‘Soon after you left,’ Nyx started carefully, clearly keeping an eye on Dominic’s reactions, ‘we were invaded.’ Dominic’s wings ruffled automatically as his hackles rose and his whole body stiffened. It might be her tone or maybe an impression she sent along with her words, but he had a feeling that she wasn’t just talking about one creature here.
‘Invaded by what?’ he demanded. Nyx shook her head, her antennae shifting against the movement.
‘I did not recognise the creatures. They were smaller than us, with long ears and sandy-coloured fur, when it was not striped with blood. They had sharp teeth and ravenous appetites. We first discovered their presence by the trail of blood they left behind.’
‘Wait…’ said Leo slowly. ‘Don’t tell me they were those rabbit things?’
Dominic had to admit that the descriptions did seem to match.
‘Was this them?’ he asked, sending a picture of the meat-eating rabbits he’d once faced. He couldn’t remember what they were called but he certainly remembered their appearance well enough.
‘Yes, that’s them,’ Nyx answered, sounding surprised. ‘Did you encounter more on your journey back to us?’
‘No, this was from another time,’ he dismissed, his thoughts racing. ‘You say there were many of them?’
‘Enough to cover the forest floor. They moved across the forest like a swarm of insects, killing and eating all they could.’
‘And then what happened?’ Dominic asked impatiently as it seemed that the large ameshek was done speaking. She sent across the feeling of a shrug.
‘And then they left. Vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Only a few of us actually saw them – the rest simply saw the destruction they had left behind. But in case they come back, I thought it wise to allow the kesh to remain as scouts in the trees. An early warning system.’
That was concerning. Both that the killer-rabbits had come and gone so quickly and that the kesh had so rapidly regained the position they’d had before, this time even with true authorisation – even if it appeared they’d slightly misinterpreted it. Dominic had wanted to find out whether he could trust them to abide by their word before giving them more free-rein.
But at the same time, he couldn’t fault Nyx for choosing to set out a warning network when she’d seen what these killer-rabbits were capable of.
‘So none of the Pride came into conflict with the rabbits?’ he checked. Nyx quickly replied with a feeling of negation.
‘No. Those few who saw the swarm decided to retreat back to the Pride. We prepared to defend the centre if necessary, but in the end it wasn’t needed.’
Definitely concerning. Why did the killer-rabbits leave without even trying to attack? He wasn’t complaining, but still. Dominic would have understood if they had retreated after trying to take the Place of Power and failing, but his previous experience with them was that they didn’t retreat until almost all their number were dead. Unless levelling up had given them more caution, it just didn’t make sense.
‘Do you have any idea why they might have left?’ he asked Nyx, hoping she might have a clue.
‘No,’ the ameshek answered disappointingly. And then she hesitated.
‘What?’
‘It did coincide with several other creatures leaving,’ Nyx answered. ‘Including a good portion of the kesh.’
‘What?’ Dominic asked again, this time more incredulously. ‘The kesh left?’
‘Not all of them,’ Nyx corrected him. ‘Just a large group.’
‘And you don’t know why the kesh left?’ Dominic checked, still finding it difficult to believe his ears. Nyx twitched her antennae nonchalantly.
‘The kesh I spoke to about guarding the forest did not wish to explain. She said merely that they had made their choice and would no longer be considered as part of the colony. I thought that it was as a result of the ultimatum you gave them before you left. It is only now that I consider how those two departures occurred at approximately the same time that I wonder whether they were linked.’
‘I guess I need to talk to the kesh, then,’ Dominic sighed. He supposed it made sense that they might have left as a result of his ultimatum, though it had taken them a while to make up their minds if so.
‘You were going to have to do that anyway,’ Leo pointed out, ‘unless you want them thinking that they can control our boundaries the way they did before.’
‘Point,’ Dominic conceded. ‘Alright, Nyx, although I’m not exactly happy about the kesh regaining so much freedom in such a short time, I’m not sure I’d have done any differently. Not considering their advantage in the trees. Apart from the invasion, how have things been back here? Have the kesh warned you about any other invaders?’
There ensued a bit more discussion during which Dominic was able to find out that the Pride hadn’t just collapsed without him and instead had continued with their usual hunting forays. No lions had died, though Dominic made a mental note to check whether any of the cubs had got old enough to be brought into the Pride properly – he wasn’t sure what age was the threshold and since he was likely to be away for some time again in the near future, it was worth giving it a go now. And apparently the kesh had come in handy a couple of times, warning about potential predators approaching.
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‘I approve of how strong my pack mates have got,’ Nyx said as the conversation turned towards Dominic’s own activities. ‘I would like to do the same as them,’ she announced.
‘That’s the idea,’ Dominic admitted, ‘but not for a bit of time. I needed to destroy that dungeon to get its Core. Once I use the Core on the Place of Power, at least one dungeon should be created in our territory. It might take a few days for the dungeon to open up and be ready to access, but after that I would like all of you to be running it as frequently as possible – as long as you do it safely. I’m hoping that Sirius and Procyon might be willing to lead dungeon groups – they should have gained enough experience from our go-around to know what to look for in terms of traps and so on.’
‘Traps?’ Nyx asked, sounding baffled. ‘What are ‘traps’?’
