Balthazar slept, and his mind dreamed.
The crab’s night was filled with reveries that took him from the warm waters of his pond’s hot springs, to the sugary fountain in the depths of his neighboring mountain.
Somewhere along the way, the merchant saw visions of another crab, one much larger than him, and covered in vivid red chitin. The colossal crustacean towered above the roof of his bazaar, carrying a red sack over his shell, and smiling from behind a long white beard. Which was very strange, as crabs did not usually grow beards. Balthazar found it to look good on him, however. Very distinguished.
But that’s how dreams often were—strange and filled with nonsensical ramblings of the sleeping mind.
Proof of that was what the crab in Balthazar’s dream was doing.
The peculiar being was plucking wrapped presents from his bag and carefully planting them inside the gazebo. A crab, just giving away stuff! For free! Truly, the stuff that only belonged in dreams and fantasies.
And just as those things typically go, Balthazar found himself sitting in his hot spring watching the giant Festus crab merrily delivering presents one moment, and then the next he was suddenly somewhere else.
A field. Somewhere around his pond, past the main road and facing the plains. He knew that place. It was near the edge of what once had been his limited territory. Before, when he could not move out of his home area.
The merchant turned to look in the direction he went the very first time he stepped out of his assigned zone.
To his surprise, he saw a figure there, in the distance.
In the dream, it was early, daylight was barely appearing over the horizon, and a thin dawn mist still lingered in the air.
Balthazar narrowed his eyes at the figure.
A man, all dressed in black and with a cowl over his head, stood amid the dew-covered blades of grass of the plains around them.
Something felt familiar about that person. The crab was certain he had seen him before.
As his vision focused, Balthazar realized the mysterious man was not alone.
There was a bird on his shoulder. A dove, white as the melting snow surrounding them, cozily resting on the black-clad figure and staring directly at the crustacean.
Balthazar frowned. Anyone who kept birds as company was not someone who could be trusted. Yet, something about that dove’s gaze instilled a sense of ease and calm on the crab.
The man finally moved, raising his arm to point at a small boulder nearby.
It was when Balthazar saw his hand appear from under his black sleeve that realization hit the merchant—his fingers and palm were wrapped in old bandages.
He was the very same stranger who had sold him the golden statuette that brought a red dragon into his home so long ago.
Balthazar’s gaze followed where the Stranger was pointing, and he noticed something resting on the rock.
A small wooden box.
Looking back at the man, the crab saw his head rise slightly, and a face appeared from under the black cowl.
A face covered in bandages, two black eyes staring right at him, and a mouth that opened to speak, but no sound came out, for the dream was completely silent.
And with a jolt, Balthazar woke up.
***
“Ow,” said the crab, as he slowly stood back onto his eight legs. “I shouldn’t eat so many sweets right before sleep. I can’t remember exactly, but I think I was having a nightmare?”
Looking around the shore, Balthazar saw what remained of the campfire still smoldering, but no one else was there.
Intrigued, the merchant skittered to the back of the bazaar and peeked inside.
All the children who had come to visit him the night before were there, tucked inside sleeping bags or under fur rugs, and still fast asleep. He let out a sigh of relief. Madeleine and the others had probably taken them inside at some point during the night, so they wouldn’t get cold once the fire died down.
And that was good, because the merchant had no health insurance to cover for a bunch of orphans if they got sick at his workplace.
Turning back toward his pond, Balthazar admired the early morning scenery.
True to what Madeleine had told him, the Festus celebration marked the last day of winter before the snow started to melt.
All around he saw glistening droplets of water falling from leaves, rocks, and from icicles hanging from the edges of the roof.
The waters of his pond seemed to move faster too, with small pieces of broken ice floating away, all while chunks of white snow fell from the shore all around the blue body of water.
The air was still cold, but Balthazar could tell the season was changing, as the breeze felt lighter, and the sky looked more vivid than it had been in months. Soon enough the flowers would bloom, and the fruits would begin to form on the trees and bushes.
Despite feeling a slightly more upbeat mood that morning than he had felt in weeks, something was still bothering the crab.
Like something important he could almost remember, but wasn’t quite sure what.
Pondering, Balthazar idly walked around his bazaar, as if letting his legs take him away without thinking. He knew he was supposed to go somewhere. To go get… something?
