ã€ŠDungeon Hunterã€‹


 Chapter One | Activation

    ¡°Have you seen this one, L-man?¡± Axel asked me, pushing his iPhone into my face.

    He played the video and I watched as a man approached one of the black holes, tentatively reached up to touch it and then disappeared. Here one moment, gone the next. In a single frame. I wondered if the man had a family or friends. Hoping his loved ones would see the video so they may have closure, I shook my head.

    ¡°No, but that¡¯s kinda messed up. Why didn¡¯t the person filming stop him?¡±

    Axel shrugged and continued scrolling. Sitting across from him, I tried to find the good of his parents in him. There was nothing of his mother¡¯s warmth, nor his father¡¯s cheer. In all ways but personality, he took after his father who¡¯d been naturally athletically gifted, especially in sprints. Axel was a blonde man in his late twenties with an undercut, deep bags under blue eyes that were blessed with thick lashes, and full lips pressed together in idle thought.

    I had heard in passing people compliment his looks, with girls in high school even giving him the nickname of Apollo, literally comparing him to a Greek god. And that was why I had stopped comparing myself to him ages ago. The dude didn¡¯t even exercise but still managed to have the kind of build men spent hours at the gym to achieve. It gave me some semblance of mental peace that despite all that, Axel had never fully settled into his height, having sprouted up during puberty to compete against skyscrapers, and even now to compensate he hunched over his phone. Part of me thought it might even be a confidence thing.

    Not wanting to suffer something else from his social media feed, I left him at the dining table and moved to the lounge. We¡¯d gotten these armchairs secondhand at the dump much to Axel¡¯s chagrin. I sunk into one and I tried not to think about what these black holes meant. But avoiding the idea just sent me right back to it.

    Was it aliens? Demons? Alternate dimensions? There were so many conspiracy theories floating around online with no official explanations from any government that it would¡¯ve been easier to figure out time travel at this point than to find out what was actually happening.

    Lost in my thoughts, I only vaguely heard the audio from another video play off Axel¡¯s phone. The sound of several people screaming slingshotted me back into reality. Turning around in my chair to face him, I shot him a worried look.

    I¡¯d known Axel all my life. We weren¡¯t so much friends as the second generation of friends. Our parents had been super close and as a result Axel was like a sibling that I didn¡¯t really understand. Simply due to circumstance, we now shared a flat in the city. Sometimes life is like that. You get tied to someone for life because of things outside of your control.

    Most people assumed since we¡¯d been together for so long that we were a couple. It didn¡¯t help that when friends saw us heckle each other they often joked about what a married couple we were. Axel hated it, and was always first to correct it, but it played in my favour for a long time, especially since I didn¡¯t know how to break it to my parents that I was ace. That was a conversation I¡¯d been avoiding since I¡¯d realised there was a label for the way I¡¯d felt way back when I was twelve. A decade and a half long con to avoid an awkward exchange with my mother and father.

    Omission wasn¡¯t lying, was it?

    Again Axel shrugged in reaction to my expression, jutting his chin at his phone. ¡°Same man disappearing, different person who filmed it.¡±

    ¡°Howabout stop?¡± I suggested, a pit of tar sinking in my stomach, as I looked away from the uncaring form of my flatmate.

    The appearance of the black holes around the world had initially seemed like a stunt meant for virality, but the way that people seemed to no longer exist after touching one was too uncanny for it to just be special effects. Too many angles, too many reactions. I had laughed the first time I saw one, but now I was beginning to feel sick. There was something seriously wrong. This wasn¡¯t just some social media blitz or social experiment.

    ~Dungeons Active~

    For a moment, I wasn¡¯t sure what had happened. Like, I had definitely heard someone say those words, but I had actually not heard them say it. There was no audio in the exterior world, nothing had entered my eardrums. But I¡¯d heard it crystal clear all the same. As if someone was speaking directly into my head.

    Was I going crazy? Had the anxiety from the black holes caused me to start hallucinating? Perhaps the videos Axel had been showing me were affecting me more seriously than I thought. Wondering if I should ask him if he¡¯d heard the voice too, another mental sound played, interrupting the thought. A long high-pitched beep. I tasted static.

    Blue flashed in front of my face, blinding me.

    My eyes stung as I blinked away the fading light, taking in what I was seeing. It was a notification, like a push notification on a phone. It floated in front of my face, maybe one metre away. Instinctively, I tried to wave it away, but my hand just phased right through it. Oh, so I was going crazy.

    The notification read: ¡°Player Lee Baz Smith registered. Title: None. Class and traits generating...¡±

    I pinched at the bridge of my nose and closed my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I opened them again and was still met with the same screen. Had I been gaming too much? Something similar had happened when I played Skyrim a lot when I was a kid. When I walked around I would think about all the different plants and insects I could harvest and even hallucinated the E prompt button when close to a bush or shrub.

    But I hadn¡¯t even played anything that much recently. I¡¯d been too busy fretting over how to break it to Axel that I wanted to move out by myself. I¡¯d finally saved up enough to afford a deposit for my own place and was actively checking out apartments for rent in different suburbs. Before the Doomsday tag had started trending, I¡¯d been practising in the mirror again and again but it had done nothing to relieve my nerves. I had planned on breaking the news to him tonight come hell or high water.

    But if the screen was talking about class and traits¡­ Was it imitating a game, like an RPG or something?

    ¡°Lee.¡±

    My heart skipped a beat, as Axel¡¯s voice spoke into my ear. He was standing right behind me. Somehow, he¡¯d closed the distance between us without me noticing. He was not a quiet person by nature and honestly kind of clumsy. Yet he¡¯d managed to get right behind me without so much as a creak on the floor.

    I moved to turn around and face him, but he stilled me, his hand on my shoulder. Like an iron weight. It was weird that he was touching me. Since primary school he¡¯d stopped being cuddly. Of course, since then a lot had changed about me too.

    But that¡¯s when it hit me. Axel had called me ¡°Lee.¡± He hadn¡¯t called me Lee our entire lives, as an age-old in-joke that had long since worn out its charm. Specifically, when we were three, he¡¯d thrown a tantrum about me stealing his mother¡¯s name.

    I hadn¡¯t contested the thought since my parents had explained my name was based on both Axel¡¯s parents. When I said our parents had been close, I wasn¡¯t joking. I was Lee after Li-hua, and Baz after Sebastian. I had never known if Axel knew my parents were his namesake, but Axel for Alessandra and Zeke for Ezekiel, it would¡¯ve been obvious to anyone else. But what was clear to most often flew over his head.

    Unable to ignore it, I said, ¡°You never call me Lee.¡±

    Axel laughed. It was bitter. Bitter? That made no sense. He was the one who decided to use any name under the sun other than my birth name. Well, I guess I¡¯d never understood him before and that wasn¡¯t about to change.

    ¡°I¡¯ve just been wanting to say it for a while.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to use it, you know. It¡¯s literally my name.¡±

    The warmth of his hand slid from my shoulder, the strangely charged moment past, and so I turned to look at him. There was a smile I¡¯d never seen before on his face. Or rather, maybe I¡¯d seen it once, but on a much younger version of him. But for this moment in time, the expression in his eyes was nonsense. On anyone else, I would¡¯ve believed it was grief, but what did Axel have to feel mournful about? There were very few people on Earth that Axel held in high regard, and even fewer that would cause such emotion in him.

    My heart jumped into my mouth, thinking the worst. ¡°Are our parents okay?¡±

    He blinked and, just like that, the sorrow was gone, replaced by his usual noncommittal gaze. ¡°For now, at least.¡±

    The shift in his expression was like a weight off my shoulders, a physical relief that calmed me and allowed my lungs to expand properly, to breathe. There was something about the look in his eyes that said things I didn¡¯t understand, far more than the usual nonsensical Axel. Trying to make light of the situation, I said, ¡°You¡¯re being kind of weird, dude.¡±

    ¡°I know, I just¡­ heard this voice in my head. Something about dungeons¡­¡±

    Everything odd that Axel had done was immediately forgotten as I stood to face him. ¡°You heard it too? I¡¯m not losing my mind! And this blue notification menu, you see it too, right?¡±

    I pointed in front of me where the ellipsis at the end of the sentence continued to type in and disappear, like a loading bar. Axel shook his head, and for a brief moment I felt despair well inside me. But then, he gestured in front of himself. ¡°I see a blue screen here.¡±

    So, we had our own screens. I guess that made just as much sense as anything else. My screen had my name. So, Axel¡¯s probably had his too then.

    Was everyone around the world getting these same notifications? I pulled my phone from my pocket and tried searching online, but realised the Wi-Fi was dead and I wasn¡¯t getting any reception. When I mentioned it to Axel, he just nodded in acceptance and mumbled something about server overload. If anyone would know, it would be him¡ªhe was something of an IT guru. I decided to take his response at face value.

    He asked, ¡°Do you have a title?¡±

    ¡°Mine says ¡®None.¡¯ You?¡±

    I watched as the muscle in Axel¡¯s jaw twitched, and he said, ¡°No. No title either.¡±

    We were both quiet. I knew Axel¡¯s tell. He knew I knew. Why would he lie about his title? If I was right about this screen imitating games, then titles were usually assigned because of events completed, feats achieved, or evident characteristics. Maybe his title was something embarrassing? Racking my brain, I tried to imagine anything that would cause his reaction.

    He¡¯d recently been doing a solo-run on Divinity: Original Sin II, so¡­

    Could his title be something like ¡°Lone Wolf¡±? Getting assigned that by this random all-knowing screen would be the kind of second-hand cringe that would make anyone hurt. The idea of anyone considering Axel a lone wolf almost made me laugh, but I quickly smothered it. The truth was Axel was a social butterfly. Actually, that kind of title might be more humiliating for him.

    Maybe it was the current state of events, and how they didn¡¯t align with the reality I¡¯d known my whole life, but in my head, I imagined rainbow wings sprouting out of his back, and him gracefully soaring through the air. Laughter snorted out of my nose.

    Axel raised a single thin blonde eyebrow at me. Coughing a few times, I thumped a fist at my chest. ¡°Allergies.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    ¡°How long do you think the¡ª¡±

    ~Class and traits loaded~

    The blue menu transitioned like a PowerPoint slide into a new larger screen. I instantly recognized the information provided. Indicators for a game character. Health, stamina, experience, mana, abilities, traits. I paused and did a double take. Mana? Did that mean there was magic?

    The absolute absurdity of the situation dawned on me.

    It felt like a whip in the face. There were black holes appearing around the world, my lifetime acquaintance for the first time had randomly called me by my real name, a random blue box knew said name, and now there was magic.

    I wondered when my mind had broken and what had caused it. Was it from the stress of telling Axel I wanted to move out? Maybe I was sitting somewhere in a padded cell with my arms straitjacketed to my body. That made more sense. Obviously, I was having a psychotic break. Somewhere nearby, there was probably a repeating message telling me to come back to the real world.

    I closed my eyes and imagined waking up.

    ¡°You¡¯re not crazy.¡±

    I looked over to Axel. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not crazy. This is real. This is happening.¡±

    His unshakeable gaze met mine.

    Taking the armchair opposite me, Axel asked, ¡°What are your stats?¡±

    ¡°Uh, I¡­¡± I looked at my status bar. It was minimal, really. Like barebones. The game devs probably would¡¯ve gotten bad reviews if they released even a beta like this. ¡°[20 HP], [20 MANA], [20 STAMINA]. No traits, but one ability: [Channel].¡±

    Even though I¡¯d only skimmed the data before, when I said it out loud, it seemed like a fairly bad character sheet. This was like a throwaway. If I had rolled this poorly, I would¡¯ve restarted the game. This hallucination was an incredibly depressing one. My mouth started going dry. I didn¡¯t know why, but some part of me knew if I played a game with this I probably would¡¯ve died a few times in just the tutorial level.

    Axel swore creatively under his breath, something about time. ¡°And your class?¡±

    Having ignored the largest piece of information on the floating screen before me, I flicked my gaze back up to the very top where my class was situated.

    ¡°[All-rounder]?¡±

    Well, that¡¯d account for the low mana, low health, and low stamina. Not great at anything, but middling at all. I hoped that meant it was a middle of the grid kind of class with the chance to move in any direction. Normally, character upgrade trees for blank slates like this were usually for pro players who knew what they were proccing into. Or that was what I was desperately praying was true. Because if that wasn¡¯t the case, and I literally could never really focus into anything, that¡¯d mean my stats would remain under average all round. Which, with the sudden changing of the world, suddenly felt like a very dangerous thing to realise.

    I could feel the hyperventilation start in the swelling of my lungs, but I tried to slow my breathing. I swallowed back my concerns. There was no point thinking too far ahead right now.

    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°What about you?¡±

    ¡°[70 HP], [25 MANA], [55 STAMINA], one trait of [Swift Footed], and three abilities: [Ground Smash], [Intimidation], [Thick Hide]. My class is [Combatant].¡±

    Combatant. That sounded like a front-line damage type. Again, the muscle in Axel¡¯s jaw twitched. Was he lying to make me feel better? Were my stats literally so awful that even with all the info he just shared that completely dwarfed mine, he was still trying to be humble to spare my feelings?

    ¡°It looks like I¡¯m strong,¡± Axel said.

    I didn¡¯t want his pity, but I smiled nonetheless.

    ~Dungeon 5 entered for the first time. Player Sung Jin-woo rewarded title of First Contact~

    We let silence settle in between us for a moment, trying to absorb the full repercussion of the most recent mentally projected notification. First Contact? That referred to aliens, didn¡¯t it? And then there was that word again. Dungeon. It was like everything was connected to it. Within my chest, I felt something sprout. A foreign desire taking root, so clearly removed from my own that I could almost identify exactly where it began inside me.

    I voiced this newfound desire.

    ¡°I guess we¡¯re supposed to go into these Dungeons? Like dungeon diving?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. I guess.¡±

    Neither of us moved.

    ~Dungeon 13 entered for the first time. Player Kim Dokja rewarded title of Dreamer~

    Briefly, I wondered why both the first players to enter a Dungeon were Korean, but quickly ignored the thought. It was probably just coincidence. I wondered what about Dungeon 13 qualified the first player to enter the title of Dreamer. Were the Dungeons different? Were the Dungeons more like game dungeons or like real dungeons? Would there be loot? Boss fights?

    In the silence that fell between us, Axel asked, ¡°Do you think the Dungeons are the black holes?¡±

    I pulled my mind from the current train of thought it was on and replied, ¡°They appeared just before all this started happening. That can¡¯t just be a coincidence. There were at least a dozen reported, right?¡±

    ~Dungeon 10 entered for the first time. Player Fahd bin Khan rewarded title of Trendsetter~

    ~Dungeon 1 entered for the first time. Player Kerstin Berg rewarded title of Hotspot~

    ~Dungeon 6 entered for the first time. Player Jibari Kimachu rewarded title of Alter Ego~

    ~Dungeon 9 entered for the first time. Player Riku Nakamura rewarded title of Eagle Eye~

    It was unnerving hearing all these notifications almost simultaneously. It was like worldwide everyone was coming to the same conclusion. Everyone was thinking the same thing. The Dungeons. Clear as day, I could taste the invading compulsion, blossoming in my chest.

    We needed to enter the Dungeons. I didn¡¯t doubt a single other person the world over wasn¡¯t feeling the same thing. A hand grasping my heart, slowly starting to squeeze.

    ¡°Where¡¯s the closest Dungeon?¡±

    ¡°When I was scrolling through the tag, the closest one was in central Brisbane. There¡¯s no way we¡¯ll get to it first. Neither of us has a car.¡±

    I chewed on the inside of my cheek. ¡°Well, we don¡¯t need to be one of the first to enter, do we?¡±

    ¡°Those title notifications sound important.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to bring up that he had a title and lied to me about it, and instead just said, ¡°In games, you can sometimes buy titles or achieve them. Besides, it¡¯s not like they ever have that much bearing on anything. Like max, they¡¯ll unlock some sort of cosmetic skin. My guess is that sooner or later, we¡¯ll probably end up getting them anyway. Shouldn¡¯t we try to figure out what the Dungeons are all about first?¡±

    Immediately, he laughed. For a second I felt my ears grow hot with embarrassment. I had gotten used to Axel being brutally honest with me¡ªit was part of who he was¡ªbut he rarely outright mocked my ideas. He must¡¯ve caught my expression because he stopped laughing.

    ¡°No, think about it, man. If titles weren¡¯t important, why would it be one of the first things to appear after your own name when the Dungeons ¡®activated¡¯?¡±

    The embarrassment faded away, but anger remained, a sting in my cheeks. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just say that first?¡±

    ¡°I¡­ Yeah, you¡¯re right. I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    Yeah, that pretty much cinched it. Surely the world was truly ending. Axel apologising? Axel admitting he was wrong? He¡¯d die before doing either of those things. I eyed him in suspicion. His eyes were closed in thought, and his face was pressed into his hands.

    But he was sitting up straight. The permanent stoop he existed with since he¡¯d shot up to telephone pole height was missing. It was strange to be forced to look up at him, even slightly. I swallowed back my doubts, though it was getting harder and harder to ignore all the subtle differences I was noticing.

    There was something fundamentally wrong with Axel. And I didn¡¯t know what it was.

    Maybe he¡¯d seen something on Twitter that had shocked him to his core? It was Axel sitting there, that was unmistakable, but if you put a gun to my head and demanded to know what was sitting in the seat opposite me, I couldn¡¯t tell you with full confidence that it was the same Axel I had known all my life.

    He was hiding something. And it wasn¡¯t something small either. Did it have to do with the title he wouldn¡¯t share with me? Or his stats? What wasn¡¯t he telling me? Why wasn¡¯t he telling me? I stared at him a while longer, trying to weigh up the pros and cons of confronting him.

    There was something in his current stature that made me hesitate. Besides, this was Axel I was talking about. Dude could be as stubborn as a mule when he was forced to do something.

    He¡¯d share his mind with me when he was ready.

    ~Dungeon 11 entered for the first time. Player Adrien Galbraith rewarded title of Boy Wonder~

    Clearing my throat, I said, ¡°It¡¯s all good, man. So, what? You¡¯re saying we should¡­ find another Dungeon that hasn¡¯t been found yet? They stand out a lot, so I don¡¯t think that¡¯s gonna be possible.¡±

    ~Dungeon 8 entered for the first time. Player Bonnie O¡¯ Brolchain rewarded title of Scorned~

    Axel removed his hands from his face. ¡°When I was scrolling, it looked like there were around thirteen of the black holes globally. But there was nothing from China on there, so let¡¯s hazard a guess for one more from them. So fourteen. That¡¯s not a lot for a population of eight billion people, is it?¡±

    I rubbed at my chin in thought. ¡°If being the first person to enter a Dungeon is really as important as just you think it is, then the rarity of a Dungeon should be pretty high. You can¡¯t just be handing out titles like you¡¯re Oprah. But with only fourteen for the entirety of humanity¡­ That¡¯s¡ª I can¡¯t even do the maths.¡± Plugging the numbers into the calculator app on my phone, my eyes widened at the results. ¡°That¡¯s a probability of receiving a first entering title less than 0.000000002%.¡±

    ¡°Right, so astronomically low odds. Those titles are special, for sure, but they can¡¯t possibly be that rare. That¡¯d be kind of unfair. So¡­¡±

    Understanding formed in my mind. ¡°You think there¡¯s gonna be more Dungeons. We need to wait for new ones?¡±

    ¡°Pretty much. But we can¡¯t just stay here like this. People are gonna be going into those Dungeons, regardless of titles. It¡¯s like an itch¡­ Since everything else has been like a game, the Dungeons have gotta be some sort of boss fight, or a challenge. And what do you do before a boss fight?¡± Axel asked.

    He played more MMORPGs than me, but I knew what he was suggesting.

    ¡°Gather a party?¡±

    Axel laughed again and this time I knew he wasn¡¯t mocking me. I had no clue what he found so hilarious, but I just smiled back. I never understood Axel and despite whatever changes he¡¯d gone through today, that wasn¡¯t about to change. That was comforting. But¡­

    ~Dungeon 4 entered for the first time. Player Althea Santos rewarded title of Infinite~

    It was weird, actually. What was happening was absolutely insane. Black holes didn¡¯t just appear out of nowhere. Weird game-like notifications didn¡¯t just materialise into our individual minds. This was not normal. So, why did I feel so calm? Was it simply because I wasn¡¯t alone in this? That Axel was here with me?

    I should¡¯ve been losing my goddamn mind. But I wasn¡¯t. Then again, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure I hadn¡¯t already.

    ¡°Should we call our parents first?¡± I asked.

    He shook his head. ¡°All telecommunications are down right now. I¡¯m thinking government mandated to control chaos, or maybe interference from the formation of the Gates.¡±

    The worry in my gut intensified.

    ¡°But they¡¯ll be okay, right? If they don¡¯t enter the Dungeons, nothing bad should happen to them?¡± I asked.

    For university, we¡¯d both moved to the state capital from a rural country town. The population was probably in the hundreds. Our parents owned hectares of land, mostly empty bush, that they occasionally allowed cattle to graze on from neighbouring properties. I made it a point to go to my hometown at least once a year to catch up with them in person. Other than Axel, they really were the only other people in the world who I constantly worried about.

    ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s no Gates so far into the bush. My parents and yours should weather this storm perfectly fine. I doubt anyone so far out would even be affected.¡±

    With his words, my body felt lighter. My fears allayed, I frowned, catching onto something he¡¯d said. ¡°Gates?¡±

    ¡°Gates,¡± he said matter-of-factly.

    Seeing the clear obliviousness on my face, he followed up with: ¡°Since we can¡¯t see where they lead, the Dungeons have got to exist somewhere else. The notifications say ¡°entered.¡± So people are going inside them, but you¡¯ve seen the black holes. They¡¯re something less than 2D but more than 3D. I think the black holes are just doorways.¡±

    I listened carefully as he continued, ¡°Kind of like an older game when you enter a house or a castle. The new room has to load, and you¡¯re taken to a completely new zone that previously didn¡¯t exist. Plus, the people who touched them simply disappeared. They must¡¯ve gone somewhere.¡± He paused. And then concluded, ¡°So, yeah. Gates.¡±

    I mean¡­ The logic checked out. What didn¡¯t was how he¡¯d come to this conclusion so quickly. Whatever. Axel had been taking this entire situation better than I had been. So maybe he was more well-equipped to think about things like this.

    I shrugged. ¡°Sounds better than black holes in any case.¡±

    ¡°Circling back to making a party. Who do we know who we can recruit?¡±

    Not even a cricket chirping could¡¯ve properly punctuated the silence that fell between us. Since high school I¡¯d been pretty introverted. I had some close friends from university, but they¡¯d all moved away, either rural or international. We kept in touch online with weekly gaming sessions, but that was it. It wasn¡¯t like we could ask them to come join us here in Brisbane. I probably wouldn''t have wanted to have pressure them into it even if I could¡¯ve asked them.

    ~Dungeon 2 entered for the first time. Player Y¨© nu¨° Huang rewarded title of Lighter Than Air~

    Axel held a finger up in thought, his blonde brows furrowed, and he opened his mouth but then closed it again. To be honest, I wasn¡¯t surprised Axel didn¡¯t have anyone that came to mind either. Though he was the party life incarnate, none of the groups he hung out with were particularly reliable. Sure, some social circles were better than others, and I¡¯d seen them all during the time we¡¯d lived together, but I didn¡¯t think any of his friends could be counted on.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that,¡± he growled.

    ¡°Like what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need your pity.¡± He poked a finger into my shoulder. ¡°I have friends. I have tonnes of friends. You wouldn¡¯t even know!¡±

    ¡°Well, I do know, man. I see them all the time, you have a party like every other week here.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. I got friends, capiche?¡±

    Axel only became Al Pacino when he was genuinely angry. What an absolutely unhinged thing to be mad about. I threw my hands up in defeat. ¡°All right, all right. You¡¯ve got friends. Thousands, even.¡±

    He smirked. ¡°That¡¯s right. Thousands.¡±

    Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I raised an eyebrow. ¡°So, how many of them would want to join our party?¡±

    Axel¡¯s face scrunched up in thought. Yep, go ahead and think on it. I could see the numbers and figures flying around in his head. If he did the maths right, he¡¯d come to the same conclusion as me. The total amount of his friends who could be counted on equaled nil, zip, zero, zilch, nada.

    His face went blank. Ah, there it was.

    ¡°So?¡± I asked, feeling a sick amount of pleasure beginning to build from Axel¡¯s incoming realisation.

    A flicker of disgust ran over his features. His shoulders sagged and gravity increased three-fold over his body. He let out a pained groan. ¡°I know one person, but they probably don¡¯t remember me. You haven¡¯t met them before.¡± Under his breath, he sighed, ¡°God, I fucking hate Jye. Their takes are so bad.¡±

    Disappointment settled over me. Sifting through my emotions, I found I was sad that Axel didn¡¯t have to apologise again. That was almost definitely probably messed up. Well, when in Rome.

    ~Dungeon 12 entered for the first time. Player Mila Bachmann rewarded title of Unsanctimonious~

    It didn¡¯t escape my notice Axel had referred to this Jye person with they/them pronouns. Though I wouldn¡¯t say it aloud, Axel suffered from internalised prejudice, despite being openly queer. He¡¯d once said to me that there were men and there were women, so that he¡¯d associated with someone who might be outside of the gender binary was not a small surprise.

    Half-an-hour-ago-Axel probably would¡¯ve accidentally deadnamed them. Now-Axel used they/them like it was second nature. Half-an-hour-ago-Axel would never have asked me to join his party. Now-Axel referred to the party as ¡°our party.¡±

    I was slowly coming to grips with the fact that this wasn¡¯t just some simple shock from a reddit post. This was something deeper. But that was future me¡¯s problem.

    ¡°All right, well, where can we find them?¡±

    ¡°What am I, their keeper?¡± Axel spat.

    Okay, no, scratch that, it was the same old Axel. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I asked, ¡°Where do you think they¡¯d be then?¡±

    ¡°At 5:30, they¡¯re midway through their HIIT session at the gym which is when they take a smoke break out back.¡±

    The word ¡°stalker¡± sat on my tongue, posed ready to leap out. I stared at him. He stared back. Like he was daring me to say it. I could see the deranged chaos in the cogs grinding in his mind. No, I wouldn¡¯t let myself be baited into this. For some reason he wanted this. Denying him this was better in the long run. Besides, answers would be forthcoming whether I asked them or not since I¡¯d be meeting said friend soon.

    Instead, I said, ¡°Which gym?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s about a block from here.¡± Casually, he added, ¡°I know a shortcut.¡±

    Yeah, you would know that, wouldn¡¯t you, you stalker.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Axel asked.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say nothing.¡±

    His eyes narrowed and then he let out a long loud sigh.

    Then he walked off to his room. The sound of him rummaging through hangers in his closet made their way to me and I patiently waited for an explanation. There was no point in doing anything until he told me what it was I was meant to be doing because despite the fact I was taking this situation rather calmly I still didn¡¯t understand a lick of what was actually happening. Luckily Axel¡¯s grasp on everything was so much clearer.

    So I¡¯d wait and listen to him.

    ~Dungeon 15 entered for the first time. Player Igor Stepanov rewarded title of Magic Itself~

    Oh, Axel had been wrong. There were fifteen Dungeons. Maybe more?

    Axel stuck his head out through his doorway. ¡°I¡¯m grabbing some stuff. You should too. Use that backpack your mother gave you for paintball. Pack anything you think you¡¯ll need for the next week. I don¡¯t think we should count on being able to come back here.¡±

    I didn¡¯t even remember I¡¯d gotten a backpack from my mum. How did Axel? Shaking my head, I stood up and proceeded to follow his instructions. Nothing had gone wrong yet doing what he wanted, but his track record wasn¡¯t good, historically speaking.

    ¡°It feels weird locking this door knowing this might be our final goodbye to it.¡±

    ¡°Glad we didn¡¯t get a cat now, aren¡¯t you?¡± Axel dryly commented.

    Murmuring a defeated agreement, I turned the key. The lock clicked. Our apartment was secured. The sound echoed in my mind, and a deep unsettling curled inside my stomach. It was like a snake coiling around in my intestines. My chest felt tight and I could hear the hammering of my heart thrumming inside me.

    Seeing that closed door, that locked door, was so final.

    Absolute.

    Inside, all this was stuff that wasn¡¯t happening to me. But now¡­ Now I was where everything was happening. And that meant everything was real.

    ~Dungeon 7 entered for the first time. Player Gael Viegas rewarded title of Timekeeper~

    Fuck, those people who disappeared before the Gates activated¡­ Despite what Axel said, I was sure they were dead. We¡¯d all seen it. They just stopped existing when they touched the Gates. Jesus Christ, would we die? Were we going to our death? Would our parents die?

    Breathing became difficult, lead in my lungs, and I gasped for air. This was fucked. This was fucked up. The world began to spin, the edges of my vision going hazy.

    ¡°Yo, slowbro, hurry up, man.¡±

    The gates of panic didn¡¯t so much as slam shut as rage sucker punched it aside to wrangle control. ¡°I¡¯m having an anxiety attack over here, asshole!¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    He wasn¡¯t looking at me, but in the hand he held out to me was a single Warhead. It was black. The most tongue tarnishing of flavours. My gaze flicked between it and him, and I took the lolly wordlessly. He didn¡¯t say anything and started walking. I followed, eyes glued on the sour candy cradled in my hands.

    ~Dungeon 3 entered for the first time. Player Rohit Dibik rewarded title of Insatiable~

    Just the sight of the lolly was enough to begin calming me. The pounding of my heart evened into a normal rhythm. The heat in my veins cooled. The world settled.

 Chapter Two | Twos a Party

    I had always thought Axel didn¡¯t know about the Warheads and my panic attacks. I¡¯d done my best to hide it from everyone except the childhood therapist I¡¯d seen when they started. I guess my dependence on the lollies originally stemmed from Axel, though I never remembered telling him about it. Maybe he was more observant than I thought. We had known each other all our lives after all.

    Pocketing the Warhead for later, you know, just in case, I spoke to Axel¡¯s back. Without him hunching, it seemed wider than it¡¯d ever been. ¡°I never told my parents, you know.¡±

    ¡°Never told them what?¡± he said, looking back with a toothy smile.

    I scoffed. ¡°That you have a shit eating grin.¡±

    ¡°And that¡¯s why you love me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re confusing love and loathe.¡±

    Axel started singing a song so off-pitch that I didn¡¯t recognise it, and I said as much.

    He looked stricken. ¡°You don¡¯t vibe with Pink?¡±

    ¡°Not with your tone deafness I don¡¯t.¡±

    He snorted. ¡°Like you can sing any better. I¡¯ve heard you in the shower.¡±

    ¡°You need better hobbies.¡±

    We fell into step and continued on in amicable silence. Though the world around us was anything but. Security alarms were screaming, sirens were wailing down streets in ambulances, police, fire trucks, and the further we went along, the more it became clear that nearly every other window on ground floor had been smashed in.

    As though it mattered, Axel and I walked down the footpath, like we were clinging to the vestiges of human etiquette, even as people sprinted past us faster than should be physically possible, screaming and shouting, items falling from their hands. Looters were amok, and smoke rose into the skies of the setting sun in several locations. I¡¯m certain at one point I saw someone materialise inside a storefront next to a dapperly dressed mannequin.

    Somewhere a child was crying, but it sounded like it was coming from all different directions. Part of me wanted to go looking, unable to dismiss the noise, but the other half of me suspected it was bait. Still the guilt formed inside me. What if it was a lost child in the middle of all this chaos?

    For that¡¯s what it was.

    Absolute bedlam.

    In the span of an hour from the first Dungeon announcement Brisbane had fallen to lawlessness. With citizens having no immediate way of communicating with law enforcement, or getting news to each other, it was everyone out for themselves. Maybe that was a more sane reaction than what we were doing.

    ¡°We¡¯re here. Come on, the back is accessible through this gate.¡±

    It was a non-distinct gym, clearly not a franchise, with large glass windows so you could see the people exercising within. Why pay for advertisement when your clientele would do it for free? There were three people on exercise machines, all looking incredibly toned. How could they continue like normal after all those announcements? Sweat glistened on their skin, their AirPods probably blaring some sort of pop as they worked.

    I glanced down at myself. I¡¯d never been the type of person to hit the gym. Hell, I was probably considered unfit. I preferred just kind of existing rather than forcing myself onto reality.

    I hoped that our stats weren¡¯t actually a reflection of our real life bodies. ¡®Cause that would be a blow to the ego more than I could take. Below average in all stats¡­

    ~Dungeon 14 entered for the first time. Player Fati Okeke rewarded title of Jester~

    Axel met my gaze. If he¡¯d been tallying them up like I had been, that was the last one, unless there were more than fifteen. I held my breath. Surely something would happen now that all Dungeons had been entered.

    ~All current Dungeon initiations completed. Sponsorships now available~

    I frowned. ¡°Sponsorships¡­ Like advertisements?¡±

    He opened the gate for me and I walked through. Closing it behind him, he said, ¡°Does that mean people will be or are watching us?¡±

    Pulling my phone from my pocket, I checked for reception. Still zero bars. My battery was now at 53%. ¡°Nothing¡¯s up. It¡¯d be impossible for anyone to watch anything right now. And if people were watching, how would they be doing that? It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a camera on everyone on Earth.¡±

    I paused, rethinking my words having just put away a personal camera that I technically carried everywhere. Still, not everyone had a smartphone. Some people had to be rocking those minimal T9 physical button Nokia bricks somewhere in Japan.

    Axel continued, ¡°Lee, we¡¯re hearing voices in our heads.¡±

    It was still weird for him to call me that.

    ¡°A single voice,¡± I corrected him.

    ¡°We¡¯re hearing a voice in our heads,¡± he said. ¡°We¡¯re seeing personal AR-like stat windows. We¡¯re feeling driven to enter the Dungeons. We just walked through several active crime scenes on the way here. I think I saw someone bleeding out down an alley.¡±

    It was only a brief recap of what events had taken place, but when he put it so simply like that¡­ ¡°I get what you¡¯re saying. Somehow having something like invisible cameras filming everyone on Earth isn¡¯t that farfetched in comparison, huh?¡±

    ¡°Maybe not even cameras. You remember the first Dungeon title. First Contact, right?¡±

    I laughed. ¡°You¡¯re not saying aliens are watching us.¡±

    ¡°Is that really so hard to even consider?¡±

    Sighing, I shrugged. ¡°I guess anything¡¯s on the table. Aliens, mythical monsters, gods, entropy incarnate. You name it, it could be it.¡±

    We turned the corner to approach the cloud of cigarette smoke wisping from the dark under the stairs. Only the very red glowing ember end was visible. An exasperated groan wafted from the shadows. So, this was Jye? They didn¡¯t sound overly enthused at our arrival. Though with everything going on that wasn¡¯t entirely surprising.

    ¡°Jesus, can¡¯t I get a fucking break?¡± said a deep voice.

    ¡°We¡¯re not clients,¡± Axel said. In the same breath, he slapped the cigarette from their lips. ¡°Smoking is a disgusting habit and it¡¯ll kill you. Now join our party.¡±

    From the shadows loomed Jye, all muscle, and at least a head taller than Axel. I¡¯d bet they could rip apart a coconut with their bare hands. Or someone¡¯s head. With red hair in a mop framing their face, green eyes, and freckles, they looked every inch a lumberjack sans axe. Their square jaw and deep set eyes really sold the look despite the fact they currently wore black sports tights and a loose long sleeved shirt.

    Eyes wide, I waited and watched, hoping Axel had some sort of plan after harassing this goliath. Maybe a way to cash in a life debt? Blackmail? Extortion?

    ¡°Yo, Jye, old pal. You know me, it¡¯s Axel! We go way back. To that party in the Bahamas! You know the one where you hooked up with the DJ. Jye, this is Lee, Lee, Jye. Now we all know each other, let¡¯s form a party.¡±

    The muscle in Axel¡¯s jaw twitched and I desperately tried to hide my reaction, covering it with a cough. Thankfully, Jye didn¡¯t seem to notice. Inside, I was reeling. Why the hell would he lie about where he knew Jye from? Was Jye even their friend? Hell, did he even know Jye at all? Spiralling, I was frozen as the redhead cocked their head at an angle, somewhat akin to a dog.

    Their thick red eyebrows furrowed together. The world fell away and Jye appeared to increase further in size. In the back of my head, I heard static. Then they leaned down, pressing their nose into Axel¡¯s and growled. ¡°The Bahamas, you say? I don¡¯t remember seeing you there. And I have a great fucking memory.¡±

    Was this how we died? In the back of a gym lot?

    I guess there were worse ways to go. Chrissie crossed my mind. She was always there somewhere.

    Axel scoffed. ¡°You told me to take some classes with you here since we lived in the same neighbourhood after we discussed the best Hunter x Hunter arcs. Greed Island is mid as fuck, but I do concede it was a foundational moment in Gon and Killua¡¯s friendship.¡±

    Jye roared directly into Axel¡¯s face, ¡°God, you¡¯re so wrong! Greed Island was the only time that Gon and Killua were able to have fun without worrying about the world or family. It¡¯s the purest arc and it shows how much they truly care about each other!¡± They actually and genuinely growled. ¡°You¡¯re probably a Chimera Ant arc nerd, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Axel rolled his eyes and slid a little further from Jye who was now all but frothing at the mouth. ¡°Personally, the strongest arc, in my opinion, is the Yorknew City arc.¡±

    Whoosh.

    Jye¡¯s roundhouse was aimed perfectly at Axel, on the square of his jaw. I was half expecting his head to explode from impact like one of those slo-mo watermelon videos. Instead, the redhead¡¯s attack flew through empty air. Axel stood two steps to the left of where he had previously been.

    What the fuck? Had he teleported? I tried to recall his abilities and his traits, but couldn¡¯t remember what he¡¯d said. The long forgotten rational part of my brain was screaming about the impossibility of being able to use game-like abilities to move faster than sight, but the present portion of my mind was simply scrambling to keep up with what I was witnessing.

    Looking unimpressed, Jye chuckled. ¡°Oh, you got tricks? Well, so do I. Can¡¯t read them though.¡±

    They couldn¡¯t read their tricks? What did that mean? Was that their abilities? My brain leapt ahead. Was Axel¡¯s potential recruit illiterate? A non-English native? But they spoke so fluently¡­ Before I could think another thought, I heard the static hiss again.

    Jye took a step. He was closing in on Axel. And now it was Axel¡¯s turn to frown. He glanced quickly down in blatant confusion, then continued to stand there. What the hell was he doing? Couldn¡¯t he do that¡­ Was it [Swift Footed] thing again?

    With a grunt, Axel pulled at his feet. They wouldn¡¯t move. It was as if they were glued to the floor. Something was pushing or pulling them with so much force they literally wouldn¡¯t budge.

    He was stuck.

    Jye had to be using an ability on him. But what was it? Some sort of immobilisation? I wanted to give Axel the benefit of the doubt. It¡¯s not like he would¡¯ve taunted them without having some way of dealing with them. Right?

    ¡°So, that¡¯s what that does,¡± Jye said with a grin.

    A panicked expression began to bloom over Axel¡¯s face. Oh. He had no idea how to get out of this situation. Typical. It was always me cleaning up after his messes. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

    I steeled myself, mentally mumbling self-affirmations. Okay. You got this.

    They probably won¡¯t kill you.

    Then I slipped in between the two of them. Not because Axel didn¡¯t deserve a thorough thrashing. This was just my way of paying him back for that time in high school when he¡¯d stopped my bully from continuously pelting into me. Though he only interfered because he thought his parents would get mad at him for not doing anything. Still, I owed him for that.

    ¡°Jye, actually Axel made me watch Hunter x Hunter with him and I agree with you about the Greed Island arc.¡± The giant¡¯s eyes focused on me. ¡°Gon and Killua¡¯s friendship was the core of that storyline and it really showed that Gon needed Killua as much as Killua needed him.¡±

    ¡°You¡­¡± Jye¡¯s finger dug deep into my collarbone. Oh, shit, this was it. I was a dead man.

    Then suddenly Jye¡¯s arm was around my shoulder, and they were squeezing me tightly. ¡°You get it. You¡¯re one of the good ones. Lee, was it? You¡¯re one of us.¡±

    The breath I didn¡¯t realise I¡¯d been holding sighed out of me. I wasn¡¯t quite sure who Jye was including when they said ¡°us,¡± but I was glad everything had been diffused. Perhaps we¡¯d get out of this without any sort of physical altercation. After all, we all were supposed to work together going forward. Or at least, that was the plan.

    Wiping the nervous sweat from my forehead, I opened my mouth to speak as Axel slapped a hand onto Jye¡¯s back. ¡°Good to hear that, now we can¨C¡±

    THUNK. Quick as a flash, Axel¡¯s head was smacked deep into the concrete ground. I grimaced in secondhand pain knowing firsthand how much that had to hurt.

    ¡°Not you,¡± Jye said. ¡°You¡¯re still on my shit list. Fucking Yorknew City arc¡­¡± They continued under their breath and I caught a few choice swears I didn¡¯t care to repeat. Clearly, they cared deeply for the anime. I couldn¡¯t say I didn¡¯t relate, though truthfully my heart lay in Western animation. I probably wouldn¡¯t ever mention as much to Jye though.

    Ignoring Axel as he struggled to fight against whatever was forcing his face into the floor, I tried to placate Jye, ¡°Okay, so honestly. Fair reaction. Axel is hard to like, but hear me out. He¡¯s not wrong. We need to form a party for future Dungeons. You¡¯ve got to be feeling the pull as well.¡±

    In slow motion, the inner workings of Jye¡¯s mind flickered over their features. Oh no. The pure confusion on the redhead¡¯s face would¡¯ve been comical if it didn¡¯t fill me with dread. This was not going to be good. Their follow up question did nothing to reassure me either.

    ¡°Dungeons?¡±

    Leave it to Axel to ask for help from the one person who wasn¡¯t in on the whole mess. Though if their abilities were anything to go by, they were better than having no one. And they also looked incredibly strong. Hopefully their stats would match up.

    I gestured to the smoking buildings in the distance, hoping it would expand on the whole thing. ¡°Didn¡¯t people, like, sprint out of the gym? No, don¡¯t worry about that. You have been hearing a voice in your head, right?¡±

    Stoically, Jye said, ¡°All my life. It¡¯s called a conscience.¡± With that, they glared down at Axel and his face pressed deeper towards the concrete. ¡°Something a Yorknew City arc sympathiser probably wouldn¡¯t be familiar with.¡± I wondered if he could breathe. Ah, well, Jye was just a buff nerd. Not a killer. They wouldn¡¯t let Axel die from suffocation.

    Would they?

    Axel¡¯s voice was muffled and strained as he asked, ¡°Nothing new lately?¡±

    Jye ran a hand through their hair and pulled at a knot, then they said, ¡°Well, yeah, now that you mention it. There¡¯s been this like¡­ speaker feedback. I thought it was just tinnitus.¡± Smiling guiltily, they added, ¡°I listen to music pretty loudly.¡±

    ¡°So, no actual words?¡±

    They shook their head, red hair swaying with the movement. Again I was reminded of a puppy. Actually, more like Clifford the Big Red Dog.

    The resemblance did nothing to quell the pinpricks of panic beginning to swell in my chest. Doubts began to form again. Maybe I was hallucinating. I had just simply accepted the world was essentially ending due to the cataclysmic appearance of black holes that turned reality into some sort of weird game. Wasn¡¯t it easier to believe I was crazy? I had just gone along with Axel on this whole thing. And Axel wasn¡¯t even being normal either! The differences with him were definitely something I could have dreamed up.

    God, was I really just in a coma?

    Nonplussed by his new station in life, Axel inquired further, ¡°What about the status window?¡±

    ¡°I think you mean the little blue screen? Is that what it is? That I got. But can¡¯t read shit. The fonts all messed up. I can barely make out the headings. Stuff like abilities, traits, titles.¡±

    My mind went back to their words when they¡¯d begun using their ability. They really didn¡¯t know what their abilities did. It had all just been a gamble?

    Needing clarification, I asked, ¡°So, you can¡¯t read your stats or abilities?¡±

    ¡°Nope,¡± they said, popping the "p."

    What the actual fuck. This couldn¡¯t be right. It had to be some sort of error, a glitch. Could we do bug reports? Was there a reality altering game dev on support right now? How did we submit an IT ticket to someone I wasn¡¯t sure existed? God, would it be to someone, or something? I was stopped from going too deep into that rabbit hole as Jye¡¯s hand on my shoulder pulled me back.

    ¡°I¡¯m not gonna lie to you ¡®cause you seem like a good bloke, but that smoke this fucker flicked out of my lips? Not the nicotine kind.¡± They threw their hands up into the air. ¡°I just thought it was kicking in fast, all right. Like the screen was part of the trip. The abilities too.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no one who wished that were true more than me,¡± Axel dryly commented.

    There was a crunch and his face was then pushed so far into the concrete that I was genuinely worried his nose had been broken. His face was flat like a pancake across the floor. No longer convinced that Jye wouldn¡¯t just kill him, I found myself pinching the bridge of my nose.

    ¡°Please, can you let him up?¡±

    Jye sighed. ¡°I just wanted him to learn a lesson.¡±

    I waited for them to elaborate.

    ¡°Start shit, get hit,¡± they explained.

    ¡°I think he¡¯s learned that. Haven¡¯t you, Axel?¡±

    He spoke, but no words he said were discernible. Only the sound of his voice muffled by the floor. Jye didn¡¯t look convinced. They had folded their massive guns over their chest and had a blank expression on their face.

    Taking creative licence, I feigned sadness. ¡°Look, Jye, he even said sorry.¡±

    The giant thought for a moment, rolled their eyes, and then turned to start walking away. Thank God for that. In the same moment, Axel gasped for air so loudly and quickly like a balloon exploding in reverse, that it startled me. Smoothly, he pushed himself up from the floor. In a blink, he closed the distance between Jye and himself. Thankfully, he still seemed winded. It gave me enough time to intercept, my back to Jye and theirs to mine.

    I mouthed to him, ¡°Don¡¯t you fucking dare.¡±

    Axel¡¯s eyebrows shot up and his mouth opened to object.

    I slammed my pointing finger against my lips, the international sign of shutting the fuck up.

    His lips pressed together, almost pouting, and he backed off. I nodded appreciatively at him. Jesus christ. It was like trying to wrangle a cat. The creatures just do whatever they want, but occasionally yours and their desires align. And that¡¯s when you could cooperate with them.

    Jye had walked to the gym¡¯s back entry and was holding it open. ¡°I got some XXXX in the staff fridge, if you guys are keen. Axel, you gotta pay for yours.¡±

    The crash of another window storefront smashing nearby was all it took to convince me to follow them inside. Axel trailed me in, dour expression and all. We passed through the hallways connecting the different rooms to the staff kitchen, a dingy closet sized shoebox with a bar fridge, microwave, sink, and a single table and chair. Axel proceeded to take the only available seat, and Jye cracked open the fridge to retrieve the promised alcohol.

    ¡°To be honest, I really don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about when you say Dungeons and joining a party. Like, my high is definitely dead, but those words mean pretty much nothing to me.¡±

    With my eyes I tried to communicate with Axel to explain, but he avoided my gaze.

    This fucker.

    I took a deep breath and then attempted to lay out the broader points of what had happened, as well as our plan, which when I said it aloud really didn¡¯t amount to much more than make a group and go look for something. After a solid fifteen minutes, I had thoroughly explained everything I knew so far. Jye took the entire thing in silence, sucking on their lower lip, a solemn expression on their face.

    They blew a raspberry. ¡°So, the gist of it is, the modern world is over, life¡¯s a game, and you want me to help you guys win it?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s pretty much it. You in?¡± Axel asked.

    ¡°Man, if you had just led with that, this would¡¯ve gone so much faster. Of course I¡¯m in. Fuck capitalism. I¡¯m sick of the grind. If you¡¯re telling me I never have to work a day in this sweaty ass gym again, I¡¯m in. Where do I sign?¡±

 Chapter Three | Questions & Answers

    Letting out a guttural sound, Jye groaned in extreme pain.

    ¡°So, we have to stay in this gym?¡±

    The place in question wasn¡¯t so sad. All the exercise machines within were relatively new, though the decoration was sparse. Nowadays I expected at least one pot plant to clash against the commercial beige of the walls, but there was no such thing. Just the machines, and bland dark grey carpet. Who knew how many litres of sweat were stored within their fibres? At the very least, Jye had kicked the remaining clients out, and now it was just the three of us.

    ¡°This place is perfect for us to figure stuff out.¡±

    ¡°I hate to agree with Axel, but generally we all know our roles before trying to fight a boss. I¡¯m an all-rounder, so my start is gonna be pretty weak before I can start looking at specialising into something.¡± I hoped, at least. ¡°Do you have any idea what your class is?¡±

    Jye folded their arms, irritation clear in their stance. ¡°I told you, I can¡¯t read it. That I was able to use my ability was me grasping at straws. But you saw what it did. Pinned him right to the floor. Maybe I¡¯m a support class?¡±

    ¡°No, I think that skill is more suited to backline damage,¡± Axel said, rubbing his chin.

    What a stupid idea. I said, ¡°That¡¯s a stupid idea. It¡¯s clearly some sort of immobilisation skill. How¡¯re they meant to do damage with that?¡±

    He pointed aggressively at the scrapes on his face. ¡°The scars-to-be marring my face say it''s possible.¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°All right, please share with the rest of the class how they¡¯re meant to do damage from the back.¡±

    Out of all the things I was expecting Axel to say next, it wasn¡¯t: ¡°You ball, right?¡±

    ¡°At this height, if you don¡¯t, people make fun of you.¡±

    He raised an eyebrow. ¡°You any good?¡±

    They shrugged modestly. ¡°I can dunk.¡±

    ¡°Your aim must be decent too then.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡±

    ¡°Then you can do backline damage.¡±

    ¡°Uh, can I interrupt here for a second?¡± I was lost as to where this conversation was going. What did basketball have to do with backline damage? Was he implying that Jye could apply a real life skill to the new game ones? It made sense to an extent. At least in regards to Axel. He¡¯d always been a fast sprinter. Had the trait [Swift Footed] stemmed from that?

    ¡°No interruptions,¡± Axel said.

    Oh, okay then. It had been a long time since I thought about how much I fucking hated Axel. But it was good of him to remind me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be rude to your partner, man.¡±

    Axel scowled. ¡°Not my partner. We¡¯re just friends. Purely platonic. Just because two dudes are close doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯re dating. That¡¯s very close-minded of you.¡±

    Jye seemed genuinely berated. Their big green eyes widened and they said, ¡°My bad. You guys just have that married-bordering-on-divorce vibe about you.¡±

    Appeased by the apology, Axel began to continue his thoughts, but Jye then said, ¡°Still though, that¡¯s a shit way to treat a friend.¡±

    Though barely able to do so, I repressed my sigh. A sinking feeling in my stomach began to form. Since it wasn¡¯t clear when new Gates would appear, anxiety was building. The pressure of an unknown deadline made it feel like we were running out of time. Not to mention that Axel was acting like we had all the time in the world. When there wasn¡¯t even a world in the way we knew.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t care. Besides, it¡¯s for his own good.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t stop myself from reacting and my eyebrows shot up. My own good? Axel being a dick was for my own good? Had he always thought that? Maybe that was why he had stopped talking to me for so long in primary school. And how was him being awful something for my own good? Unable to properly process his words, I let them pass. I¡¯d store them away and look at them again later. Though that box of thoughts was rapidly being filled. It was only a matter of time before I couldn¡¯t stuff anything further into it.

    ¡°That¡¯s messed up,¡± Jye commented. That was definitely one way of putting it.

    Flat out ignoring them, Axel clapped his hands together, a smile on his face. ¡°Having lived through your ability, I can assure you that it¡¯s better for backline damage. Combine that with your hand-eye coordination and it¡¯s the perfect match. In fact, we can test it out right now.¡±

    ¡°You wanna eat dirt again that bad?¡±

    The enthusiasm in Axel markedly dropped and he gave Jye an empty stare. ¡°If you ever use that ability on me again, I can¡¯t promise what will happen.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. So, what do you want me to do then?¡±

    ¡°Just a sec.¡±

    First, whinging all the way, Axel dragged the scale at the back of the gym to a spot about two metres in front of Jye. Then he grabbed one of the 2kg dumbbells by the wall, and placed it onto the scale. The arrow on the scale jumped up to the 2kg mark. Axel then flourished at the scale.

    What the fuck.

    The giant watched him wordlessly. There was nothing to say. Because nothing Axel had done made any sense. Again, Axel flourished at the dumbbell on the scale this time with increased frustration, his fingers locked in claws.

    ¡°You can use your words, you know,¡± I said.

    Jye mused, ¡°You want¡­ me to use my ability on the weight?¡±

    Axel gave them two thumbs up and an excessively toothy grin. Again, I stored away this lunatic behaviour into the ¡°think about later¡± box. The memories were beginning to bulge at the top lid when I tried to shut it again. Words of my childhood therapist ran through my mind. ¡°Compartmentalising these thoughts isn¡¯t healthy, Lee. If you don¡¯t deal with them, bad stuff can happen.¡± Well, shows how much that therapist knew. Nothing bad had happened so far. And I¡¯d been doing it for twenty-eight years.

    Jye bent down and touched the weight. The sound of static buzzed in my ears. Yep, the coincidence was too big. I could hear when someone activated an ability. Could others? Should I ask Axel and Jye if they could too? Before I could voice my thoughts, the arrow on the scale shot up, flickered for a moment, and then settled just above 4kg. Jye¡¯s eyes widened.

    Still smiling in a way most people would describe as deranged, while walking backwards, Axel pulled the scale down towards the other side of the gym. All three pairs of our eyes remained on the arrow, as it grew further and further away. Soon, Axel had almost entirely crossed the gym, and I could only just make out the weight marked.

    He took one step. Two steps. On his third step, he reached the back wall of the gym.

    Axel was at least thirty metres away. He could go no further.

    ¡°Your ability has no range after it¡¯s been applied.¡±

    Jye took this in quietly. Being able to stay more than 30 metres away from their target was definitely something that supported Axel¡¯s backline theory. But nothing about damage.

    ¡°This really still feels like a support skill,¡± I said. ¡°I don¡¯t see what you¡¯re trying to¨C¡±

    Jye pelted a new 2kg dumbbell into the air. Their muscles rippled as it left their hand, raising up through the air, clearing at least 15 metres as it reached the climax of its arc. Then I heard static bursts multiply in loudness. Like someone overlaying the same sound again and again.

    I blinked and missed the weight¡¯s descent.

    CRACK.

    Directly at Axel¡¯s feet, the carpet had exploded apart from the force of the falling dumbbell, and it had punctured through to pierce the wooden floorboard beneath. The weight had disappeared into the foundation of the building. Smoke steamed off the edges of the singed floor hole. The words were still frozen in my mouth.

    Axel coughed and waved away the fumes. Stepping carefully around the damage, he made his way back to us.

    ¡°Backline damage,¡± Jye said.

    ¡°Backline damage,¡± Axel confirmed.

    With a sigh, I conceded, ¡°Backline damage.¡±

    I had taken some instant noodles from home, and using the gym¡¯s kettle, we unpacked them in silence. Axel complained that they were tasteless as the flavour packets were missing. Last week, I had bought them on special, but I didn¡¯t think about it. Eating noodles in hot water was probably about as enjoyable as eating raw dough.

    ¡°So, what can you do?¡± Jye asked, sipping at the noodle water like it was hot cocoa.

    The small kettle in the breakroom hadn¡¯t been large enough to fill three instant noodle cups, so I was waiting for it to click finish. As a cheap electrical device, it was taking ages to boil. It probably didn¡¯t help that I was watching it. I could hear the saying from my mum in the back of my head.

    Frowning, I realised I hadn¡¯t actually read the description of my ability. ¡°Well, I can [Channel]. Uh¡­¡± I thought about the menu screen and it opened in front of me. Focusing on the abilities, the [Channel] ability expanded to show more detail. Not having interacted with the menu screen since it first appeared, it unnerved me that it reacted as if reading my thoughts.

    [Channel] Use a consenting party member¡¯s skills.

    ¡°I can use someone else¡¯s abilities?¡± I said.

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Jye whistled. ¡°That actually sounds pretty good. How does it work?¡±

    The kettle clicked to announce the completion of its cycle. I poured the boiling water into my noodles and pressed the plastic lip back down to keep the heat in.

    Jye wasn¡¯t wrong. It seemed like a decent skill that suited my class. Depending on whoever¡¯s ability I used, it could even be overpowered. Though I guess it would have to be someone who consented to it. In the corner of my eye, Axel mindlessly chewed on his instant noodles. I picked up my own and peeled the lid back to check if it was ready to eat.

    ¡°Can I use some of your abilities?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If I say no?¡± he smirked.

    It was like the straw that broke the camel¡¯s back. My patience had finally reached its limit. That was it. I slammed my cup noodles down onto the table so hard the liquid shot back up. It splashed over the edge onto my hand. Snatching my hand back from the instant sting of the boiling water, I hissed and wiped the water away on the edge of my shirt. The skin had already begun to redden. Shit. First degree burns were exactly what I needed right now. From the open menu screen, I heard a short pip.

    Eyes wide, Jye blew at their cup noodle and then carefully sipped it.

    ¡°Your hand okay?¡± Axel asked, more as a courtesy than genuine concern.

    My menu screen which had remained open showed I had taken 1 HP damage. I had 19 remaining. Holy shit. That¡¯s all it took? If spilling boiling water on my hand resulted in a whole health point in damage¡­ Didn¡¯t that mean I was ridiculously weak? Did I have any health regen? How did you restore health? I thought I had a decent chance of being useful in our party, but if my health was this bad¡­

    ¡°How much damage did you take from Jye¡¯s abilities?¡± I asked Axel.

    ¡°Only 1, but I had [Thick Hide] activated. It reduces damage taken.¡±

    I grumpily ate the bland too-hot noodles, shoving the now too soggy carbs into my mouth, ignoring the minor pain. Of course he¡¯d get an ability that¡¯s so useful in combat. He was a combatant class after all. And of course he wouldn¡¯t let me use them. This fucking guy. God. Before I knew it, the noodles were gone. Jye was staring at me in abject horror.

    ¡°You got a problem?¡± I asked, my lips stinging.

    ¡°I don¡¯t,¡± they said, and then slurped up the last of their warm noodle water.

    Axel cleared his throat. ¡°It was just a joke. You can use [Channel] on me.¡±

    I scowled. ¡°Don¡¯t wanna anymore.¡±

    ¡°Then use it on me,¡± Jye said.

    In the corner of my eye, I saw Axel frown, but focused on Jye. ¡°But I don¡¯t know what your abilities are? Don¡¯t you think I¡¯d need to know what the names of them are?¡±

    They shrugged. ¡°You might as well try, especially since you don¡¯t have any other abilities.¡±

    Jye wasn¡¯t wrong. If I couldn¡¯t use [Channel], I was merely deadweight. Thinking about the ability, there was a rush of heat in my core. It built, and built, and the warmth spread over my body, flowing down my limbs and tingling in my fingertips. It was a completely unique experience. Strength was within me, but it had nowhere to go.

    Turning my attention to Jye, my menu window popped up.

    Bzzt.

    The buzzer sound of the wrong answer in a game show. Accompanying this was a red written error: Player not in party.

    Oh, there was an official party mechanic in this system. With my focus lost, the warmth dissipated, and I felt lightheaded. Only vaguely aware of it, I could sense, like a phantom limb, I must¡¯ve used some mana. It was different from physical exhaustion. The closest I could come to comparing it with was pulling an all-nighter studying for an exam the next day. My brain felt tight in my skull. So when I failed to use a skill, there was a cost associated with even trying. At least that was good to know.

    ¡°It only works on party members.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll join your party. Just send an invite.¡±

    ¡°Uh, invite Jye to party?¡± My confidence downgraded the request into a question.

    Jye swore loudly, their hands snapping up to clamp around their ears. Groaning, they said, ¡°What the fuck, dude. A little warning next time. This speaker feedback is earsplitting.¡± From under the hood of their eyelids, they looked up at what I assumed was their screen. ¡°I got two unreadable options. Left or right?¡±

    Unprompted, Axel sighed for an extended amount of time.

    ¡°That¡¯s really a UX question. I¡¯m more backend. But to answer you, it actually depends on the intent of the designer.¡±

    Both Jye and I were silent. It seemed like the type of thing that someone would elaborate on regardless of further inquiry. Plus, it was Axel. Given the chance, he loved showing off his knowledge. I¡¯d listened to his rants about how inefficient the workflow was at his company as well as his proposed solutions which he never submitted. Get him going and it was like witnessing a group conversation with only one speaker.

    ¡°If we assume that parties are the preferred playing status, we¡¯d have reason to believe ¡®Accept¡¯ would be first as we read, so on the left.¡±

    Jye nodded. ¡°Left, got it, just a¡ª¡±

    ¡°But,¡± Axel continued, ¡°if we assumed that the system would rather have us players solo, then ¡®Reject¡¯ would be read first.¡±

    The redhead¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°Okay, so¡­The one on the right then?¡±

    Hit with a sudden idea, I interrupted, ¡°But what if the system takes into account the preferences of the player? Like, people in any number of those other countries with Gates surely don¡¯t speak English. Which means their notifications must be written and spoken in their own languages. The system has to consider a player¡¯s mental preference in some way.¡±

    ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that depending on the player ¡®Accept¡¯ might be on the right or the left?¡± Axel asked.

    Both our eyes swung over to Jye. ¡°Would you say you¡¯re an extrovert or an introvert?¡±

    ¡°Uh, neither?¡± Jye said.

    ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t help. Oh, what about¡­ Axel you invite me, and then Jye you invite Axel.¡±

    ¡°Like some sort of party invitation orgy?¡± Jye asked.

    I blinked. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have phrased it like that, but sure.¡±

    There was a brief exchange of invites and then a little screen pinged up in my peripheral vision. It reminded me of the friend invite notifications you got on Steam. Or God forbid, Epic. For a second I thought about all the friends I couldn¡¯t contact online. I hoped they were doing okay. Well, half of them had moved outback, so they¡¯d probably be fine.

    The notification read: Party invite received from Axel.

    Underneath the invite were the two options of Accept | Decline

    I pointed to my screen. ¡°Accept¡¯s on the left for me.¡±

    Axel said, ¡°I think mine¡¯s on the left?¡±

    ¡°You think?¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s¡ª Uhhh¡­ Really hard to make out. Probably something with Jye¡¯s issues.¡±

    Jye made a face. ¡°My bad.¡±

    Letting out a painful groan, I said, ¡°Invite Axel to party.¡±

    ¡°For yours it¡¯s on the left too.¡±

    Unimpressed, Jye said, ¡°Okay, so on the left. I¡¯m glad we spent the last ten minutes figuring this out.¡±

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°It¡¯s better to find out this stuff before we go into a Gate. ¡®Cause now you know with a yes and no prompt the affirmative response will be on the left. So, there¡¯s that.¡±

    ¡°Do I accept your invite now then?¡±

    Pondering for a moment, I replied, ¡°No, actually can you invite me, Jye? I want to see what your notifications look like.¡±

    They sent the invite, and this time the notification ping was the screech of metal scratching metal combined with nails on a chalkboard. I involuntarily shuddered and checked the written notification. Oh, Axel hadn¡¯t been joking. This was near impossible to make out.

    t???????????4???????????r???????????7???????????£¤??????????? ???????????1???????????????????????v???????????1???????????7???????????3??????????? ???????????r???????????3???????????¡é???????????3???????????1???????????v???????????3???????????D??????????? ???????????¡ê???????????r???????????0???????????m??????????? ???????????4???????????l???????????3???????????x???????????.???????????

    Followed by: 4???????????¡é???????????¡é???????????3???????????t???????????7??????????? ???????????|??????????? ???????????D???????????3???????????¡é???????????l???????????1???????????????????????3???????????

    If I squinted hard, I could barely read what appeared to be leetspeak, but glitched over. However, it was still legible to me and had been to Axel as well. Damn, I didn¡¯t want to know what Jye¡¯s actual notification writing looked like if they couldn¡¯t read it at all.

    ¡°Now can I accept the damn invite? And also can I have another cup noodle?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    Jye¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°Yes to¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes to both.¡±

    Another teeth gritting sound, courtesy of Jye¡¯s fantastic error-ridden status, and I received the following confirmation notification: J?????????????4?????????????1????????????? has joined your party. Register party name?

    A party name? How quaint. A million options ran through my mind, ranging from absolutely cringe to the name of friend chat groups that only a select few would understand the inside jokes. Ah, well, I¡¯m sure we could change it in the future anyway, like most game systems. I¡¯d just go with whatever. As I looked over the rest of my future party, an idea formed in my head.

    Party name registered.

    ¡°Axel, accept my invite too.¡±

    A high-pitched ping alerted me to his acceptance. The confirmation read: Axel has joined your party. The thrill of pissing Axel off was building and I eagerly awaited his response to the party name. He was silent for a long time, and then he was right in front of me. His fucking [Swift Footed] trait. I didn¡¯t have time to react as he grabbed me by the scruff of my shirt.

    ¡°Are you kidding me?¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± I asked, eyes innocently wide.

    ¡°You registered our party as Just Friends?¡±

    Jye, in the midst of making their next cup noodle, commented, ¡°Jesus Christ, you guys have problems. I¡¯m okay with the name, FYI.¡±

    Laughing, even though I was choking a little, I pulled at Axel¡¯s hands. ¡°Come on, let go.¡± I echoed his previous words. ¡°It¡¯s just a joke.¡±

    I¡¯d been expecting him to get annoyed about the name, especially since it was digging at a long-term joke, but nothing like this. His grip on the collar of my shirt tightened, knuckles whitening. I added this to the list of weirdness about Axel, which was growing longer and longer by the minute. My feet began to lift from the ground, and I glanced down in concern. He was literally raising me off the floor.

    ¡°Damn, I¡¯ll change it if you hate it that much.¡±

    Like a switch had been flicked, he dropped his hands. My feet made full contact with the floor again. Through clenched teeth, he said, ¡°You¡¯re so predictable,¡± and then stepped back. Which was good because I hadn¡¯t even realised how close he had been.

    ¡°Look, I¡¯m changing it now.¡±

    I focused on the party and a new screen appeared.

    Just Friends Party | LVL 3

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Lee | LVL 1 | All-Rounder (Party Leader)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Axel | LVL 1 | Combatant</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>J?????????????4?????????????1????????????? | LVL 1 | |???????|???????\???????\???????\???????|???????|???????4???????4???????|???????|???????2???????/???????|???????\???????(???????\???????5???????|???????</li>

    </ul>

    It was nice to see that the party function worked correctly and even more useful that it tracked our classes and levels. Probably to make sure that we were aware of our separate levels. The level next to the party name was a little weird though. I¡¯d never really seen that in a game before. Was that the sum of our levels? Not to mention that Jye¡¯s class was completely unreadable. Putting those thoughts into the ¡°think about later¡± box, whose lid wouldn¡¯t shut now, I thought about changing the name of the party.

    Bzzt.

    ¡°Well, what are you waiting for?¡± Axel said, glaring at me.

    ¡°I¡ª Uh¡­¡± I closed my eyes to concentrate, desperately pleading for the party name to change.

    Bzzt. This time it was followed by a notification: Party names registered by party leader are permanent.

    Smiling in what I hoped was an apologetic manner, I said, ¡°I can¡¯t change it.¡±

    Jye finished their second instant noodle packet. ¡°I¡¯m good with the name, by the way. Just thought I¡¯d reiterate that for clarification. Actually, I like the name. It¡¯s cute. Like a sign outside a treehouse saying ¡®Friends Only.¡¯¡±

    ¡°So we¡¯re stuck as ¡®Just Friends¡¯?¡± Axel asked, simmering.

    ¡°It could be worse. I nearly called us JALbait. You¡¯re lucky you dodged that bullet.¡±

    Both Jye and Axel groaned. A new sound beeped, similar to a vital signs monitor, from my menu window. Oh. My missing health point had regenerated. Curious, I glanced at my scalded hand and found the flesh unmarred though it tingled weirdly.

    Well, at least that answered that.

 Chapter Four | Groceries

    The next few days we spent familiarising ourselves with our abilities and figuring out what kind of teamwork would be best with our current composition. Though we had all agreed that Jye was better at backline damage, the only projectiles we found at the gym were smaller weights, but we¡¯d talk about hitting up a Kmart and pocketing bags of knives.

    Though it was accidental, we figured out that Axel¡¯s [Ground Smash] did a decent amount of damage while also stunning people. Jye had ended up in bed for half a day recuperating 12HP and whilst tending to them, we¡¯d watched in horror as their broken foot creaked and cracked to correct itself. They¡¯d been in intense pain too, screaming and writhing upon the gym mat we¡¯d laid on the floor. Perhaps it was witnessing that that made me confident this wasn¡¯t just some delusion. What kind of coma patient imagined healing hurting?

    On the third day, electricity flickered out. Axel had thought ahead and filled up the beer bottles with water, so we still had a couple litres left. We started soaking our cup noodles. Honestly, it changed very little about the experience other than having to chew a little more.

    I¡¯d finally been able to use [Channel] without a system error. Unfortunately, with my current mana and stamina pool, I could only use Axel¡¯s [Ground Smash] without major detriment. It turned out that I had to use whatever stat was required for the channelled abilities. Though we still couldn¡¯t determine the true name of Jye¡¯s first ability, we discovered that as long as they had enough mana and stamina, they could increase the effect of it without limit. Given that it seemed to increase the weight of an object, we took to calling it Dropping A Load. The first time we ended up in stitches, but it just stuck. But we called it Load for short.

    Suffice to say, after multiplying the effect ten times, the dumbbell had sunk through the floor, past the concrete foundation, and into a deep dark hole. After that we didn¡¯t test out Jye¡¯s Load to its fullest capacity since the ramifications of sinking a weight into the Earth¡¯s core probably wouldn¡¯t be good.

    Eventually, we came to the party pattern of Axel closing the gap between the target with his [Swift Footed] trait, then using [Ground Smash] to stun them, then backing off, and then Jye would pelt projectiles and layer on their Load on their down arcs. Since I could only use [Ground Smash] with my [Channel], I was delegated to protecting Jye and locking down anyone who approached. If the projectiles didn¡¯t finish the target off, Axel would dash back in, and we¡¯d repeat the process.

    On the fifth day we ran out of cup noodles.

    It was probably for the better.

    ¡°So, Woolies and Kmart?¡± I asked, closing the gym door behind the three of us.

    Axel led the way. ¡°Yeah, though all the groceries are probably gone. We¡¯ll pick up what we can. Kmart, we all need to grab weapons. I¡¯m thinking a bat for me. Knives for Jye. What would work for you?¡±

    I thought for a moment. ¡°I might get a broomstick? Staffs seem cool.¡±

    ¡°Staves,¡± Axel said.

    ¡°That¡¯s what I said, I want a staff.¡±

    ¡°No, you said staffs. The plural of staff is staves.¡±

    I glared at him. ¡°You¡¯re really hard to get along with, you know that, right?¡±

    ¡°I know that only too well.¡±

    Despite food being the more pressing matter, Kmart had simply been easier to get to. Woolies was another block and none of us wanted to risk the trek without being able to properly defend ourselves. Whilst our training allowed us to work together, I don¡¯t think any of us were truly ready to fight anything or anyone. Jye¡¯s brush with the ¡°healing¡± foot also made us want to err on the side of caution. Regenerating health points was far worse than losing them.

    It was weird, but the streets were eerily quiet. Even the sirens and alarms had long since quietened. The looting had lulled too. People had seemingly withdrawn into hideouts or perhaps they had been driven to the Dungeons. I hoped they had left for the bush, to escape all the shit happening around here.

    When we arrived, the Kmart store¡¯s front doors had been smashed through, with bricks sitting inside. Avoiding the jagged edges, we squeezed in and weren¡¯t surprised to find a lot of the merchandise had been taken. Large electronics were the most noticeably missing, which was the sad reality of life. Too bad they wouldn¡¯t be able to use them anymore, not with power down. We all went our separate ways to the different sections in Kmart. Axel went to sporting goods, Jye headed to the kitchenware, and I went to the cleaning supplies.

    Luckily not many people had use for broomsticks during the end of the world. There was a plethora of options to choose from, ranging from cheap plastic to name brand wood. To test them out, I gave them a thwack against the floor. The plastic was too slippery in my grip. I ended up picking a wooden one. It was surprisingly sturdy and fit nicely in my hand. Guess ergonomics mattered a lot when it was something someone was going to be using on the regular.

    ¡°Guys?¡± I called, wondering if they''d finished their selections too.

    Walking through the clothing department, I picked up a few exercise clothes in my size and shoved them into the backpack my mother had bought me for paintball. It had several different compartments, all specifically designed to store different types of ammo or paintball supplies. Honestly, it¡¯d been extremely helpful. I was glad that Axel had remembered it.

