Darion looked around. How long has he walked? The soles of his shoes were torn now. His shirt was missing some of its snowflakes. But he still walked. He couldn’t be captured now.

He was in a dungeon’s territory. Furthermore, he could feel the core nearby. The core was preventing him from reaching the entrance. It was shifting the maze of the dungeon ever so slightly every time Darion felt like he was nearing the exit.

The sky above him was a fake. The open-air around him was stale and moldy. He was in a cave. Not just any cave, but the dungeon of illusions. It was the only dungeon that has fought Thinker to a stalemate in the years. It showed no mercy to those who entered its tunnels.

The good thing about being in such a cave was that at least water was plentiful. The dungeon wasn’t even trying to mask itself anymore. Water was falling from the sky, not in rain, but from an invisible waterfall. It had drenched Darion as he passed beneath it.

He drank from the water and filled his water skin. When he was at Theanore’s, this water skin was filled with mint tea, his favorite. Now it only held water.

“Can’t we negotiate? I no longer work for Odious Thinker!” Yelled Darion into the emptiness. An ant appeared before him. It was one of Theanore’s builder ants, now under new management.

Darion had no way of knowing whether this ant knew him or not. It moved away and he followed. It led him to pass many invisible waterfalls, only puddles giving them away.

The further in they went, the more arrogant the core become. They passed through a dimmer tunnel and then the tunnel proved to be that of a cave, just as Darion knew it to be.

The ant stopped, bowed at something in the darkness, and scurried away. Darion felt for a crystal around him but found nothing. It appears that this core was choosing the simplest illusion of all. Simply not being there while giving off the feeling that it was.

“You want to negotiate? What can you give me, disgraced gremlin?” Said the core and Darion saw two yellow eyes glowing in the darkness. This must be it.

“Inside information on two dungeon cores,” there was nothing that he could say about Theanore that would put her into a weaker position. He tried to convince himself of that as guilt ate at him.

“Odious Thinker and who else?”

“Theanore the nymph. She is more of a farming dungeon. In the plant growing and animal rearing way, not the proper one,” said Darion.

The eyes came closer and Darion felt a hand on his shoulder. The nails of said hand dug deep inside his flesh and he fought not to scream.

“A nymph? I created a nymph in these very halls five months ago, but she appeared somewhere else. Where I know not. In the character design, the nymph was supposed to be with strawberry-blonde curls and green eyes. Is the nymph you speak of my wayward mob? I spend 10000000 mana on her!”

Darion was frozen in place. Theanore has started out as a mob? A big investment that will never see a return, seeing as she was a dungeon core now. Or was she? Marinus too got to speak with the system. He, too, got to absorb wealth to get more mana. Was the system in the process of creating a new core out of mobs?

But what was he going to do now that he exposed his supreme overlord? She was tiny and defenseless. At best, the dungeon of illusions will demand the mana to be paid back, either in mana crystals or gold coins. At worse, it will be war.

Darion prayed to anyone who was listening that his mana has regenerated. He clicked his feet three times and, thankfully, he disappeared to the screech of the dungeon core.

When Darion was teleported by the petting zoo, he could have wept. The animals there didn’t mind it as he climbed their cages and gave each one of them a hug. It was almost like a dream. He had nearly died and now he was home.

But he needed to get to the bottom of this. He rushed to the house of the family and saw a lot of heavy law tomes piled on the table. He smiled at the seriousness with which Theanore has approached her being his lawyer.

Likewise, he woke them all and was made to go and take a bath and put on some fresh clothes. They were Marinus’ since they were about the same size. After he was done, he returned to the family to tell them about everything that had happened.

As he suspected, Thinker didn’t say anything about him running away. But the news that he was nearly stoned to death shocked the family. His admittance that he was responsibly earned him a slap from Theanore, who teared up and began to cry. They had to wait for her to calm down for him to tell them about the dungeon of illusions’ claim.

“You are saying I am not a dungeon core? And I have a mother?” Asked Theanore, wiping at her eyes.

“Only your system would know. And yes, the dungeon core of the dungeon of illusions is a female. You do have a mother if the claim is correct.”

“Tania, am I the dungeon core of the forest of fireflies?” Asked Theanore and text immediately appeared.

When you were created, I saw the potential in you to be good, so I snatched your soul away and replanted it in your apple tree. There is a powerful barrier placed by grandpa Thinker around your borders that would prevent your…mother…from reclaiming you. Do you wish to get in contact with her?

“I do! I have always wanted a mother, Tania,” said Theanore, and she waited until the connection was put through. Then an image of a beautiful woman who looked like Theanore but had golden eyes appeared.

“Hi, mommy.” Said Theanore shyly. The illusion blinked.