Dave

  Following the harvest, we had a quick meeting with the city council and decided to hold a festival in a week. Partially to give us time to go through everything we had managed to collect, but also so that I had time to get rid of Connie’s soul knot and recover enough to attend.

  As for the world tree, Elody knew little herself. She knew about as much as Pryte on the topic, but promised to dig deep into the archives to see what she could find. With Karlinovo still at the Antarctic dungeon trying to fully determine what had happened, as he didn’t trust the world tree to be the only explanation, that left nothing else for me to do that day other than have a quiet dinner and get some sleep.

  Surprisingly, I found Orglina, Red, Dean, Chip, Alpha, and the hoary marmot all camped out in my living room when I returned. “Not that you all aren’t welcome, but what’s going on?”

  “Sleepover!” Alpha replied, with more excitement in their voice than I usually heard.

  “Oh, well then, carry on. Chip, you’re in charge. I’m going to bed,” I said as I headed for my room. The hoary marmot squeaked loudly as I passed him.

  It was the first time I had seen him actually come inside. Had the carrots had an effect on his growth, or was this just the natural progression? Either way, I was happy for the group, especially to see Alpha making friends like this. They had been the hardest hit by how empty the house was these days.

  Those thoughts, of course, triggered others that I tried my best not to focus on. The perpetual worry for my family was always there. I was terrified I would lose them all. But Mel was with them, and I knew he would do everything he could to make sure that didn’t happen.

  Tomorrow, I would get rid of the last soul knot. That would be another fear down. Once we had William back and everyone safe at home, I could sleep easy again. That hopeful future was where I centered my thoughts as I went to sleep. That future included the face of a smiling Elody.

  Orglina

  Orglina had a second motive for this sleepover. She wanted to play with her mana orb in a bit. Not the mean abilities, but the good ones. Red had suggested scary stories amongst friends.

  She had learned from Dean, one of the Human kids at the school, that lots of kids on Earth had sleepovers and did that. Since it was Dean’s idea, she made sure to invite him. He was an orphan like her and didn’t even have any siblings. But he did have that cool little rat. She liked Bitey.

  While Alpha made the popcorn, she checked over her anemoia mana orb again. She didn’t want to accidentally use the wrong abilities. Some of them were just downright cruel.

  Orglina was pretty sure that if she just used vaguely familiar and sky calls together, she could tell some fun, scary stories without any real problems. She had warned everyone she would be trying this, and they had been okay with it. So once the food was ready. It was time to start.

  “Popcorn!” Alpha called, their manifested form, walking back into the room carrying several bowls of it. “Fire mana control hard, but did not burn.”

  “Nice. Okay, I’m gonna try out my spells on you all. Tell me if it feels too weird, and I’ll stop,” Orglina said as she grabbed a small bowl from Alpha.

  Alpha set a bowl down in front of the hoary marmot. The animal looked at it, took a few sniffs, and lay back down. his teeth rattled slightly as he rubbed his head against Red’s fur.

  “I think that means he agrees,” Red added.

  “And since there are no other objections, it’s time!” Orglina’s excitement had grown by the minute as she thought about the story she would tell. “Have you all ever heard about the haunted tree?”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Glunderlin

  The harvest had bolstered his feelings about his new home. This was where the Reltleons belonged, and the fact that Pryte had asked him with Dave’s blessing to find as many other Reltleons out there amongst the Spiral that wanted to settle here only further proved it. They would need to increase the size of the city, of course, but once the weather changed, that was already in the works.

  The majority of the population was Humans and Reltleons, but they had attracted a few other species. Dungeon cores were one of the bigger ones. What had started with just the Travelers who had already allied themselves with the Reltleon diaspora, and grown to include those Dave was befriending. That was something Glunderlin needed to talk to the others about.

  As part of trying to contact distant Reltleon populations, he had learned the traveler gates were failing system-wide. That meant the Hub was in real danger, and considering no one had heard from the paladins that had entered, his worries had only grown. With the highways entirely down, what few protections they had afforded Reltleons on distant worlds had started to crumble. He expected a large migration would start over the coming years, even if it only began as a trickle.

  This all added to the stress he was feeling. His people now looked to him more than ever. He was becoming the leader of his entire species, not just the former mayor of a city they had to abandon. This hadn’t at all been the life path he had expected.

  But, his father always told him that sometimes you had to grab what you’re given and never let go. The man was strange for a Reltleon, much more like Dave. It likely explained a lot of why Glunderlin had so easily accepted the man when they first met.

  He hoped his father was still alive. The failing of the highways didn’t give him a lot of confidence in it, though. He knew the man would be front and center in the Hub, doing everything he could to get it back online. He was the greatest living Reltleon engineer, and his loss would be a devastating blow for their people.

  As his stress built, an unexpected System message flashed into his view.

  Two quests? He hadn’t had a single one since he was a child, and now he had two? Glunderlin was nearly lost for words at what had just happened. He knew what they meant, though. Something had changed within himself. His push to discover the lost class of his people had been heard by the System. It was giving him a chance, and he would take it.

  There was only one problem. He couldn’t do this alone. He would need help.

  Glorp

  When Orglina had told him about the planned sleepover, he had almost jumped for joy. His youngest sister was finally having a normal childhood experience, and all it had taken was a monster invasion, a pseudo-dungeon, and a weird mana orb. He had considered seeing who was going to supervise it, but once he learned Red was going to be there, any worries of that melted away.