    I made my way to the electronics, hoping to find the only other items I thought would be necessary in this post-electricity world. Batteries. It wasn¡¯t surprising to find the shelves empty of the better lithium brands with only a few spare homebrand AA and AAA left. A couple of Ds too. Better than nothing. I packed them into one of the smaller compartments of my backpack, hoping they wouldn¡¯t be damaged by anything.

    Taking one more quick scan of the electronics section, I looked for anything else that would be useful to us. On the smaller knickknack shelves were several thin watches, more closely resembling bracelets than timepieces. Without phones, it would be hard to keep track of time¡­ I grabbed the lot of them and headed back to the entrance. Hopefully Axel and Jye would be there too soon enough.

    ¡°How¡¯s your staff?¡± Jye asked, approaching me with an armful of glinting knives.

    I gave it an experimental twirl but fumbled and it slipped out of my fingers. It clacked against the ground. ¡°Ah, fuck. Well, let¡¯s pray I get better at that.¡± I stepped forward to pick it off the ground, but my toe caught the edge of it, kicking it into a roll. Ears now hot, I shuffled after it before plucking in from the ground. This time I held it firmly in my grasp.

    ¡°You sure you¡¯re gonna be okay with that?¡± said a familiar grating voice.

    Fucking Axel. ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just a steep learning curve.¡±

    ¡°Keep telling yourself that.¡±

    Axel too had apparently taken the time to check out the clothing section and had changed. He was now wearing black jeans that had hanging chains and a white tee with metallic fangs in the centre accompanied by the words ¡°Bite me.¡± The shirt was probably two sizes too small and clung to his chest and midsection in a way I¡¯m sure was appealing to others. Aesthetically, it was the type of thing I expected a teenage k-pop boy to wear, to be honest. It was also ridiculously impractical. I was about to make a comment and joke with Jye, but the slight blush and their inability to meet Axel¡¯s eyes made me rethink my words.

    Despite the hatred Jye harboured for him, I guess it was difficult for others to forgo their attraction to Axel. For a moment I wondered if the name of our party would end up being a lie. Maybe Jye and Axel would hook up. Maybe hatefuck? Though I wasn¡¯t sure if Jye was Axel¡¯s type. Historically, Axel tended to prefer people shorter than him with soft eyes and easy smiles. Most of the party-goers that came and went from his room were like that.

    In Axel¡¯s left hand he held a metal baseball bat. ¡°You sure you don¡¯t want one of these too?¡±

    Statistically, left-handed people die earlier than right-handers. I wondered if that was a promise. In response to his question, I shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m not melee enough to be comfortable that close range. I¡¯ll stick with my stick, thanks.¡±

    He shrugged and the shirt rode up to reveal part of his abdomen. Jye physically turned to walk to the entrance. I could imagine the expression on their face. I¡¯d seen it on many a passerby¡¯s features before. Judgmentally, I frowned at the six-pack that was now peaking out.

    Noticing my silent words, Axel tugged his shirt back down. ¡°Suit yourself.¡±

    Axel and I followed Jye to the exit. Just before we stepped outside, I remembered the watches. ¡°Oh, yeah, I got these for us too.¡±

    Already wearing my watch, I handed out one each to Jye and Axel. Axel ran his thumb over the cheap metal accessory, deeply examining it. Then his gaze flicked up with a mocking smile. ¡°Matching bracelets? How very kindergarten of you.¡±

    Again, I resisted the sigh and said, ¡°They¡¯re practical. Just wear yours.¡±

    Jye had already wordlessly slipped theirs onto their right wrist. It was the first time I noticed the whole tattoo sleeve they sported on that arm. The small glimpse of it I¡¯d seen was hard to make out, but I was very sure I saw at least one snake. From what I knew about Jye, it was probably some sort of fandom reference. Axel clipped the watch on their left wrist.

    In the broken windows of Kmart, I saw our reflection. With the matching watches we genuinely looked like a team. It was weirdly warm. The last time I could remember feeling like this, like I belonged to something, was probably when Chrissie was still alive.

    I cleared my throat. ¡°To Woolies with our weapons?¡±

    Axel pointed to the east. ¡°To Woolies!¡±

    The place was absolutely ransacked. If Kmart had been robbed, Woolworths had been absolutely trashed. Any fresh food that hadn¡¯t been taken was beginning to rot on the shelves, filling the entire building with the stench of decay. Jye, who apparently didn¡¯t have a functioning nose, didn¡¯t seem to care and walked in without a thought.

    Breathing through my mouth, Axel and I trailed in after them. Entire aisles had been tipped on their sides, resulting in a barely navigable area. The place was practically bare. The only things left were health foods that needed extra processing or preparation. I watched in horror as Jye shoved several protein containers into their gym bag. Maintaining eye contact with me, Jye bent their arm in front of them, tensing their bicep into a sizeable lump before kissing it. My own lips curled down in disgust. Jye was the kind of buff that scared me. If I met them in a dark alley, I¡¯d run away screaming.

    We got maybe two aisles in before I saw it. In one section three of the shelving units had dominoed upon one another, creating a triangular teepee that was sealed off from the outside. It was probably our best bet to discovering untouched food. Just ahead of me Jye kneeled to pick up a discarded can of anchovies. Let me correct that. Our best bet to find food that I found palatable.

    I leaned my staff against a nearby wall and tried to recall best heavy lifting protocols from when I walked part-time in a warehouse. Knees, not back. Knees, not back. I bent at the knees, squatting by one of the fallen aisle¡¯s shelving units. Both my legs and my arms shook as I struggled to stand with it. I could barely imagine what kind of activity had knocked them over in the first place. The place must have been violently rioted.

    Noticing my actions, Axel took a position to my right. We breathed in, and then as we exhaled we heaved. With the two of us, the unit began to raise slowly. It was exhilarating seeing it lifting those few millimetres. Before the appearance of the Gates, I don¡¯t think this would¡¯ve been possible with just the two of us. It further confirmed that our bodies had been changed beyond just accelerated healing. And were there more stats that were hidden? Just having health, mana, and stamina weren¡¯t actually stats. Those were just indicators.

    ¡°Leave me alone!¡± said a small voice muffled by the shelves.

    Startled, my hands instinctively released their grip. Unable to handle the sudden extra load, Axel fell forward, and the unit slid back down with a thud. He glared daggers at me, flicking his fingers to wave away pain.

    I shot him a sorry-for-that smile. ¡°You heard that too, right?¡±

    Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    He nodded. And was uncharacteristically silent. Was this something else I needed to consider later? No, we¡¯d let that one pass.

    ¡°Go away!¡± the voice repeated.

    Attracted by the commotion, and with their bag bursting at the seams with food I almost wouldn¡¯t acknowledge as such, Jye returned. In between licks of a lollipop they had found somewhere, they said, ¡°You got yourselves a bonafide kid in there.¡±

    What the fuck was a child doing in Woolies by themselves? Were they trapped? Had they gotten separated from their guardians?

    I pinched the bridge of my nose in thought. We couldn¡¯t just leave a kid alone in an abandoned grocery store. But what if their caretakers were looking for them? For a moment, I remembered Chrissie, but immediately shoved that thought so deep into my thought box that it was swallowed up in my concerns about Axel¡¯s behaviour.

    Said flatmate gestured at the shelves, eyebrows raised, inviting me to take control of the situation. Ah, his silence this time figured. He was shit with kids. Didn¡¯t have any patience or empathy for that matter. And children were good at sussing out people who were faking anything. Who knows what they¡¯d pick up from Axel.

    ¡°Hello?¡± I ventured. ¡°We¡¯re just looking for some food.¡±

    ¡°I have none!¡± yelled the child.

    Weirdly enough, I swore I recognised their voice. Maybe they lived in the neighbourhood and I¡¯d seen them around? I circled the shelf teepee, searching for any entrances and discovered two hazel eyes peering out from a slight gap about knee height. ¡°Are you okay in there?¡±

    ¡°Yes, and I¡¯m staying in here.¡±

    ¡°Okay, okay.¡± I sat down near the gap, and crossed my legs. ¡°I¡¯m Lee. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    There was no response. A different tactic then?

    ¡°The three of us are stocking up food before we go into one of those blackholes. You¡¯ve seen those, right?¡±

    The kid said something so quiet that I wasn¡¯t sure they had spoken.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t go into them.¡±

    The hazel eyes were watery, and I could just barely make out the drying tracks of tears trailing down their cheeks. Oh, yikes. That explained where their caretakers were.

    ¡°We have to. Well. I think we do. But we¡¯re waiting for new ones to appear. My friend Axel thinks those titles we¡¯re told about are important. He¡¯s the blond one.¡±

    Their gaze flicked behind me to where Axel stood. He struck a pose. No doubt the kid was considering the sanity of our group. Somehow Axel had also managed to find a chain that wrapped around the upper section of his baseball bat and attached it to his jeans, so it swung by his hips like a makeshift sword in scabbard.

    ¡°Who¡¯s the other one?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re Jye. They¡¯re my friend too, I guess?¡± We¡¯d just spent the past workweek together, training and preparing for the Dungeons. If we weren¡¯t friends, maybe companion was closer?

    Jye shot me a thumbs up with a lazy smile. Okay, nice. We were friends. That was actually nice to know.

    ¡°Why go into the blackholes? They¡­ they¡¯re dangerous,¡± the kid said, pressing their face closer to the gap.

    They looked around ten or so. Of course they had to be the same age as Chrissie. Their mouse brown hair was cut short in a pixie style. Under almond hazel eyes, their cherry nose was only just visible. At least mercifully they didn¡¯t look the same.

    ¡°You don¡¯t feel it?¡± I was genuinely curious. Maybe children didn¡¯t have the same draw to the Gates, the strange compulsion that was growing stronger the longer we waited out. It had begun as a vague desire, but was now niggling into my thoughts when I let them wander.

    They didn¡¯t reply, but they sank further from the gap, the shadows swallowing their face.

    ¡°Well, nice knowing you, kid,¡± Axel said and turned to walk away. I caught his eye, but he winked. That wink had set many a person giggling in its time, it was so practised. Wondering what he was playing out, I stood and began following. If he thought he knew how to handle this, I¡¯d let him give it a try.

    ¡°Oh, we¡¯re just gonna leave them here?¡± Jye asked, only vaguely concerned. They crunched down on the lollipop, decimating the sweet.

    Trying to play it cool, I shrugged and the three of us began to walk.

    ¡°Wait!¡± yelled the kid.

    Looking back, I could see their face pressed up to the gap, eyes wide. ¡°You¡¯re definitely going into those black holes? What about the one in the CBD?¡±

    ¡°Maybe eventually,¡± Axel said, wobbling their hand in that semi yes-no motion.

    There was a beat.

    ¡°Can I come?¡±

    I wasn¡¯t able to fight the smile. ¡°Of course.¡±

    A kerfuffle followed from behind the shelving unit, and from beneath a carefully displaced box, the kid emerged. Sporting pink overalls over a plain white shirt and black converses dirtied by probably a few days of wear, she approached our group carefully. If it were for how dishevelled she was, she was the picture of a picket fence kid. On her back was a small backpack in the shape of a Pikachu. Her and Jye would get along just fine.

    The girl¡¯s thin brows were furrowed in concern. ¡°I¡¯m only coming with you for now. Okay?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s fine with me,¡± I said.

    ¡°Same,¡± said Jye. This time they weren¡¯t eating anything. For once.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m not okay with it, but majority rules I guess,¡± Axel grumbled.

    It suddenly occurred to me that perhaps Axel had truly intended to just leave the girl here when he originally had started to walk away. The dude was so cold. How could he be like that when he had known Chrissie too? Swallowing back anger, I waited for the kid to catch up. The speed of our party noticeably slowed as we kept pace with her. Well, it was what it was.

    After walking in silence for a short time, she said, ¡°I¡¯m Wren.¡±

    ¡°Oh, like those little birds?¡± Jye asked.

    Axel shook his head. ¡°You¡¯re thinking of sparrows.¡±

    Holding their hands out in front of them, they gestured a very small spherical shape and said, ¡°No, they¡¯re like puffy and brown. You know, friend shaped.¡±

    ¡°Mmm, that sounds like a finch,¡± I replied.

    Axel scoffed. ¡°No, now they¡¯re describing a dunnock.¡±

    ¡°What in the fuck is a dunnock?¡± asked Jye.

    ¡°Language!¡± I shouted, outrage written across my face. I glanced down at Wren, hoping we hadn¡¯t scarred her.

    Instead, she chuckled. It was good to see her smiling. Who knows what she had been through in the past couple of days? And if she didn¡¯t feel the same need to enter the Gates, why had she been so interested in them? Not only that, she appeared a little too calm. Then again, I didn¡¯t know too many kids these days. Some of my online friends had them, but it¡¯s not like we ever needed to speak to each other.

    She said, ¡°Wrens are small brown puffy birds.¡±

    ¡°See?!¡± Jye shouted. ¡°I¡¯m a bird savant!¡±

    ¡°That title is all yours,¡± Axel flatly said.

    I asked, ¡°Speaking of titles, Wren, do you have any, or traits, or abilities?¡± I thought for a second, and then added, ¡°Oh, and what¡¯s your class?¡±

    The smile faded from her face. Oh, I¡¯d stepped on some sort of emotional landmine. Several different responses ran through my mind, but I settled on remaining silent. Sometimes it was better to let others fill the quiet than asking questions. It¡¯s how I managed to get through my sessions with my child therapist.

    Jye, unable to read the room, confidently said, ¡°I can¡¯t read anything on my menu screen, so as long as you can read yours, they can¡¯t be all that bad.¡±

    Swearing under his breath, Axel whispered to Jye, ¡°Ixnay on the itchglay.¡±

    Jye frowned, and then replied in full volume, ¡°I don¡¯t speak French, man.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t read your menu screen?¡± Wren asked, voice surprisingly timid.

    Ignoring Axel to my pleasure, I answered for Jye. ¡°Not a lick of it.¡± And hoping to assuage her of any concerns continued with, ¡°And it doesn¡¯t really matter to us that much. We can learn to work with anything. But only if you want to work with us.¡±

    She thought for a second and then nodded. ¡°My class is [Scourge]. I can use [Imperil] and [Death Mark].¡±

    Scourge? That really wasn¡¯t a class I was familiar with. Based on the name of her abilities, it seemed like a support class that focused on debuffs. I didn¡¯t want to admit it, but having someone else in the backlines was just further unevening the balance of our party composition. It was already too heavily based on range with only Axel in the front. What we really needed was either a tank or someone who was frontline critical damage, like an assassin or rogue.

    The disappointment must¡¯ve been written on my face because Axel, of all people, nudged me on the shoulder and shot me a pointed look. Wren¡¯s face was downcast. God, I was a shit person. The poor kid had shared information with us that they felt should be secret and here I was thinking about how useless it was.

    Trying to correct the failing trajectory of our conversation, I asked, ¡°Do you want to join our party?¡±

    Axel¡¯s glare was boring a hole into my forehead, and Jye¡¯s curious gaze was on my back, but I didn¡¯t meet either of their eyes. I probably should¡¯ve asked them first¡­ But what was done was done. We could talk about it later. Or rather Axel would talk at me about it later.

    Wren clearly hesitated in responding.

    ¡°You can always leave it. I think. Wait a second, let me just make sure that¡¯s true.¡±

    I focused on the party menu screen and it popped up. Thinking about leaving the party, a small confirmation window appeared: Do you wish to leave Just Friends? Accept | Reject

    Selecting ¡°Reject,¡± I smiled at Wren. ¡°Yep, you can leave whenever you want.¡±

    She nodded. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll join.¡±

    A few moments after officially inviting Wren, I heard the confirmation of her acceptance. Wren has joined your party. The party information updated, adding her name to the list. It confirmed her class and level. Well, at least she wasn¡¯t lying. That was a relief. After a brief discussion with the others, we agreed to give her one of the smallest knives from Kmart, so she could defend herself if the situation called for it.

    After handing it over, now she was safely in our fold, it was time to get into the nitty gritty.

    ¡°You don¡¯t need to answer if you don¡¯t want to, but where are your parents?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Did they go into the Gates, the black hole in the CBD?¡±

    ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°Why do you want to go into the CBD Gate?¡±

    She didn¡¯t answer that question at all. God, some shit must¡¯ve happened to her. All right. It was time to back off. Pivot topic. Let her cool down. She probably didn¡¯t trust us yet. I mean, if I was a kid and a bunch of randos asked me to join them I probably would have run off screaming. So at the very least, Wren had spunk.

    ¡°Me and Axel¡¯s parents live in rural. You know where Charleville is?¡±

    She shook her head. Yeah, figures. Most people know of Charleville, but don¡¯t really know where it is. I¡¯d seen a TikTok espousing Charleville as this luxury destination with at least six different biomes including snowy mountains, lush forest, and sandy beaches. Truth be told, Charleville was just another rural town with more than the average amount of derros.

    ¡°I thought you said you¡¯re friends?¡± she asked.

    I frowned. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You said yours and Axel¡¯s parents. You guys don¡¯t look related.¡±

    Axel and I exchanged a look before exploding out into laughter. It was the kind of belly laugh that wouldn¡¯t stop. My eyes were watering as I tried to calm myself. Every time I went to correct her, the idea of being Axel¡¯s brother was so ridiculous that I devolved into another fit of laughter. Axel too seemed to be laughing uproariously.

    Jye said, ¡°Nah, they¡¯re just friends.¡±

    ¡°Oh, like our party name?¡±

    Axel¡¯s laughter stopped immediately and cleared his throat. The tiniest iota of guilt riled around in my gut. For some reason, the name had really hurt him. And now I was going to have to live that for however long this game lasted. That¡¯s life, I guess. You make choices and sometimes they¡¯re wrong.

    Flatly, Axel stated, ¡°Our parents are best friends. So we grew up together.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, in fact, this guy used to have stupidly curly hair when he was your age, Wren. Almost like an afro. I kind of miss it.¡±

    ¡°Shut up, Lee,¡± Alex growled. He¡¯d hated the hair when he was young. One day he¡¯d come to school with it completely shaved off. His mother had told me he had tried to cut it himself, and they couldn¡¯t save any of it, so they¡¯d decided to go with a clean buzz cut. I¡¯ll never know what inspired him to do it. Having dead straight hair except when I slept on it funny, I¡¯d always thought curly hair was really cool.

    ¡°Both my parents are retired now, thankfully. They deserve some peace and quiet.¡± I nodded at Axel, ¡°Yours still freelance sometimes, don¡¯t they?¡±

    He scowled. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯ve told them to stop, but they keep on saying they don¡¯t know what else to do with their spare time.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s capitalism for you,¡± Jye commented soberly. ¡°Boomers suffering from zoochosis.¡±

    As if in agreement, we all ignored Jye¡¯s words. ¡°At least there¡¯s no way for them to do remote work now,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess that¡¯s true.¡±

    I smiled at the redheaded giant. ¡°What about your parents, Jye?¡±

    They shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m no contact with them.¡±

    Yikes. I regretted asking. So, half of the party had parents they wanted to talk about, and half of them didn¡¯t. I think I¡¯d probably avoid the topic in the future. It had killed the conversation. We walked in solemn silence. I hoped my parents were okay. The closest Gate was the one in Brisbane, so even if they felt the compulsion it would be difficult for them to get here.

    Tsssss.

    It was the same static sound I¡¯d recognised whenever someone used their abilities. But as I glanced around, it didn¡¯t look like anyone was using any. I stopped on the spot, worried about someone ambushing us. It¡¯s not something I had been expecting, but it was never far from my mind. Now we basically all had superpowers, there was bound to be people using them to their advantage.

    ¡°Guys, wait, I can hear¨C¡±

    With a comically loud pop, a Gate appeared in front of us.

    ~Dungeon 9 cleared for the first time by Kimi Kishimoto. New Dungeons Active~

    Oh.

 Chapter Five | Surprise

    Cleared? Did Kimi defeat the boss in the Dungeon? That was insane. It¡¯d only been five days since they first activated. Not to mention that name was different to the one who received the title for Dungeon 9. I guess they didn¡¯t end up clearing the Dungeon. Did that mean¡­ Did they die in the Dungeon? Ever since the disappearance of that man in the video, in the back of my mind it had always been a possibility. Dying in the Dungeons. Never seeing my parents again.

    But there was that pull that made me want to step into the Gate anyway. Without it, would we still have such a dismissive attitude towards our own lives? I doubted it, but some people were carefree with everything they possessed, so some people would have still entered.

    When the Gate had formed, it was instantaneous. Nothing, and then Gate.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s pretty serendipitous,¡± Jye said.

    It was unnerving standing in front of one in real life. The videos and photos really hadn¡¯t done them justice. The edges of the Gate blurred completely with reality, a distortion of our plane in whirling tendrils. In the centre it was not just black but a lack of existence. And something in my head was screaming at me to stick my hand right in.

    ¡°Are we ready to go in? Wren just joined our party. We haven¡¯t practised with her yet.¡±

    Axel shook his head. ¡°We¡¯re not prepared, but this might be our only chance to get titles.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m good to go,¡± Wren said, jutting her jaw forward.

    Well, that made one of us. I was suddenly getting cold feet about this whole thing, even with my body slowly stepping towards the Gate despite my aversion. Jye made a considering sturgeon face and added, ¡°I mean, what would go wrong?¡±

    I stared at them. ¡°There¡¯s the obvious.¡±

    The rest of the party gazed at me blankly.

    Throwing my hands up, I elaborated, ¡°We could all die?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but what¡¯s there really to live for?¡± Jye replied, laughing a little too much for comfort.

    We really didn¡¯t have the time to unpack that, but I left a mental memo to have a sit down with them later. It did make me reflect on how little I knew about Jye. In fact, I could probably list actual facts about them on one hand. Again, turning away from the Gate played in my mind. We could not go in. It was an option. And it was looking more and more like the preferred one. Especially with Wren to consider as well.

    If the original Dungeon 9 title receiver had died in their Dungeon, what chance did a ten-year-old girl stand? No, that cinched it. We weren¡¯t going in. This was a terrible idea. Maybe instead we could form some sort of shelter for those who were still resisting the effects of the Dungeon compulsion. We could make some sort of found community. Perhaps we could build a new world from the ashes of the old, and just forget the Gates altogether.

    ¡°You probably won¡¯t forgive me for this,¡± Axel said.

    Barely paying attention, I snorted. ¡°There¡¯s a lot I don¡¯t forgive you for. What could possibly top the¨C¡±

    Axel¡¯s shoulder rammed into my stomach. It stole the rest of the words out of my mouth, and only an embarrassing heugh came out instead. As we hurtled to the floor, I took the brunt of his weight. We thudded to the ground. What little remaining breath I had in my lungs was squeezed out, me pinned under him. I gasped for air and breathed in a lungful of dust that our movements had kicked up.

    It took a moment for me to process what had happened.

    Axel had tackled me through the direct centre of the Gate.

    We were in the Dungeon.

    Unable to see anything from under Axel¡¯s body, I floundered to get to my feet and pushed him off me. ¡°What the fuck, Axel!¡±

    ~Gate 16 entered for the first time. Party Just Friends rewarded titles of Student~

    As I glanced around, trying to take in my surroundings I realised Wren and Jye were here too, coughing into the kicked up dust. Had they stepped in after Axel¡¯s attack? But how? It had literally just happened. And where was the dust coming from? Before coming through the Gate, we¡¯d been standing on a cement driveway. Now it looked like we were¡­ in some sort of ancient cabin? And our entire party had received the title. Student was the title for this Dungeon?

    Oh, God.

    We were in the Dungeon. We were all here. We could all die. Axel, Jye, Wren, Chrissie, Me.

    Dead.

    My throat began to close up, chest tight and collapsing into itself. Blood thrummed in my ears, through my veins. It was itchy, and hot, and I couldn¡¯t¡­ I couldn¡¯t do this! Fuck, not now. Not now! I¡¯d gone for a week.

    The world started spinning. I struggled to fill my lungs with air.

    Breathe, goddamnit!

    I couldn¡¯t. Air creaked through me. Too many things were happening at once.

    Out of my control, my knees buckled, and I sank to the ground. The Warhead. It would help, I just had to¡­ Hands shaking, I reached for my pocket, but as I wheezed to breathe, my jaw clenched and locked. I couldn¡¯t focus, couldn¡¯t see, couldn¡¯t align my fingers to get inside it.

    I was so fucking useless. Defeated, I let my hands fall to the ground.

    This was the best I could do?

    Blackness was beginning to form in my peripheral vision, vignetting my sight. God, a black out? It¡¯d been a long time since I¡¯d fainted from one of these attacks.

    The dust began to clear to reveal a frowning Jye. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with Lee?¡±

    ¡°Fuck.¡±

    I was vaguely aware of Axel fumbling for something in his own pocket. In a flash, he was by my side, and had dropped to his knees next to me. His movement awakened a new cloud of dust, swirling wildly about us.

    ¡°Here.¡±

    His hand approached my face and I used the entirety of my willpower to look at it. Pinched between his forefinger and thumb was the familiar sight of a Warhead. I couldn¡¯t take it, my body not listening to me, limbs weighed down and chest constricted, the world beginning to fade, Axel grabbed my chin with his other hand. He squeezed.

    My jaw opened in reflex.

    Then the sourness of the lolly exploded over my tongue, shocking me from the grips of the panic attack. As the tartness spread through my mouth, tendrils of control sprouted throughout my body, grounding my mind. It began to pull all my senses back to my head. The world began to regain saturation, the blackness retreating. The muscles in my torso loosened, my lungs fully expanding with air. Tasting only sour, I found I could breathe.

    ¡°Look, I know you hate the green ones. Green apples are already sour, so what¡¯s the point in having them as a sour lolly. I know. But beggars can¡¯t be choosers, all right?¡±

    I barely registered Axel¡¯s words, but his voice and the flavour of the Warhead centred me.

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky I kept those on me, you know? I¡¯m an amazing friend. The best kind.¡±

    Slowly, ever so slowly, my body became my own again. I wiped away the wetness from my cheeks. God, I forgot how awful the panic attacks were. I¡¯d gone for so long without them before the Gates that I thought I was ¡°cured¡± of them. Guess I¡¯d just managed to bury them away.

    A few moments passed as my party sat in silence. My breathing evened out and my heartbeat returned to normal. Everything was¡­ It was all right.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Wren asked, her eyes wide.

    I mustered what smile I could and deposited the lolly into my left cheek. ¡°I¡¯ll live.¡±

    ¡°So, like, is that a normal thing for you?¡± Jye asked.

    Sighing, I tested my balance for a moment, then stood and dusted off my clothes. ¡°Kinda?¡±

    ¡°Noted.¡±

    Sometime after giving me the Warhead and me regaining myself, Axel had left the three of us alone and was patrolling around the room we¡¯d arrived in. It was a large mostly empty cabin with rotting furniture and dilapidated walls. Spiderwebs decorated the rooftop, spiders concerningly absent. Everything about it screamed ¡°forgotten.¡± Dust lined every surface, and simply moving brushed up the allergens. Had we been taken to a haunted house?

    ¡°The title¡¯s pretty good,¡± he said as he neared us again.

    It was very Axel of him to ignore what had happened post breakdown. It was also very Axel of him to not take the blame for it. Well, no one was really to blame for the root of my anxiety. Just bad luck. Taking a page out of Axel¡¯s book I decided to ignore everything that had just occurred. Yeah, yeah, yeah, who cares about compartmentalising being bad for your mental health, Mrs. Brown.

    I decided to check out the new title we¡¯d all received.

    Title: Student - Boosts all experience gain.

    Holy shit, Axel wasn¡¯t joking. This title was insane. The benefits of a permanent experience increase meant we had to do less to level up. As I thought about the levelling system, my menu screen loaded in and then expanded to reveal further information. Jesus christ, why didn¡¯t it just tell us everything from the beginning? Though, I guessed infodumping was frowned upon in most games. Especially those without tutorials that you had to learn by doing.

    On the new screen, underneath my current level was a progress bar with a few words below.

    [______________________________]

    0% completion towards next level

    So nothing we had done had given us any experience. None of our training in the gym had counted even though we were using abilities. Not even entering the Dungeon had done anything. This system was really stingy with rewards. If practising didn¡¯t give us experience it seemed like there was only defeating opponents. My stomach became a pit of tar. That meant we would have to¡­ kill someone? Or something?

    ¡°Yeah, what an amazing title,¡± Jye said, sarcasm oozing.

    Wren patted them on the back. ¡°We get better experience gain.¡±

    ¡°My words stand.¡±

    ¡°Okay, it¡¯s really good, yeah, but can we rewind for a second. How did you guys get here?¡±

    I replayed the events in my head as I had seen them. The Gate appeared. I was thinking about entering, but then changed my mind. Axel volunteered us as tributes. At that moment, we had to have been at least a metre away from Wren and Jye. Axel wouldn¡¯t have been able to drag them along too, unless he was lying about more than just his title. No, it couldn¡¯t have been an ability. I would¡¯ve heard the static. That meant something else had interfered.

    ¡°We went through the Gate¡­¡± Wren said, her brows pushed together in confusion.

    Glad someone else was questioning this, I said, ¡°Yeah, how did that happen?¡±

    Jye scratched their jaw. ¡°The second Axel tackled you through, a tentacle osmosised from the Gate and lunged toward us. Then we were here.¡±

    ¡°Must be a safeguard to ensure party members remain together,¡± Axel commented.

    Then he poked the tip of his shoe through the crumbling remains of a wooden chair. His top lip curled in disgust. He was always a bit of a clean freak. ¡°Looks like this place is empty and hasn¡¯t been touched in a while.¡±

    Despite me wanting to brush off what he''d just made happen, his reaction and calm behaviour rankled at me. I¡¯d had a panic attack and he¡¯d come out of it scot-free?

    Pointing a justifiably angry finger at him, I said, ¡°You¡­ You stop talking. I¡¯m angry at you.¡±

    He looked like a cashier who was finishing up their shift only to realise a Karen was coming through with receipts in their hand. Was I just something he had to deal with? If I reflected on our relationship during the time we¡¯d known each other, it made sense. He didn¡¯t interact with me more than necessary unless I was in the path of some harm. Was me being in his party just an extension of that same thing? I guess maybe I felt that way towards him as well. Like a responsibility to remain his friend because of our parents.

    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Had our entire relationship been built on simply dealing with each other? God, that was too depressing to dwell on. My longest friendship was just two people bearing each other. How sad.

    Jye cleared their throat. ¡°I hate to interrupt whatever¡­ this is, but shouldn¡¯t we be doing something? Like what if someone else enters the Gate?¡±

    The giant had a point. We had only been notified of the first people to enter each Gate, but since it hadn¡¯t been them but Kimi who had cleared Dungeon 9, it meant that anyone could follow in after. But what were we meant to do in a dusty ass cabin? And better yet, how were we meant to get out?

    ¡°Something touched my leg!¡± Wren screeched.

    She slapped at her legs in panic. All our eyes went to her feet, hoping to catch sight of whatever it was. There was nothing there. Her head snapped back and forth as she checked around her vicinity. Her eyes were wide and watery. The poor girl. She must¡¯ve been imagining things. Man, this must be so scary for a ten-year-old. She spoke so maturely that I had started forgetting that she was only a kid.

    Shaking her head, Wren said, ¡°I swear. I swear there was something here.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it was some dust. We¡¯ve been unsettling it with our entrance into here. Despite his appearance, Axel can sometimes be reliable. If he said the place is empty, it¡¯s empty.¡±

    He opened his mouth to reply, but I held a finger up. ¡°Still not talking to you.¡±

    Axel sighed. Yeah, now we were dealing with each other like we always did.

    ¡°What the fuck?!¡±

    It was Jye this time. They¡¯d squealed in a pitch I didn¡¯t know they were capable of hitting. I spun around in time to see a shadow dash behind the broken down form of a bookshelf. Oh, shit. There was something else here.

    I cast Axel an accusatory glare.

    ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t talking to me,¡± he said.

    Rolling my eyes, I gestured to the party to back off from the bookshelf. If the thing behind it was dangerous, it would be better for all of us to be further in range. Especially since Axel was the only frontline class we had right now. Without a word, they followed my silent command, stepping towards the front of the cabin.

    Axel crept to the forefront of our group. This was similar to what we had practised in the gym. If he used [Ground Smash], we¡¯d been able to stun whatever it was and maybe rush it. Damn, was shit about to get real?

    The static of an ability being used zapped in my ears.

    The floor did not shatter, to my disappointment. Which meant Axel had either activated [Intimidation] or [Thick Hide]. Annnd it also meant he¡¯d immediately gone off plan. That¡¯d figure.

    Another tsss. He was using both of them? With the 10 mana cap of [Thick Hide], he¡¯d only have 15 mana left, which drastically dropped the amount of [Ground Smash] he could use to only two times. To my left, Jye had drawn their knives. Though now that Axel was writing his own script they had no idea how to act. Standing behind them, Wren watched, her legs visibly quivering.

    ¡°Come out!¡± Axel shouted.

    Was he trying to taunt it to reveal itself? It¡¯d be safer than going in blind. But what if it didn¡¯t understand English? What if it wasn¡¯t intelligent enough to even comprehend communication?

    My thoughts evaporated as the soft falls of footsteps sounded. From the shadows, a figure slowly approached. My heart was in my throat. Though it was hard to make it, it looked like¡­ No, that¡¯d be stupid. There¡¯s no way what I was seeing was real.

    Hiss!

    A cat. There was a cat here. It looked like a common calico house cat. Its hackles were raised and its bright green eyes were wide in alarm. What the fuck was a cat doing in a Dungeon? Was it part of the experience? Were we meant to kill it? What kind of sick person would design this?

    As it approached, I realised it was missing its tail. No. It had one, it was just shorter. It was a bobtail. It had been her favourite.

    ¡°Don¡¯t go near it!¡± Axel shouted as he pulled the bat from his hip.

    ¡°Calm down. It¡¯s just a cat.¡±

    The cat came closer. Axel raised his bat. Wren clenched her eyes shut and Jye turned his cheek. What the fuck was wrong with everyone? Were they just going to¡­

    ¡°Stop!¡±

    Axel ignored me, and the cat stopped moving. It¡¯s back was arched in alarm, ears drawn back in fear, hackles raised.

    ¡°Axel,¡± I said in warning.

    His grip on the bat tightened.

    Fuck this.

    It happened faster than we had practised in the gym. In an instant, [Channel] filled me with that river of limitless potential. Like a flame running through my veins. And then I borrowed from Axel. He¡¯d never rescinded his consent.

    Focusing my attention, I pushed the power down as I lifted my right foot. I kicked down. [Ground Smash] torpedoed through the movement, bursting into the floor of the cabin. Through the explosion, I heard multiple bursts of static. Wooden shrapnel went flying and the shockwaves knocked the rest of the party around. The dormant dust kicked up, blurring the room, masking everyone from my sight.

    In the commotion, the cat fled with a yowl.

    Axel fell to his knees. The bat tumbled out of his hand. Jye and Wren who¡¯d been in range had to have been caught in the blast too. Through the dust I couldn¡¯t make out if they¡¯d been hurt badly. I hoped the damage was minimal. A throbbing migraine knifed into my brain.

    My head felt like it was stuffed with wool, and as the dust settled a heaviness dragged down my limbs. My stamina was worryingly low.

    ¡°Lee¡­¡± Axel began as he pulled himself up.

    Just Friends has earned 5 XP.

    Oh, I guessed we didn¡¯t have to kill things? I mean, technically our opponent had fled. So¡­ we¡¯d won this round of combat by default? My experience progression bar filled in slightly.

    [|_____________________________]

    2% completion towards next level

    I did the mentals maths. So it was 250 XP for me to get to LVL 2. That was good to know.

    Jye let out a groan of pain. Oh, fuck.

    I turned around to check their status. Jye was laying on the ground, their arms wrapped protectively around Wren. They were both covered in the planks of the floor that [Ground Smash] had sent flying. I rushed over, and brushed the debris from their bodies. I couldn¡¯t see any major injuries. In fact, they looked mostly unscathed. I stared at them in disbelief. Wren slipped out of Jye¡¯s arms, and helped them stand.

    ¡°How are you okay?¡± I asked.

    Jye grinned. ¡°Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice¡­¡±

    They bent down and picked up a sizeable piece of plank debris from the floor. It looked like it should¡¯ve weighed close to 50kg. But Jye lifted it like it was lighter than a feather. As understanding dawned on me, my mouth dropped open. I¡¯d heard an ability be used during my attack, but this was not what I had been expecting.

    ¡°You can make things lighter too?¡± I asked, the relief causing me to laugh.

    ¡°Panic will make you try some weird shit,¡± Jye said back.

    ¡°Yeah, and, dude, I¡¯m sorry for the friendly fire. I just couldn¡¯t¡­¡± The words weren¡¯t coming out. Somehow saying it was harder than doing what I¡¯d just done. I took a deep breath. ¡°My sister loved cats.¡±

    ¡°Chrissie definitely would¡¯ve done the same thing,¡± Axel admitted.

    His face was covered in scratches from the [Ground Smash] and he was standing hunched over, gripping his side. Red had begun to form underneath his hand.

    I stared.

    No.

    No no no no no!

    What had I done?

    Axel wasn¡¯t meant to get hurt. He had [Swift Footed]! He could¡¯ve gotten away from the attack. There was no way he should¡¯ve taken any damage. Sick roiled in my stomach, sliding up my throat as bile. I was at his side before I knew what I was doing, pulling his free arm over my shoulder. Jye and Wren weren¡¯t far behind me.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just dodge?¡± I yelled at him.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you think I¡¯m that good.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not looking too dandy, man. How much damage did you take?¡± Jye asked.

    Together, we helped Axel to the wall, and he leaned against it with a groan. My brain didn¡¯t know how to react. My hands shook. I¡¯d done this. I¡¯d hurt Axel. This was worse than being useless. God, I¡¯d hurt my friend.

    ¡°I only took 10 from the [Ground Smash], but it¡¯s this¡­¡± he gestured to the bloody spot on his side. ¡°I think something pierced me. I¡¯m losing HP by the second.¡±

    Hands trembling, I lifted the bloodied shirt. Beneath was a stake-like piece of floorboard, poking out of his abdomen. Red, blood, it was blood, trickled down his stomach. I could taste vomit on the back of my tongue, but I swallowed it back down grimly.

    ¡°What¡­ what do we do?¡± I asked.

    Jye shook their head slowly. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me. I¡¯m only CPR certified.¡±

    ¡°Axel, what do we do?¡±

    He laughed again and the stake piercing him bounced with the movement. Blood spurted out. ¡°Now you want to listen to me, huh?

    The world started becoming blurry. ¡°Stop fucking around! You¡¯re gonna bleed out. Tell us. What do we do?¡± Oh, I was crying. My nose was running, and I had started to blubber. This was embarrassing. I wiped at the tears, trying to clear my sight.

    ¡°...pull the stake out,¡± Axel said.

    In half a panic, I grabbed the edge of it, trying to take a firm hold, and then yanked. Immediately, the blood previously held back began to flow at a quickened rate, oozing out across his body. Axel screamed in pain, and he grabbed at my bloodied hands.

    ¡°I said don¡¯t pull the stake out, you idiot!¡± Axel sunk to the floor. ¡°Oh, shit.¡±

    Party member Axel at critical health.

    I could see that! He was bleeding out right in front of me. I tried to recall anything I could remember from movies, or shows about how to treat a stabbing, but nothing came to mind. The only thing was¡­ pressure? Apply pressure? Lunging forward, I slapped one hand over the other and pushed down on Axel¡¯s wound. He didn¡¯t even have enough energy to scream even though I knew it was impossible for what I¡¯d just done to be painless.

    ¡°I know you hate me, but actively aiding the speed of my demise seems a little cold-hearted,¡± he said with a croak.

    ¡°Stop talking,¡± I said, and it was suddenly more than real that my best friend was dying.

    I hadn¡¯t called him that since we were just kids. Hell, I hadn¡¯t thought of him as my best friend since then. But that didn¡¯t make it not true. For a second, as I kneeled there with my hands slick with blood, us as twelve-year-olds played in my mind. Just hanging in the local park, taking turns pushing each other on the swing. Chrissie had tagged along, as she always had. Axel pouting because I was paying more attention to her. He¡¯d always been the jealous type, though when puberty hit him with the attractive stick, that focus has shifted to his other friend groups.

    We¡¯d been inseparable until we were thirteen. But then Chrissie¡­ And I wasn¡¯t the same after it. Axel had been too young to properly comfort a grieving friend. Anybody would¡¯ve been. It¡¯s never obvious how to act when your best friend loses their sister. He¡¯d made one sincere attempt, but it hadn¡¯t been enough. After that he pulled away entirely. It was not the right thing to do. But I guess he never really left, not fully. If he had, he wouldn¡¯t be here dying.

    I couldn¡¯t do this.

    I couldn¡¯t be the reason why someone I loved was dead.

    Not again.

    So, I held down firmly on Axel¡¯s wound and hoped and hoped and hoped. I wasn¡¯t religious, praying would mean nothing, so I begged whatever forces of unpredictability that reigned in the universe to turn the odds in our favour. Maybe that¡¯s all religion was. Putting a face on chance.

    ¡°I¡¯m down to 2 HP. The bleeding isn¡¯t stopping.¡±

    I focused on Axel¡¯s face. His eyes were watery. The usually healthy tan he had was pale, ghostly, and his lips had a blue tinge. He attempted a smile. It was wrong. Axel wasn¡¯t meant to look like this.

    ¡°You gotta make sure you survive this thing, okay?¡±

    ¡°The Dungeon?¡± I asked, my voice barely making its way out of my mouth.

    ¡°This whole thing. You gotta win. Promise me. No matter what, you¡¯re going to win.¡±

    I scoffed through my tears. ¡°Only you would have the audacity to think you could win against an apocalypse.¡±

    His weak grip found my arm, and he squeezed it. ¡°Promise me.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡±

    If I finished that sentence, it would be goodbye, I knew. He was barely holding on. If I promised him, he would let go. But he was stubborn, too stubborn to give in before he heard my words. If I could keep him here for even a moment longer, he would never hear those words from my lips.

    ¡°1 HP,¡± he said, and his hand on my arm slipped off.

    ¡°I¡¯ll make you a promise.¡±

    I met his fading gaze.

    ¡°I promise you¡¯ll be here with me when we win.¡±

    His eyes shot open for a second, and his laugh turned into a sputter. ¡°That¡¯s new.¡±

    His breathing had weakened, chest rising and falling almost imperceptibly. Axel¡¯s eyes began to close. I could no longer see through my tears.

    ¡°God fucking damnit, absolutely fuck this shit, this is the most fucked up thing, after I swore I wouldn¡¯t¡­ Fuck me.¡±

    Both me and Axel¡¯s focus shifted to the sailor¡¯s language coming out of the ten-year-old girl¡¯s mouth. She had approached us both, and was standing by our side. Axel clearly wanted to make some sort of comment, but lacked the bodily control to do so. It might¡¯ve been for the better.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do this. I don¡¯t even trust you. But I can¡¯t watch two grown men cry. It¡¯s embarrassing. Goddamnit, and this was meant to be my hidden ace,¡± Wren continued, muttering under her breath.

    I heard the static of an ability being used. What was she doing? As a Scourge, she would only work with debuffs. It didn¡¯t make any sense. Then again, she¡¯d never explained how she¡¯d ended up alone in Woolies. I had assumed she would in time, but maybe this was the reason why.

    A soft green glow emanated from her, and then focused on her right hand. What the hell was happening? There was no way an ability called [Imperil] or [Death Mark] looked like this. She glared at me.

    ¡°Move your hands.¡±

    I stared at her incredulously. ¡°This is the only thing stopping him from dying right this second.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, but I gotta touch the wound for this to work. He¡¯s gonna die in the next couple of moments anyway. Your choice, buckaroo.¡±

    Axel¡¯s eyes finally closed. He was directly on the brink. Jye, who¡¯d been quiet the entire time, chimed in, ¡°She¡¯s got a point.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you stick to the whole mute act, man?¡± I spat back, already feeling bad about it as I said it.

    They held their hands up, and stepped further away.

    Wren¡¯s eyes were on me. Jesus christ. What should I do? Did Wren have the ability to save Axel? My hands were covered with Axel¡¯s blood. Figuratively and literally. Maybe this was the universe¡¯s answer to my pleadings.

    Please let that be the case.

    I retracted my hands, and watched as the blood flow immediately increased, no longer impeded. Wren¡¯s glowing right hand went down. A bright warm light encompassed the skin beneath her hand, so sharp that I couldn¡¯t stare directly at it, but I forced myself to not look away. If this was Axel¡¯s last moments alive, I would be there to witness them. He deserved so much more, but this was the least I could do.

    Time passed, but I lost all sense of it.

    Finally, the light faded.

    Wren¡¯s face was drenched in sweat, and a distant look was in her eyes. She had the kind of eye bags that resulted from days without sleep. When Wren spoke, her voice was dry, cracking. ¡°I think the wound¡¯s been closed, but I can¡¯t use [Healing Hand] anymore. I¡¯m completely out of mana. You better take care of this body. Fuckers.¡±

    And then she fell into an unconscious heap next to Axel.

 Chapter Six | Approach

    In an awkward silence, Jye had helped me as we set up a makeshift med bay for Axel and Wren. We¡¯d barely spoken since I¡¯d lashed out at them during the chaos. It burdened my conscience, but as we worked I couldn¡¯t find the words to apologise or explain my reaction. It had been ugly directionless anger that had turned Jye into collateral. I¡¯d have to address it later, unfortunately. I simply didn¡¯t have the mental bandwidth to get into it now.

    When I¡¯d examined Axel¡¯s wound, it had healed over. The scarring was ugly, jagged and raised, but definitely closed. I was worried about any internal damage that he had suffered, but there¡¯d be no way to check that. Hopefully whatever passive healing we had would fix that. It was worrying how much empty faith I was putting in things lately.

    Wren slept well. Axel and I took turns in guarding the resting part of the group. Though I doubt either of us got much sleep. The events of the past day seemed to replay in my mind without pause. Axel had almost died. I¡¯d almost killed him. Just to save a fucking cat. Chrissie shouldn¡¯t affect me so much anymore.

    Why was I so weak?

    Trying to distract myself from my thoughts, I summoned the status window and was pouring over the different windows we could access. It seemed like every time something new happened another screen would appear. But it also appeared as though the windows reacted to our understanding of events. Maybe if I spent time studying them and thinking about it any way I could, I¡¯d be able to learn more about it. It was better than dwelling on my guilt, at the very least.

    It was while doing this that I realised Wren¡¯s class had changed.

    She was no longer listed as a Scourge in our party list, but was instead a Synergist. It explained her ability to heal. But how had she swapped classes? Did she have some sort of trait that let her lie about her class? An ability? If she did have that ability, what good would it do? Unless¡­ Perhaps she was anticipating future opponents who would read one¡¯s status windows? It wasn¡¯t too far-fetched, especially in RPGs. Was Wren truly thinking that far ahead? It wouldn¡¯t have been surprising from Axel, since he seemed so switched on, but from a young girl¡­ She had to be hiding more than just her ability to supposedly change classes. Especially with the sudden change in her vernacular.

    The system we all were supposedly in seemed less than perfect. Jye¡¯s stats were bugged, Wren might have access to two classes. If this was just two out of the four of us, that meant it was possible 50 percent of humanity on Earth had just as messed up statuses. I could imagine the Steam reviews now. Overwhelming negative. One of my friends loaded in and couldn¡¯t read their own status screen! Completely unbalanced character creation randomizer. No tutorial. No explanation for how to even win the game. 0/10. IGN would probably still have given it four stars.

    ¡°Your sister is gone, huh?¡± Jye said.

    The voice startled me as I had thought they were asleep. It was my turn on watch, to check on Wren and Axel as they recovered. But sleeping right now felt impossible for me and it must¡¯ve been the case for Jye too. We were in a strange place, with strange people doing strange things. There was no way sleep would easily come.

    ¡°Yeah. Her name was Chris.¡± I smiled, remembering her cute scowl. ¡°She hated that it was so boyish. Demanded we call her Chrissie.¡±

    They rolled to their side, propping their head up on a bent arm. ¡°Did she¡­ pass away when the Gates appeared?¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°No, it was ages ago now. She was about the same age as Wren, actually.¡± I paused, ready to defend myself against an attack on my lapse of judgement, but it seemed none was forthcoming. Still feeling a need to justify my actions, I said, ¡°It¡¯s not the only reason I asked Wren to join our party, but it¡¯s a big one.¡±

    Jye was silent as they took it in. Usually Jye was easy to read, wearing their heart on their sleeve even if they didn¡¯t speak that much. Had I met them in my day-to-day life, I probably would¡¯ve classified them as the golden retriever type. Head empty, but positive vibes and energy. That¡¯s if you weren¡¯t Axel, at least.

    ¡°I had five siblings. Three brothers, two sisters. About a year difference between each one of us,¡± they said, green eyes unfocused.

    ¡°Had?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m no contact with my family. I have no idea what they¡¯re doing, and they have no idea what I¡¯m doing. It¡¯s better that way.¡± They sighed, deep and long. Their expression was complicated, too many different emotions layered onto each other. ¡°If for a moment I thought any one of them cared about me the same way you do about your sister, I probably would¡¯ve stayed. Even despite everything.¡±

    This was more I¡¯d heard from Jye talk about themself the entire time I¡¯d known them. It helped me stop thinking about Axel¡¯s shallow breathing, and Wren¡¯s unconscious body, both of which were my fault. ¡°You moved out pretty young then?¡±

    Jye¡¯s top lip curled. ¡°Wasn¡¯t really a choice. My parents didn¡¯t really understand who I was. Were scared about what I was. But that¡¯s life, you know? Sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose.¡±

    I was silent for a moment, letting the thoughts settle. In this day and age, how did people have kids and then treat them so poorly? It shocked and appalled me.

    ¡°They kicked you out?¡±

    They sat up, and pulled their knees in close, hugging them to their chest. Jye¡¯s voice was muffled through their legs. ¡°Sometimes they pretended I wasn¡¯t there at all. Sometimes everything bad was my fault. I could deal with that, but I think the worst was when they acted like I was a stranger.¡±

    Jesus christ. Jesus fucking christ. The worst I was expecting was their parents abandoning them. But this¡­ This was just child abuse. Child neglect. Call it what you want, it was wrong. Why hadn¡¯t anyone reported their parents? When Axel had come out, our parents had thrown him a party, where unbeknownst to them Axel had lost his V plates. The stark contrast between the parenting styles was enough to give me whiplash.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry. No one deserves to be treated like that.¡±

    ¡°I know. Well, I know that now. It took awhile to get there, but I know who I am and I know there¡¯s nothing wrong with that.¡± They hesitated, and closed their eyes. ¡°But sometimes I think about them, you know?¡±

    ¡°Your parents?¡±

    ¡°My siblings. We were close once. When I was forced out, they avoided me, followed suit with my parents.¡± They breathed in and opened their eyes, staring into my soul. ¡°Do you think they cared about me at all? Because I left them all there, and I never looked back.¡±

    How did someone answer a question like this? What was I doing in a Dungeon with a person I¡¯d met less than a week ago baring their soul to me? And why me of all people?

    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Still, I considered their words, trying to find what I wanted to say. I had lost Chrissie in a similar way, even though the situation was completely different. And part of me had been stuck there, always, wondering if I¡¯d done anything differently if things would¡¯ve changed. If things would be different now. If Chrissie would be alive.

    ¡°Jye¡­ That you¡¯re asking me this means you have looked back.¡± Their mouth opened, like they wanted to interrupt, but I waved them away. ¡°In fact, what you actually want to ask isn¡¯t if they cared about you, is it?¡±

    They snorted. ¡°Look at you, acting like some sort of therapist.¡±

    I ignored their provocation.

    ¡°You want to ask if it¡¯s okay for you to still love them. Despite everything.¡±

    A long silence fell between us.

    I wondered if they had decided to stop talking to me.

    Jye¡¯s voice was small, so small compared to how large they¡¯d trained to be. ¡°Is it?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t stop yourself from caring about someone,¡± I said. ¡°Your love for them does fade with time and distance, but it¡¯s still always there somewhere.¡±

    Jye loosened their grip on their legs, and leaned back to hear what I said next.

    ¡°Your brothers and sisters didn¡¯t protect you, didn¡¯t support you, didn¡¯t help you. There¡¯s no denying that.¡± For a second I thought about Axel, but refocused, ¡°But you were kids. I¡¯m sure, as much as they could, they cared about you too. So you¡¯ve every right to care about them. Your parents though¡­¡±

    ¡°Nah, fuck my parents. I¡¯ll never forgive them. I hope they died when the Gates appeared, but I¡¯m not that lucky.¡±

    That Jye was back to their usual self made me feel a little better. When they didn¡¯t ask another question I turned to check on them, but saw their eyes were closed and their breathing had slowed. Probably emotional exhaustion. Or just plain exhaustion. The past day had been stressful, and that was putting it lightly.

    ¡°You look like hell,¡± said a smug voice to my right.

    ¡°You should see the other guy.¡±

    ¡°Got a mirror I could borrow for that?¡± Axel said, grimacing to sit up.

    Using just a minor bit of force, I pressed down onto his shoulder. He struggled for a second before thumping limply back onto the bedroll beneath him. Axel was scowling at my hand. I gave him a look that said, ¡°It¡¯s gonna stay there because I know you¡¯re an idiot.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s your HP?¡±

    ¡°About half way back now. You can probably let me sit up.¡±

    I pressed down harder on his shoulder. That was good. It meant he was regenerating at a reasonable rate, similar to when Jye had broken their leg during the party¡¯s gym practice. A huge weight lifted from my shoulders. Knowing that Axel would be okay, that I wouldn¡¯t be the reason he¡¯d died. Suddenly I could breathe freely.

    ¡°Did you mean that promise?¡± Axel asked.

    I scoffed. ¡°I¡¯d have said anything.¡±

    ¡°Anything, huh?¡± he said. He sounded hurt.

    Clearing my throat, I swapped hands so my left was holding him down. ¡°But I did. Mean it, that is. I think.¡±

    Axel¡¯s eyes grew wide. It was one of the first times that I¡¯d seen him look surprised since the Gates had activated. The expression was comical on him. His mouth was slightly ajar, blonde brows high. It gave me a thrill to know that even after all this time I could still shock him. Especially with how he had called me predictable. This would show him.

    ¡°If this is the end of the world, all I have left is family and friends. Out of everyone, you¡¯re practically both. What¡¯d be the point of winning without you?¡±

    I was surprised by his reaction. He started laughing, low and quiet at first, but then it built into full body shaking, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Oh, yeah, that wasn¡¯t concerning at all. I filed the reaction into the ¡°Worrisome Axel Behaviour¡± box in my mind and let him continue until he tired himself out again. The laughter died down into gentle snoring.

    Sooner or later, we¡¯d have to talk about why he was acting so crazy. He¡¯d been hiding something since our classes had been granted. And lying every now and again. Axel was deeply affected by something, so much that it was causing these insane mood swings and unjustifiable behaviour.

    Before the Gates, he would have never even considered hurting a cat. They were his and Chrissie¡¯s favourite animal, even once taking home a stray that still lived with Axel¡¯s parents until a few years ago. My sister had named him Scribble, after how he¡¯d been scratching and playing in the dirt like he was doodling.

    Meow.

    It was like I could hear Scribble now. The vets had called him the healthiest Tom they¡¯d ever seen. It wasn¡¯t a surprise he lived for so long. He¡¯d passed at the guessed age of eighteen, close to the longest the animals could healthily achieve. I always thought he lived that long for Chrissie, living out his whole life for her. It was a silly thought, but whenever I¡¯d visit Charleville and see Scribble it made it more bearable.

    ¡°Meow.¡±

    There was Scribble again. Wait, that wasn¡¯t his meow. His mewling was closer to a squawk. As he¡¯d lived on the street for the first few years, he hadn¡¯t learned how to meow for humans. Slowly, Axel¡¯s family taught him, but even then, it was never a proper meow. This sound I was hearing¡­

    In the corner of my eye, I saw the movement of the calico bobtail. It was back! It was fortuitous that everyone else was asleep with how trigger happy they¡¯d been before. I was not about to try and fight the party to keep the cat safe again, not with how everything had turned out last time. With as little sound as possible, I stood from the wall I was leaning against and approached the cat.

    Leaning down, I turned my back to the feline. It was cat behaviour 101. Don¡¯t face it, because that would be seen as aggression. Presenting your back showed you weren¡¯t trying to dominate it. Out of the three of us, I was the only one who¡¯d need to learn these tactics. The felines had been naturally drawn to Axel and Chrissie.

    ¡°Are you lost, little guy? How¡¯d you end up in the Dungeon?

    The paws stepped closer until it was right behind me. I tried to peek at it from my peripheral vision, but only caught a glimpse. Then I felt the soft fur brush up against me, the warmth of their small body. I had always wanted to get a cat for Axel¡¯s and my apartment. My parents had been allergic to cat dander, so I wasn¡¯t allowed one as a kid.

    Lifting a hand, I tried to pet it, but it darted away, strutting in front of me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t like pats?¡± I asked.

    It flopped onto its back and trilled at me. What a sweet little kitten! But the stomach presentation was one 100 percent a trap. If I tried to touch the tempting belly it would rabbit kick my hands to shreds and tear into my skin with its claws and fangs. I¡¯d fallen for the trick too many times to count. But the behaviour was definitely basic cat. There was nothing off about it, except maybe its willingness to reapproach us after what happened.

    It was probably just desperate.

    Grabbing some of the protein+ plain jerky from my backpack, I shredded it and put some out for the cat. It was too salty for normal cat food, but as a rare snack, it would be fine. No sooner did I put it down did the cat snatch it up. Without even chewing it, she gobbled it down. The poor thing was starving. I rummaged further through our inventory, searching through Wren¡¯s bag since she had quite the stock from Woolies, and found some spam. Again, it was high in sodium, but since cats got most of their hydration from food, it would be better for her.

    I peeled open the can, and scooped out some onto the removed lid. She wolfed it down.

    ¡°Damn, you can eat, huh? Well, that¡¯s all I can give you right now. I can feed you at this time each night, but you gotta make sure the others don¡¯t see you. They think you¡¯re a danger to us. But you¡¯re just a cat, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    She didn¡¯t respond, just licked the can lid, green eyes pleading for more.

    ¡°No more. Now scram before they wake up.¡±

    I reached out to pat her, but she ran, this time disappearing into the shadows. Well, this was going to be a problem for future me. I had almost killed my best friend to save a cat and was now secretly feeding it behind everyone¡¯s back. Was this a type of betrayal? Did this make a bad person?

    My brain hurt.

 Chapter Seven | What Next?

    The rest of my watch passed without comment, and I woke Jye for their turn. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was unconscious. That slumber was exhausting with dreams of people I loved dying without me being able to do anything. Again and again, I watched as my beloveds breathed their last breaths while I sat by their side, simply witnessing it, eyes blank and empty.

    When Jye shook me awake, I felt more tired than I had before sleeping, but it looked like my stamina had regen¡¯d to almost full. That was good at least. They seemed to restore faster with rest. It made sense. Axel had recovered faster when sleeping as well. Now we just needed to master actually falling asleep. It was something I was bad at even before all the Gates appeared.

    Wren was already awake, and was chewing idly on some jerky.

    ¡°So. I guess I should explain,¡± she began as everyone gathered around.

    She passed the packet to me, and I took a handful before giving it to Jye.

    ¡°That would be nice,¡± Axel oozed.

    Rolling her eyes, she said, ¡°By now you guys have guessed that I¡¯m not just a Scourge.¡±

    We all nodded. She had healed Axel, which definitely wasn¡¯t a debuff.

    ¡°And that I¡¯m also a Synergist.¡±

    Again, we nodded. This much we all knew from the party information accessible via the status window. I¡¯d mentioned it to Jye and Axel in passing whilst Wren was still unconscious. Axel hadn¡¯t seemed surprised. Jye seemed delighted that there was another glitch character like them.

    Wren cleared her throat. ¡°All right, well. How to explain¡­ I can swap between the two classes. I was originally a Synergist, but¡­¡± Her hazel eyes darkened.

    ¡°But?¡± I prompted, intrigued.

    ¡°But everything was so confusing when it started. I felt such a strong need to enter the CBD Gate. I didn¡¯t even think about it. I crawled out of my bed, and went into it. There were a bunch of people in it already. Maybe seven of us?¡±

    I guess I hadn¡¯t been wrong when I thought she¡¯d been through the gauntlet. However, this was far more complex than I¡¯d been imagining. I thought maybe she¡¯d lost her parents to the Gate, and then got separated. This was so much worse. Jye¡¯s eyes were wide as they listened, but Axel had crossed his arms over his chest. There was a sceptic tone to his stance. Axel didn¡¯t believe her? Why? What would she gain from lying to us?

    Wren shivered. ¡°It was like the arctic in that Dungeon, none of us were prepared. But it wasn¡¯t like this one. The entrance was still there, the same Gate but inside the Dungeon. We could¡¯ve all left. We could¡¯ve all lived.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Axel asked sharply.

    Her eyes shot over to him, lips quivering. ¡°No one wanted to leave except me. They¡­¡± She took a deep breath, ¡°They demanded to know my class and abilities and threatened to hurt me. I didn¡¯t know what else to do.¡±

    Understanding of the situation was beginning to dawn on me.

    ¡°They made you join their party?¡±

    She nodded softly, and her voice broke as she continued, ¡°I told them everything I could see on my screen. We went further into the Dungeon. Eventually, we got into a fight with some sort of monster. It was big and furry, with sharp teeth. People got hurt. They screamed at me to help them. When I couldn¡¯t heal them quick enough, they¡­¡±

    It didn¡¯t need to be said.

    ¡°Then what?¡± Jye asked, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.

    ¡°The remaining party members blamed me. Said I was the reason everyone had died. I did my best!¡± She was crying now, sobbing. Snot trickled out of her nose over her blubbering mouth.

    Jye pulled her into a hug, letting her tears absorb into their shoulder.

    In between gasps of air, she continued, ¡°They left me there. In the middle of the Dungeon, as they went further in. They kicked me out of the party. I tried to track my way back to the Gate, but it was all white, the sky was white, the floor was white. My footsteps in the snow disappeared as I moved forward. And it was cold.¡±

    She was shaking now in Jye¡¯s embrace. ¡°I couldn¡¯t feel my fingers, and I knew that was bad. So I tried to use [Healing Hand] on myself. But I was low on mana. It drained me, like it did when I used it on Axel. I blacked out.¡±

    All of us remained silent, waiting for her to finish.

    ¡°When I woke up, I was outside the Woolworths you found me in, and my class had switched to Scourge. I have a trait that appeared then. It¡¯s called [Mercurial]. It lets me switch between my classes.¡±

    That meant someone had to have helped her. But it sounded like her party had abandoned her. Maybe someone else had come across her, but hadn¡¯t wanted to take on the responsibility of her proper, and yet still couldn¡¯t leave a child to die. It wasn¡¯t beyond the scope of reasonability. I mean, we had picked her up and she hadn¡¯t even been in that dire of a circumstance. The possibility of other samaritans wasn¡¯t that low. Though I guess leaving her alone without protection while she was still unconscious downgraded them to something closer to an anti-hero than a do-gooder. Still, I silently thanked them for helping her, whoever they were.

    Axel pursed his lips in thought. ¡°That¡¯s why you wanted to know if we were going into the CBD Gate?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t want to go back in.¡±

    He didn¡¯t look convinced, but Axel was like that. Despite his social butterfly tendencies, he still believed the worst of everyone. Maybe it was because of them, actually. He knew a lot of different people and lived between rumour and gossip. But a child was not the same as the type of people he hung out with. Besides, what did a ten-year-old girl gain from lying to us about herself? Even if she wasn¡¯t telling us the full truth, stepping up to take care of a kid is what any decent adult should do. Not what had happened¡­

    ¡°You could¡¯ve told us,¡± Jye said, pulling back from her.

    ¡°You might¡¯ve been just like them,¡± she said.

    ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± The words I wish someone had told me when I was young suddenly found themselves pouring from my mouth. ¡°You were right to distrust us.¡± The words would¡¯ve protected Chrissie. ¡°Sometimes adults can¡¯t be trusted.¡± God, I wish someone had sat me down properly, and set me straight. ¡°Sometimes adults are bad.¡±

    I smiled at her, as kindly as I could. ¡°But thank you for telling us now. And thank you for saving Axel. You didn¡¯t have to.¡±

    Axel cleared his throat. Not meeting her eyes, he said, ¡°Yeah, thanks for that.¡±

    She laughed through her tears. ¡°You¡¯re the first ones to thank me for using my abilities.¡±

    ¡°It won¡¯t be the last time we¡¯ll be thanking you either,¡± Axel replied.

    If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    He wasn¡¯t wrong. A healer in our party was crazy beneficial, especially when we still didn¡¯t have a tank to take on damage. I reflected on the current party composition. It was still incredibly unbalanced in regards to ranged positions. Axel did frontline damage and had some crowd control, Jye did backline damage, Wren could cast debuffs and buffs from a distance, and I could only barely use anyone else¡¯s skills without levelling up.

    ¡°Your old party was shit and that¡¯s not on you,¡± Jye said.

    ¡°Right. You did what you could. And I¡¯m sorry I forced you into a situation where you had to reveal your second class,¡± I continued, the guilt of Axel¡¯s injury still incredibly fresh in my mind.

    ¡°It just sped up the sharing,¡± Wren admitted. ¡°I was going to wait until we got out of the Dungeon, and if nothing had happened like the CBD Dungeon, I was going to tell you all.¡±

    I nodded. It was a smart plan, though incredibly optimistic. Sussing us out, making sure we could be trusted. Good instincts for such a young kid. Chrissie had always been too trusting because there had been no need for caution in the small hometown of Charleville. Stupid. I¡¯d been so stupid.

    ¡°Not to sound like an ass and change the direction of this heartwarming moment full of thank yous and sorrys, but we all got experience from that fight, right?¡± Axel said.

    There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the group.

    Thinking of it brought the screen up. ¡°The notification said our whole party got 5 XP.¡±

    Jye¡¯s brows furrowed. ¡°Oh, we got XP?¡±

    ¡°Yeah¡­ I need to hit 250 to reach my next level.¡±

    ¡°That seems a little steep,¡± they replied, probably thinking about their own levelling requirements.

    I shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t make the rules. I honestly don¡¯t really know who does.¡±

    Wren, her eyes now dried of tears, was frowning in very clear confusion. I shot her an inquiring look and she clamped her mouth closed, lips forming a thin straight line. Right, that wasn¡¯t normal.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    She hesitated before confessing, ¡°I don¡¯t think I got any experience from the fight.¡±

    ¡°But the notification said our whole party got some,¡± Axel said, suspicion colouring his tone once again.

    God, why did he think this little girl was lying to us so much? I knew he expected the worst of others, but this was too much. Repressing my desire to berate him, I instead pulled up the party screen. Wren was still part of the group, listed below Jye¡¯s mess of a status. Her [Synergist] class hadn¡¯t changed since she¡¯d gained consciousness, which meant that her [Mercurial] trait was something she had to activate.

    ¡°Wait, you swapped to Synergist after we received the notification, right?¡± I asked.

    She nodded once, the earnest expression on her young face oddly comical. The others all seemed interested in my next words, even Axel who rarely believed others knew more than him.

    I lifted my pointy finger in the air. ¡°Maybe your experience went to your Scourge class.¡±

    I watched as the repercussions of what I suggested rippled over her face. Her expression went from consideration to dismay, which was a fair reaction. It would be a crippling disadvantage if I was right. If Wren could only level up as per the current class she had active, it meant she¡¯d essentially grow at half the speed of everyone on our team, if she continued to switch back and forth. Well, assuming Jye levelled up normally. At least with Wren we could prove this theory.

    ¡°Can you switch back to Scourge to check?¡± Axel asked.

    Looking upset, she shook her head. ¡°There¡¯s a cooldown.¡±

    ¡°For how long?¡±

    Her eyes focused on what I assumed was her personal window.

    ¡°It¡¯s a 24-hour cooldown, so I¡¯ve got another 16 hours until I can change back.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°Well, I guess there¡¯s nothing we can do until then. What about you, Jye? Can you make anything out on your screen?¡±

    They chuckled and then flatly said, ¡°No.¡±

    That figured.

    I pinched the bridge of my nose, and took a deep breath.

    ¡°Well, if everyone¡¯s rested, should we just¡­ head out? I like this haunted cabin as much as the next person, but if we want to complete the Dungeon, we should probably get started.¡±

    ¡°I guess?¡± Jye said, a lack of conviction in both the tone of their voice and the way they idly poked at a piece of wood debris.

    Axel rolled his eyes. ¡°It¡¯s not like we really have any other option.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m ready!¡± Wren said, pumping a fist into the air.

    Kids could really bounce back from anything. I was worried we¡¯d stirred up some traumatic memories for her, but she didn¡¯t seem that badly affected. That said, I think I¡¯d keep an eye on her. When Chrissie had¡­ After Chrissie, I probably seemed fine within the year. But I had definitely not been. I still wasn¡¯t, if I was being honest. Though Wren seemed more emotionally mature than I had been back then. Maybe she was just built different.

    Jye ran their fingers through their hair, which I realised they did when they were nervous. I¡¯d only known them for a week, so I still wasn¡¯t super sure how to comfort them. Even after our heart to heart about siblings.

    I decided to change the subject. ¡°Actually, can you use your ability on all our bags?¡±

    Axel scoffed, ¡°You want to add weight training to our Dungeon quest?¡±

    ¡°No, Jye figured out they can lighten the weight of things too.¡±

    ¡°Huh, no shit,¡± Axel replied.

    ¡°Yes shit,¡± Jye said back, and strode over to the packs.

    After several static hisses, they turned back around with a thumbs up. ¡°All done.¡±

    Jye experimentally pulled on the strap of one of the bags and watching it lift was uncanny. It reminded me of poor animation where the animators couldn¡¯t convey weight properly. Watching Jye pick up the bag was like watching them pick up nothing but air. It was like poor CGI augmented into a live action film. It was just wrong.

    In silence, we all went over and grabbed our remaining bags. They truly did feel lighter than a feather, and I could barely feel its presence when I pulled it over my shoulders and it added little to no pressure to my back. If I wasn¡¯t careful, I would probably forget I was wearing it and get caught on something.

    Axel let out a huff as he struggled to lift his bag. He cast an accusing glare at Jye.

    A wide grin distorted the lumberjack¡¯s face. ¡°Oh, did I accidentally make yours heavier? Silly me.¡±

    I¡¯d forgotten the level of animosity that Jye held towards Axel. Clearly his first impression had left quite a mark on the gym junkie. His constant suspicion towards Wren was also not painting him in the best light for Jye either. I couldn¡¯t resist smiling as with a grunt, Axel heaved the backpack over his shoulders, and it let out a solid thud when making impact with his back. He said nothing and began walking to the front door. I guess he was taking his lumps this time. Unusual for Axel to suffer in silence. Ah, well. Another thing to add to the ¡°Axel weirdness¡± box.

    It occurred to me as we approached the cabin¡¯s front door that we¡¯d been in the Dungeon for around nine hours now, but no one else had appeared, except for the cat, which probably didn¡¯t count. Did that mean no one other than us had entered this Dungeon? It seemed unlikely considering the Dungeon compulsion. So it either meant that the Dungeon wasn¡¯t letting anyone else in, their entry points were different to ours, or there were different instances of the Dungeon.

    It¡¯d be nice if it were the former, though somehow the latter seemed more likely. If the point of this game was for people to enter the Dungeons, then limiting the amount of people who could enter would be a stupid move. Then again, who knew by what logic these systems truly operated by? Some part of me was always trying to find reason or logic behind it, when possibly there wasn¡¯t any to be found.

    Axel¡¯s hand curled over the door¡¯s handle. ¡°Are we ready?¡±

    Jye sighed. ¡°Ready as I¡¯ll ever be.¡±

    ¡°Good to go,¡± Wren said.

    His gaze lingered over me, and an entirely different emotion flickered over his face for a moment. I wondered if I was seeing things. For just a second, there was hurt weighing down the blue of his eyes. Again guilt coiled in my stomach. I thought he¡¯d been fine with what I¡¯d done. That he¡¯d understood. We¡¯d joked about it. But I guess I hadn¡¯t apologised¡­

    The expression was gone immediately, replaced with one of his slimy smiles. ¡°Earth to Lee, you good?¡±

    ¡°Are you?¡± I asked.

    Axel¡¯s eyes widened ever so slightly, his thick lashes brushing against his eyelids, and his smile slipped a few millimetres. Oh, that seemed like a clear no. But then he laughed, and the smile was back. Jesus fucking christ, he had to be some kind of sociopath. I couldn¡¯t follow this rollercoaster that was Axel¡¯s inner emotional turmoil. At the very least, it didn¡¯t seem like this was due to how my actions today had hurt him. This was related to the whole shift of him that he hadn¡¯t explained. Surely he knew I¡¯d noticed how unhinged he was being?

