Dungeon Core Academy 1

  But henceforth didn’t mean the same to the overseers as it did to me, because they didn’t grind me up straight away.

  Oh no, they forcefully transported me to a darkened room, with nothing but a pedestal in the center of it. They left me there to stew on my failure, to go over it again and again in my mind until I was sick of thinking about it.

  I went through all my successes and my failures, and part of me understood their judgment, even if the thought of it made me feel like I was burning hot with anger.

  I began to think about my dungeon nostalgically. To reminisce about times in my core room where Tomlin and I would study, and Wylie would sit there with that wide, unmovable grin that I now missed so, so much.

  It was a full two days before the door to the room opened, and a figure walked in.

  “Overseer Bolton,” I said. I had decided to take my fate stoically. Not give them anything. “This is it.”

  “It is, indeed, Core Beno.”

  “Can I ask something?”

  “I suppose you may, given the circumstances. This was never, ever personal, you know.”

  I decided to ignore that obvious lie. “I want to know what will happen to my clanmates.”

  “Clanmates?”

  “Tomlin and Wylie and Gary. My kobolds and my boss monster.”

  “Your kobolds are surprising, Core Beno. One of them is much more studious than we expected, and the overseers have found value in him. He has been brought back to the academy, where he will assist the breedmaster in raising young kobolds and preparing them for their roles. But he is stubborn, and he made such a fuss that we had to agree to bring his little kobold friend with him. Your boss monster, also, is worthy of more study, and we may find a use for him in another dungeon. We have taken the liberty of renaming him.”

  That was an overwhelming relief for me. I’d worried that association with me would mean the end for Tomlin and the others.

  “And the girl?”

  “Girl?”

  “Vedetta.”

  “Ah. Most interesting. You mean the ex-core. The ascended.”

  “You’ve spoken to her?”

  “How could we not?”

  “What will happen to her and her brothers?”

  “That is of no consequence to us, Core Beno. She is a mortal now, and we do not trifle ourselves with their activities. Though, word reached me that she has been helping her mother. Alchemists have visited her house, and the woman has begun to recover from some kind of illness.”

  “And her brothers?”

  “I am surprised you ask that, given what their safety has meant for you. But they have left the family home, I am told. One has gone to the king’s army, the other has traveled way, way west, seeking admittance to a mage college.”

  “Looks like things turned out well for them.”

  “Quite.”

  “Then I am ready, Overseer Bolton. I know what you must do, and I am prepared for it.”

  “Oh, I don’t think you are,” said Bolton, with a grin.

  This was strange. Why was he smiling? No matter what had happened, I knew he wouldn’t take delight in having me destroyed. Whenever a core was pulverized, it was seen as a mark of failure on the overseers’ parts.

  “There has been a development,” he said.

  And then he was silent.

  He wanted me to ask, didn’t he? He was drawing it out. He was really loving this moment.

  “A development?”

  “A benefactor has…Let’s say that a benefactor has given you another chance.”

  “I’m sorry, what?”

  “Your fate has changed, Core Beno. You have been bought. Yes, yes, strange, isn’t it? A benefactor has bought you, a core, and wishes you to oversee a private dungeon, one not associated with the academy.”

  A rush of feelings hit me now. Feelings I thought that being a core had destroyed. Happiness. Relief. An overwhelming sense of joy.

  “Who is this person? Where are they? When do I go?”

  “They’re right outside this door. Let me call them in.”

  And as the door opened, and a figure approached the doorway, I knew that I had been given a second chance.

  A third chance, actually.

  You know, given that I’d already died once before.

  The End of Book One