  The polar bear had become an amazing family friend, and certainly not one he had ever expected. But Glorp was still worried. Even though his family had all come together for that dungeon trip, he still wanted more out of them.

  And that was just what he was worried about. He didn’t want to turn into some sort of slave driver, pushing them past their breaking points. They were all still young. They needed their fun too. Even if this was a dangerous world and he had decided they were going to be ready to face it, they still had to have time for their own fun.

  He was going to find a way to convince his other siblings of that, no matter what it took. First, though, he had to convince himself, which was exactly what he was doing tonight.

  After Orglina had asked his permission, he had decided to finally take the next steps on something he had been working on for a while. He was building a mana beast reserve. After several conversations with Elody and the explanations for why he had to start small, he was finally ready to begin.

  With Trolke’s help, they had taken the old abandoned house and rebuilt it. It now served as the central building that led to a dozen smaller enclosures. And thanks to Quarilyn, it was even safely protected by the city’s defense net.

  All that was left to do was find some of the smaller creatures that had started roaming nearby. From the books he had read about local wildlife, there should be plenty of mice and voles to add to the enclosure. He hoped this would do the triple duty of keeping the mana beasts a bit safer, less aggressive, and happily fed all at the same time.

  Elody hadn’t been sure anything like it had been tried this early in a mana flow before, but thought it was a good idea when he had first brought it to her. This would be his new hobby, and possibly Lorgela’s as well. She liked animals, so he suspected he could bring her in on it once he had the initial few.

  After the first vole bit him, he realized it was probably going to be a lot easier said than done. But that didn’t mean he was giving up. It was going to take far more than a tiny rodent to stop him, mana beast or not. Plus, the one that had bitten him had been bright orange. There was no way they were safe with that coloring out here.

  Several hours and several bites later, Glorp was on his way home with six voles, each of them sporting different colored fur. He’d work to figure out their exact type later. First, he wanted to get some fresh food into their bellies.

  Bert

  He had been glad he had taken today off from the research station in the dungeon. Not the least of reasons was Ivan’s determination to figure out what had caused the explosive plant overgrowth. It was such a strange world he lived in now that magic was both a valid answer and nowhere near enough of an explanation.

  He had taken a mango to try, that being his favorite fruit, and couldn’t believe the flavor. That alone had made coming to this city worth it, not that a hundred other things before hadn’t. Just walking through the woods now was a constant new experience.

  The sight of what looked like a stereotypical small Martian would have been enough to scare most people away. But these days, Bert just knew it was Glorp. The fact that he was carrying a large cage of different colored voles, though, was something that had him curious. Were they mana beasts?

  He had only seen a few of them up close, and most of them were the tame ones within the city. What was Glorp going to do with those? Bert headed for the newly rebuilt house in the distance, determined to find out.

  “I’ve gotta ask Glorp, what’s with the voles?” Bert yelled his question to Glorp once he neared the building.

  “Hey Bert. Didn’t expect anyone else out here tonight. So I’m trying to collect the mana beasts too near the city before they just get themselves hurt, and make a nice, safe environment for them. I don’t know if it will work, but I feel like trying is better than not trying,” Glorp explained.

  “Oh, that’s interesting. You know I’ve got a couple of zoologist friends. I wonder if we could tempt them to the city with this,” Bert replied.

  “What are zoologists?” Glorp asked.

  “Those are scientists who study animal life. They won’t know much about mana beasts, but we probably need to start eventually. With this place you’ve built here, I’m guessing they’d be very interested,” Bert answered.

  “Huh, I didn’t know Earth had those! We should talk to Pryte about your friends, I’d love their help!” Glorp said excitedly.

  “Probably best we wait ‘til tomorrow. Why don’t I give you a hand with those voles tonight, though?” Bert offered.

  “Just be careful. They bite,” Glorp replied.

  Beta

  The dungeon core had spotted Glorp when he first left the city and had followed from the air, keeping themselves out of sight. Beta didn’t want to interrupt Glorp and trusted that whatever he was doing was for the best of the Empire. But that didn’t mean he was safe while doing it.

  Since the jester attack on the city, Beta had been doing their best to be constantly vigilant for any new attacks. Protecting the members of the city was just part of that. Why Glorp was collecting the little mana beasts outside the city, Beta had no clue, but still, they watched and made sure Glorp was safe while it happened.

  Once he was done, Beta would resume their usual nightly routine. It was important that all of the towers were checked every night. After that, they would patrol the entirety of the city’s perimeter at least twice. Then it would be time for their shift in Timon’s strange universe.

  Beta was happy. They would never have believed it when Dave first captured them, but being part of an Empire like this had been fulfilling in a way their old life had never reached. The Empire was life. The Empire was good. The Empire was home.

  The little ones often suffer the most in early integrated worlds. Few people think of the effects unchecked mana flow will have on the smallest of mana beasts. They are rarely ready for the changes that quickly hit their small frames, as their new hunger quickly outpaces their much slower-growing higher reasoning skills. How many voices are lost in the early days of an integration because no one truly understood what was happening?

  Why do we even do integrations like this still? If the Spiral is so advanced, why must we bring ruin to all the new worlds we find? Why can’t we welcome them and slowly help them adapt to the greater multiverse?

  These are questions I fear I may never have the answers to.

  Diary of Gern, Paladin of Conservation

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