    ¡°Not that I¡¯m losing my nerve the longer we wait, but are you guys done with whatever this is?¡± Jye asked.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± I said.

    Axel¡¯s hand twisted the handle and he pulled the door open.

 Chapter Eight | Confrontation

    ¡°Well, this isn¡¯t what I expected,¡± Jye said.

    Leave it to the giant to make such a grand understatement.

    Axel had opened the door to reveal the endless dunes of golden sand, the heavy rays of sun momentarily blinding me as it filled my eyes. Immediately the scorching heat of the desert stretching out in front of us caused sweat to begin beading on my skin. It had to be at least 40 degrees outside the cabin. On the plus side it was a dry heat. Mugginess was something that was barely tolerable at the best of times, but at such high temperatures it could actually boil you. At least that¡¯s what one documentary I¡¯d watched one time had said.

    ¡°We¡¯re¡­ in a desert?¡± Wren asked, her voice small and full of wonder.

    ¡°Looks like it.¡±

    The door clicked shut behind us. I glanced back at it, and then at the desert in front. Neither of the two locations seemed linked. It was almost like someone had plucked a model of a haunted cabin from the Unity marketplace and placed it half-heartedly into a desert biome. Hell, the lighting inside and out didn¡¯t even match. Truly not a masterful creation. Whatever or whoever had designed this Dungeon did not have much of an imagination.

    Jye threw their hands up in the air. ¡°Where the fuck are we meant to go?¡±

    It was a good question. As far as the eye could see, there wasn¡¯t anything on the horizon. Only countless dunes and endless sand. Nothing stood out. In fact, the longer I looked, the more it all blended into one seamless smear of golden yellow. Yikes.

    ¡°Maybe the cabin was the destination?¡± I said.

    Even I wasn¡¯t fully convinced by the words coming out of my mouth. But since it looked like the only thing in the whole map, it seemed like the only reasonable thought. What else was there?

    ~Request received~

    Jye swore, their hands slapping around their ears. ¡°God, I hate it when it does that.¡±

    A new screen popped up, this time not the normal blue, but an off-white. Perhaps it was the colour for Dungeon-based notifications.

    Spend five nights in the desert without returning to the cabin. Reward: 1,000 XP. Failure: Death. Accept | Reject

    ¡°A thousand?!¡± I exclaimed.

    That¡¯d shoot me past Level 1, maybe even Level 2. It¡¯d answer my further questions about what happens when we level up. However, the failure penalty was extreme. I assumed it meant we¡¯d all die. Surely spending five nights in the desert was possible? I¡¯d seen my fair share of Naked and Afraid. It wouldn¡¯t be a fantastic experience, but we¡¯d be able to do it.

    ¡°Reject it,¡± Axel said.

    I frowned. ¡°Hey, wait a second, let¡¯s talk this out.¡±

    Letting out an exasperated groan, Jye pleaded, ¡°Please, for the love of God, someone explain what¡¯s happening. What was the notification?¡±

    I told them, and they snorted. ¡°Accept it, of course. I used to go extreme camping with my family. Surviving off the wilderness and all that. I can carry you all easily. Hell, we could do ten days if we needed.¡±

    ¡°Could Wren?¡± I asked.

    Letting a kid stay in the desert for five nights sounded like the beginnings of a call to child protection services. I glanced over to check Wren¡¯s expression. As much as I didn¡¯t want Wren to feel like she was keeping our party back, I also wanted her to be aware of her personal limits. She seemed to be deep in thought. That was probably the best kind of reaction I could hope for.

    Jye scoffed, ¡°Of course Wren too.¡±

    ¡°Even if Wren could take five nights in the desert, we¡¯re still rejecting it,¡± Axel commented.

    ¡°Five nights does sound kind of doable,¡± I reasoned.

    With Jye¡¯s skill in survival camping, perhaps we could do it. That¡¯s if they weren¡¯t lying. I don¡¯t think Jye had ever lied yet, so that was promising.

    ¡°I think I should be fine,¡± Wren added.

    ¡°Reject it,¡± Axel said.

    I scoffed. ¡°Why do you keep saying that?¡±

    Axel crossed his arms. ¡°Just think about it, just for a second. This whole thing is shifty. The notification wasn¡¯t the normal notification, it was something else. And 1,000 experience points is a ridiculous amount. We got five from a failed fight that almost killed me.¡±

    ¡°To be fair, we were fighting a cat,¡± Jye interjected, ¡°And it fled. And it was Lee who hurt you.¡±

    Ignoring them, Axel continued, ¡°And it¡¯s the first time we¡¯ve been given a ¡®request.¡¯ Nothing else has ever been asked of us. Us entering this Dungeon was a planted urge, but it was never a request. Whatever that notification is, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s from the base system, or has anything to do with clearing it. This is something else.¡±

    The worst thing about what Axel was saying was that it made sense. How awful.

    He raised his eyebrows. ¡°Besides, compare the worst thing that happens if we reject it and the worst thing that happens if we accept it and fail.¡±

    Axel would be insufferable in ghost form if he turned out to be right. I just know he¡¯d haunt me, even if I died with him. Not to mention, avoiding potential death when possible was almost always the better option.

    ¡°He¡¯s got a point,¡± I groaned.

    Jye shrugged, their enormous traps bunching up and then loosening. Seemingly still lost in thought, Wren hadn¡¯t further added anything to the conversation.

    ¡°Wren?¡± I asked. ¡°This is a full party decision. What do you think?¡±

    Her hazel eyes darkened, and her lips pressed into a thin line. ¡°Dungeons are dangerous. We should be cautious about everything.¡±

    ¡°Wise beyond your years,¡± Axel commented with a hint of sarcasm.

    She really was. At around her age I think I was obsessed with Lego. Muttering under my breath about how he better not lord this over me, I selected the Reject option. As if rubbing salt in a wound, it checked for confirmation, which I promptly selected, and then the pop-up faded away. I mourned the loss of a reasonably easy way to achieve level ups. That had probably been our only chance.

    Sourly, I said, ¡°There, are you happy? I rejected it.¡±

    ~Gift received~

    This time Jye let out a little cry of pain. They closed their eyes and they breathed in deeply. There had to be something we could do for Jye later that stopped the notifications from hurting them so much. But it was just another thing to add to the growing list. And god, there was a lot of stuff on it. Though, really, the top of the list should probably be talking to Axel. But it¡¯d been impossible to get a moment alone with him with everything that had happened.

    Instead, I tried thinking of the gift. In the default blue box screen a small icon of a gift box with a little bow on top appeared. It flashed and wiggled around a few times in an almost excited fashion. I was surprised to see that underneath it, there were two options.

    Open | Sell

    Part of me desperately wanted to try and sell the present to see what selling even involved. Was there a player accessible marketplace? What was the currency? What could we buy? Who was selling things? Was it the system? Other players? Rubbing at my temple, I ignored the sell option, especially considering we¡¯d received the gift directly after rejecting a request. Why had we been rewarded for not doing something? And who had rewarded us?

    ¡°Uh, everyone else get the same notification?¡±

    Jye stared at me blankly.

    Wren frowned. ¡°We got a gift.¡±

    ¡°See what I¡¯m talking about. You gotta trust me with these things. My choices are always best,¡± Axel said with a shit-eating grin.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just open it then. Maybe we can sell whatever is inside it.¡±

    ¡°We can sell things?¡± Jye asked, their eyes focusing just in front of themselves. With a defeated sigh, they made a dismissive gesture and returned their attention to me. I doubted their screen had changed. I was momentarily appreciative of my own status window. While my class was relatively plain, at least I could use mine. A brief cloud of guilt drifted through me, berating me for celebrating someone else¡¯s misfortune.

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    I announced to the others that I was opening the gift. With a rather delightful animation, the gift icon did a spin before bursting into little orbs of light, revealing an image and text beneath it.

    Anonymous Sponsor says: Good choice.

    The image was rendered in almost life-like detail, like I could reach into the screen and touch the three dimensional curves and angles. It was an illustration of a sword, not a traditional one but something straight out of Dark Souls, with jagged edges and edgelord aesthetic. I held back the cringe. The other person in our party who would even find this weapon appropriate was¨C

    ¡°Claimsies!¡± said Axel, reaching forward.

    As his fingers closed, the sword materialised into his hand with a blinding shimmer. Oh, so you could grab them from the screen. I guess it made sense. How else were you meant to receive the gift? The Hunger Games drone drop seemed like far more effort when I thought about it. Though now, of course, I had more questions. Had the weapon been stored somewhere else and then teleported through the system? Was the sword just data and were we right now just data in a game system? I repressed a sigh and took in the sight of Axel swinging his new sword around. He seemed rather pleased.

    ¡°Does it have stats or bonuses or anything?¡± I asked.

    Axel focused in front of himself, and then nodded at me. ¡°Yeah. It increases the dexterity of the wielder.¡±

    So we had dexterity stats. I brought up my own menu and tried to think hard about strength, dexterity, and other attributes I knew were common in RPGs. Nothing new appeared. So either they were locked until they were triggered, or players couldn¡¯t access them. It just seemed incredibly stupid to not let us see our own stats. How were we meant to level up without knowing what was an appropriate challenge? Oh, well, it wasn¡¯t something I needed to worry about right now.

    ¡°There was a message from one Anonymous Sponsor attached to the gift. They said ''Good choice,''¡± I explained as Axel continued to whip his new sword around. His movements seemed oddly practised, but I chalked it down to his secret love of cosplaying characters with swords from before he¡¯d become popular. Given enough time copying someone and you¡¯d be good at appearing to do the same thing as them.

    ¡°A sponsor? Like that message we got when the first Dungeon was cleared?¡± Wren said.

    I shrugged. ¡°I guess.¡±

    Jye sighed deeply. ¡°I must¡¯ve missed that too. So, like Nike sent us that sword?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s got anything to do with humans or human corporations,¡± I said.

    ¡°Aliens?¡± Wren asked, eyes sparkling with interest.

    ¡°I¡¯m not ruling it out. This entire thing is clearly out of the technological reach of anything we¡¯re capable of as a species, right. So it¡¯s either aliens, us from the future which would be fucked up, or¡­¡± I paused because it seemed like the most ridiculous of all possibilities that my agnostic brain could imagine, ¡°Or like super powerful beings beyond our imagination. Something like gods.¡±

    Clang. The sword had slipped from Axel¡¯s hand and clattered to the wooden floor. Unperturbed, he picked it up with an embarrassed smile. ¡°Gotta practise a little more to get the hang of it.¡± He went right back to it. Part of me wanted to confiscate the weapon, but I ignored that petty side of myself.

    ¡°I hope it¡¯s aliens,¡± Wren said with a smile. ¡°I think aliens would be really cool.¡±

    ¡°With the way capitalism is headed, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if this was us from the future. Just think about it. If you subscribe to the idea that every choice made creates a branching off timeline, then future us coming back to this singular one and messing stuff up means that nothing changes for them. They use our struggle as entertainment, to stream back to future people, and make profit off it. Hell, they probably bet on us as well.¡±

    I stared at Jye in concern. ¡°That¡¯s pretty fucked up.¡±

    ¡°Everything about this is.¡±

    ¡°What do you think, Axel?¡±

    He splayed his hand out, and the sword dematerialised. At this point, I had to just accept that Axel had been dreaming of living in a game for most of his life. How else would he even think to do that? Actually, that reminded me that I had left my wooden staff inside, leaning against the wall. I should probably pick it up and check to see if I summon and dismiss it like Axel just did.

    Axel made a considering noncommittal noise, and rubbed at his chin. ¡°I think it¡¯s pointless to think about. How will knowing help us right now? We¡¯re stuck inside a Dungeon without knowing what to do, so thinking about a way to clear this place would make a lot more sense.¡±

    The rest of us must¡¯ve shared the same disgusted look because Axel then scoffed and said, ¡°Fine then, I¡¯ll say I think it¡¯s all three. Super powerful aliens from the future. You happy?¡±

    I scowled at him. ¡°That¡¯s such a fake out.¡±

    ¡°God forbid I do anything,¡± Axel said.

    Jye dryly commented, ¡°I wish She would.¡±

    Stopping myself from inquiring further into Jye¡¯s response, which I¡¯ll admit had piqued my interest, I moved towards the door to reenter and grab my wooden staff. As my hand gripped the handle, I heard the distinct static of an ability being used fizzle in my ears. I stepped away slowly, trying to ensure that I made no noise. Either noticing my change in behaviour or hearing the ability activation, the others were on alert now too, eyes darting around. Axel summoned his sword, Jye and Wren pulling a knife each from their backpacks.

    I whispered, ¡°None of you used a skill, right?¡±

    I was met with several shakes of heads. Great. That meant someone else was here. It almost meant my idea of separate instances of Dungeons was out the window. And that meant we were in more danger than I thought since anyone else could be in here with us. I just wished I could tell where the ability had been used from.

    ¡°What do we do, boss?¡± Axel quietly mocked, an eyebrow cocked.

    Like he¡¯d listen to me anyway. Regardless, I replied, ¡°We stand our ground. If they¡¯re inside, they¡¯re trapped there. If they¡¯re outside, this is a strong defensive position.¡±

    You really can just make up anything and make it sound like you¡¯re talking sense. For a moment, I wondered if this is how politicians felt. Stringing together words in any order and believing people would accept them as gospel.

    ¡°Sounds like bullshit, but okay,¡± Jye said.

    Yeah, that checked out.

    We all stood there, tense, and stressed, waiting for our potential opponent to reveal themselves, but hours passed. The sun didn¡¯t seem to move in the sky and shadows did not shift. Still we remained there, poised, ready to defend ourselves. I began to worry I¡¯d made the wrong choice in standing firm. Maybe we should¡¯ve been proactive. Investigated the cabin again.

    We waited a few more hours.

    Nothing.

    Well, in for a penny in for a pound.

    ¡°What now, boss?¡± Jye asked.

    I sighed. ¡°We take shifts. If there¡¯s someone here, they can¡¯t hide forever. Who wants to take first shift?¡±

    After we figured out the shift order, some of us sharing so Wren would not be forced to take a shift alone, and for that ¡°night,¡± we settled into a routine of sleeping, watching, eating, sleeping, watching, eating. During this time, I learned from Jye that the tattoo on their arm was an ouroboros and that they also didn¡¯t know what it meant, just the idea of a snake eating itself was, in their words, ¡°so messed up, I had to get it.¡± They also showed off several other of their tattoos, a collection of anime-related pieces, ranging from Totoro to Gon¡¯s forced adult form mid transformation. I expressed my appreciation of them and Jye told me they knew a guy if I wanted a decent price. Not wanting to remind them that their tattoo artist might already be dead, I instead just thanked Jye and said I¡¯d consider it.

    These watch shifts also gave me a much needed chance to finally talk to Axel alone. But when it was just him and me, with Wren and Jye snoring softly nearby, I realised I didn¡¯t know how to word what I wanted to say. In fact, as the silence stretched out between us, it became more and more difficult to figure out the words. Something told me that just starting off with ¡°Hey, man, you¡¯re acting really different lately, and could you tell me why you lied to me?¡± would not end well.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, you know,¡± Axel said, his voice low to not wake the others.

    I blinked. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have attacked that cat.¡±

    Scoffing, I replied, ¡°This is the second time you¡¯ve ever apologised to me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve apologised more than twice.¡±

    With a confused frown, I ran through every possible memory I had where an apology would be necessary from him, but only found the one right after Dungeons activated, and his words just now. Dude was trying to outright gaslight me. I turned to face him, my tone flat. ¡°No, this is the second time.¡±

    He smiled, in that same smile that I didn¡¯t understand, that disturbed me, and said, ¡°It¡¯s not.¡±

    A rage filled me, partly fuelled by fear of the unknown that existed in Axel¡¯s expression. ¡°Stop that.¡±

    ¡°Stop what?¡±

    Frustrated, I breathed out. ¡°You¡¯ve become someone I don¡¯t know and I hate it.¡±

    Axel was silent.

    I couldn¡¯t meet his eyes because I hadn¡¯t realised that¡¯s how I felt until I said it. The Axel I had grown up with, the flatmate I¡¯d had for several years, it was like he was gone or diminished into something I didn¡¯t recognise anymore. What remained of him was not really Axel, not the same Axel I knew. He was so different. Perhaps the thing that made me feel even more nauseous was that what I hated wasn¡¯t the current Axel, it was that I preferred him. I liked Axel more now. The Axel now was one I don''t think I would''ve thought of leaving behind in our old apartment. It was like admitting that you liked a changeling over your original child, a clone over the original.

    It made me feel positively sick.

    I didn¡¯t hate this Axel. I hated myself for betraying the Axel of the past.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realise you felt that way.¡±

    Fuck. Despite the fact this wasn¡¯t the same Axel, I knew that tone in his voice. He was fighting back hurt. What had I done? And still I couldn¡¯t meet his gaze. This wasn¡¯t how this conversation was meant to go. I was supposed to casually bring up how he¡¯d been acting different. How I¡¯d like to know what caused it. Not this. I could still save this. Let him know I just wanted him to open up to me about this situation. I could still bring this sinking ship into harbour.

    Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I said, ¡°What I mean is that I just wish you¡¯d be honest with me.¡±

    This elicited a peal of laughter from Axel that was so unhinged I was worried he¡¯d become possessed by something. When he finally stopped, he wiped aggressively at his face, and I saw the remnants of tears that had tracked down his cheeks. He looked like a model like that, curled in an avant garde pose, head slightly askew. I found myself, once again, unable to react.

    ¡°You¡¯re just going to have to deal with it,¡± he said, voice cracking.

    Deep inside my chest, I could feel a throbbing pain and the sickness in my stomach roiled around. I don¡¯t think I could ever bring this topic up again any time soon. There was no backpedalling on this. What the fuck. Jesus fucking christ. Maybe I could apologise, explain what I meant. It would not be good to leave this conversation as it was.

    ¡°Axel, I just¡­ I want¨C¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any more of that spam, do you?¡± asked a feminine voice from behind me.

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t. There¡¯s some jerky, but let me finish my thought. Axel, I just want you¨C¡±

    ¡°Lee.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t interrupt me! I¡¯m trying to say something important here.¡±

    Axel¡¯s eyes were narrowed. His hands slid from his lap to the sword at his feet. Wait, wait, wait. A feminine voice? Jye¡¯s voice was deep, and Wren¡¯s was still childlike.

    Oh.

    I turned to find the glint of a knife greeting me.

    Very cool.

 Chapter Nine | Crisis

    ¡°Look, I ain¡¯t asking for much. Just give me the jerky. It¡¯s what Mumma wants.¡±

    The edge of the blade was cool against my neck, the hand holding it calloused and rough. My gaze travelled up their arm to their face. A cleft chin, pointed nose, and perfectly manicured eyebrows, the left one with a slit, above dark brown eyes staring into my soul. Her long black hair was split into braids that cascaded down her back. Her build was square, shoulders wide. Most people would describe her features as handsome rather than beautiful.

    ¡°Tell us who you are,¡± Axel said, sword in hand, as he rose.

    The manic behaviour was gone, replaced with a deadly serious glare. If looks could kill¡­

    ¡°Uh-uh, you stay right there, baby.¡± She tapped the blade against my neck. ¡°Unless you wanna see lover-boy here take a trip to the land of the dead. Jerky at my feet. In under thirty seconds.¡±

    It was crazy that we hadn¡¯t noticed her sneak up on us, especially since she was wearing neon orange pants a la Naruto, and a crocheted black crop top beneath which her bra peaked out over. Overall it was giving very Halloween chic.

    Axel laughed. ¡°You think I¡¯m going to give you our resources? There¡¯s four of us and one of you. Do the maths.¡±

    ¡°Oh, honey, I have. And I¡¯m more than sure you place a much higher value on bambi here. So if you even so much as step loudly and wake the others, say goodbye.¡± She slid in behind me, and it surprised me that we were of similar height. Her free arm reached around my torso, pulling me closer. I was now squarely between Axel¡¯s sword and her. And she had some grip.

    Axel¡¯s eye twitched.

    ¡°Sword down. Twenty seconds now. Mumma ain¡¯t playing.¡±

    Murder in his eyes, Axel lowered his sword to the floor, and then he took a step towards our bags. Using her grip on me, she turned us to ensure that I was always a meat shield for her. I ran through the options in my head. [Ground Smash] would be a repeat of what happened in the cabin, if not worse since Wren and Jye wouldn¡¯t be able to react in time. I couldn¡¯t use Jye¡¯s Load since I¡¯d stupidly never asked for consent once they¡¯d joined the party. Wren hadn¡¯t given me permission to use any of her abilities either, but as a [Synergist] they wouldn¡¯t be helpful right now. Was there anything else from Axel that I could use?

    Axel was putting up a performance of rifling through each one of our bags. He had to be buying me time to act, to do something. But what? [Intimidation] only worked on lower level targets, and as a human our opponent was almost definitely another ¡°player¡± and had to be a minimum of Level 1. I guess there was [Thick Hide]. It¡¯d reduce damage she¡¯d be able to do to me, but who knew what she was capable of? Reducing 50 damage to 40 would still mean I¡¯d be dead in a slip of her blade.

    ¡°Ten seconds, babe. No more fucking around.¡±

    Her grip on me tightened, and she pressed the blade further into my neck. Okay, even if it didn¡¯t get me out of this mess, using [Thick Hide] was just a smart move. Activating [Channel], I felt the energy grow, and then thinking of Axel¡¯s ability, a warmness bloomed over the full expanse of my skin. The vague exhaustion of having my mana permanently halved to maintain the ability settled into the vestiges of my mind. That said, I now couldn¡¯t sense the weapon directly against my flesh. It was like a layer of clothing or a thin film of plastic was in between the cool metal and my skin. My assailant didn¡¯t seem to notice.

    I took a deep breath, and then cued Axel with, ¡°Am I actually that predictable?¡±

    Her gaze focused on me, brow wrinkling in confusion.

    Taking the hint, in less than a blink, Axel was next to us, a knife from the bags in hand. Its pointy end seemed to be directly moving towards her face. Unlike Axel¡¯s ability to move on his feet quickly, granted to him by his trait [Swift Footed], his attack speed was still normal.

    This speed differential gave her time to react. She pushed her own knife into my neck, and I knew then that she would¡¯ve killed me if I hadn¡¯t borrowed Axel¡¯s ability. Her blade slid down my neck upon the slick resistance of [Thick Hide], but still it cut through my skin, like slicing into soft butter. The sharp edge landed on my left clavicle and sliced straight through skin right through to bone. Unable to repress it, a howl of pain tore from my lungs. My HP plummeted to 5. Pissed her accuracy had been put off, she hissed. Axel¡¯s blade point was still closing in on her, now just millimetres from her left eye. I saw her gaze harden.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± she said, and the knife tore into her eye socket.

    But there was no blood. No scream. Just an explosion of smoke followed by the pitter patter of paws on the wooden floorboards. Through the haze, I saw for a second the shortened tail of a bobcat.

    Her first words played in my mind. You don¡¯t have anymore of that spam, do you?

    Just Friends has earned 50 XP.

    Released and bleeding much more than I thought I would, Axel dismissed his knife to wrap his arms around my shoulders. He screamed, ¡°Wren! Jye! We need you now!¡±

    I looked down at my torn skin, at the blood seeping down my shirt. I could feel the pain, understood that it was my body, but at the same time it all seemed like it was happening to another person. This was not good. I was starting to dissociate. Axel¡¯s eyes looked red. Did he get hurt somehow? Was he crying?

    Static buzzed in my ears. I couldn¡¯t tell if that was part of dying or abilities being used. Oh, bleeding was bad. It was not good. I felt my remaining HP begin to tick down. 4 HP now.

    I was woozy, like the time I¡¯d come back from a really bad date and had drunk myself into a stupour, like I was more alcohol than man. My limbs were heavy, but I felt light.

    Jye and Wren were by my side, as if teleported. I think I was resting on Axel¡¯s lap, but wasn¡¯t sure. I could see his face hovering over me, concern furrowing his brows. Without hesitation, the ten-year-old laid her hand upon my wound, and the soft green light of [Healing Touch] emanated from her fingers. Everything felt so far away. Even the warmth of party members who huddled around me.

    Beep. 3 HP.

    Of course the cat I¡¯d saved and then taken pity had nearly killed me. Could still be the death of me. Axel wrapped his hands around my head, cradling my face. I couldn¡¯t tell what expression he had. I wondered if this is how it had felt to him when that piece of wood had nearly done him in. I hoped he didn¡¯t feel guilty, like I had. He¡¯d done everything he could have to save me.

    Beep. That wasn¡¯t good. Wren¡¯s healing wasn¡¯t keeping up with the bleeding.

    The green glow slowly took over my vision, the forms of Wren, Jye, and Axel beginning to fade into shapeless blobs. Of course, this is how I¡¯d die. Used as a hostage for food.

    How fucking stupid.

    Axel¡¯s voice was the last thing I heard before blackness took over the green.

    ¡°You promised.¡±

    Beep.

    It¡¯s seventh grade, just after second break. An announcement over the school PA system has called Axel and me from class to speak to the school admin. He informs us that my parents will be picking us up and they have some news to tell us. The admin¡¯s face is blurry. What does he look like? I can¡¯t see it clearly.

    We wait there, on that bench that was too angular to be comfortable, the coldness of the metal seeping through the cheap polyester of our uniforms. I dully realise my sister hasn¡¯t been called out of class with us. If mum and dad are pulling us out of school, she should be here too.

    It must be a mistake, so I stand to mention it to the admins, and the other people in the office exchange looks and then say they¡¯re not allowed to share anything else. Even as a thirteen-year-old, I can connect the dots, sense there¡¯s something not quite right.

    Something¡¯s happened to my sister. I¡¯d seen her this morning. We¡¯d eaten breakfast together. I held her hand until the crossing at the corner store. We¡¯d greeted Mark on the way. I¡¯d left her at the gates talking with friends before the bell. But my stomach is clenching with worry.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it¡¯s nothing,¡± Axel says, folding another paper wasp.

    ¡°Then where is she?¡±

    He shrugs and pockets the prohibited item. ¡°You want one?¡±

    ¡°No, I want to know where Chrissie is.¡±

    She¡¯s three years younger than me and I love her. Being an older brother has been some of the funnest times of my life. Teaching her to do things and watching her learn were some of my favourite things. To me it was amazing that I had witnessed a baby become a little girl. My parents had joked that I was more like her second father than a brother. I¡¯d gone absolutely crazy about that and proudly referred to myself as Papa Lee. Chrissie also called me that.

    ¡°That¡¯s gross.¡±

    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    I look down and realise I¡¯m subconsciously picking at the skin about my fingernails. Immediately, I stop. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Though he probably thinks I don¡¯t notice, Axel shuffles a little further away from me. ¡°You¡¯re so weird sometimes.¡±

    I sit there for what feels like forever, and the anxiety echoes through my body.

    When my parents finally arrive, I am so tense that if I took one wrong step I¡¯d have probably strained a muscle. As I see them, I rush into their embrace, and their arms clasp about me, hugging me so tightly it¡¯s hard to breathe. They finally release me, pulling away to reveal unreadable faces. Their eyes are bloodshot, noses red.

    It looks like they have really bad colds and are sick. Maybe Chrissie¡¯s really sick too and that¡¯s what they wanted to say. My heart is in my throat.

    Axel and I get into the backseat of the car, and mum angles the rearview mirror so that she can look us in the eyes.

    ¡°Lee, baby, I have some bad news.¡± Mum pauses, and dad¡¯s driving now, the engine humming in the silence. She continues, voice hoarse, ¡°Axel, your parents want us to tell you as well. Do you want to hear it now, or do you want to wait until we get home?¡±

    My mouth tastes like choking. The flavour of air, but it doesn¡¯t go down.

    ¡°It¡¯s Chrissie, isn¡¯t it?¡± I say. It barely comes out as a crumpled whisper.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Dad says. I look at him in the reflection. His mouth is a single thin flat line and his eyes are fighting to stay neutral. It looks like he¡¯s been crying. But dad doesn¡¯t cry. He¡¯s never cried.

    I ask, ¡°Is she sick?¡±

    ¡°No, she¡¯s not,¡± Mum replies, voice shaking.

    The words should be relieving, but somehow they¡¯re not. If she¡¯s not sick¡­ Does that mean it¡¯s worse? In my peripheral vision, I see Axel roll his eyes and begin idly staring out the window. In a dull tone, he says, ¡°Can you just tell us now?¡±

    I take a deep breath to steady myself. ¡°Yeah, I want to know now.¡±

    My parents exchange a look. It¡¯s silent and both of them are looking to each other. Sometimes my parents could talk without speaking. They said that if you knew someone for long enough you could do it. They could do it with Axel¡¯s parents too.

    ¡°Chrissie¡­¡± Mum begins and her voice stops coming out.

    Dad continues, ¡°You know how sometimes people stop having energy to do things?¡±

    ¡°Like grandma?¡±

    When I was eight, my grandmother passed away¡ªsimply due to old age. My parents had explained that when you ran out of energy completely, you pass away. That her passing had been peaceful. I asked why she didn¡¯t just go to sleep to get more. But dad said sometimes sleep doesn¡¯t help.

    Mum nods, her hand on dad¡¯s shoulder, and says, ¡°Everyone runs out of energy someday, right? Chrissie¨C¡±

    Everything shifts into place.

    I don¡¯t need to hear the rest.

    I know.

    I knew.

    I didn¡¯t see her enter the school gates.

    Poison tendrils of pain throng through me. It is like someone tearing the heart from my chest, ripping it right through my lungs and out my ribcage. A scream shreds out of my mouth and within seconds, I am heaving with sobs.

    Chrissie is dead. I¡¯ll never see her again. I¡¯ll never get to teach her to spell my favourite words. I¡¯ll never read her my favourite books. She¡¯s gone.

    My parents are reaching for me through both sides of the car. I didn¡¯t realise that we¡¯d pulled over. Axel is¡­ I can¡¯t see him, I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s doing. The four of us sit in the backseat of that sedan, my parents holding me and rocking me as the three of us cry. We are probably only there for an hour. But it feels like forever as I come to terms with the loss of my little sister.

    Tired and sore, my tears eventually run dry. The car chugs to life, and slowly we drive home in silence.

    My body feels heavy. My limbs not my own. I am staring into nothing. Everything feels fake, unreal. My mind begins to float away from my physical self. Like I¡¯m looking down on my tangible form. I sit there, but I¡¯m not really there. I¡¯m not there in the car in the world where my sister is dead. It¡¯s pleasantly empty inside. It feels good to feel nothing.

    A sharp sting on my thigh slaps me back to reality.

    Incredulously, I shoot a glare at Axel as he pulls the paper wasp from my leg. My skin where he¡¯d managed contact with the projectile is already turning red. The emptiness, the stagnancy, fades as anger takes control.

    I can¡¯t reign in the words. It¡¯s a rush of energy, fueled by pure rage, of injustice, of unbridled loss.

    ¡°I hate you!¡±

    Axel has the decency to look shocked by my yelled announcement, his eyes widening in hurt surprise. He doesn¡¯t get a chance to react as I swing my arm around and sock him in the jaw. I¡¯ve never hit anyone, never even felt like it.

    But Axel had interrupted the one thing I could control. And now I was back in my body and I felt horrible. My fist had made solid contact with his face, and his head was thrown back from the impact.

    It smacks loudly into the car window behind him. The sound is oddly satisfying.

    He throws back at me and soon we¡¯re just two boys in the backseat of the car pulling at hair and biting limbs. Scatching, clawing. Flailing. We¡¯re even growling at each other. It¡¯s an outlet for my emotions because I can''t say anything.

    Mum and dad react quickly, pulling us over and they separate us. They eventually decide to call Axel¡¯s parents to pick him up. I don¡¯t go to school for a while, and time passes both quickly and slowly. The week afterwards is an absolute blur.

    The blurriness cleared.

    I was floating in an endless darkness that started and ended nowhere. Was I dead? It was weird, but I¡¯d always imagined dying to be more like sleeping. Awake and then nothing. Alive and then nothing. It¡¯s what I hoped happened to Chrissie. But this¡­ I guess this was okay. It was more like a waiting room, a space between spaces, than an afterlife.

    Axel¡¯s voice before here echoed in my head.

    ¡°You promised.¡±

    Yeah, that¡¯s right. I had promised him that we¡¯d finish this thing together. What a stupid promise. There was no way I could. I was useless to my team, to everyone. I¡¯d even hurt my party. I¡¯d gotten taken hostage. I was more of a weight on the party than Wren. Wren who was a ten-year-old child. God, I was why Chrissie was dead.

    Maybe it was better to let it all go and just stay here. My parents would miss me, probably. But maybe they were dead already. I hoped not.

    But was that all I was really living for? The fact that my parents would be sad?

    ¡­

    What had I been living for?

    The past fifteen years of my life seemed to have passed me by. I¡¯d done nothing of note during them. After Chrissie, I had completed tasks and achieved output like I was on autopilot. Blankly, without thought. Finish school, get a degree, get a job. That¡¯s what you were meant to do. That¡¯s what healthy well-adjusted people did. That¡¯s what I did. But I looking back at it, I wasn¡¯t really living.

    I was just existing.

    Until the Gates.

    Despite the panic attacks, despite the pain, the misunderstandings, when the black holes appeared that¡¯s when life had started again. When I started making choices. Even if they were shit. I¡¯d made a new friend, something I¡¯d barely done in the past decade. I¡¯d made decisions, even if they ended poorly, even if they made things worse, it was me who had made them. I¡¯d chosen. I¡¯d chosen to be there confronting Axel before we''d been attacked.

    Before the Gates, I¡¯d have done none of that.

    I¡¯d changed. God, maybe I¡¯d changed just as much as Axel had, but in different ways. Had Jye changed? Had Wren? Would my¡­ would my death hurt them?

    I thought about them, my party members who no doubt were still sitting around my body.

    Wren would feel guilty if she was unable to heal me. Especially given her history with her prior party members. She was strong, but if it happened again, it could traumatise her for the rest of her life. That wasn¡¯t a change I wanted for her.

    I¡¯d never apologised to Jye for blowing up at them when Axel was injured. Despite our short time with each other, I knew intuitively they considered me something like a comrade in arms, something who they identified with. I couldn¡¯t make them lose something like that, not when they had so little.

    And Axel¡­ I guess just him. The new Axel, the old Axel. I owed him something, just like Jye and Wren, but I didn¡¯t know what it was. It wasn¡¯t the same, it wasn¡¯t the hurt I wanted to spare them. It was something else.

    Either way, it was an odd feeling being here. Since the first video of the Gates had appeared, I¡¯d felt this sense of dread, tied to the compulsion to enter the Dungeons. A fear of dying to something outside of my control. But here I was, on the precipice between life and death, and it was gone.

    Dying really has a way of changing your perspective.

    In the corner of my peripheral vision, a dim green glow began to form. Wren. Her ability was working. A sense of pride rushed through me. I think her and Chrissie would¡¯ve been good friends. I wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake again. I¡¯d protect Wren, protect her like I hadn¡¯t been able to protect Chrissie. Do as much as I could until I could no longer breathe.

    I¡¯d protect them all.

    Something in my mind finally snapped into place, and the idea crystallised.

    This. Them.

    That is what I would live for. That was my answer. The thought echoed inside me. Protect them. Protect. It filled the darkness, coalesced with the green glow, and rippled about me.

    Soon a cool soothing trickle began to seep through my body, washing over my soul, overflowing until the void was me and the energy and I was nothing but a green liminal space.

    The roof of the cabin deck was an aged grey, painted over wooden rafting.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never been more happy to see those boring brown eyes,¡± said a voice I owed.

    ¡°You scared us shitless, dude,¡± said another voice I owed.

    ¡°I¡¯m glad you woke up,¡± said the other voice I owed.

    Stiff, and with residual pain, I turned to look at them and I smiled. ¡°You would not believe the fucking dream I just had.¡±

    The three of them laughed, and then Wren collapsed onto my lap, her mana supply dried to the bone. Gently, I laid my hand on top of her head and ran it over her hair. She was such a trooper.

    After a moment, Axel gingerly lifted her from me and laid her to rest on her sleeping roll. God, it felt like all we did these days was drain her dry of energy, the poor thing. It was like she spent more time sleeping than being awake. I would stop that as much as I could.

    Jye¡¯s thin lips stretched into an evil smile. ¡°You¡¯ll never guess what I did.¡±

    With a flourish, and not without effort, they lifted a bundle of blanket in front of me, their arm muscles bulging from the strain.

    ¡°A present for the boss.¡±

    I looked to Axel for explanation, but he just gestured vaguely. Yeah, that was very Axel of him. I don¡¯t know what I expected. The same annoyance that generally washed over me didn¡¯t happen. Instead, unusually, I felt a brief wave of fondness. Well, that was weird.

    Ignoring the new reaction to Axel¡¯s antics, I unfolded the layers of the blanket, and I discovered at the centre a certain bobtail cat.

    Well, well, well.

 Chapter Ten | Gasp

    She was pressed against the bottom of the blanket, an invisible source pushing her feline form down so far that it had to be crunching bone. In the back of my mind I hoped this didn¡¯t really count as animal cruelty. Chrissie would never forgive me.

    ¡°You used Load to catch her?¡± I asked in surprise.

    ¡°I might not be the brightest crayon in the bowl, but I can be quick. As soon as I woke up and saw her fleeing the scene, you with all your blood, I knew I had to do something. I don¡¯t even know how many times I used Load on her, to be completely honest. I just knew I needed to stop her. So, yeah.¡±

    ¡°Impressive reflexes, honestly,¡± I commented.

    ¡°I know, right?¡±

    The cat¡¯s eyes were on me, glued to me. I could feel the animosity oozing out of her. If she had just asked nicely, I probably would¡¯ve given her the jerky. I said as much to the animal before me. She hissed back. I heard static and her form crumpled forward more. I was surprised she was even alive.

    Axel said, ¡°We should kill her while we can. We got 50 XP from winning that battle. Imagine how much we¡¯d get from killing an opponent.¡±

    I shifted my attention to him. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how it works.¡±

    Jye¡¯s head tilted. ¡°We got 50 XP?¡±

    Ignoring them, I continued, ¡°If my idea is correct, I believe experience is rewarded based on performance. Consider how awfully we did against her originally. The bad teamwork. The way we were in each other¡¯s way. But this time, we all worked together. I distracted her, Axel attacked, Wren healed me, and Jye caught her. Like a functional party.¡±

    Axel scoffed. ¡°I think you¡¯re making a mountain out of an ant hill.¡±

    ¡°No, I think he¡¯s got a point. Just think about what you originally said about UX design. The system preferred response is to accept a party invite. It fits the same theory,¡± Jye said in one of their rare moments of crystalline insight.

    The cat hissed again and I noticed her lungs seemed to be struggling to inflate under the pressure of Jye¡¯s Load. I glanced over to them, and wordlessly Jye rolled their eyes and I heard static. Her lungs looked to breathe almost comfortably again, but it was clear she still couldn¡¯t move. We could just leave her like that¡­

    ¡°You nearly killed me for food,¡± I said.

    ¡°Exactly why I think we should just let Jye crush her to a pulp,¡± Axel said, grinding his teeth together.

    ¡°I¡¯m not against the idea,¡± Jye commented.

    I scowled, and shook my head. ¡°No. Don¡¯t you get it? She nearly killed me.¡±

    Understanding hit Axel and he threw his hands into the air. ¡°Absolutely not. No way. We have no idea what she could do.¡±

    ¡°Could either one of you fill me in on your inside conversation?¡± Jye said.

    ¡°This lunatic wants to invite her to join our party.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m no genius, but that doesn¡¯t sound great,¡± they replied.

    ¡°Hear me out. I nearly died. Our party balance is ridiculously bad. Our only frontline is Axel and if he goes down, our entire team is out. We need someone else who can do damage. And she does a lot of damage.¡±

    Axel rubbed at his temple. ¡°You¡¯re insane. What¡¯s to say she doesn¡¯t kill us the minute we accept her into the party?¡±

    It was a good question. Especially since she had already betrayed what trust I had built up with her after feeding her. It didn¡¯t make any sense, now that I thought about it. I had promised to feed her. I would¡¯ve easily given her jerky every night. She had to have known I would have, since I had attacked my own party to help her, at least in her cat form. Why had she done that?

    Suddenly the puzzle pieces fell into place.

    Oh. Of course.

    Letting out a long sigh, I said, ¡°You¡¯re right. We might have to kill her. There¡¯s no way for us to stop her from hurting us. It¡¯d be better for us to get her out of the way.¡±

    The cat¡¯s green eyes widened at my sudden heel turn. I watched as she struggled to move one paw in front of the other, inching ever so slightly across the blanket away from us. It was a pathetic sight, and honestly made me feel a little ill.

    ¡°Finally, he speaks sense!¡± Axel yelled.

    Swallowing back my nausea, I jutted my jaw at the lumberjack. ¡°Jye, if you¡¯ll do the honours.¡±

    They threaded their fingers together, and cracked them, a stoic expression on their face. ¡°If that¡¯s how it¡¯s gotta be.¡±

    Slowly they approached the crumpled form of the cat. I could see the human dread begin to fill her eyes. I heard one static buzz, and her lungs stuttered to inflate. My heart began to beat wildly in my chest. I didn¡¯t know if I could let them go through with it. But this was the only way¡­

    Another bzzt and she was barely moving, barely a shape at all. Were we going to kill her? Could I make Jye do that? Fuck, I hope I was right.

    Jye¡¯s brow furrowed, their loyalty unwavering. I don''t know what I''d done to earn it. I only hoped I was worth whatever guilt would sow its seed in them when we were done.

    One more Load and she''d fold into nothing.

    Their gaze met mine.

    Please let me be right.

    I nodded.

    Jye took a breath and the thought was clear on their face and¨C

    The dull ring of an off-white request notification pinged our status menus up.

    Invite Tam to Just Friends party.  Reward: Collar of Control, 195 XP.  Accept | Reject

    Jye winced from the notification.

    Thank fuck. And that there was no failure clause meant the deal was even better than I was hoping. Jye swore under their breath from the notification. I was elated I¡¯d been right, the zing of endorphins flooding my brain. I don¡¯t think I could¡¯ve let Jye literally crush a helpless animal, despite the fact it was not actually really a cat. Immediately, I selected Accept.

    ¡°Stop and undo two Loads.¡±

    Confused, Jye followed my instructions, and I could see the minor relief in the loosening of their shoulders. Mentally, I projected a party invite to the cat. The request had called her Tam. I watched as she struggled to accept it.

    Tam has joined your party.

    Tam at critical health.

    Axel let out a long and anguished sigh. ¡°Did that near death experience damage your brain?¡±

    Request complete. Reward available.

    Unlike the gift, the reward simply appeared in a glimmer of sparkles with none of the anticipation. The [Collar of Control] was a neat red leather collar suited for a small animal. Beneath it, its description read: The owner of this collar may issue one command at a time for the wearer to follow until the command is rescinded. It may only be placed and removed by the owner. I clicked my tongue. That was less than I wanted, but more than I was hoping for.

    Next to the [Collar of Control] was the listed XP. I selected the XP and watched it count down as my XP bar loaded up. My bar filled up completely, pushing me directly to Level 2. I wished I could further check out what that meant, but there was no time to contemplate that. I shoved my hand into the menu and pulled out of the [Collar of Control], surprised by the resistance formed as my skin made contact with it.

    Wasting no time, I slipped the collar over Tam¡¯s neck, and said, ¡°You must never harm anyone in our party, help us when necessary, and never leave our party.¡±

    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    The buckle flew out of my hand and did itself up with a click. I guess my command had been accepted. Tam¡¯s cat eyes glared at me in clear distaste. I shrugged at her. What are you gonna do about it?

    ¡°You didn¡¯t say anything about her following our instructions,¡± Axel commented dully.

    ¡°Can someone please explain what just happened?¡± Jye said.

    ¡°Well, I figured out why she attacked me. It was a request. Just like the one we got and rejected. Undo your Loads, all of them.¡±

    With a sigh, Jye did just that, and it was like a balloon inflating watching Tam gain full height and width again. She hissed at us, and made a move to leave, but found her paws would take her no further. Irritated, she turned to face away from us. Well, at least it looked like the collar worked.

    ¡°She kept saying what ¡®Mumma wants.¡¯ I thought she was just talking about herself in third person, but that¡¯s when it hit me. She used ¡®I¡¯ when she was talking about herself. Mumma was someone, something else. Mumma wanted her to steal the food.¡±

    Axel frowned, ¡°But she failed, and there was no failure condition.¡±

    ¡°No, there wasn¡¯t. Because she¡¯s been officially sponsored.¡±

    Jye nodded in understanding and then said, ¡°What the fuck do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Mumma is her sponsor. Mumma wanted to support Tam. Stealing the jerky was probably a way for Tam to get XP. Think about it. If I¡¯m right and XP is rewarded based on performance, then her sneaking into our midst and taking food at knifepoint has to be an amazing feat.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t Mumma just gift her XP instead then? You said the reward for our rejected request was 1,000 XP,¡± Jye queried.

    ¡°That¡­ I don¡¯t know. I think there must be something regulating requests. We¡¯d have to see more of the system, more of the way everything works before I can answer that for sure.¡±

    I allowed myself to breathe in and out deeply.

    No one would have to die today, our party had increased by one and would actually be more balanced now, and I was Level 2. My health blipped up to 6. Ooof. Now it was time to rest.

    We settled on shifts, with someone¡¯s eye always on Tam, at least until she became human again and she could corroborate my hypothesis and make her own assurances to the team. When Wren woke up, she¡¯d have a hell of a story to hear from us. As I slipped under the blanket of my bed roll, I allowed myself one moment to reflect on things, though my thoughts ended on Axel¡¯s face as I had thought myself dying. What a weird thing to think about.

    The second my head hit the pillow I was unconscious.

    A sharp nudge to my abdomen snatched my mind from its slumber.

    ¡°Rise and shine, honey. Your shift¡¯s up.¡±

    My eyes flew up and I sat up to come face to face with the unimpressed human face of Tam. She shot a toothy grin my way. ¡°You know you share secrets when you sleep?¡±

    The tips of my ears felt hot. ¡°What? What did I say?¡±

    She looked conspiratorially to the left and right, then leaned in towards me, and said, ¡°Well, that¡¯s for me to know and you to never find out, sunshine.¡±

    A bark of laughter erupted from her, as she pulled the blanket from my body, beginning to nudge me from my bed roll. ¡°Now, let me sleep. Your thembo did me some mighty damage. Toddle off.¡±

    I stood and went to complain, but found her already snug and fast asleep in my bedroll.

    Axel met my gaze. ¡°This was your decision.¡±

    I pinched the bridge of my nose. Fuck me. Oh, well. At the very least, things would only improve with the inclusion of a party member who was officially sponsored. It¡¯d mean that we¡¯d be one step closer to answering some very important questions, the least of which was exactly who Mumma was.

    Wren and Axel were on watch together, which felt like a recipe for disaster, but they seemed to both be sitting in companionable silence. Axel never got along with kids. As an only child, he didn''t really know how to interact with them. He¡¯d technically been friends with Chrissie, but as far as I remembered he was her friend in the same way you were friends with cousins who lived in another country. You acknowledged them when you saw them, played with them when your parents asked, but otherwise didn¡¯t really spare them another thought. But there was one time I realised that wasn''t quite true, at least in regards to Chrissie.

    It was at her funeral.

    ¡°Jeeze, you could hear a pin fall,¡± I said, taking a seat near them.

    Axel rolled his eyes and Wren waved with a single small hand. ¡°You¡¯re looking better.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m feeling a lot better. Thanks for the clutch heal. Again.¡±

    She smiled. ¡°You¡¯re welcome. I¡¯m glad to have helped.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I never asked what your other [Synergist] abilities are.¡±

    ¡°I just have one other ability. [Whetstone]. It increases the critical damage chance of the target I apply it to.¡±

    I considered the ability for a moment. Increased crit chance was a decent buff. But depending on the mana cost, it probably wouldn¡¯t be worth it to apply it to all of us. Just the people who were doing damage that could take advantage of it. So not me, Wren, or Axel.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be using that one a fair bit with Tam, and Jye,¡± I said, rubbing at my chin in consideration.

    Axel didn¡¯t say anything. He appeared lost in thought. I guess we really hadn¡¯t said anything to each other since I nearly died. It¡¯d been weird when he¡¯d nearly died, so I maybe he felt the same way I had. In the silence I remembered that technically I¡¯d levelled up. I guess the whole team had, maybe excluding Tam. I brought up the party menu.

    Just Friends Party | LVL 8

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Lee | LVL 2 | All-Rounder (Party Leader)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Axel | LVL 2 | Combatant</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>J?????????????4?????????????1????????????? | LVL 1 | |???????|???????\???????\???????\???????|???????|???????4???????4???????|???????|???????2???????/???????|???????\???????(???????\???????5???????|???????</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Wren | LVL 1 | Synergist</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Tam | LVL 2 | Cutthroat </li>

    </ul>

    Repressing a sigh, it didn¡¯t escape my attention that Wren and Jye hadn¡¯t levelled up. For Wren, it was obvious, since she had split her XP between classes, though she had to be fairly close on her [Synergist] class, maybe around 50 points or so. That was if everyone had the same requisite XP levels as each other. For Jye, though¡­ it had to be the glitch. I hoped this was a one off for them, because otherwise it¡¯d be impossible for them to progress. What did a person do when their levels wouldn¡¯t go up?

    Tam¡¯s class was [Cutthroat], which honestly seemed more like a description of her as a person. Still, it reinforced my assumption she could deal damage. Though, it was a little concerning that our entire team was basically physical damage based. Since it was more than apparent that magic existed, didn¡¯t that mean there were ranged magical attacks? I guess technically as long as Axel drew their fire and could dodge them, that¡¯d deal with that. That¡¯s assuming there weren¡¯t homing spells or attacks.

    I thought about the level up and the menu changed. Of course. Now I could see my detailed stats. Well, at least some of them. Given the history of the system, it was likely still hiding more that we¡¯d unlock in the future. I hoped sooner or later we¡¯d reach the end of that.

    The more I read the more I despaired at my character sheet. Was I just¡­ designed to be weak? I really hadn¡¯t been wrong when I¡¯d seen my stats at the beginning. I really would¡¯ve just rage quit the game if I rolled this poorly. Even with no one to compare with, I knew instinctively this was not good.

    4 STR

    4 CON

    4 DEX

    4 END

    4 WIL

    4 INT

    Tam snored loudly as she slept. Ignoring her, I waited for any more information regarding the attributes to load, but nothing was forthcoming. They didn¡¯t even bother to provide the whole words for each attribute. At least they were all relatively standard. Strength, Constitution, Dexterity, Endurance, Will or Willpower, and Intelligence.

    Jye stirred, and groggily turned to Tam¡¯s noisy form. They kicked her, which stopped her sounds momentarily. With a satisfied sigh, Jye rolled back over and snuggled back into their bedroll.

    If we followed general game attributes, Strength was damage, though that sometimes depended on your class. Constitution almost always directly correlated to health. Dexterity was a little bit of a wildcard. Sometimes it was a damage modifier, sometimes it was more similar to speed and reflexes. Endurance was less standard in games and was usually more or less synonymous with Constitution which meant here it had to mean something else. Perhaps more like how much a person could endure?

    Pain tolerance? That seemed a little niche and also a little twisted. Maybe it was more like¡­ damage one could take. So passive defence? Maybe like DnD AC then. Then we had Will or Willpower. That was on the flipside of physical defence, so mental or magical defence. Intelligence was a no-brainer. In systems with magic it usually directly affected mana. I never thought I¡¯d be thankful for having played so many different types of RPGs.

    Either way, looking at my stats, it wasn¡¯t surprising that I only had 20 [MANA], [HP], and [STAMINA]. God, I could imagine Axel¡¯s sheet right now. Probably 10s across the board. Lucky bastard. I wondered what Tam¡¯s, Wren¡¯s and Jye¡¯s looked like. Well, Jye¡¯s was probably unreadable.

    Which reminded me¡­ Jye had said they had two abilities. As far as I knew, making the weight of something lighter or heavier was one ability. That meant they had another one which was still unknown to us. Could we just get them to think about using it and it¡¯d proc? We¡¯d have to get to the bottom of that sooner or later.

    Staring at my stats a little longer, I noticed in the corner of the screen was a new option.

    Upgrade

    I mentally selected the upgrade option and was taken to a new screen that very judgmentally called me broke.

    No credit available

    Beneath, it showed my stats and abilities greyed out behind a lock. Okay, well, that was more questions answered. So we needed credit to upgrade things, but we needed to level up to be able to unlock the upgrades. Other than staggering our upgradability, what was the purpose of levels if they ultimately meant nothing but empty numbers? Did it have some other sort of justification?

    It all seemed a little bit convoluted, but what did I know about game dev? If I was to hazard a guess, I¡¯d probably say that the marketplace where we could sell things would pay us in credits. Which meant clearing a Dungeon wasn¡¯t only about defeating a boss or a set of challenges. It was about collecting items to sell.

    As if reading my mind, the status screen changed to another new window.

    Go to marketplace? Confirm | Reject

    Technically Wren and Axel were on watch, so I could probably fiddle about with this for a little while longer. I selected the Confirm button and immediately regretted it. I hadn¡¯t for a second considered why it said ¡°go to.¡± Well, the entire thing was a learning experience. I tried to think lightly of it as I lost control over my body, the muscles going limp one after the other. As I sunk to the floor, I saw Wren¡¯s and Axel¡¯s horrified expressions.

    Before my vision went black, I felt the contact of my head thudding against the ground.

 Chapter Eleven | Shopping

    There had to be a better way of doing this. I was beginning to think that whoever designed the system had a deranged sense of humour and derived enjoyment from watching others getting tortured. Despite the instant sense of spite aimed at whoever had orchestrated this whole apocalypse, it did nothing to dull the sense of awe that washed over me when my surroundings finally hit me.

    It was nothing like the desert or cabin I¡¯d just come from. In fact, if anything I¡¯d have called it the perfect permutation of what people would think of when they were told to imagine a ¡°fantasy marketplace.¡± Little wooden stalls decorated the edges of the cobblestone street, each manned by a different vendor, none of which were human. Species varied from identifiably elven and dwarf, but running to non-humanoid figures I couldn¡¯t have dreamt of. A few vendors called out, sharing their deals, and others were offering samples of their products. To me it sounded like English, but I was sure some of them did not have the necessary mouth parts to create such sounds. Automatic translation? Or was this simply another version of a Dungeon where things were more game-like?

    The tantalising aroma of a freshly baked apple pie with the lightest follow through of cinnamon and vanilla that wafted over to me from a nearby stall smelt so real. Which meant all these people and this place could be real as well. This thought ricocheted around in my mind. I hadn¡¯t let the events settle, hadn¡¯t reflected.

    This was real.

    Axel had nearly died.

    I¡¯d nearly died.

    I¡¯d nearly killed someone.

    Yes, I¡¯d long since accepted that the world was over as I knew it. For about a week now, I¡¯d been willing to be open-minded about what was happening. The abilities, the screens, the Dungeons, the Gates. I had thought I had fully accepted reality for what it had become. That I was okay with it. But I think I was¡­ Fuck. I¡¯d been dissociating almost the entire time.

    As the familiar tightening of my chest began, I frantically tapped my pockets for the Warhead, but found them empty.

    Of course, this probably wasn¡¯t even really my body. There¡¯d be no way they¡¯d let us leave that Dungeon. Unfortunately, being aware of that did nothing to stop the panic attack. Not as though anything could really stop them. It didn¡¯t help that without any physical anchor, focusing was impossible.

    The panic tore through me, like my spine pulled straight up into my brain.

    Though I wasn¡¯t the same person I was the last time I had one. I¡¯d basically died. I¡¯d found peace with a new purpose. If this happened, I couldn¡¯t protect anyone. I¡¯d never be more than I was. And I wanted to be there for Wren, and Jye and Axel, and fuck, even Tam. They wouldn¡¯t die without me, I knew that. But if I could help them, I wanted to. So, I had to do something.

    I could feel the anxiety attack beginning to sweat through my pores, my muscles trembling, my lungs struggling. No! I had to be better. I wanted to be better. For my party. For Chrissie.

    That I was capable of thinking of someone other than myself meant even right now, I was different. Maybe I could actually¡­ change this.

    The breathing method my doctor had taught me ages ago when I¡¯d come in about dealing with the stress of university exams came to mind.

    Breathe in for six, hold for four, out for six, hold for four, cycle. Think of your calm place.

    In for six. Hold for four. Out for six. Hold for four. My happy place.

    My chest felt tight, limbs locked.

    In for six. My apartment back in Brisbane, watching stuff with Axel, on the sofa he hated, because he had nothing better to do, burning time before his friends came by, or he had to go out. Hold for four. His expression of disdain as he skipped the Bounto filler arc. Out for six. Arguing about the implications of learning the alien language on people¡¯s perception of time. Hold for four. The laughter we shared at the distorted smear frame of Invincible fighting that we¡¯d accidentally paused on.

    The air trickled in through my lungs, thoughts loosening.

    Breath in, in, in, in, in, in. Our shock when it turned out to be the Bad Place, though Axel claimed he¡¯d called it. Hold for four, four, four, four. When we¡¯d both cried as Natsume said goodbye to another yokai, and Axel swore me to secrecy. Breathe out, out, out, out, out, out. Poking fun at the film Axel had torrented being the wrong ¡°Cargo.¡± Hold for four, four, four, four. Nodding off, then waking to the dulcet tones of Minako Honda playing over the credits; Axel¡¯s snores her backing track.

    As I breathed in again, everything began to steady, the world equalling out. My heart still pounded, but I could feel it slowing. A post-attack shiver rocked through me, but I felt better. Better than I had before.

    I breathed out.

    To be honest, it surprised me that what calmed me was TV shows and movies. Actually, was that kind of sad? Though I hadn¡¯t really ever given the method an honest try before. My GP was a little on the more holistic side of treatments most times, so whenever she told me to do something that had nothing to do with a prescription or medically backed advice, I¡¯d written her words down and had then promptly tucked them away in one of my dresser drawers. If I ever saw her again, I owed her one. Hell, if I saw anyone else ever again from life before I¡¯d probably give them a long hug out of pure joy they were still alive.

    Able to take everything in now, my feet feeling grounded, I approached one of the stalls cautiously.

    With a flash, the products loaded in. It seemed like a potions vendor.

    ¡°What can I help you with, my friend?¡± asked the lizard person. Given my unfamiliarity with their species, I couldn¡¯t tell what gender they were. There were none of the feminine and masculine presenting traits that I could recognise in humans. Maybe they didn¡¯t even have sexes or genders. The colour of wheat fields after harvest, they resembled a bearded dragon more than other lizards I¡¯d seen. Their blue forked tongue flicked between pointed teeth as they spoke. For some reason, I¡¯d been expecting them to speak with a lisp. Shit, was that racist?

    I cleared my throat. ¡°Uh, I¡¯m just browsing.¡±

    ¡°Please browse away.¡±

    They turned their attention to another approaching customer. Curious, I looked at them as well. It was just the silhouette of a human. No discernible details. Like a shadow in three dimensions. Even as I watched, their size and build shifted. Was this identity protection? Did I also look like that? For a moment, the customer turned and I felt their gaze on me. I could¡¯ve sworn I saw them sigh. Before I could decide how to respond, their faceless figure was swallowed by a throng of other shifting shades.

    ¡°Actually, I did have a question,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, how can I help?¡±

    ¡°Are you¡­ Are you real?¡±

    They chortled. ¡°This must be your first time in Twilight.¡±

    ¡°Twilight?¡± I echoed.

    ¡°We call it Twilight, since it¡¯s between times. The [REDACTED] call it the marketplace.¡±

    I blinked. Was the lizard person being actively censored? Why? Did it have something to do with what was happening to Earth? Did that mean this fantasy trading spot was actually a real place? They¡¯d said it was ¡°between.¡± What did that even mean? Here I had been thinking the marketplace would answer some of my questions. But it just made me ask more. And they were questions that couldn¡¯t even be answered because of the moderation that was happening.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you just said.¡±

    They hummed in consideration. ¡°You¡¯re early here then. I¡¯ve no doubt your wallet is empty. Though I¡¯m happy to buy if you¡¯ve got anything worth selling.¡±

    Early? Did that mean their words would eventually become uncensored? Maybe I should come back here later when I could actually ask questions. Though selling something now would be good, just to familiarise myself with how it all worked. I cast my mind back to Axel¡¯s sword. No, he was already quite attached to it. It wouldn¡¯t break his heart if I sold it, but it would definitely make our relationship that much more messy.

    ¡°Do you buy Dungeon only items?¡±

    ¡°Offer something and we¡¯ll see.¡±

    What did we have excess of back in the Dungeon? We needed food to survive, our bedrolls for comfort, clothes for hygiene. If anything, the only thing we could really sell off was a few of the Kmart knives since Jye had grabbed far more than they needed. Even if we got rid of five, they¡¯d still have a dozen left. I summoned the image of them in my mind and wasn¡¯t surprised they appeared as a digital image hovering above my hand.

    ¡°What about these?¡±

    The lizard person¡¯s slitted yellow eyes widened, the pupils dilating in the centre. ¡°Yes, we definitely can buy those.¡±

    None of the potions in their stall had prices attached, which meant it was difficult for me to gauge the true value of them in the marketplace. Though they were acting like these knives were valuable. Perhaps they were even rare? If I thought about it, they were stainless steel¡ª something that a medieval-esque world wouldn¡¯t have access to without furnaces reaching absurd temperatures.

    Intending to double whatever they answered, I asked, ¡°How many credits will one of these fetch me?¡±

    Their scaled lips curved into a grin, and they leaned forward. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what. I¡¯ll give you a deal. You give me one of those knives and I¡¯ll be your personal vendor here. Of course, I¡¯d get a cut of the profit, but you wouldn¡¯t have to worry about coming here again.¡±

    My brows furrowed in thought. ¡°How could that possibly be in my benefit?¡±

    ¡°Time doesn¡¯t work the same here, my friend. Never has. It¡¯s always different, every time you come. When you visit Twilight, you pay not only in credits but in time.¡±

    My mind boggled. ¡°So, hours could be passing while we talk?¡±

    ¡°Hours, days, months, years.¡± They paused. ¡°Sometimes decades.¡±

    A chill ran through me. ¡°What about my body? This one can¡¯t be real.¡±

    ¡°Your body goes into magic stasis when you project your mental state to Twilight. So long as you have regenerative mana, you¡¯ll survive. Of course, someone can always just kill you while you¡¯re vulnerable. I hope you left your body in safe hands.¡±

    Wren and Axel wouldn¡¯t let anything happen to me. They were probably fretting over what to do right now. It was kind of nice knowing they were there to rely on. Focusing on the lizard person, I hesitated in accepting their deal. If they were telling the truth, it meant that not coming back to Twilight was probably ideal. But it also meant that I¡¯d have to trust them to deal with all of my sales and purchases for the future. That was a lot of faith to put on someone I¡¯d met minutes ago. Well, I guess technically it could¡¯ve been decades ago at this point.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°So, how does you being my vendor work with the system?¡± I asked, now very aware of the seconds ticking by us, a sand hourglass in the corner of my mind, grains pouring away. What if Axel, Jye and Wren died waiting for me?

    The ridge on the inner edge of their left eye deepened in what I assumed was mimicry of raising an eyebrow. ¡°You¡¯re not as simple as some of the early bloomers we get here sometimes.¡±

    They cleared their throat. ¡°Well, you sell your items from back in [REDACTED] and I put them on auction. You¡¯re guaranteed a better price than selling them straight to a vendor here. I take my cut which is a reasonable 20% and then I send the remaining credit to you. It is sent instantaneously through [REDACTED]. Buying works the same way, but you put in a request with me and I¡¯ll try to get it, but there¡¯s no promise I can get your desired products. For those, there¡¯s a 20% buyer¡¯s fee too.¡±

    Trying to act disinterested, I buffed my nails on my shirt and checked their shine, then said, ¡°Why should I make you my personal vendor? Why not the others?¡±

    They propped a hand on their hip. ¡°You came to my stall first. Is that not a type of fate?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying fate led me here?¡±

    It was an amusing idea. Though I wasn¡¯t the type to believe in fate or predestined choices. Life was what you made it. Granted, I¡¯d not made a very positive life for myself. Sequestering myself away from others, never having any aspirations. For so long it¡¯d been difficult to figure out what I was meant to be doing.

    When Chrissie passed away, it felt like everything tumbled away from me in a domino Sternberg machine of loss. One piece hit another and soon everything was in shambles. Chrissie was taken, Axel abandoned me, the panic attacks controlled my life, my grades dropped, I had no energy to do anything. One by one it all slipped from my grip. And I don¡¯t think I ever got it back. I had accepted that life was fine without all those things. I was okay with it all.

    It was stupid to think that to get my life together I had to lose it all again. But that meant fate wasn¡¯t real. All of these choices had been mine and they¡¯d led me here.

    ¡°Fate or chance. Whichever word you use, it was me who you first sought. I digress, you¡¯re welcome to try with the other vendors. But you¡¯ll find them far less congenial than I¡¯ve been. My [REDACTED] that didn¡¯t so I¡¯ve a soft spot for you people, but many of the others did.¡±

    This fucking censoring. Hoping he¡¯d be able to reword it so I could understand, I asked, ¡°Your what?¡±

    ¡°You really are quite early, aren¡¯t you?¡± They ran a scaled hand under their spiked chin, and then muttered to themself, ¡°There¡¯s specific regulations for [REDACTED] to be able to access Twilight. Curious and curiouser.¡±

    ¡°10% buyer and seller premium,¡± I offered.

    A croaky laugh emanated from them. ¡°You think me a fool? 20% is a deal no other vendor would offer as it is.¡±

    ¡°8%.¡±

    The lizard¡¯s eyes narrowed, their second horizontal lid as well. ¡°I¡¯m doing you a favour here.¡±

    I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders to stand my ground. ¡°Based on everything you¡¯ve said, my wares have more value than you¡¯re letting on. You don¡¯t know a single thing about me, but you¡¯re willing to make an exclusive deal with me simply by seeing one item I have access to. This means I have things you know others will want. You¡¯re sitting at 5% now.¡±

    They growled, a low gurgling from their throat. ¡°Early but not an idiot. 15%.¡±

    I shook my head. ¡°It¡¯s 5% or nothing.¡±

    ¡°10% and I¡¯ll give you one of my potions. My pick.¡±

    Considering their offer, it wasn¡¯t bad. When I¡¯d moved in with Axel, I still had all the furniture from the uni sharehouse I¡¯d rented while studying. Axel had far nicer stuff than me so we¡¯d agreed to sell my stuff off other than the lounge which we¡¯d both agreed was comfier than his. Most of it was flatpack or Ikea furniture and instead of handling it myself, it was simply easier to drop it all off at an auction house. They¡¯d charged a 25% seller¡¯s premium and 15% buyer¡¯s premium and it was one of the better cuts I¡¯d seen. So, at the very least 10% was better than most auction houses back in Brisbane.

    ¡°10% and I get to pick one of your potions,¡± I countered.

    The lizard¡¯s jaw clenched. The cogs were turning in their mind. They would agree. I0% was a decent portion of the profit. And since it was an exclusive deal it meant that they¡¯d get everything I¡¯d be putting up for sale. It also didn¡¯t stop them from selling or buying from other players. So really the only person who was limited was me.

    ¡°All right. 10% and your pick of potions,¡± they finally said, a smile gaping their scaled mouth. ¡°Your name?¡±

    ¡°Lee. And yours?¡±

    ¡°Xanthe is as close as you¡¯ll get.¡±

    As they spoke, a screen popped up in front of me. This time it was grey, not off-white like the request we¡¯d gotten, and not the normal blue system windows. At the very least, I was learning more and more about the underpinnings of the world we currently lived in. Writing appeared on the screen.

    Exclusive Contract: In exchange for exclusive selling rights, Lee will forfeit 10% of sale profits to vendor Xanthe. In addition to this, a one-off potion will be provided to Lee from Xanthe¡¯s store for no cost and one [KMART 20cm Triple Rivet Chef¡¯s Knife] will be provided to Xanthe for no cost. Accept | Reject

    I read and reread the contract, trying to see if Xanthe was attempting to pull something over me, but it all seemed legit. A week ago I¡¯d been the type of person to read all the Terms and Conditions, clauses, and fine print on everything I signed or accepted. It¡¯d helped me bargain back overtime pay from work for my whole department once. So I was confident this contract was acceptable.

    Exclusive Contract signed. Xanthe assigned as main vendor.

    The hovering image of the knife I¡¯d shown Xanthe evaporated from my hand, and appeared on an empty shelf in Xanthe¡¯s store. I wondered momentarily if Xanthe sold anything other than potions. Had my deal been too hasty? Should I have bargained for more?

    The lizard jutted their jaw at the potions in their stall. ¡°What¡¯ll it be?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll pick later.¡±

    They scoffed, shaking their head with a toothy smile. ¡°A [REDACTED] after my own hearts. You might be a good source of income yet. If time is on your side.¡±

    Only vaguely registering the plurality of ¡°heart,¡± I focused on their second sentence. I¡¯d been in the marketplace, no, Twilight, for around 15 minutes now. If the Jeremy Bearimy of it all even just meant minutes became hours, I¡¯d have been unconscious in the Dungeon for the majority of a day. With Tam being such a wildcard, I had no idea what I¡¯d be returning to if I stayed here any longer. Maybe I¡¯d already been here for too long already.

    ¡°How do I leave?¡± I asked, glancing around.

    The words had only barely left my mouth before the blue screen updated.

    Return to Dungeon? Accept | Reject

    Ask and ye shall receive, I guess. Xanthe nodded sagely and then said, ¡°I expect we¡¯ll never meet again. But I hope you do well. I really do. Do better than [REDACTED]. Don¡¯t hesitate to contact me about purchases.¡±

    I gave them what I hoped was a reassuring look. ¡°Thanks. If you¡¯re looking for something specific to sell, let me know and I¡¯ll see what I can pick up.¡±

    Xanthe¡¯s black eyes glinted in surprise, and I waved once before accepting the screen¡¯s prompt.

    Everything disappeared.

    I blinked.

    An explosion of pain erupted from the back of my head, the weight of momentum leaving my body. As my eyes flashed open, I could identify Wren and Axel reaching for my fallen form, their expression almost identical to how they¡¯d looked before I¡¯d left. Oh. I guess Xanthe hadn¡¯t been lying. Instead of the time elongating, it had shortened. It looked like only milliseconds had passed, if not nanoseconds, in the Dungeon.

    ¡°Ow,¡± I said, reaching to touch the now tender spot.

    ¡°What the hell was that?¡±

    As my fingers made contact with my head, a tendril of pain shot through me and I winced. ¡°Do not go to Twilight.¡± I checked my HP and wasn¡¯t surprised to see I¡¯d lost 1 HP as a result of my body ragdolling and smacking my head on the floor.

    ¡°What¡¯s Twilight?¡± Wren asked.

    I groaned as the two of them helped me stand. Axel held a hand at my waist to steady me, and Wren grabbed one of my hands. The physical sensation of my body felt no different to my mental projection in Twilight, and at the same time it was entirely something else. I could tell this was my real form.

    I didn¡¯t even know where to begin explaining what had happened, and as my mind settled I only said, ¡°Not good. The marketplace, Twilight¡­ It¡¯s basically a gamble for high-rollers.¡±

    ¡°I mean, Stephenie Meyer is not a great writer, but she sells. If you have disposable income, and it¡¯s your choice of genre, I can¡¯t really judge.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re meant to be asleep,¡± Axel said pissily.

    Jye shrugged. ¡°And you¡¯re meant to be not shit, but here we are.¡±

    He closed his eyes in exasperation, breathing in slowly. That Axel had not yet permanently maimed Jye was a shock to me. Jye was the type of person that had always rubbed Axel the wrong way. It was the obliviousness he disliked the most. He once said to me that if there was one trait he hated the most in others, it was ignorance. And things just flew over Jye¡¯s head.

    Luckily Tam was still dead asleep, her snoring barely audible. I couldn¡¯t trust her just yet.

    Briefly I summarised what Twilight was and the deal I¡¯d made with Xanthe to the others. They absorbed it in silence with solemn expressions. I¡¯m not sure I did the marketplace justice in my explanation since I saw Axel¡¯s eyes glaze over in boredom. When I finished I said, ¡°Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Did the lizard person wear clothes?¡± Jye asked.

    My incredulity at their question must¡¯ve shown on my face because Jye pouted.

    ¡°I¡¯m asking because there¡¯s no point in lizards wearing clothes. They have scales. Their scales are basically like armour and clothes.¡±

    ¡°What about if they need to carry extra stuff?¡± Wren said.

    ¡°Oh, I hadn¡¯t thought about that. But then maybe they could use bags instead. That¡¯s still not clothes.¡±

    ¡°What if they want to dress up pretty?¡±

    ¡°It would depend on their culture, but I¡¯d think paints would make more sense for that kind of thing. You know, maybe their kind even employs self-mutilation.¡±

    ¡°Jye!¡± I admonished.