Next thing he knew, the crustacean found himself standing in the middle of the cobblestone road, looking around in confusion.
A particular patch of tall grass in the middle of the plains caught his attention.
Why did it feel so familiar?
A dark boulder stood out in the middle of the white and yellow of the grass.
Unsure why, Balthazar skittered toward the rock, and when he reached it, to his surprise, he saw an object sitting on it.
A small wooden box.
“What the…” he muttered. “Who left this here?”
The grab looked around, as if searching for someone about to pop out from the grass and play a scare on him.
Was that there for him? Maybe it was a gift?
Perhaps from a giant red crab carrying a sack full of presents?
“No… This is something else,” the merchant whispered as his claws picked up the miniature chest and examined it closer.
A figure of a bird was etched on the lid.
“A dove?” Balthazar said, narrowing his eyes.
With his curiosity rivaling his distrust for anything related to avian creatures, the crab decided to just open the box and put an end to his wondering.
As he flipped the wooden case open, his eyestalks stood up as he found a solid brass key resting on a burgundy cushion inside.
With a strong hunch already taking form, Balthazar reached for his monocle and hastily placed it in front of his eye.
[Core Key]
[Item - Key]
[A one-time use key that will unlock a Core Gate and give passage to one (1) user once.]
“A core key…” muttered the crab, putting away his monocle as his gaze admired the metal key in front of him.
The item description had not gone unnoticed to him. There was none of the usual sass he had come to expect from the system when describing most items and skills. Just a very straight forward description that left no margin for doubt that this key would only work for one passage through the core gate.
Despite expecting his shell to have been flooded with even more questions than before, Balthazar realized all those wonders had been pushed aside now that he had that key.
For once, his next move felt clearer than ever.
Snapping the box shut again, the crab turned around and skittered fast back down the road toward his bazaar.
He had the key to his answers—he would finally find out what rested inside the mountain’s core.
As he reached the front gate leading into the quiet trading post, Balthazar froze.
But it only works once, and for one user.
He knew what he needed to do, even if he didn’t like it.
And even if his friends wouldn’t like it.
Balthazar turned and walked around the bazaar instead of through it, hoping not to wake anyone up.
Just as the merchant had crossed in front of the back entrance of the gazebo and was putting on his backpack, a voice caused his eyestalks to jump, and his legs to freeze on the spot.
“Boss?”
He turned to face Druma, who was stepping out of the bazaar with his hat half crooked on his head and a hand rubbing his groggy eyes.
“Heeey, buddy,” the self-conscious crab said. “You’re up early.”
The goblin yawned.
“Druma hear noise outside, so Druma get up and come look. Did boss leave presents for little humans inside?”
“What? Presents? No, why would I do that?! But never mind that, why don’t you go back to sleep, pal? It’s still early, you had a big night. Go rest some more.”
The assistant eyed the small box in the crab’s grasp, and then the path he was taking before turning around.
“Boss going to dungeon?”
“I…” Balthazar said hesitantly, before letting out a sigh. “Look, Druma, I need to go do something very important down there. I found a key to open that big gate we found. But it only grants passage to one, so you guys can’t come with me.”
“But—” the suddenly wide-eyed goblin said.
“I’ll be fine!” the crab said quickly. “I promise I’ll just take a peek, and if there’s anything dangerous, I’ll turn right around and come to you all. You know me, I’m no recklessly brave adventurer! So hold things up around here for a bit, don’t tell anyone—especially Madeleine—where I went, and I’ll be right back with hopefully a ton of treasure!”
The crab’s assistant stared at him with large, shiny eyes, his brow creased with concern.
“Boss… Take Druma. Druma help.”
Balthazar looked at his friend, conflicting feelings tugging his insides in different directions.
What right did he have to keep taking his friends into dangerous situations they were not prepared for? How much longer could he risk their lives just because he needed help? How many more times could they narrowly make it before something truly bad happened?
The mines had been full of enemies that were level 40 and beyond. Who knew how much worse it could get beyond that gate. And there he was, a level 3 goblin wanting to tag along because he was loyal to a fault to him.
The core of that mountain had been Balthazar’s obsession that whole time. Seeking his answers was his risk to take, no one else’s.
