome, human! You have been selected among the billions of your kind to be granted a great honor.

“Just hush with all that nonsense. I know what’s a going on and you can just go ahead and send me to my gem,” Florence called out, noting that it was the same prompt that had appeared the first time she had died. These here administration folks were just getting lazy as far as she was concerned. She surely didn’t like floating here without a body, waiting for someone to do their job.

The natural life of this core has been completed. Please wait while you are connected with your core gem.

“Hey there, system prompt guy, how long is this process supposed to take?” Florence asked as more time passed and nothing happened.

“Please refrain from interruptions, I am endeavoring to complete your transfer,” a voice called out.

“How about you also transfer some manners into yourself while you’re at it. Don’t you know it's rude to not introduce yourself?” Florence chided. Her friend, Tabitha Long, might have said that Florence had become downright pleasant to be around these last few years, but pleasant or not, she wasn’t going to put up with rude behavior from anyone.

“Introductions are not required, please cease any further interruptions,” the voice said.

“What is with you people? This is the second time I’ve died and both times the service has been terrible. What’s your name, I’m going to report you to the manager if you don’t get on with this transfer process thingy and apologize for your rudeness while you’re at it,” Florence demanded. She’d been down this road before and wasn’t afraid to tangle with disembodied voice guy. After all, she sure set Doug straight when they first met, didn’t she?

“I do not have a name, my kind has been elevated above such petty things,” the voice said.

“Ha! Tell that to Doug. You know, he said the same thing when I died the first time, and he created my core. Now, unless you want to end up as a kitten-sized dungeon assistant, I suggest you get on with this, Charlie,” Florence said. If the voice wasn’t going to tell her his name, she was just going to go ahead and give him one of her own. Just to spite the voice, she named him after her crazy old uncle, Charlie Valentine, who believed the Russians were tunnel under his house to start their invasion of the country.

“I have heard rumors of this Doug, his is a cautionary tale told among my kind. You are the catalyst mentioned in the tale, are you not? I have no desire to be this Charlie. Please refrain from any escalation and I shall see about expediting your return to Aerkon,” Charlie said.

“Guess good news travels fast, glad to see you disembodied voice guys got the message to not hassle Florence Valentine,” Florence said, pleased with herself and the notoriety she had gained with these weirdos. In what only seemed like a short time, but she had no way to really gauge it, a system prompt appeared.

Abnormality in the subject Core Gem has been detected, analyzing the cause.

“Oh, no, I ain’t waiting any longer Charlie, get on with this. No system jibber-jabber is going to keep me floating around like a ghost, no siree. Get me back in my gem or I’m going to escalate. I got a dungeon to build.

“Oh, rest assured, there is no escalation necessary. I’ll send you to your gem presently, just understand neither I nor the powers that control the system can be held responsible for any problems due to the hasty transfer,” Charlie said.

“Yeah, yeah, just get a move on,” Florence replied.

Analysis of gem abnormality overridden, transferring the entity known as Florence Valentine to the aforementioned Core Gem.

Florence felt her mind being drawn away from Charlie and his gem-making place. Darkness engulfed her and after a short time, at least she thought it was a short time since the people in charge didn’t even give her a watch or a clock or anything, tiny pinpricks of light appeared. She could see, the darkness pierced by the faint red glow of her gem. Of course, she liked to think of the glow as a happy rosy color, but Doug insisted it was just plain old red. What did he know, cats were colorblind, weren’t they? The glow revealed she was enclosed in a container of some sort, if she had to guess, it was a crate or wooden box.

The licking skeleton guy was supposed to make sure her gem was safe and that she didn’t forget her memories and whatnot. Well, she remembered everything, or at least she thought she did. If this lich expected Florence to owe him a favor, he better not just leave her in a stupid box. She was back and had lots to do if she wanted her home back in order. Why, even for a storage box, this was a dingy-looking container. For all she knew, her beautiful gem was going to get splinters. Could a gem get splinters? Well, she sure as shootin’ didn’t want to find out. Despite all her power as a core, she was unable to get herself out of her box. Better call in some backup.

“Hey, Doug! Get over here and open this box up,” she called out.