    Chastised, they smiled apologetically. ¡°Sorry, sorry. Forgot there were kids around.¡± They cleared their throat. ¡°Let me rephrase that. Maybe they carve patterns into their-¡±

    Axel landed a solid karate chop across Jye¡¯s solar plexus, driving the wind out of their diaphragm and stopping them midword. A ehugh exhaled from the giant¡¯s lungs as they folded, immediately gripping at their abdomen, eyes wide in shock and betrayal more than pain. Axel shot me a look that said, ¡°Can you believe this idiot?¡±

    I repressed my sigh. ¡°No, Xanthe was not wearing clothes. I was taken off guard by the mere fact they were a lizard person. Them being naked did not cross my mind.¡±

    ¡°I knew it,¡± Jye exclaimed wheezily, eyes watering, still bent over.

    ¡°Do you guys not have any other questions?¡±

    Axel sarcastically raised a hand. ¡°What about when we need to sell stuff?¡±

    I considered his words for a second and then said, ¡°Give it to me and I¡¯ll get Xanthe to auction it off instead. I¡¯ll just send you credits back.¡±

    ¡°Sweet little pea, you¡¯re getting a little too big for your britches.¡±

    ¡°Does no one care about the watch shifts?¡± Axel grumbled.

    Tam had uncurled from my bedroll, and was lazily watching us, her head propped up on a bent arm. ¡°I don¡¯t trust you as far as I could throw you. There¡¯s no way I¡¯m letting you sell stuff on my behalf. And Mumma would never for a second approve of it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to risk the time dilation ending poorly for you.¡±

    ¡°How do I even know that there¡¯s even such a thing without seeing it with mine own two eyes?¡±

    ¡°Well, you¡¯re part of the team now and I¡¯d rather not pointlessly lose a party member to something we could all avoid. You can trust that. Especially after I¡¯ve saved your life twice.¡±

    A petulant expression soured her face. ¡°Say this wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey shit does exist. What if this snake was lying to you about it changing every time and they¡¯re taking you for a ride?¡±

    I didn¡¯t want to admit it, but she had a point. But it was too risky to verify that Xanthe had been honest with me. The lizard had struck me as a trustworthy person, but it was impossible to convey that to someone who¡¯d never met them. I knew I should¡¯ve been more suspicious, but in my gut I felt that Xanthe was a good person. Just the same way I thought Tam was. Maybe hers was a lot deeper down though.

    I shrugged. ¡°Well, trust has to be earned. If Xanthe doesn¡¯t deliver then we won¡¯t use them, and try Twilight again. I just won¡¯t handle items after that. Someone else can. It was just luck I travelled there first.¡±

    The raven-headed woman scowled and folded their arms. ¡°Fine.¡±

    Jye, who had now recovered from Axel¡¯s attack, sprang forward. ¡°Whoa, whoa, whoa. We¡¯ve got to circle back. Which Doctor?¡±

    Tam scoffed. ¡°The best, of course.¡±

    ¡°Matt Smith?¡± Jye supplied.

    Her top lip curled in disgust. She looked ready to choke out Jye. Her free hand twitched in anticipation. I was trying to think of anything to change the conversation, but my mind was coming up blank. I never watched the show. It was only thanks to social media osmosis that I knew what they were talking about.

    Wren, thankfully, interrupted with: ¡°I think the 9th Doctor was my favourite.¡±

    Her anger fizzled out as she looked over at Wren¡¯s smiling face. ¡°He¡¯s not too bad either, though Tennant is the right answer.¡±

    Axel decided to join the irrelevant conversation. ¡°I¡¯m disappointed we¡¯ll never get to see Ncuti Gatwa. I think he would¡¯ve topped Tennant.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think I know that actor,¡± Wren said with a slight frown.

    Our newest party member regarded Axel sceptically.

    ¡°What makes you think he¡¯d have been better?¡±

    The conversation now seemingly had left Twilight far behind. And it appeared like returning to the topic was not likely.

    Giving up, I said, ¡°Well, he was great in Sex Education.¡±

 Chapter Twelve | Mother Knows Best

    We spent the rest of the hour arguing about different actors who could take on the mantle of the Doctor successfully, and had come to the mutual agreement that Tennant could easily take the role on again. Jye, however, had been adamant that the next Doctor should¡¯ve been their one acting friend from high school who¡¯d apparently made it back to screen tests but hadn¡¯t passed. Axel didn¡¯t even try to humour them.

    Talking with Tam like that so contrasted the fact she had tried to kill me. Would¡¯ve succeeded too if it hadn¡¯t been for Wren. But she was just another mostly normal person. Another human being thrown into this crazy situation. I guess I understood why she¡¯d done it. If I¡¯d been alone without Axel and this had all happened¡­ Maybe I would¡¯ve done the exact same thing. Still, her condescension wasn¡¯t appreciated. And she refused to answer questions about who Mumma was, much to my chagrin.

    Apparently my command tied to the [Collar of Control] didn¡¯t count her divulging that information as helping the party. I probably should¡¯ve thought a little more deeply about the wording I¡¯d used. Well, what was done was done. I couldn¡¯t risk undoing my command and letting her run amok even for a second. Though we¡¯d developed a cordial rapport just now, it did not mean I was willing to let her off the literal and proverbial leash. She might not be allowed to directly harm us but that didn¡¯t mean she couldn¡¯t put us in danger. And without knowing more about what or who Mumma was, we¡¯d have to keep her at arms reach.

    Eventually we chose to just stay awake for the next shift together and then to reset it from there. Conversation drifted from TV shows to our favourite films and music artists. Wren had surprisingly old taste in music, favouring 80¡¯s love ballads, while Tam liked ¡°electropop bubblegum bass¡± musicians with names like Diveo. Jye unsurprisingly was into the kpop scene and confessed of their shrine dedicated to Blackpink in their closet. Axel was just straight up into pop music and whatever was in the top charts at the time. He didn¡¯t disclose it to anyone else, but I knew his favourite song was nothing of the sort. But that was his secret to divulge if he wanted to. When asked I couldn¡¯t supply my preferred genre. I liked a little bit of everything and saw the artistry in most content¡ªso long as the song was pleasant to listen to I probably liked it.

    The rest of the party seemed dissatisfied with my answer. Well, that wasn¡¯t my problem.

    ¡°Sunshine, what¡¯s the plan, by the way?¡± Tam asked.

    Realising she was referring to me, I said, ¡°Well, first we need to figure out how to clear this Dungeon.¡±

    She rolled her eyes. ¡°That¡¯s child¡¯s play. You gotta find a way out.¡±

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Wren said.

    ¡°Well, Mumma told me the domain this Dungeon falls under is [REDACTED], so it¡¯s probably something like a puzzle or a labyrinth that we have to solve. She said they love that sort of stuff.¡±

    Jye swore as Tam¡¯s words were censored, slapping their hands over their ears. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. Gesturing at them with her thumb, she whispered, ¡°What¡¯s the deal with your local Bigfoot?¡±

    Unsure how much we should divulge about Jye¡¯s status, I hesitated in responding. Axel intervened. ¡°They just sometimes do that. PTSD or something.¡±

    Aghast at using a serious psychological condition as a cover, I began to explain, ¡°Jye¡¯s got this issue where¨C¡±

    ¡°Where I have these random tics, you know. Clutching my ears and stuff like this,¡± Jye cut me off, smiling through their pain.

    It was bad when Axel and Jye agreed on something. Even though the lie didn¡¯t sit well with me, it meant they thought it was better to not tell Tam the truth, at least not yet. Maybe that was for the better. It seemed like she was especially close to her sponsor and if the sponsor had any say about the game maybe they¡¯d report Jye for ¡°cheating.¡± Despite the fact their glitch gave them no advantages, I could see some people arguing that it was unfair. Since technically you could leave your party in this system, it meant it was highly possible she still viewed us as competition, especially if she managed to trick me into removing her collar somehow.

    ¡°So, you think this is a puzzle or a labyrinth?¡± I tried redirecting the conversation.

    Tam rolled her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t think, darling. Mumma knows.¡±

    ¡°Mumma this, Mumma that. If she¡¯s so amazing, why¡¯d she nearly let you die?¡±

    The muscles in Tam¡¯s square jaw tensed, a vein visibly throbbing, as she glared at Axel. Unfazed, Axel stared back with the same level of animosity. I pinched the bridge of my nose in an attempt to control the exasperation building in me. With any luck they¡¯d end each other and I¡¯d be free of both of them.

    ¡°It¡¯s a puzzle or labyrinth¡­¡± Jye murmured, having either not noticed the palpable tension between Axel and Tam or simply deciding they didn¡¯t have any skin in the game.

    Wren followed suit and commented, ¡°It can¡¯t really be a labyrinth.¡±

    Maybe the two hotheads would simmer down if we ignored their antics.

    ¡°We¡¯re thinking it¡¯d be a puzzle then? Maybe back inside the cabin?¡±

    Wren and Jye nodded.

    ¡°None of you cowards have stepped into the desert, have you?¡± Tam said, voice simmering with loathing.

    The rest of our party exchanged a glance. We actually hadn¡¯t approached the sand since we had received that random off-white request. With everything that had happened so far, we¡¯d all decided it was safer and easier to remain upon the porch of the abandoned cabin. Not to mention that the request had implied surviving in the desert was not supposed to be easy. All that combined had kept us far from considering the desert as a viable route.

    ¡°No, and we¡¯ve no intention of doing so,¡± Axel replied.

    ¡°The second your feet touch the sand, walls form in all four directions, creating a maze. I assume the cabin is in the centre, which would make the singular correct pathway out lead to our exit.¡±

    ¡°Why should we believe you?¡±

    I was concerned that she was being so open about her experiences and knowledge. In the past day that I¡¯d known her, she didn¡¯t seem the type to willingly give us an advantage. Maybe she was leading us into a trap.

    ¡°Why do you think I accepted the request to steal your food? I wouldn¡¯t be able to survive long in a maze that has no clear exit in sight without it. I¡¯m not a goddamn idiot.¡±

    It seemed like a reasonable explanation. In fact, it was even stronger justification than her simply doing it for the sponsor rewards alone. Food was essential. But back on Earth, agriculture had ground to a halt¡ªwhich meant the only food accessible outside of Dungeons was going to be potable or from vegetable gardens in people¡¯s yards. The latter of which would not last that long either. Ultimately, beyond credits, food would come to be the most important thing to other players. I stored that thought in my mind for when we escaped the Dungeon.

    And then I caught myself. For when we escaped it? I was jumping the gun. Mentally, I corrected myself. If we escaped the Dungeon, we needed to get our hands on more food.

    ¡°If you¡¯re confident it''s a maze, why would you say it could also be a puzzle?¡±

    Today Axel seemed to be asking incredibly relevant questions. If only he could be like that all the time.

    While I lamented the idea, Tam responded, ¡°[REDACTED] is a bit of a wiley one. They like to make people work mentally for their wins, so Mumma said not to rule out either of them.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying we should just assume it¡¯s a combo?¡±

    Jye hmm¡¯d loudly, and then added, ¡°A labyrinth often has puzzle-like aspects. Just like in the Labyrinth where Sarah has to go through all those different trials to get her little brother back from the Goblin King.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, or like in the Shadows House where they have to rescue their counterparts by solving puzzles and using teamwork to achieve success,¡± Axel murmured.

    I was only vaguely familiar with Shadows House because Axel had mentioned it in passing. He¡¯d watched and read more manga and anime than I knew existed. Jye, who apparently seemed to recognise the name as well, was nodding along in approval. It was hard to read Tam¡¯s expression since she always looked like she¡¯d rather not be involved with us at all. But there was a certain glint in her eye that seemed to suggest the title was not unknown to her. Was my party full of weebs? There were worse things, I guess.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t the oldest labyrinth the one with the minotaur?¡± Wren asked.

    Every once in a while Wren said something that was strangely astute for a ten-year-old girl. Despite the way she had phrased it in a way that a child might say it, the fact she even knew about Greek mythology enough to recall the story of the minotaur was odd. It wasn¡¯t often that I was reminded that we knew nothing about Wren apart from how she¡¯d discovered her classes, but whenever it did occur to me I usually just ignored it. In time I had hoped she would further expand on her past. I guess now the vast majority of my party were people I didn¡¯t know much about sans Axel.

    ¡°I don¡¯t remember there being many puzzles in the classic Greek story,¡± I said.

    Jye frowned. ¡°There¡¯s not in the original telling, but a lot of YA authors eventually added them. Consider Mazerunner, that¡¯s gotta be a kinda inspired same story, and there¡¯s definitely puzzles in that. Or at least in the films. Never read the books.¡±

    I sighed. Were we really about to base our approach to this Dungeon on our collective knowledge of David Bowie, a strangely poignant dark fantasy manga, and a post apocalyptic film? As the question ran through my mind, it occurred to me that if someone started playing Lazarus, then all these points technically would¡¯ve reflected our current position to a T.

    Were the events that had unfolded so far not just unsettling but philosophical? It¡¯d been just a week and I felt like an entirely different person. Was our world technically not in the death throes of an apocalypse? The world we knew was over. The fact that we could draw such a clear thematic connection to other stories and narratives couldn¡¯t be just a coincidence.

    There was an arc unravelling as we journeyed¡­

    Jye¡¯s words from earlier echoed in my head regarding this all being some sort of Truman Show streaming service for future humanity. What if they were right? Maybe not who was doing it, but what it all was. If we combined it with my idea that the better we ¡°performed¡± the higher XP we received, it all made a weird sort of sense. The moderation and censorship of certain content also tied perfectly into it. Whoever or whatever was orchestrating this thing was wary of letting us know too much too soon and giving us an unfair advantage that could ruin the show.

    We were someone¡¯s entertainment.

    Our suffering, our struggles, was media for consumption.

    What kind of heartless audience would get enjoyment from this?

    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Let¡¯s play it safe and expect puzzles in the labyrinth,¡± I said, scared of speaking my thoughts to the others. ¡°That could extend into traps, as well as problem solving challenges.¡±

    If I was right, if I had caught onto what this all truly was, I didn¡¯t think I would come out unscathed. At least not so early on. The system liked to grant us new information with no explanation as we progressed. Coming to this understanding so early could be dangerous.

    Glancing around the party, I realised that I also didn¡¯t want any of them to know either. It wasn¡¯t clear how Tam would react, but she could very well know exactly what this whole thing was thanks to her sponsorship with Mumma. Jye would love that I was rolling with their conspiracy, but they definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to keep their mouth shut. On the other hand, I was worried the idea would scare Wren or confuse her too much. She¡¯d taken everything surprisingly well, but to explain to her that this whole situation was for the viewing pleasure of something or someone else might¡¯ve really been the end of her optimism. Though truthfully, it was Axel¡¯s reaction I was most concerned about.

    As my roaming gaze finally reached his form, I noticed he was watching me from half lidded eyes. Wren and him had been awake the longest since our watch shifts had been messed up. He looked tired. I guess under it all, we were all tired. As his eyes caught mine, the corners of his lips curled into a soft smile that disappeared as soon as it appeared, leaving me to wonder if I¡¯d imagined it. Yeah, that cinched it. With Axel¡¯s mental instability I wouldn¡¯t be burdening him with my theory any time soon.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s next, boss?¡± Jye asked seriously.

    With far less respect, Axel echoed, ¡°Yeah, boss?¡±

    ¡°We do one more sleep rotation and then try our luck in the desert on full alert.¡±

    The party murmured their agreement, and after a brief exchange about who¡¯s turn it actually was to stay on watch, we all settled into our individual roles with startling and practised alacrity. Like we¡¯d been a team much longer than we really had. Even Tam rolled into the swing of it.

    Maybe that¡¯s just how it was going to be now. Connections forged these days had a different kind of weight, a different value, than they had a week ago. Now they would very well mean life or death.

    When the sleeping shift awoke from their rest, we packed up our makeshift camp, and rationed out our supplies. It wasn¡¯t a far reach to predict we might get split up in the labyrinth somehow and it¡¯d spell ruin if any one of us weren¡¯t carrying any food or water. Granted, we didn¡¯t have that much left. If we ate minimal amounts, our party could probably survive another six days in the labyrinth. Hopefully we¡¯d find the exit by then.

    I also handed Tam one of the watches I¡¯d picked up from Kmart. It had been a good idea to grab all of them. She ungratefully took it and instead of wearing it around her wrist, added it to the various charms that dangled from her chunky necklace.

    ¡°By the way, how¡¯d you end up in the cabin with us?¡± I asked as I zipped up my backpack.

    ¡°Funny thing, that. Strange as it sounds, darling, I went through the same Gate as you.¡±

    I watched her as she stretched, not unlike a cat.

    ¡°At the same time as us?¡±

    ¡°No. Your boyfriend gave you a love tap into it, then the child and ranga Terminator were sucked in. Then I leisurely strolled in.¡±

    Unable to process anything she said past ¡°boyfriend,¡± I blanched. ¡°Axel isn¡¯t¡ª We¡¯re just friends, actually. It¡¯s a common mistake though.¡±

    She laid a hand on my shoulder, and gave me a long, long look. ¡°Oh, honey.¡± Her hand came off, and then she walked to the edge of the cabin porch. ¡°Well, it¡¯s none of my business.¡±

    Not appreciating the pity in her voice, though I wasn¡¯t sure who it was directed at, I mulled over her explanation of the events that had transpired that led her to the same cabin as us. She hadn¡¯t entered simultaneously with us. Which meant that maybe it had just been pure chance she had encountered us. If she hadn¡¯t, her starving before finding the exit might¡¯ve been entirely possible. I hoped her luck was contagious.

    It also meant that there might be other players appearing soon, or even somewhere else in the maze already. If what Tam said was true, the whole desert was simply a mirage, and there could very well be a dozen other cabins scattered around the Dungeon that we weren¡¯t aware of.

    ¡°Everyone good to go?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Wren shouted, pumping her fist into the sky.

    After a little yawn, Jye said, ¡°I¡¯m keen,¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like we have any other choice,¡± Axel said tartly.

    ¡°I was ready yesterday.¡±

    ¡°You really weren¡¯t,¡± I scoffed. ¡°You didn¡¯t have any food.¡±

    Tam¡¯s lips curled downward in distaste, but she said no more.

    I took the front position on the last cabin step, my staff in hand, and glanced back at the cabin. Tam never said we¡¯d be stopped from going back, but I was fairly certain at some distance it would be blocked off or even possibly deleted. Having a safe port of call would be too easy and there¡¯s no way that was entertainment.

    Breathing in deeply, I left the cabin porch. Just as she¡¯d explained, the second my foot touched the sand beneath it, walls sprang up on all sides, rising from below. With a thunder, they grinded to a halt once they¡¯d reached about three metres tall. When had Tam triggered the labyrinth, if she had already experienced it before? Perhaps it was when she¡¯d run after I¡¯d nearly accidentally killed Axel.

    Speak of the Devil. ¡°At least it¡¯s something to look at.¡±

    The walls weren¡¯t the same yellow sand as what had previously surrounded us, instead formed from a strange fusion of rock and crystal, just opaque enough to not be able to see through, but transparent enough to still glimpse obscured shadows. As the sun caught a few jagged edges of the gem wall, it sparkled in a way I could only compare to animated sparkles. The sand itself at our feet had dissolved, leaving only the same stone that made up the walls. The entire formation was ethereally beautiful and it left something of an ache in the depth of my heart. Nothing like this existed on Earth. Nothing like this could exist.

    ¡°You couldn¡¯t dream this shit up,¡± Jye said, following me to the start of the labyrinth.

    We took up our positions. Tam, Axel, me, Wren, Jye, in a line. As we moved, it occurred to me that the request we¡¯d received upon arriving would¡¯ve been unsuccessful. It had asked us to remain in the desert for a certain amount of days. There was no desert now. We¡¯d have failed. Our entire party would¡¯ve been killed.

    A chill crawled up my spine as goosebumps formed on my arms despite the beating rays of the sun which was the only remnant of the desert biome. Axel had been the only one who had wanted to refuse the request. If it hadn¡¯t been for him, we¡¯d all be dead. He¡¯d been 100% right about it not being a system notification, about it being sketchy.

    We came to the first left and per our previously agreed approach, we all kept one hand on the left wall, and turned into it.

    ¡°How¡¯d you know?¡± I asked.

    ¡°As much as I¡¯d like to claim I can read minds, I can¡¯t.¡±

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°The request. How¡¯d you know it wasn¡¯t any good?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, it just didn¡¯t seem right.¡±

    ¡°You basically saved our lives. You know that, right?¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    His back was to me, so I couldn¡¯t see his face, but his shoulders were imperceptibly hunched over. Part of me wanted to spin him around to check his expression. What face was he making? Was he breaking down again? It frustrated me that I didn¡¯t know. Couldn¡¯t know. There was something profoundly sad in his posture. It made me feel uncomfortable. I knew he wasn¡¯t okay. But what was I meant to do? I¡¯d fucked up last time I wanted him to share.

    When it came to Axel, I was always misstepping. Despite our emotional distance as people, though we spent spare time together, living with Axel made me feel like I should be doing more, living life like him, and those thoughts were¡­ What¡¯s the saying when they find people injured beyond survival? Ah, incompatible with life. That¡¯s part of why I had wanted to move out. It was a pressure on me. It was like being forced to experience FOMO 24/7, except it wasn¡¯t just fear of missing out, but also fear of having to engage.

    That felt like so long ago. Building up my courage to tell Axel that I didn¡¯t want to live with him. I couldn¡¯t fathom sharing that idea with him now. I¡¯d seen the unbalancing his psyche was going through right now. If I told him I had wanted to move out, it would probably break what little thread he was hanging by.

    I¡¯d never tell him.

    I¡¯d take that to the grave. And if there did turn out to be something beyond that, the words would never leave my mouth. I¡¯d sew my lips closed before seeing Axel¡¯s expression upon hearing I¡¯d wanted to leave him. Yeah, he¡¯d once abandoned me in my time of need. It¡¯d cause a divide so deep that I¡¯d tried to stop caring about him because of it.

    But I couldn¡¯t bear to be the person to scar him as he had done me all those years ago. Especially not now, when it felt like¡­ we were friends again. Or something like it. He somehow needed me, and I¡¯d be damned if I¡¯d be the one to walk away this time.

    I was so preoccupied by thoughts of Axel that I lost sense of my surroundings. There was a sudden difference in temperature and texture under my hand, the coolness and roughness of the stone becoming warmth and softness. I paused in confusion and I looked to the crystalline wall.

    I had reached where Axel had stopped, my hand now lightly resting over his. Before I could blink, he snatched his hand away as if stung. Then for a few beats he didn¡¯t react, holding his hand in front of him. He appeared to be examining it.

    Then Axel looked back at me with a shit-eating grin. ¡°Trying to hold hands?¡±

    I scoffed. ¡°Not in this lifetime.¡±

    And then he was walking again, as if nothing had happened, and I was walking after him. I checked behind me to ensure that Wren and Jye were still following. Yep. Good. At least the party was still together. That was the bare minimum for the day to be going well. It helped that I generally had low standards.

    We continued on like that for a few hours, making idle conversation about our knowledge of rocks and stones, comparing the maze walls to each and every crystal we knew. Eventually we concluded it was probably some type of quartz. It didn¡¯t do anything to nullify the strange beauty of it. The unnatural shimmering caused by the unsetting sun still took my breath away.

    ¡°I think we might have a trap ahead.¡±

    Tam turned around to face us.

    I peeked ahead of her, seeing nothing but the same crystalline maze that stretched behind us. Either she had some sort of skill that allowed her to sense traps or she just simply had better eyesight. Both my parents had needed glasses by their thirties, but I¡¯d not needed them yet. Maybe the stress of this whole situation was ageing me early.

    I hadn¡¯t thought about my parents for awhile, probably as a sort of defence mechanism. If I allowed myself thoughts of my parents, my mental stability would probably spiral. I couldn¡¯t afford that, not with the safety of my party on my shoulders.

    Instead, I pushed Tam for more information. ¡°What makes you say that?¡±

    ¡°You got eyes, don¡¯t you?¡±

    Jye and Wren came up beside the rest of us, leaning around me to look ahead as well.

    ¡°I see fuck all,¡± Jye commented flatly.

    ¡°Is it that thing?¡± Wren asked.

    She had raised a hand and was pointing to something I couldn¡¯t identify.

    ¡°At least the actual baby here is capable of sight,¡± Tam said.

    Axel tilted his head, blue eyes narrowing. ¡°The trap is the singular crystal of different colour?¡±

    ¡°Oh, two of you aren¡¯t blind. Yes, that¡¯s it. This is the only different crystal I¡¯ve seen the entire time we¡¯ve been in here.¡±

    I squinted, trying to follow the direction of Wren¡¯s finger. Briefly the shimmer of a crystal closer to a blue than the milky white of the rest surrounding it drew my attention. It was smaller than a fingernail, and at least ten metres in front of us. I was glad Tam had been leading us because I wouldn¡¯t have even noticed it if I¡¯d been standing right before it. That¡¯s if it was a trap. But it wasn¡¯t like it was worth risking our lives to assume otherwise. It was a distinct and deliberate change to the maze. We had to approach it as if it was a risk.

    Jye held a flat hand above their brow, eyes searching for the same crystal. With a huff, they folded their arms in defeat. Pitying them, I gave them a general description of where the crystal was and they muttered their appreciation.

    Afterwards, I suggested, ¡°We turn around then?¡±

    Tam shook her head. ¡°Better to trigger the trap than leave it alone. That way if we need an escape route, we can always backtrack.¡±

    I didn¡¯t like that she was anticipating us fleeing something in the future, but at the very least it suggested she was actively looking out for the party. Or she could be trying to get one of us killed off by triggering the trap? God, it would have been so much easier if she hadn¡¯t attacked us. Though when I thought about it, I guess Axel had attacked her first in the cabin. Actually, he had been fairly intent on killing her. Fucking Axel.

    ¡°Jye, can you throw something and make it around the weight of a person?¡±

    The giant grinned and pulled a small bag of rubbish they¡¯d been collecting, having muttered under their breath about not being a litterbug. ¡°I knew this would come in handy.¡±

    I heard the static of an ability, and Jye weighed it carefully in their hand. Then they pulled their arm back, in the form of a shot putter, and pelted it forward. It flew from their hand, and at its top arc Jye applied four more Loads and it plummeted to the floor just around the blue embedded crystal, rolling ever so slowly forward. I took a step closer cautiously, trying to get a better look.

    Both the team behind me and myself waited with bated breath for some reaction.

    Nothing.

    Axel snorted. ¡°Well, that was disappointing.¡±

    ¡°I guess we turn around then,¡± I said with a sigh.

    The heavied bag of rubbish came to a halt about a ruler¡¯s length past the blue crystal. There was a small click. The entire party was once again staring down the walled pathway. Then came the ticking, a consistent soft tock like that of a watch hand. A countdown? Had whatever designed this labyrinth given the potential victim a chance to escape the trap? It would make for more drama, that was for sure. Fit in with the whole streaming theory.

    Another click.

    We watched on, eyes wide, unsure what would follow.

    And then all hell was set loose.

 Chapter Thirteen | When Walls Come Down

    At first it seemed like the maze walls just disappeared down the path.

    What actually happened made just as much sense. They splintered to tiny little pieces, the shards so infinitesimally small that it looked like nothing more than a shimmer of air, like the haze in the distance on a hot humid day. The sound was unlike anything I¡¯d ever heard. A combination of the roar of thunder and a million tiny pings. All in the matter of a millisecond.

    Then the shockwave came. An explosion of displaced air carrying with it a cloud of crystal fragments. I had barely enough time to close my eyes as the thunder hit my body, throwing me off my feet. I crashed to the floor, wind leaving my lungs. The shards glanced across exposed skin, slicing through clothing. The crystalline glitter whooshed over us, biting into flesh, sending dozens of signals of papercut pain through me.

    Death by a thousand cuts.

    As breath re-entered my lungs with a sting, I activated [Channel] to borrow Axel¡¯s [Thick Hide]. The warm layer slid effortlessly around me. At the back of my mind, the constant soft pip of my HP going down slowed. I was currently sitting at 15 HP. The initial blast had done the most damage so far. However, three of my party members didn¡¯t have the advantage of Axel¡¯s ability. And it didn¡¯t seem like the aftereffects of the explosion were softening. But it couldn¡¯t last forever¡­

    Could it?

    A surge of desire to protect my party came over me.

    Worried about what the crystals could do to my eyes, I kept my lids squeezed tight. With the wind still whipping wildly around us, assumedly with accompanying glass shards, I reached behind me for my party, hoping I¡¯d taken some of the brunt of the explosion. My hands touched the warmth of someone¡¯s torso and I wriggled towards them, stretching my arms out, to pull them closer. If we all bunched together, it meant less surface area for damage. It also meant I could be a bit of a shield for them. To do as much as I could.

    Through the howling wind, it was impossible to say anything, and I didn¡¯t imagine opening my mouth right now was a wise move. As ASMR crunchy I imagined the glitter flakes to be, the taste of blood was not something I wanted to revisit. The party member huddled in next to me, pressing their form tightly against mine. I blindly patted their body down then I found an arm that led to a hand, and grabbed it. Then I army-crawled forward, dragging them with me. After a moment, I felt their presence again by my side. Judging by their physique, it seemed like Axel, which was weird because Tam should¡¯ve been closer.

    Speaking of that cutthroat, I¡¯d definitely let Tam have a piece of my mind after this since this had been her idea.

    Slowly, we pushed ahead, the hurricane of crystal shards still lashing over us, and we came to another body, shaking against the current of wind. By her distinct shape, I could tell it was Tam. Without speaking, Axel split off from me and I took to the other side of her. I assumed he¡¯d also activated [Thick Hide]. Shielding her with our bodies, like a teepee of men, I grabbed her hand and dragged. She moved with us. Briefly, I considered my HP. I was now at 13.

    Still the torrent continued. I was worried about Wren, so small that she was. I hoped she hadn¡¯t been thrown beyond where we could find her. Shuffling forward, keeping Tam between us, we eventually came to another party member. As hands connected with flesh, it became obvious it was Jye on their knees, bent forward, rather than clinging to the floor like us. I tried to pull them down, but they wouldn¡¯t budge.

    Clenching my fists, I battered at Jye¡¯s back, trying to make them move, but still nothing. Could they be protecting Wren? She¡¯d been closest to them when the explosion had happened.

    Risking it, I inched open an eye to check and realised it helped little. It was like a smog of sparkling white dust whipping about us. There was no sound. Just a constant bur of hissing wind. Even Jye, who was right before me, was absolutely sheathed in the clouds of shards. I clenched my eye shut almost immediately.

    Jye wasn¡¯t an idiot and they cared about the young girl. I weighed up my options. Technically, we¡¯d still not found Wren. It was highly possible that she was what Jye was guarding. Unless she¡¯d been blown back further from the shockwave, which was also somewhat likely.

    If I left the party to go search for her, it¡¯d mean Axel would bear the brunt of shielding duties, but it also meant everyone else would still take a fair bit of damage. Add to that, on my own, I¡¯d be unlikely to last long either. I needed Axel to shoulder half. But if Wren was still out there, she would likely die if this crystal tornado continued any longer.

    All I wanted to do was protect them. But I couldn¡¯t protect them all.

    God, this was fucked up. Someone¡¯s life was literally in my hands. This wasn¡¯t even the first time. Axel had nearly died by my hand. Jye had nearly killed Tam at my request. I¡¯d nearly let myself accept oblivion. It was insane this responsibility kept falling onto my shoulders. But no one in my party had actually been lost yet.

    Which meant I had to be doing something right.

    [Thick Hide] dropped my standard [MANA] pool to just 10. I took a deep breath. Firmly, I told myself that Jye had reacted in time. That beneath them was Wren, safe and sound, and that she wasn¡¯t being shredded to bits in the crystal hurricane. She was safe. I repeated it again and again in my head.

    Now it was my job to keep everyone else alive. To protect them.

    Swearing under my breath, I pulled myself closer to Jye, leaving half of Tam to the elements, and opening myself back up to the wind. It fought against my movements, buffeting me. The heavy pressure of its current was like hands pummeling me down again and again. Gritting my teeth, I struggled to prop myself up, sweat drenching me under my clothes. My muscles burned, and I managed to make it to my knees.

    Reaching back, I grabbed for Tam. I pulled her up, and blindly positioned her over Jye¡¯s bent form. In a detached thought, I realised this was like posing figurines. This limb goes here, that one there. Eventually it felt like Tam was huddled over Jye as much as she could. I moved to grab Axel but found my hand patting empty space. Where the fuck had he gone?

    I hadn¡¯t panicked yet. In fact, I¡¯d been uncharacteristically calm.

    But without Axel, this wouldn¡¯t work. He needed to be the other half of this. I needed him. The familiar slippery slope of a panic attack began to wind its way through my limbs. My chest, beyond the crystal haze, was tightening, my lungs beginning to fail, body tightening. We¡¯d fail. Everyone would die.

    Tam shuddered next to me, clearly fighting back pain.

    I froze.

    No. Jye and Wren needed protection. Tam needed protection. I couldn¡¯t break. Not now. I steeled my mind and gritted my teeth.

    Axel was here, somewhere. Definitely.

    Breathe in; one, two, three, four, five, six.

    My happy place.

    Axel was probably just outside my reach. He would be there. Together we could do this. We could keep them safe. Because as much as Axel pissed me off, he was just always there. Even when he didn¡¯t want to be. Even after he¡¯d stopped being my friend. He was still there. I could trust that, if there was nothing else.

    I breathed out; one, two, three, four.

    Then I moved.

    I positioned myself adjacent to Tam and Jye, and I wrapped myself over them, trying to cover their bodies as much as I could with my own. I stretched my arms out around them and squeezed to ensure we¡¯d remain together. The relief of having the front of my torso once again away from the stinging bites of the glittery gale coursed through me immediately, though I could still feel it spraying shards at my backside. As I pressed my head into the nook of Tam¡¯s neck to protect my face, fingers threaded between my own.

    Reassurance trickled through me. I didn¡¯t see it, but I knew. Axel had taken the opposite position of me on the Tam-Jye-Wren huddle pile. The warmth emanating from the rest of my party¡¯s bodies was oddly comforting. It allowed me to focus on something other than the painful lashing on my back.

    I could keep shielding them for a while since my health was only at 11 HP right now and hadn¡¯t dropped much since we¡¯d formed our huddle. With the five of us against the storm, we¡¯d last.

    We¡¯d survive.

    We remained like that for what felt like days. The gusts eventually let up though by then my body had since cramped into the position I was holding, my muscles screaming in exhaustion. Even if I wanted to, I couldn¡¯t have let go or moved. I was vaguely aware of my health sitting at 3 HP when Axel¡¯s fingers finally untwined from mine.

    Tam¡¯s elbow found my face, smacking me right in the jaw. The pain exploded my mind into wakefulness.

    ¡°Get off me!¡±

    Locked into position, I fell back, stiff like a statue. Tam sprung up, her brows furrowed in anger.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t ask you to do that!¡± she huffed, brushing shards from her clothes. They made a soft jangle as they landed on the floor. Speak of ungrateful. My brain was still foggy from the [MANA] cap and exhausted from trying to stay awake so I was unable to make any sort of witty retort.

    Jye¡¯s torso unfolded following her release to reveal an unconscious Wren¡¯s body curled up into a ball before them.

    Just like the wind had lifted, so too did the unease inside me. Wren was fine. I¡¯d made the right decision. Control started to tendril back into my body. Everything had gone¡­ well, worse than expected, but better than it could¡¯ve.

    That didn¡¯t mean we¡¯d come out unscathed. Everyone looked in pretty bad shape, with scrapes and cuts lining every inch of skin, most no longer bleeding, but in some you could clearly see where the crystal fragments had embedded themselves into the wounds. I probably didn¡¯t look too crash hot either. The pip of a single HP returning made me sigh.

    ¡°How you doing, boss?¡± asked Axel.

    His back was to me, looking at the remnants of the maze wall ahead. His shirt had been ripped to shreds and the beginnings of a mottled green-black bruise was starting to bloom beneath the dozens of cuts. I grimaced in secondhand pain.

    ¡°Better than you, apparently,¡± I said.

    Jye laughed, ¡°Yeah, think again on that, man.¡±

    I frowned, and turned my head to check my back. It was an almost exact replica of the massacre on Axel¡¯s, shreds and bruises and all, but somehow mine seemed redder and angrier, blood slicking down it. Well, duh, I¡¯d obviously taken more damage given my lower health range.

    ¡°One of us is going to have to change,¡± Axel said.

    As if seeing them made them real, the pain came back. Whatever had been keeping the ramifications of such injuries away from my cerebral system, adrenaline or else-wise, was long gone now, replaced with a weird contentedness and an indescribable pain that exploded from my back.

    I blacked out.

    ¡°Are you feeling better?¡¯ Wren asked, the warmth of her hand leaving the small of my back. The soft green glow lighting up the back of my eyelids faded.

    Laying face down onto the cold crystal floor, I let out a non-committal groan. The pain had definitely faded, but unlike when Wren had healed me before I still felt an ache deep in my bones. I guess healing had its limits. Though maybe I was just getting old. Wren looked exhausted too, the bags under her eyes even worse than before. I¡¯d told myself we¡¯d stop relying so much on her abilities, but maybe that was impossible.

    Still the guilt about choosing to sacrifice her for the good of the party gnarled talons into my gut. But at least this time I¡¯d made a choice. This time I¡¯d chosen this path. The blame truly was mine.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said, not meeting her eyes.

    ¡°About what?¡±

    Axel scoffed from somewhere to my right. ¡°He thought he left you to die.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡±

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Sometimes I wanted to feel the tender flesh of Axel¡¯s throat between my hands and to squeeze until he was forever silent. The man had literally zero tact. Though I guess that was part of his charm. Or at least that¡¯s what others would have you believe.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know for sure Jye had you,¡± I admitted.

    She was quiet for a moment. I looked up to check her expression which was in deep thought. Again, I was reminded of how mature she was for her age. Any other kid would¡¯ve started crying knowing that I¡¯d all but abandoned them. God, I had abandoned her. After all my bluster and posturing, after everything I¡¯d promised myself, the second thing¡¯s got hard, I¡¯d tossed her aside for someone else to save. What a shit person I was.

    ¡°I understand,¡± she finally said with a small sad smile.

    That was worse than her breaking down. No kid should feel like they were replaceable. The loss of Chrissie was something that had ruined me. Thinking on it, losing Wren would¡¯ve destroyed me too. But that was a selfish thought. I should only be thinking about Wren right now. She must feel utterly distraught. I opened my mouth up to apologise further, to make things right.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t understand,¡± Jye said to my left.

    With their words, they slapped me over the top of my head. It was so sudden I barely had time to even comprehend what had happened. As the force snapped my head down, my jaw closed, causing me to bite my tongue. The metallic taste of iron filled my mouth. My HP dropped down by 1 accompanied by a ringing sounded in my ears. It was the same pain as hitting your head on a shelf as you stood up, stinging and knowing it¡¯d leave a bump. Hissing in pain, I sat up.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± I said, clutching at my new injury.

    Jye¡¯s thick red brows furrowed and they folded their arms. ¡°Wren¡¯s just a kid. She can¡¯t stand up for herself. You should know better.¡±

    My head smarted, but deep down I felt I deserved it. Punishment for being a weak person. I had to rely on someone else to protect the people I wanted to keep safe. That acknowledgement was worse than the pain from Jye¡¯s hit.

    ¡°I trusted you had her.¡±

    They stared at me, green eyes narrowed in thought. Then they let out a sigh, long and tired. I didn¡¯t think anything could disappoint Jye. They seemed like the type of person that held no expectations in others. But plain as day what I saw in their gaze was the same look a parent might give a child who¡¯d broken a glass, but brushed the fragments beneath a nearby bed frame. Guilt rippled in me, a vile black inkiness.

    ¡°It won¡¯t happen again,¡± I said.

    And I meant it. There was no point in wanting to protect others if one didn¡¯t have the strength to back it up. I¡¯d have to get stronger, have to get smarter. It should be possible. It probably wouldn¡¯t have been a week ago. But now¡­ Everything was different. Hell, I was different. Or at least I was trying to be. I needed to think more. To consider other things. There was probably something I had missed that would¡¯ve assured me of Wren¡¯s safety.

    Fuck. Of course. The system. If Jye hadn¡¯t been protecting her, we would¡¯ve been alerted when her health reached critical condition. It might not have been enough time to save her, but she also had [Healing Hand], so long as she was conscious, she would¡¯ve been able to hold out while we had searched for her.

    ¡°That¡¯s what they always say,¡± Jye rolled their eyes.

    Axel reached a hand out to me while replying to them, ¡°Come on, as much as I enjoy Lee squirming, I think that¡¯s enough. He already feels like shit. Look at him.¡±

    Jye¡¯s gaze flicked over to me.

    ¡°Oh, yeah, I see it. He looks like shit too.¡±

    I sighed. ¡°You guys are really mean, you know.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s any consolation, you don¡¯t always look like shit,¡± Axel said with a grin.

    Tam, who¡¯d been silent since her upset, cackled to herself. Great, I was the joke of the party. Even Wren seemed to be smiling. At least the mood had lifted.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take that, I guess,¡± I replied, standing up and brushing myself off.

    My body groaned in disapproval. God, I needed another rest, but with our delay because of the trap we¡¯d lost half a day, if not more. It was difficult to tell when the sun didn¡¯t move. The watch on my wrist confirmed that at least five hours had passed. We¡¯d sat in the shard storm for far too long. Filling my lungs with a deep breath, I began to walk towards the now obliterated segment of the labyrinth. The trap was dealt with, so we might as well go forward. Perhaps we¡¯d leave this behind us as well.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, you know,¡± Wren said to my back.

    I turned to gauge her expression. Shockingly, she did seem okay. I hoped she wasn¡¯t disassociating. That was a slippery slope to apathy and depression. Kneeling to her eye level, I replied, ¡°You don¡¯t have to be. You¡¯re allowed to be angry.¡±

    She shrugged. ¡°Life¡¯s too short to be angry at mistakes. Especially since it¡¯s the end of the world as we know it.¡±

    ¡°From the mouth of babes,¡± Axel commented.

    ¡°Either way, I am sorry. I¡¯ll do better next time.¡±

    Tam scoffed. ¡°Men. Can¡¯t live with them, can¡¯t live with them.¡±

    ¡°Preach it, sister,¡± Jye said, snapping their finger in a Z formation.

    I repressed a groan. Maybe dying would be better than this.

    While the labyrinth wall had been blown through, with the new edges of the crystalline structure buffed to a beautiful shine from the participle flurry, on the other side still lay more walls, simply just another path. It did not fill me with any reassurance. Because all that meant was this place could be endless, even with any number of traps triggered and walls obliterated.

    As a safety precaution, we¡¯d placed Tam in frontline again so her eyes could catch any more errant crystals, and we could avoid another similar trap. Unfortunately, that meant she was standing before me and every now and again would glance back with such pure hatred that I could feel it boring a hole into my skull.

    Honestly, I was a little afraid to meet her eyes. The animosity in them was feral. I had no idea what I¡¯d done to afford this antagonism, but I was not about to ask either. If anything, it made me thankful I¡¯d added the no-hurting¨Cthe-party clause to that collar. Point to me on that.

    After continuing walking for a few more hours, mostly in silence, our injuries slowly ticking up in regeneration, it became apparent this was not working. Or rather that this was working far too slowly. This labyrinth wasn¡¯t just a maze. It was a war of attrition. Whoever or whatever was in charge of it had cut off our access to resources, and had us locked in fundamentally the same location.

    I stared forward, my left hand still against the cool gem wall. Up ahead the path split into a T. It was as good a place as any to do this. Tam stopped a few metres down the track at the junction, eyeing the walls with slitted brown eyes.

    I said with a clap of my hands, ¡°All right. New plan.¡±

    The others paused to hear my next words.

    ¡°We cheat.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, sure, that¡¯s going to go down well. Let¡¯s cheat at the game that can teleport us to random third locations and give us superpowers.¡±

    I ignored Axel.

    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not really cheating.¡± I paused. Was it? There hadn¡¯t been any rules we¡¯d been given. ¡°There¡¯s no knowing how big this maze is. I just want us to get our bearings and check the scope. And just you and Jye alone would clear the wall¡¯s height if you stood on each other¡¯s shoulders.¡±

    Jye held their hands up in rejection. ¡°Not gonna happen.¡±

    ¡°Come on, you¡¯re both easily the tallest in our party.¡±

    With a shrug, Axel said, ¡°I¡¯m game.¡±

    The giant¡¯s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

    ¡°Jye¡­¡± I said, in a hopefully guilt-inducing tone. ¡°Do it for the party.¡±

    An extended groan left their mouth, and then they took a knee. Getting this party to work together was like pulling teeth. Axel grinned in a way that probably more suited a villain, then he clambered intentionally roughly over Jye¡¯s legs, stomping his boots into the giant¡¯s thigh. The flat dead look in Jye¡¯s eyes told me all I needed to know about how much they were regretting this.

    Without warning, the redhead stood with a ¡°hyup,¡± knocking Axel off balance. They didn¡¯t even bother to lift their arms to support him. Was everyone in this party petty? Now half bent over Jye¡¯s head, he clung desperately to the giant¡¯s clothes, almost definitely swearing under his breath. Teetering slightly, he straightened, and grasping at Jye¡¯s head, climbed onto their shoulders.

    Looking out over the wall¡¯s tops, he whistled.

    ¡°You want the good news or the bad news?¡±

    ¡°Surprise me.¡±

    ¡°I can see the cabin. And I think I see other people.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°Which of those is the good news?¡±

    He shrugged.

    Well, other people was a huge question mark. If they were like Tam had been, they might be given requests to attack us. They could be like us and simply trying to figure everything out. A big old ¡°fuck you¡± to our plan of simply looking for the exit.

    ¡°We done?¡± Jye asked.

    Axel¡¯s gaze met mine and I stared at him, irritation beginning to grow. As if reading my thoughts, he rolled his eyes, and placed one of his hands across his brows, cutting the sun out of his sight. The rest of us waited for more information.

    ¡°They¡¯re travelling in a group of three. I can¡¯t tell any details. They¡¯re headed that way,¡± he said, pointing to the right of the T-junction.

    In a bit too much of a calculated manner, Tam inquired, ¡°Far away?¡±

    She almost certainly did not want to know the answer to wish them well. Axel shook his hand in that middling yes-no gesture. ¡°Not close enough to hear us, I don¡¯t think.¡± Axel paused, and then cupped his hands around his mouth. ¡°Hey, fuckheads! Can you hear me?¡±

    My heart jumped into my throat and I shouted, ¡°Axel!¡±

    One day, he¡¯d be the death of us, I swore.

    He shook his head in extreme disappointment.

    ¡°They didn¡¯t even flinch.¡±

    I breathed in deep and then exhaled.

    ¡°Can you see the exit?¡±

    He swivelled at the waist, looking this way and that. Then, using his heels like stirrups, he nudged Jye to rotate as well. The redhead obliged, albeit with a look in their eyes that spoke of promised future vengeance. I wondered if in a past life maybe they¡¯d been enemies. It was really the only way I could explain the inherent distaste they had for each other. Sans their first meeting.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see one. The walls stretch on into the horizon. But there¡¯s another building over there,¡± he said, pointing behind us a fair distance rightwards. ¡°Looks like a small shrine?¡±

    It was unusual for a labyrinth not to have an exit. But then again, this place was pretty much magic and sci-fi in one. Still, it begged the question why we were still in range of the cabin. We¡¯d been walking for the better part of a day now. Even with all the twists and turns, we had to have made distance.

    ¡°How close is the cabin?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Maybe like a football field away?¡±

    That either meant one of two things. We¡¯d basically walked ourselves in a circle, or the cabin moved. Either were technically possible. It wasn¡¯t that much of a stretch to think the starting point might move. If the purpose of this was entertainment, placing all the entertainers in the same starting spot wouldn¡¯t have enough building tension. Watching us slowly getting closer, fighting to get the same goal was much more interesting.

    The goal had to be the shrine. With no exit, and the only two points of interest being the cabin and shrine¡­ Well, it didn¡¯t take a genius to connect the dots.

    Though the chance of running into the other group was high if not impossible to avoid if we decided to head towards the shrine. But there were five of us and three of them. If worse came to worse, by numbers we¡¯d be able to hold them off¡­ So long as they weren¡¯t stronger than us. With Tam, our composition was a little better balanced.

    ¡°Time¡¯s up,¡± Jye said, and shrugged Axel¡¯s feet from his shoulders. Static popped.

    Axel dropped like a dead weight to the ground, and the air expelled from his lungs from the impact. He just laid there for a moment, not moving, stunned. The rest of us didn¡¯t comment. For once, Axel hadn¡¯t really deserved this. That wasn¡¯t to say that Jye probably had their reasons behind hating him (hopefully just beyond the initial bad ¡°first¡± impression). But the dude had been giving us pretty useful intel. Feeling a little sorry for him, I reached down to help him up.

    He stared at my hand blankly and for just a moment I thought I saw his eyes redden, as if beginning to cry. Then he took my hand. He used it as leverage to pull himself up. By the time he was standing, his expression had returned to normal. At this point, I couldn¡¯t even figure out if his reaction had been because of what I¡¯d said at the cabin, or if it was a continuation of whatever was messed up with him.

    Regardless, since our failed heart to heart, I¡¯d sensed Axel had been keeping an emotional distance from me. Which was fair. I¡¯d fumbled hard with my approach. All I had wanted to do was get him to confide in me. But it had come out of me as fear. I wondered if I¡¯d ever find the right time to apologise. To explain that what I had hated then wasn¡¯t him, but myself.

    ¡°Still trying to hold hands?¡± he asked.

    I realised I hadn¡¯t let go and snatched my own back, irritated by my train of thought.

    ¡°It takes two to tango.¡±

    He snorted in response, a bemused expression now resting on his face. I¡¯d forgotten how soft he could look when he wasn¡¯t being an arrogant jerk. Probably because it¡¯d been years and years since he wasn¡¯t one. At least when he was around other people. Like a gong struck, a realisation hit me. The changes that Axel had been displaying weren¡¯t that he¡¯d become an entirely new person. They were Axel. But like the thin veneer of the mask he wore had been melted away, revealing who Axel truly was, but only every now and again. That was why I liked him more. He was the Axel I¡¯d¡­ well, the one I¡¯d lost.

    Whatever had happened to him, that he wouldn¡¯t share, had done this. My words came back to me: ¡°You¡¯ve become someone I don¡¯t know and I hate it.¡± Fuck. Fuck. I was so stupid. It was always Axel. I¡¯d just forgotten what he was actually like, under all the shit-eating grins and the cocky facade. This hidden Axel was why I¡¯d never truly given up on our friendship, even after Chrissie. It was the reason part of me had allowed the fear of failure, of never measuring up to everything he¡¯d become, to control me. Because I¡¯d hoped through it all the Axel I¡­ the Axel that I had been so close to was still there somewhere.

    And he was.

    And I¡¯d fucked it up.

    God, I was an idiot.

    ¡°I love watching baby queers¡¯ first steps as much as the next raging dyke, but there¡¯s a time and place, boys,¡± Tam said, crossing her arms. ¡°And it¡¯s not here or now.¡±

    Wren, who¡¯d been silent throughout the entire shoulder-scaling escapade, giggled.

    I didn¡¯t have the mental bandwidth to deal with her words, nor how Wren apparently understood them and found them funny. But Tam wasn¡¯t wrong. Whatever apology I owed Axel, now wasn¡¯t the appropriate time. We¡¯d ignore the whole ¡°queers¡¯ first steps¡± thing. Mostly because A: Axel had long since been out of the closet, and did not think about me like that, as was evidenced by the twenty-eight years we knew each other, and B: sometimes it felt like being ace didn¡¯t even count as being part of the community.

    ¡°Point taken,¡± I said.

    Axel¡¯s mouth opened to say something, but I knew it wouldn¡¯t be good, so I cut him off.

    ¡°Who¡¯s up for a little more semi-cheating?¡±

    Jye crossed their buff arms over their chest, taking a rather stalwart stance.

    ¡°He¡¯s not standing on my shoulders again.¡±

    ¡°No, trust me, I think you¡¯re gonna like this,¡± I said with a grin.

 Chapter Fourteen | Give Them an Inch

    Jye¡¯s face was crinkled with delight.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t what I would¡¯ve suggested,¡± Axel said as Jye applied two Loads to him, and then hefted him up over their shoulder like he was just a down-filled pillow. Then, taking far too much pleasure, they grabbed Axel by the scruff of his shirt. Their arm muscles rippled as they yeeted the blond up at the top of the maze wall.

    I half expected him to hit an invisible barrier, like an out of bounds stopper in a game, and bounce back. But he landed on top without issue, albeit ungracefully.

    Scrambling, Axel grabbed for purchase. He landed on his stomach, his legs and arms dangling on each side of the labyrinth divider. I could hear a few choice words he was calling Jye as he calmed down. The gravity taking hold of him again was clearly perceptible when Jye released their ability from Axel¡¯s body. After a breath, he stood, testing out the top of the wall for firmness. Axel stomped his foot down, once, twice, and then three times, then shrugged. He shot me and the others a thumbs up.

    ¡°Looks dece.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s next on the block?¡± Jye asked.

    One by one, Jye lightened us and threw us up onto the top of the wall until it was only them standing down there. Surprisingly, when Axel had been in the sporting goods section of Kmart he¡¯d picked up some rope. Which had been a stunningly good idea. As a team, we lowered the end of the rope. Jye applied Load to themself, and pulled themself up as we remained anchorage. Yes, we all could¡¯ve used the rope after Axel got up there, but I didn¡¯t want to ruin Jye¡¯s fun. You gotta let people get the joy out of the small things, or you run the risk of never wanting to enjoy life again. Not to say I had been there. Well¡­

    Eventually, all of us ended up atop the wall.

    From there I could see that the maze walls stretched as far as the eye could see, disappearing in hazy lines as the curve of the world hid the true expanse from us. It really simply never ended. That proved that. There was no exit to the labyrinth. Not that I didn¡¯t trust Axel¡¯s word, but also I didn¡¯t trust his word. I guess the shrine was the only option left.

    I turned to check the direction Axel had previously said the other people were in. Just vaguely I could see the blurry humanoid shapes. It was incredibly difficult to make out anything in more detail, though it appeared one was slightly smaller than the others. Part of me was hoping it wasn¡¯t a child. Still, if it was only us and them in here, then our chances were still pretty good with clearing the Dungeon. Axel had to have known the trio was so far away they wouldn¡¯t hear us. He¡¯d just acted like that to be an asshole.

    Pinching at the bridge of my nose, I scanned for the shrine.

    It wasn¡¯t difficult to find.

    To the side Axel had indicated, in a depressed level of the ground, there sat a stone shrine glowing faintly blue from the candles lit upon its offering porch. It was reminiscent of a Shinto shrine, but had none of the red gates. It was also unlabeled, not depicting to whom or what it was dedicated to. If I were being honest, it looked like a poor asset flip, much like the cabin. Other than the otherworldly gem maze, everything else in this Dungeon lacked imagination and creativity, almost like whoever had designed it had been been following a tutorial and had just been fucking around in the developing program.

    ¡°This way,¡± I said, and I mentally plotted out our pathway to the shrine.

    Being on top of the walls gave us the advantage of seeing more, but it also made it more difficult to get to certain places because of the gaps that turns and splits added to our pathway. That said, it would be easier progress and we would actually feel like we were advancing towards something rather than wandering aimlessly.

    It was amazing what increased morale did for the human spirit.

    Wren started playing I Spy and eventually cajoled us all to join. Though initially petulant, Tam also joined in, won over by the cheer in Wren¡¯s voice. Given the simple environment we were in, the game didn¡¯t last long, ending when we looped back to Jye who again chose to spy the pockets on the backpack of Wren¡¯s bag, who was walking in front of them. We moved through a gauntlet of other spoken games until we were worn out from speaking. Instead, we walked in silence as the blue shimmer of the shrine¡¯s candles grew brighter and brighter on our approach.

    ¡°Kinda reminds me of when I went to Nara,¡± Jye mentioned, cupping a hand over their brow.

    ¡°Of course you¡¯ve been to Japan,¡± Axel said, none too dryly.

    For once Axel¡¯s reaction was understandable. He¡¯d been talking up a trip to Japan for years now, adding all these visits to his itinerary and scheduling events that he literally kept an Excel spreadsheet of. Since Axel used his leave almost as soon as he accrued it, he hadn¡¯t been able to save enough to cover the length of trip he¡¯d wanted. He usually preferred one or two day trips to exotic locations, like when he¡¯d supposedly met Jye. The past few years, he¡¯d been a bit more precious and had almost hit two weeks of paid leave before the Gates. The last tabs I saw open on his phone were airline websites. It had to smart that he¡¯d never be able to live out the vacation of his dreams.

    ¡°My parents took me there once,¡± Wren said. ¡°I don¡¯t remember much, but the food was really good.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t even get me started on the food, man,¡± Jye sighed, an expression of mourning crossing their face. ¡°God, I miss it all so much. Matsuri yakisoba and takoyaki, all-you-can-eat yakiniku and nomihodai, combini onigiri and sandos, the hidden gems of ekibentos, a vending machine around every corner, single stall ramen booths, Mr. Donut¡¯s Pon de Rings¡­ Euuuugh, even just the cheapest conveyor belt sushi with complimentary green tea on tap¡­¡±

    Curious, I asked, ¡°How long did you visit?¡±

    They shook their head. ¡°I worked there for a year. Went more rural where none of the younger people want to stay, but it was a damn dream.¡±

    ¡°Where¡¯d you go?¡±

    ¡°Ibaraki.¡±

    Axel snorted. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that listed as the least attractive prefecture several years in a row?¡±

    ¡°Less tourists, less traffic.¡± They shrugged and then grinned. ¡°Pure cultural immersion.¡±

    I checked Axel¡¯s expression and his face was scrunched into bitter jealousy.

    ¡°Babes, it¡¯s nothing to cry home about,¡± Tam said. ¡°It¡¯s just like any other place in the world. Just more difficult to get around if you can¡¯t speak a lick of the language.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been too?¡± Axel inquired, the envy almost greening his face.

    She seemed startled for a moment, and then crossed her arms, her brows furrowed. ¡°That¡¯s nunya.¡±

    Clearing my throat, trying to steer Axel from exploding, I said, ¡°My dream destination would probably be Antarctica.¡±

    This earned a concerned look from each of my party members. Well, it was where I had wanted to go. Before the Gates. But I guess if someone asked me that now, my answer would be different. All I really wanted to do was go back to my hometown and see my parents. Back before all this, I hadn¡¯t really thought of visiting them for awhile now. Typically, I saw them during Christmas and spent a couple days in Charleville. But it was only September. I wouldn¡¯t have even thought about scheduling the trip for another month.

    ¡°Oh, honey,¡± Tam said, and it was almost like she genuinely pitied me. That said, I didn¡¯t know her that well, so it could just as well be scorn. She was hard to read. And something told me she preferred it that way. I wondered where the animosity she¡¯d held towards me had disappeared to. Maybe through the silence, she¡¯d reflected? Or maybe she wasn¡¯t one to hold a grudge. Some other people in our group could learn a thing or two from her (hint: it¡¯s Jye).

    I still didn¡¯t know what I¡¯d done to earn her ire. She¡¯d seemed pretty chill before the whole wall explosion. Was it because we¡¯d all be huddled up and she wasn¡¯t fond of physical touch?

    Oh, I guess I hadn¡¯t told her I asexual. Maybe she thought I was feeling her up the entire time. How did I even clear up that, if it was what she¡¯d been angry at me about? ¡°Sorry for touching you while saving your life¡±? ¡°I do not find you sexually attractive, so me touching you was not inappropriate¡±? Well, if she¡¯d forgiven me, or forgotten it, it might just be best I let the whole matter go too.

    In response to her comment, with my tone definitely not being defensive at all, I said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with wanting to go to Antarctica?¡±

    ¡°Is there anything¡­ to do there?¡±

    I turned to cast an accusing glare at Wren. ¡°Of course. There¡¯s nature tours.¡±

    ¡°What nature?¡± Jye asked.

    ¡°Penguins and seals.¡±

    ¡°Right.¡±

    Of course, the number one real reason I had wanted to go to Antarctica was because Axel wouldn¡¯t be there, and I wouldn¡¯t be expected to be a human being. I could just do nothing. I think part of me had always been dreaming about escaping the monotony of life I¡¯d crafted for myself, but never had the guts to do it. The others wouldn¡¯t hear me say that. ¡°Come on, guys, really, Antarctica is cool.¡±

    ¡°Like from a distance, yeah,¡± Jye said.

    Wren¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°Isn¡¯t it night time for half the year there?¡±

    I flung my hand out, aware that now that I was speaking with over exaggerated actions. ¡°That¡¯s part of the charm. No risk of sunburn.¡±

    Tam snorted, as she tucked an errant braid behind her ear. ¡°You¡¯re literally BIPOC. You¡¯re telling me you slip slop slap?¡±

    ¡°I¨C Just because I don¡¯t, doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m immune to sunburn.¡±

    ¡°Always thought you were more the Arctic kind,¡± Axel said, and through the back-and-forth I realised this was the first time he¡¯d spoken since I¡¯d suggested my ¡°dream destination.¡± He couldn¡¯t possibly know what it meant to me. Axel had stopped trying to understand me ever since Chrissie passed. Once he knew me like I was his reflection, but that¡¯d been when we were kids. Yeah, I¡¯d adored him when we were children, and it¡¯d been mutual. We¡¯d been practically attached at the hip. Back then, I¡¯d thought¡­ No, I didn¡¯t like thinking too much about the time when our friendship had been at its strongest. The memories just made me feel nauseous. Because in almost all of them Chrissie was there somewhere.

    ¡°Same diff,¡± I replied.

    Jye blinked in offence. ¡°Excuse-a moi?¡±

    I shrugged. ¡°They¡¯re basically mirror reflections, just on opposite sides of the globe.¡±

    ¡°The Arctic has cities,¡± Wren said. ¡°People actually live there.¡±

    I stared. ¡°People live in Antarctica too.¡±

    Jye folded their arms in judgement. ¡°Like¡­ five people. For a portion of the year. On a research station.¡±

    Everyone was now giving me a very worried look. I regretted bringing it up. At the very least Axel seemed to have forgotten his lost trip to Japan. So mission success on Operation Stop Axel From Having Another Mental Breakdown. Probably needed to workshop that name. Though even though I¡¯d pivoted the conversation topic, why didn¡¯t I feel very content? Under the weight of everyone¡¯s stares, the desire to further redirect the subject of conversation suddenly grew. I didn¡¯t need my party to dissect my inner fears like this. That depth of knowing me didn¡¯t even come with a lifetime membership.

    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    I cleared my throat, glancing around as we walked.

    ¡°I spy with my little eye¡­¡±

    A collective groan sprung up from the group, especially considering that it looked like the shrine might be one more hour with all the detours we had to take by following the top of the walls.

    As I searched, I repeated, ¡°I spy with my little eye¡­¡± I frowned, squinting into the distance to our left side. ¡°A fireball?¡±

    The silent ball of fire was jettisoning towards us, closing the distance at an alarming rate. If I hadn¡¯t noticed, given how relaxed and vulnerable we¡¯d been, one of us would¡¯ve been taken off-guard and hit for certain. At its trajectory, so long as we avoided where it would go, we¡¯d be fine. Silently, we parted, the party splitting in half with Tam, Axel, and me on the left and Jye and Wren on the right.

    The party¡¯s collective gaze watched as the fireball approached the gap we left for it to pass through. It sailed right by us, the searing heat warming my arms, the hiss of its flames dancing in the air. The ball¡¯s arc was descending slightly. Axel held a flat hand to his brow and narrowed his gaze, trailing its path with his eyes long after it had passed any danger to us. The fireball dipped between a pair of walls a few metres away from us, its flight coming to an end out of our sight.

    ¡°Well, that was anticlimactic,¡± Jye said.

    ¡°Absolutely piss poor performance,¡± Tam agreed.

    Wren folded her arms in consternation. ¡°Yeah, it was a bit boring.¡±

    It was also the first example of range magic we¡¯d seen bar Jye throwing his magicked ranged weapons. And this particular fireball had not been very effective. Part of me was glad none of our party was primarily a ranged damage spellcaster.

    I glanced in the direction the fireball must¡¯ve originated from but saw nothing.

    At the very least, the spellcaster had quite an impressive reach. Though with an attack like that, it seemed like a shittier class category. Maybe we should avoid getting a spellcaster in our party. If we looked at it from a performance and entertainment perspective, range magic wasn¡¯t that interesting either which meant less XP. The only time range magic was fun to witness was when there were pyrotechnics and explosions. The whole shebang.

    Axel said, ¡°Must¡¯ve been one of the three other players I spotted.¡±

    ¡°Must be. Eyes out for future attacks everyone.¡±

    That answered one of my questions; the other players were not like us. They were more similar to Tam. Ready to kill and attack for whatever they wanted. They¡¯d done a terrible job of it, but incompetence didn¡¯t mask their intent. It was clear they were on the offensive. I hadn¡¯t been ready to let Jye kill Tam, not fully. But this other party¡­ If it was kill or be killed, I knew what I¡¯d choose if worse came to worse.

    We continued on, a speed in our step that hadn¡¯t previously been there. The silence between us was anxious, quivering. The attack, as pathetic as it was, had changed the tone. It had sharply brought into relief the fact that this was still dangerous. That was something we had forgotten in our pursuit of the shrine. Influenced by the high of discovering a superior tactic to achieve our goals, we¡¯d lost sight of reality.

    We couldn¡¯t let that happen again. Despite the human need for highs and lows, and rest and joy, some part of my brain had to remain on alert at all times. There was no skill or shortcut to learning this new thought process. Just pure practice.

    I wondered what Mrs. Brown would think of my intentional choice to compartmentalise my actual thoughts.

    Well, what did that matter now?

    The world was different. Everything was different. Thinking differently was just one part of fitting in now.

    As we walked, every now and then I¡¯d glance back in the direction the fireball had originated from, hoping to catch a glimpse of our wannabe attackers. But I had no luck. They were either incredibly skilled in hiding or, like my previous assumption, their range was out of this world. When I¡¯d seen them before they¡¯d seemed pretty far away, considering I could only make out their silhouettes.

    But that thought would have to wait for later.

    We¡¯d finally arrived above the temple.

    Its presence as it loomed before us was daunting. A fog seemed to cling around the area directly surrounding it, as if warning us that danger lurked within. The candles flickered without wind, their cool blue flames dancing wildly, the melting wax and lit wicks never shortening; each of them like a cinemagraph. The air smelled damp, almost like mildew or mould, but there was no water or moisture visible. Like the terminator line between day and night, the two biomes of the misty temple and desert sun clashed, blurring together to form something less than the sum of its parts. A dirty mush of atmospheres. Someone needed to get the smudge tool and go ham on their blending.

    Our party stood there for a second, closer than we¡¯d ever been to completing the Dungeon, letting the moment sink in. Fuck. Maybe we could do it. We could clear it. Hell, maybe we¡¯d be more like Kimi who¡¯d cleared their Dungeon than Riku who¡­ could be dead.

    The thought gave me pause. We¡¯d heard no announcements about any other Dungeon since we¡¯d entered ours. Were we¡­ cut off from the outside world when we were in here in more ways than I¡¯d originally thought? Did time even pass in the Dungeons? Or were notifications about external events forcibly filtered out to ensure we focused on our own ¡°show¡±?

    Axel looked about ready to say something, his own blond brows furrowed in consideration.

    ¡°Hello, strangers!¡±

    It was a voice I did not recognize in the slightest, the accent so foreign to my ears I wasn¡¯t sure the words were even being spoken in English. And I couldn¡¯t pinpoint the origin either. If pressed, I¡¯d have probably said something between Korean and Irish with perhaps a dash of New York in some vowels.

    As a unit, we angled our heads, looking straight down from our position atop the wall, interrobangs etched above us.

    Gesticulating wildly below us was a short person wearing an overcoat that¡¯d make the biblical Joseph jealous from its flashy design. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, the fabric gradating texture and colour in a way I couldn¡¯t comprehend, almost shifting as I watched. I frowned, wondering if I was seeing things.

    ¡°Are you coming here?¡± Again, there was that bizarre accent.

    We continued to stare. There was no air of hostility about the stranger, and we were all caught off guard by how harmless and yet completely alien the person appeared. Built like a barrel, as wide at the shoulders as at the hips, the newcomer held a hand to a brow to cut out the sun. Above that brow was a beauty mark, ala Angela Jolie. And from where we stood, it looked like the stranger¡¯s eyes and hair were the same cosplayer silver, the latter of which was cropped close to the head. Perhaps the largest thing of note was a spattering of lighter skin amidst an overall darker copper hue; vitiligo.

    ¡°We were,¡± I replied, now wondering if that was a good choice.

    ¡°The name is Gigi! It is good to meet you. Xem¨C Hmmm. Xir? No. Xe would¡­ That is still not correct. Me would¨C No, it is I!¡± Xe punched into the air with a clenched fist to celebrate xir arrival at the correct personal pronoun. ¡°Sorry, your lingua franca is quite complicated. I would like to be your friend!¡±

    I¡¯d once considered Jye the golden retriever type, but this person¡­ It was like rocking up to a pedigree contest only to find out that you¡¯d entered a mutt. Jye was barely even a goldendoodle in comparison. In xir expression, there wasn¡¯t a hint of malice, no ulterior motive. Xir smile was serene, trusting. Welcoming and without any guile. Like some sort of celestial being from a fucked up avant garde indie film.

    ¡°I accidentally entered the Dungeon, and I have been waiting for help,¡± xe continued.

    Immediately, Axel was on the offensive. ¡°Yeah, sure, a likely story. Explain how you ended up here then.¡±

    ¡°I walked. The maze was quite large. You are all welcome to ask me any question you would like!¡±

    Hit with a seemingly infallible response, Axel froze, not expecting something so simple and unassuming. In his hesitation, Tam surged forward to take the interrogator¡¯s spotlight. She crossed her arms in front of her, her bosom under the knitted top propped above her forearms. I caught Jye¡¯s gaze drop to them for a moment. They seemed to be reappraising their attitude towards Tam as they did so. Though Jye was non-binary, something told me that Tam, as a self-proclaimed¡­ lesbian, wouldn¡¯t so much as bat an eye in their direction. I¡¯d witnessed Axel¡¯s cold disregard to those he wasn¡¯t interested in enough to recognise the same vibe from others.

    Speaking to Gigi, Tam drawled, ¡°Why haven¡¯t ya moseyed on into the shrine, huh?¡±

    ¡°I do not believe I would be sufficiently strong enough to succeed in completing the Dungeon.¡±

    The honest response, and new information, caused Tam¡¯s mouth to pucker up in consideration. It was a reasonable response. Perhaps xe had checked inside and found the challenge to be beyond xem. It was completely understandable. Especially when the alternative might very well be death.

    Jye¡¯s eyes now back on xem, they tilted their head. ¡°I¡¯ve only got one question.¡±

    ¡°Please ask! I am enjoying this conversation.¡±

    ¡°Can I have your coat?¡±

    Xir expression became sorrowful. ¡°You can not. This is my [REDACTED] I have left from [REDACTED]. I could not part with it.¡±

    Though the harsh blast of Jye¡¯s glitch had to smart, they simply mirrored the same emotion as Gigi, nodding, and then they bowed their head. They brought a closed fist to their chest and tapped it. ¡°Respect.¡±

    The only one out of our party to not speak yet was Wren. She was looking on in confusion and interest, one of her mousy brows raised, her head slightly askew. It seemed as though she had at least a dozen questions she wanted to ask and was running through which was most pertinent. I wondered which inquiry would win out.

    She landed on: ¡°Are you human?¡±

    I clamped a hand over her mouth, offended on the stranger''s behalf. You couldn''t just ask if someone was human because of a skin condition. Wait, was vitiligo a condition? Oh god, should I be cancelled?

    ¡°[REDACTED],¡± xe said in answer, then xir brow furrowed. Gigi tried again, xir mouth opening to form words. Xe said, ¡°[REDACTED].¡± Xe attempted once more: ¡°[REDACTED].¡±

    Ignoring the ramifications of what Gigi¡¯s moderation meant in regards to xir humanity, I pinched the bridge of my nose and held up a hand. ¡°Stop, stop, stop. You¡¯re not getting anywhere. I don¡¯t think we¡¯re allowed to hear that yet, whatever it is.¡±

    Wren harrumphed in disappointment, clearly annoyed that her question had been wasted. Still, the inability for Gigi to respond answered just as much as any words would have.

    Gigi jutted xir jaw in understanding, silver eyes blazing. Were those natural?

    ¡°I see! This is an early Dungeon then. I am most glad to hear that!¡±

    I cocked my head. Xanthe had said I¡¯d been quite early to Twilight too. Did that mean¡­ Would there be many other Dungeons? I knew asking would be useless, since Gigi was likely to be censored from saying anything specific based on previous conversations. I wondered what I should ask. Xe¡¯d been answering all our questions without asking anything in response. Lost in my thoughts, I was dragged back by Gigi waving again.

