Chapter 15: Friends and Relations

Tuesday, March 28th, 8:02 AM

Harbor Bridge

Santa Cruz, CA

Joe led fifteen people, staring curiously toward the rough stone approximation of the Crow’s Nest that stood precisely where the restaurant used to be. Nine others joined his team of six from the newly-liberated makeshift camp at UCSC Genomics.

“Uncle Joe, what do you think it is? Something to do with the magic you have, or that huge dragon thing we saw last night?” Rihelah asked from behind him.

“I expect we’ll know more soon,” Joe replied.

“I’m glad you’re with us, Joe. That dragon thing was scary,” Siobhán said with conviction. She edged closer to Joe, and Joe edged away, toward Mike.

After they reached their destination, Joe hesitated for a moment at the entrance while Mike and Michael moved around the building to check its exterior. He was about to enter the structure when Mike called out from behind it, “Schimpf! You better come see this!”

When he rounded the corner to where Mike was, Joe’s jaw dropped. “You gotta be kidding me.”

“Yep. There’s some serious fuckery going on here, Schimpf,” Mike remarked.

“No way.” Siobhán trotted ahead for a closer look. Her trim, shapely body and flowing hair caught Joe’s eye for a moment.

Most of the others gathered around and murmured at the sight.

A massive set of tide pools had been eroded into the beach beside the Harbor inlet—in a single day.

“There weren’t any storms last night. Maybe it was the dragon?” Michael frowned, glancing between Joe and his father as he spoke.

“It had to be that dragon! You heard the booming sounds it made, same as the rest of us.” Joy exclaimed. Then she seemed to notice everyone looking at her and shrank away to stand between Michael and Rihelah.

“There aren’t any storms that can do this in a single night. It’d take a damned tsunami! Even then, I don’t think that could do something like this.” Mike shook his head.

“Hay, chingada!” Emmanuel exclaimed from farther away.

“Yeah. Fuckin’ shit is right, Gonzales. It’s impossible,” Joe said. “But so was healing people with light from my fingertips. So were humongous light-shows with voices louder than an F-22, speaking in languages nobody knows.”

Joe turned and noted that Emmanuel was no longer there. “Where’s Gonzales?”

Jeffrey Stapp, the eldest man from the UCSC Genomics encampment, who’d kept himself in better shape than many of the younger folks, pointed silently toward the structure.

“Fucker went in alone?” Joe frowned.

Jeffrey nodded.

Joe facepalmed and sighed.

“Stupid is as stupid does.” Mike pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Okay, I’m going in solo.” Joe dug around in Mike’s pack for a moment, then attached a small tactical flashlight to his Glock.

“Bring the kid back alive, if possible,” Mike chuckled.

“Oo-rah,” Joe said quietly and nodded.

---

They survived! My sweet students…

[Sandy! Sunny! Guess who’s here? Guess who came to visit? Come see!]

The Labs called off their current hunt and made a beeline for the humans on the shore. While I would lose the mana income they generated for a time, I wasn’t too worried—I still had my Devilflies and Twilight crickets out on patrol.

I could hardly contain myself as I sobbed with relief at the sight of my three favorite pupils. Here they were, hale and whole, right outside my Dungeon.

[Soybean and Joybean and Ryebean. My favorite human beans. Hey! Can you girls hear me?]

My heart sank when none of them reacted and it was clear that they couldn’t. But I could hear their voices, and that was comforting.

With people like them alive, there’s hope for humanity, yet! I perked back up.

---

Siobhán felt an urgent tap against her right shoulder while she watched Joe disappear into the stone recreation of the Crow’s Nest. Her gaze lingered after Joe for a moment before she looked up at Joy to see what was the matter.

When Siobhán stepped forward for a better view to follow her friend's eyes, she noticed Joy’s mouth was agape. “Uh, Joy? What are you—”

She saw them.

Two furry faces moved through the water near the beach a few hundred meters away.