Silence met her request, and she began to fear her friend hadn’t joined her. Was Doug just taking his sweet time in getting back or had something else happened to him? She began to worry, not liking being trapped in a box one bit. To make matters worse the enclosed space made her gem feel too small as if she was wearing a dress that was a half size too small. Of course, Florence Valentine would never try to wear the wrong size, not at all like Cindy Klineman who always tried to insist she was a size smaller than she was. Florence could hear Cindy’s complaints now, always whining that the clothing companies were sizing their stuff wrong. It never occurred to her that the problem was the seconds on dessert she always seemed to take at the senior center potluck.

Well, if Doug weren’t here, she’d just have to take matters into her own hands. She was a core after all, so Florence pulled up her status screen.

Florence Valentine,

Cat Core, level 4

Experience: 1/1500

Funds: $0/350

Defender expense $0/350

“Hey, I’ve been robbed! Where’s my money?” Florence shouted, but it didn’t seem like there was anyone there to hear her, or that her voice was even projecting from her gem at all. She distinctly remembered that while her account wasn’t full when she died, there was some money in it. Did everything drain away while she was gone? Now that just wasn’t fair, taking a senior citizen's money just because she died.

Fine, she knew what to do, she and Doug even had a plan for starting from scratch again. Florence just had to wait for funds to start to trickle in naturally, when she had enough, she would take control of the room she was in and dissolve the box around her. What really irked her was that she was going to have to rebuild her rocking chair. Why didn’t that licking skeleton at least keep that here for her to sit on, rude, that’s what he was, a rude undead skeleton guy. From everything that Doug had her read to prepare for her return, these lich’s were supposed to be super smart and whatnot, but this one wasn’t impressing her at all.

Her plan to start back from scratch was solid, but there was only one problem, no money was coming in. It was that durned box; it was blocking her abilities somehow. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t exert her influence past it. She sat there inside her stupid box, wondering how long it would take that skeleton to come to get her out. To pass time, she composed quite the scathing speech she was going to give once she was free. Both that Berikoz, that was the skeleton guy’s name she remembered, and Doug were going to get it. And to think, Doug wanted her to create his avatar as a giant tiger-sized cat this time. Nope, it was back in the kitten form for him. If he didn’t show up soon, she would make his kitten form one of them creepy hairless cat things. That should teach him a lesson and not keep a lady waiting.

Florence tried to access her interface, but other than the same limited data it had shown her earlier, nothing else could be accessed. She kept getting an error requesting she find a suitable location for her core to control. Why didn’t they just leave her in the home she had already built? She had big plans for that place. Of course, she and Doug had plans in place if she was located somewhere else, a possibility that Doug had warned her about. They had looked at everything from volcanos to underwater locations, but never did they consider a box.

She was beginning to worry about Doug, realizing how much she missed his company. They had been working together as a team for years now and it was strange to be alone, and even worse, she was without all the kitties. Her little babies had such interesting personalities and powers, she couldn’t wait to bring them back. Why, they must be as lonely as lonely could be since Florence had been gone for so long.

Her thoughts and concerns were interrupted by the sound of someone banging on metal. Dull thumps reverberated through the box she was locked inside as the sounds increased in volume. Finally, a small pop was heard, and Florence thought she detected the sweet scent of mana being expended. It had been too long since she had controlled and tasted it. Of course, she would still think of it as money since that seemed to irk Doug to no end. Playing Dungeon Delve had taught her a lot, but she still preferred things to be labeled the way they used to be. Voices broke the silence.

“Why didn’t you just do that earlier?” A gravelly voice demanded.

“I didn’t know I could, the compulsion of the geas we are under doesn’t manifest until something triggers it. It is a true testament to the power of the caster that the lich was able to weave such intricate instructions into the spell. I sincerely hope he will hold up his end of the bargain and impart some of that knowledge to me,” the voice of an elderly man replied.

“Mages, always using fifty words when one will do. Now everyone quiet down, I have to read this, and then whatever it is that we’re supposed to grab will be revealed,” the first man replied. Florence could hear the sound of paper being crinkled as the man cleared his voice and began reading. Bless his heart, the man sure had trouble sounding out the big words. He should have given the paper to the old fart, but that guy might have taken too long to read it, he sounded like kind of a know it all.

“Dear Florence Valentine. I issue you my sincerest apologies for not being here when you returned to this world. I intended to greet you personally and take you to the perfect location for your new dungeon. Strike that, I recall that you prefer to call your abode a home rather than the common designation of a dungeon.