    ¡°May I join your party?¡± xe asked, a wide grin on xir face.

    A beat passed as everyone else¡¯s gaze met, then centred on me. I saw the panic in their eyes. As they all each attempted their own silencing technique, clamouring at me, trying to pull me away, slap a hand over my mouth, or tackle me to the floor, I managed to make out my first question to Gigi.

    ¡°What¡¯s your class?¡±

    I struggled against them to hear xir response.

    ¡°I am a [Vanguard].¡±

    It was barely a thought. I would not be looking this gift horse in the mouth. Gigi was going to a veritable fountain of information when we progressed further. Much more than Tam. At least as much as she was willing to divulge, which had been practically nothing. And our party sorely needed a tank which the class [Vanguard] absolutely screamed. Not to mention I¡¯d technically not made an irreversibly lethal decision yet.

    The invite was sent from within the entanglement of limbs that was my teammates.

    Gigi has joined your party.

    ¡°Oh! I am very fond of the party name! What an exclusive group we shall be.¡±

    Tam¡¯s grip tightened around my neck but stopped before any pressure was too uncomfortable. Thank god for that collar. She let out a frustrated yowl and pulled away. Axel however didn¡¯t hold back, grabbing me by the scruff of my shirt, and shoving his face close to mine. His expression was unreadable, but underpinned with exasperation and something else I couldn¡¯t comprehend. Yeah, that checked out. Classic Axel.

    ¡°Are you genuinely insane?¡±

    I grinned apologetically.

    He took a deep breath and then hissed out through clenched teeth, ¡°Every fucking time.¡±

    Even Wren appeared unimpressed with my antics.

    ¡°You''re the party leader and it''s ultimately your decision who joins, but I''ll be fucked if this just adds another body to the pile that I have to keep healing,¡± she said.

    I shouldn''t have been surprised considering her previous outburst when I''d nearly killed Axel, but I was still taken aback. Temper apparently ameliorated by her words, Axel released my collar and strode away. If I wasn''t getting choked out by Axel, was it really a day ending with Y?

    Gigi stared at Wren. ¡°Are you not a child?¡±

    With a sigh, she said, ¡°What does it look like, genius?¡±

    ¡°[REDACTED].¡±

    ¡°I like xem,¡± Jye commented, not reacting with any visible pain. Huh. I wondered if they were getting used to the glitch sound. The redhead was made out of stronger stuff than I. Recalling the noise myself caused goosebumps to form on my arms and legs.

    Well, that was at least one person in my court, even if it was just Jye. That had to count for something.

    ¡°Come, come! I am eager to add this Dungeon to my [REDACTED],¡± Gigi said.

    Now what the hell could that even mean?

 Chapter Fifteen | Dot Dot Dot

    The most annoying thing about it all was that I knew asking would be pointless. I could only conjecture about Gigi''s words. Xe appeared to have foreknowledge of the Dungeons, much like Xanth, but unlike them, xe was¡­ human? I didn¡¯t want to put any stock behind xir moderated response to Wren¡¯s question, but it felt like the only real option. Xe looked human enough. If I saw them at Comicon I probably wouldn¡¯t have batted an eye. Gigi could just be an exceptionally weird person.

    We all carefully made our way down from the wall to stand next to the xem. Xe smiled widely at us, flashing pure white teeth more suited to a celebrity who had them blasted with hydrogen peroxide on the weekly. Now closer, I could study Gigi a little more. Xir skin was flawless, nary a wrinkle to be seen. In fact, the only thing that could be said to mar xir dappled complexion was the beauty spot above xir brow. Brows that, in their silver, were so thin and sparse you had to double take to see them.

    Judging xir age was impossible. Xe could be anywhere from twenty to fifty, maybe even older. Which would either make xem older than the rest of us, or only older than Wren. That was if Tam was actually be into her late thirties. Though I¡¯d never ask her. I feel like somehow she¡¯d be able to break the command on her collar and run me navel to nose.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s in the shrine?¡± I asked, thinking it a safe question. It wasn¡¯t anything about the background or lore of the ¡°game¡± we were in, so it should be a topic we could breach. There¡¯d be no point in censoring that information since it didn¡¯t give us any unfair advantage since Gigi would already know it.

    Xe blinked. ¡°I do not know.¡±

    ¡°What the fuck,¡± came Tam¡¯s understandable response. ¡°Why is everyone so damn chicken shit. This party might as well be called Just No N¡ª¡± Her gaze slid over Wren for a moment. ¡°¡ªGuts. Even the clown can barely squeak xir nose in the face of the unknown.¡±

    The newcomer to our party looked confused. ¡°I am not a clown. I am [REDACTED].¡±

    Jye ran a hand under their chin in consideration, then nodded. ¡°She¡¯s just being mean because she can¡¯t hurt you anymore.¡±

    They weren¡¯t wrong. Something in Tam craved violence. Whether it was her sponsorship with Mumma, or an innate quality within the woman, she was ready to throw down and enjoy it at any moment. I only hoped that whatever awaited us in the shrine would whet her appetite. At the very least, she wouldn¡¯t be able to come directly at any of us in Just Friends. Somewhere in the deepest vestiges of my brain, something I didn¡¯t want to acknowledge, the phantom pain of her blade slicing through my clavicle still fresh in my body, part of me wanted to see her fight someone else and mean it. It would be something worth seeing.

    Well, if the shrine held a fight, for once our party might stand a chance with its current composition. That¡¯s if we could all work together. I cast a glance at the faces of my team and suddenly felt the odds shift dramatically lower.

    Tam loathed or maybe pitied me, or had, despised Axel, and thought little of Jye. Jye hated Axel (a lot) in a will-they-or-won¡¯t-they kind of way, and was a bit on the off-and-off with me, but somehow was only judgemental towards Tam. Wren was acting normal, but there was no chance she was really okay with what I¡¯d done with the wall explosion. Axel was still his weird self, disliked Jye in general, couldn¡¯t tolerate Tam, mostly ignored Wren, and had lowkey been avoiding me. In fact, the only person in our party who didn¡¯t harbour some sort of grudge was the person we¡¯d met not just five minutes ago. And xe looked to be joining us on Tam¡¯s shit list, if her disgusted expression was anything to go by.

    Oh, what tangled webs we weave.

    Trying to put the party¡¯s interrelationships on the backburner, I asked, ¡°Gigi, what are your abilities? And, Tam, tell me yours.¡± I paused. ¡°Actually, can you all just give me carte blanche on access to your skills?¡±

    The silver-eyed potentially non-mortal tilted xir head. ¡°I do not understand your usage of French. But my skills are [Shield Wall] and [Focus]. I am primarily here to defend.¡±

    Cheering my own victory in inviting xem to the party, I said, ¡°You have no idea how relieving that is to hear. My only skill is [Channel]. I need everyone¡¯s consent to use their abilities.¡±

    Gigi nodded once curtly. ¡°You have my consent.¡±

    Thinking back to the [Collar of Control], I turned to Tam. ¡°This is part of helping the party.¡±

    ¡°Jeez, sucks that Mumma says this don¡¯t count as ¡®when necessary.¡¯ You should really learn to pick your words better, sunshine.¡± She bared her teeth at me, a smug look in her brown eyes. I breathed out slowly, not allowing the anger to form. Yeah, that really was on me. But when push came to shove she¡¯d have to lend a hand. I had to count on that and her own desire for self-preservation. I immediately gave up on even learning her abilities.

    For their part, Jye seemed genuinely apologetic. ¡°Oh, damn, sorry, man. Hadn¡¯t realised I hadn¡¯t given you the go-ahead yet. You can use Load all you want. Though I really don¡¯t know how to explain how to use it.¡± They scratched at their chin. ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ summoning the emotion of a grunt.¡± The redheaded giant shrugged. ¡°Yeah, good luck.¡±

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said, and even I wasn¡¯t sure I meant it.

    Wren smiled. ¡°You¡¯re welcome to use mine, Lee.¡±

    Returning her expression, I raised a hand and ruffled her short hair. She giggled as she pushed me away. The childish delight made me recall Chrissie, but for once the thought wasn¡¯t tinged with regret and sadness and loss. It was just a nice reminder of her laughter.

    With a strange surge of affection, I said, ¡°Who knows, maybe I can pay you back sometime. By my count, I think I owe you something like two lives?¡±

    ¡°I mean, you¡¯re responsible for everyone. You have to make that four because of Axel and Tam.¡±

    A chuckle escaped me. ¡°Did not know you were keeping tabs like that, kid.¡±

    Her smile faltered slightly. ¡°Well, a part of me is always thinking about stuff like that. Since the Gates appeared. Lives I¡¯ve saved and lives I¡­¡±

    Immediately guilt swamped me. I¡¯d reminded her of the trauma of her past. Real smooth, Lee. Eugh. Kids weren¡¯t supposed to carry such weight on their shoulders. She shouldn¡¯t be holding onto life and death like this. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what, let me ease your burden on that. I¡¯ll keep tally instead. Sound good?¡±

    Wren¡¯s head tilted in consideration and her lips scrunched together. ¡°You¡¯re gonna count us all, right?¡±

    ¡°Does he have to include Tam or Jye?¡± Axel asked from the side.

    I ignored him. ¡°Cross my heart.¡±

    She thought for a moment, then nodded. ¡°Okay.¡±

    Her smile seemed relieved and I was glad we¡¯d had this moment. Taking in the expressions of my companions, despite how messy everything was between us all, a warmth filled my chest. I may not be fond of some of them. I may not understand most of them. But was I ever happy to have them. Without them, I don¡¯t think I would be standing where I was. Hell, I was sure I¡¯d probably be dead. Likely would¡¯ve been killed trying to go into a Gate by myself without any planning, unable to fight the compulsion, and having no clue about any of what was happening. At the very least, with everyone here, slowly learning about the Dungeons, we were progressing. Surviving.

    Granted, Tam had nearly killed me, and I¡¯d nearly killed Axel, so this nice feeling probably wasn¡¯t mutual all round.

    I jutted my jaw at the empty hall of the walls directly opposite the shrine. ¡°Let¡¯s do a rest cycle. After that, we scope out the supposed exit.¡±

    ¡°Not to put a hamper on your grand plans, but what about that random fireball? For all we know, that trio is watching in wait for us to be vulnerable. They could get the jump on us like a certain someone while we¡¯re recuperating.¡±

    I hated when Axel had a point. Tam said nothing, her gaze shifting from side to side. Yeah, like she could pinpoint the others from where we were. We weren¡¯t that lucky. I tried to consider the party¡¯s skills, wondering if anything could help us. Maybe I could get Gigi to use¡­ what was it? Shield something? So long as the mana or stamina cost wasn¡¯t insane, they could probably maintain it. And maybe even I could use it.

    Gigi held up a finger. ¡°Oh, I can use [Focus]!¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s that ability do?¡± Wren asked.

    It sounded like something an archer or martial artist might use. Intense concentration to ensure that they either hit their target or to ensure they imbued the entirety of their strength into one specific target upon impact. I wasn¡¯t sure what a [Vanguard] could use it for. Possibly, something similar to an archer to ensure they don¡¯t let someone through their guard? It might be a little too heavy on the ask for Gigi or me to continue doing that during rests.

    Xe didn¡¯t respond to Wren¡¯s question. Maybe xe were trying to think of how to word xir ability? God, I hoped it wouldn¡¯t be a repeat of Jye¡¯s glitch. Which reminded me, I hadn¡¯t checked out the party¡¯s status for some time. We didn¡¯t get any experience from the trap triggering, which was quite disappointing, but I guess we¡¯d been entirely obscured from view during it. The crystal wind would¡¯ve completely blanketed us from curious eyes; the equivalent of watching the static hash on an old analogue TV. If that was that case, perhaps whoever or whatever was observing us wasn¡¯t all-seeing. I stored that thought away for future consideration.

    As I waited for Gigi to explain their skill, I popped open the party member menu with a thought.

    Just Friends Party | LVL 18

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Lee | LVL 2 | All-Rounder (Party Leader)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Axel | LVL 2 | Combatant</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>J?????????????4?????????????1????????????? | LVL 1 | |???????|???????\???????\???????\???????|???????|???????4???????4???????|???????|???????2???????/???????|???????\???????(???????\???????5???????|???????</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Wren | LVL 1 | Synergist</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Tam | LVL 2 | Cutthroat </li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Gigi | LVL 10 | Vanguard</li>

    </ul>

    I stopped and stared at Gigi¡¯s level, then glanced between my screen and xem. LVL FUCKING 10? My mind turned into a mess of thoughts, all of them accelerating into theories before crashing into each other and collapsing into meaningless muck. I had no words. I had nothing to say. Even a question wouldn¡¯t come out. After a second, my blue window popped up, revealing something I had never seen before.

    Party member Gigi wants to share player data. Accept | Reject

    We could fucking do that?

    Giving me an apologetic smile, xe said, ¡°Sorry. It has been some time since I last did this. I forgot how.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have the time to unpack that statement and instead I consented to receiving Gigi¡¯s information.

    A second screen appeared to the right of mine, in a different hue of blue, something closer to purple. Looking between the two, it became clear that this full menu was Gigi¡¯s entire system. It responded to my thoughts as though it was mine, but the information was Gigi¡¯s. I scoured xir data in deep interest.

    Other Student* Player Gigi | [Vanguard] | LVL 10

    Titles

    [Other] Helping others is the only way the owner of this title earns XP.

    [Student]* Boosts all experience gain.

    100 HP | 10 MANA | 30 STAMINA

    Traits

    [Stubborn] One injury per Dungeon that would otherwise result in death results in HP remaining at 1.

    Abilities

    [Shield Wall - 5S] Summon a spectral barrier to defend party members.

    [Focus - 10Mc] Project an aura that diverts range attacks to the user.

    11 STR | 20 CON | 1 DEX | 10 END | 10 WIL | 2 INT

    *Title retained while player remains a member of party Just Friends

    There was so much to take in that I struggled with what to focus on. I hadn¡¯t checked my own name since we¡¯d begun, but looking at it now, the title we gained upon entering this Dungeon had affixed itself to mine with the same bottom disclaimer. In simple writing, it said: Student* Player Lee Baz Smith.

    Thinking back to it, the wording of the announcement had been ¡°Party Just Friends rewarded titles of Student.¡± So, the title was attached to the party, not the party members¡­ If anyone joined our party from now on they would get the temporary title. That was insane. It was like a permanent optional buff. It could even be used as a way to convince people to join our side.

    I rescanned Gigi¡¯s info. The [Other] title was a weird one. I guess that was why Gigi had been so eager to join our party (and also why xe was so¡­ odd). Xe wouldn¡¯t be able to level up without helping others. But at LVL 10 already, did xe even need to level up any further? Could xe level up further? Surely there was a level cap.

    Though at xir level, their attributes were kind of low. Not like my low, but much lower than I imagined someone at LVL 10 to be. As I considered xir stats, I had to agree that the distribution made sense for their class. Xir foundation of focusing Constitution to take damage, and then spreading the secondary priority equally into Strength to fend off people, Endurance to survive the damage, and probably Willpower to defend against magic was well thought out. Dexterity and Intelligence being xir dump attributes was understandable; xe was essentially meant to be an immutable wall.

    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    Still, the numbers looked like they belonged to a much lower level player. If I added them all up, it equaled out to 54. Granted, in totality, mine was only 24, so maybe that was a decent sum of attribute points. But it begged the question, how had Gigi gotten credits if xe¡¯d increased their stats? I¡¯d have to ask xem later.

    Their trait was interesting too and would be super helpful if things got super dire. With [Stubborn], Xe could basically tank past xir death, though not for long. I wonder how it worked for injuries like what Axel and I had sustained. Bleeding or lingering DoTs¡­ Did it mean xe¡¯d survive a single hit of either of those status damagers and then die anyway? That¡¯d suck ass.

    And finally the abilities¡­ [Shield Wall] wasn¡¯t half bad. And if xe could summon it multiple times, the entire party might very well be incredibly safe. Since I had the stamina required to use it too, we could even double them up. I turned my attention to the ability that Gigi had suggested xe use [Focus].

    It was literally the perfect ability for our party and our current situation. I had been an idiot to think of dismissing it. Or maybe whoever had named the skill was the idiot. Who calls an aggro skill ¡°Focus¡±?

    But, man, I was a little jealous. Why hadn¡¯t my character sheet even slightly looked like this?

    ¡°Gigi, damn.¡±

    I blinked, realising that I¡¯d been silent for an exceptional amount of time and everyone was waiting on me to say something more. Briefly I explained what just happened. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Jye wearing a particularly sour face. That¡¯d figure. They couldn¡¯t read the status window at all.

    Clearing my throat, I said, ¡°Gigi¡¯s ability [Focus] draws range fire. It¡¯ll focus aggression on xem. We¡¯ll split watch 50-50 between me and Gigi. Pick your poison.¡± I flourished a hand between the two of us.

    Tam chose Gigi. I could understand why. She wanted to keep an eye on xem. Jye also chose Gigi. That I understood too. The redheaded giant had taken a liking to xem. Wren and Axel picked me, which secretly made me happy. Maybe Wren had truly forgiven my mishap. I was surprised Axel had gone with me, but he¡¯d been the slowest to react so he must¡¯ve ended up with me rather than actually wanting to be on my watch shift. Ah, well.

    In silence, we set up camp, Gigi mixing into the fold as though xe¡¯d been part of us from the get go. I watched xem curl into xir coat, having refused Wren¡¯s bed roll on account of being worried xe¡¯d stretch it out. Given the bare ten centimetre height difference between them, I really don¡¯t feel it was a genuine concern but a courtesy extended to her out of politeness (though possibly the width and breadth of Gigi¡¯s body might present the issue). Generally, after a person refused an offer, you were meant to double check, and then they could accept without feeling like they¡¯re imposing. But maybe Wren wasn¡¯t old enough to pick up on those types of social queues. That or she¡¯d deliberately chosen to ignore the etiquette. It was possible. Out of the whole party, the only person she¡¯d been outright insulting to had been Gigi.

    I volunteered my group for first watch, and I activated [Channel] and borrowed [Focus] from Gigi. Much like [Thick Hide], the ability had a mana cap, halving the pool I had access to. In contrast to Axel¡¯s skill which felt like a warm second skin, Gigi¡¯s [Focus] was more like someone whispering your name across from you in a crowded hall. You could tell something was there, you knew it, but when you turned to look, nothing. The ability was an unseeable presence that I could innately tell where it ended. It was like having another sense.

    We settled in, cracking open some of the packets of health food we¡¯d scavenged from Woolies. There had still been around four days left, but with Gigi, now we¡¯d be only okay for maybe three. That was assuming xe ate¡­ Yeah. They were human, so they definitely needed sustenance. I wasn¡¯t even able to convince myself.

    Axel and I divvied out the food between ourselves and Wren, and we passed around one of the beer bottles we¡¯d refilled with water back at the gym. I was surprised that in the desert biome we hadn¡¯t been consuming more considering the heat. We¡¯d definitely been sweating more. Well. I had. This fucking temperature. I was essentially a human water fountain, with my pores being bubblers.

    I took back what I¡¯d said about dry heat being better than wet heat. Clearly the narrator of that documentary had never lived through either.

    Because both sucked ass.

    After the exploding wall, most of us had had to change, with the material we¡¯d been wearing ripped and shredded beyond usefulness. You could have barely called any of it even just cloth, to be honest. Not wanting to waste a completely clean set, I¡¯d just changed tops. My hoodie had been eviscerated through to my tank top underneath. Surprisingly, my tracksuit pants had come out of the gale whole, though they now looked stylishly distressed. Or that was what I was telling myself. In reality, I probably looked like I¡¯d lost my home in Cyclone Tracy. That was the one good thing about the apocalypse though. Without the social pressure of having to look decent in public, so long as I wasn¡¯t indecent, I was fine continuing with the torn legs of my trackies.

    However, since we¡¯d been walking for perhaps a solid half day after that, that meant I¡¯d now been wearing them for three days straight. There was no way I didn¡¯t smell inhuman. I hadn¡¯t considered deodorant when I¡¯d packed for leaving our flat. Unlike other people I didn¡¯t really have a stay-over kit for infrequent trips to friends and family members¡¯ places, so no pre-packed toiletry bag ready to go.

    I gave myself a whiff test, lifting my arm slightly. The shirt seemed all right, but it was possible I¡¯d just lost my ability to differentiate funkiness from normality because I¡¯d been basking in my own stench for so long. I mean, it wasn¡¯t ideal, but what were we supposed to do? Perhaps we could bring baby wipes? Actually, I¡¯d heard sand was a pretty good cleanser. Or we could go Roman and strigil oil off our bodies. Unless there was a potable water source in a Dungeon, traditional modern hygiene was basically impossible.

    Along with the baby wipes, maybe I could head back home and pick up the low-profile dry deodorant my mum had once sent in one of her yearly birthday present parcels. I¡¯d never opened it, since my preferred deodorant was roll-on. And while there, I should probably pick out more clothes. Or better yet, why didn¡¯t we use our apartment as a base? It wasn¡¯t like there was any reason we couldn¡¯t. Axel had said we should be prepared to never go back, but nothing was really stopping us. Other than actually being able to clear the Dungeon.

    As much as it felt like I was jumping the gun, thinking about this kind of stuff made the watch pass quickly. I hoped I wasn¡¯t jinxing us all by believing we¡¯d clear this Dungeon and even maybe enter more.

    Ah, well, better to be pragmatic in my optimism than nihilistic in pessimism. Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst, and all that jazz.

    So, was there anything else we should have ready next time, at least human necessity wise?

    Wait.

    ¡­

    It had completely escaped my mind, but I was suddenly hit by an unwelcome realisation. I hadn¡¯t had to go to the bathroom since entering the Dungeon. Literally¡­ I¡¯d felt no urge to. No tight bladder, or pressure in bowels. Absolutely no signals about relieving those basic human needs had been sent to my brain.

    I¡¯d gotten hungry and thirsty though.

    Briefly, I was reminded of a terf¡¯s famous wizarding school media franchise; a ridiculous post she¡¯d once Tweeted. That no one needed to shit because they magicked it out of their colons. No. That¡¯d be ridiculous. That would be stupid.

    ¡­

    And yet, it was coming up on our fourth day in the Dungeon.

    Wren was idly scraping one of the Kmart knives into the crystal floor, etching out stick figure drawings which I¡¯d definitely be asking about later. While she was preoccupied, it was probably the only time I¡¯d ever consider bringing up this topic.

    I turned to Axel. ¡°This is probably not the most appropriate moment to ask this.¡±

    He crunched into a stale vegetable crisp, eyes flat with disinterest. ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°Have you been¡­ regular?¡±

    My lifelong friend blinked slowly at me.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Like¡­ you know. Regular.¡± I vaguely gestured toward my midsection, feeling as awkward as the movement had to look.

    His expression upon understanding was a combination of disgust and displeasure, crinkling the bridge of his nose and upturning his top lip. Neither facial change did anything to mar his aesthetically appealing and photogenic features. Yeah, that¡¯d be right. If I so much as smiled wrong, I knew the resulting selfie would be ruined. Eugh. This is what happened when I spent too much time with Axel. I started comparing myself to him.

    He said, ¡°Look, I know we¡¯re on the up-and-up, but we aren¡¯t and, being very honest, have never been that close.¡±

    I¡¯d already dug my grave. ¡°Since we entered the Dungeon. Have you¡­?¡±

    Axel let out a long exhausted sigh.

    ¡°How much longer is our watch?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to take that as a no.¡±

    So sample size of two meant the Dungeon was¡­ evaporating the human waste from our bodies? I¡¯m pretty sure I would¡¯ve noticed excrement being teleported out of my internal organs. Whatever. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn¡¯t important. Just a really, really, really weird¡­ perk(?) of being in a Dungeon.

    Trying to move past my relatively poor taste of subjects, I noticed that in the corner of my eye that Axel¡¯s gaze was fixed to around half a metre in front of him. He had to be checking his menu out. Must be nice to have so many skills. And secrets. Actually¡­ maybe I could get to the bottom of Axel¡¯s mental instability.

    I said, ¡°So, Gigi shared xir player data with me.¡±

    ¡°You mentioned it before.¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡± I took a breath to steel myself. ¡°Do you think you could share yours with me?¡±

    Blue eyes met mine. A flash of panic in a millisecond.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how to. Maybe later?¡±

    The muscle in his jaw twitched, and he glanced away.

    Why was he always lying to me? Part of my stomach clenched in annoyance, and maybe hurt, but I brushed away the reaction. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d been expecting. Axel had said we were on the up-and-up, but it felt like I was just as distant as we¡¯d been since our confrontation on the cabin deck.

    ¡°Fair. Maybe I¡¯ll ask Gigi about it.¡±

    I obviously still needed to work on our relationship. God, whoever thought friendship was supposed to be this hard? Well, apologising for what I¡¯d said back then would be a good start. Since it was basically just him and me again, this was practically the perfect time to.

    ¡°By the way, I don¡¯t hate you.¡±

    His body visibly went rigid. The man I¡¯d known all my life smiled sadly back at me, that look in his eyes that I still didn¡¯t understand, the one that was behind his unspoken upset, the source of whatever anguish took over him.

    ¡°You never hated me.¡± Then Axel winked, the mournful expression gone like a match snuffed, his sitting position again loose. He preened. ¡°Because I¡¯m simply too perfect.¡±

    I decided to let the bipolar dip pass by. Calling it out would just put his guard up again, and we¡¯d be back to square one. Though I often made shit decisions, I wasn¡¯t in favour of self-sabotage.

    Scoffing, I asked, ¡°Says who?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve a list.¡± He crossed his arms smugly.

    ¡°You would.¡±

    I shook my head but was unable to fight back the smile. For a moment, as we sat there, sharing the flavourless vegetable chips, it was like we were back in our apartment, watching something on the TV. Normally after a short time, Axel would get up and leave, to hang up with the friends who were more involved in his social life. Or they¡¯d visit and take over the lounge and I¡¯d retreat back into my bedroom. It wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d all been bad people. Just not the type that I liked to interact with for any length of time.

    It made me wonder why I liked Axel.

    Why I even wanted to repair and maintain our friendship.

    ¡­

    I guess that¡¯s just what happens when you know someone for so long. They become a part of you and not having that is like a piece carved from your very being. You¡¯re not whole without them. Maybe that¡¯s why Axel had never truly left me either.

    Hah. Fat chance he was that sentimental.

    ¡°Oi, leave some for me,¡± I said, trying to snatch the packet from Axel¡¯s hands.

    He flipped the chips over, revealing it was now empty.

    ¡°Too late,¡± he snickered.

    ¡°You can have some of mine.¡±

    I looked down to Wren who had finished her floor carving. It looked like six stick figures. As I stared, it registered who they were meant to be. It was Just Friends. All six of us. I couldn¡¯t explain it, but tears threatened to prick at my waterline. This etching was like being presented a family drawing to stick on the fridge.

    ¡°Who¡¯s who?¡±

    She pointed to each of them, naming us off. Eerily, she¡¯d gotten the height disparity quite accurate, and each stick figure had been marked with something distinctive to separate us further, all in almost dynamic poses. Wren had given Jye jacked arms and traps and they were dabbing. Tam, with had long braids and a generous bust, was sneaking. Identifiable through xir beauty mark and vitiligo, Gigi was waving. Wren had carved herself smiling and giving a thumbs-up. When I looked at the remaining two, me and Axel, I found we were the only ones she¡¯d chosen to have interacting. Our stick figures were posed in such a way that it was difficult to tell if we were fighting or hugging. I guess her artistic talent could only extend so far.

    Still, it was an impressive show of promise for the future.

    Was there a future for artists in the world we lived in now?

    ¡°Wren, these are all so amazing! I think my favourite is Tam, actually. You really nailed her.¡±

    Even the cutthroat¡¯s expression looked quite nefarious. It made me chuckle.

    Wren smiled, her cheeks pinking, pleased with the compliment. ¡°I think it¡¯s my favourite too.¡±

    ¡°What do you think, Axel? Jye¡¯s pretty good too.¡±

    Said blond¡¯s gaze was stuck on our carved interaction. But then he tilted his head, his eyes sliding over the others.

    ¡°Obviously, the Wren is the best.¡±

    I looked back to her carving of herself. It was the one she¡¯d done last, and you could actually visually see the growth over the progress of her etchings. Each one was slightly better proportioned, more confidently carved with straighter and less messy lines. Logically speaking, the Wren was the most practised and skilled drawing.

    Leave it to Axel to be so literal.

    She considered her response for a moment. ¡°I think it looks the best, but I don¡¯t really like it as much.¡± Propping her hands on her hips, she continued, ¡°Maybe because I know what I¡¯m like and what I made isn¡¯t like that.¡±

    What a rather philosophical perspective. I didn¡¯t even know myself well enough to know what this ten-year-old did about herself. Clearly we¡¯d lived completely different lives. And she¡¯d lived more in her ten years than I had in my nearly three decades. I crouched down and ran my fingers over the etchings. Part of me wanted to add more to it.

    ¡°You mind if I join you?¡±

    She shook her head. ¡°You and Axel can take over. My hands are tired. I¡¯ll keep watch instead.¡±

    Then, passing me the knife she¡¯d been using, she stood up and headed over closer to the only entrance that led from the labyrinth to the shrine. Kids these days. They had a good head on their shoulders. Or maybe that was just Wren. Certainly Chrissie hadn¡¯t been so assertive and understanding.

    ¡°What do you think we¡¯re supposed to be doing?¡± Axel asked, taking a position to my right. He pulled a knife from his system inventory, as natural as retrieving something from his pocket. Of course we could store regular stuff in the system. For some reason, I¡¯d defaulted into believing we could only input Dungeon items. But if Xanthe could buy our Kmart knives, it should¡¯ve been obvious to me.

    God, why were we even carrying stuff around anymore?

    I¡¯d have to address this with the others when everyone was rested.

    I focused back on Axel¡¯s question. He was talking about the carving of us.

    ¡°Obviously I¡¯m karate chopping your neck.¡±

    Axel laughed.

    ¡°How¡¯d you know that it¡¯s not me hitting you?¡±

    I snorted, and with my palm down flat, I moved it horizontally between our two heads. Even crouched like this, where I¡¯d started at my forehead, my hand only came to his lips. His breath was warm against my skin.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got like ten centimetres on me.¡± I withdrew my hand, and swapped the knife from my left into it. ¡°High school was even worse since we hit growth spurts at different times.¡± Pointing at the carving, I said, ¡°In Wren¡¯s drawing, the shorter one is attacking the taller one.¡± Or hugging them, but I didn¡¯t say that out loud. It didn¡¯t make sense for Wren to have drawn the latter. She¡¯d never seen us care for each other like that. So it had to be us fighting.

    Axel mumbled something, but I caught none of it.

    Instead, I began my own etching, adding some surrounding environment, like grass and trees and flowers. Typical kid¡¯s drawing stuff. I added the obligatory black hole in the centre of the tree¡¯s trunk.

    Silently, Axel joined me, and we spent the rest of the watch like that.

    ¡­

    It was nice.

 Chapter Sixteen | It Begins

    That ¡°night¡± I slept as soon as my head hit the bedroll. It was the quickest I''d fallen unconscious since the whole event of the Gates and Dungeons appearing, unless blacking out counted. My slumber was sound and solid.

    I dreamt of nothing, and as the bleariness of waking beckoned me slowly from restful darkness, I came to notice a warmth perfectly curled behind me, further stretching over my waist and grasped in my own hold; a blanketing that was as comforting as it was foreign. Only as my mind caught up to the soft exhales tickling against my ear did I dimly come to realise what these things indicated.

    Wren had set up her bedroll deeper down the labyrinth entrance hall; she had explained she liked the way the sunlight danced in the shimmer of the crystals, almost like a nightlight. Which meant there could only be one person here laying with me, since Gigi, Jye, and Tam should''ve been on their watch shift.

    Wakefulness didn''t so much as shake me as lightning bolted thought into reaction, accompanied with a flush of embarrassment. I rolled out of Axel''s embrace, cheeks stinging.

    Heart hammering in my chest, I cast a careful glance around to see if anyone had witnessed what had taken place. Jye and Gigi seemed to be chatting amicably whilst Tam was leant up against one of the maze walls, arms crossed and eyes locked on the one entry.

    Thank God for small mercies. Tam, with all her little asides, would never let us live it down, and Jye would definitely react, though I had no idea how they really felt. They appeared to hate Axel but were also attracted to him. Then again, they''d shown similar interest in Tam. Maybe the giant was just an absolute horndog that was attracted to anyone pretty. I didn''t know whether to consider it an insult that they''d never displayed an inkling of desire towards me. Maybe they just suspected and respected my identity? Still¡­

    The heat that had been trapped between us was dissipating in the flurry of panic that beset me, my heartbeat now slowing.

    Sitting ramrod straight, at least an arm''s length away from Axel, I turned to check if he was awake and aware of what comfort the both of us had sought in our sleep. But no. He was still under. I spared a moment then, to scrutinise whether or not he was faking it. I hadn''t seen, or bothered to look at, the blond''s sleeping face for quite a long time. Though he did appear properly asleep.

    I didn¡¯t often see him while his defences were down like this.

    There was looseness around his closed eyes, a slight flutter in his thick lashes as he dreamt, and the tension held in his jaw was gone. Whatever torment took over him sometimes was nowhere to be seen. He looked younger, more innocent, when asleep. It made me miss the Axel I''d known when we were children. I''d loved that kid. How he''d become the man sleeping there still baffled me to this day.

    Though with the addition of the weirdness about him, it was easier to see where that child had gone, hidden away under traits that he''d grown into or adopted. Underneath all that posturing, my best friend was still there. Was still there in the moments between others. It was nice getting that back. I don¡¯t think I ever realised how much I¡¯d missed it.

    Before, he''d said I never hated him.

    He was right

    I could never hate him.

    ¡°Take a picture, it''ll last longer, babes,¡± came Tam¡¯s voice, her frame casting a shadow over me as she approached from the wall.

    Embarrassed but not knowing why, I said, ¡°Keep your voice down.¡±

    The brunette lifted the chunky necklace from her chest to check the watch I''d given her.

    ¡°Well, y''all ain''t due for your wake up call for another hour or so.¡± She gave me an appraising look. ¡°But based on your expression, you¡¯re not gonna grab any more Z''s.¡±

    I had to admit I didn¡¯t feel tired. My sleep had been restful. In spite of my sleeping arrangements.

    She continued, ¡°You caught me headed to do a quick perimeter check.¡± Her arms crossed in front of her chest. ¡°That wasn¡¯t so much as a invite, but I''m sure you''ll take it that way ¡°

    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll come.¡±

    Tam¡¯s eyes rolled and I stood to follow her.

    Using [Channel], I activated [Focus] once we got further away from Gigi so that our abilities wouldn''t overlap ranges. Who knew what would happen when there were two people attracting ranged attacks. Would the projectiles be torn between the two and end up taking collateral somewhere in between? I didn¡¯t want to find out the hard way. I waved briefly to Jye and Gigi to acknowledge them, and the two of them nodded back before they started talking again. Considering how bizarre Gigi was, what could they even be discussing?

    Tam gave me a sidelong look from under her lashes, the judgement in them making their brown hard and steely. ¡°You''re a strange piece.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    She raised an eyebrow.

    ¡°Even between the ginger Neanderthal and the toy size tank and your broken beau and the child prodigy and me. Out of the whole bunch of us, you''re the weirdest of the lot.¡±

    There she went again, with the stupid idea that Axel and or I liked one another. It was something she seemed to truly believe. I guess she could join the small group of friends and family members who thought the same thing. That included my parents who still thought the two of us would end up together as they''d been planning since Axel had come out and I''d never really not not come out. I''d just let them think whatever they wanted. I usually did.

    I said, ¡°That kind of sounds like an insult.¡±

    ¡°It sure as hell ain''t a compliment.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d argue I''m the most normal out of all of you.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, most would think. But that''s what proves you¡¯re a bonafide freak, sugar. You¡¯ve gotta be a whole nother level of messed up to be¡­ well, the way you are.¡±

    I frowned.

    ¡°That¡¯s a little presumptuous.¡±

    ¡°No presuming about it. I nearly killed you, sweetheart. And you''re walking instep with me like we''ve been friends for years. You trust me for some forsaken reason. It¡¯s like your guard is never up.¡±

    I considered her words. ¡°I trust the collar.¡±

    ¡°And what about Gigi? Xe¡¯s got no such leash on.¡±

    She had a point, but I wasn¡¯t sure what she was trying to say.

    ¡°Xe¡¯s nice.¡±

    Tam swung her full face my way, incredulousness rife in her tone. ¡°¡®Xe¡¯s nice¡¯? That''s really your given reasoning? So, you''re saying if I had just nicely asked for some food, you would''ve up and given me some?¡±

    I nodded pertly. ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Christ, you really are nothing but sunshine and daisies, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    I stopped mid-stride, eyes wide. Is that really what she thought about me? That I was some hippie living in lalaland? Her mischaracterization churned inside me. She knew nothing about me.

    The brunette had continued walking ahead, not caring that she was leaving me behind.

    ¡°The world can be shit, Tam. I know that. I¡¯m going out on a limb every time I do something here. From trusting you to, hell, even taking this next step.¡± I started forward again. ¡°But you know what? It¡¯s better than everything I¡¯ve done for the past two decades. Since my sister died. Since she was killed. You want to know what happened after that?¡±

    Tam turned back to look at me. Was that pity in her eyes? Impossible.

    ¡°Nothing, Tam. I couldn¡¯t fucking tell you anything important that happened since then. I was a shell of a human. Nothing really mattered. I can count on a single hand the amount of people who made it through whatever excuse of a person I was to make a real connection with me. And that¡¯s not living. It wasn¡¯t living.¡±

    Putting everything into words like this was relieving. Being able to say it out loud. It was true. The day that my sister had been abducted and cruelly and senselessly murdered, I¡¯d shut down. Mrs. Brown had said it was a trauma response. But to me, it was something that just happened. I stopped trying to form connections with others. It wasn¡¯t that I suspected them. It was that I was simply incapable of opening up and trusting. Up until the Gates, I¡¯d never given it a second thought.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    I said, ¡°Not taking the chance to trust others means you¡¯re not alive.¡±

    The woman¡¯s top lip curled up in distaste.

    ¡°Please. That sob story just proves my point. I¡¯m struggling to get a peep of what the others see in you. A sad backstory is a dime in a dozen, sugarpot. We¡¯ve all got one. It¡¯s cliche. As a matter of fact, if my wife were here, she¡¯d¨C¡± Tam bit off the rest of her words, eyes widening.

    I missed a step.

    ¡°Your wife?¡±

    Her sharp brows furrowed, expression flat. ¡°Put that tidbit out of your head.¡±

    I immediately glanced down at her left hand, seeking the metal that proved her words, but found the piece of jewellery missing. However, her ring finger still had the telltale paling of a band between tanner skin.

    That one slip up had given me a glimpse into Tam¡¯s character. I understood the woman walking beside me in a way I hadn¡¯t before. She hadn''t been fighting for her life when she''d attacked me. She hadn''t been keeping secrets for her own gain. There was a woman somewhere she loved who she was trying to get back to, and everything she did was to ensure she''d find her again. And everything I did was a risk to their reunion.

    I couldn¡¯t help but think if this were a story, she would¡¯ve been the protagonist. Actually, if I considered it, everyone else in the party had equal right to be main character: Axel with his overpowered stats and secret torment. Jye with their glitch and complex personal background. Wren with her two-class system and strangely savant wisdom. Even Gigi and xir foreknowledge and levels.

    All of them but me. I wasn¡¯t anything special, not really. You¡¯re not meant to think that about yourself, but in this case, it really was true. But that just meant it was more crucial for me to try and help them. My party members were all weird as fuck, as Tam had pointed out. And somehow I¡¯d managed to finagle myself into the fray with them all. So, maybe the way I protected them was protecting them from themselves. I was already performing that role for Axel.

    Perhaps that was my part in this whole thing, to see them through this.

    Softly, I inquired, ¡°Where is she? Your wife.¡±

    Tam shook her head. ¡°I don''t know what you''re on about.¡± Then she lengthened her stride and out stepped me so that I was walking behind her in moments.

    I repressed a sigh as I pinched at the bridge of my nose. Too much too soon.

    ¡°Hey, don¡¯t get too out of range. [Focus] only extends so far,¡± I said to the braids on the back of her head.

    Her pace slowed almost imperceptibly.

    Well. Gotta celebrate the small victories. Prior to our conversation, she probably would¡¯ve spat at my feet and deliberately walked further away.

    We¡¯d reached the back of the shrine, following along the walls. On all three sides, the enclosure around the shrine was closed off. The only entrance was the one that led to the shrine¡¯s entrance. I didn¡¯t really understand the purpose of a perimeter check. But it had been nice to get up and stretch my legs. It actually wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to extend that to the rest of my body.

    Letting out a yawn, the vestiges of sleep still clinging to me, I rolled my shoulders as we began wrapping around the left wall to finish the full lap. Then, thinking back to the karate lessons I¡¯d taken for a single month since I¡¯d received a voucher from a friend, I began to repeat the warm-ups I¡¯d learned; tucking an arm into the bend of the other and pulling it to my chest, folding a knee forward with a slightly widened stance and lunging slowly, rotating at my waist with my arms lifted. Then to finish it up, I turned my head from side to side. Lastly, I tilted it down and up.

    Down and¨C

    A movement from above caught my eye.

    The arrow was a silent blur through the air. I didn¡¯t think. I threw myself to the floor closer to the direction of the party. Its sharp jagged point plunged into the dirt, scattering debris from its impact. At the angle it had been travelling, it passed directly through where I¡¯d just been standing. Of course, [Focus] was redirecting ranged assaults to me.

    ¡°Attack!¡± I yelled, heart in my throat. ¡°We¡¯re under attack!¡±

    Like my words had been the signal our ambushers had been waiting for, the snap of a dozen bow strings echoed from behind the wall. Keeping in mind the mana cap of [Focus], and praying that Gigi was still outside of that ability¡¯s range, I borrowed xir [Shield Wall].

    Activating it was a very different matter than all other abilities I¡¯d used so far, but I didn¡¯t have the privilege of thinking about it. The shield, glowing the same blue as our menus, summoned above my head in a sparkle of light. Just in time to cover me from the volley of arrows that came raining down.

    I heard something still thunk to my feet, but it had landed with less force. Looked like just the broken head of an arrow? I glanced back up through the partially transparent shield and watched, gut clenched, as it and the ground around me became buried in fletches, soon resembling the back of an echidna.

    The shower of arrows trickled to a stop.

    Were they setting up for another shot? How many people were there? That attack had come over like a cloud of projectiles. Was it an ability? I¡¯d heard the bows, but the usual static hiss of a skill being activated hadn¡¯t sounded. Nor for that matter had I heard it when I¡¯d summoned the shield. What was happening?

    ¡°You good, Lee?¡± came Axel¡¯s voice.

    I cast a glance around to see that the rest of the party was peeking out from beside the shrine as a precaution. That must''ve meant Gigi had turned xir [Focus] off on the group¡¯s approach. Thank God.

    ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m doing fucking spectacular.¡±

    If the volley was an ability, maybe there was only one attacker. If it was one person but they came from the trio we¡¯d seen, then where were the other¡­

    ¡°Keep an eye on your backs!¡±

    I heard the sickening clang of metal against metal as Axel¡¯s blade met another¡¯s just out of my sight, a few expletives slipping from his lips. The attacker quickstepped back and a fireball from elsewhere descended. Axel used his [Swift Footed] trait to dodge it. The flame seared into the floor, leaving a black scorch mark.

    Fuck, they¡¯d snuck up on us by using the arrows as a distraction. And had me pinned down.

    Still, if there were only three of them, we could do this.

    Suddenly, the familiar hiss of abilities activating sounded in my head. I don¡¯t know why they¡¯d stopped. It was possible that meant it was unreliable. I¡¯d never followed up on asking the others if they heard the same thing. I had simply assumed they had. Shit. Maybe all along it¡¯d been a glitch like Jye¡¯s entire system. It wasn¡¯t beyond imagining. But who was activating what now?

    I didn¡¯t have to wait long for an answer, as I heard the chorus of bow strings once again.

    ¡°Incoming!¡±

    The shield above my head looked half cooked. I didn¡¯t know if it could withstand another battering. But burning anymore stamina on one seemed like a waste right now, even though the bar was slowly regenerating. The shrine¡¯s roof wouldn''t provide any cover even if I managed to sprint the hundred metres or so to it; its overhanging eaves barely extended a hand''s width. I also had to keep some stamina in reserve, just in case I needed to borrow another skill.

    What to do.

    If I didn''t keep [Focus] up, the arrows would be directed at the party who were dealing with the other attackers. If Gigi activated xir [Focus] while mine was still active, who knows what could happen. We¡¯d have to test it once we made it out of here, but it wasn¡¯t a risk I could take, not right now. Shit, shit, shit. I wanted to help everyone¡­ but we all had our roles. Gigi had more health. Xe was meant to tank.

    If xe took the brunt of this, it would give me more time to think.

    ¡°Gigi, sub in for me.¡±

    ¡°Can do!¡± shouted Gigi.

    Three [Shield Wall]s formed horizontally in the air, creating a stepping stone of cover between me and Gigi, as the next volley began to fall. The first few arrows bit into my shield, cracks forming where the tips had sunk through the translucent blue material. The shield creaked, groaning against the onslaught. It would not hold much longer. Once it shattered, I could probably take one, maybe two, direct arrows to my body, so long as they didn''t hit anything arterial.

    More arrows began their descent, arching high in the sky, all tips pointed toward me.

    I took a deep breath, thought about praying but didn¡¯t, and ran for Gigi¡¯s [Shield Wall] coverage, pumping my legs under me as fast as they¡¯d let me go. Momentarily after I left its cover, my old shield exploded in a cascade of light. I would¡¯ve been roast spitted had I remained there, for sure.

    While running, one bastardly arrow glanced against my calf, nicking my skin as it planted itself into the ground. I barely felt the sting of 1 HP loss, attention stolen by the shadow of the main arrow wave closing in.

    Springing off the balls of my feet, I dove beneath the closest [Shield Wall] I¡¯d been heading toward. I ate shit, colliding with the dirt floor at full momentum, and all my breath flattened out of my lungs as I skidded to a stop, gasping, just skirting under the safety of the glowing blue shield. Gigi looked to have made xir first one too; a solemn concentration on xir face. Given the wide area of effect, it was a good idea for xem to remain under cover too.

    The final arrows plunked against the shield above me. I took a moment to gain my breath and then scrambled up. As I did, the eerie resounding thwack of the bow strings sounded. Fuck, the next wave already?

    I couldn''t even think about whatever Axel was doing and how his battle was going. I had no idea what any of the others were doing either, but abilities were activating pretty much constantly, a burr of hissing in the back of my mind.

    ¡°Let me know when you can activate [Focus].¡±

    I wasn''t sure about the cooldown since that information wasn¡¯t supplied when I used [Channel]. I hoped it was short. I should''ve fucking checked with Gigi.

    ¡°I''m ready now!¡±

    Despite having taken one volley, Gigi''s shields were holding stronger than mine. That¡¯d figure. As the next storm of arrows thumped down, no cracks formed in the one guarding me. They were still taking damage, though. It wouldn''t make sense to stay here, even with their higher hit points. I just didn¡¯t have enough health to tempt fate like that. And neither Gigi nor I had enough stamina to keep summoning [Shield Wall]s to protect us infinitely.

    But at the very least, they would last a while as Gigi took on the archer¡¯s focus. Oh. I guess that''s where the name came from. And if xe ended up having no shields left, with xir 100 HP, Gigi was sure to last longer than me against the hail of arrows. Speaking of, the last few of the current round smacked into the shield above me, followed by silence. No more bow strings releasing.

    The attacker must¡¯ve been reloading/regening/on cooldown. It was safer to run now than when the arrows were dropping.

    ¡°Go, go, go!¡± I screamed.

    Gigi sprinted forward, and we passed each other, shoulders brushing. Taking that as my cue, I swapped [Focus] for [Thick Hide], trying to take into consideration that I¡¯d be getting closer to a melee battle. I heard a tss and hoped Gigi was activating xir [Focus]. Well, the next volley would let me know.

    It¡¯d either target Gigi, or we¡¯d all be fucked.

 Chapter Seventeen | It Ends

    I took a moment to gain my bearings.

    From around the corner of the shrine, I could just glimpse Axel and another figure engaged in a fight, their weapons sparking as they swung them against each other. Unfortunately, his attacker had the reach on him. It looked as though they were using a polearm, maybe a glaive? Whenever Axel closed in, he was met with a fireball appearing out of nowhere to push him back. I couldn¡¯t tell where the magic user was, as the origin point seemed to change each time. I had originally dismissed the idea of a hiding ability in lieu of range, but I¡¯d been wrong. The spellcaster might very well be invisible.

    Had they been following us the entire time?

    Jye was standing in the backline, waiting for a gap in the melee fighters¡¯ movements to fling their knives forward, an arm wound up, tensing, ready for the right moment. Every now and again, they¡¯d flick one towards the origin of fireballs, but it would be too slow. Unlike the magic user who seemed to have fairly refined speed and direction control, Jye¡¯s attacks were more limited to where and how hard they could throw. They hadn¡¯t hurled a single one onto the battlefield though. The giant was afraid of engaging in friendly fire. Surprising, considering it was Axel out there.

    Another hiss of ability. Wren was holding one of her hands out, and muttering under her breath. This was probably [Whetstone]. She was buffing someone. Axel? Maybe even Jye. Could she layer on the same buff?

    ¡°Hold out here, Gigi,¡± I said.

    Xe nodded, and then ran to the next [Shield Wall] xe''d previously summoned.

    I closed the distance towards Axel¡¯s battle, coming up behind Jye and Wren.

    Jye noticed me. Their brows furrowed as they said, ¡°Man, I can¡¯t get a knife in edgewise. And I can''t pin down the fireballist. I''m hitting empty air ¡®cause they move too quick after firing.¡±

    Axel and his assailant were trading blows, weapons grinding along each other. His opponent seemed to be able to keep up with his speed. Maybe they had a similar trait. It would''ve been an even battle if not for the fire magic back up on our enemy''s side. The same kind of support we couldn¡¯t grant without risking hurting our teammate. What could we do to help without getting in Axel''s way?

    It was then I realised Tam was simply leaning against the side of the shrine, her arms folded. She was watching in faint interest. The brunette could¡¯ve just as easily been taking a smoko break from a part-time job. That¡¯s how engaged she looked.

    ¡°Tam. What the fuck?¡±

    Her brown eyes met mine. ¡°I don''t got no skin in this game.¡±

    ¡°We''re your party!¡±

    ¡°If they kill you all, you won¡¯t be.¡±

    I tried invoking the collar¡¯s command. ¡°Helping us right now is necessary.¡±

    ¡°Mumma says that¡¯s up for debate.¡±

    And here I¡¯d thought we¡¯d had something like a heart to heart. Well, if she was being petty, I could meet her at that level.

    ¡°What would your wife say?¡±

    Tam¡¯s expression became frosty. Target hit. I needed to push harder though.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have any right¨C¡±

    I thought back to the exploding wall. Why she¡¯d been so angry with me. It¡¯d taken until our prior conversation to realise why she¡¯d been upset. It wasn¡¯t that I¡¯d been touching her. It was that she hated letting other people help her. She was so derisive toward my attitude towards others because she couldn¡¯t even fathom allowing people to assist her. For some reason, she was afraid of being seen as weak.

    ¡°I bet you she¡¯d think you¡¯re being a coward. Cowering with your tail between your legs. Letting us do all the dirty work.¡±

    Tam¡¯s eyes blazed with anger as she pushed off the wall to grab at my shirt.

    ¡°Shut your damn mouth! I ain¡¯t hiding behind y¡¯all!¡±

    ¡°Not the way it looks to me, Tam.¡±

    She let out an animalistic growl and flung her hands down, her face twitching with rage.

    ¡°Tam, I know you hate listening to me, but find the archer.¡± I paused as Axel screamed out, the attacker¡¯s blade catching him across the chest, the blood stark red against his white shirt. A fury lit inside me. I met her gaze. ¡°And kill them, if you can.¡±

    A blast of smoke exploded in front of my face followed by a yowl at my feet. Tam had transformed into a cat. She rushed off, speeding out of my sight. Behind me, I heard the continuous thwump of a line of bow strings. Gigi was under another hail of arrows. Xe had a few [Shield Wall] worth of stamina left by my count, which meant xe could survive a bit longer. Tam better fucking do her bit.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you your chance, Jye, just wait,¡± I said. ¡°Wren, how are you holding up?¡±

    Wren huffed. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡±

    ¡°Can you buff me too?¡±

    I felt her response, a zap of her ability being applied to me, like a quick surge of energy. In the corner of my eye, I saw the notification.

    5% damage buff

    ¡°Thanks.¡± I swallowed, and said to Jye, ¡°You¡¯ll know when to hit the fireballer.¡±

    With a hiss, Axel activated [Ground Smash] directing it through a kick to the ground. But before he made contact, his opponent simply jumped back out of range. The ground beneath them rippled, with some of the earthen debris flying up. They fell uselessly to the floor. Grinning, the pole-armist began their reapproach. I could see Axel swear.

    Helplessly, I watched from the sidelines running the calculations of what mana and stamina he had left. He¡¯d have enough for two more [Ground Smash]es, if I was adding everything up right. But they didn¡¯t seem like they¡¯d help him anyway. With his opponent¡¯s weapon reach, they would be easily able to stay out of range of the ability.

    I could see the slow damage building up on Axel as he struggled to find a way to fight back. He needed some relief, between fending off the fireballs and the glaive. Locking down the polearm-user wouldn¡¯t help, since it would just mean the fireballer would be able to defend their teammate easier without both of them darting to and fro, Axel¡¯s attacks much more predictable without having to compensate for their party member¡¯s. But there had to be something to give Axel a chance, maybe something to close the gap of range.

    The thought popped into my head and I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at how ridiculous of a plan it was. But I didn¡¯t give myself the privilege of doubt.

    Time to fucking go.

    Borrowing Load from Jye, which did feel like the emotion of a grunt, I lightened myself, though I had no idea by how much, considering it seemed the strength of other¡¯s abilities varied from my use of them, then I began sprinting. At once everything felt incredibly wrong. Previously we¡¯d been thrown by Jye while under Load and then they¡¯d released it. But moving with it, I much more clearly understood the ability. With each stride, the speed at which I was covering ground was insane. No. This wasn¡¯t a drop of my weight. The ability had affected the way in which gravity interrelated with my body.

    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Jye¡¯s ability was a gravity slider?

    Tearing me from my thoughts, a fireball singed towards me, flinging from the right. I darted to avoid it, but with less gravitational force and thus lower frictional force, I didn¡¯t manage to calculate the right amount of turn needed. The flame still caught me as I passed, burning right through my clothes. It seared viciously into the flesh of my side. Thankfully, as I bit into my lip against the fleeting burst of pain, it quickly went numb. But that wasn¡¯t actually good. That meant it was a third degree burn. Good thing I¡¯d had [Thick Hide] on. Without it, I probably would¡¯ve been flambed from the outside. I didn¡¯t even want to consider my current HP.

    Axel and his opponent just registered my approach as I redirected myself, taking care of the additional effort and torque required with Jye¡¯s ability applied. I withdrew the wooden broomstick from my system inventory and, without stopping, barrelled towards them both.

    I was next to them in one more step; my staff held horizontally, ready to sweep them off their feet as I bulldozed forward.

    To dodge the insane attack, the glaive-user stepped back, irritated by the interruption. Axel¡¯s eyes met mine for a moment, clearly asking what the fuck I was doing, but he stepped aside as well. It looked like I¡¯d just end up darting between the two. Good. I deactivated Jye¡¯s Load, praying to God that I could pull this off. With the motion of my body returning to how I was used to, I planted the end of my staff into the ground to resist against the friction of the floor, turning it into a crude brake.

    We skidded for a bit, and holding onto it for dear life, my arm muscles burning from strain, the world smearing by me, I used the momentum I¡¯d built up to swing around it. Absolutely taken off guard by the random pattern of my attack, Axel¡¯s opponent reacted; assuming I¡¯d be aiming for their open weak points, they pushed their weapon forward to protect themselves.

    Thanking them for their predictability, I flung my hand up as I continued to slide and grabbed the proffered head of the assailant¡¯s glaive. The attacker¡¯s eyes widened in shock, and they snatched it back, but I¡¯d achieved my goal.

    I released my staff, letting myself crash away into a tumble, winding myself. My surroundings were a painful blur. I was only able to glimpse as the glaive dipped, almost slipping out of the assailant¡¯s hold.

    I¡¯d applied Load, increasing the gravity applied to the weapon¡¯s blade. It would force the centre of the weapon¡¯s gravity up, effectively halving their reach with the grip adjustment needed.

    Still rolling away, dust kicking up, I finally came to a stop roughly a few metres from their battle. Jesus christ, how fast had I been running with Load? Feeling sore in too many different places, I coughed, out of breath, but knew I couldn¡¯t rest on my laurels. I darted my head around, trying to spy any incoming fireballs. None were forthcoming just yet. Back at the shrine, Jye and Tam were anxiously watching.

    I heard a tss and pushed myself to stand and run again, even as my body groaned in disagreement. The heat of a fireball blasting into the ground behind me gave me a surge of energy. This asshole would be next. Keeping on my feet, and ensuring I made more distance between their battle, I watched Axel¡¯s fight in the corner of my eye.

    As I¡¯d anticipated, the effect of Load on the glaive had completely thrown the attacker off-kilter. They were still readjusting to it, and now they were closer in reach, Axel was able to get a few hits in, blood splattering from their wounds.

    Their next attack went too wide, and Axel dodged it, sliding under. It was the opening he needed. He ducked in closer, swiping his blade at the attacker¡¯s achilles tendon. It sliced straight through. The top half of the assailant¡¯s split tendon snapped back up high into their thigh, like an elastic band released from tension, as blood gushed from the wound. The glaive-wielder let out a coarse guttural scream that pierced the very air, and staggered forward, taking their weight on their other leg. Seeing his chance to end the battle, Axel went in, animosity etched into his face.

    I scanned the area, frantically. They had to be here somewhere¡­ The ignition of a fireball snagged on the edge of my vision, a crisp glowing red spot. Bullseye.

    ¡°There you are, fucker,¡± I said.

    As the fireball started to streak forward to intervene, defending the injured fighter, I used the last of my stamina to summon [Shield Wall] directly in the location that the fireball had originated from, forming it horizontally.

    In that moment, several things happened in quick succession. My [Shield Wall] appeared. A pained grunt sounded. Out of nowhere, the magic caster became visible, falling to their ass, stunned, having been propelled by my shield. The already released fireball singed past Axel¡¯s head, forcing him away from his easy victory. He slapped at his smoking crown, swearing under his breath.

    Feet pounding dirt, I marvelled that my plan had actually worked.

    It was only something I¡¯d just realised; that the shield took up real space and matter when formed. It had been the arrowhead that had landed at my feet after my first [Shield Wall] that had given me the idea. The shield had been summoned into the same spot that the arrow was descending through, breaking the projectile in half. The ranged spellcaster, made out of thicker stuff than an arrow, had simply been ejected by the shield now occupying the same space. The theory that it¡¯d break invisibility was based purely on Dungeons and Dragons and holding concentration.

    Jye correctly understood this as their cue, launching a certified assault of knives in the magic user¡¯s prone direction. Hiss after hiss sounded as they hit their climax, plummeting through the air and then sinking at a dangerously quick speed toward the body of the magic user.

    Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk.

    Each sound a blade eating into their flesh. The magic caster writhed around a moment, hissing in pain, then with one final twitch they stilled. I didn¡¯t have time to reflect on that. Gigi was suffering another influx of arrows. Xe had been under constant assault the entire time. During my attack, all of xir [Shield Wall]s had burst into light, having taken the maximum damage they could. Beneath the one above xem, Gigi had already summoned another. Xe cast a pleading look our way.

    I nodded.

    I did not like that I was trusting Tam to keep Gigi alive, but with her improved senses as a cat, she had to be able to track the archer down. It was the only hope we had in that regard.

    Axel, rage in his eyes, stepped towards the heavily bleeding attacker, their glaive held limply in their hand. He swung his sword at it, and it clanked to the floor, disarming them.

    Holding his blade to their neck, Axel stepped behind them. Even from here, the groaning, the pleading, made its way to me clearly. It was over for them. Axel had won.

    With the hope that we could avoid the worst and that the other player was lower level, I borrowed [Intimidation] from Axel. It was a vile feeling. Like dragging my mind through a vat of crude oil. The ability was meant to be able to manipulate emotions. I tried projecting fear and announced, ¡°Stop attacking and reveal yourself, or we kill your last teammate.¡±

    The archer was in between one of their volleys, possibly on cooldown. We waited to see what they¡¯d do.

    Silence reigned.

    Gigi seemed to take this lengthened quiet as the archer¡¯s surrender, releasing a sigh of relief, xir small shoulders imperceptibly loosening.

    And then as clear as day, the same timbre slap of bow strings echoed out. Before their resulting projectiles could pelt into Gigi¡¯s shield, Axel made true on our threat.

    There was no hesitation.

    No pause.

    He slit the injured person¡¯s neck in twain without so much of a blink.

    There was a gurgle and then after the body fell limply to the floor the only sound was the thunking of arrows into Gigi¡¯s [Shield Wall]. Xe¡¯d only last a few more of those attacks before xe¡¯d be at bodily harm. Where the fuck was Tam?

    Abruptly, the rain of arrows ended before the full amount had properly descended. From the other side of the wall behind the shrine, just above the top of the crystalline quartz, I saw a wisp of smoke. The same kind I¡¯d seen firsthand when I¡¯d nearly died. A side effect of Tam transforming.

    Speak of the devil.

    Just Friends eliminated Test Name.

    Just Friends earned 1,000 XP.

    Just Friends awarded 121 credits.

    It took a second for the monumental announcement to properly settle in. I stared at the system updates in disbelief.

    We¡¯d won.

    We¡¯d won.

    And one thousand experience points?! Holy shit! That¡¯d shoot me up to next level, maybe even LVL 3? This was our first real battle and we¡¯d come out of all alive. Not even just alive! The only one of us that had taken that much damage was Axel, bar my minor (read: major) burn. And Wren could rectify that easily. We¡¯d straight up killed this! But the weirder thing was 121 credits. Why such an odd number? I couldn¡¯t think of any justification.

    The clutching hand of Wren on the hem of my shirt brought my thoughts back to the real world. Her face was pale white, tears on the verge of falling were glinting in her hazel eyes, her lips fighting back their quivering. She was shaking, looking at the fallen forms of the party formerly known as Test Name. Their blood was seeping into the dirt of the shrine biome, staining the floor red.

    The spellcaster¡¯s body was a pin cushion of knives.

    The glaive-user¡¯s neck gaped open, fleshy and pink.

    Both were completely still.

    Oh.

    Oh, fuck.

    We¡¯d just killed three people.

    The vegetable crisps found their way back up my throat and splattered onto the floor.

 Chapter Eighteen | The Choices We Make

    Wren, Axel, and I formed a healing train. Whilst Axel hadn¡¯t fallen into critical health, he was still quite low. He had numerous open wounds from the glaive, none of which seemed life threatening, but if left untreated could prove to be fatal. The scratches I¡¯d taken from my assist were minor, but the extent of the burn had taken me by surprise even though it shouldn¡¯t have.

    It stretched from just below my right armpit to my bottom rib. The burn was angry and red, with whitened blisters and crusted darker brown areas seared deeper into my flesh. I couldn¡¯t look at it without a profound sense of nausea filling me. That this damage was on my body and I couldn¡¯t feel it disturbed me. Mostly it just felt tight. Even as Wren¡¯s small hands, enmeshed in the glow of [Healing Hand], laid against my skin, I felt nothing.

    I focused on the slash across Axel¡¯s chest, borrowing Wren¡¯s ability. It was probably the best one I¡¯d used from my entire party. The skill gave off a pleasant airiness that bubbled through my veins. When it met the injury it was meant to heal, the bubbling would simmer into a cold boil. It reminded me of liquid oxygen.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Axel said as I began healing him.

    I wasn¡¯t fully sure how to talk to him, considering how he¡¯d just killed a person. And I¡¯d helped him do it. As a matter of fact, I¡¯d been the lynchpin that had assisted in the murder of three people.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I replied.

    That I¡¯d not yet had one of my attacks was honestly shocking. For a variety of reasons. But I guess what tended to trigger them was thoughts of death, for myself and the people I loved. Of not being able to do anything to stop it. Rather than letting my mind consider that, I¡¯d simply dived into combat. Maybe that was another strategy I could employ if I ever felt them creep back. Because you didn¡¯t just cold turkey stop anxiety attacks. I¡¯d learned that the hard way.

    But now my worries rested on the consequences of our actions. Wren¡¯s hands trembled as she healed the scratches along my arm. Without talking, the four standing adults in our party had relocated the camp away from the area we¡¯d battled in. She¡¯d calmed down once the bodies were out of sight.

    What else could we even do? She was a child, yes, but she was also a valued member of our crew. We couldn¡¯t shield her forever. Even if I wanted to protect her. She had to do her part. With her larger mana pool, and unique abilities, she¡¯d have to take the brunt of the healing since I could only do so much.

    Unsurprisingly, Tam came back without so much as a hair misplaced. With her, she¡¯d brought the corpse of the archer and had remarked: ¡°Look what the cat dragged in.¡± At any other time that quip might¡¯ve been funny. Unfortunately, it did nothing to raise the mood of those with compromised morals.

    I must¡¯ve been lost in my thoughts because Axel settled a hand on top of my own, his head tilted. ¡°You good?¡±

    Was I good with having killed three people?

    No.

    I felt guilty that I didn¡¯t feel guilty.

    The three ambushers had been intent on taking us out. They hadn¡¯t tried to talk to us. We¡¯d given them the chance to surrender. Test Name had no issue with killing us. We had defended ourselves.

    I felt sick at the senseless loss of life, at having caused it, but I didn¡¯t feel guilty about it. Though I probably should¡¯ve. These people were human. They all had loved ones, someone to return to, someone they were fighting for. But it was kill or be killed. I had prepared myself for this eventuality since the moment the Gates appeared.

    We¡¯d killed, but we had been forced to in order to survive.

    The disgust and sickness inside me condensed into hate. Prior to this I¡¯d been annoyed and alarmed and concerned and aghast by everything happening. I¡¯d said that I¡¯d only started choosing again when the Gates appeared, and that was true. I was thankful for that.

    But being forced to kill someone or die wasn¡¯t a choice.

    There was no choice.

    Whoever or whatever was playing with us, putting us through all of this, had pressed this fate on us. And the weight of those lives would sit on our shoulders for the rest of ours. I was sorry that they¡¯d come across us, that we hadn¡¯t been able to talk it out. That it had come down to what had happened. That we were all stuck in this same crazy fucking situation and just trying to come out on top.

    Axel¡¯s hand tightened around mine. It was strangely reassuring. Grounding.

    He said, ¡°You¡¯re alive because of it. I¡¯m alive. All of us.¡±

    ¡°Not all of us.¡± Unable to stop myself, I glanced in the direction of the three bodies we¡¯d grouped together. We still weren¡¯t sure what to do with them. ¡°But you¡¯re right.¡±

    ¡°Always am.¡± The blond smiled, though there was no joy behind it.

    I attempted to return the expression, but I knew it probably closer resembled a grimace.

    ¡°You¡¯re done, Lee,¡± Wren said. A yawn promptly followed her words.

    Checking my status, I found it was the truth; I was back up at full health. The skin under my arm had returned to a healthier pink, but was clearly discoloured. I guess the level of awful I was feeling was all mental and emotional. Despite logically knowing we¡¯d had no choice, it didn¡¯t stop me from wondering if there was anything different we could¡¯ve done. Any other path we could¡¯ve taken.

    ¡°Thanks, kid.¡± With the hand that wasn¡¯t currently in use, I dug into my pants pocket and retrieved the Warhead Axel had given me just a week ago. ¡°Here. I¡¯ve been saving this.¡±

    She smiled and took it but paused. Her head tilted. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t need this still?¡±

    It was a good question. The sour lollies were the quickest ways to stop my panic attacks. They always had been. Until the attacks had eventually faded away over time, I¡¯d carried at least one on my person at all times.

    I shook my head and curled her fingers over it.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that.¡±

    Immediately, she ripped open the small packet and popped it into her mouth. I didn¡¯t even get to see the colour at the speed at which she ate it. Her lips puckered and she clenched her eyes closed in reaction to the quick burst of stringent sweetness. When she opened them again, they were watering.

    ¡°S¡¯good,¡± she said, voice strained. She yawned again, revealing that her mouth was starting to green. ¡°I think I need to have a nap.¡±

    With that, she pushed herself up and wandered over to our haphazardly packed bedrolls. We¡¯d moved everything in a flurry of panic, just eager to get Wren and our items far away from where we¡¯d committed three counts of murder. She unrolled one of the sleeping bags, and collapsed onto it, her face still scrunched up from the sour lolly.

    Axel chuckled and I realised I was grinning too. His hand had remained overlapping mine. A moment later, the dull throb of an almost empty mana pool alerted me to the fading power of my [Healing Hand]. I was nearly at my limit, so I deactivated the ability.

    Seeing the glow disappear, Axel withdrew his hold.

    ¡°Let¡¯s see how you¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°Ugh, don¡¯t tell me,¡± he replied, turning his head away and closing his eyes.

    Just as he was a bit of a germaphobe, he also somehow managed to be the more squeamish out of our party.

    I pulled back to check his chest wound. It was ugly and raised, but it¡¯d scarred over. I worried it would never return back to its original unmarred form. And Axel was a vain creature. A permanent disfigurement could very well be another reason to send him over the deep end.

    Though this wasn¡¯t the first time he¡¯d been hurt so seriously. Had the wooden stake injury healed properly?

    His shirt was already quite tattered and the majority of his torso was visible. But the area he¡¯d been stabbed in was still covered. Curious, I peeled back the ragged edge of his shirt to compare the two wounds. Beneath was unblemished skin. Unable to believe what I was seeing, I tested it, running the tips of my fingers over the expanse of muscle, feeling for any damage.

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    There was nothing, though the muscles under my ministrations tensed for some reason. The last time I¡¯d checked, the wound at my collarbone had left a faint scar, like a ghostly whisper of my near-death-experience. But for Axel, it was like he¡¯d never been hurt in the first place.

    His stats really must¡¯ve been OP.

    ¡°I don¡¯t even have to say anything,¡± Tam said, having appeared, her arms crossed.

    Frowning in confusion, I looked to Axel for clarification. His cheeks were slightly red and he was not meeting my gaze. Ohhh. I removed my hands from his body, recalling just how much Axel wasn¡¯t a fan of others touching him unless he instigated it. Now unsure where to put them, I dropped my hands into my lap, letting them sit there uselessly. For once I''d done something worth the unspoken anger the heat in his face indicated.

    Feeling defensive, I explained, ¡°I was checking his old wound. You know, the one we got fighting you.¡±

    ¡°Riiight.¡± She took a breath. ¡°I guess my query is strangely relevant then. I wanted to ask what¡¯s the go on the stiffs.¡±

    Ignoring the innuendo, I said, ¡°You can¡¯t call them that.¡±

    Tam rolled her eyes. ¡°Cadavers, carcasses, carrion, corpses. Call ¡®em what you want, we gotta deal with them.¡±

    In her shadow walked Jye. ¡°I don¡¯t exactly like it, but the cat¡¯s got a point. Even if we¡¯re not sticking around, there¡¯s only a day or two before the bodies¡¯ll start to smell. Like smell bad, that is. The smell of dead things.¡±

    ¡°Why do you know that?¡± I asked.

    Jye shrugged, their large traps bunching up and then loosening. ¡°Yeah, so hardcore survival family camping was not just camping. We also hunted. Feral hogs and stuff like that. One time, we accidentally left a straggler in the back of the spare ute. Forgot about it for just one day. When we got back, the stench was absolutely rancid. Wished I didn¡¯t have a nose.¡±

    I thought about the carvings we¡¯d done on the crystalline floors the day before. There was no way we¡¯d be able to dig deep enough into them to bury the corpses. But we couldn¡¯t just leave them unceremoniously there. We were murderers, not savages. I tested the ground beneath my feet since we were currently in the shrine biome. It was no prospect either, the dirt so hard-packed that we¡¯d struggle to even get an inch deep.

    ¡°Cremation?¡± I suggested.

    ¡°You wanna light dead bodies on fire?¡± Tam said with the kind of tone that added ¡°you sick fuck¡± at the end of her words.