It’s for the better. The crab thought.
“It’s too dangerous for you, Druma. I don’t want you to get hurt,” he said to the little green guy. “But I promise I’ll be back in no time. In fact…”
Balthazar pulled the winter hat Madeleine had made for him at the beginning of winter, and offered it to the goblin.
“I want you to hold this for me. It’s starting to get too warm to wear it, especially down at the center of the volcano, so… hold on to it while I go down there, will you?”
The assistant took the large piece of wool clothing into his hands like a precious heirloom being passed down to him, and his eyes only turned more watery.
Balthazar hesitated for a moment, and then, making a sudden decision, reached for his Bag of Holding Money, untied it from his carapace, and held it out on both pincers for Druma to take.
“Here. I’m not going to need money down there, and it will be safer with you guys. You know how precious my coins are to me, so this should prove to you that I have full intention of coming back quickly! Just… take good care of my life savings for a little bit, alright, buddy?”
Fearing he might get second thoughts about not letting his friends join him, or regrets about leaving his money with anyone that isn’t himself, Balthazar turned and skittered away, backpack bouncing up and down on his shell.
Druma stayed behind, rooted in place with his boss’s winter hat in one hand and a bag containing all of the crab’s coin in the other, his eyes heavy with sadness.
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The crab entered the mountain, taking the long way around the Halls of Semla, in order to avoid any of the skeletons or the ghost. He descended into the mines and carefully navigated through them while being careful not to encounter any of the kobolds or possibly the orcs down there. After over an hour navigating the treacherous cliffs and paths in the depths of the volcano, he finally reached the tunnel containing the core gate.
Staring up at the massive iron door before him, Balthazar flipped the box open and retrieved the key inside, claws trembling with anticipation.
He did not know how that box with the key had come to be out there in that field, or who left it there for him, but that did not matter right there and then.
So long as it opened the gate and let him find out what was inside, that was all the obsessed crustacean cared about at that moment.
With all the dexterity his pincers could muster, Balthazar carefully inserted the bronze key into the slot at the center of the lock keeping the gate shut.
As he twisted and the core key turned, an echo of metal snapping filled the tunnel, and a vertical line of blinding white light breached through the space between the two halves of the gate.
Brightness flooded the crab’s vision for a few seconds before subsiding, and when he managed to look forward again, Balthazar did not find an open gate in front of him like he expected.
***
Outside the Semla Mountain, near the back of the bazaar, Madeleine stepped out of the gazebo with an intrigued expression on her face.
“Hey, Druma,” she said, spotting the goblin sitting on a crate. “I was looking for Balthazar. Did you help him place all those presents inside during the night to surprise the kids?”
The green wizard shook his head while avoiding eye contact with the baker.
“Well, a bunch of wrapped presents didn’t just appear out of thin air, someone had to put them there,” the girl said, crossing her arms.
“It was Festus,” a little girl said, stepping out of the bazaar with a wrapped box half as big as her in her arms.
“What?” Madeleine asked, turning to the kid.
“It was the giant red crab Mr. Balthazar told us about last night,” the child said, her eyes big and shiny with joy. “It came during the night and delivered these presents to us.”
The baker smiled warmly at the little girl.
“That was just a tale, little one. Balthazar wasn’t—”
“But I saw it!” the kid exclaimed. “A really big crab with a sack on his back, standing above the roof!”
Madeleine frowned, despite trying to keep her smile. “You probably just drea—”
“I saw it too!”
A young boy came out of the gazebo, carrying an even bigger box in his arms.
“I woke up in the middle of the night to tinkle and saw Festus leaving in his flying carriage!”
The maker of pies stared at the two kids and their presents with a frown before turning back to Druma.
“Alright, I need to talk with Balthazar about what’s going on here. Can you tell me where he is, Druma?”
The goblin gave a sheepish shrug while looking down at the ground, letting the brim of his wizard hat cover his face.
Suspicious, Madeleine looked behind his back and her brow furrowed as she noticed the blue winter hat she had made for Balthazar sitting on top of a crate, alongside a very familiar money pouch.
“Druma…” the young woman started with concern in her voice. “Where is Balthazar?”