Sea Lions? No. The shape is wrong, and they have big ears... What could—are those dogs?

Siobhán’s eyes widened.

The canines each threw a wake as they moved, swimming much faster than should be possible as they approached parallel to the shore, and it made her uneasy.

Magic, mysterious stone buildings, instant tide pools, and dogs that swim like dolphins. Right…

As she’d done several times since meeting up with Joe, Mike, Rihelah and Michael—and Emmanuel… Siobhán pinched herself to see if she was awake.

The dogs exited the water and trotted merrily along the beach toward them with tongues hanging out and tails wagging like crazy.

They’re Yellow Labs! Just like Professor O’Connor had… I miss Sunny and Sandy! Siobhán frowned.

Poor babies…

Siobhán reflected on the times she’d house-and-puppy-sat for her favorite professor when Professor O’Connor went away for conferences. And now, all of them were gone forever.

Tears threatened Siobhán’s weary eyes.

Then Siobhán looked up and recognized the dogs, and her tears became a flood.

“Sandy? Sunny-girl!” She half-choked, stumbling into a run toward the dogs, who whined with their tails tucked between their legs, shaking their fur out as their eyes locked onto her.

Siobhán fell painfully to her knees on the strange crust that covered most of the beach, her arms wide open as the dogs met her and licked her face with reckless abandon.

Siobhán hugged the chilly, wet Labs tightly and sobbed. “Oh, babies! You’re alive! Where’s your mommy? Is the professor here with you?”

Sunny and Sandy pulled away and barked a few times, their tongues hanging out as their tails went nuts, occasionally smacking into one another.

“Really? Where?” Siobhán looked around hopefully but only saw their group and the dogs.

Siobhán noticed Joy kneeling beside her when the pups shifted to greet the tall blonde.

Joy became a flurry of pet names and baby talk as she rolled about with Sandy, rubbing her belly and kissing back at the dog licking her face. The display of affection as Joy uttered more words in just a few seconds than she usually would over the course of an hour made Siobhán grin.

Sunny’s whine for her attention brought Siobhán back to the situation and she tumbled around the crusty beach with Sunny.

---

My heart melted down into a puddle of emotional ooze when Siobhán and Joy rolled about with my girls. Sunny and Sandy were over the moon to receive human affection again, and I longed for my old body so that I could be part of what was happening.

The halfghan unwitting-supermodel and highly-witting-super-student Rihelah Najibi stood close beside a tall and reasonably-handsome young man.

“We should’ve brought our fishing gear, Michael,” said Rihelah, nodding toward fish that jumped in the harbor inlet.

“Damn, you’re right. Stripers.” He frowned.

From their continued conversation, I could tell Rihelah adored Michael, and it became clear that he was protective of her.

I approved—yet another reason for me to smile.

When Siobhán and Joy had finished greeting my pups, Rihelah hurried forward to hug them. In true Ryebean fashion, she seemed loathe to let herself be licked over much, or to get too wet or dirty, even in the aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse. But her loving smile showed that she was genuinely elated over her reunion with my puppies.

That’s my bright and fussy salutatorian girl! I’m so proud of her.

My three beans and Michael wandered the shoreline with my pups, and more than half the other humans tagged along, eager for a chance to greet and play with my Labs.

Then I noticed one of the two men who’d entered my Dungeon was approaching my old basement. A slender young man had wormed his way along the tunnel meant for my pups.

I didn’t want unauthorized guests snooping around my basement, so I finalized a minion design I’d been working on.

<New minions created: Dire Widow x 3. Spawn points set. Respawn timer: 30 minutes.>

With the body of a huge Argiope orb weaver increased to 300% of normal, eyes from a Bold jumping spider, and 500% venom glands and hourglass of a Black Widow, they were agile, observant, and deadly. I would have added the jumping spider’s brain as well, but the mana cost got out of control—and I wanted to keep myself in control.

I sent the new minions to block the path to my basement.

