Chapter Thirty-Two

The Hangover

Tooth collapsed into a pile of coins. The overwhelming exhaustion had left him, but he had worn himself out working his way back to his core. All in all, his body had simply exchanged one kind of tired for another, but he had a runner’s high kicking in that made it almost worthwhile.

“What happened to you,” Toot asked, his voice lathered with concern. “I think our connection goes beyond normal. I have played out bits of avarice, vanity, and sloth over the last few hours that I know did not come from me.”

“I’m sorry,” Dev apologized. “I truly am. I think when I overextend myself, I open a doorway for submerged traits to come to the surface. My greed came first and it blazed a path the rest could follow. I felt it,” Dev stressed, “I felt it coming on and I still couldn’t stop it.” Absolute black emanated from the core and Dev vanished from sight; he couldn’t bear the weight of Toot’s gaze; so great was his shame. “I barely put up a fight.”

“What were you doing that burned you out so much,” Toot asked.

“It’s hard to remember. I got some new way of seeing the world; I can see reality the same way as the Overseers and that let me finally figure out how to capture and contain various types of energies rather than just the three I have now.” Dev paused, certain that there was more to it than that, but everything he had done was such a haze. Then he panicked, “Oh, no! The vision I took, Kirlian something or other, it came with some kind of probationary period.”

“A probationary period?” Toot looked confused and Dev realized he had probably never heard of Kirlian Vision or that the Overseers saw things much differently than the rest of the mortals out there in the universe.

“Yes,” Dev said quickly, “Once my trial period is up the Overseers will determine whether or not I get to keep it. They’ll know where we are! I’ve doomed us because I let my head get clouded!” As he said that the darkness around him faded like a vampire in the noonday sun, and he reappeared as his rocky self.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. They will just get a notification that you had taken the ability to see with their eyes when the trial run is over. It won’t ping our location to them. The Overseers overlook a lot of stuff. For example, anything notifications that you receive that talk about a trial period or being subject to later review is safe for you to accept. They’re supposed to know where you are. Remember,” Toot emphasized, “They’ve never had a dungeon go, rogue, since they started creating cores, and I mean never. Why would they waste time and energy implementing a bit of tracking magic since they dictate where every core goes?”

“That’s a relief,” Dev sighed. “For a moment I was certain that I’d doomed us; blown our cover so to speak.”

“I meant to talk to you about that,” Toot said. “I understand that you are eager to get things going, but making the Rubbish Bin appear fully formed and cleaning the streets? That draws attention.” Toot got to his knees in the gold pile, “We can’t just materialize the other shops overnight. Why don’t you just put up the frames and add to them over the next day or three? That won’t seem so strange.”

Dev started to nod, forgetting that he had no head but paused. Toot had said something that sparked his memory. “The other shops aren’t built yet?”

Toot shook his head in negation, “They weren’t done when I came through the trap door in the Bin.”

“Strange, I recall getting their designs all completed and prepped to go, but I was in such a pitch that my memories are just a jumbled mess. I was going to build them right after I put that Verdant collection stone in the park.”

“The what, where?”

“After I was able to see the Verdant energy thanks to my new Kirlian Vision I built a giant collecting stone in the park after I did that I went to make the shops and then set up my new collectors . . . Oh, boy.” Dev stopped, realizing what he had done. “I put a giant glowing green gem in the park.” There was an audible swallow and Dev continued, “And I put your name on it.”

“What, why would you do that?” Toot rose to his feet, brushing stray coins from his leggings.

“I figured it was ok to use your name because then it wouldn’t be as if some giant jewel glowing with a dim green light appeared out of nowhere. People would just attribute it to you and go about their day,” Dev said sheepishly.

“That explains all the thank yous I got on my way over here,” Toot said rubbing his chin.

“And what is with you suddenly losing about thirty years?” Dev asked suspiciously. “Didn’t you think people would notice that?”

“Considering I was in the throes of your moment of vanity I wouldn’t go casting stones. I was barely in control of my actions, mind you,” Toot said defensively. “That was after your lust for gold translated to me having a very interesting night with a very special lady. It seems she could sense my overwhelming attraction to her and found it interesting. When I awoke later I went from being a moonstruck man to a prideful panda. I didn’t want to look so old in her eyes.”

“You got a girlfriend?” Dev asked incredulously.

“I, uh, suppose so,” Toot admitted.

“Good for you! You wanted to experience life, why deny yourself of such miseries and joys that a relationship brings?” Dev gave his friend a mental pat on the back.

“You aren’t upset?”

“How could I get upset? Part of our deal was that you came along with me so you could experience living. Well, my friend, you aren’t going to experience a lot of it if you hang out down here with me all the time.” Dev made a noise as if he was clearing his throat, “Besides, I can’t help but feel a tiny bit responsible for swamping you with my own shortcomings.”

Toot smiled as he looked to the ground and shook his head. Dev realized that Toot didn’t look all that much younger, and if people had already seen him like that out in the streets above, then there was no point in asking him to go back to looking like he was an old man.

“You said something about collectors too,” Toot recalled. “What did you mean by collectors?”

“Oh, yeah, they collectors! That was my masterstroke! I figured out a way to created street lights for the town, and gather numerous types of energy as I did so.” As Dev spoke the image of one of his collectors flickered into existence, letting Toot see what he was talking about. “These things will gather pretty much everything except blood. I even figured out a way to gather emotions other than fear for energy. These things will harvest power around the clock, and I will have access to all types of energies. Who knows what I might achieve with a breakthrough like this?”

“Dev, I am both happy for you and proud of you, but I have to ask if you already placed these around Goulcrest.”

“Erm, no. I have them and the shops on a timer to be built in the early morning hours when most people will be asleep.” Dev paused realizing what he’d done. “You know something,” he asked Toot, “I didn’t even know I could schedule things to be erected at specific times.”

“Yes, quite nice,” Toot said nervously, “Can you, erm, take them off the timer? I don’t want to repeat myself, but we can hide in plain sight if we are continuously setting ourselves on fire and letting off sonic booms. We need to keep a low profile. You expanded and took over the town because a dungeon needs visitors. Without interaction from adventurers and delvers, dungeons go insane. On the other hand, we don’t want to announce our presence since those very same guests have a penchant for killing dungeons just for fun. We are on an ocean of uncertainty. You are a small raft, and I am steering you across those waters. We cannot make waves or tip the boat. If we do it ends badly for us both.”

“I get it,” Dev said, and “I already shut down the collectors and the shops from popping up overnight like mushrooms. “Shame though, I would have liked to have gotten those harvesters working on collecting power.”

“Nothing says we can’t still put them up,” Toot said with a devilish grin, “We are just going to have to do it the old way.