With watery eyes, the goblin glanced up at her with guilt stamped across his face.
“Druma not supposed to tell where boss go.”
“Oh gods, what did that silly crab do this time? Please, just tell me, Druma!”
The assistant glanced back and then at the baker, a clear internal struggle brewing in him.
Sheepishly, Druma approached Madeleine and stood on the tips of his toes to whisper into her ear.
As the goblin explained the situation to her, the girl’s eyes widened further and further, until she suddenly bolted upright.
“Balthazar went where on his own?!”
***
“Where am I?!” Balthazar exclaimed as his eyes scanned the new place he found himself in.
It looked identical to the tunnel he had been in just a moment before, but the gate was gone, as were the torches lining the walls behind him.
Whatever that identical corridor was, it seemed to be dimly lit by an invisible source of white light coming from the ceiling. It felt eerie.
Unsure of which way was which, the crab looked back and forth between the two directions of the tunnel. As he was about to pick one randomly, a faint sound caught his attention.
It was almost imperceptible, maybe like a voice, a whisper, but clearly coming from the way currently ahead of him.
“Well, I can’t just stand here now,” the merchant muttered to himself.
Balthazar walked, and walked, and walked. For what felt like hours. But it was actually merely five minutes, and he was just a very impatient crab.
As he was about to complain to nobody in particular again, Balthazar spotted a change in the repetitive walls of the corridor surrounding him.
Statues carved from the very stone of the walls lined the tunnel, stretching as far as he could see. They depicted dozens of figures in armor—human, by their shape—each frozen in the same upright stance. Time had worn them down, their features softened into anonymity, their faces all but erased.
Whoever they had been, Balthazar suspected they were adventurers of old. He had dealt with enough of their kind to recognize their looks, their equipment, and the very way they carried themselves.
The merchant stared up in awe at one of the massive statues standing before him.
“If I could move these to the surface… I could totally sell them to someone.”
As he carried on forward, the distant whisper grew closer. And it was no longer just one voice, but several whispering together.
“What are they saying?” the intrigued crustacean muttered.
The entire place felt eerie, even more so than all the others before it. Something in the air made Balthazar feel as if he was being watched from all sides, and not alone at all, despite seeing no signs of any living—or unliving—soul anywhere.
“Not my brightest idea, coming down here all by myself,” the merchant mumbled to himself.
“Cree-cree!”
“Yes, exactly. That’s—Wait, what?!” Balthazar jumped in place and looked at the tiny stone sitting on his carapace. “Pebbles?!”
“Creeee!” the rock chirped at him with a smile.
“What are you doing here?!” the baffled crustacean asked.
“Cree.”
“Ah, damn it. You shouldn’t sneak into my backpack when I’m not looking!”
The crab paused and reflected for a second.
“Wait, if the key only works for one user to come in, how did you come along with me?” he wondered. “Hmm… I guess being part entity, part item, really messes up with the system when it comes to qualifying what you count as, huh?”
“Cree-cree!” Pebbles replied happily.
“Well, can’t really send you back now, but at least roll back into my bag, will you? I don’t know what dangers lie ahead.”
With another chirp, the tiny living rock slipped into one of the backpack’s side pockets.
Sighing, Balthazar returned to the darkened path ahead.
As tension crept up in him, the crab pushed forward some more, until the statue-filled corridor opened up into a circular room.
[Quest completed: Find The Source at the core of the dungeon]
[You have reached Level 39!]
“This is it?” the frowning merchant said.
The chamber was empty. Just a giant stone room with not a single thing in it, other than a dull white light with no apparent origin.
“All of this time and effort, and now that I finally reached this place… there’s nothing?!” Balthazar blurted out.
As he continued scanning the room with his eyes in hopes of spotting anything at all, a system notification popped up into his vision.
[Welcome back to The Source, Dungeon Manager]
[Run protocols?]
[Yes] [No]
“Huh, there goes this thing calling me a manager again,” Balthazar said, pinching his chin in thought while pondering the question being presented. “No idea what protocols it’s talking about, but I doubt I’m going to find anything out by saying no, so I’m going to say… yes?”
[Running Core protocols. Please wait…]
While the message remained atop his field of vision, a second line appeared below.
[Would you like to access the manager menu?]