The slender young man didn’t stop until he ran into the rough tangle of silk I’d had my minions spin in front of him before calling them away to prevent an incident. One bite would probably kill, since these spiders had the relatively massive fangs of an orb weaver to deliver their potent venom much deeper into a victim than a Black Widow could ever hope to.

The young man screeched in terror and scurried backward on all fours, toward the Dungeon entrance.

When the sound of his frightful cries reached the big guy’s location, I saw his head turn sharply away from where he’d been inspecting the five Iron Deposits I’d made.

“Fuckin’ Dungeon, huh?” The large man’s deep voice was nearly a match for Sven’s—at least, while Sven was in his usual form.

After that mountain of meat on two legs passed under my three skylights and between the fruit trees I’d grown with mana, he switched a light on beneath his gun and followed the frightened sounds of the other man.

The big guy’s shoulders were too wide to fit through the dog tunnel, so he waited outside for the other to emerge.

“Aieee! Is someone there? Spiders! Sticky web! Strong! Something bit me! I gonna die!” The thin man continued raving madly as he neared the tunnel’s exit.

He hadn’t been bitten—I’d witnessed what happened when he started to panic. His hand slid along a taut strand of silk and it sliced him. Mistaking that for a bite, he’d all but lost his mind.

My Dungeon half radiated disappointment as it watched potential prey headed to safety.

No. We’ll feed ourselves another way. I scolded.

The Dungeon in me tried to rebel.

It longed to lure all invaders inside, human or otherwise, for immediate consumption. But even the savagery lurking in my mind seemed not to relish the idea of sending minions outside my Dungeon to battle such formidable foes as humans.

Right. Humans will interfere with my abilities. I should test that.

I poked and prodded at the walls of my Dungeon starting around five meters away from the humans, then gradually further away, until finally, at thirty meters, I could manipulate the stone as usual.

Wow. F-Rank humans can block my influence that far away… With enough of them prowling my halls, that could be problematic—or even dangerous.

With renewed motivation, I called my girls.

[Sandy! Sunny! It’s time to hunt. Go catch some fish for Mommy.]

My Labs stopped from where they’d been playing with my students and dashed excitedly away, diving into the ocean as Siobhán, Rihelah, and Joy stared at one another with puzzled expressions.

Below, the terrified youth finally exited my dog-tunnel beside the big man.

“Mister Joe! I been hurt! Big spiders! Help me!” As he stood, I noticed he appeared gaunt, wiry, and his head seemed too large for his body. He almost reminded me of a certain ring-crazed creature from my favorite fantasy book series.

“Hold still, Gonzales.” Joe sighed.

If I still had eyes, they’d have goggled when Joe produced a warm, mana-rich light with his enormous right hand, and the thin cut knit right before my sight.

Healing magic? Already? How? This is the first time that man’s entered my Dungeon. Sven said there were only two ways humans could advance! Dungeons, and…

Dragon Blessings. Oh, crap. I’ll have to be wary of Joe.

Joe was busy herding the little man called Gonzales back outside, interrogating and berating him over his spelunking misadventure.

I listened in on my students—the three beans who were almost back to the Crow’s Nest.

“…think Bella would get along with them. They’re all good girls.” Joy beamed.

“That’s for them to decide,” Rihelah responded with a smile.

Joy sighed. “I know, of course. But I think it will work. I wish we’d brought Bella with us.”

Rihelah frowned. “Abbie needs Bella a lot more than we do. All those girls do, after what they’ve been through. And with that creep Nicolas and his friends still on the loose—”

“Can we not talk about that guy, please?” Siobhán huffed.

“I know he’s not a fun subject for you, Sio.” Joy grimaced. “But we’re gonna have to deal with your ex-boyfriend soon, or he might do something terrible. You know how he was—”

Siobhán hissed, “Yes! I do, Joy. I know exactly how that disgusting bastard was, and that’s something I’m trying to forget!”

