The Dungeon Fairy: Two Choices: A Dungeon Core Escapade (The Hapless Dungeon Fairy Book 2) by Jonathan Brooks (free e books to read .txt) 📗

“You have no authority here, Anders; you can’t just go around destroying Dungeon Cores—” Jesper started to say, but something suddenly felt off to Sterge, who raised his hand.

“Hold on, I think—”

A wave of something just barely visible shot through the room, slamming into everyone gathered inside.  The next thing Sterge knew, he found himself flying through the air before smashing into the far wall with a painful *crunch*.  He landed on the floor next to Gwenda, who had apparently slammed into the same wall as he had; as he lifted up his head to check up on her, he felt a piercing pain in the left side of his chest.  I think I snapped some ribs.  And my left arm as well, he noticed as he gingerly tried to move and pick himself up.  All concern was forgotten as he looked over at his best friend groaning in pain and holding her own left arm.

“Gwenda!  Are you alright?” he called out, trying to mask the pain in his voice.

“I…I think so, but I’m pretty sure my arm is wrecked.  You?”

“Same here, though I think a few ribs were broken as well.”  Sterge moved to sit up and fell back with a cry, as it was getting hard to breathe.  He closed his eyes to concentrate on something else, trying to ignore the sharp stabbing agony coming from his ribs.

A hand on his chest surprised him so much that he jumped, causing even more pain to radiate through his body.  “Hold on there, you’ve got internal bleeding.”  Sterge opened his eyes and saw Jesper squatting down in front of him, staring at the Hill Dwarf’s chest with intense concentration.  A few moments later, the pain in his chest started to dissipate a little, though it didn’t leave completely.

Jesper let out a deep sigh and pulled his hand away.  “I’ve stabilized you for the moment, but my Abilities can only do so much.  You’re going to need to see a Healer of some kind when we get back, because while I can repair your vital organs and stop the bleeding, I can’t mend broken bones.  For some reason, we forgot to bring a proper healer with us.”

“Gwenda! Is Gwenda going to be okay?”

“She’ll be fine – I already checked on her before I got to you.  Everyone else is okay as well, with minor injuries; I think you’re the only two who got seriously hurt, because of your lower Raider Level.”  That’s a relief.

“Well, it looks like you got your wish,” Jesper said suddenly.  Sterge was confused for a moment, but when he looked at the slightly disheveled Clan representative, he wasn’t talking to him.  The red-garbed Blood Mage was speaking to Anders, but it still didn’t make sense – until he noticed that the ambient light in the room was rapidly beginning to fade.  Not only that, but the trees and other plants in the room started to wither away and disappear; suddenly, the rich soil underneath his palms disintegrated at his touch, and he found himself sinking down.  In less than a minute, it was completely dark in the room and he was sitting on a cold, dark stone floor.

Luckily, two of the Raiders had Amulets of Illumination, which helped to brighten up the room – though cave was probably more of an apt description.  Sterge sucked in his breath at what he saw – or more accurately, what he didn’t see – and he felt a sharp pain stab at his chest again.

It was gone.  It was all gone: the trees, the plants, and even the dirt that previously filled the floor – it was as if it never existed.  All that was left over was a plain, unadorned cave of stone.

“What happened?” he asked in a whisper, though he was pretty sure he knew.

“The Core of this dungeon was destroyed, that’s what happened,” Jesper answered, using the same volume of voice.  “We need to get going, before whatever did this comes back up.”

It was destroyed?  Just like that?

Sterge was in a daze when someone helped him up and they started their way out of the dungeon.  Every room they passed was the same as the one they just left – completely bare and empty of anything.  Either it was the pain from his arm and chest still making his mind a little slow, or he just didn’t want to believe it, but he couldn’t process what had happened.

The outside was bright when they finally emerged, and looking at the sun in the sky he realized that only about 10 minutes had passed since they entered the dungeon.  So much has happened in the last hour that I’m having trouble understanding.  Their world had been turned upside-down when the dungeon had been found; now that it had been destroyed, it felt like it was happening all over again.

Sterge looked back at the entrance, which looked as dark and empty as it was throughout the entire dungeon.  With a shake of his head, he turned back to the others and heard Jesper say, “Let’s go.  We need to hurry and get everyone to evacuate as soon as possible.  I don’t know what did this – and I don’t want to stick around to find out.”

The Village Chief could only nod his head as he started down the mountain, lagging behind with Gwenda as they nursed their injuries.  “What do we do now, Gwenda?”

“I don’t know, Sterge.  I just don’t know.”

Chapter 29

Council Leader Malachite flew through the doorways of the Council chambers, stretching and yawning as he continued to wake up.  I’ve got to start getting more than an hour’s sleep once a week.  He knew that probably wasn’t going to be likely with the way things were going, but he could always wish,