Haeros Dungeon - Chapter 15 preview (Patreon)

We managed to make it to the compound without incident. There was no word from those hiding within their stone building, not even when we parked ourselves near the exit, against the wall. There had been a quick debate about the right location, but when I insisted that having a secondary retreat option was important – assuming they’d open for us –no one had pushed it too hard.

Exhaustion lined their faces, each and every one of them. Even Yorrick, who had gotten a boost from his skill, was flagging, the life force he had leeched from the bodies and the occasional shrub bleeding away from him, step by step.

Kira parked her wisps around us, utilizing all four to give us a nice line of sight deep into the sides of the hill. Not that some of the hunters could not have come from behind and crept up, but it was what we had and I took it.

A few quick traps set right at the corner of the buildings made it unlikely that they would come at us that way, same with the shard lamps set and directed outwards to give us further light. They were not parked right next to us but a few feet away, so that it helped save our night sight a little.

Then, with all the preparations sorted, I sent the children to bed.

Yes, there was some degree of patronization involved, but there were some rather important points of consideration. Kira was not the best watcher of us and, after utilizing her skill, was exhausted. Brand was injured and needed rest, as much as anyone else. Sophia was decent, but was tired too, and Yorrick was a growing boy who needed as much rest as he could get normally. His leech ability had a tendency to take a heavy toll on him, when he had to use it, and beyond scarfing a large meal of pre-packaged food down, he had collapsed without even asking.

As for me? Well, I had learnt a long time ago how to control my breathing, how to still the adrenaline dump within me, how to conserve energy. It was harder when it was a life-or-death fight, but my time training in the academy had helped.

On top of that, I had my health vault. It was not a substitute for sleep, not at all, but it could provide me the necessary energy to stay awake. Whenever I started to truly drift off, I could send a trickle of energy into me, to perk me right back up.

Late-night watch was a strange mixture of anticipation and boredom. Learning to still your mind while keeping watch, to not think too much and allow your gaze and body to roam across the ground, searching for trouble without falling too far into a routine, was tricky.

I could have sat still, but that ran the risk of falling asleep. Not a great option, not when everyone else had conked out within moments. Even if moving gave me away, I figured our enemies knew better than to charge us without at least taking me out – or attempting to.

So, I paced, focused on the world outside while a small portion of my mind turned over the imagery of my soul. Working on making it more concrete in my mind, building the conception of my soul engine that drew in external core energy – potential energy – and transformed it into the source that empowered me and my vaults.

The vaults themselves were built and filled by whatever I designated them, so the entire machinery of my soul was rather different. The potential that came in fed out via various ducts and pipes, to orbs that connected me to the party, to the city above, to the academy. In time, we’d replace some of those with more powerful ones, orbs with skills and gifts that were necessary for delving.

Connections of the potential also ran out to the equipment that I had, and working on those connections, on my synchronization in my mind and the mind map within me, helped to reduce the inefficiency. In time, the amount of energy that was not completely run through, that was needed to empower and feed things like my vaults, would be found, but I needed to strengthen everything first, not just create the space.

In many ways, the levels in the system were a swapping out in my mental image from the copper to better metals. Iron, maybe, or steel eventually. Stainless steel later, perhaps, and then more mythic metals, as things went along. For now, the changes were minor, bracing added to supports, refinements in the way the entire engine was built.

I needed more potential, but potential itself filled slowly; it came from the refinement of the energy flowing through me in drips and drabs. It didn’t matter if I didn’t use all the energy – at least, for the most part, from what I understood, so long as there was some space. Though that sore feeling, that irritation from being overworked from having my soul energy near maximum usage all the time, was not great in the long run.

Short term, I’d be fine; and it would work itself out. So long as I didn’t add more to it, which I hadn’t.

In the meantime, all I could do was what I was doing now – walking the perimeter of our camp, watching for trouble. Setting aside the worry about the doppelgangers and what they might mean, for the world above and us.

Wondering if the people here were really friends, or enemies.

Around and around, I walked, grinding the ground away beneath my feet. Each step took me on, the occasional flash of health energy pouring through me to bring my focus back. At some point, Sophia woke up and joined me, starting up a little fire by digging a small hole in the ground, layering it with some sticks and then using the wisp to set some firewood she had carried aflame. In moments, the fire was burning brightly and a small pot of water started to boil.

I smirked, grabbing at the twisted everlasting waterskin by my side, sipping on it. It didn’t draw from my core, instead being a passive enchantment that drew upon the ambient energy around. It was a twisted enchantment though, a failed product that most would not drink from. After all, Chinese herbal soup was an acquired taste, in my view. On the other hand, it was a taste of home, one that was hard to acquire, that helped to alleviate the hollow core of homesickness that I felt at times.

We sat together in companionable silence for a while, then, seeing that Sophia was intent on staying awake. Before I had a chance to verify that she would take the watch, she spoke.

“Last night,” Sophia said, softly. “I was not expecting that.”

A closer look at the woman and I realized that I wasn’t going to get any sleep, not anytime soon. Perhaps that was for the best, for the whimpers of nightmares from the group was something I had noted. I certainly wouldn’t want them myself, and a debrief would help.

Or so I figured.