    ¡°Want is a strong word.¡±

    Axel shook his head. ¡°We can¡¯t cremate them. The amount of fuel needed for a fire to completely burn three adult bodies to ash is not something we just have on hand.¡±

    ¡°Why do you know that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I read.¡±

    ¡°Read what?¡±

    ¡°As cute as this is, it doesn¡¯t solve our problem,¡± Tam said, interrupting Axel and me.

    Jye, ever the concerning one, began their suggestion. ¡°I¡¯m going to throw something out there. You can¡¯t judge me for this. But what about, as a warning sign, we hang their bod¨C¡±

    In the corner of my eye, I noticed Gigi, absent xir unique coat, dragging something along the ground towards us. I¡¯d been wondering where xe was.

    ¡°What do you have there?¡±

    The rest of the party swung around at my question, turning to look in the direction I was frowning.

    Xe¡¯d stripped off xir coat and had used it to bundle up something and, unable to pick it all up, had resorted to letting it trail on the floor behind xem. Gigi said nothing, but when xe reached us, xe spread the coat open to reveal what was inside.

    It looked like gear, supplies, and weapons.

    Immediately I recognised one item, its blade tipped with Axel¡¯s dried blood, and the realisation of what Gigi had done had hit me.

    ¡°You looted their bodies?!¡±

    The small stranger nodded xir head enthusiastically. ¡°Yes. They had a lot of food.¡±

    In a game, it was an obvious thing to do. You keep what you kill. Very Furian. I knew it didn¡¯t make sense, but taking their stuff felt worse than killing them. Like desecrating corpses. It was on par with grave robbery or tomb raiding.

    Gigi considered me for a moment. ¡°Should I not have done this?¡±

    One of Axel¡¯s hands found itself on my shoulder. ¡°Hey, come on. It¡¯s not like they¡¯re going to need any of it anymore.¡±

    I sighed and rubbed at my face, stretching taunt my cheeks.

    ¡°No, Gigi. I guess this is just something we do now.¡±

    Xe gave me a large thumbs up and began divvying up the goods between the rest of us. Jye ended up taking the archer¡¯s bow and quiver. Whatever food was equally shared, and spare clothes went to whoever they¡¯d likely fit. Luckily, the archer had a smaller figure; the one I¡¯d worried was a child. It was almost as bad, but they¡¯d seemed to be a man in their later years, shrunken from age. Much of their clothing had been shared between Gigi and the pile we¡¯d put aside for Wren.

    At the end of the loot division, the only thing left was the glaive.

    ¡°If no one else is gonna take this¡­¡± I said, picking it up. I was the only one who used anything like it.

    The polearm was heavy and cool in my hands, but knowing it¡¯d been held only moments before by a dead person made me feel some sort of way. I immediately stored it in my system inventory, followed by the food I¡¯d received. Jye and Tam looked on in shock. Looks like Mumma hadn¡¯t been feeding Tam everything after all.

    ¡°Oh, right. I was going to tell you about this and then¡­ Well, and then we killed three people, so forgive me my lapse of memory.¡±

    I went over adding non-Dungeon items into our inventories and watched as the rest of the party followed suit. We discussed whether or not we should add our backpacks to the inventory, and eventually agreed not to since it was possible we might be cut off from them and lose access. In our bags we kept emergency rations and immediately necessary items.

    Even though we¡¯d all separately added quite a lot to our inventories, it looked as though they weren¡¯t going to fill up any time soon. In fact, it didn¡¯t seem they had a limit on storage.

    An idea occurred to me.

    It was a bad one.

    I shared it with the others.

    They all gave me a look worse than the one Jye¡¯d started receiving before Gigi¡¯s appearance.

    ¡°You want to what?¡± Axel queried, eyes wide.

    ¡°I knew it. I knew it! You¡¯re a whole nother level of messed up, sunshine.¡±

    Jye nodded in acceptance. ¡°I think it¡¯s smart.¡±

    Having the redhead of all people say that didn¡¯t fill me with much reassurance, but I didn¡¯t let that show on my face.

    ¡°I will do it,¡± Gigi said.

    Gently rebuffing him, I replied, ¡°It might be better to share this burden, but thanks for offering to shoulder it all.¡±

    I addressed the others. ¡°So Gigi volunteered, and it was my idea, so I¡¯m involved.¡± I held out my hands, palms up, as if waiting for someone to place an object within them. ¡°Hands up who else wants a body in their inventory.¡±

    Eventually, I needled Axel into accepting the position. In hindsight, I¡¯d probably guilted him into it. Still, I found myself thinking this was the best option. Handling dead bodies wasn¡¯t the most hygienic thing, but if we cleared the Dungeon and brought them back to the real world perhaps we could hold a real funeral for them. Or hand them back to people who loved them. We¡¯d deal with the slings and arrows of retribution then too, if that happened.

    The idea of being able to put them to rest gave me the strength to commit to this plan, despite how my body was reacting. My skin felt clammy and my stomach churned.

    With solemn expressions, the three of us, Axel, Gigi and I, walked quietly to the location where we¡¯d gathered all three corpses. Thankfully, Gigi had the decency to leave them the clothes on their backs. From a distance, they looked like they were simply sleeping.

    I forced myself to look as I crouched next to the spellcaster.

    We¡¯d laid the three of them out on their backs, in a neat row. They stared emptily up into the air. Unable to take the weight of their dead gaze, I closed the magic user¡¯s eyes. Other than moving them, this hadn¡¯t been the first time I¡¯d touched a dead body. I¡¯d kissed Chrissie on the cheek in the funeral home all those years ago. Much like hers, their face was cold.

    The spellcaster¡¯s facial muscles were stiff and their skin tacky with blood. There was no life left here. I swallowed back the sick that wanted to rush up my throat and took a deep breath. That had been the wrong move. The irony scent of blood filled my nostrils and made the nausea in my stomach clench harder.

    Pushing all this down, I imagined the same thing I normally did when adding something to the inventory. The system reacted as expected. One moment the husk of the person I''d helped kill was there, the next I saw its icon in my window.

    I exhaled and nodded to the others.

    Grimly, they began the same process.

    Once all bodies had been stored, we returned to the others. Both of them were watching over Wren. If I didn¡¯t know better, I might¡¯ve thought the expression on Tam''s face depicted affection. As soon as she noticed us, her smile flipped into a frown. That was more like the Tam I¡¯d begun to know.

    I let out a short sigh. ¡°Once everyone¡¯s at full mana and stamina, we need to move on. We can¡¯t risk something like this happening again.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m almost back to full,¡± Jye said.

    Axel, Tam, and Gigi shared their statuses; a mix of half restored and half not. Both my metres were quite low.

    I looked down at the sleeping form of Wren and my determination wavered. Some green drool was leaking out of her snoring mouth.

    She really was being a trooper. And maybe we were asking too much of a ten-year-old girl. However, it was better for her to be with us than not be with us right now. Perhaps once we got out of here, I¡¯d try to get answers about her family and we¡¯d reunite them. Actually, yeah. I¡¯d make it a priority.

    For now, though, we could indulge in letting her nap a little more.

 Chapter Nineteen | Expectations

    Set up on the grass outside, there are five rows of pews between us. Probably to stop me and Axel from getting into it again. It¡¯s a closed casket service, out of respect. It¡¯s like I can almost see through the oak, to Chrissie¡¯s resting face, the skin so cold when I¡¯d kissed her for the last time. The coffin is small, the same height as me. It would¡¯ve dwarfed her. I hope she¡¯s comfortable in there with the extra headroom and foot space.

    The cushioning looked soft.

    They lower her into the ground, and I¡¯m encouraged by my parents to say something. Getting the words out is hard. My nose is running and I can barely see the words on my paper as I speak. I can¡¯t feel my heart in my chest because it hurts so much.

    ¡°I love Chrissie. She¡¯ll always be my little sister. She shouldn¡¯t be dead. It¡¯s not fair. I will miss her all my life.¡±

    I finish, hands shaking, world blurry, and my parents both say their farewells through tears as well, and then the ceremony is over. People, faceless strangers to me, mill about us, offering empty condolences.

    We add her favourite toys onto her casket before they begin to cover her up. I also give Chrissie my favourite book, even though I¡¯ll never be able to read it to her. The dirt thudding against the casket lid is the only sound for a long time.

    When Axel approaches the grave, at first anger hits me. I¡¯m rushing up to confront him, fury cutting through the sadness, ready to throw down again. But he¡¯s speaking, very softly, down to Chrissie. He sniffs as he speaks, and it causes me to hesitate. My steps slow, but I inch closer to listen in. I only manage to catch the end of it.

    ¡°...my sister, but you were the closest I had. This was for you, like always, like I promised.¡±

    After taking a moment, Axel releases something into the grave and then walks away to his parents who are also distraught, almost as much as my own. I creep hesitantly to the edge of the hole. Down there, amidst the growing mound of dirt, on top of the book I¡¯d given Chrissie, is a crisp blue raspberry Warhead.

    Just like me she loved sour things. I even remember the expression on her chubby baby face the first time she¡¯d tried a lemon. Though for the past year or so, because of several cavities, she¡¯d been banned from eating lollies. She¡¯d taken the ruling with a peculiar grace, never throwing a tantrum or even asking for any. Mum and Dad had been proud.

    Had Axel been sneaking her these the entire time?

    ¡°Hey, Lee, everyone¡¯s back up.¡±

    I blinked back the dream, or the memory, or the dream of a memory. As the world rushed back into focus, I became aware that the rest of the party were in various stances in a semicircle around me. They were waiting on me. I must¡¯ve dozed off while we were letting Wren rest.

    I stared for a moment at Axel. It still felt unreal that he was calling me by my name. He was squatting down beside me, the hand that¡¯d shaken me awake mid-retraction. There were bags under his eyes. If I thought about it, those had appeared, and had never truly faded, after that day.

    I¡¯d forgotten that he¡¯d loved Chrissie too. Axel and my sister never got along like me and her, but that didn¡¯t mean he hadn¡¯t cared about her.

    After the funeral, prompted by Axel¡¯s actions, I¡¯d dug up the remaining pack of Warheads I had.

    A few weeks before everything, my parents had brought me that packet as a reward for getting good grades. They made me promise not to give any to Chrissie, and so I¡¯d hid them under my bed and had been snacking on them in secret.

    I told myself I would eat the rest for her.

    Opening the remaining individual packets, one by one in preparation as if in ritual, I¡¯d eventually broken down, sobbing that I was sorry for never sharing them. Thinking about Chrissie, tied to how helpless I felt and how useless what I was doing was, triggered my first ever attack.

    Scared that I was dying, as punishment for hiding the lollies from my sister, for letting her die, the even more irrational part of my brain thought I could take the lollies with me to her. Through my tears and crushing heart and lungs, I shovelled a handful of the Warheads into my mouth.

    That the sour flavour of them shocked me out of the panic attack was pure happenstance.

    I¡¯d never told Axel about that. I don¡¯t know how he knew. Yes, they helped me with the attacks. But beyond that, I¡¯d always had them because they reminded me of Chrissie, of the future she¡¯d lost, that we never got to share.

    Maybe Axel had kept them for the same reason.

    Realising myself, I nodded to his prior words, and I quickly checked my own stats to ensure I was good to go as well. Both my stamina and mana were back to around two thirds. Not a lot of time had passed while I¡¯d slept, but if everyone else was ready, I wasn¡¯t going to hold us back. I think I¡¯d done enough of that.

    Standing, I asked Wren, ¡°How was your nap?¡±

    ¡°I feel a lot better.¡± She smiled. ¡°I had really good dreams. Did you dream?¡±

    ¡°Oh, uh. I dreamt about¡­¡± I paused, trying to figure out how to explain it without making it sound bleak. No matter how I cut it, it was going to be a mood killer. Even though the dream hadn¡¯t made me sad.

    The cutthroat of our party rolled her eyes. ¡°No one actually cares, babes.¡±

    ¡°Oi, speak for yourself, I love hearing about dreams,¡± said Jye. ¡°They reflect a person¡¯s mental state.¡±

    I blanched. ¡°I hope that¡¯s not true.¡±

    Gigi crossed xir arms, shaking xir head. ¡°I disagree. Dreams mean nothing.¡±

    Nodding sagely, Axel seemed to agree with xem. No wonder. With no prompting, once when drunk he¡¯d told me about a dream where he was struck by the realisation he could transform into a car and then proceeded to drive away as a Mazda. If Jye was right, I couldn¡¯t even hazard a guess about Axel¡¯s mentality at that point.

    Wren said, ¡°Well, I dreamt that I lived in a tower in the clouds. And that I could fly!¡± She spread her arms out and closed her eyes, as if summoning the memory of soaring through the skies. It was a pity there was no wind in this biome. A soft billowing in her pixie cut hair would¡¯ve sold the image.

    I remarked, ¡°You never know, with all these skills, maybe one day you actually can.¡±

    This seemed to settle strangely over the others, as if reminding them that nothing was normal and perhaps never would be again. Okay then. I¡¯d wanted to avoid bringing down the party, but it looks like I¡¯d failed that. At the very least I wouldn¡¯t have to mention that I¡¯d dreamt about my sister¡¯s funeral. Crisis averted¡­?

    ¡°We might as well get going then.¡±

    I turned to face the entrance to the shrine. After the battle, the oddness of it paled in comparison to what we¡¯d done. Though the blue-flamed candles still flickered unendingly, and the light fogginess still hovered in the air, the eeriness had been flattened, desaturated in eminence.

    Axel scoffed. ¡°¡®We might as well get going then¡¯? That¡¯s really gonna be the line you use to introduce us to the Dungeon boss? Can¡¯t you think of something more grandiose?¡±

    Scowling, I replied, ¡°You don¡¯t know it¡¯s a boss. Like Tam, or rather Mumma said, it could be a riddle.¡±

    ¡°It could be another maze,¡± suggested Jye.

    In concert, an upset groan erupted from everyone else.

    Wren whined, ¡°Please, no more labyrinths.¡±

    As a group we walked up the aged stone steps to the shrine¡¯s entry. Either due to its design or the limitations of creativity behind whatever made it, you couldn¡¯t see anything inside. The interior was just pitch black as we approached. The closer we grew, the stronger the musty smell of mildew became. All along I¡¯d thought that the biome just gave off that scent, but maybe it originated from the temple itself. Were we walking into an inside swamp?

    ¡°I believe it is a challenge.¡±

    Frowning, I echoed Gigi, ¡°A challenge?¡±

    ¡°Yes. [REDACTED.¡±

    I repressed the frustration at the censorship. A challenge, huh? I examined Tam¡¯s expression to see if any information could be discerned. Perhaps Mumma had told her something. Unfortunately, she looked just as sceptical at Gigi¡¯s words. I sighed internally.

    If we combined the idea of a challenge with the riddle concept, maybe it would be something like the infamous two guard problem; the one who always lies and the one who always tells the truth. Or maybe we¡¯d face a sphinx?

    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    We¡¯d reached the shrine¡¯s entrance.

    I took a deep breath and glanced around at the others. Everyone had a slightly different look of anticipation on their faces: Gigi¡¯s was a steeled optimism set in flatly pressed lips. Jye¡¯s, a resigned but balanced curiosity in their widened green eyes. Tam¡¯s, unshakable confidence only belied by a clenched jaw, revealing the smallest of doubts. And on Wren, concerned apprehension was furrowing her brow.

    Axel¡¯s features were unreadable. That figured. His gaze met mine and he titled his head, as if to say, Caught you. Somehow that small exchange lifted a bit of the worry I felt.

    ¡°See you guys on the other side.¡±

    Then I stepped through into the building, the blackness swallowing me whole.

    I blinked back the inkiness and my vision cleared, revealing a rather standard looking stone interior. It reminded me of one of the dungeons from the Zelda games, but I couldn¡¯t pick which one. Jesus, would we have to do all those time-based puzzles? That was not my idea of a good time. But it was, just as we¡¯d lamented, and Jye suggested, a further labyrinth, this time topped with a roof. No more ¡°semi-cheating,¡± I guess.

    What was the point of the mysterious black entrance then?

    ¡°That was stupid,¡± I said.

    Silence greeted me.

    Heart in my throat, I spun around, frantically praying that the others were just taking their time. But there was no entrance behind me. Black or otherwise. The only thing now before me was a cold stone wall.

    Fuck.

    They¡¯d split us up.

    Fear grabbed hold of me. It writhed its way through my limbs and locked me to the spot. The cold sweat breaking out on my brow trickled down into my left eye. If I couldn¡¯t borrow my party members¡¯ skills when I wasn¡¯t near them, I was a dead man walking. But nothing about the ability said it had to be used in proximity to its origin member. I took a deep, stilling breath, forcing myself to stop making logic leaps that flung my mental state into the abyss of defeat.

    Tentatively, I tried activating [Thick Hide].

    The thin layer spread around me, the unusual second skin suddenly a comforting hug rather than the foreign feeling I¡¯d long associated with it.

    At least there was that. However, my nerves were still frazzled and fraught. I hadn¡¯t been genuinely alone since¡­ before the Gates. Even when I¡¯d been in Twilight, hell, even when I¡¯d been basically dead, there¡¯d been someone nearby, someone I could rely on. Thinking back on it, before all this had started, Axel had been there, somewhere. I don¡¯t think I ever really acknowledged just how much that meant to me, deep down. Without me knowing it, having him in my life was a constant that I¡¯d relied on, like trusting the sun would rise and fall. And I¡¯d wanted to run away from that when I¡¯d wanted to move out?

    Well, congrats to me.

    Now I was truly alone.

    It was cold.

    Hoping against hopes, I cupped my hands around my mouth and called out, praying someone in the party would be able to hear me. ¡°Guys! Are you there?¡± Fingers crossed that this was just another stupid scheme to make this more entertaining and that we were in the same instance of the Dungeon, and not truly separated.

    ¡°Lee?¡± came an echo from the distance. ¡°Is that actually you?¡±

    A chorus of other voices replied and the relief that flooded me was tangible.

    ¡°What does everyone see?¡± I asked, trying to identify where each member might be.

    ¡°Walls,¡± came one bland reply.

    ¡°Real helpful, Axel.¡±

    Though I couldn¡¯t really talk. It was the only notable thing near me as well.

    ¡°Damn, walls is all I see too,¡± Jye said, from the completely opposite direction, and I could visualise them throwing their hands up in frustration.

    ¡°It¡¯s stone walls ¡®til the cows come home, sunshine.¡±

    ¡°Wren, Gigi?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s dark where I am¡­¡± Wren said, dread making her voice tremble.

    My fury at whoever/whatever had orchestrated this rose. One day, I don¡¯t know how, I¡¯d have a long conversation with the creator of this Dungeon. This conversation would also involve me throttling them to an inch of their life, if they were living. If they weren¡¯t¡­ well, I guess I could get creative.

    ¡°I would advise no one stays where they are,¡± came Gigi¡¯s voice, though it sounded like xe was moving. Was xe¡­ running?

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked, confused. If we wanted to find each other, having us all wandering around was literally the opposite way to do that, especially if this maze was as big as the one outside. We were liable to walk past each other or just miss each other. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like there was a time limit on this shrine. I¡¯d been about to suggest we find members one at a time, with Axel starting the search because of his [Swift Footed] trait.

    An inhuman roar that thundered the walls around me answered for xem.

    ¡°I am being pursued,¡± Gigi said, more calmly than I would¡¯ve in xir place.

    ¡°Oh, fuck this shit. It¡¯s dog eat dog right now.¡±

    ¡°Tam, don¡¯t be selfish,¡± I shouted, now beginning to start walking. I wanted to get away from the deadend to my back. It would be stupid to remain somewhere I could be cornered. I eventually came to a T and turned left.

    ¡°Me? Selfish? Wouldn¡¯t think of it.¡±

    After that, she said nothing more, even as I called for her.

    ¡°What¡¯s chasing you, Gigi?¡± Jye asked. Their shorter breath meant they were on the move too.

    ¡°I do not know what to call it.¡±

    Gigi must¡¯ve been nearby, because xir voice was clear. The ground under me rumbled. Continuously checking behind me to ensure I wasn¡¯t going to be taken off guard, I picked up speed, shifting to a light jog. Running would just exhaust me and, baby, I was not a runner and trackstar. A controlled faster than walking pace was much more suited to me.

    Feet slapping on hard ground sounded to my left followed by heavy pounding. Then a booming THUMP. It echoed into the floor and walls, vibrating all surfaces, disturbing and shaking dust and small stones loose.

    Something very large had crashed. If Gigi was trying to stop it from following xem, perhaps xe¡¯d used [Shield Wall] to halt it? But why hadn¡¯t I heard the goddamn static hiss? Was it glitching it out again?

    At the next intersection, I turned towards the direction of the sounds. Perhaps with two of us to chase, whatever it was would get confused and lose track of both Gigi and me. If worse came to worse and it came after me, I could hide behind [Shield Wall] and protect myself, like xe had.

    ¡°Gigi, buy some time! I¡¯m coming to help,¡± I announced.

    ¡°No, you are most definitely not.¡±

    Alarmed, I glanced around to see Axel barreling toward me.

    ¡°What are you¨C¡± and then his arms were around me, sweeping me off my feet, the action knocking the breath out of me. I boggled up at him, unable to comprehend what he¡¯d just done.

    Axel had picked me up.

    He was carrying me as we sped along, further and further away from where Gigi was, darting about each corner with a single light precisely measured step. I couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. No. This couldn¡¯t be happening.

    Finally mentally caught up, I struggled against him. ¡°What the fuck?¡±

    ¡°Gigi¡¯s shields are stronger. You know that.¡±

    Furious, I yelled whilst batting at his hands, ¡°It doesn¡¯t mean I can¡¯t help!¡±

    ¡°You heard the size of whatever it is. Think your shields would last even one hit?¡±

    I didn¡¯t parse what he was saying, nor did I care. My mana and stamina were mostly regenned, apart from the cap of [Thick Hide]. If I wanted to, I could make him stop, but that¡¯d be a waste of precious resources we needed to conserve. Instead, I lifted a hand, threaded it through his hair and gripped, yanking down on it so his gaze met mine.

    ¡°Axel, I swear to God, if you don¡¯t put me down right now, I¡¯ll never forgive you.¡±

    He skidded to an immediate stop, kicking up dust. In his eyes he had that same stupid damn lunatic sadness. Axel laughed.

    ¡°You never change.¡±

    With that, he unceremoniously deposited me onto the ground and disappeared around a corner. I scrambled up, swearing. By the time I found my feet and pursued him, I¡¯d completely lost him and the direction he¡¯d gone. The rumbling of whatever situation Gigi was in could barely be heard from where I was.

    FUCKING AXEL.

    After letting out a frustrated growl, I shifted gears. I¡¯d wanted to get Gigi away from the attacker because we needed xir defensive abilities if we were to mount a full-group attack. Having xem spending all xir mana and stamina now would bite us in the ass later.

    I let out a long sigh.

    We still needed the full group for that assault, anyway.

    One step at a time.

    ¡°Jye, Wren, Tam! Where are you?¡±

    ¡°You know all you gotta do is speak of the devil and you will receive.¡±

    The built cutthroat stepped out from my right at one of the offshooting pathways. Meeting her like this was the most insane coincidence. If I hadn¡¯t known any better, I would¡¯ve thought that Axel had tracked her down and placed me here with her. But given her relative radio silence that was impossible. What crazy good fortune.

    ¡°You must¡¯ve saved someone important in a previous life, Tam.¡±

    She grinned. ¡°What can I say? Lady Luck has a crush on me.¡±

    The way she said it felt like she was implying something more, but I didn¡¯t have the time to break her words down.

    ¡°Can you find the others?¡±

    ¡°You want me to go cat?¡±

    I nodded.

    ¡°What¡¯s in it for me?¡±

    "Not dying to the thing crumbling this maze.¡±

    She made a non-commital noise of consideration and then said, ¡°You better put your running shoes on, babes.¡±

    In a puff of smoke, Tam disappeared. Without giving time for the haze to clear, the bob-tailed cat streaked off, forming speed lines of smoke behind her.

    Still no ability sound. I couldn¡¯t rely on it anymore.

    I pounded after her, listening intently for any signs that would reveal how Gigi, and maybe Axel, were holding up against the¡­ monster? Was it a monster? No human would sound like it had as it lumbered through the labyrinth, chasing down the intruders.

    Oh.

    Of course, it was a monster.

    It had to be the Minotaur.

    Real fucking original.

 Chapter Twenty | Progress

    As I ran after Tam, her little paws pattering across stone floors, I reflected on what precisely I could do to help the party and what might be our best bet in defeating our large opponent. I still hadn¡¯t spent the rewards for us ¡°elimating¡± the party Test Name.

    Before falling asleep waiting on Wren, I¡¯d spent some time combing through the system looking at what I could spend the credits on. Following the same pathway through my stats, I¡¯d selected the Upgrade menu and this time nothing was greyed out and locked. In fact, it very excitedly flashed the number of in-system currency I had available in the corner of my screen.

    121 credits.

    Still I wasn¡¯t sure why we¡¯d been awarded them this time and in such an unusual sum. Did we need to kill people to get credits? If that were the case, spending what we had would have to be carefully considered before purchase because I¡¯d strongly prefer to not become a mass murderer. I didn¡¯t know about the others, but I could firmly say at least Wren would also like to avoid that fate.

    Leaning up against the back of the shrine, the coolness of the stone seeping into my body, I perused what I could actually use the credits for.

    Much like in RPGs, it looked like I could put some points directly into my attributes themselves. That, at least, made sense. If I was right about how each of these worked, then this was when I needed to start thinking about how I was going to be building my char¨C myself up to survive. My class was [All-rounder]. I¡¯d initially thought it to be quite a weak start, and branching equally into all areas to be a poor idea, but in the past few situations, nothing except my concern about how limited I was by my low stats had hurt my chances. Should I strive to level up as balanced as I could and not specialise in anything? In any other situation, the thought was be idiotic¡­

    I let my focus wander over the attributes, wondering if I could garner any more factual information on how each one affected us overall. If Gigi¡¯s [Shield Wall]s were stronger than my own despite it taking the same amount of required stamina, and Axel healed faster and more efficiently than me even though we¡¯d received similarly life-threatening wounds, then the attributes had to impact us on a deeper level. I lingered on the first attribute, CON, trying to work things out and it highlighted itself. A notification box popped up.

    Upgrade CON for 5 credits? Accept | Reject

    I rejected it, unsure about what that¡¯d actually get me.

    And, jesus, 5 credits? That didn¡¯t seem like a fair exchange. Still, that meant 24 attribute value points I could increase, which would massively help me survive. I rechecked our party screen to see everyone¡¯s levels, wondering how we were averaging after that XP explosion.

    Just Friends Party | LVL 23

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Lee | LVL 3 | All-Rounder (Party Leader)</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Axel | LVL 3 | Combatant</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>J?????????????4?????????????1????????????? | LVL 1 | |???????|???????\???????\???????\???????|???????|???????4???????4???????|???????|???????2???????/???????|???????\???????(???????\???????5???????|???????</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Wren | LVL 3 | Synergist</li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Tam | LVL 3 | Cutthroat </li>

    </ul>

    <ul style="text-align: justify">

    <li>Gigi | LVL 10 | Vanguard</li>

    </ul>

    Oh, god, Jye still hadn¡¯t levelled up. That meant they were stuck on that level. I wondered about what kind of repercussions that¡¯d have. As far as I could tell, levels were empty numbers and credits were what really progressed our stats. The attribute points were paywalled and that could only be bought out with the system-specific currency.

    Well, maybe we could get more credits by selling stuff to Xanthe? That had been the whole point of my exclusive contract with them in the first place. Flicking through my inventory, I selected several non-essential items and thought about selling them. A new screen appeared. Wasn¡¯t that always the case?

    It was the same colour as the window that¡¯d appeared in Twilight.

    Transfer items to exclusive vendor for sale? Accept | Reject

    After accepting, I wondered how long it would take for the products to sell. Well, Xanthe was a particularly persuasive merchant. They¡¯d managed to get me on their side. Tam would have you think that wasn¡¯t a particularly difficult thing to do, though. We¡¯d just have to wait and see.

    While I was in the window, I realised there was a little search bar in the bottom corner. Maybe this was where I could browse items currently on the marketplace? Selecting the button in my mind, the window extended out to display an array of items from what looked like olden day hair pins to devices that could¡¯ve been some sort of futuristic weapon. Most of them were boasting costs in the millions as starting bids.

    I filtered from lowest to highest and saw that even the cheapest auction items were well above what my wallet could afford. The very lowest price belonged to an [Ancient Message] that was penned by [REDACTED] and was 200 credits. It had zero bids. Who had that kind of money to throw away on a random letter?

    As I continued to browse the auction house, I came to realise that the entire catalogue was rife with products that I couldn¡¯t imagine anyone having any use for. This included things like [Legendary Fork of [REDACTED]], which appeared to simply be a bronze kitchen utensil, and [Vase of Invisibility], which was a picture of nothing. Both of them had several bids and were valued in the thousands. I couldn¡¯t fathom who was trying to buy these things. Or where they¡¯d come from.

    Scrolling, I eventually came to a familiar item. [KMART 20cm Triple Rivet Chef¡¯s Knife] for 3,419 credits. There were dozens of bids and it looked like there was still five days left before final sale. What the fuck? It was just¡­ just a knife. We¡¯d murdered three people and only been given 121 credits. Were their lives worth less than 4% of a shitty knife that was produced en masse? It didn¡¯t make any sense. The only stuff that cost this much and really had no practicality was art.

    Wait.

    If this was all some sort of fucked up show, were items from our world something like collectibles? And if that were true, where had all these other things come from? A lot of them were simply unrecognisable to me.

    Xanthe had said I was early to Twilight. And there¡¯d been hundreds of people there when I¡¯d visited the marketplace. I¡¯d never thought about who those people could all be or where they came from. But Xanthe was a real person, I was sure. Not human, but real. Ergo, every other merchant and customer was also real.

    There was a thriving and long established economy behind this fucked up situation.

    That could only mean one thing. This had to have happened to other people before. Had to have been repeatedly happening.

    I reflected on Xanthe¡¯s words, hoping to glean even a nugget of context.

    ¡°My [REDACTED] that didn¡¯t so I¡¯ve a soft spot for you people, but many of the others did.¡±

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Were they referring to their own people? Xanthe¡¯s species didn¡¯t manage to do something, but some of the other races of merchants had? What was it? If it was connected to the same thing we were currently going through¡­ Maybe their people hadn¡¯t ended up winning whatever game we were being forced to play?

    God, this was a lot to parse. The more I thought about it, the more I realised I needed to share it with the party. I needed someone to bounce ideas off on this, to make sure I wasn¡¯t going crazy or making up meaning where there wasn¡¯t any.

    But it wasn¡¯t a good time. Everyone seemed to be taking a moment to themselves. After we cleared the Dungeon, I told myself I¡¯d voice all this to them. As I made up my mind, I closed the auction window. You couldn''t make bids from it, anyway. Just view the current stock on sale. Any other player would have to make the dangerous trip to the time dilating realm of Twilight. But Xanthe said I only had to put in a request with them.

    Returning my attention to the attributes I could upgrade, below them was my singular ability.

    When I focused on it, it expanded to describe its use and further information.

    [Channel | Unique Ability]

    Use a consenting party member¡¯s skills. Failure to use ability once activated will result in repercussions. Stamina and mana cost are equal to original party member¡¯s.

    Huh. That explained the time in the gym I hadn¡¯t used Jye¡¯s Load because I never got their consent. It¡¯d sapped me of mana. I didn¡¯t like how vague ¡°repercussions¡± sounded, though. It seemed like it could mean very well anything. And who decided what counted as a ¡°repercussion¡±? Trying to push past how ominous the description was, I focused on the words ¡°Unique Ability.¡±

    Did it mean I was the only person with this power?

    I guess that made me feel a little bit better about starting off with such shit stats. But it was odd that this ability was in the Upgrade section of the menu and I couldn¡¯t interact with it. Was I lacking something else that I needed to level it up? How would you even upgrade such an ability?

    I wanted to ask the others, but everyone looked like they wanted to be left alone. After everything we''d just done and been through, I wasn¡¯t about to interrupt their personal time. Still¡­ Casting a hopeful glance to the last person I could rely on, it seemed even Axel was mired in his own thoughts.

    I sighed and began weighing up the pros and cons of each attribute.

    As I ran through the three-lettered items again and again, the world faded away.

    Tam stopped abruptly, and I nearly tripped over her. Regaining my own balance, I noticed that her little bobtail was standing on end, her hackles up. She let out an angry growl, her haunches lowered to the ground, as though ready to pounce.

    ¡°What is it?¡± I whispered, trying to steady my breathing.

    Being a cat, obviously she didn¡¯t answer me.

    ¡°Oh, thank fuck. It¡¯s you two!¡± came Jye¡¯s voice from around the corner.

    With a relieved smile, the redhead entered our view, walking at a fast pace toward us. I frowned, gaze flicking down to the still very aggressive feline at my feet. Whilst she¡¯d never shown great affection for Jye, I didn¡¯t think the giant generally elicited such intense hostility. Something was wrong. But what?

    Not wanting to take my chances, I held out a hand. ¡°Can you stop there for a moment?¡±

    Jye¡¯s head cocked to the side, confusion etched over their strong brows, but they continued to approach us.

    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±

    ¡°I said stop.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± they replied, still closing the distance.

    Tam hissed, and swatted at my shoe, claws bared. Do something, she seemed to say.

    As far as I could tell, the Jye rushing towards us was the same one I¡¯d seen less than half an hour ago. But they weren¡¯t listening to me. And despite everything the redhead said, they seemed to follow my orders. Even when they were questionable. The situation with Wren hadn¡¯t changed that.

    I tried once more. ¡°Don¡¯t come any closer.¡±

    They didn¡¯t stop.

    Fuck.

    I borrowed one of Axel¡¯s abilities, the vile tar flowing through me, and then summoning as much fear as I could, I shouted, ¡°STOP OR ELSE.¡±

    Their eyes widened and they flinched, coming to a stall a few steps away.

    From how close Jye had come, I could see exactly what Tam had been warning me of. Everything about them was slightly off in colour. The inside of the maze wasn¡¯t lit, not in any classical sense, but a kind of a fog of war existed. You could only see so far ahead and behind. Something within close proximity was evenly lit, as though you were casting a light yourself, but the further away something was, the darker it appeared.

    As close as Jye was, they should¡¯ve been lit up, saturated like Tam.

    Instead, there was a murkiness to their colour, a contrast and hue that hadn¡¯t corrected upon their approach. It was uncannily wrong.

    This wasn¡¯t Jye.

    It was some sort of mimicry of our party member.

    Just as I was about to start interrogating them, the fake-Jye turned tail and skittered back in the direction they¡¯d come. I made a motion to pursue them, but Tam shot off the opposite way. Shit, she was still after someone from our party. And I couldn¡¯t lose her and the chance to find someone else.

    Swearing under my breath, I changed course and followed Tam.

    We¡¯d deal with whoever false-Jye was later. They¡¯d reacted to [Intimidation]. It meant that they had to be another player. Using that ability out of everything had been a risky call to make, but I was trusting the story of the Labyrinth and the Minotaur and the past events that we¡¯d gone through.

    This Dungeon had no other difficulties except those tied directly to mazes and traps. We were only meant to work our way through the challenges or around them. Everything else we came up against was not part of the Dungeon. So false-Jye had to be a player or it was Jye under some sort of mind control. Both of which would be affected by [Intimidation].

    Lungs beginning to burn, I yelled out, ¡°Everyone, we¡¯re not alone!¡±

    A bellow echoed in from incredibly far away; the monster.

    The snarky voice that came after said: ¡°No shit, Sherlock.¡±

    I was too out of breath to sigh, and managed to get out, ¡°Doppelganger about. They''re the wrong colour!¡±

    This earned me silence in reply.

    Yeah, I¡¯d like to see Axel come up with some sort of sassy response to that.

    ¡°That¡¯s racist, Lee!¡±

    I repressed my groan, still sprinting after Tam as she darted around corners.

    ¡°What¡¯s a doppelganger?¡± the giant called out.

    Was that actually Jye?

    Wren, from wherever she was, said, ¡°It¡¯s like a copy of you.¡±

    She sounded close. I should¡¯ve known Tam would hunt her down first. The cutthroat didn¡¯t like to show it, but she cared about the young girl. I was actually glad that Tam had picked her. I was worried.

    The way she¡¯d described her surroundings as ¡°dark¡± had made me extra concerned. She should¡¯ve been seeing walls, just like us. It meant something was different with her or where she was.

    Well, if the person speaking had been Wren this time. If the player hadn¡¯t shifted into her.

    I had to admit it was a good thing the mimic ability had such an obvious flaw. Based on the colour issue, it seemed the copied appearance relied on what the user could see. False-Jye must¡¯ve spied the real Jye from down a hallway or something, leading to the incorrect hues and saturation.

    The disguise obviously wouldn¡¯t have tricked Jye, since they would know it wasn''t themselves, so I¡¯d hoped the mimic left them alone to try it on us instead and hadn''t harmed them. The appearance wouldn¡¯t punk any of us now, since I¡¯d warned everyone. And even if it found anyone else to copy, so long as they remained a fair distance¨C

    Shit.

    They¡¯d come right up to me and Tam.

    The mimic might be able to become my perfect copy.

    God, this was going to be annoying.

 Chapter Twenty-One | Found

    ¡°How do I know you¡¯re really Lee?¡± asked Jye from the spot they were sitting, idly trailing their finger through the dirt on the ground.

    While it wasn¡¯t a bad question, it still pissed me off. I really shouldn¡¯t have expected anything different, especially considering that I was the one who¡¯d warned everyone about the mimic running about the shrine area. However, that didn¡¯t mean I low-key expected the others to discern between me and a fake upon first glance. I guess I¡¯d been fooled at a distance too.

    ¡°Tam is with me,¡± I said, gesturing to the cat who¡¯d now paused and was licking at a paw.

    ¡°You could be summoning her like an illusion or something.¡±

    ¡°Okay, ask me a question.¡±

    They ran their hand over an imaginary beard.

    ¡°How many siblings do I have?¡±

    I froze. Oh, fuck. How many did they have? It¡¯d been like four days since we¡¯d discussed this in the cabin and a lot had happened between now and then. I wracked my brain, trying to recall the number. They were all younger than Jye, that I remembered. Basically each of them were a year apart. Shit.

    ¡°Come on, it¡¯s not that hard to re¨C¡±

    ¡°Five!¡± I said, the memory suddenly becoming clear, the look in Jye¡¯s eyes at the time unfocused and concerned. ¡°You have five siblings. Three brothers and two sisters.¡±

    The giant nodded solemnly and stood. ¡°All right, off to find Wren then?¡±

    Letting out a sigh, I shook my head.

    ¡°We already know where she is. We just can¡¯t get her out.¡±

    Jye tilted their head, much akin to a dog hearing someone saying ¡°vet.¡±

    I explained to them that Tam and I¡¯d tracked the young girl down first but that she¡¯d been locked behind a solid wall on all sides. She was inaccessible. That was probably why she could only see darkness. Wren had been locked in an area that we couldn¡¯t reach. I couldn¡¯t use [Ground Smash] because the girl explained that her room was really small and she couldn¡¯t back up out of range. Her health was similar to mine, and based on what had occurred even just once in the cabin, the shrapnel the attack created could have fatal consequences if luck wasn¡¯t on our side. I also couldn¡¯t conjure any way to use Jye or Gigi¡¯s abilities to get through.

    As always, thinking far beyond her age would have you guess, Wren had come to the same conclusion.

    ¡°Come get me soon, okay?¡± she¡¯d said.

    I¡¯d promised her we would.

    We were forced to leave her in the dark room all by herself.

    It took everything inside me to do that. The idea of it made my stomach churn. Because I knew Chrissie had probably gone through something similar.

    ¡°So, she¡¯s safe?¡± asked Jye, wiping at the dust on their pants.

    After my warning to the others about the mimic, we¡¯d agreed to keep our shouts to a minimum, to avoid giving them any further information to trick us. The team had since been radio silent. Jye had only known about everyone¡¯s status up until then.

    ¡°Safer than us. And the copycat can¡¯t imitate her either. But we¡¯re down a party member for the fight.¡±

    Somewhat less concerned now, Jye folded their large arms over their chest. ¡°What¡¯s the plan, boss?¡±

    I considered our options. Without Wren we could take much less risks since I could do only so much healing. ¡°You practised with the bow yet?¡±

    ¡°Got in a few shots while you and Wren were napping before,¡± Jye admitted. Their shifty expression led me to believe that hadn¡¯t been enough of a chance to become familiar with it. Okay, so rule that out. I hadn¡¯t had time to get used to my glaive either, but swinging around a broomstick seemed ill-advised with the size our opponent sounded. At least Jye still had a bunch of knives left.

    After a moment I shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t go wrong with the classics. Gigi tanks. The beast sounds much bigger and a more visible target than the baller from before, so you should be able to get some range projectile shots in. Since Wren¡¯s out for the count, I can play support, buffing everyone and doing emergency healing. Assisting where I can. Axel¡¯ll go in for frontal attacks. And, Tam, can we count on you to assist in the frontline too?¡±

    She glanced up from her grooming and gave me a look.

    ¡°That a yes?¡±

    Tam performed the equivalent of a human shrug, her small cat haunches rising and falling.

    Why wasn¡¯t I surprised?

    ¡°Can you at least take us to the others?¡±

    After a languorous stretch, she set off. I jutted my head at Jye to follow and we were on our way. As we jogged after the feline, I borrowed [Whetstone] from Wren. The ability tasted like I¡¯d been sucking on coins, a metallic coating over the back of my tongue. After swallowing it back, keeping an eye on my stamina and mana, I buffed Jye.

    They flinched and swung their gaze, accusal heavy in their eyes, over to me. I smiled apologetically, thinking they¡¯d long since gotten used to the glitch sounds of notifications. Clearly not. Wondering if perhaps the [REDACTED] audio was different than the system windows, in the corner of my peripheral, I saw 10 of my mana and 2 of my stamina drop away from the usage.

    Yikes. That was half my mana. If I did it once more for Axel I¡¯d be flat out. And my mana regen was slow. I¡¯d been timing it with my watch and found that every hour or so, it pipped up around 4 points. I only had my stats to blame for that.

    Literally tailing Tam, the sounds of the fight Axel and Gigi were engaged with grew louder and louder, the ground under our feet vibrating from the combat and the knocking into walls. They¡¯d been dealing with it for the past half an hour or so. I had no doubt our help was sorely needed.

    A crash exploded from up ahead, and Tam skated to a stop, almost as if to say, ¡°This is as far as I go.¡±

    I stared at her, knowing my ability to cajole her into helping us had been spent on our last battle. Working her up over her wife wouldn¡¯t work again. While she was hotheaded, she wasn¡¯t stupid. Tam had to have known what I¡¯d done after the fact.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    Instead, I simply said, ¡°If you see an opportunity to go for the kill, do it. Otherwise, stay out of the party¡¯s way.¡±

    In her green gaze I saw the acknowledgement before she dipped away.

    We turned the last corner to see down the hall exactly what was making the racket. It took a moment to understand what was happening and what precisely we were seeing. Several [Shield Walls] were dotted around in the air, surrounding the mammoth of a creature. It stood two and a half men tall, its furry body rippling with corded muscle. While we could only currently see its back, the two points of the beast¡¯s horns were still visible poking up from the crown of its head.

    It really was a Minotaur.

    Fuck.

    Axel was jumping between [Shield Wall]s to dodge its swinging attacks, a greataxe held in its clawed fists, and striking when he could. Judging from the thin cuts on the Minotaur¡¯s hide, he wasn¡¯t doing much damage. From under a [Shield Wall] closer towards us, Gigi was watching anxiously. A few wounds were scattered over xir body, blood weeping freely down xir limbs.

    Closing the distance quietly, we watched as Axel narrowly escaped one of the Minotaur¡¯s sweeping attacks. Had Axel remained where he¡¯d been, his legs would¡¯ve been cut from his body. In raw frustration, it swung wildly after him, cleaving a [Shield Wall] in two. The ability dissipated in a flutter of orbs.

    My chest tightened in concern. He definitely couldn¡¯t hold out on his own for much longer. I could see how the fight had sapped him of energy already. It was like his battle with the glaive-user all over again. Why did he always throw himself into these fights like this? Maybe he was confident Wren could heal him back up.

    ¡°Gigi, report.¡±

    Finally noticing us, our newest member shook xir head.

    ¡°We are not doing enough damage. It is a slow beast, both in mind and body. But it is strong. I believe Axel has only cut at a tenth of its life.¡±

    I blinked. Maybe a classic approach wouldn¡¯t work.

    ¡°You have any shields to tank?¡± I asked.

    Gigi frowned. ¡°I am afraid even with one, getting hit with an attack straight on from our opponent would cripple me. My [Shield Walls] barely last one direct assault.¡±

    Yeah, okay, classic was completely out the window.

    Right now the monster was focused on Axel, and I doubted it had the mental faculties to strategize beyond what was directly in front of it. So long as the blond was slicing at it, we could practically do anything else. However, we just couldn¡¯t attack without reason. If this was a battle of thousand cuts, we needed to limit the risk dealt to ourselves during the slog we¡¯d have to go through to finally end the Minotaur.

    I swung around to Jye.

    ¡°You said you had nothing to live for once, didn¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Sure, he remembers my offhand nihilistic comments, but struggles with how many siblings I have.¡±

    I raised an eyebrow and then the redhead let out a huff.

    ¡°What suicidal attempt do you need from me?¡±

    Once I¡¯d explained the plan to them and Gigi, Jye made a face. ¡°You¡¯re a little scary, you know?¡±

    ¡°Whatever works.¡±

    Gigi nodded enthusiastically. ¡°I can do this.¡±

    ¡°On go,¡± I said.

    ¡°Whatever you¡¯re doing, can you guys hurry the fuck up?¡± Axel shouted, clearing an attack from the greataxe by a millimetre, the blade slicing through the strands of blond hair that hadn¡¯t made the dodge. They wafted away on the wind created by the Minotaur¡¯s weapon as it continued forward. The [Combatant] took the opportunity for a free swing, his sword eating into the furred flesh of the creature¡¯s ribcage. The blade slid along its thick skin, only just barely cutting, leaving a beading line of blood in its wake. Still, the monster howled in pain and rage, its black eyes bulging from its semi-human face.

    I announced, ¡°Go.¡±

    In tandem, Jye and I made a mad dash for the [Shield Wall]s currently in place. Some of the Minotaur¡¯s attacks had already destroyed a few whilst we¡¯d been talking, and Gigi had mentioned that xe¡¯d regenned enough to form a few more. I¡¯d tried not to show my jealousy on my face. Much like my mana, my stamina only seemed to come back up at around 4 an hour. It sounded like Gigi¡¯s entire bar would refill in the same amount of time. I guess that was a perk of being LVL 10.

    With our running start, we split to opposite sides of the stone wall maze hallway, Jye going left and me going right. Taking a deep breath, I sprung from the floor at the same time as Jye. Summoning [Shield Wall] beneath me to make a platform, as I¡¯d never have been able to jump high enough to get the closest one from Gigi, I felt my footing slide on the low friction system blue floor, slipping slightly. Across from me, Jye practically torpedoed up, their thick leg muscles apparently not just for show. The giant alighted onto their [Shield Wall], continuing their momentum, gaze locked onto their target.

    Startled by our appearance, the Minotaur¡¯s attention flicked between Jye and I. Not good. Not good at fucking all.

    Vaulting to one [Shield Wall] directly in front of it, Axel shouted, ¡°Hey, fuckface, eyes on me!¡±

    The Minotaur bellowed, incensed by Axel¡¯s cocky defiance, as I was sure it didn¡¯t understand his words. I regained my balance, and I echoed Jye¡¯s movements as the creature¡¯s two-handed axe swung upwards to prepare for what would be a devastating attack if it landed. It began swinging its weapon down, the blade hurtling through the air.

    Axel remained in place.

    Despite the sweat sheening on him, the blood trickling from attacks he hadn¡¯t dodged fully, the tiredness pulling down at him, his gaze met mine, a teasing smile there that said, Took your time.

    How did he know? How did he always know what I was planning?

    The greataxe descended, plummeting toward him, and just as it was about to land, three [Shield Wall]s formed between Axel and the weapon. The burst of the hiss of abilities was almost reassuring. I took a deep breath and hoped this worked.

    The attack completely obliterated the first one, glimmers of blue and white exploding. The sharpened head of the blade carried into the second shield, splitting it neatly in two. Another shower of blue orbs skittered away as the [Shield Wall] failed.

    The Minoatur¡¯s greataxe chewed into the third shield, the material creaking and groaning, cracks forming. But it withstood the attack.

    The weapon was firmly lodged into the half-damaged [Shield Wall].

    It was stuck.

    Axel flipped the bird at the creature from behind his coverage, sticking out a tongue for good measure. An outraged howl burst from the Minotaur¡¯s chest, as it began to struggle to pull its blade from its unintentional sheath.

    I let out my held breath and gathered my thoughts. Time to fucking go. This was my plan after all. Jye was already jumping down and, as I joined them in the act, I considered activating [Thick Hide], just in case, but decided against it. I¡¯d need all the mana I could for this.

    Hopefully, I¡¯d aimed properly.

    Falling, I flung out my arms, and Jye and I grabbed onto our separate targets.

    The Minotaur¡¯s arms.

    The air in my lungs oofed out of me on impact, and as gravity dragged at me, I clambered for purchase, fingers gripping onto whatever fur and muscle I could grab a hold of, the trunk of its arm thicker than my body.

    On contact, I borrowed Jye¡¯s Load and applied as many as my mana bar would allow. I think it was around 3 times. That would be enough, wouldn¡¯t it? I couldn¡¯t tell if the Minotaur had a dominant arm, but if it did, please let it be Jye¡¯s.

    The effect was instantaneous.

    Its arms shotputted to its sides, Jye and I plunging with them, the floor like a super magnet attracting them.

    Unable to control the trajectory of its suction down, the Minotaur¡¯s head slammed into the hilt of its own greataxe, one of its horns snapping against the metal, the now free antler spinning away to the distance. Releasing a yowl of surprise, the beast tried to resist the pull, its muscles bulging as it strained, but to no avail.

    The Minotaur had sunk to its knees, its arms now weights shackling it to the stone floor.

    Even like that it still was taller than Jye.

    Getting my wind back, I released the creature¡¯s arm and took a few steps away to take stock of the situation. My heart hammered in my chest, blood pumping through my ears.

    ¡°Well. That went better than I thought.¡±

 Chapter Twenty-Two | Death Blow

    There was no announcement which meant just bringing the Minotaur to its knees didn¡¯t mean the system considered this the end of the battle. It was clear what we had to do. The idea left a bad taste in my mouth. Before us, the half-human beast was howling at its restraint, still tugging at their locked arms. I requested Jye to dart in and add a few Loads to their legs when they could to ensure our approach to put the Minotaur out of its misery would pose no further risk. The giant had yet to complete the action when I heard the hiss of an ability being activated and turned to look at the others.

    Frowning, I glanced to Axel who was grinning triumphantly down at the Minotaur, perhaps considering ways in which he could deliver the final blow. Obviously he hadn¡¯t heard the sound. This was just another thing I would talk to the others about when we were finally all back together. The list was growing long now. And I really was jumping the gun by thinking we would all survive. But there was a weird sort of confidence growing inside me. Perhaps we were really doing it.

    Still, the source of the ability being activated worried me. Was it  Wren healing herself? Tam fighting the mimic? The both of them would have to face whatever they were doing alone.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s the go?¡± I asked, knowing none of us were equipped to deal large amounts of damage to a single target and that all of us had to be low on stamina and mana. Knowing that Gigi regenerated half xir stamina in the same amount of time it took for me to restore 4 points of mine meant that maybe Jye and Axel would get theirs back quicker as well. Lucky them.

    I¡¯d also prefer to not stand around and slowly cripple another ¡°living¡± being.

    ¡°Target practice?¡± Jye suggested, stepping behind the creature carefully to do as I¡¯d previously asked. They did not need to bend down to lay nervous hands on the Minotaur¡¯s hooves.

    I really had to stop extending idea generation to the redhead.

    Pinching at the bridge of my nose, I said, ¡°No, Jye. We¡¯re not using a living creature as target practice.¡±

    ¡°It should have a weak spot,¡± Gigi supplied.

    I glanced over to xem, my brows furrowing in thought. Xir words hadn¡¯t been censored which meant what xe was saying had to be common knowledge. I mean, yes, in games bosses tended to have weaknesses that glowed red for players to attack. There was nothing so obvious about the Minotaur.

    The familiar hiss sounded as Jye applied a Load each onto the beast¡¯s hoofed feet. It wasn¡¯t as much as I¡¯d like, but it was better than nothing. We¡¯d stay clear of the Minotaur¡¯s legs, just in case. In reaction, the creature let out an inhuman growl, tossing its head about in protest. It looked like little had changed, but it did seem more panicked. The fear on its half-bull face did make me feel a little nauseous. If we were going by mythology, the Minotaur was half-human. What we were doing would be akin to an execution, or at least 50% of one.

    ¡°How do we find it?¡± Axel asked.

    He had begun circling the beast, taking a wide berth, his blue eyes narrowed in scrutiny.

    ¡°Wish Tam would lend us a hand,¡± I muttered under my breath.

    She¡¯d been the one to see the gem in the crystal wall that had triggered the trap. If there was anyone on our team capable of spotting any type of weakness, red glow or not, it would¡¯ve been her. Too bad she was such a poor sportsman. She was probably skulking about somewhere nearby waiting for a chance to kill-steal. Typical Tam. And then our next bet was Wren who¡¯d identified the trap soon after. And she was a no go.

    Why were the rest of us so goddamn blind?

    ¡°Huh,¡± came Jye¡¯s voice as they stepped back from the legs of the Minotaur.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°On the back of this dude¡¯s neck. There¡¯s like¡­ I don¡¯t know how to describe it.¡±

    Curious, the three of us made our way to check it out.

    Sure enough, after Jye pointed it out to our poor eyesight, on the back of the Minotaur¡¯s neck was a singular discoloration. It could¡¯ve just been a pigmentation issue with the creature¡¯s skin, but the shape was perfectly circular. The marker rested directly above the first protruding notch of the creature¡¯s spine. Smaller than a fingernail, on the Minotaur that was taller than when Axel had stood on Jye¡¯s shoulders, it was practically the scale of a stray freckle.

    ¡°How¡¯d you see that?¡±

    Smiling with embarrassment, Jye said, ¡°I was admiring its delts and traps.¡±

    I didn¡¯t say anything, though my gaze did slide over the creature¡¯s muscles. It was well-built.

    ¡°Monsterfucker,¡± Axel said, and not in a way that sounded like an insult. Like a casual remark. One might be able to say, ¡°redhead,¡± in the same way and it¡¯d be a simple fact about Jye.

    ¡°That looks like the weak spot,¡± Gigi commented, nodding sagely, completely ignoring Axel for the better.

    Following suit, I replied, ¡°I mean, yeah. The spine of any vertebrate is a weakness. We got all our nerves in there. Angel pasta and all that.¡±

    This earned me a confused look from the rest of the party. Lost wasn¡¯t as popular, I guess. The doctor¡¯s line about his botched surgery had sat with me since I¡¯d heard it. The imagery was genuinely horrifically awful and visceral. Nerves spilling out of a spine like angel pasta.

    Suppressing a shudder, I said, ¡°You might as well say the head is a weak spot. That¡¯s just how bodies work.¡±

    ¡°We can test it,¡± Axel said, drawing his sword.

    ¡°Wait a sec.¡±

    The blond paused and raised an eyebrow at me. I was trying to imagine the rewards of this fight. Axel and Gigi had performed well initially, followed by Jye and me, but killing the Minotaur like this wasn¡¯t entertaining. It was¡­ boring. It could affect the experience and credits we might receive after we finished the job. (I was struggling to think of killing the Minotaur as a task we had to complete, but that was the only way I was able to continue thinking about this.) It was still safer to strike down the creature like this, even if it didn¡¯t reward us well. That was a price I was willing to pay. The others may not be so forgiving once I told them, though. Oh well.

    I shook my head, giving Axel permission to continue.

    The three of us watched as Axel hopped up onto the Minotaur¡¯s calf to get higher. His blade rose in the air, and he took a moment to line up his swing, practising the movement. Beneath him, the creature squirmed, body writhing, almost like it was attempting to buck Axel off. It roared in anger, its voice echoing about the hall. All this made the blond¡¯s job that much more difficult. Finally, satisfied with the alignment, Axel brought his sword down, so quickly that I wasn¡¯t sure I hadn¡¯t blinked.

    The resulting screech of pain stemming from the Minotaur was answer enough, its limbs attempting to flail, but since they were locked, its body trembled violently.

    Unlike the rest of Axel¡¯s cuts, which had barely gotten through the creature¡¯s skin, the one near the ¡°weak spot¡± had scored directly through, revealing pink flesh and bone, blood seeping from the injury. Axel hadn¡¯t managed to hit it directly in the centre, instead just cutting through the bottom edge of the circle. It was a small target and the Minotaur had been thrashing around, so the slight miscalculation was understandable.

    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    ¡°You suck,¡± Jye said and meant it.

    Gigi¡¯s almost invisible silver brows met at the centre of xir temple.

    ¡°It has lost much health. Perhaps a third?¡±

    I felt my mouth drop open. ¡°In one hit?¡±

    ¡°This is based on my experience, but, yes.¡±

    Storing Gigi¡¯s words in the back of my head for the future, as what exactly had xe fought before that could be compared to the Minotaur, I signalled for Axel to give it another try. Fuck whatever rewards we¡¯d get. We were so close to clearing the Dungeon.

    Once again, the blond struggled to line up another hit, planting his legs into the calf muscle of the Minotaur for a steadier stance. He waited a bit, lifted his blade, and then swung down.

    Another ear splitting shriek cut through the air.

    ¡°Only a third or so remaining,¡± Gigi commented.

    I glanced down at the Minotaur, its body now defeatedly slumped forward. Only the bending of its frame seemed to be keeping it up. That was¡­ good? I was torn on whether to feel bad about this or not. Unlike the people we¡¯d killed, the Minotaur was almost definitely a construct of the Dungeon. But that didn¡¯t mean it wasn¡¯t real to an extent. It didn¡¯t know that it was some sort of programmed NPC. That it was created to be murdered.

    Rather I felt more pity than guilt.

    ¡°Can you surrender?¡± I asked the creature, peering into its semi-human face.

    Its black eyes fluttered open, staring directly back at me. There was some intelligence there. Maybe something closer to the intellectual level of an elephant or octopus. Perhaps I could get through.

    ¡°Surrender,¡± I suggested. ¡°Give up. We don¡¯t have to kill you.¡±

    Its mouth opened, and it mangled out the words: ¡°Can¡­ not.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t surrender?¡± I queried, their meaning striking a previously unthought-of horror into me. It wasn¡¯t the right time to consider the theory, but that didn¡¯t mean it sat well within me.

    Weakly, it shook its head. Its black eyes watered, tears beading.

    ¡°Kill¡­ me,¡± it pleaded. Its voice was croaky, probably from never being used for anything but screaming, but I could hear the desperation.

    We were practically torturing it, killing it like this. It was the best we could do though. And we could grant it release, if that¡¯s what it truly wanted.

    ¡°As you wish,¡± I said, nodding to Axel for the final blow.

    He raised his sword up.

    Met my gaze.

    And swung down.

    Third time was the charm. The blade cleaved through the Minotaur¡¯s spine, splitting the two sections of vertebrae completely apart. Threads of its spinal cord dangled outside, thin and white. Axel jumped back as the creature¡¯s body fell forward completely, all tension and muscle control now outside of its ability, its arms and legs still locked to the floor.

    ¡°Now we can get Wren,¡± Jye said, excitedly.

    But no notification had sounded.

    Grimly, Gigi said, ¡°It¡¯s still alive. Barely.¡±

    Axel made a move to finalise his kill, but I held up a hand. Swallowing back the bile creeping up my throat, I crept up, wondering if I should be the one to do the last blow. Axel and Jye had already claimed a life in their pursuit of clearing the Dungeon. This one should be on me. As I stepped in to deliver the coup de grace, boots on the ground approaching echoed down the hall.

    It was Tam, in her human form. Of course she would turn up at the end of the battle.

    ¡°If I saw the kill, I should go for it, right?¡±

    I sighed. Well, maybe I didn¡¯t need this on my conscience after all.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I said, retreating, strangely relieved. The Minotaur¡¯s expression as it¡¯d pleaded to be killed was still heavy in my mind.

    Pulling a blade from her inventory, Tam took a similar stance to Axel upon the Minotaur¡¯s legs and brought her knife up. She held it there, towering over the barely alive creature, aiming. The ability activation I¡¯d heard before must¡¯ve been Tam returning to human form. That had to have meant she¡¯d dealt with the mimic. But¡­ if she had, regardless on if she¡¯d killed them, we would¡¯ve¨C

    ¡°Idiots,¡± came not-Tam¡¯s comment, as her blade plunged into the neck of the Minotaur, intentionally missing the weak spot.

    Oh, fuck.

    ~Dungeon Challenge Boss defeated. Dungeon Clear Available.~

    I finally understood the difference between the notifications and announcements. Announcements were for everyone relevant to hear. Notifications were specifically for yourself. Which meant everyone else in Just Friends had to have heard it.

    That we¡¯d been kill-stealed.

    The body of the Minotaur evaporated, leaving a single object in its wake. Not-Tam bent to pick it up. A satisfied grin grew over her face. I didn¡¯t have a chance to note what it was before she popped it into her inventory.

    ¡°My gosh, that¡¯s a lot of credits,¡± she said.

    Axel immediately rushed forward, sword drawn, having figured out exactly how we¡¯d been played. She laughed at him, plucked something from her pocket in the time he closed the distance, and pelted it at the floor. It exploded in a puff of smoke, clouding us in darkness. A smoke-fucking-bomb? How in the hell had she¨C

    Jye shouted, ¡°I can¡¯t see!¡±

    ¡°I have no mana or stamina to defend,¡± Gigi informed us.

    Other than pure melee, our teams had expended all our skills.

    Through our voices, we found each other in the smokiness, our backs pressed against each other. The only one unaccounted for was Axel since he¡¯d been the closest to Not-Tam before our vision had been compromised. I heard the activation of an ability, the hiss slicing through the panicked tension between the three of us. Who knew what else the mimic had in both their metaphorical and literal pocket?

    A hand reached into view, grabbing my arm, causing me to start.

    ¡°It¡¯s just me,¡± said Axel.

    I stared at him for a moment, taking in his expression, his appearance, and his stature. By all accounts it was him.

    Another hand grabbed onto my left arm.

    ¡°That¡¯s not me.¡±

    There were two Axels standing to either side of me, shrouded in the smoke.

    Behind me, Gigi and Jye were poised, waiting for my response. They obviously didn¡¯t know one Axel from another. Just like them, anyone else might have been momentarily blindsided. But they¡¯d picked the worst person to imitate the appearance of, especially for me. I¡¯d known Axel better than myself once, and while I was still trying to get that back, this wasn¡¯t even a question. And given their close proximity, any further exchange of dialogue would forfeit either my life or Axel¡¯s.

    In both their free hands, they held a sword, and I knew the real Axel would be able to react in time.

    A second had barely passed since the introduction of the second Axel. How did things always end up like this?

    I swung my arms around Left-Axel and his arms, pulling him tight to my body, gripping my hands together behind his back. In the same moment, I heard the clatter of him being disarmed by Gigi and Jye, as Right-Axel brought his blade up to Left-Axel¡¯s neck, nicking into their skin.

    ¡°Who¡¯s the idiot now?¡± Right-Axel said.

    ¡°Still you guys,¡± came another voice from in front of me, the cloud of smoke beginning to dissipate.

    The physical flesh under my hold disintegrated, my arms falling into empty space as Left-Axel disappeared entirely. Behind real Axel was someone I didn¡¯t recognise at all. They were petite and small-framed, blonde, and probably in their late teens. It was their expression that sent shivers up my spine. It was pure malice. I could tell that the blade in their hand would be used to kill without a second¡¯s thought or guilt.

    I saw their weapon shift. No one else would have time to react. Especially since Axel¡¯s back was to the real mimic and not whatever shadow clone they¡¯d summoned.

    Previously Left-Axel had been between Axel and I, but now it was just us standing face to face, the gap of human still between us. It was kind of apt that was the case. Somehow literally and metaphorically that made perfect sense. Axel was hurt, had been hurt since his battle with the Minotaur. He was probably sitting just above quarter health. The final blow on the Minotaur had missed its weak point but still claimed its life. The mimic was much stronger than they looked. If Axel took a hit from them, he¡¯d likely die. I met my friend¡¯s gaze and smiled. His blue eyes widened, as if understanding what I was planning.

    Somehow he always knew.

    As the mimic began their attack, hoping to get a strike on Axel¡¯s back, I repeated almost the same action as I had with Left-Axel. I flung my arms round him, clamping, but this time I spun, taking Axel¡¯s place, and hoping I¡¯d been right about something I¡¯d long since been thinking about.

    The sword ate into my spine, with a force so violent and sudden that the pain that followed was not a surprise. In the corner of my mind, I saw my health plummet. It was my entire health bar. A part of me was satisfied that I¡¯d been right. Axel would¡¯ve died.

    But instead I guess I would.

 Chapter Twenty-Three | One Point To Lee

    As my health bar plummeted, my killer snatched their blade immediately from its sheath of my back. If I were being honest, it hurt more going out. Imagine for a moment, if you will, the feeling of millions of claws tearing the fibres of your flesh apart. Then add accompanying nausea and a white-out of sight, and you¡¯re about halfway there. My back felt wet with eerily warm blood. I was surprised I hadn¡¯t blacked out from the whole ordeal. I guess I was just lucky that way.

    ¡°Stupid,¡± the teen said, jumping back, revilement curling their top lip. They blended into the fading smoke, their silhouette eventually disappearing.

    Me? Stupid? I wanted to argue, but they had a point.

    I was dead.

    Or I should¡¯ve been.

    Thank fuck the idea I¡¯d been mulling over since the Gates appeared had borne fruit. For the longest time I¡¯d been wondering about the wording of the singular ability I¡¯d been granted by this fucked up apocalypse. While the rest of my team had been given at least two abilities (I was making assumptions about Tam here), I¡¯d gotten one, and it would¡¯ve been absolutely useless had I been alone. However, it used a word that stuck out to me and had been hovering in the back of my mind.

    [Channel] Use a consenting party member¡¯s skills.

    There were no ¡°skills¡± in the system. There were, however, traits and abilities.

    Like the frost melting into dew on a cool morning in spring, using [Channel] to borrow Gigi¡¯s [Stubborn] trait, my body felt as though it froze and then thawed. Just like xir trait description said, the blow that should¡¯ve killed me had left my health remaining at 1 HP. What it didn¡¯t say was that, as my knees buckled, my vision beginning to fade, you¡¯d remain at 1 HP until health regen kicked in (or someone intervened to either heal or kill you.)

    I was two seconds away from being dead, and with my stats, I¡¯d stay like that for a while.

    It was good that Axel was there to catch me before I hit the ground, his arms wrapping around the deadweight of my body. I¡¯d like to see anyone judging me stay on their feet after literally being stabbed in the back. Axel¡¯s eyes were wide, panicked, and the fear in them almost made me laugh. Fuck, it was hysterical. Axel, being scared? In what world?

    Oh, damn. Was this a side effect of blood loss?

    This hadn¡¯t happened before.

    Gigi and Jye quickly stepped forward to defend Axel and I, their eyes darting about, alert for our assailant. Who knew what other tricks they had up their sleeve?

    Still, a portion of me was supremely disappointed by our party¡¯s performance. We¡¯d allowed a single Gen-Zer to steal the boss loot, almost kill me, escape, and put us on edge. It was a little pathetic considering it was a four (maybe five if Tam was skulking about) vs. one (maybe two if we included whatever that shadow clone had been.)

    We fucking sucked.

    But we only sucked because we never knew what was happening. In this new world, where abilities were literally apparently limitless, how could we ever know what people could do? We¡¯d done our best based on what we knew. That the teenager¡¯s skills involved conjuring a clone of anyone and not turning into them was something none of us could have ever imagined. Who would¡¯ve?!

    Well, these last couple of battles had made one thing clear. We needed someone in our party with the sort of skill that gleaned critical information from opponents. Otherwise, we¡¯d just keep blindly throwing ourselves into situations we might not come out of. We¡¯d been lucky so far, really lucky. And Axel¡¯s luck had almost run out this time.

    But once again I was thinking about a future that wasn¡¯t guaranteed¡­ First, we needed to deal with this goddamned teenager.

    I felt surprisingly lucid for someone at 1 HP. Maybe [Stubborn] did something to my emotions. Last time I¡¯d nearly died (wow, that¡¯s not something I¡¯d ever thought I¡¯d say), hitting 1 HP had me virtually slipping out of the realm of consciousness. But even bleeding as I was, there was some sort of mental block between the pain and my receptors. When I¡¯d felt frozen and thawed, perhaps something had changed in my body. This was a trait, and not an ability after all. Maybe they did different things?

    That said, I literally couldn¡¯t move. The teen had pierced my spine. I really hadn¡¯t taken that into consideration. I guess I was paralyzed. More than [Stubborn] intrinsically rewriting my DNA, full-body paralysis would explain my lack of pain more. It was just much, much, much more bleak of a thought.

    I had no control over my limbs, and I wasn¡¯t even sure I could blink. I might as well be a useless lump weighing down my entire party. Though that was par for the course for me. I wanted to protect, to help everyone. And yet, again and again I relied on them to shield me instead. Fucking hell. Maybe one day I¡¯d be enough to save them all.

    Well, since I was still alive, I had the rest of my life to keep trying.

    At least this time I¡¯d saved Axel. I could take some solace and satisfaction in that. Axel who was staring down at me, cradling my limp form, tears beginning to dot along his thick lower lashes. He had that look in his eyes that unsettled me. The expression that spoke of an incoming breakdown, mixed with genuine horror. This wasn¡¯t funny anymore.

    I hadn¡¯t wanted him to cry.

    Speak! I yelled at myself. I tried to say something. Anything. But my mouth wouldn¡¯t open. I guess that I hadn¡¯t yet swallowed my own tongue was some sort of miracle.

    One of his shaking hands reached to my neck, his finger and forefinger testing my pulse. I wanted to cover his hand with mine, to reassure him I was fine. That he didn¡¯t need to be scared. As I stared, my body refusing any instruction, the only pain I felt now was a hurt in my chest.

    I¡¯m not sure what I would¡¯ve said. Sorry? I¡¯m sorry I would¡¯ve died for you?

    Axel pulled me tighter to him, laying his ear against my chest. Huh. His hair smelled like citrus fruits. He did like buying fancy shampoo.

    When he pulled back his tears had disappeared, and he exchanged a few words with Gigi and Jye. They were speaking about what to do. Something about finding a defensive position while I healed up. (It was both good and bad that I couldn¡¯t tell them my health would take a long time to come back.) It was fortunate that when I went down, I had someone capable to take over the helm. However, it did worry me that whilst Axel sounded calm, there was a flatness in his tone that I¡¯d never heard before.

    Was this¡­ better than him breaking down? I didn¡¯t know.

    It was hard to judge Gigi and Jye¡¯s expression from where I was since Axel almost fully encompassed all I could see. There were worse views. But I hoped the two of them weren¡¯t as affected as Axel. Neither of them had known me as long, but I knew Jye was pretty in touch with their emotions. And they kinda liked me like a friend? They had to be a little bit worried.

    Axel¡¯s arms shifted around me, beginning to pull me up, and a flush of embarrassment went through me, thinking back to how he¡¯d snatched me up and carried me away from the battle not half an hour ago. He¡¯d been right. I did basically die. Now, however, he appeared to be struggling with the deadweight of my body.

    Just as he managed to heave me up, an ability hissed in my mind, followed by a scream bursting through the clearing smoke.

    Everyone¡¯s gaze whipped over to the direction it¡¯d come from. The voice the shriek belonged to was familiar since it was the same one that¡¯d been peppering us with insults lately. And that also belonged to the person who¡¯d paralyzed me, which was the more serious of the two offences. Probably.

    Since I couldn¡¯t move my head, my sight was limited to where Axel currently pointed me. Which meant, where I was resting in Axel¡¯s hold, I could barely just see the edge of two figures in the distance, obscured by the remnants of smoke. It looked like someone standing over a prone body on their knees.

    ¡°Please, don¡¯t, please, I beg you, I¡¯ll let you clear the¨C¡±

    Just Friends eliminated Anna Dainsworth.

    Just Friends earned 500 XP.

    Just Friends awarded 332 credits.

    ¡°And Tam comes in with the clutch again. You¡¯re all welcome,¡± came the cutthroat¡¯s words as she approached us, dragging the corpse of one Anna Dainsworth behind her.

    With her free hand, she waved the vestiges of smoke out of her face as she walked. She stopped in front of us, letting the dead body go slack upon the floor. It fell limply with a wet thud. My stomach curled in disgust.