“Oh, I’m definitely saying yes to that!” said the crab. “I wonder if it has a desserts section. I’m getting kinda peckish.”
Instead of a list as the merchant expected, the manager panel presented him with another question, followed by a blinking cursor in front of a blank line.
[What task would you like to run?]
Balthazar stared at the awaiting blank line in his eyes for a moment.
“So, is this like… an open-ended question?” he said, trying to think of the best way to test that theory. “I don’t know, I’d like, maybe… a muffin?”
To his absolute shock, the system immediately printed a new line below.
[Create Muffin]
The crab’s wide eyes stared at the line for a few seconds.
“You’re joking? Surely it can’t be this easy to—”
As he focused on the option presented, a fluffy brown muffin appeared on the floor in front of him with a soft pop!
“No way! I found the muffin button!”
With reckless enthusiasm, Balthazar pressed the button over and over again, as more and more identical muffins appeared out of thin air, stacking and spilling over one another in front of him.
“Get in my belly!” the gluttonous crustacean said as he grabbed one of the miniature cakes and greedily shoved it into his mouth.
He chewed for a moment, until his eyestalks arched inward and he stopped, cheeks still full of muffin.
“Pfaw!” Balthazar exclaimed, spitting out the partially chewed pastry. “This thing is completely tasteless! Where’s the flavor?! The texture! All the good parts of eating a muffin?!”
Tossing aside the half muffin still in his pincer, the crab turned away from the pile of spawned cakes and crossed his arms grumpily.
“I should have known it was too good to be true. You can’t have proper pastries without a proper baker and a proper baking process!”
After a sigh, the frustrated crab turned his attention back to the system window again.
“Alright, creating food is out, but maybe I could still find something else useful to do with it? What else could I need?” He paused and thought for a moment. “Hmm, well, I like gold, and can never have too much of that…”
Just as he thought it, a new line of text appeared.
[Give 999,999,999 gold (for testing purposes only)]
“Oh!” Balthazar exclaimed, his eyestalks jumping in excited surprise. “That’s… that’s a lot!”
Just as he was about to press the option to spawn a fortune in gold, the merchant stopped himself.
It didn’t feel right.
It felt like cheating. Not cheating the system, he couldn’t care less about that, but it felt like he’d be cheating himself more than anything.
“Sure, I love money, but… is it the same if I just create it out of nothing like this? Without earning it? Without trading for it? I’d have more gold than probably anyone in the continent, but then what? What would I do? Trading would feel pointless. I’d lose all the fun of earning coin.” He sighed and slumped his shell. “No, I don’t want riches like this. I want to earn them.”
Swiping away the option to spawn gold, Balthazar returned to asking himself what it was that he truly desired.
The more he considered it, the more the crab realized he actually already had most of what he could ever want. He had his pond and a business, riches and pastries, and lots of friends to enjoy them with.
What else was there to give himself?
“Hmm… Maybe that’s it.”
Shifting his way of thinking, Balthazar wondered if perhaps it wouldn’t be better to think of his friends instead of himself.
What did he wish they could have?
He thought back to all the times his companions were in danger, because they were not strong enough to face the situation they found themselves in because of the crab. To how everyone who wasn’t him or an adventurer was unable to ever improve beyond their level, for no apparent reason.
He remembered how many times Druma almost didn’t make it because he was such a low level.
“Sometimes I wish I wasn’t the only one able to level up,” Balthazar muttered in his thinking.
[Toggle experience earning for locals. State: off]
The crab looked up, surprised by the new system line presented to him.
He thought and pondered quietly for a few seconds.
“I mean, it’s probably turned off for a reason…” he finally said.
And then Balthazar remembered the crow that had taken his access to the system months before.
“Ah, to hell with you, birds!”
Punching his claw forward for dramatic effect, the crab toggled the ability for locals to level up like adventurers to “on.”
He waited for a moment, unsure of what to expect.
“Well, nothing seems to have chan—”
[Core protocols aborted!]
“Ah!”
[Fatal error: Core component is missing!]
[Analyzing additional errors…]
[Unexpected entity with insufficient level detected: level 39]
“Is this thing talking about me?” the crab exclaimed. “Who are you calling ‘insufficient,’ you big—”
[Core Heart not found. Initiating Source shut down!]