“Talking about this won’t help anything right now. I’m sorry for bringing him up,” Rihelah interjected.

“Uhuh. Well, I’m already pissed off, so the damage is done. You know I love you, Rihelah, but sometimes…” Siobhán tightened her small fists while she fumed.

Rihelah hugged her, and Siobhán made a motion like she was about to smack her hands against Rihelah’s back, but she returned her hug instead as a smile crept back in to replace her scowl.

Siobhán’s Irish temper had occasionally been problematic during her studies, but here she was, making progress with managing her anger. One of my ducklings was learning to fly.

I’m so proud of her!

I noticed Joe talking to the other attractive man he’d visited with the other day.

“It was the same voice, Mike. Something about a Dungeon, and after everything I’ve seen, I believe it. There’s a huge pyrite vein down there with amazing quartz crystals, and—get this—fruit trees… underground!” He handed Mike a few cherries and an orange plucked from my trees.

“Sonofabitch.” Mike responded. “Is there any more?”

“A shit-ton. I’ve never seen that much damned fruit on such small trees in my life.” Joe grinned.

“Well,” Mike handed the fruits to my students, “let’s get down there and do some harvesting! We’ve had nothing but fish and seaweed for weeks.”

Perhaps it was because my mana was full, that I hadn’t noticed how much I gained for the first few fruits Joe harvested. But when the humans descended on my trees, gorging themselves like starving beasts, I was floored!

While a fish half as large as one of my Labs could fill up roughly half my mana, it only took around fifty harvested fruits to do the same. And those humans were picking hundreds upon hundreds in short order.

I took the opportunity provided by that windfall to expand many of my tunnels, and added a whole new wing to my basement. Or, rather, my old basement became a hub connecting the rest of my Dungeon with a cavern roughly equivalent in area to the one where the humans were eating. But I made this one larger vertically, with a ceiling nearly twenty meters tall at its center. Something about it just felt… right.

I had no idea what to use the space for, just yet. But hollowing out large areas required enormous quantities of mana, and my father always said, “do what you can with what you have.”

My pups came charging back up the beach, and Sandy surprised the eldest human inside the entrance when she plopped her sopping hide beside him to tear into the Rockfish she’d caught.

[If you girls are hungry, eat some yummy fish. Mommy’s got plenty.]

Mike retrieved a small dark-gray pick axe from his pack and chipped away a fist-sized chunk of my pyrite and quartz. The way he worked made me smile. Every action was smooth and deliberate with no hesitation as if he’d already thought everything through.

Wish I could have met someone like him before all of this happened.

I pouted in silence, mourning my new body’s inability to enjoy simple human pleasures like conversation and hugs. And petting my pups.

I sniffled.

Mike harvested another piece of pyrite. Just like with the fruits, my mana gains were impressive.

“Dad, have a look at this. There’s no rock underneath—just more pyrite. That damned metalworking class you took years ago might come in handy after all!” Michael grinned while pointing at the deposit.

“We’ll need to find a crucible and build ourselves a smelter. But the fires already destroyed most of the wood in town.” Mike’s brow furrowed, and he looked annoyed.

Michael clapped a hand against Mike’s shoulder. “No sweat, Dad. We’ll figure it out like always.”

At that moment, I recalled that I could grant blessings to my residents—and that required mana.

There was no question, I had long valued intelligence above all else, so both of my girls received the Blessing of Acumen in turn.

It was a good thing I had mana coming in so quickly, because each blessing drained me down to around thirty percent from full. When I blessed Sunny, the hunger seized control during the few seconds it took for my mana to recover enough that I could fight my way back, and I gained a whole new level of respect for my Dungeon-half’s ability to subvert my thoughts.

The Dungeon in me had ordered my Devilflies to head home and guard my halls with deadly force, and had to call them off twice. To be safe, I sent a general order for all minions to stand down after Sandy’s blessing was complete and my mana reached safe levels.

But what I gained in return for that risky investment was beyond my wildest expectations.