    Twice now Tam had killed someone. But neither time had I been able to see her abilities. She really was a conniving little thing. And she¡¯d not given an inch on who Mumma was, not since the cabin. It would¡¯ve been impressive if it didn¡¯t actively thwart me. I wanted to take a deep breath to calm my frustration but couldn¡¯t, my body loose and unreactive.

    Tam raised her slit brow, definitely not out of concern, probably out of idle curiosity. She grinned at me.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say I ain¡¯t ever not true to my word, sunshine. I saw the chance to go for the kill and I took it, just like you commandated.¡±

    This was met by silence. Because I couldn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Lee¡¯s paralyzed,¡± Axel said, tone still flat.

    She propped her hands on her hips and shook her head. ¡°I do not envy you.¡±

    ¡°Will he ever¡­ be able to move again?¡± Jye asked.

    The giant came into view, and I saw the genuine concern shining in their eyes. A little bit of guilt built inside me. I should spend more time hanging out with them. They were a nice person. Jye deserved more from me than just trying to think of a way to help them. The redhead deserved me to actually be their friend for real. Sigh. I really just needed to be better all around, huh.

    ¡°Once his health regenerates, he should be able to,¡± Gigi answered.

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    ¡°Dibs on Anna¡¯s loot, bee-tee-dubs.¡±

    The party, me included, stared in horror at Tam but said nothing in response. I guess to the spoils go the victor. Finding no disagreement, the cutthroat turned to the corpse and started pilfering Anna¡¯s pockets and bag. Gigi briefly explained how to access the dead person¡¯s inventory, which had never occurred to me, and she shooed xem away, saying she already knew all that. I wanted to get xem to elaborate, but again I couldn¡¯t say anything.

    Helplessness bubbled up inside me.

    Jye, Axel, and Gigi discussed what the next move was. They eventually settled on remaining where we were and letting me heal back up. We really should¡¯ve been closing the distance between us and Wren, since we had no idea what was happening with her, or if she was even okay, but this was the next best thing, I suppose.

    Who would¡¯ve guessed half the end of the world would involve waiting around?

    The others took the time to take shifts of watch and rest, eating some of the food we¡¯d recovered from Test Name. They¡¯d set up one of the bedrolls and had lain me down on it on my stomach. It was discussed whether they should try to treat my wounds with the first aid kit we¡¯d brought along, but they decided against it. Something about being worried about causing more harm than good. It was true none of them were qualified.

    My health slowly ticked up and so did my mana and stamina. Slowly being the imperative word.

    As pain reawakened in my body, my nerves reconnecting, I realised just how much we¡¯d taken Wren and [Healing Hand] for granted. Her ability must¡¯ve had an anaesthetic side effect. It had never really hurt regenning health with her helping us.

    The feeling that shook me as my spine healed was indescribable.

    Sweat coursed over my body, and my muscles twitched on their own, spasming, clenching outside of my control, as stabs of pain struck different parts of me repeatedly. It hurt more than the strike that should¡¯ve killed me. More than anything else I¡¯d felt my entire life.

    I wanted to scream, the pain lacerating my body, but I could barely breathe.

    When blackness finally took me, I thanked a god I didn¡¯t believe in.

    Still, I didn¡¯t regret it.

    I came to, an unfamiliar warmth threaded between my fingers. It was a relief to be able to feel that. Every single one of my muscles ached, but it was barely a tickle compared to the excruciating pain I¡¯d been in before I¡¯d blacked out. A sigh of released tension eased from me. I hadn¡¯t wanted to think about it before, but Jye¡¯s words about never being able to move again had spun on a loop in my head. It was nice to know Gigi had been right.

    Focusing on what I was holding, I realised it was someone¡¯s hand.

    I frowned, and with a groan of exertion, I turned to follow the arm to the body it belonged to, sitting up even though each part of me felt heavily bruised. Axel was resting by my side, cross legged, bags heavy under his eyes. When he saw me move, he perked up, eyes sparking. With that, I couldn¡¯t say. At least it wasn¡¯t that sadness I couldn¡¯t handle.

    ¡°Fuck, man,¡± Axel said under his breath.

    That was probably his way of saying thank you.

    There was something else he wanted to express, though. I could tell he was holding back. It was in the crinkle of the edges of his flattened lips. He was probably angry. Anna hadn¡¯t been wrong. What I¡¯d done was stupid. If my theory about ¡°skills¡± had been incorrect, I wouldn¡¯t be here to be pinned down by Axel¡¯s blue heavy gaze.

    I opted to remain silent and wait for the incoming assault.

    ¡°I love you, you stupid shithead.¡±

    Yeah, that sounded¨C

    Wait.

    What.

    Axel inhaled, squared his shoulders, and said, ¡°I¡¯ve had a crush on you since we were kids and I¡¯ve wanted you every day since. Lee, I¡¯ll love you every life I live, and no matter what I do I can¡¯t stop. It¡¯s like a fucking sickness.¡±

    My brain had blue screened.

    I had no response.

    No words.

    Axel jaw clenched. ¡°And it sucks ass that I know you don¡¯t feel the same way. That you¡¯ll never love me back, can¡¯t love me back, whatever. But that doesn¡¯t stop these shitty feelings I have for you. So, just don¡¯t ever fucking do that again. If you ever try to die for me, I¡¯ll kill you.¡±

    It was like being hit with a ghost freight train. His words thundered through my body, leaving me stricken with a bizarre floatiness. My hand reached out on its own volition, to steady myself, because the world felt only loosely tethered to reality. I only realised that I¡¯d taken hold of one of his arms, using it to ground myself.

    All his words were definitely English. But that didn¡¯t stop me from having a hard time making cohesive sense of them. He looked so scared; I could feel him trembling under my hand. After all we¡¯d been through, this was only the second time I¡¯d seen fear on his face. His panic at my sacrifice suddenly made more sense.

    ¡°What?¡± is all I managed to say.

    Axel lifted my hand from his arm and cradled it in between his, now no longer able to meet my gaze.

    His touch was soft.

    ¡°Come on. Don¡¯t make me say it again. Makes me sound like a goddamn simp.¡±

    Like the bottom Jenga block pulled, pieces started tumbling, crashing around me. Axel during our childhood, and how he was my best friend until he wasn¡¯t, Axel during our teenage years and how he hated me but defended me from bullies, Axel during university and how he remained so aloof but I still saw him every other day, Axel during full-time work and how he asked if I wanted to be his flatmate.

    All those small acts.

    I had never understood him.

    I¡¯d always thought it was his parents, asking him to watch out for me, for their godson. But the entire time it was Axel. Again and again, it was Axel. Always there Axel.

    His words reverberated in my head, echoing around, and replaying over and over. You can¡¯t love me back. The way his voice had broken during them. Why had he said that? Did he think being ace meant¡­

    Laughter erupted uncontrollably, but the shock on his face shut me up in an instant.

    Clearing my throat, I shook my hand loose from his and then, ignoring the pain, leant forward and pulled him into a hug. ¡°And you had the audacity to call me stupid.¡±

    He tried to break away, but my face felt hot and I locked my arms around him. I decided he wasn¡¯t allowed to see my expression. Mostly because I¡¯m not even sure what I looked like at that moment. Maybe we shared the same face.

    Axel for sure had enough strength to free himself if he wanted.

    I explained, ¡°I¡¯m ace, not aro, man.¡±

    His body went stiff and it was his turn to say: ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Twenty-eight years we¡¯ve known each other, and not one time did you ever bother googling it or asking me.¡± I shook my head in mock disappointment. ¡°I just don¡¯t get physically attracted to people. I can, however, fall in love.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯ve never dated anyone!¡± he sputtered loudly into my ear, almost deafening me.

    I leaned back to show him my blank face. ¡°Gee, I wonder whose fault that is.¡±

    He blanched. It had been friends¡¯ and family members¡¯ running joke that the reason we were both single was because everyone thought we were a couple. I¡¯d let the joke run its course because it¡¯d kept my parents off my back. But I¡¯d thought Axel had hated it because he didn¡¯t want to be known to be dating someone like me. However¡­ I guess he¡¯d actually hated it because it made him angry it wasn¡¯t real?

    My brain could only handle so many revelations.

    ¡°For real, though, it¡¯s tough out there finding someone who doesn¡¯t expect an, uh, intimate relationship.¡± I cleared my throat. ¡°And fuck you, I have dated people, for your information.¡± There was one date that came to mind that had completely checked me out over a romantic relationship. ¡°But they all kind of fizzled out.¡±

    ¡°Then all this time that I¡¯ve been pining¨C¡± He shut his mouth, his cheeks now beet red. ¡°¨CI mean, all this time we could¡¯ve¡­?¡±

    The words hung in the air.

    ¡°I mean, you¡¯ve been a bit of a dick to me since Chrissie died. So no.¡±

    Axel laughed, and again it was bitter. I never understood him. Not before, not now. Probably never would in the future either. But now I think I was getting closer. I knew what he was asking. What I¡¯d never thought he¡¯d ask.

    In his downcast eyes, I knew he was asking: Could we be anything?

    I replied to his unspoken question. ¡°Well, since the Gates, you¡¯ve been¡­ different.¡± I tried to put it into words without triggering him, dancing around the subject by talking about it. ¡°Like, you¡¯re you, but also ultra you. The best parts of you that were my best friend became who you are again, but also¡­ in a worryingly unhinged way.¡±

    What was I saying now? I think Axel had turned my brain into word soup.

    But I owed him an answer. He¡¯d poured his soul out. And it was the soul I¡¯d known when we were kids. The one I¡¯d adored. The one I¡¯d¨C

    Swallowing back my own emotions, I took a breath. ¡°This Axel, the current Axel, the one I¡¯d put my life on the line for, might be someone I could, you know, maybe¡­¡±

    ¡°Love?¡± he offered forward, so tentatively, so hopefully that I couldn¡¯t even mock him like I wanted to. It would¡¯ve been like kicking a puppy.

    ¡°That¡¯s just maybe.¡± I wasn¡¯t about to string him along either. I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt. It was like being given a pair of glasses and realising you were short-sighted all along and now everything you didn¡¯t know was blurry was in crisp 8K resolution. It¡¯s hard to comprehend. My brain was still buffering.

    At gunpoint, I would never admit to it, but Axel had been my first crush. One of those puppy crushes you get when you¡¯re still a kid. I had been eleven when I realised. We¡¯d still lived in a time where calling people gay was an insult, so I¡¯d repressed it, only thinking about it in moments where it was only Axel and I. It¡¯s weird thinking about it now, but spending time with him had been some of the best parts of my childhood.

    But then Chrissie had passed, and he¡¯d abandoned me.

    Or at least that¡¯s how it had felt.

    Not only had that thoroughly shattered any illusion of affection I had towards him, I think it also fundamentally affected my self-confidence. If my best friend couldn¡¯t love me, who could? It was the domino that teetered my social skills off the edge. That shut me down permanently.

    Not that I blamed Axel. Death is never easy. We¡¯d both been affected, just in different ways. Axel chose to leave it behind. And I guess I chose to never leave it.

    The memories edged away as his confession replayed in my mind, and a large grin grew across my face. ¡°To clarify, I can¡¯t answer any time soon. I¡¯ll have you know, it¡¯s a lot of pressure knowing that you love me so much that, what did you say, what was it? How did you phrase it¡­ That you¡¯ll love me in every life?¡±

    Axel let out a pained groan. ¡°God, that was so cringe.¡±

    The anguish on his face truly fulfilled some deep twisted desire in my heart. I couldn¡¯t stop myself from ribbing him further. ¡°Blinded by your love for me, obviously. Say, would you agree with Eminem that you love me so much you can barely breathe when you¡¯re with me?¡±

    ¡°Sometimes.¡±

    My response died on my lips and the tips of my ears burned. In that same moment I realised we¡¯d been wrapped in each others¡¯ arms for the whole conversation. Suddenly feeling very claustrophobic, I released my arms and tried to lean away.

    Axel didn¡¯t budge. He could basically lock me in place, given I was still feeling weak as shit.

    ¡°I¡¯m not afraid to [Ground Smash] us both,¡± I said.

    He didn¡¯t reply, and instead bent his neck to rest his forehead on my shoulder. It wasn¡¯t unpleasant being held like this, though I felt overly warm where we were in contact and growing warmer still. I was sure Axel would hear my heart beating loudly in my chest, and that was embarrassing, so maybe I could wiggle out¨C

    ¡°I just¡­ Can I have this for a second?

    There was something in his voice that made me stop trying to escape. It was the same emotion I¡¯d heard when he¡¯d first asked to call me Lee. Grief. I guess he could be mourning the world we knew, or even the relationship we might¡¯ve once had. But somehow I knew it wasn¡¯t that. It was something else.

    Axel was grieving something, someone.

    I think all along that brokenness was this same grief. For who? I couldn¡¯t say. But it mattered to him. It mattered a lot. So, I could stay like this for him. I owed it to him. I could be here for him. The same way I guess he¡¯d always been there for me. Albeit, maybe he had ulterior motives. And also, despite its warmth, this hug wasn¡¯t that bad.

    Lightly, I leaned my head down and rested my chin on his hair. It was softer than I thought it would be.

    I¡¯m not sure how long we stayed like that.

    Definitely longer than his requested second.

 Chapter Twenty-Four | The Thread

    We didn¡¯t say anything about it when Jye noticed us, and we broke apart, with cheeks perhaps a little more red, but that was just the blood flow regulating to my body, obviously. The rest of the time was uneventful as my mana came back up enough to start using [Healing Hand] to boost the speed at which my health regenerated. Thankfully, Tam hadn¡¯t been paying attention, too distracted by cataloguing everything she¡¯d looted from Anna¡¯s body. I didn¡¯t want to have to suffer whatever she¡¯d make of what happened.

    I wasn¡¯t even sure what I made of it all. So I definitely didn¡¯t need the cutthroat¡¯s commentary and opinion on my previous conversation with Axel and his confession and that apparently he¡¯d liked me when I¡¯d liked him, but he¡¯d never stopped. Which was insane. How had I never noticed? It was a little tragic. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

    To be honest, I wasn¡¯t sure how I felt.

    He liked me, I guess?

    And I¡­ Well, I don¡¯t think I could imagine a life without Axel. He¡¯d always been there, somewhere. Without him, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d have much left. So, yes, I¡¯d been ready to die in his place only hours ago, but it was a different emotion that inspired the action compared to the crush I¡¯d had on him when I was just a kid. Compared to what he felt towards me.

    I just wanted him to be safe. And reflecting on his expression as he¡¯d cried over my nearly dead self, maybe even deeper than that, I think I never wanted him to look like that again. I wanted to take away that sadness that came over him, even if I was the one who caused it.

    Was that how Axel felt about me?

    Having someone admit their love for me was not something I¡¯d ever expected. Hell, it wasn¡¯t even on my bucket list. The very concept of it was like one of the stupid icebreakers they get you to do when you¡¯re starting a job somewhere and they asked you what you¡¯d do if you won a million dollars. It was a hypothetical ¡°Ah, wouldn¡¯t that be nice?¡± kind of thing that I only ever thought about when I couldn¡¯t sleep and the clock was drawing nearer and nearer to my morning alarm.

    I¡¯d never really thought about the kind of future I genuinely wanted. So much of my life was that auto-pilot ¡°do this and then this¡± that what I desired never really came into view, always existing either in my periphery or not even allocated any space in my mind. Last time I¡¯d nearly died (again, such a fucking wild sentence to think), I¡¯d realised I¡¯d wanted to protect the people in my party. That it was something I sincerely felt was a purpose to my life. It¡¯d given me motivation to continue existing.

    My near-death experience hadn¡¯t clarified anything this time. If anything, I¡¯d come out of it more confused.

    At the very least, I just knew that Axel had needed my support for that moment. And maybe I¡¯d needed to be genuinely relied upon too. For that short time, we were able to take strength in each other. Whether or not I reciprocated his feelings, what had happened had been more like a pro quid pro thing than anything¡­ more.

    That wasn¡¯t to say I doubted Axel¡¯s words.

    Axel definitely thought he was in love with me.

    The weirdest thing was how, other than the words being spoken, nothing else had changed between us.

    ¡°I¡¯m gonna pretend I didn¡¯t see nothing,¡± Jye said, apparently to no one, as they helped me pack up the bedroll before we all set off to finally retrieve Wren.

    About time. I was still a little worried about what might be lurking within the walls of this inner labyrinth, so I requested that we all retain the same no-shouting rule we¡¯d instituted when Anna had been running around unchecked. Thus we¡¯d all been walking without conversation, though ¡°in silence¡± would¡¯ve been a stretch.

    At my insistence, Tam had deposited Anna¡¯s corpse into her inventory, muttering under her breath the entire time very unsavoury things. We¡¯d since begun the walk to the room Wren was locked in with Tam grumbling all the while.

    ¡°See what?¡± I responded to Jye.

    The giant¡¯s red brows furrowed in confusion. ¡°How you and Axel were like all over¨C¡± Their eyes widened and then they grinned. They brought a finger to the side of their nose to tap it a few times. ¡°Oh, I see what you¡¯re doing. Got it. See what? Yeah, nothing.¡±

    ¡°Why would you pretend not to see Lee and Axel embracing?¡± Gigi asked from my left. Fuck, Gigi must¡¯ve seen us too. Xe didn¡¯t talk much unless addressed and I must¡¯ve completely ignored xir presence. Thinking back on it, yeah, xe had been right next to Jye at the time.

    Like an owl, Tam¡¯s head swivelled almost 180 degrees to lock wide eyes on me.

    ¡°They were what now?¡±

    ¡°Hugging,¡± Axel supplied nonchalantly. I opened my mouth to defend us from whatever Tam¡¯s mind was cooking up, but he continued, ¡°The dude almost died. Can¡¯t a man hug his friend without suffering accusations?¡± His blue eyes narrowed. ¡°Or do you not want to break the cycle of toxic masculinity?¡±

    Tam scoffed and turned away, clearly not keen to get baited into an argument. I had no doubt she¡¯d had this particular conversation more than once in her life. Curious, I let my gaze slip from Tam¡¯s back to Axel, who was walking on the other side of Jye. The blond had handled the situation pretty well, all things considered. Though I guess all that socialising he¡¯d done had to have granted him some catalogue of skills to draw on when called upon.

    I don¡¯t know why he¡¯d decided to keep the lid on our¡­ conversation. He wasn¡¯t exactly the private kind of person. Did he still not fully trust the others? With his words, he¡¯d pretty much gaslit Jye, Gigi, and Tam into thinking the moment of comfort he¡¯d sought, the emotions he¡¯d confessed, had been nothing but his platonic concern for me. I struggled to read his expression.

    He looked tired, the bags under his eyes more pronounced than ever. Had he¡­ had he been watching over me the entire time I¡¯d been out? Huh.

    As if sensing my gaze, Axel¡¯s eyes met mine. He waggled his eyebrows at me, grinning widely.

    ¡°Admit it, you¡¯re impressed.¡±

    I snorted. ¡°You wish.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, nah. There¡¯s only one thing I wish for and that isn¡¯t it.¡±

    ¡°What is it then? Bottomless mimosas? A better anime adaptation of Beserk? A world where we actually got to watch The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself?¡± I asked, smiling. There were more things I could think of on Axel¡¯s wishlist but figured I could probably drone on all day if I didn¡¯t stop there. ¡°What do you wish for?¡±

    Instead of responding, he tilted his head, still maintaining eye contact with me.

    Oh.

    Maybe I¡¯d been wrong. Maybe something had changed.

    I really hadn¡¯t expected Axel to be so¡­ to put it plainly, down bad for me. Or be so unapologetically open about it.

    Wait.

    Wait, wait, wait.

    No. I was right. Nothing had changed.

    I just finally understood what his words and actions actually meant. From him having the Warheads on him to him carrying me away from the Minotaur, from him wanting to call me by my name to what he had implied he wished for right now. All along¡­ all along, it¡¯d been me, for me? This entire fucking time and I¡¯d just been blind to it. How was that even possible?

    He¡­ he really did lo¨C care about me.

    But why? I¡¯d never done anything worthy of it.

    Jye made a face, their gaze flicking back and forth between me and Axel. They said, ¡°I¡¯m getting the vibe that I¡¯m cockblocking something here. I can swap places, if you want, guys.¡±

    ¡°No, no, no, that¡¯s okay,¡± I began, not allowing Axel to get a reply in edgewise, my own words pelting out of my mouth like machine gunfire. ¡°Besides, we¡¯re nearly there, aren¡¯t we, Tam?¡±

    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Yep,¡± she said, popping the ¡°P.¡± ¡°Just around this turn and we¡¯ll be at one of the walls.¡±

    Even though I¡¯d had time to reflect on the whole thing, it hadn¡¯t really fully sunk in.

    We turned down the last left corridor and found ourselves at a deadend.

    ¡°Kid, you in there still?¡± Tam asked, raising her voice.

    Wren¡¯s tone was panicked. ¡°Tam! Is everyone okay? I got the notification that Lee was at critical health!¡±

    The brunette cast a cursory glance over Gigi, Axel, and I, all sporting healing injuries and then said, ¡°Yeah, everyone¡¯s entirely spick and span.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re fine,¡± I said as reassurance.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t even get a scratch on me!¡± Jye remarked.

    ¡°I¡¯m so happy to hear your voices.¡±

    Guilt roiled inside me, but I quickly repressed it. We couldn¡¯t have done anything before. Swallowing back the emotion, I pushed positivity into my tone when I asked, ¡°You ready for your taste of freedom?¡±

    The young girl was silent for a moment. ¡°I don¡¯t know about that. When I got the notification that the challenge was finished and the Dungeon was available for clearing, the lights came on in here. It revealed a¡­ kind of lock on the ground I didn¡¯t see before. I think¡­ I think this is the exit room.¡±

    So, if we destroyed the wall, there was the risk of damaging the lock that cleared the Dungeon. Man, fuck whoever designed this. All the traps and puzzles were so stupid. And why had Wren been teleported into the final room? Pinching at the bridge of my nose, I said, ¡°Can you describe what you¡¯re looking at?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a divot under an old carving. I think something is supposed to be put into it.¡±

    She went on to explain that the carving looked like a woman sitting behind a contraption. When prompted to further describe the device, Wren was unable to name it. She was a ten-year-old after all. She tried to give us the general shape, but it was like playing blind charades.

    A woman behind a contraption. Connected to the labyrinth. The final room after the Minotaur was defeated. While I was thinking, Jye, Axel, Gigi, and Tam were offering suggestions of what the device could be. They went through dozens of things, from a log splitter to an old camera. None of them really made sense. Half of what Gigi said was censored.

    Contraption. Minotaur. Labyrinth.

    Of course!

    ¡°Wren. Have you seen Sleeping Beauty?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I love Disney movies.¡±

    ¡°The contraption. Does it look like the thing the princess pricks her finger on?¡±

    ¡°Kind of¡­ It looks different, but if I squint, all the right shapes are there.¡±

    The others looked to me.

    ¡°It¡¯s a spindle. The carving is a woman spinning thread.¡±

    Gigi frowned. ¡°How does this help us?¡±

    Sighing, I said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°Nice work,¡± Axel added, sarcastically. For someone who said they loved me, he was awfully fucking mean to me sometimes.

    ¡°You thinking Ariadne¡¯s string?¡±

    I nodded at Jye, surprised they knew the name.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look so shocked, man. Mythology¡¯s cool. And with the whole Minotaur thing, it makes sense.¡±

    ¡°String, you say.¡±

    Tam¡¯d been quiet the entire time, so this comment was unusual from her. Perhaps feeling the weight of the party¡¯s gaze, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t kill a cat for being curious.¡±

    ¡°They literally made a saying about that,¡± Axel replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

    I added, ¡°You¡¯re never curious about anything except when it involves mocking us.¡±

    ¡°Hey now, sunshine, that ain¡¯t true. I¡¯m plenty curious, I just don¡¯t speak is all.¡±

    Even with the four of us staring her down, Tam didn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d break.

    ¡°What¡¯s curious about it?¡± Wren asked, her voice muffled by the wall between us.

    Tam¡¯s shoulders slumped, and she let out a defeated sigh.

    With an annoyed expression, she lifted a hand and plucked an item from thin air. She¡¯d retrieved something from her inventory. It hovered above her palm for a moment before it settled onto her skin. The item was barely larger than a fist.

    ¡°Anna had this on her. Didn¡¯t think it would help. Still don¡¯t think that.¡±

    In Tam¡¯s hand, she held a skein of golden thread. No, rather it wasn¡¯t golden but gold thread. The sheen of it was unmistakably metallic and it sat heavy in her hand. The party stared in silence for a moment. Jye whistled. I recognised the glint. It was the loot that dropped when the Minotaur had been slain.

    ¡°You were gonna share this with us when?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Never, if I had my way, babes.¡±

    Rolling my eyes, I held out my hand. ¡°Give it here.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t wanna.¡±

    Stepping in quicker than sight, Axel closed the distance and snatched it from her before depositing it into my hold. All things said and done, Tam probably could¡¯ve put up more of a fight. She¡¯d let Axel take it. Her concern for Wren was obviously winning out, but not enough to stop whatever farcical show she was putting on.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome,¡± Axel said, his pinky lightly brushing against my hand as he released the thread, his skin warm. I glanced up and I realised I couldn¡¯t tell if the touch had been intentional or not. There was a very cocky expression on his face, in the bend of his brow. For once I found myself not hating it. In fact, as I tried to focus on the matter at hand, I recognised instead that it had just been comforting.

    No time to unpack that.

    I examined the skein, bringing it closer to my face, taking in the unusual material. It was cool to the touch and heavier than it looked, surprisingly hefty for such a relatively small item. As a hobby, my mother bought second hand jewellery and then sold them again. She¡¯d needed a model for the marketing photos and so I¡¯d handled my fair share of gold and silver. Testing the pliability of the skein, I came to the realisation that the thread was likely entirely gold. Not like it¡¯d be valuable anymore when we got back to the real world.

    ¡°I never got into mythology. Too much incest for my taste,¡± Tam said. ¡°What¡¯s the thread got to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°The hero, Theseus, uses it to trace his steps back to the start of the labyrinth,¡± Jye answered. ¡°Though he does dump Ariadne later on an island. Dick move, really.¡±

    ¡°Thissy-who?¡±

    Gigi¡¯s brows were furrowed. ¡°I thought these names would be moderated.¡±

    ¡°Shut your mouth, you alien,¡± Tam hissed.

    Annoyed, I growled, ¡°What are you two talking about?¡±

    ¡°[REDACTED],¡± Gigi said, then frowned. ¡°I see. It is censored when I speak about them.¡±

    Jye¡¯s brow furrowed but they didn¡¯t say anything, probably stifling their reaction to the glitched noise.

    ¡°That¡¯s right, and keep it that way. Mumma says we can¡¯t tell them anyway.¡±

    I sighed, accepting that I should¡¯ve known this conversation wouldn¡¯t go anywhere.

    ¡°This ball of yarn isn¡¯t gonna be a lick of help, besides. Obviously we¡¯re supposed to use it inside the end room.¡±

    ¡°It could be magic!¡± Wren¡¯s excited voice said from the other side of the wall.

    There were weirder things that had happened. The kid could be right. Maybe the golden thread did hold some sort of magical power. But what could it possibly do to get us to the final room? And how did I make it do something?

    Looking back down at the skein, experimentally, I said, ¡°Activate.¡±

    Nothing happened.

    Axel smirked, and I wanted to smack him.

    ¡°If you¡¯re so smart, you try getting it to do something!¡± I shouted, embarrassment heating the tips of my ears.

    Frustrated, I lobbed the skein at him. He ducked under it, the skein unravelling as it sailed through the air. It plunked to the ground, continuing to roll towards the deadend wall.

    ¡°You were meant to catch that,¡± I said, trying to repress the irritation.

    ¡°And you were meant to reject me. The future is full of surprises, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    I blinked, my anger deflated by his unprovoked admission. Axel had thought that¡­ I¡¯d just shut him down? That I¡¯d reject him?

    ¡°Why would you¨C¡±

    ¡°Not to interrupt your little loving tiff,¡± Tam began and I opened my mouth to disagree and realised I couldn¡¯t find the words to defend myself since technically she was right. She continued, ¡°but¡­¡± She gestured forward to where the skein had stopped rolling.

    The four of us who¡¯d not been paying attention boggled.

    A trail of thread had released, leaving a line of gold string along the ground to the deadend wall¡­ and partially through it. The skein was rolled halfway into the stone wall. Without questioning it, I stepped forward and kicked the item further. It disappeared completely, leaving only the single thread behind.

    On the other side of the wall, Wren let out a little yelp of surprise.

    ¡°How did you¡­?¡± she began and then didn¡¯t say anything else. We watched the thread on the floor shift a little bit as Wren apparently picked the skein up.

    ¡°Should I put it in the divot?¡± she asked.

    I glanced at the party and silently got their agreement.

    ¡°Do it, Wren.¡±

    Taking a deep breath, our eyes glued to the thread, we watched as it minutely shook with Wren¡¯s hidden movements.

    ¡°I¡¯m placing it.¡±

    The thread stilled.

 Chapter Twenty-Five | Actual Answers

    ~Dungeon 16 cleared for the first time by Just Friends~

    Fuck.

    We¡¯d done it. Granted, we¡¯d killed four people to do it. Five people, if you counted the Minotaur.

    I was still debating that. I¡¯d assumed the beast had been generated by the Dungeon. Though¡­ Xanthe was a lizard person who¡¯d clearly had sentience and intelligence, and all the other creatures in Twilight had also been a type of being. What if the Minotaur was just another race that hadn¡¯t accomplished the same thing Xanthe¡¯s people hadn¡¯t? When it had spoken, it had said it couldn¡¯t surrender. So if the Minotaur had been real, and not an NPC, we had killed what was essentially a slave, unable to escape the invisible constraints placed upon them, put up to the firing squad. If the ¡°first time¡± in the Dungeon announcement meant what it said, would the Minotaur be destined to die again and again and never be able to break free?

    If that was the case, I wasn¡¯t even sure about how I¡¯d feel. It was a far crueller fate than anything else I could really imagine.

    I wanted to feel elation that we¡¯d cleared the Dungeon, but I couldn¡¯t summon the emotion. Just a weird sense of resignation.

    We¡¯d been dealt such random shit since we entered the Gate that when the world fell away into infinite empty white before this clear announcement, it was actually kind of anticlimactic. Part of me had been expecting another series of challenges or some impossible to understand puzzle to follow.

    Ending it here was¡­ bad writing. No two ways about it.

    This simply reinforced my opinion that this entire thing sucked, not just as a Dungeon but as entertainment. Really now. What was engaging about watching a handful of people standing around humming and hawing over what to do with a ball of yarn? Add to that, making the labyrinth so large that even had there been other players in the Dungeon, which was likely considering the time that had passed, that we¡¯d run into only four meant that it was highly probable most of the other people who¡¯d entered would end up dying of malnutrition. That was akin to watching grass grow, if by grow you meant ¡°die from not being watered.¡±

    It paled in comparison to the CBD Dungeon Wren had described. An arctic winter biome and monsters in snow ambushing you when you least expected it? Now that was entertainment. Well, at least when it was happening to someone else and they weren¡¯t real people. On a TV show or in a book, I¡¯d have eaten that right up. But this Dungeon was¡­

    What wasted potential. Everything really just felt like whoever had developed this had read the CliffsNotes about Theseus and dragged and dropped random shit onto their canvas.

    Wren appeared before me as the wall popped out of existence like the snap of the fingers. A piece of weight fell from my shoulders upon seeing her. The time alone in the room hadn''t been too hard on her.

    She looked stunned, her hazel eyes wide in awe, though I noted those same eyes were a little reddened. Had she been crying? My heart hurt. I told myself we''d make finding her family a top priority.

    As she gaped at our voidlike surroundings, I was glad she was still capable of childlike wonder. We hadn¡¯t robbed her of that with all the awful things she¡¯d been complicit in as a member of our party. I still didn¡¯t know exactly what we¡¯d do with the corpses we¡¯d stored in our inventories. Bury them somewhere in Brisbane? Dump them in front of a funeral home and hope for the best? We¡¯d definitely not be tossing them into the Brisbane River as per Jye¡¯s suggestion.

    Nexus available

    Huh. That was completely new. I¡¯d long since stopped being surprised by sudden reveals like this. However, that it was a notification, not an announcement, piqued my interest. It had to be for our eyes only. For those who had cleared Dungeons. I didn¡¯t want to jump the gun but a Nexus sounded very much like a fast travel hub. Should I be concerned that I didn¡¯t think waypoints seemed beyond the pale these days?

    Everyone in the party had been transported. Or maybe they simply remained where they¡¯d been previously standing as the world changed. I really couldn¡¯t tell. One moment we¡¯d been facing a stonewall deadend and the next nothing but white emptiness. Here we cast no shadows, everyone instead impossibly lit evenly from each and every direction. It was difficult to tell if we were standing on floor or floating as whatever horizon line should¡¯ve existed, simply didn¡¯t. From the weight of my feet, I figured we were likely applying pressure onto our feet, so the former was probably the truth.

    There was barely a moment to take it all in when an unfamiliar voice, timid and shaking, spoke from behind us.

    ¡°Uh, don¡¯t hold back¡­ What did you think?¡±

    Why the hell did they have a British accent?

    On edge, the six of us span on our heels to face them, attempting to summon any weapon we could. Rather than succeeding in arming ourselves, the buzz of rejection sounded. Okay. Very cool. So we were defenceless in this new zone. It was just one thing after another, wasn¡¯t it? No rest for the¡­ Were we wicked? There wasn¡¯t enough mental space to consider that train of thought as I focused on the person standing before us.

    They were shorter than average with a brown bushy beard and, contrarily, sparse hair upon their head. Other than their general comportment of standing hunched over, as if ready to fold into themselves at the slightest provocation, they were the exact image someone might conjure when you were asked to imagine what ¡°uncle¡± meant. They fiddled with the hem of their polo shirt, eyes nervously darting everywhere but to us.

    What the fuck.

    ¡°What the fuck?¡± I said, more annoyed than alarmed, though I tried to activate [Channel] to borrow [Thick Hide] anyway as a precaution. Hearing the hiss of an ability shortly follow my own, it sounded like Axel had done the same. At the very least we could use skills here. That was some solace. It gave me some sense of relief, the second defensive skin pooling over me.

    ¡°My Dungeon¡­ Please¡­ You can be brutally honest. I¡¯m ready to hear it.¡± They paused, their brow crinkling. Their face fell as they threw up their hands. ¡°It was awful, wasn¡¯t it? I knew it, oh my heavens¡­ I¡¯m a sham. I¡¯ll never [REDACTED].¡±

    I blinked. There was a lot to process.

    ¡°Your Dungeon?¡±

    Their eyes, an unnatural shade of gold, flashed open and their cheeks reddened.

    ¡°My deepest apologies! I didn¡¯t introduce myself. Heavens, I¡¯m such an idiot. I¡¯m, uh, well, maybe you¡¯ve heard of me? I¡¯m Nabu.¡± Their head tilted at our lack of response, then they let out a defeated sigh. ¡°God of wisdom, schooling, and the arts¡­ No? Not ringing any bells? I knew this would happen, I knew it¡­¡±

    I looked him up and down, taking in the khaki shorts, and thongs that revealed hairy toes.

    ¡°You? A god?¡±

    ¡°Well, uh, no offence intended, but as far as you humans are concerned, yes, that¡¯s right. But! That doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m not open to criticism. Er¡­ Constructive criticism, that is. As the first to clear my Dungeon, I¡¯d dearly¡­ love to hear your feedback.¡± As he spoke, it sounded very much like he was dreading any and all critique, his hands wringing with anxiety, his voice trembling.

    So¡­ this was who we could blame for the entire thing?

    He stood there, nervously twiddling his thumbs, a shaky, uncertain smile all but hidden by his impressive beard.

    What were we meant to say?

    What were we meant to do?

    I¡¯d been fantasising about confronting this person since we¡¯d entered, but now we¡¯d come face to face and he looked and acted like an amateur writer after submitting their first manuscript. I was torn between sheer outrage and wanting to let him down gently. Like I wanted to pummel him to the floor and also deliver a compliment critique sandwich as he laid there recovering.

    It was a baffling combination of emotions.

    ¡°An honest review is all I ask,¡± Nabu said, his voice cracking.

    This man, this ¡°god,¡± had put us in life and death situations, and I knew I should be angry, but when I reached for the feeling deep down in my gut, I came up empty. More than anything else, I felt that this Deity or whatever was just¡­ pathetic. Not worth my anger. Saving a dying worm would inspire more emotion in me. It didn''t stop me from imagining him exploding into pieces. There was some catharsis to be had from that.

    As if everyone felt similarly, the rest of the party started answering his plea.

    ¡°Zero out of ten. Don''t quit your day job,¡± Axel said, his voice flat.

    ¡°I got a few notes for improvements, but it wasn¡¯t bad. It just wasn¡¯t good,¡± Jye added as they folded their arms across their chest.

    ¡°Respectfully, I could pull something better out of a unicorn¡¯s ass,¡± Tam remarked with a scowl.

    ¡°It seemed a little silly,¡± came Wren¡¯s considerate response. ¡°Though it did get very scary.¡±

    ¡°I do not think the other Deities would¡¯ve enjoyed it.¡± Gigi accompanied this statement with a shake of xir head.

    My own head nearly exploded from the overstimulation all this information was providing. We¡¯d been in a god¡¯s Dungeon and there¡¯d been deities watching us and Gigi had known and Tam had to have known too. Was that who the sponsors were as well? Other deities? What did deities even mean in this context? I¡¯d never heard of Nabu, but my familiarity with deities only extended to Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology.

    Or was he another world¡¯s god?

    I cast my mind back to Tam¡¯s first description of the Dungeon from Mumma (Who I now realised had to be a goddess? What the fuck). ¡°He¡¯s a wiley one.¡±

    Wiley in what way? The way he was snivelling? He had all the gravitas of a senior chihuahua.

    In fact, Nabu looked close to tears, his bottom lip quivering.

    ¡°R-Really? It was that awful?¡±

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    Gripping onto my flying thoughts, I took a deep breath.

    ¡°Before I give you my honest opinion, I¡¯ve got to ask,¡± I began, ¡°why?¡±

    He cocked his head to the side; the incoming sobbing on hold. He blinked back the tears. ¡°Why what?¡±

    ¡°Why everything?¡±

    ¡°Oh dear heavens, yes, I suppose half the fun is you not knowing. But as I¡¯m, uh, duty bound to sponsor one of you, I suppose it¡¯d be in my best interest to inform you.¡± His golden gaze skittishly roamed over our party as he spoke. Uncharacteristically, there was something of dismissal when he got to Gigi, and his eyes didn¡¯t linger over Tam for long at all. Was that fear? ¡°Of course, you two are spoken for, but I¡¯ll annul everyone¡¯s limitations insofar as I can.¡±

    What? Gigi was spoken for? Xe had a sponsor too? I hadn¡¯t seen it on xir player data. Maybe xe¡¯d chosen not to show it? Had that too been moderated, just more efficiently? And what did Nabu mean, ¡°annul everyone¡¯s limitations¡±? God, fuck everything.

    With a wave of his hand, the whiteness shifted immediately into a generic lecture hall. Nabu gestured to the auditorium desks as he took to the teacher¡¯s podium at the front.

    Whatever.

    I took a seat at the closest chair and the others followed suit, filing into one row.

    Nabu cleared his throat, and began explaining, running his hands over his beard as he spoke. It should¡¯ve been distracting, but I don¡¯t think anything would¡¯ve torn our focus from the words that began coming out of his mouth. Especially now that it seemed whatever censorship had been put in place had been lifted, at least to a certain extent. Ah. ¡°Annul limitations.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, uh, well, I¡¯ve never done this before¡­ But to put it plainly¡­ Humanity has been graced with the honour of entertaining us Deities. Of course, again no offence, as you all were, you would hardly be anything worth watching, as flimsy as you were. So we granted you the players, or rather the agents or actors in this, ahem, grand performance, enhanced skills and abilities. You¡¯re expected to put on a show.¡±

    I¡¯d been right.

    Nabu had beaten me to sharing this with the others, though maybe it was for the better. However, being validated like this was like¡­ congealing concrete in my guts.

    I felt sick. I didn¡¯t know it until now, but I hadn¡¯t wanted to be right. I didn''t want how messed up my theory had been to truly be our reality. Even as event after event had provided more than enough evidence to prove me correct, I still wanted to be wrong.

    People dying, killing each other, for the sake of entertaining others? The concept was so inhumane, so alien, that the only thing that could''ve ever made sense was that the ones putting humanity through this were Deities. Only someone so far removed from mortality could think taking someone''s life, their suffering, was fun to watch.

    ¡°But this is only the beginning,¡± Gigi said, interrupting Nabu. ¡°What comes next is¡­¡± Xe grimaced, the expression entirely unfamiliar on xir face.

    Jye nodded. ¡°Yeah, like Gigi said, xir whole planet was wiped out and all xe had left was xir coat.¡± They pounded their chest again with a closed fist and jutted their chin in Gigi¡¯s direction. Grimly, Gigi nodded back, appreciative of the support.

    I swivelled my head to stare at the redheaded giant who had sat to my left.

    ¡°What?¡± I said. ¡°When the hell did Gigi say any of that?¡±

    Jye¡¯s thick brows furrowed. ¡°Like, before xe joined the party. You gotta clean out your ears, dude. It was xir answer when asked if I could have xir coat.¡±

    I replayed the interaction in my mind, and then I reflected on every exchange Gigi and Jye had had where Gigi¡¯s words had been moderated. The giant had never seemed confused. All along I¡¯d believed Jye had just gotten used to the glitch noise since they hadn¡¯t reacted. But¡­ I guess whatever was wrong with Jye¡¯s system meant Gigi had never been censored. Come to think of it, not once had Jye mentioned a word about any redactions. All along¡­ we could''ve gotten answers.

    I wanted to scream.

    I wanted to strangle Jye.

    Instead I just sighed.

    ¡°Okay, so how does it get worse then? My imagination¡¯s a little shot right now, so just give it to me straight.¡±

    ¡°Well, the Dungeons are what you may know as a kind of matinee. A warm-up.¡±

    ¡°Is it kind of like a tutorial?¡± Wren supplied as she readjusted herself in her seat to lean on her knees. Before, she¡¯d been half-sunk under the pew length desk.

    With a click on his fingers, Nabu nodded. ¡°Yes. Similar to a tutorial.¡±

    ¡°Then when do we get to the real game?¡± I asked, dreading the answer.

    ¡°Ah, well, yes, um, you may have noticed your levels have no real impact on your skills.¡± The others blinked blankly and so I waved him on. ¡°They¡¯re actually more for us, really. To keep track of how everyone¡¯s¡­ fairing. Once the majority of parties reach an average level of 10, they will take centre stage.¡± He flourished shaking hands, spreading them wide.

    I swallowed back my growing fear. ¡°And what about the rest? The parties that don¡¯t hit that average?¡±

    ¡°Culled, of course. So we only have the cream of the crop in the spotlight.¡±

    The party said nothing.

    If it was the majority of parties, that was over 50% of humanity. So¡­ 4,000,000,000 people would be executed eventually. I didn¡¯t even question it. After all, look at what the Deities had done so far. They¡¯ve messed around with our minds with the Dungeon compulsion, they¡¯d janked up the very physics and matter of our world with the skills they¡¯d granted us, they were capable of forming pocket dimensions. Killing so many humans might be as easy as Nabu creating this lecture hall. A singular gesture.

    My mouth went dry, my mind reeling.

    Was there no way of stopping this? The scale of death and loss would be unimaginable. It seemed unavoidable. Like Nabu had been through this exact same thing again and again. That this doom was inevitable.

    My head span. Underneath the detached disgust and horror for the rest of humanity, there was something closer. It was personal bias, I knew. I prayed my parents would be okay. And beyond that, I recognised that they didn¡¯t have more significance than the rest of the human race, but still¡­ they mattered to me. There were such a small handful of people who did.

    I forced myself not to glance at Jye, the implications of Nabu¡¯s words reverberating about in my skull endlessly.

    Jye couldn¡¯t level up. It meant everyone else in our party had to reach even higher levels faster than everyone else in the world if we wanted to survive the culling. Of course, the other option was something I would never consider.

    But was that even possible? Based on the experience bar, each level required double the prior one. If I was doing the maths right, which had never been my strong point, to just reach LVL 10, we¡¯d need over 120,000 EXP. And then to just get from 10 to 11, we¡¯d need that all again. The most EXP we¡¯d been awarded was when we¡¯d eliminated Test Name; 1,000 XP. How the fuck were we meant to get over 250,000 EXP?

    Was it even possible to save Jye, for us to make the cut before the culling?

    The familiar thread of panic began to wind through me, my chest beginning to tighten.

    Fuck, not now! I had so many other questions. I needed answers.

    But my body wouldn¡¯t listen. My muscles seized, almost outside of my control.

    Of course. It figured. I knew it. I knew I wasn¡¯t fixed. That I couldn¡¯t just be normal.

    I gasped for air, reaching for my throat, choking, choking, choking. I tried to breathe, to remember the pattern. It had been so long since I''d needed it, I had almost forgotten.

    Breathe in for six, hold for four, out for six. Your happy place.

    Struggling to inflate my lungs, I counted to six. My vision began to swim, the lecture hall flashing between existence and a kaleidoscope.

    I clenched my eyes closed to limit the sensory overload.

    Hold.

    Jye would be fine.

    Hold.

    We¡¯d be fine.

    Hold.

    We could save them.

    Hold.

    We could survive, all of us.

    I exhaled to six.

    My happy¨C

    To my right, warm fingers slipped between my own.

    My heartbeat ticked to a slower pitter patter, and my breathing began to even. The world stilled. Slowly as I continued the pattern, the awareness of control tendrilled back through me. That said, the energy required to regain myself, to settle, had completely spent me. I don¡¯t know how much time had passed.

    It suddenly occurred to me why my near death experiences hadn''t had such a big impact on me. Each of these attacks¡­ they were basically the same as dying. I guess I¡¯d been trained to die.

    Axel¡¯s furrowed brow was the first thing I saw when I finally opened my eyes. I must¡¯ve looked like the mess I felt because the concerned gaze of the rest of the party, and Nabu too, were drilling into my skin. I felt like shit, and my hand was clammy and sweaty in Axel¡¯s. As I stared, I noticed I¡¯d clamped onto his hand so tightly my nails had dug crescents into his skin, pin pricking it red.

    Guilty, I snatched back my hand almost instinctively.

    A beat passed as I released what I¡¯d done. He¡¯d tried to comfort me when I was having a panic attack and I¡¯d reacted like that? Jesus christ. Even without the pressure of knowing his feelings for me, just as a friend that was a shitty thing to do. Why when it came to Axel did I always mess up like this?

    He stared at me.

    I dreaded whatever would follow that look, my panic swallowed by regret.

    ¡°That was kinda homophobic, man,¡± he finally said, a shit-eating grin splitting across his face.

    I let out a croaky surprised chuckle. It was good he wasn¡¯t hurt by my reaction. Well, emotionally hurt at least. My grip had done some damage.

    ¡°As much as I love this, can I ask, you two done?¡± Tam asked, her slit-brow raised in whatever the opposite of amusement was.

    ¡°Sorry to inconvenience you with my crumbling mental health, Tam.¡±

    Wren echoed her in a much nicer tone, ¡°Are you okay now, Lee?¡±

    Letting my saltiness drop, I nodded. ¡°Yes, thank you for asking.¡±

    Nabu cleared his throat. ¡°So, um, I believe it¡¯s standard to allow you questions, queries, and comments.¡±

    I¡¯d talk to Jye later about this. About keeping them alive with us. Yeah. Time to store these stupid fucking fears in the back of my mind until some future period. I¡¯m sure that¡¯d be absolutely fine and would have no lasting repercussions. It was probably bad being sarcastic in your own mind.

    Wren, who excluding Tam and Axel, seemed to be taking this news the most calmly, leaned forward, apparently happy the floor was open to the myriad of questions her inquisitive mind sought to answer. ¡°What happens to the parties who make the spotlight?¡±

    ¡°Um, well, they act in several arcs, until there¡¯s but one final party left standing.¡±

    Just Friends fell silent. One party. Out of 8,000,000,000 people.

    I didn''t know if parties had a maximum capacity but even without one, there would be a certain amount of people entirely unwilling to join others. Tam, for one. Speaking of, the cutthroat appeared to be cleaning dirt from her nails.

    ¡°And then after that?¡± Wren prompted, curious, still strangely even.

    The god smiled, clearly happy with a student like Wren. He truly was the god of schooling. ¡°The party wins a prize.¡±

    ¡°Oh! What¡¯s the prize?¡±

    Nabu clapped his hands together in delight.

    ¡°Anything you wish! Well, to be more precise, the Deities will grant the party a wish.¡±

    ¡°A wish?¡± I echoed, my voice sounding foreign in my own ears.

    ¡°Any wish! You can wish for anything at all!¡±

    His response settled in silence around us.

    Oh.

    The solution was so obvious.

    It came to me faster than I thought my neurons could even fire.

    ¡°I could¡­ wish for everyone who died to come back?¡±

    ¡°You certainly can! Heavens, I know it sounds too good to be true. Uh, granting wishes doesn¡¯t seem possible. But, well, you can just ask Gigi. After all, xe got xir wish granted.¡±

    If it were possible, the newest member of our party shrunk to an even smaller size under the weight of our collective gaze.

 Chapter Twenty-Six | GG

    Gigi¡¯s expression returned to its general neutrality. ¡°I did receive my wish.¡±

    The rest of us exchanged a look.

    ¡°You can¡¯t just say that and nothing else, Gigi,¡± I said. ¡°What was your wish¨C No, wait, even before that. Who are you? What are you?¡±

    I¡¯d long known Gigi couldn¡¯t be normal. Had recognised for quite awhile that the things xe knew and said, even with the moderation, were so alien that xe wasn¡¯t your average party member, per se, but this was far beyond anything I could¡¯ve ever imagined. I guess it didn¡¯t help that I¡¯d never tried to close the gap between us. The most I could tell you about Gigi was xir player stats and that xir coat was inexplicably the coolest thing I¡¯d ever laid eyes on. Given the technology of it, I probably should¡¯ve suspected something was off.

    Well, more off.

    It did make me second guess what I actually knew about everyone in Just Friends. Of course, I knew Axel¡­ mostly, but the extent of what I knew about Jye was pretty limited. I knew less about Wren. Could count the number of facts I knew about Tam on one hand. Then there was Gigi who I hadn¡¯t even investigated beyond their class. Mostly I was familiar with everyone¡¯s character over their background.

    It was weird that I knew them all so little but felt protective about them, and that even somehow included Tam though I knew she didn¡¯t hold me in the highest esteem. Maybe that was what happened when you put your life on the line together. Still, I needed to put in the effort to get to know everyone better. Always adding things on to my to-do list, wasn¡¯t I? And if I wanted to survive this with everyone, getting to know them all better wasn¡¯t a bad thing.

    Gigi scratched at xir chin, as if finding the words to explain xemself.

    ¡°I am Linnikian. This form I have taken is not how I originally appeared. My people come from¨C¡± Xe frowned. ¡°That is not right. The Linnikians are no more. I hail from a now dead world far from Earth.¡±

    Nabu let out a sliver of nervous laughter. ¡°Uh, well, that was your choice, though.¡±

    Everyone was still staring at xem.

    Gigi breathed out. ¡°It is true. I was selfish. My wish only served myself.¡±

    Wren¡¯s brow was crinkled. ¡°What did you wish for?¡±

    Gigi looked away, eyes now downcast through xir silver lashes. ¡°I am too ashamed to say. But Nabu tells the truth. My wish was granted.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been keeping the lid on this jar the whole time. Why should we trust either of you?¡± Axel demanded, his voice writhing with disgust.

    Xir expression was strained. ¡°I withheld nothing. Jye can attest to that.¡± Gigi¡¯s shoulders squared, and xe lifted xir head to meet Axel¡¯s gaze. ¡°My sole purpose is to offer assistance. Should you not want me to travel with you further, I will leave the party.¡±

    ¡°Then fuck off,¡± the blond said.

    I held up a hand. ¡°Wait, hold on there. Let¡¯s not be too hasty.¡±

    Gigi had done nothing duplicitous in the time we¡¯d known xem. Xe¡¯d worked with us well and contributed to the party in a way none of us could. Not to mention that xem being LVL 10 was something we couldn¡¯t ignore with the culling. Having such a monumental leapfrog in our party average may very well be what would toe us pass the line. It didn¡¯t matter that Gigi was¡­ a genuine alien. That was the least of our concerns.

    Rather, there was something else gnawing at the edge of my mind. Something that didn¡¯t make sense, now that I knew about the wish and Gigi¡¯s background.

    ¡°Look, we¡¯re gonna talk about your past in more depth at a later time, okay, Gigi? But you better believe you¡¯re not off the hook. We deserve answers.¡±

    The small Linnikian nodded solemnly. I guess this not being their original form explained xir weird accent and appearance. What had they based it all upon? I¡¯d definitely be asking that in the future. The silver really was a choice. Actually the whole look was something else entirely.

    I flicked my gaze back to Nabu, focusing on the inconsistency I¡¯d noticed with his explanations. ¡°I met a merchant in Twilight, the marketplace. Xanthe. They said their people didn¡¯t succeed. How¡¯s that possible? You make it sound like receiving a wish at the end is what always happens.¡±

    The god¡¯s head tilted to the side, confused. Then his eyes widened in realisation.

    ¡°Oh! Occasionally the matinee is, uh, not enough to entertain us. A bit of a flop, er, if you will. As divine punishment for failure, said population is¡­ hmm, well, eliminated. There aren¡¯t meant to be survivors though, uh, they do slip through the cracks.¡± He ran a hand over his beard, consideration on his plain face. ¡°This merchant you speak of must be quite lucky. Perhaps they had an, uh, overly indulgent sponsor during their event. Some do get too attached, I¡¯m afraid.¡±

    ¡°Wait, wait, wait.¡± I pinched at the bridge of my nose. ¡°So you¡¯re saying we might not even get to the average culling?¡± I said, wondering how much worse things could get.

    Nabu looked embarrassed. ¡°Well, it doesn¡¯t happen often. Maybe, hmmm, one out of ten times?¡±

    How many races had they put this through? How many worlds had been destroyed, people killed? It was mind boggling. Why did they think they were allowed to just¡­ fuck around with people like this?

    My thoughts returned to the details of Nabu¡¯s answer. A 10% chance humanity wouldn¡¯t make it out of the tutorial. At this point, I was simply exhausted with the emotional weight this had placed on my shoulders. It was like taking a billion psychic damage every time Nabu spoke. I slumped back into my chair, letting this new information soak into me.

    Wren raised her hand.

    ¡°Yes, young lady?¡± the god responded.

    ¡°I''ve been wondering. What¡¯s a sponsor do?¡±

    Nabu¡¯s face lit up.

    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so glad you asked! Well, essentially¡­ we support you in your performance, and, ah, gain acclaim as you succeed.¡± He waggled a finger. ¡°Um, but don¡¯t go thinking you can just load up on sponsors, see. A player can only ever have one sponsor, and, well, their sponsorship is binding until the end of the event.¡±

    It made sense; that¡¯s what sponsors were, really. I¡¯d watched my fair share of Twitch streams. The sponsor¡¯s little logo popping up in the lower third constantly burned the brand into your head. The more popular the stream, the more exposure the sponsor got.

    I frowned. But this was different. It wasn¡¯t like the gods would send us merch or something. ¡°What does this ¡°support¡± entail?¡±

    ¡°Uh, you saw it during your fight with Tam¡­ Didn¡¯t you? Her sponsor intervened. Of course, well, such interventions are dependent on the managing deities, but they¡¯re much, um, cheaper than anonymous spectator interactions. In fact, Tam¡¯s sponsor, T¨C¡±

    Tam cut him off. ¡°Mumma doesn¡¯t want her identity revealed yet.¡±

    ¡°My apologies!¡± Nabu bowed low, glancing around as if expecting to be struck down. He stood slowly, testingly, then continued, ¡°Tam¡¯s sponsor would¡¯ve had to, uh, sacrifice quite a bit of belief to assist her.¡±

    My brain had stopped trying to make sense of things. It was like joining the final lecture for a subject you''d never even heard of.

    ¡°What.¡±

    ¡°Oh dear, I appear to be getting everything all mixed up, heavens.¡± Flustered, Nabu cleared his throat. ¡°A Deity¡¯s strength¡­ directly correlates to the amount of belief they¡¯ve gathered.¡± He hmm¡¯d for a moment before adding, ¡°Ah, to put it simply, uh, we sponsor players to gain belief.¡±

    ¡°Like¡­ a religion? You want more followers?¡±

    ¡°No, no, no, silly. You could say we¡¯re well past that now. It is more similar to¡­ uh, tangible respect or reputation in energy form. Many Deities do not participate in this event. Most are, uh, content to watch. The better a player performs, well, the more belief a Deity sponsoring them garners from those spectating. As belief is the only thing that matters to us, uh, it is what we use as currency. Tam¡¯s sponsor would¡¯ve paid belief to intervene, see.¡±

    Under Wren¡¯s breath, I heard the muttering of: ¡°So belief is kinda like the kids¡¯ screams in Monsters Inc?¡±

    Though I was still struggling to properly interpret Nabu¡¯s explanation, Wren¡¯s analogy didn¡¯t sound wrong. Belief was what gave Deities¡¯ power. If a sponsor¡¯s player performed well and impressed other Deities, the sponsors gained belief. It was really going to be hard not to imagine the entirety of humankind as that one kid Randall kidnapped and soulsucked. In fact, the only real difference between this whole ¡°event¡± that Nabu was describing and Monsters Inc. was that sponsors required an additional unreliable middleman: other Deities.

    This time Jye¡¯s hand shot into the air as they raised their voice. ¡°Wait a momento. Who¡¯s the dudes getting the dough?¡± At Nabu¡¯s lack of comprehension, they elaborated, ¡°You know, the peeps running the show. The head honchos.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s such a good question! Uh, well, the ringmasters, as it were, are The Divinities and their underlings. The strongest of us.¡± Nabu pursed his lips in thought. ¡°To add to that, each Dungeon and arc are assigned managing Deities. For¡­ lesser Dungeons, they¡¯re usually volunteer managers, but for players and sponsors with more belief behind them, uh, you might be lucky enough to be moderated by someone with true clout!¡±

    ¡°Is this¡­ a lesser Dungeon?¡± I asked, knowing the answer.

    Meekly, Nabu nodded. ¡°Uh, it¡¯s my first time participating. I wanted to try my hand, um, maybe gain a bit of belief. Test the waters, as it were. Hence my desire for honest feedback.¡±

    It felt like one blow after another. We were less like a show they were watching and more like¡­ dogs they were racing and betting on, being trained to run at their whistle, the rabbit we chased a singular ever-moving goalpost of a wish. How fucking demeaning. But what could we do? It seemed like it was genuinely do or die. And if we won, we could save everyone.

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    If we won.

    When this had all started, I''d called it the end of the world as we knew it. But when this was over¡­ it would really just be the end of the world, especially if a party won the prize who weren''t so altruistic as us.

    The god gave a shaky smile. ¡°All right then. Um, if that¡¯s all the questions you had, who wants to be sponsored by me?¡±

    Collectively almost everyone in the party made the same face.

    ¡°Yeah, no. Hard pass,¡± Axel said.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, dude, but I don¡¯t think I¡¯m ready for that type of commitment yet,¡± Jye replied.

    ¡°Let me get back to you.¡± I felt kind of bad, but the best I could do was a soft no. Nabu would not be a good sponsor, based on everything he¡¯d said.

    ¡°Oh, me!¡± Wren sprung up, standing on the room-length desk, scrambling forward. ¡°Sponsor me!¡±

    Aghast, our mouths opened to object, but before any of us could intervene, Nabu appeared alongside her in a flash, a hand offered out. ¡°Oh, a pleasure to be working with you, Wren, uh, Makris.¡±

    Huh. So her last name was Makris. That thought played dully in my mind as we all dived forward to stop her.

    She took his hand, ignoring the exclamations of protestations exploding from our party.

    We''d reacted a breath too late.

    A burst of air shot out from their shaking hands, and above them a sigil of a classic stylus, glowing gold, twinkled into existence before evaporating into motes.

    Apparently satisfied, Nabu teleported back to the front of the lecture hall. He started humming contentedly. I stared, slack jawed, glancing between the god and Wren.

    I couldn¡¯t believe what had just happened. Wren had been sponsored by what basically was a minor god. What support could he possibly provide her? If belief was their currency, this Deity was a beggar. And a rank amateur at that!

    And to top it all off, it was irreversible and permanent.

    Fuck.

    Suddenly those leashes parents sometimes put on children made a lot of sense.

    Nabu plucked a pocket watch from his khakis. ¡°Well, um, I have a Dungeon to take notes on, but I promise I will be keeping an eye on you, my dear. Ah, but before I send you all on your way.¡± He turned to me. ¡°You there. I¡¯m still, uh, waiting on your feedback.¡±

    I fell under the weight of his full golden gaze, seeing in it the power he held. It pinned me to the spot. It was the first time I''d looked him straight in the eye, and in them I saw the immensity of what Nabu truly was. It was like staring into the abyss and knowing you were nothing but a speck.

    Words froze in my mouth.

    I knew instinctively he could smite me where I stood. My life was nothing to him. Less than a single flap of a butterfly''s wing in the whole of the universe. A cold sweat broke out across my brow. The beating of my heart slowed in my chest, the feeling so akin to dying, of being crushed and immobilised by an invisible weight, that for a second I wondered if he¡¯d already killed me and my brain had lagged before catching up.

    Nabu broke eye contact, offering an encouraging gesture, and the feeling was gone.

    Trying not to show the effect he¡¯d had on me, intentionally controlling my breathing, I hesitantly gathered my thoughts. There was a lot I wanted to say. But given what I''d just sensed and how he was Wren¡¯s sponsor, I knew I should hold my tongue. I carefully figured out how to phrase what I wanted, what I¡¯d felt going through his Dungeon.

    ¡°The overall concept can be entertaining, but right now it''s all bogged down by a large disconnect between sparsely plotted events and related environments. You need to tighten up the scale, make challenges more streamlined, and¡­¡± I paused, wondering if I should even mention it. ¡°And give the Minotaur free will.¡±

    Nabu gave one slow nod. Then a smile crept over his face. ¡°I knew I''d saved the best for last, and, well, that¡¯s a rather interesting idea with the Minotaur. Would certainly throw an element of randomness into it. Oh, I like it!¡± He had a little giggle to himself. ¡°Thank you, Lee. How quaint. Thanking mortals, huh. The Divinities would laugh.¡± Nabu gave us a tiny wave. ¡°I wish you all a good show, and I look forward to Just Friends¡¯ progress.¡±

    I blinked.

    We were outside the Gate, asses hitting the road, back in Brisbane. I barely parsed the change in our location and the smarting ache on my bottom. Though I should¡¯ve been relieved we were home despite the unwelcome pain, my focus went immediately to the ten year old.

    Deity Commentary available

    Ignoring the most recent notification, I exclaimed, ¡°Wren!¡± My first thought was to immediately admonish her for her hasty actions as I grumbled to a stand. Stuff like this got others killed. Not checking in with other people was part of why Chrissie had died. I¡¯d thought Wren had a solid head on her shoulders, but maybe I was giving her too much credit.

    Getting to her feet too, she turned to me with a frown. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t just do stuff like that.¡±

    ¡°I just thought that the earlier we get sponsors, the better,¡± she said. ¡°Also I was worried about what might happen if we all rejected him.¡±

    The golden force of his gaze filled my mind. Because of his timid personality, I¡¯d easily forgotten Nabu was one of the Deities playing with us. Even though he included himself in all the explanations, his appearance and demeanour had lulled me into a false sense of security. That last moment however¡­ What would have the god done?

    It was my turn to frown. ¡°You might have a point about Nabu. Still, what made you think an earlier sponsor would be better?¡±

    Wren explained, ¡°Nabu said Deities get belief based on how their players perform. More belief is more support. So long as we stay alive, the earlier we get sponsors, the more belief they get, the more help we get. So any sponsor early is better than none.¡±

    It was a logical train of thought, rather advanced for her age, but I was beginning to accept that she was just like that. I mulled her words over and realised she hadn¡¯t taken into consideration one thing. Something huge.

    ¡°What if the sponsor just claims all the belief for themself and doesn¡¯t help their player?¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like a strat that would pay off,¡± Jye remarked as they chose to recline on the bitumen instead.

    I kicked at a rock on the floor, channelling all my frustration into launching it clear across the bitumen road. ¡°It¡¯s safer. Think about it. A passive sponsor garners belief and puts no investment in. Sure, they might not receive much belief, but they¡¯d lose nothing either. It¡¯s like a fucking idle game for them where they never have to click a single cookie.¡±

    Axel breathed out from between clenched teeth, correcting himself to a squat. ¡°C¡¯est la vie. Nothing to be done now. Did you at least get anything from it, Wren? A stats boost or something?¡±

    Wren shook her head.

    ¡°Stingy motherfucker,¡± Tam commented from behind crossed arms; she¡¯d been the only one of us quick enough to catch herself before falling to her ass when the chairs beneath us disappeared.

    She looked surprised by her own words. Perhaps that she''d let her true thoughts slip.

    Gigi had crossed xir legs and was sitting with perfect posture, hands resting on xir knees. Xe let out a disappointed sigh. ¡°That is unfortunate. A sponsor should grant their player a unique title as their first supporting act. Though it does cost belief. Perhaps Nabu did not have enough.¡±

    God, I knew he was a shit option. The rest of us had been right to reject his sponsorship. All we could do now was hope he¡¯d come through for Wren when we needed him too.

    Mentally, I also made a note to stop using ¡°God¡± as a curse or exclamation. It was weird to use when Deities genuinely existed. Like I was somehow directing my thoughts towards them. And that made me feel dirty.

    Tam gave Wren the side-eye. ¡°You jumped the gun, gumdrop. I only accepted Mumma''s sponsorship because of her power. Nabu ain¡¯t nothing but a garnish when you coulda had a feast, if you¡¯d put that impatience on ice.¡±

    Wren said, as quiet as a whisper, ¡°Those aren''t the only reasons I did it. Also¡­ I just¡­ I¡­¡±

    The party turned to her, concern etched into the furrow of our brows. There was something vulnerable in the way she''d said those few words, shaky even.

    ¡°Spit it out,¡± Axel urged.

    In unison, Tam, Jye, and I smacked him along the backside of his head in response, and he hissed in pain, properly chastised. How Jye closed to the distance made me marvel. Truly, exasperation made one capable of great things.

    But Axel¡¯s words had steeled Wren''s resolve. She exhaled a sharp breath of air from her nose. ¡°I took Nabu¡¯s sponsorship because I didn''t want to be so helpless like I was in the labyrinth, because even if he''s weak, he''s stronger than me!¡±

    Her fists were balled tight, hands white from the force, her cheeks flushed, and she was trembling slightly. It was determination fighting against fear. I''d been completely wrong about her being mostly okay in that dark room. I¡¯d been an idiot. I could remember being ten. Being locked in a small pitch-black room by myself would''ve had me screaming.

    Feeling like the worst person in the world, because surely I was to have dismissed Wren''s bravery as I had, I approached her and took one of her small quivering hands in mine. She met my gaze, biting her bottom lip to keep from crying, though the tears looked to be beading along her bottom lashes.

    I knew she expected me to continue my original admonishment.

    I''d dropped out of soccer after Chrissie had died. I hadn''t told my parents until they''d asked why I hadn''t been going to practise on Thursday afternoons. The sport hadn''t felt fun anymore. Because whenever I''d pass the ball, every recipient had been Chrissie as I helped her perfect passes on the expanse of drought-dead grass in our enclosed yard back home. I''d only joined my team because she¡¯d wanted to play with the younger league, and our parents hadn''t allowed her to go to the field alone, even if they thought the town was a safe place.

    Understandably, when they''d found out I''d quit, they¡¯d gotten angry at me, outraged. They¡¯d urged me to rejoin. Told me I''d regret it. Said I¡¯d be missing out on something special, and quitting was letting the negative emotions win.

    My parents hadn''t been wrong; I could see that as an adult. Everything they''d said had come to pass, and those upset attempts of coaxing me were done out of concern for my overall well-being. But in that moment, all those years ago, their words wouldn''t have changed anything, wouldn¡¯t have changed my mind. What I''d really needed to hear was something else entirely.

    I knelt down beside Wren; her hand still in mine.

    ¡°Everything felt out of your control, huh? I¡¯m sorry that happened.¡± I don¡¯t know if I was talking to her or my past self. ¡°Big decisions like this¡­ they¡¯re yours to make, it¡¯s true. But they affect all of us because you¡¯re one of us. Just next time you feel like making an important choice like this, can you please talk to us first?¡±

    Her eyes widened. I¡¯d hoped I¡¯d said the right thing.

    ¡°Can you promise us that?¡± I continued.

    She wiped away the beginnings of her tears with the back of her hand and nodded. Through a few sniffles, she said, ¡°I promise.¡±

    Feeling relieved by her reaction, I let her hand go and affectionately ruffled her hair. ¡°By the way, congrats on your sponsorship. Nabu''s going to drown in the belief you''ll attract for him.¡±

    She smiled weakly. ¡°Thanks, Lee.¡±

    ¡°Hey, it''s the truth. With or without his help, you''re gonna grow even stronger, I can tell.¡±

    Tam agreed. ¡°He won''t know what socked him with you, sugar.¡±

    ¡°He''s about to get jacked with belief.¡±

    ¡°I believe he has underestimated you, and all of us,¡± Gigi added.

    Axel, never the type for heart-to-hearts, began, ¡°Look, I¡¯m having the time of my life standing out here ala the Eva finale, but, here''s a fun idea: we take this party somewhere else we¡¯re not vulnerable to¨C¡±

    ¡°Put your hands up!¡±

    One of us needed to get some sort of proximity detector. This was getting ridiculous. We¡¯d been ambushed again and again. Alongside some sort of stat checking ability, enemy locating should be on our list. The next time we got a breather, I¡¯d take a magnifying glass to the Upgrade window and figure out what was what. There had to be some way to Upgrade our abilities. I¡¯d brute force it, if that¡¯s what it took.

    ¡°For real real, where did you get a shotgun in Australia?¡± Jye asked, more intrigued than scared.

    I stared down the barrel of the weapon to the person who held it as I raised my hands into the air.

    ¡°Where¡¯s my daughter? I saw her go in a few days ago! What did you do with her?¡±

    The person speaking appeared to be middle aged, petite, and with blonde hair in a severe ponytail that was beginning to grey at the temple. The expression on their face was a steeled resolve. A finger curled over the trigger, unwavering. It was clear our assailant meant business. There would be no hesitation. But this¡­ was all too eerily familiar.

    My heart fell.

    ¡°Mrs. Dainsworth?¡± I asked, feeling weak.

 Chapter Twenty-Seven | By Any Other Name

    She scowled, her grip on the gun tensing.

    ¡°We never married. It¡¯s Carrie. Just Carrie.¡±

    ¡°Carrie,¡± I began and then froze.

    What was I supposed to say? ¡°Sorry, we killed your daughter¡±? ¡°Anna literally stabbed me in the back, and if I hadn¡¯t taken a huge gamble she would¡¯ve taken my or Axel¡¯s life¡±? ¡°Oh, my bad, Tam took everything Anna owned when she looted her corpse, hope there was nothing sentimental on it¡±?

    ¡°The longer you hesitate, the more suspicious you become,¡± Carrie said, the furrow in her brow deepening, her finger curling a hair''s width tighter around the trigger.

    This hadn¡¯t been on my bingo card. Running into the mother of someone we¡¯d killed wasn¡¯t even on my radar of things to consider. I had barely come to terms with the fact that our party would likely not survive and that we were essentially fighting a losing battle. Not that I was ready to admit defeat, but it was a dire situation that seemed practically hopeless.

    It very much felt like we¡¯d never win, but we¡¯d die trying.

    So it was understandable that my mind was reeling as I wondered how to explain anything.

    ¡°You been in a Dungeon yet?¡± Axel asked, putting himself between me and the gun.

    He was buying me time to think. I could kiss him.

    The older woman cocked an eyebrow up. ¡°I have. I walked in and out of the CBD one. Anna was supposed to do the same in this one. To stop the itch.¡±

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t she go into the CBD one, like you?¡± Wren asked, her voice curious but quiet.

    Carrie shook her head, her face subtlety softening at the girl. ¡°Group of upstarts surrounded it, demanding payment from anyone wanting to be let in. I was lucky to slip in and out before they set up their barricades. Only reason they''ve not put up one here is because of me.¡±

    Staring at her, standing there with her weapon, I had to acknowledge she was a formidable opponent.

    Her gaze swept over the group. ¡°I¡¯d hazard a guess that you¡¯re Just Friends?¡±

    We nodded.