[Expelling unauthorized entities!]
“Wait, wait, wait! What?!”
An invisible force, subtle at first, but rapidly growing, began pulling Balthazar backward, toward the way he had come from.
“No, no, no!” he exclaimed, skittering forward and against the pull. “I didn’t come this far to just be thrown out without answers!”
Freeing himself from the unseen cone of wind trying to vacuum him out of the chamber, the crab bolted to the other end.
Seeing another tunnel there, Balthazar dashed to it as he felt new bursts of forceful wind attempting to catch him.
[Source shut down cannot finish until all unauthorized entities have been removed]
Running as fast as his legs could carry his carapace, the merchant could hear the whispers from before growing louder, as if coming from the end of the corridor he was on.
“Find… Find… Find…” the muted voices seemed to repeat over and over again.
“What’s going on?!” the stressed crustacean said as he kept on running, realizing he had no idea what he was doing or where he was going, but that it was too late to turn back now.
“The heart… The heart!” the echoes repeated, their unified voices growing in intensity the closer the crab came to them.
Flashes of light lit up the darkened walls of the tunnel as the intruder of the core fled deeper into the center of the mountain. As they increased, Balthazar began to realize they were not mere lights, but flashes of images. Flashes of memories.
Snippets of moments in the lives of others.
A child running and laughing.
A mother waving goodbye with a smile.
A boy playing in the snow.
A girl rolling in the sand of a beach.
In some the owner of the memory was working, in others they were studying. Some had big families, others were alone. Some had sisters, some brothers, others neither. In some the dreamer had a boyfriend, in others a wife.
They were echoes of past lives. Countless memories trapped somewhere in that core.
The memories of the past lives of all the adventurers on Heartha.
“What is this place?!” Balthazar shouted as the forceful wind grew into a force that filled the entire tunnel and nearly swept him up.
Thankfully for him, having eight legs and two powerful pincers made for a lot of extra stability when trying to keep yourself in place.
Slowly crawling forward, the crab could hear the voices over the deafening wind, no longer whispering, but shouting now, like a desperate, pleading chorus.
“The heart… Find… The heart… Find…”
“I’m just a crab! I don’t know what the hell is going on!”
“Find… the heart…”
“Find the heart…”
“Find the heart!”
“FIND THE HEART!”
With an intensity that nearly blinded him, a new system notification filled Balthazar’s vision, demanding his full attention despite the flood of chaos surrounding him.
[Quest started: Find the Heart]
The voices went quiet abruptly, the wind ceased, and the lights and flashes of memories vanished from the tunnel, plunging the crab into complete darkness.
[Critical error at The Source. Emergency expulsion initiated.]
Panting, Balthazar stood back up from the floor with a frown. “What is that supposed to—”
A thunderous crack echoed from the depths below him, and the ground split in two. Fissures quickly turned the tunnel into an open abyss as a bright red glow from the bowels of the earth made every survival instinct in the crab’s body tell him to run.
“Why did I come down heeeeere!” the merchant yelled as he ran for dear life, a boiling heat chasing him from below.
The Semla Volcano howled like a hungry beast, as the superheated liquid resting in its depths came rushing up—molten chocolate.
“Oh, no, no, no!” Balthazar cried out, glancing back and seeing what was about to catch up to him.
But the mountain cared nothing for his pleas. The ground beneath him cracked and split, and the force of the eruption surged up at last, hurling the crab upward, past the collapsing ceiling, the falling walls, and through the maw of the volcano.
Riding the rushing waves of chocolate up the mountain with both pincers holding on tight to his backpack, the scrambling crustacean saw the blue of the sky swell rapidly above him as he neared the peak from within. Back on top of his carapace, Pebbles chirped gleefully as they surged upward.
“Weeeeeeeeee!”
Cold wind struck his face suddenly as Balthazar burst free of the mountain, shot into the open air like a cannonball.
He glimpsed his pond, the tiny speck of his bazaar beside it, and even Ardville in the distance.
All of it fell away as he soared higher, past the clouds, through the last drifting snowflakes.
A crab, flung into the sky, with no idea where he was going.
“Oooooh craaaaaabaaaaaappleeeesss!”