‘Exactly,’ Dominic answered, his point proven. ‘Which is why either Sirius or Procyon need to be the leaders. You’ll learn fast, though, if this new dungeon – or dungeons – is anything like the one we just ran.’
‘I see. Are you planning on naming all of my pack-mates?’ Nyx asked archly. Dominic huffed at her in amusement.
‘Names are important to me. Sue me. But more seriously, if they’d rather choose their own names, then they should go ahead. I don’t want them to have names they don’t like. But if they don’t choose their names, then yes, I’ll probably give one to each of them at some point.’
‘I’ll let them know,’ Nyx said with amusement while Dominic pushed himself to his feet.
‘Well, thanks for the catch up, but now I need to go and put this Core into the Place of Power before it expires.’ He had been able to get a sense of how long it should last while it was in his storage space, so he wasn’t in a panic over it. But the sooner he did the job, the better. Especially since losing this particular Core would be a serious blow to his hopes of quickly sorting out the situation with his broken mana heart and damaged soul.
After exchanging a couple more words, Dominic padded towards the large black stone which was at the centre of the Place of Power.
Touching it, he pulled up its status.
[Place of Power ownership: Dominic Martin Cole / Leo
Status: Active – Unlocked
Level 1 (progress 3%)
Benefits: None currently available
Area: 42.8 km2 (0.1 km2/day, 5%)
Owner: (10%)
Recognised (affiliated) denizens: 37 (40%)
Recognised (unaffiliated) denizens: 119 (5%)
Unrecognised denizens: 1622 (35%)
Deity ‘Selessa’: (5%)
129 PP/hour ]
The first thing he noticed was that it had a new indication of progress. Progress to the next level, he had to assume. That was interesting in that it showed just how quickly the Place of Power would grow by itself – three percent in the amount of time he’d led it. The second interesting thing about it was that it hadn’t been there before, indicating that perhaps any progress made by one owner was lost if the Place of Power changed hands since he couldn’t believe that the length of time the amesheks had held the Place of Power meant nothing. Or maybe it could only start gaining progress once it had been ‘unlocked’.
Otherwise, the rest of the changes were as expected – its territory had expanded a little, and so had the number of Prey Points it generated per hour. The number of unrecognised denizens had dropped a bit – perhaps the result of the killer rabbits coming through. Or possibly it was to do with their own hunting – he’d have to check with the two matriarchs to find out where they were sending the hunting parties. Hopefully the lower numbers weren’t because he reduced the percentage for the unrecognized denizens, but that hadn’t been much to begin with anyway. The number of recognised unaffiliated denizens had also gone down a bit – the kesh leaving was Dominic’s guess. As for the recognised affiliated denizens, that had gone up a bit as expected – Dominic had brought back the albuhas with him who hadn’t been part of the Pride before.
‘Alright,’ he said to Leo. ‘Let’s see what happens with this dungeon Core.’ He had to admit, if only to himself, that there were butterflies in his stomach. A lot hinged on this working.
‘What are you going to do? I don’t see any options to absorb the Core,’ Leo asked curiously. Dominic shook his mane slightly.
‘Watch.’
Pulling the Core out, he nudged it with his paw so that it rolled over the ground towards the large obsidian monolith. The round, slightly faceted shape of the Core rolled easily enough until it made contact with the monolith. There was a quiet ‘chink’.
Nothing happened for a moment.
‘Great idea,’ Leo said sarcastically. Dominic was about to respond when a message popped up in front of him.
[Your linked Place of Power has made contact with an unlocked dungeon Core which it is able to absorb. Warning: though absorbing dungeon Cores usually have beneficial effects on a Place of Power, some incompatible power sources can have poor reactions when combined.
Do you desire the Place of Power to absorb this Core?]
Dominic only hesitated for a moment before he agreed to the prompt. Doing so when it might have a bad effect against not doing anything and definitely not getting what he wanted – the decision was clear.
The dungeon Core flashed with multicoloured light and then seemed to melt, sagging against the obsidian monolith as it slowly lost its circular shape. Dominic watched in fascination as the colours within the glass-like Core were sucked into the blackness of the Place of Power. For a moment the colours took over the midnight shade of the obsidian monolith, and then the majority were consumed in turn as they spread out and were diluted. At the same time, the Core itself deformed more and shrank, like it was a juice-box being sucked dry. Finally, the shell of the Core itself was absorbed and the surface of the Place of Power smoothed out.
Even once the Core had been fully absorbed, hints of the colours still remained, dancing and playing in the midnight darkness of the Place of Power itself. It looked almost like water or smoke, swirls of colour twisting and turning under the surface of the obsidian block.
And then the colours faded completely. Yet when Dominic looked closely, he could see that the once pure-black stone had been transformed slightly. Now, instead of being pure black, there were hints of a deep purple or dark blue when Dominic shifted his head from side to side.
Opening the status again, Dominic saw the same information as before, but now there were two extra messages.
[Place of Power has absorbed an F-grade dungeon Core. Time to fully consolidate new power: 03:58:07
Any benefits gained from this Core will be assessed during this time.]
Dominic sighed. Almost four hours. Well, at least the following message indicated something he could do with at least some of that time.
[For your actions, Patron deity Selessa of the Hunt offers you a visit to her local realm. Do you accept it?]
here!