“Unfortunately, events have transpired, and I shall be occupied with other endeavors for quite some time. Rest assured that your gem is in perfect condition and as you obviously can tell, your memories are intact. My requirements from you will be made known in the future. Should things go well in my current task, I may never need to call upon that favor.

“These people that are currently in the vault with you are under my employ. A bigger collection of deviants, cutthroats, and villains of all sorts you will not find anywhere on Aerkon. Do not fear them, they are under my control and will die to protect you until you can be located in your new home. Depending on how frugal the party is with the advance payment that I’ve provided them, the journey may take some time unless they spent at least some of their coin on a teleportation scroll. Have no worries, you will be in capable hands during your travels, however long those travels may be.

“Once more, welcome back to Aerkon, Florence Valentine.

“It’s signed by the lich, and the signature reads, Berikoz the lich, not a licking skeleton I fear I must remind you,” the gravelly-voiced man said.

“Oy, look on the shelf, we’s got a glowing thing,” a new and screechy voice called out. The accent was familiar, but Florence couldn’t quite place it. According to Berikoz’s note, she was going to be taken to a new home by these hooligans. While she was grateful for the skeleton guy keeping his end of the deal, he was in for a piece of her mind when they met again. How dare he saddle her with scoundrels during the relocation to her new home. She supposed creepy liches and the like couldn’t exactly walk into town and hire a reputable party, but it would have been really nice to have been met by Shara and her friends.

“I’s takes a peek,” the screechy voice called.

“I wouldn’t do that Blivix, we weren’t instructed to tamper with the package,” the old man said.

“I’s not scaredy, likes youse are,” the person that seemed to be called Blivix, as stupid a name as Florence ever heard, said.

With a creak, the lid of the box she was in opened, and a face peered down at her in the faint torchlight. The green skin and red eyes of a goblin gleamed with greed as he looked at Florence. Unlike the delightful little scamps that lived in her home, this one looked like trouble. A deep scar ran across its face and one of its pointed ears had been clipped off as well. Grubby hands that looked like they hadn’t ever seen a bar of soap reached down and lifted her from the box.

“Oh, a shiny one, this is,” Blivix said.

“Leave it be, we’re here to protect it, not ogle it,” The burly human with the gravelly voice grunted out.

“I wasn’t going to takes it, I was just having me a look-see Kam,” Blivix replied. This Kam was the gravelly-voiced guy and as she watched, his hands strayed to the hilts of the two curved swords at his waist. The man was armored in chainmail and if Florence was any judge, the gear was well made and gave off the feeling of something enchanted.

The goblin wasn’t any slouch in the gear department either. Despite his obvious lack of hygiene, the goblin had well cared for studded leather armor and a whole passel of knives strapped all over him. His gear also gave off the faint aura of enchantment. Behind the pair was the old guy, and instead of a wizard’s robes and the staff she expected, the man was dressed like a commoner and had no visible weapons on his person. With them there magic slinging types, you could never tell, and for all Florence knew, this guy was all decked out in the good stuff and was keeping an illusion up to appear poorly equipped.

One final member rounded out this party of ne’er-do-wells, a massive orc in heavy plate armor. His armor and weapons were black as night and a massive shield festooned with spikes was resting on the ground, while an axe with a visible red glow was clenched in his beefy fist. If these folks were going for the ugliest adventure party award, Florence believed they would win it easy. Tearing her eyes from the ugly party, Florence got her first look at the chamber she had been trapped in. It was kind of like she had figured, a storage room of some sort, lots of dusty boxes and chests. The only exit was an imposing door made of metal with no visible handle or latch on it. These clowns must have been trying to force it open, making all that noise she heard earlier, when they were instead teleported inside.

“Let’s all proceed with the task given to us, that way we can reap our rewards and go our separate ways,” the old man said. With a grunt, Kam moved his hands away from his blades, and Florence could see Blivix visibly relax. Instead of dropping her back into her box, the goblin tied a length of cord around her gem and proceeded to wear it as a necklace. That almost caused another fight amongst them, but whatever hocus pocus the skeleton guy had put on them must have prevented them from hurting each other, no matter how much they seemed to want to. Scumbags or saints, Florence didn’t care who they were as long as they got her to her new home quickly.