    ¡°I¡¯ll ask again now that we¡¯ve been properly introduced. Where¡¯s my daughter, and what did you do to her?¡±

    The truth would kill us.

    That was an undeniable fact.

    And I didn¡¯t want to take the risk of someone in our group taking a full load of buckshot to the face.

    Like some sort of Sherlock scene, the events seemed to play out before me. If either Gigi or I used [Focus], we could tank the hit and rely on [Stubborn] to survive it, I guess. Wait, no. That only worked in Dungeons. And add to that, if both of us activated [Focus] at the same time, we¡¯d fuck things up, and without us having a suspicious exchange there was no way of relaying that information and selecting only one of us.

    Sure, Axel might be able to dodge with [Swift-Footed] and, if she reacted in time, Tam might be able to transform and avoid the attack in her smaller form. But Wren and Jye were sitting ducks.

    A single [Shield Wall] protecting them probably wouldn¡¯t be enough at this range either¨Cand with the potential spread of buckshot, Gigi and I would have to instantly set up a wide array of the shields with at least two rows to eliminate all possible hits for them and us. And, again, there was no time or way to communicate any of this to xem without us immediately getting shot up as a result.  I still had [Thick Hide] up from the Dungeon clear, so my mana was currently capped too.

    Axel could maybe disarm her, quick as he was, or Gigi and I could summon a [Shield Wall] near her hands, but I didn¡¯t like the odds of Carrie not being able to fire off one shot instinctively before either of those plans could be completed.

    If the entire party just straight up went full frontal assault, maybe we¡¯d be able to come out of this alive. In fact, it would¡¯ve been the perfect time for Nabu¡¯s first show of aid. But since we weren¡¯t in the Dungeons¡­ Did that mean he didn¡¯t care? There were no managing Deities attached to Earth, or at least Nabu had said only the Dungeons and arcs got them.

    Outside of Dungeons¡­ were we on our own?

    Fan-fucking-tastic.

    I repressed the depressive sigh that threatened to overcome me.

    It wasn¡¯t like anything had really changed after clearing the Dungeon and Wren getting a sponsorship. We were almost exactly where we¡¯d been before we¡¯d stepped into the Dungeon Challenge temple. We¡¯d be alone all along, really.

    The six of us against the world, the gods, the universe itself, even.

    The six of us facing off against a woman no taller than 1.5m wielding a shotgun.

    Though, as she regarded us with a steely glare, all I saw were my own mother and father looking back.

    I made my decision.

    Took a breath.

    Then lied through my teeth.

    ¡°We stumbled into her in a fight with three other people,¡± I said. ¡°She was holding up really well, but we lost sight of everyone in a smoke bomb she threw. Not knowing what was happening, we hid, and by the time the air was clear¡­ I¡¯m sorry, Carrie.¡±

    Her jaw clenched. I hoped the rest of my party wouldn¡¯t correct the inaccuracies of my story.

    ¡°Tell me how you know her last name then.¡±

    I didn¡¯t have to pretend to feel awful about what I was saying or about what I was doing. She¡¯d only stepped in and out of the CBD Dungeon. The idea made my stomach churn. But more death wasn¡¯t the answer.

    Using [Channel], I borrowed [Intimidation] and felt sick as I conjured more lies. The ability choked me with its tar. It felt deserved.

    ¡°From where we were hiding, we heard them¡­ This is going to be hard to hear¡­ They¡­ they bragged about killing her and they¡­¡± I swallowed. ¡°They looted her body. But we ended up fighting them and got everything back, didn¡¯t we, Tam?¡±

    The cutthroat¡¯s eyebrows shot up, but as Carrie¡¯s barrel swung in her direction, she began pulling all of Anna¡¯s belongings from her inventory, placing each item slowly onto the ground.

    Carrie was eyeing the growing pile, her expression gradually but surely cracking. It had to be a lot to take in. But she had to have assumed the worst already, right? Anna not returning immediately meant something had gone wrong. In the back of her mind, Carrie had to have expected this fate for her daughter.

    When Tam laid a single silver necklace down, the older woman shook her head.

    ¡°Enough.¡± Her voice cracked. ¡°I¡¯ve seen enough!¡± Swallowing her emotion, Carrie directed the shotgun back toward Axel and me.

    She stared at us for a long time.

    I hoped [Intimidation] to impress trustworthiness had worked.

    Her upper lip twitched as she jutted her chin at us. ¡°So, you got them, right? The ones who¡­ You made sure they can¡¯t do that to anyone else?¡±

    I nodded, feeling ill.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t know what to do, but¡­¡± Trusting that the older woman was beginning to believe my lies, that the [Intimidation] had set, I turned my back on Carrie and strode over to Tam. The mother¡¯s eyes and weapon remained trained on me, following my movement. I whispered my instructions to the cutthroat.

    Making a very unpleasant expression, Tam followed my requests. First, she placed the inventory-retrieved sheet, looted from Test Name, into my arms, and then kneeled to summon the next thing I¡¯d asked for. The surprisingly fresh-looking corpse of the teenager appeared the next moment, laid out along the bitumen road, parallel to me so that she fell into my shadow.

    I made sure to block Carrie¡¯s view, angling myself over Anna, knowing full well how it felt to see a loved one¡¯s face for the first time after their murder.

    Gingerly, I laid the sheet over the teen, taking in for the first and last time just how young she had truly been. Probably would¡¯ve freshly graduated high school. She would¡¯ve been starting university next year. And we¡¯d stolen her future.

    No, I told myself.

    It hadn¡¯t been us.

    It was the Deities.

    Had life continued as it was, as it should¡¯ve, I doubted Anna Dainsworth¡¯s and my paths would¡¯ve crossed. The fact that Tam had taken Anna¡¯s life, that Anna had made an attempt on almost every member in Just Friends¡­. None of the blame should rest on us players.

    These thoughts did nothing to stop the guilt.

    In the end, we¡¯d still killed her.

    ¡°What¡¯s that? More of her things?¡±

    Tucking the sheet tighter to her body, I then stood, lifting her up, cradling her to my chest. She was cool, even through the cloth, and though she was light, I felt as though I was carrying an impossible weight.

    I turned to face Anna¡¯s mother.

    ¡°We brought her home.¡±

    Carrie stared for a moment, as if parsing my words, trying to find meaning in them. Step by step I approached, the cloaked figure in my arms becoming more distinct in form to her watchful scrutiny. I worried for a moment, covered as she was, that Carrie wouldn¡¯t believe the body to be Anna¡¯s. But as I came closer, Carrie¡¯s gaze shook, and almost against her own control, her gun lowered. Tears began to water in her grey eyes. The same colour as eyes that would never open again.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Oh, baby girl¡­¡±

    I guess a mother always knows.

    Carrie¡¯s weapon fell from her grip, clacking to the ground, and she rushed to meet me, grabbing at Anna¡¯s body, desperate to make contact, to hold her. She pressed her face to Anna¡¯s veiled one, hands scrabbling to take her daughter back. I let Anna go, feeling the weight shift over. But most stayed.

    The older woman¡¯s knees buckled beneath her, causing them both to fall to the floor. Though I stepped forward to help, I froze as the air from their sudden movement fluttered the sheet up at Anna¡¯s head to reveal her face. The material settled down around her shoulders. I was for once thankful that Tam¡¯s death blows had always been so precise and discrete.

    Had Anna¡¯s chest been rising and falling and her skin not as pale as the sheet she was wrapped in, one might believe the girl to simply be asleep.

    Carrie stared at her for a long moment. I knew she was trying to deny this was her daughter.

    The older woman began to sob. It started as a single choked breath.

    Softly, ever so softly, as if she were afraid the girl would break, she lifted a shaking hand to Anna¡¯s face, hovering just over her cheek.

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have gone in by yourself. I told you. We were supposed to go in together! Why do you never listen to me?¡±

    My own throat was dry and I realised I was crying as well. Suddenly I was twelve again, my pillow drenched in tears, as I asked Chrissie similar questions. Why didn¡¯t you stay inside the school gates? Why didn¡¯t you tell me? I told you to always go to class as soon as the bell rings!

    I took in a shaky breath, obliterated by a realisation.

    I don¡¯t know when it had happened.

    But I¡¯d become the same monster who¡¯d taken Chrissie.

    No matter how I had been justifying it to myself. No matter the words I¡¯d been using. We¡¯d taken Anna¡¯s life. We¡¯d killed her and hadn¡¯t thought twice about it.

    This wasn¡¯t a game.

    This wasn¡¯t a show.

    This wasn¡¯t a race.

    ¡°Why¡­ why, baby girl? Why¡¯d you go in without me?¡± Carrie asked between gasps of breath, her face creased into anguish.

    This was wrong.

    I struggled to tear my gaze from them, blurry as it was, knowing that some part of me needed to commit this to memory, to never forget this sharp, stabbing, sickly pain, and so I was only able to check on how the others were fairing in my periphery, my concern for them winning out over my own emotional turmoil.

    Wren had sought solace in Jye¡¯s arms as the giant gently ran a hand over her hair, their hand large enough that it encompassed her full head. Gigi solemnly held xemself, arms wrapped tight around xir chest, and Tam had the decency to be looking away, her brown eyes downcast. What about¡­

    Axel, who¡¯d been shadowing me this whole time, nudged me with his shoulder. His head tilted, as if to ask, You okay?

    Did he feel no guilt? No remorse?

    It was hard to tell with him. There was an unreadable expression on his face. Surely he felt something about this? I didn¡¯t have the emotional bandwidth to handle taking on Axel¡¯s repressed feelings right now and so pushed those questions to the back of my mind.

    Shaking my head slightly in response, I said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Carrie. This is the best we were able to do.¡±

    She didn¡¯t acknowledge my words, simply continued to cry, holding her daughter¡¯s body close, rocking slightly. It was probably for the better. I don¡¯t know if even I¡¯d have believed what I said then.

    Was it the best we were capable of?

    Despite nearly losing our own lives, and taking others, I think somewhere deep inside I¡¯d been trying to ignore the severity of it all. I hadn¡¯t wanted to take accountability and responsibility.

    I¡¯d refused to accept what our killing meant.

    It meant someone was gone forever. Someone who might be loved. Someone who might be hated.

    It was someone and then it wasn¡¯t anymore. Just as Chrissie had been.

    A whole person erased from existence permanently.

    No.

    Not permanently.

    I wiped at my tears.

    The wish.

    Though it had been the first thing that had occurred to me when it was mentioned, the power of it, the potential of it, suddenly shifted in my mind, spurred on by the scene unfolding in front of us. This was how we¡¯d take responsibility for the suffering we¡¯d inflicted, the pain we¡¯d be putting others through.

    Before, the idea of wishing everyone back to life had been just that, wishful thinking. It was unlikely Just Friends would ever be strong enough, good enough, to be that party that won. Hell, we¡¯d try as hard as we could, but I think underneath it all, I had accepted we wouldn¡¯t win. That us receiving the wish was a pipe dream.

    But looking down at Carrie and Anna, the guilt and injustice morphed into concrete resolve. An unshatterable determination.

    We would win.

    We¡¯d take responsibility.

    And we¡¯d bring everyone back.

    Everyone.

    We remained in vigil long enough for the sun to sink into the horizon of the cityline, staining the sky hues of red.

    Eventually, Carrie¡¯s tears dried, and she gathered herself.

    Voice hoarse, she asked, ¡°How do I¡­¡±

    ¡°You just think it, while in contact,¡± I hastened to answer, desperate to help.

    She nodded. The older woman pressed her lips to Anna¡¯s forehead, and then her daughter¡¯s body was gone. Stored in Carrie¡¯s own inventory. At least she didn¡¯t have to carry it home in her arms. It was a small consolation.

    Wiping herself off, she plucked the shotgun from the ground and stood. Though she was small-framed, as she brushed away the remnants of her tears, she looked every inch one of the strongest people I¡¯d ever seen. Carrie breathed in deep and then exhaled. I remembered the same expression on my parents¡¯ faces.

    It was the resigned look that said the world kept turning, even in the throes of tragedy.

    Carrie¡¯s grey gaze met mine.

    ¡°I suppose I should thank you.¡± I opened my mouth to reject whatever thanks she would give, but she continued with, ¡°But words mean nothing. Come. I¡¯ll bring you back to meet the rest of the squad. There was talk of a barbie when I left for this watch.¡±

    It would be wholly immoral for us to accept any gratitude for what we¡¯d actually done. I never wanted to lie to, manipulate, or take advantage of this grieving woman ever again. Unfortunately I wasn¡¯t quick enough to protest as Axel slid in before I could say anything.

    ¡°We¡¯d really appreciate that. Haven''t had cooked food since we entered the Dungeon.¡±

    ¡°A barbie would hit the spot,¡± Tam said, running a hand over her chin.

    ¡°You guys got lamb?¡± Jye asked.

    Reluctantly, Carrie admitted, ¡°Mostly roo.¡±

    Jye shrugged, patting their abs concernedly. ¡°Protein¡¯s protein.¡±

    ¡°It might be nice,¡± Wren added, looking over at me sheepishly.

    Gigi¡¯s almost non-existent brows furrowed. ¡°I do not think my understanding of Barbie is correct in this context.¡±

    Controlling my expression, wondering how the others felt okay with this turn of events, I let out a sigh. They¡¯d all rolled with my story, none of them disagreeing. Presumably they¡¯d thought it was the best course of action. I didn¡¯t know about that. Surely if it¡¯d been the right thing, I wouldn¡¯t feel as nauseous as I did.

    Worse yet, I was unable to think of a reason for refusing that didn''t make us sound guilty or suspicious. And the less lies I told, the easier it would be to maintain them.

    I nodded.

    ¡°Lead the way.¡±

    After quickly discussing a walking order, with Axel and Tam at the back, Tam to keep watch on the any small details, and Axel to run forward and warn us if anything approached from behind, we followed Carrie a couple of blocks.

    The walk gave me some much needed time to let my emotions settle. I knew I should¡¯ve spent the time looking over the newly introduced Nexus or the Deity Commentary, but I was barely able to focus on anything other than working through my thoughts about Anna and Carrie and the nameless members of Test Name who we also owed accountability.

    Eventually, we arrived out front of a Tentworld with a guard standing alert, well, at least metaphorically. As far as bases went, one could do worse than a camping supplies store. In fact, other than a hardware store like Bunnings, Tentworld might very well be one of the better options; everything you¡¯d need to survive off the grid, all in one handy location. I was kicking myself, having not thought of it. And given that I hadn¡¯t meant that the average layman wouldn¡¯t either, protecting them from any errant would-be looters.

    I took back my initial judgement.

    Tentworld might very well be the best emergency apocalypse base.

    Upon sighting us, the watchman out the front of the store perked up, sitting ramrod straight in their camo camping chair, hand held to a small object at their chest. Their gaze was pinned to us as we came closer and closer. Carrie waved, but it did nothing to relax them.

    They appeared to be in their late twenties. With dark eyes, a slightly crooked nose that spoke of at least one break, and a short black mullet, I wondered why something about them seemed familiar. Nothing was coming to mind, but aesthetically, I guess they were the type of person some would consider runway ready; tall, lean, and with striking features. Maybe I¡¯d seen them in a local advertisement or something.

    Pursing brown lips, the lookout whistled when we were finally in speaking distance. ¡°If my eyes don''t deceive me, Ms. Underwood, none of the six people you¡¯ve brought back are your daughter.¡±

    Carrie''s left eye twitched. ¡°We''ll talk about that later, Galbraith. For now, these guys are my guests.¡±

    At that, the watchmen arched a perfect brow but lowered their hand. Their movement revealed that pinned to the fishing vest they wore was an electronic rape whistle. That for certain would alert anyone within the vicinity; a decent alarm system when there wasn''t any electricity to run a standard security set up. To put it plainly, the more I saw, the more impressed I was with Carrie¡¯s base and planning.

    The lookout said, ¡°Bit out of character for you, but I can live with a little improv now and then.¡± He paused, brow crinkling, and then asked, ¡°If I were to say one, two, buckle my shoe, you¡¯d reply?¡±

    ¡°Red fish, blue fish.¡± She scowled. ¡°And I¡¯d also say that I thought I told you to stop pretending you know me, boy.¡±

    I forced myself not to frown. It was obvious the bizarre call and response was to check something. Was it to find out if she was being forced to bring us in? It was a crazily thorough system they¡¯d developed. I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯d would¡¯ve considered half of what they had. Though I had the excuse of nearly dying twice.

    Their conversation did give me pause. Galbraith was around the same age as Axel and I, give or take a few years. We were closer to twice her daughter¡¯s age than not. That Carrie called him ¡°boy¡± felt a little ridiculous, bordering on insulting. And taking in consideration she''d asked us to call her Carrie also cast their back-and-forth in a different light.

    I honestly couldn''t tell if they were friends or if they hated each other and what that meant for us in the long run.

    But none of that stifled the respect I had for both Galbraith and Carrie¡¯s squad and their planning. It was remarkably meticulous and I wistfully wished my own party would work together so well despite our own twisted webs. In the back of my mind, I also started considering how we might invite them to Just Friends or if we even could, though I was beginning to have hesitations about adding more people, considering the new average we¡¯d have to meet.

    That said, based on everything I¡¯d seen, they¡¯d be fantastic additions. But the weight of my lie to Carrie made the idea distasteful. I¡¯d also be liable to slip up eventually. And that wasn¡¯t something we could risk outside of the Dungeons, not right now.

    So, maybe just Galbraith then?

    We¡¯d only just met, but he seemed like a reasonable dude, and honestly out of the current people I was travelling with, he would probably be a welcome respite of normality. It¡¯d depend on his class and abilities if I extended an invite. (And if we could even expand our party anyway.)

    But those decisions and ideas would have to be considered much later. Fuelled by how organised the Tentworld situation had been, I was making plans that I couldn¡¯t cash or even think about cashing anytime soon. I pushed them to the backburner in my head.

    Galbraith grinned in response to Carrie¡¯s words. ¡°There''s the Ms. Underwood I know and love.¡± His gaze wandered over our party, following the file we''d walked in, and then his mouth fell open so wide I was surprised his jaw didn¡¯t hit the floor.

    ¡°No fucking way. Zeke? Is that really you?¡±

    The mulleted man stood from his chair, surprised delight clearly written on all over his face, warming his eyes. Stunned, we all stiffly turned, not too dissimilar to the mechanical rotating heads of arcade-game clowns, to stare at the person he was addressing.

    ¡°Not dead yet, Killian?¡± Axel smiled, stepping forward to fall in line with me and Carrie at the front of our party.

    ¡°They''d have to take me kicking and screaming. You know me, baby.¡±

    Glancing between Axel and him, I decided I wouldn¡¯t be inviting Killian Galbraith to our party.

 Chapter Twenty-Eight | Meat Cute

    ¡°Fancy digs you guys got,¡± Jye noted, staring at the tents as we walked through the store, or rather their base. The redhead was being completely genuine but to any other person it probably would¡¯ve come off as sarcasm.

    I went to elaborate, but Killian let out a little chuckle. ¡°Aren¡¯t they just? I bagsed the biggest and best one.¡± He pointed to a ridiculously large tent that stretched the size of a master bedroom. ¡°It¡¯s a Zempire Delta Force V2.¡±

    Jye¡¯s green eyes lit up.

    ¡°Oh, dude, my family always used to dream about buying the V1!¡±

    Killian nodded enthusiastically. ¡°They had good taste. But the V2 is a slam dunk on improvement, if you ask me.¡±

    Even though no one was asking him, the mulleted man went on to explain all the updates they¡¯d made on the design to an enrapt Jye as we exited through to the employee parking out back. The mouth-watering aroma of grilled meat all but swept me off my feet. It was crazy to think but it was as if I¡¯d forgotten how freshly cooked food even smelled.

    The person manning the barbecue, tongs in hand, and an apron saying ¡°Kiss the Chef,¡± turned to us. Their reaction was a stretch to call a greeting.

    They blinked defeatedly at us. ¡°Six more mouths to feed, huh?¡±

    Seemingly about my height, the chef in question looked to be no older than fifteen. They still had the chubby cheeks of a child though their face was dotted with the telltale signs of puberty; a fresh reddening of acne and a wispy scattering of facial hair.

    Almost cartoon-like, the six of us hovered closer to the barbecue area, leering at the sizzling steaks with salacious gazes.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing you¡¯re hungry?¡± the teen asked, voice completely void of any emotion.

    Killian introduced her as Phoenix before listing off all our names. How he¡¯d remembered them in such a short time, I didn¡¯t know. It made me wary of him. What else about us was he committing to memory? It was suspicious. Not to mention he got along with everyone in the party so well. Too well.

    He¡¯d had Wren and Gigi smiling within moments of talking to us and had even managed to finagle Tam into something resembling a conversation. Well, the fact that he and Jye got along didn¡¯t mean that much. Jye¡¯s hyperfixations of anime and k-pop, and tents apparently, were easy ways of winning them over. It was like feeding a stray their favourite treats to lure them in. And then there was Axel, who Killian apparently was on a middle-name basis with.

    Thus, I maintained a neutral distance from him, remaining sceptical of his ulterior motives, wishing I knew more about him and Carrie and Phoenix. That said, part of me was relieved Carrie wasn¡¯t with us.

    She had replaced Killian on lookout duty so he could take a break for dinner. I doubted she would have any appetite tonight either. I hadn¡¯t eaten for just over forty-eight hours after I learned about Chrissie. It would probably be worse for her, I imagined. Maybe I¡¯d try and bring her something easy to eat if I could find anything still in our stash later tonight.

    I told myself that wasn¡¯t guilt talking.

    ¡°That smells so good,¡± Wren said, rubbing her hands together like a praying mantis before its prey.

    ¡°It¡¯s just meat,¡± Phoenix said.

    Jye exclaimed, ¡°I never understood the phrase ¡®I could eat a horse,¡¯ but I am not playing right now. I could eat a horse.¡±

    Phoenix replied, ¡°Well, this is cow and kangaroo.¡±

    ¡°He was talking about the amount.¡±

    Jye smiled. ¡°Quick note, dude, I use they/them.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Killian said, glancing up and down Jye. He cleared his throat. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡±

    The redhead shrugged. ¡°No harm no foul.¡±

    ¡°I know they were talking about the amount. I was joking,¡± Phoenix continued, still as deadpan as ever.

    ¡°Were you, Fifi?¡± Killian¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    ¡°Was I, Kilo?¡±

    They stared at each other for a moment, standing off, like they were ready to throw down, but then they both burst into laughter. He patted her on the shoulder and took a seat in one of the numerous camping chairs that they¡¯d set up for dinner. Phoenix returned to cooking, carefully flipping one of the few beef steaks on the grill.

    Jesus. They had cute nicknames for each other. Why didn¡¯t Just Friends???

    The answer came to me quickly enough. I guess even though we¡¯d been in life or death situations, we hadn¡¯t really¡­ bonded on a level that would develop in-jokes like that. There¡¯d been moments but nothing concrete. Meanwhile, it seemed like these past two weeks since the beginning of the ¡°event¡± had served to work as a team-building activity for Carrie and the others. Hell, I¡¯d have hesitated to call my party a team at all. We were crudely cut cogs barely grinding each other into spinning.

    ¡°So,¡± I said, sitting across from Killian, ¡°is it just you three?¡±

    He laughed.

    ¡°It varies day to day. Six, generally. But people come and go, you know?¡±

    I mostly certainly didn¡¯t know.

    Axel had sat next to Killian. He poked an accusing finger into the man¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°You still love to host, huh?¡±

    Killian swatted away his hand, grinning. ¡°Says the man with the rotating party schedule.¡±

    That explained why he¡¯d looked familiar to me. He¡¯d probably been in our apartment at one point. Oh. The memory flashed in my head. No. It had been more than that. I¡¯d seen him coming out of Axel¡¯s room in the morning, hair mussed, shirt buttoned all wrong. Huh.

    I cleared my throat. ¡°You guys meet in uni then?¡±

    A bark of laughter escaped Killian. ¡°Uni? Me? Please. Academia is my brother¡¯s domain. I¡¯m what the officials call a failure.¡±

    Concerned I¡¯d poked a wasp¡¯s nest, and not knowing how to respond, I sought Axel¡¯s gaze, pleading for assistance. He poked his tongue out at me, so quickly that if I blinked I might¡¯ve missed it. This fucking guy. It was clear where his loyalties lay.

    ¡°There ain¡¯t any stock standard path for life, Killian. The dice are rolled and you just gotta hope you can work with whatever they land on,¡± Tam said, joining us.

    Bitterly, I realised Tam had never once called me by my name. She¡¯d called me a hundred endearments under the sun, ranging from ¡°sunshine¡± to ¡°dandelion,¡± and none of them ever genuine, but not once had she addressed me by name. Scrap nicknames. Our party was barely on a first name basis.

    ¡°My teacher once said that failure doesn¡¯t exist as long as you¡¯re alive,¡± Wren said.

    ¡°That¡¯s a nice sentiment,¡± I replied, smiling at her.

    Jye shook their head. ¡°Sorry, Wren, but I disagree 100%. Failure¡¯s everywhere. It¡¯s how you learn, man. Without failure, you¡¯d never improve in anything.¡±

    The Linnikian who¡¯d been quiet until now, and had chosen to sit cross legged on the floor, said, ¡°I believe both points carry merit. Failure is not an end condition, as Wren¡¯s teacher implied, and is rather continuous events one must work through while we continue living, as Jye has stated.¡±

    ¡°Jesus christ, you can talk?¡± Killian said, brows high in surprise.

    ¡°And philosophise.¡±

    The man groaned, running a hand through his hair. ¡°I tell you that academia is not my forte and you guys open up Aristotle¡¯s auditorium in my outdoor dining space.¡±

    ¡°You started it with your whole ¡®woe is me¡¯ routine,¡± Axel said, teasingly.

    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m allowed to wallow in my flaws. It¡¯s called reflecting.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s called being a sad sack and a downer,¡± Phoenix announced from the barbecue, her voice monotone despite its increased volume.

    I was surprised she could hear us so clearly from there. Maybe that was one of her traits?

    ¡°I gotta say it''s nice to get a chance to talk to you, man,¡± Killian said.

    Blinking, I lifted a finger and pointed it to my chest. ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you always shut yourself in your room whenever I was over. I don''t bite, you know.¡±

    ¡°Liar,¡± Axel remarked flatly.

    He chuckled. ¡°Okay, you got me there. I bite, affectionately.¡±

    ¡°You nip.¡±

    I stared at them as they continued to joke back and forth. Clearly Axel was having a good time. I hadn''t seen him smile this much since the Gates had appeared. It was like whatever haunted him had been completely forgotten. Which was good, wasn''t it? He deserved to be happy, to enjoy himself.

    Why, then, did it make me feel unsettled?

    No, I knew why.

    The chemistry between Axel and Killian was hard to ignore. The two of them clearly got along well. I wondered why they''d stopped seeing each other. Though Axel did tend to go through guys quickly. He was just that kind of person. Killian didn''t seem to mind about their short shared past either, entertained as he was by Axel''s wheedling. It wasn¡¯t the first time I¡¯d seen Axel flirting with other people in front of me.

    Though it was for Tam, and frankly it was surprising she hadn''t commented on it or remarked something snarky to me. She loved to poke fun at us on the daily. The cutthroat in question was idly taking in the outside dining area, her brown eyes carefully and slowly absorbing all the details. Noticing me staring, she coolly met my gaze.

    Ever so minutely I shook my head.

    No, Tam, we are not going to be robbing or attacking or making an assault on these nice people who are offering us steak.

    She shrugged back, not even slightly perturbed that I¡¯d seen through her plans.

    ¡°Putting you on the spot a bit, but you ain''t got a cold one lying around, do you?¡± Tam asked.

    Killian shot a finger gun to an esky by the back door. ¡°Help yourself. We''re running a little low, but first in, first served.¡±

    She got up and, instead of grabbing one drink, plucked the navy 10L esky from the ground and brought it back over to us, popping open the lid so each of us could grab something, offering it to us one by one. I¡¯d never been a beer person, but I honestly figured I might need one. The past couple of days had been rough.

    When she came by to me, I said, ¡°Didn''t think you were the type to share.¡°

    ¡°Drinking alone is depressing, babes.¡± There was a slight shift in her expression, miniscule, even. ¡°And I''ve had my fill of that for today.¡±

    Dipping my head in appreciation to Tam, partly out of genuine surprise she¡¯d felt anything about what had occurred today, I pulled a bottle out from beneath the ice and found I''d selected a pear cider instead. Well, that was a nice surprise. They fit my palate a little bit better than the rank bitterness of a beer.

    I¡¯d always been more of a cocktail person; a habit that was fuelled by Axel¡¯s guests bringing mixer drinks for his ¡°get-togethers¡± and then never finishing them. The blond on the other hand was a beer-only type of guy, so I wasn¡¯t surprised when he searched through the remaining ice to track down the second last one.

    Briefly I questioned where they¡¯d gotten ice from but realised they would¡¯ve had generators in the store and fridges plugged into them. All they¡¯d need was fuel, and if they¡¯d acted fast enough, they could¡¯ve gotten a lot. I didn¡¯t doubt their group was capable of it.

    Tam returned to her seat, her beer in hand, and I twisted the top off mine, then raised my drink into the air.

    ¡°To¡­¡± I paused, unsure what dedication would be appropriate. ¡°To new friends.¡±

    In that I was including everyone I¡¯d met since the Gates appeared. Jye, Wren, Tam, Gigi, Carrie, Killian, Phoenix. It was a reach to call them all friends, but that was something we could work toward. Something I wanted to try, anyway.

    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

    The clink of glass bottles sounded against mine as they all completed the toast, echoing, ¡°To new friends!¡± to varying levels of excitement, followed by everyone downing their first sip of their beverage.

    The cider was cool and crisp and I savoured it, letting out a sigh of enjoyment that fell into sync with the others, as if someone had pressed a button to cue a group satisfactory moan.

    As we glanced around at the chorused coincidence, we all laughed.

    Wren had joined in with a bottle of coke and was sipping it with relish. We should hit another grocery store and see what we could loot. Maybe there''d be some leftover soft drink we could ration out for her later. Actually better than that, it might be the right time to try and take her home. Her parents were probably dying with concern. Honestly¡­ she might have a better chance with a different party than us¡­ Tomorrow that¡¯d be on the top of the list to talk through with the rest of the party.

    ¡°Dinner''s up,¡± Phoenix said, and it was all she needed to.

    Within seconds, our party was lined up at the fold out white tables, piling meat upon meat onto the plastic picnic plates that had been prepared. It''d felt like forever since I''d been to a barbecue proper. Apartments weren''t really the best place to host, and I wasn''t exactly the most social person.

    I found myself standing beside Killian, and we reached for one of the serving tongs at the same time.

    He pulled his hand back, gesturing for me to take it. ¡°Guests first.¡±

    As I debated if I should do the polite thing and play the ¡°No, you¡± game, Axel slid between us and sniped the last piece of steak on that plate.

    ¡°You snooze, you lose, guys,¡± he said with a smirk, then he retreated to a chair.

    Shaking his head with an amused smile, Killian commented, ¡°Classic Zeke. Selfish to the bone.¡±

    ¡°He''s not,¡± I replied instantly without thinking. I wasn''t sure why. Axel could be self-serving and almost always put himself first, historically. Killian wasn''t wrong, not really, well, regarding the Axel he knew, at least.

    But I knew better.

    The mulleted man''s smile slipped slightly, and then he shook his head. Was he disagreeing? Self-correcting a thought? I couldn''t tell since I''d only known him for such a short time. I hoped it was the latter, that he was reconsidering his understanding of Axel. I know I¡¯d had to recently.

    Unsure how to continue my exchange with Killian, I decided to pretend it didn''t happen.

    Taking one more kangaroo steak, I returned to my camping chair. There were no utensils out. It might¡¯ve been a contingency against water concerns. Washing cutlery was probably a waste of the resource. Using my fingers, I picked up one of the beef steaks, I couldn''t tell what cut, and took a bite. It was well overdone and over seasoned with salt, but as the savoury flavour of it and the char of its bark hit my tongue, I felt my eyes water.

    That first steak was gone in a second.

    The silence surrounding us as we ate was all anyone would need to know about how much this meal meant.

    I let my gaze drift over the content expressions on everyone¡¯s face. Tam was chewing aggressively at one particularly sinewy steak, tugging with her hands. Jye¡¯s plate was already empty, and they were side-eyeing the remaining vestiges we¡¯d left on the serving plates. Gigi seemed to treat the meal with a scholar¡¯s interest, nibbling on the edge of a steak, thinking deeply, and then repeating the action. Wren had retrieved some napkins from her inventory and was using them as a barrier between her hands and the meat, her eyes alight with joy as she took bites. Axel ate his steak absentmindedly, his gaze drifting into the infinities before him.

    Phoenix had taken a seat beside Killian and the two were sitting in companionable silence as they dined.

    It was nice, eating like this.

    We¡¯d been through so much in the past couple days that this quiet, this pleasant moment, seemed like a different world entirely. For this meal it was like the world wasn¡¯t ending. That humanity wouldn¡¯t be eliminated until there was but one party left. That our lives weren¡¯t literally on the line, even right now, as other people progressed in levels while we remained stagnant here, eating.

    When we finished, a casual conversation began to flow between everyone, prompted by Wren saying she wished she could learn how to cook as easily as it was to use an ability. The discussion naturally moved on to what abilities we wished we¡¯d gotten instead of what we¡¯d been granted.

    I listened intently to Phoenix and Killian, trying to glean what kind of skills they had, but the two of them kept dancing around the details. As Jye went into their desire to become 2D, I started to tune out, and instead focused on my menu. It¡¯d been awhile since I¡¯d brought it up. In fact, none of us had really discussed our separate screens beyond that first conversation Jye, Axel, and I had had back in the gym.

    That seemed like an eternity ago now.

    We¡¯d practically been different people.

    My Upgrade screen came up from my prompting and I figured it was as good a time as any to start breaking down the components of our stats. There probably wouldn¡¯t be another lull like this again. Not when I knew the breakneck speed Just Friends would have to be earning EXP at, if we wanted humanity to even get past this tutorial.

    And so I paid the credits required to increase each attribute one by one while Wren started talking about invisibility, and Gigi nodded sagely, agreeing with the strategic usefulness of such an ability, pointing back to our fight against Test Name.

    Glancing between my health, mana, and stamina as I spent the credits, I noticed the following:

    1 CON increased HP by 5.

    1 INT increased MANA by 5.

    1 STR looked to increase STAMINA by 2, but when I got to DEX and added 1 point, my STAMINA went up 3, which led me to believe it rounded down but both attributes¡¯ points were worth a 2.5 STAMINA increase.

    None of these changes really made me feel any different which sucked a little bit. And I also didn¡¯t see a tangible difference when I increased END and WIL, which could mean they were more passive. I¡¯d keep an eye on them when I exerted [Channel] later. Maybe the changes would be more noticeable then.

    I¡¯d spent 30 credits out of the 453 we¡¯d gotten, putting the remainder at 423.

    If each attribute cost 5 credits each time, that meant I could level up my attributes eighty times and have a few errant credits left. That was¡­ insane. There was no way that¡¯d be right. I couldn¡¯t imagine being that strong or having a health pool so wide that my life wouldn¡¯t be in danger. There had to be a catch.

    Maybe there was something else to spend our credits on. Maybe upgrading abilities? There was also the marketplace, Twilight. The last time I¡¯d checked, all the items on auction had seemed useless, and some were still censored. But with the knowledge I had now¡­ Perhaps I could buy something that might be useful for the future?

    But what really irked me was that even with the upgrades, my singular ability remained greyed out. Had I still not unlocked it? What prerequisite was needed? Why were the fucking Deities so stingy with information? What was the point in giving us these powers if we didn¡¯t even know how to use them properly? What kind of show could we put on as stunted as we were?

    Grumbling to myself, I finally noticed an almost invisible arrow beneath [Channel]. It had definitely not been there before. The system updated as I discovered new information. This was possibly an extension of that. As if feeling my gaze fall upon it, the arrow expanded to a dropdown to show two empty slots.

    I could get two more abilities?

    Clicking into one of the slots resulted in the following information:

    Current available abilities:

    Test Name: [Volley] [Locate] [Smithing] [Fireball] [Cloak]

    Anna Dainsworth: [Mirror Aid] [Track]

    Mouth going dry, I stared, letting the full momentum of what this meant hit me. This was all so very Chronicles of Riddick that I needed a moment.

    So, I took a breath, we had access to the abilities of the people we killed. All this did was give further impetus for the slaughter that was sure to come. There was no way that literal murderers, who killed for fun, weren¡¯t going to become aware of this soon. Maniacs would take advantage of this.

    Forget us not making it out of the tutorial.

    Humanity could implode upon itself with this knowledge.

    Breath held, experimentally, I selected [Mirror Aid] to see what would happen.

    Insufficient credit

    Holy shit. How valuable had Anna¡¯s ability been? I shifted my focus to [Locate].

    Purchase [Locate] for 250 credits? Accept | Reject

    I rejected the purchase, and then tested the others. I could afford the remaining abilities, but only [Fireball] was cheaper, at 50 credits. So some abilities started inherently better than others. Or maybe they¡¯d been upgraded already?

    Still, without knowing the details of each ability, I was hesitant to spend any of our hard-earned currency on them. I could hazard a guess what each meant based on how our past opponents had used them, but there¡¯d likely be some sort of balancing restriction to each one. And, to be honest, [Fireball] was just kind of shit, in my opinion.

    As it was, I still didn¡¯t have the mana or stamina pool to really take advantage of anything. Well, not yet. If I spent more points on my attributes, maybe I could¨C

    ¡°Earth to Lee. You catch that?¡±

    I frowned, not expecting to be addressed by Killian. ¡°Huh?¡±

    He rolled his eyes. ¡°I asked what ability you¡¯d want.¡±

    Meeting the expectant gazes around the group, I was put on the spot with not a relevant thought in my head except that the more selfish a person was in this fucked situation, the more they''d be rewarded. The more you killed, the more you won.

    ¡°Uh.¡±

    Axel¡¯s blue eyes seemed to rest heavily on me, searing into my own. I truly could never understand him.

    I looked away. ¡°I guess mind reading?¡±

    At that, everyone groaned.

    Jye said, ¡°That¡¯s so cliche. Just say you wanna be Edward and get it over with.¡±

    Defensively, I explained, ¡°I just thought that it¡¯d be useful in battles! Being able to know everyone¡¯s next action and all that.¡±

    ¡°Sure, sure, sure,¡± Jye replied, and a wicked expression formed over their face. They waggled their thick brows. ¡°I know what you¡¯d really use it for.¡±

    This elicited a peal of laughter from the others sans Wren. Mortified, my mouth fell open. ¡°Jye! I¡¯d never¨C I don¡¯t even¨C Why would I¨C Who would I¨C¡±

    The giant snickered and slapped a hand onto my back, putting a stop to my sputtering objections. ¡°I¡¯m yanking your chain, man. Besides, the only person you''d use it like that on is pretty easy to read anyway.¡±

    I didn''t parse their words, still shaken by their casual assumption of my relationship with sex and sexuality. And here I¡¯d been thinking Jye had guessed. They were kind of dense, so I don¡¯t know why I¡¯d ever thought the redhead would be able to put two and two together regarding this.

    Okay, so I had never specifically told Jye I was ace. But they¡¯d just defaulted into thinking I''d be into stuff like that. It annoyed me. The expected allosexuality of society sometimes rubbed me the wrong way. But I wasn¡¯t about to lecture everyone. I didn¡¯t have the energy in me for it.

    Besides, it¡¯s not like I was disgusted by, hated, or looked down upon people''s sexual desires and fantasies. Just that I didn''t relate to it in mind or body. I never wanted to peek in someone''s dirty thoughts, as Jye had implied, about me or otherwise. All that stuff kind of just existed in a realm that didn''t overlap with mine. It wouldn¡¯t do anything for me. And it would be a complete invasion of privacy, which was my other point of contention.

    ¡°That''s true enough,¡± Killian said, replying to whatever Jye had said last, and his gaze lingered over Axel for a moment.

    He''d been staring at the blond half the night and Axel had shared glances back, occasionally tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. I didn''t need to be allosexual to know what that all meant.

    Tam let out a chuckle. ¡°You know, I mourned the loss of shitty soap operas when power failed. But fuck Bold and the Beautiful, this is the good drama, right here.¡±

    Confused, I raised an eyebrow. ¡°What are you talking about?¡±

    She laughed again and didn''t answer.

    In the corner of my eye, I saw Wren yawn, covering her mouth politely, and as it often is, the yawn caught on, infecting Gigi, then Jye, and then finally me. As my jaw stretched open, suddenly I was aware of what toll the day, the discoveries, the emotions, had taken on my energy level, the fatigue sinking deep into my bones.

    Cutting my own yawn off, I turned to Killian. ¡°It might be time to head to bed for the night. Could you show us the guest tents?¡±

    Phoenix demanded, without any inflection, to take his place, since as she put it, ¡°I cook therefore I do not clean.¡±

    We threw all our trash into the rollybin and I momentarily lamented the amount of items we should''ve recycled. But that was for a world we''d left behind. A world where we didn''t kill people for gods.

    ¡°I''m kind of in awe that I got to hang out with a party that cleared a Dungeon,¡± she said, not betraying an iota of emotion, as she led us back inside to where we''d be staying.

    Carrie had invited us to stay permanently, but that was a weight too great for me to handle. So I''d accepted lodging for the night for Just Friends and said we''d talk about it in the morning after I figured out a way to politely reject her offer. But she''d briefly informed Killian who we were and he''d relayed that to Phoenix, obviously.

    ¡°Yeah, well, there''s nothing special about us, really,¡± I replied.

    ¡°I wouldn''t say that. Most of the first clears aren''t done by the people who enter first,¡± Phoenix replied.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    ¡°Oh, well, the announcements we got today, for example. Dungeon 3 was cleared by party XXX. It was first entered by Rohit or something, right?¡±

    Had we stopped receiving Dungeon notifications because we''d cleared one? It wasn''t like we could ask Phoenix that. But it made sense. There was no reason to inform us about the Dungeons after we had that conversation with Nabu. Or maybe it was just another way to control us by limiting the information we received.

    I just nodded. ¡°I guess we''re just lucky.¡±

    ¡°Well, this is you. Sorry, but we''re expecting some guests later tonight. We¡¯d usually have enough single tents for all of you, but this is what''s open.¡±

    We''d arrived at a little grouping of tents. There were two single tents with the zipper doors open, four closed, presumably taken and prepared for their scheduled guests, and two larger ones which looked suitable for two people or so. I would¡¯ve thought they¡¯d have more available in general, but Killian¡¯s words came back to about people coming or going. Perhaps they gave away the tents to people.

    The six of us shared a look.

    Phoenix said, ¡°I''ll let you all sort it out amongst yourself.¡±

    ¡°Mine, mine, mine,¡± Jye declared, sprinting to one of the single tents, giggling uproariously. It was a humorous sight to see such a large buff person dive full-force into an open tent. Where they had hit the back of the tent material, it formed an indent of their head.

    ¡°I am not comfortable sharing an enclosed sleeping location,¡± Gigi said, and as if we agreed, which we hadn''t, xe set off to claim the other one.

    Tam eyed the rest of us before letting out an exaggerated sigh. ¡°The things I do for my people.¡± Her shoulders slumped. ¡°You ain''t a kicker or snorer, are you?¡±

    Wren frowned. ¡°I don''t know.¡±

    Defeatedly, Tam trudged towards one of the double tents. ¡°Well, come on. No lollygagging, sugarpea. I want a full undisturbed eight hours for once.¡±

    Wren followed her into their tent, quickly wishing us goodnight with a smile. As the brunette zipped the tent up behind them, I heard Wren saying, ¡°Can I plait your hair, Tam?¡± There might¡¯ve been a grumbled agreement but I couldn''t be sure.

    Feeling confident that Tam would protect Wren with her life, I made a move for the remaining two-person tent, as did Axel. This stopped me in my tracks.

    ¡°Oh, you''re¡­ staying with me?¡± I asked, confused.

    He paused, as if frozen.

    ¡°I can''t?¡± His tone was neutral, but just under it I could detect a shakiness.

    Immediately worried that this might cause a slip in sanity, I replied, ¡°No, no, it¡¯s not that you can''t, I just assumed¡­ I mean, you and Killian¡­¡±

    Axel''s blond brows met in consternation. ¡°Killian and I, what?¡±

    I swallowed back the words, and they were sticky in my throat. ¡°It''s nothing. Well, you can get settled in first. I wanna check in on Carrie.¡±

    Exhausted as I was, I still felt responsible for Carrie sitting out there alone. Axel seemed a little concerned, but he nodded and went to the tent whilst I fumbled through the remaining food we had that we looted from Test Name. At the very bottom was something hard and small. It must''ve gotten lumped in with everything else and lost in the divvying.

    It was perfect.

 Chapter Twenty-Nine | Moments

    ¡°This gun¡¯s loaded. Next time announce yourself, Smith.¡±

    I nodded, heart hammering my chest, and watched as Carrie''s weapon swung away from me. She''d been a breath away from shooting me until I''d thrown my hands up in surrender. Carrie was a little scary. I was glad I was on her good side, even if I¡¯d lied to get there.

    Dragging the camping chair I''d borrowed from inside, I settled in next to her, scanning the dark streets. There was no activity.

    She let out a groan. ¡°What do you want, anyway? I''m not in the mood for chitchat.¡±

    ¡°Thought you might be hungry,¡± I replied, offering her the small item I''d found in our loot.

    She stared, then scoffed.

    ¡°I''m old but I''m not a granny, Smith. You really think I want your pocket-dusted Werther''s hard caramel?¡±

    I kept my hand out and sunk deeper into my chair.

    ¡°Jesus Christ. You''re just like Galbraith. You think you know me? You don''t. I don''t want your pity in the form of cavities.¡±

    I said nothing, leaving my hand where it was, and a moment passed.

    Her brow crinkled. ¡°You¡­!¡±

    Irritated, she snatched the plastic wrapped caramel and opened it before popping the sweet into her scowling mouth. From where I was sitting, I heard her stomach gurgle in response. I hadn¡¯t eaten after Chrissie died, but that was because I hadn¡¯t been able to keep anything regular down. My parents eventually gave up and let me eat whatever would stay inside me.

    Her sullen expression deepened but I could tell it was embarrassment over this weakness being revealed. It was almost refreshing to see something other than the same resigned emotion on her face.

    We sat there for a while. The city was still without traffic, without electricity. You could see the stars dance on the rooftops of buildings without light pollution.

    It was quiet.

    I wanted to tell her what my plan was. That I was going to bring Anna back, eventually, but it would be too much for a grieving mother. It would be sick and twisted to even mention it. Had someone dangled that in front of my own mother when Chrissie had died, I think I would''ve seen red.

    ¡°You lose someone, then?¡± she asked, voice soft.

    I nodded.

    She smiled bleakly. ¡°Figured.¡±

    ¡°My sister. A long time ago,¡± I said.

    The pain was old but it still hurt, like a healed scar aching in the cold. The police said it was sheer coincidence anyone stumbled across her body that day at all. For a long time I''d thought them finding her had been the worst part of it. Without it, she would¡¯ve just been missing. Why had I needed to know for certain she was gone? It would''ve been better to think there was a chance she was okay somewhere, somehow. Mrs. Brown had told me it brought closure. It hadn¡¯t, not really.

    But that was the same reason I''d brought back everyone''s bodies.

    Carrie''s voice croaked as she said, ¡°She used to sit with me like this on our porch, talking shit. Anna was a scheming little bitch sometimes, but I loved her with all my heart. I was proud of her. I never said that to her.¡±

    I didn''t reply. It was important to simply listen to her now. That¡¯s what I needed to do. No. It was the very least I could do. Though sitting there, trying to console her, I felt like an imposter.

    But she needed someone. Carrie hadn¡¯t told Killian about Anna yet. And I wasn¡¯t sure about their relationship so I don¡¯t know if she ever would. She needed someone to talk to. If my sessions with Mrs. Brown had taught me anything, it was that. Even if during them I hadn¡¯t taken the opportunity.

    She continued, ¡°We argued the night before she left. She said she''d be fine to go in alone. In and out. To stop the itch. She told me I shouldn''t risk it, since I was good already. But I said no. We''d go together.¡±

    Carrie was crying again.

    ¡°She did it to save me, and I hate her for it.¡±

    I thought for a moment, wondering if I should say anything, or even what I could say. I reflected on our fight with Anna and how she¡¯d treated us. Reconciling this mother¡¯s recollections of her daughter and the young woman we¡¯d met wasn¡¯t that hard. Taking a risk, I remarked, ¡°If it''s any consolation, when we saw her fighting, it looked like she was enjoying it.¡±

    The older woman let out a startled laugh at my comment.

    ¡°She would''ve. Sounds just like her.¡± She paused and wiped at her tears. ¡°Wish I''d been there to see it.¡±

    There was a rustle from the left and Carrie¡¯s gaze flung to it, eyes seeking, hopeful. Her gun hadn¡¯t moved, forgotten in her lap. A possum screeched from the tree it perched in before scurrying away. Carrie¡¯s face markedly fell.

    ¡°Yeah. That''s the worst part,¡± I said.

    She turned to me. ¡°What is?¡±

    I smiled sadly. ¡°Every door opening feels like she''ll be the one walking through it.¡±

    Carrie blanched, then she let out a long drawn out breath. When her lungs were finally empty, she slapped her hands onto her thighs decisively. Maybe it was because she was older than my own parents had been or because Anna had been older as well, or maybe it was just because of who Carrie was, but the greying blonde had the kind of level headedness in this situation that I simply couldn¡¯t fathom.

    ¡°Welp. I''m not good for this, not as I am. You wanna take over or should I call Killian in to cover?¡±

    I considered letting the man suffer, knowing he¡¯d grabbed three alcoholic drinks, but shook my head. My tiredness had faded, replaced with a deep melancholy instead. I wondered if the guilt would ever leave me. Part of me hoped not. Maybe because that¡¯d mean I stopped being human. Besides, if Carrie trusted me enough to take on lookout, that was something I couldn¡¯t betray. Even if most of the belief came from me using [Intimidation].

    She nodded. ¡°Here.¡±

    I accepted the electronic rape whistle from her. Glancing once more out into the darkness, she sighed, mumbling under her breath. I didn''t catch it, but for once I didn''t want to try. Whatever she said was between her and her daughter.

    ¡°Phoenix will be out in a few hours for her shift. Should be quiet. It is most nights.¡± She gave me a tight smile. ¡°Good luck.¡±

    With that and a pat on my shoulder, Carrie was gone.

    Time passed.

    I let it.

    The end of the world was a slow process.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to use that on me, are you?¡± came a voice I knew all too well. It was welcome in the darkness of the night, a comfort, though a surprise he¡¯d come to seek me out. Checking on Carrie had been my tacit permission for him to do what he wanted without the weight of my presence around.

    ¡°It depends,¡± I said, glancing up at him, grinning. ¡°Given your feelings for me, can you control yourself in our tent tonight?¡±

    With a chuckle, Axel dropped into the seat beside me.

    ¡°Well, I''m not gonna jump you, if that''s what you''re asking.¡± He raised an eyebrow, the smile on his face widening. ¡°Unless you want me to.¡±

    ¡°I don''t,¡± I said. I took a breath. ¡°And I probably never will.¡±

    ¡°Ah.¡± He cleared his throat, a sudden stiffness in his posture. ¡°So, that''s your answer, is it?¡±

    ¡°It''s an answer,¡± I replied, not meeting his gaze.

    ¡°Lee, I told you I was prepared to be rejected. I kne¨Cknow you. But you can''t say vague shit like that.¡± He huffed from his nose. ¡°It makes me think we might have a chance, and that''s worse.¡±

    I thought about the conversations, the barbecue, about what I¡¯d seen. It had been on my mind all night. So much so that in the silence after Carrie had left I hadn¡¯t been able to paw through anything else from the system. I¡¯d sat there thinking about it.

    Staring up at the stars, I said, ¡°I can''t¡­ give you what Killian can.¡±

    ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Axel frowned.

    This wasn¡¯t the discussion I wanted to have tonight. Or ever, actually. But it was something we had to talk about. The whole thing made me feel a little nauseous. I¡¯d had similar conversations on dating apps, and they never went well. People never read profiles.

    ¡°Look, as much as you know me, I know you, man. I know what sex means to you. You''re a whore,¡± I held up a hand to stop his objections, ¡°and I mean that in an affectionate non-slut-shaming way. You like to have sex. And I¡­¡± I tried to find the words. ¡°I don''t think I really want to, ever.¡±

    Axel folded his arms across his chest, unimpressed.

    ¡°Yeah, well, I''m 100% certain I¡¯ve accidentally walked in on you jerking off before, dude.¡±

    I rolled my eyes, irritated that he was hitting below the belt, literally. ¡°First of all, that¡¯s because you never knock. Secondly, are you really trying to invalidate my asexuality?¡± I¡¯d gotten enough of that, even in queer spaces. His words had triggered an anger that had long been dormant. ¡°And three, sex and masturbation are two completely different things. I can get off physically doing things like that, but I''ll never get hard thinking about fucking you.¡±

    Axel''s face flashed crimson.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that with such a straight face!¡±

    I sighed. Frankly, figuring out how to deal with horniness when there wasn''t ever any reason or mental outlet for it had been the bane of puberty. Getting off was the same thing as a massage or a chocolate. It just felt good. There was nothing underlying the activity other than the physical aspect of it. And doing that with another person wasn''t appealing enough for what it gave.

    Truth be told, I''d actively sought it out a few times during university, out of curiosity, and hadn''t really gotten much out of it. My partners, Tinder matches, seemed to enjoy themselves after a bit of a delayed start. They¡¯d thought my lack of immediate arousal due to nervousness and inexperience. I hadn¡¯t corrected them.

    The act itself felt systematic. It was easy to judge how to make someone else feel good; touch them there, kiss here, linger a moment longer, compliment them, match their murmurs, let them reciprocate, find completion together. I''d leave in the early mornings after and often receive a text later asking if we could hook up again some time. The few times I''d done it, I''d left them on read.

    Because for me¡­ I hadn''t hated it and could see why others participated in it, but those people had helped me finally understand, truly and fully, that sex wasn¡¯t something I actually wanted.

    Sure, ultimately it¡¯d been enjoyable, something of contentment to be had out of a job well done, but it felt like an unnecessary difficulty and complexity I was adding to my life for no reason, especially as I wasn''t physically drawn to others to do it in the first place. Since then I''d basically put the whole activity on lock and hadn¡¯t really looked back, except when another stranger stepped out of Axel''s room in the morning.

    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Still, based on Axel¡¯s reaction, he definitely didn¡¯t know any of that. We''d become flatmates after university, so he''d not been privy to my handful of experiments. What kind of image did Axel have of me in his head then that my words had shocked him so? Did he really think me the cliche virginal fumbling innocent that media often portrayed asexuals as when we were lucky enough to get representation?

    Rubbing at my face, I stretched my cheeks taunt before releasing them. ¡°I doubt I''ll ever want to have sex, Axel. And I know you like it. It''s part of you and important to you in a relationship.¡±

    Tongue-tied, he sat there silently as I continued, ¡°Look, I feel bad enough that you''ve liked me for so long and you thinking I was aromantic is what kept you from saying anything.¡± My stomach churned. ¡°That you''d have to sacrifice something like this is too much.¡±

    There was no pause before he replied, and he took my hand in his.

    ¡°I''d have you any way I could, Lee.¡±

    What now?

    In thought, Axel scratched at his cheek, which was still pink. He looked prettier blushing like that as it brought out the blue in his eyes, I noted with anger. He really did piss me off in so many different ways. This fucking guy.

    Axel continued, ¡°Okay, that line sounded a little desperate, but it''s true. Sex or no.¡± His thumb ran softly over the skin of my hand. ¡°It''s you I want.¡±

    I''d hit my limit. I''d tried to play the considerate card, expressing legitimate concerns, but the tenderness in Axel''s voice and touch had pushed me too far.

    I tore my hand out of his, throwing mine up in the air. ¡°Why?!¡±

    ¡°¡®Why?¡¯¡± he echoed in confusion.

    Furious, I stood up, staring down at him. ¡°I''m a terrible friend and have been for over a decade now, I''ll never be sexually attracted to you even if I think you''re so beautiful it should be illegal, I can''t help you with your problems because you''ve told me I can''t because I¡¯m useless, I''m constantly putting you in danger and just magically trust that you''ll be fine somehow, you always mock me at my lowest, and, hell, I''m not even good looking enough to make Jye think twice! You shouldn¡¯t even like me, let alone ¡°love¡± me! So, why do you?!¡±

    Axel''s lips parted in shock.

    My face felt hot, and my heart was racing with what had to be rage, and I refused to think about everything I¡¯d just spewed out. Wait. Had I called him beautiful? I¡¯d said that out loud?

    ¡°You''re asking why I love you?¡± he said in disbelief, thankfully ignoring the rest.

    Phrasing it like that made me sound insane and demanding. But, in for a penny¡­

    ¡°Give me one good reason. Because I just don''t understand, Axel. You''ve never¡­¡± I paused to take a breath. ¡°I can''t believe you actually like me like that. You say you do. I know you¡¯ve said it. But it doesn''t make sense, it just doesn''t¡­¡± I let the words trail away, not even sure what I was trying to say.

    Axel made a face. ¡°I like you just because.¡±

    I waited for him to elaborate.

    He scoffed before saying, ¡°Okay then, Mr. Everything Needs A Reason. Tell me. Why does anyone like anything?¡±

    It was my turn to frown. I thought about the question and its answer, perplexed. Why did someone like something? It was a surprisingly complex question. But eager to show that there had to be some justifiable explanation, that ¡°because¡± wasn''t a reason and therefore he didn''t actually like me at all, I continued plucking away.

    Speaking as I thought, I replied, ¡°People like things because they make them happy or they enjoy them or because the thing makes them feel good.¡±

    Axel stared at me, wordlessly. He let my words sink in as he crossed his hands in his lap, looking a little too smug, and the expression wasn¡¯t bad on him which was worse. He waited.

    Ah, fuck.

    I guess I¡¯d answered my own question.

    Mouth going dry, I said, ¡°You¡¯re saying I make you happy?¡±

    He nodded.

    ¡°You¡­ enjoy being around me?¡±

    Another nod.

    ¡°And that it feels good to be with me?¡±

    He smiled sweetly and stood as well, closing the distance between us. I stepped back, suddenly afraid. Of what, I didn''t know. I was just scared. No, I knew what it was. But I didn¡¯t want to admit it. Because if I said it out loud, I¡¯d have to tell him everything. And we¡¯d never spoken about that.

    Axel¡¯s blue gaze was soft as he stared at me.

    ¡°You make me a better person, Lee. You always have. Without you¡­¡± There was that faraway look in his eyes, the one that sometimes stole him, and for a second I was afraid he''d break down. But he shook his head and it was gone. ¡°I like who I am when I''m with you.¡±

    ¡°Ah-hah!¡± I exclaimed, poking a finger into his chest to push him away from me. ¡°Maybe that''s all you actually like. Maybe you don''t like me at all.¡± I wanted to gain some distance from him. Emotionally. Physically. He was getting too close. And he couldn¡¯t.

    Axel let out an exasperated sigh. ¡°Of all the¨C For you not to believe I like you is in-fucking-sane.¡± Yeah, insulting me was definitely the right way to go about this. It actually helped my mind calm a bit.

    A moment of silence fell between us, and I thought it was the sweet, sweet end of our conversation. He ran a frantic hand through his hair, his eyes widening manically. ¡°Wait a tick. You said you wanted to see my player stats once, right?¡±

    I nodded, slowly, not sure where he was going with this.

    ¡°I can''t¡­ I can''t show you everything.¡± He growled in anger. ¡°But, fuck, you agree that the windows don''t lie, right? That what''s written is fact, immutable.¡±

    I reflected on the system and then agreed. It had never once included nonfactual content. It hid stuff and only revealed it slowly, but I didn''t think it was even capable of telling a lie.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°Here.¡±

    Party member Axel wants to share player data. Accept | Reject

    I¡¯d known Axel had been hiding something about his stats since the beginning. That he¡¯d chosen now to share it was baffling. Taking my time, I mentally confirmed acceptance, and the data transferred over onto a new window. I started reading.

    Traits

    [Swift-Footed] Move faster on foot.

    ¡°I knew about this,¡± I said, confused.

    ¡°Keep reading,¡± he instructed, as though it physically caused him pain, his cheeks impossibly reddening further. It was the most flustered and perturbed I¡¯d ever seen him. Part of me was secretly enjoying this, but as soon as I realised that I killed that thought in its place.

    [Devoted] The player you love most will receive system warnings as long as they stay within eyesight.

    I reread it three more times, not believing the words before my eyes.

    ¡°It''s been¡­ it''s been you, the whole time?¡±

    It was true. The notifications, the warnings, they all stopped when Axel wasn''t near. That had been the common denominator. It wasn¡¯t that they were unreliable or that they were glitching, or that my own system was broken like Jye¡¯s. It was Axel¡¯s presence. I hadn''t put them together because it simply didn''t make sense because I guess Axel being near me was normal, even when he wasn¡¯t close I knew he was there.

    Suddenly my brain was sent flying back to his confession.

    He''d meant it.

    Every single word.

    I just hadn''t¡­ I hadn''t accepted it was real. I''d thought he was deluded. Or confused. Or broken.

    Because it couldn''t be real.

    Because that would mean something far worse.

    Testing the words, I said, ¡°You like me.¡±

    ¡°I like you.¡±

    ¡°You love me?¡±

    ¡°I love you.¡±

    ¡°Huh.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± he asked, head tilted.

    I blinked. ¡°I didn''t mean to say that out loud.¡±

    ¡°You still haven''t given me an answer.¡±

    It would mean¡­

    Frowning, I said, ¡°I''m not gonna have sex with you.¡±

    Laughter exploded from him. ¡°Not that. I don''t care about that. Well, I do, it''s a bit of an ego death I''ll have to go through, but that''s neither here nor there.¡±

    I swallowed. ¡°I don''t not like you.¡±

    It meant that¡­

    ¡°Not an answer,¡± he admonished.

    ¡°I''m still thinking!¡±

    ¡°What''s there to think about?¡±

    ¡°A lot.¡±

    It had to mean¡­

    ¡°I''d wait an eternity for you, Lee,¡± he said, and I could tell he meant it. ¡°But, come on, that''s a little mean, don''t you think? Cut a dude some slack.¡± He was pleading, practically begging.

    ¡°I don''t have an answer yet.¡±

    He was now clearly getting frustrated. ¡°Why?¡±

    So it meant when¡­

    ¡°You''re asking why?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, that''s why I asked why, dumbass.¡±

    ¡°You really want to know why?¡±

    ¡°I do.¡±

    Back then it meant¡­

    ¡°I''ll tell you.¡±

    ¡°Then tell me!¡±

    My jaw clenched.

    ¡°Because even when you loved me you broke my goddamn heart, you fucking asshole. After Chrissie, you abandoned me when I needed you the most. If that was your love, I can''t go through that again!¡±

    The shock that overcame Axel was almost comical. He wobbled where he stood, like a stack of body parts connected loosely with a thread. I hadn¡¯t anticipated my words to have had such a large impact on him. Weird.

    Trying to remain unfazed, I said, ¡°You said you''ve liked me since we were kids. Well, when we were eleven, I adored you. You were every part of my stupid little heart. And then you shattered it. I never recovered. I still haven''t!¡± I felt like an idiot confessing all this, after it had been so long. But it had soured and festered and never healed. I¡¯d never told any living person.

    ¡°You liked me?¡± he asked in a voice so quiet it was barely audible.

    Steeling myself, I continued, ¡°I had a huge crush on you. You think normal kids beg their parents to spend time with a friend 24/7? Newsflash, they don''t! That''s abnormal! It was almost an obsession.¡±

    ¡°You¡­ liked me?¡± he asked again, even more unsure.

    I sighed, the relief I wanted to feel from saying all this not nearly as gratifying as I¡¯d thought it would be. ¡°It doesn''t matter now. And you''re taking that to your grave, by the way. Our parents can¡¯t ever know. They''ll never let me live it down.¡±

    ¡°Why didn''t you say anything?¡± Axel demanded.

    I gave him a pointed look. ¡°We were kids. It was what, 2005? Boys didn''t like boys, or if they did, it wasn''t supposed to be said out loud. You never said anything either. But whatever. That moment''s passed.¡±

    ¡°Lee, I¡­ never knew. Not once did I¡­ You never told me.¡±

    ¡°And I¡¯d planned to die never sharing it. Well, I almost did,¡± I said with a dry laugh.

    ¡°I''m sorry.¡±

    It was too little too late.

    Far too late.

    This should¡¯ve been his first apology to me. Not his third.

    I calmed myself. ¡°I care about you, man. I always will and I always have. Your feelings for me don''t change that. But I can''t give you an answer right now unless you want it to be no.¡±

    ¡°I''m sorry,¡± he said again, his voice hoarse.

    It was like I''d flipped his entire world on its head somehow. My confession of old feelings wasn¡¯t such a monumental thing. I¡¯d only kept it secret because it wasn¡¯t something that had ever needed to be said. Well¡­ That wasn¡¯t true. It was something I¡¯d never said because I hadn¡¯t thought Axel would ever care. Apparently he did. He cared enough that he looked like a ghost.

    Immediately I felt guilty, the desire to comfort him overcoming me. ¡°Hey. We were kids. Kids are unquestionably stupid. We did dumb things.¡±

    The man before me looked broken, like something in him had snapped. I groaned, feeling bad, hating seeing him like this. It squeezed at my chest. And it wasn¡¯t even that unknown thing that had hurt him this time. It was me.

    I gritted my teeth, steeling my resolve, knowing what I was saying would and could change us. More than his confession had. I shouldn¡¯t. I knew I shouldn¡¯t. I¡¯d have my heart broken again. I''d never recover. I was fine being his friend, being someone to keep him from hurting himself, being someone watching him be happy with another.

    I wanted to be his best friend again, to have that back.

    But those years of automation, those years of ¡°Yes, and,¡± those years of choices I¡¯d never made flooded me.

    I wanted more than that.

    I was just horrified of it.

    ¡°Why do you think I keep telling you I can¡¯t answer yet?¡± I asked, my throat closing up as I finished, a nervousness skittering through me.

    His eyes met mine, the darkness in them fading, like a drowning man clutching to a life preserver they¡¯d been thrown. He knew exactly what I meant. And I''d known he would.

    ¡°You don''t want to say no,¡± he surmised, his voice a whisper.

    I glowered. ¡°Well, I didn''t say that, exactly.¡±

    He let out an exasperated sigh before shaking his head with a weak smile.

    ¡°Jesus christ, you''re the worst. You''re lucky I think that''s cute.¡±

    What now?

    My cheeks and the tips of my ears alighted. Oh. No, no, no, no, no. I wasn''t blushing because Axel called me cute. That would be fucking embarrassing. That would be humiliating. Not after everything I¡¯d said about me not being able to answer him right now. It would confirm something that wasn¡¯t true. He¡¯d get the completely wrong idea.

    I prayed it was too dark, that my complexion would hide the pinkness, that¨C

    ¡°Tam was right,¡± Phoenix said from behind us. ¡°This is better than Bold and the Beautiful.¡±

 Chapter Thirty | Goodnight

    The two of us started, my heart in my throat. ¡°Damn it, Phoenix! How long have you been standing there?¡± I asked, mortified.

    ¡°Long enough to hear the juicy bits.¡±

    I pinched the bridge of my nose. ¡°Okay. Well. I''m going to bed. I need a break. From all of this.¡±

    The teenager nodded, letting us pass. Then she paused before hesitantly asking, ¡°Hey, did you guys run into a girl named Anna in your Dungeon, by the way? She¡¯s Carrie¡¯s daughter and my¡­ friend. Carrie won''t say it, but she''s been super worried about her.¡±

    I wasn''t sure how to reply. The older woman clearly hadn''t shared Anna¡¯s fate with Phoenix, despite their supposed friendship. Though her hesitation suggested something else, or something more. But it wasn''t my business to divulge the news of her passing either. So how did I word this without tangling myself into a different lie completely?

    Axel¡¯s head tilted. ¡°We did, but we lost her.¡±

    Once again I was left impressed by Axel¡¯s ability to manipulate his truth to steer the conversation elsewhere. And with such a quick turnaround.

    Phoenix let out a short disappointed huff; the most emotion I''d heard from her all night. ¡°Well, that sucks.¡± Her gaze wandered in the direction of the street of tents the permanent residents stayed in, a glint of concern in her big doe eyes.

    ¡°I don''t think Carrie''s been sleeping. At all.¡±

    Axel and I exchanged a look.

    I said, ¡°Let''s hope she gets some rest tonight then.¡±

    The mousy brunette nodded. ¡°I''ll see you all in the morning for breakfast.¡± She leaned forward and whispered, conspiratorially, ¡°Word of warning: Killian always burns the toast. He scrapes the black stuff off, but you can still taste the residue.¡±

    After thanking her, and pawning off the whistle, Axel and I returned to the guest tents.

    There was an awkward moment as I crawled in and he followed after me while we set up our sleeping situation. For some reason, an air of tension rested between us, something that had never been there before. Was it because everything was out in the open now?

    ¡°I can sleep outside the tent, if you want,¡± Axel finally offered, his voice low. The others already seemed to be fully asleep, soft snores and breathing stemming from their respective tents. He continued, ¡°We''re all already inside anyway.¡±

    Frowning, I replied, ¡°Why would I want you to do that?¡±

    His eyes narrowed. ¡°Look, I know it may come as a surprise to you, but I''m trying to be a gentleman.¡± At my blank expression, the blond elaborated, ¡°I do not control sleeping-Axel. He may spoon you.¡±

    ¡°Come on, man, don''t be weird about this.¡± I wriggled into my sleeping bag, now overly conscious of the warmth emanating from Axel beside me.

    ¡°As the Deities as my witnesses, I¡¯ve given fair warning. I cannot be tried or blamed for¨C¡±

    ¡°Just shut up and go to sleep.¡±

    With a chortle, he zipped his sleeping bag up around him. He lied down, putting our faces only centimetres apart. His breath tickled against my lips, and I could¡¯ve counted each of his eyelashes. In that single moment, I found my gaze tracing the planes of his face, the highs of his cheeks, the point of his nose, the curve of his jawline, the dip of his cupid¡¯s bow; all of it proportioned to sublime perfection. He really was frustratingly gorgeous.

    Axel smiled as I scowled.

    ¡°Roll over.¡±

    ¡°I sleep on my left.¡±

    Irritated, I clamped my eyes shut, simmering in the darkness of my clenched eyelids. I could only fall asleep on my right, though I did toss and turn a little in my dreams. With any luck I''d kick him in the night. It would serve him right, being so obstinate.

    Despite how close we were, I was exhausted enough not to mind. As I began to doze off, Axel spoke, his voice a fraction above a whisper.

    ¡°Did you really think I¡¯d sleep with Killian tonight?¡±

    My eyes flashed open, meeting Axel¡¯s. Yeah. He really did know me too well.

    I paused before saying, ¡°It seemed likely.¡±

    ¡°Jealous much?¡± He smirked.

    Giving him a death glare, and embarrassingly realising that¡¯s exactly how I¡¯d felt and hadn¡¯t known it until he''d confronted me with it, I rolled over, not caring that I was unlikely to fall asleep on my left.

    Maybe I had been jealous of Killian: at the ease he made friends, at how simple his feelings for others were conveyed, at how much he¡¯d made everyone smile. At the mere fact that he was uncaringly allosexual; a free pass at a normal untroubled life, being able to want and know what it was to be wanted back.

    There was silence for a while as I worked my way through these thoughts, stewing in them.

    Behind me, his breath hot on my neck, Axel asked, ¡°So, you really don''t feel anything from this?¡±

    It was genuine curiosity, I could tell, and it brought me out of my previous downward spiral.

    I¡¯d never really discussed what my asexuality meant in terms of physical intimacy, despite Axel''s openness regarding sex in general. It wasn''t really a casual conversation one had with a friend. And given we weren¡¯t even really friends for a long time, it was something I¡¯d never talked to him about.

    Not to mention Axel''s breadth of experience shadowed mine, so maybe it was a little bit of an inferiority complex too, which made no sense as I wasn''t even particularly interested in the sport. But feelings didn¡¯t always make sense.

    ¡°Mostly I feel awkward,¡± I answered honestly.

    ¡°No desire to like¡­ do anything?¡±

    A spark of annoyance warded off the sleepiness that was beginning to take over, despite how I was laying. ¡°Axel, for the last time, I''m not having¨C¡±

    ¡°I wasn''t asking!¡± he hissed, and I could imagine his cheeks going pink.

    It had amused me and taken me aback earlier how flustered he¡¯d gotten when talking about sex with me. He was usually so cavalier about the topic, especially since he was fairly progressive in that regard. The things I''d heard him talking about with his party friends would''ve made Dionysus blush.

    I felt him shift to his back. He must be staring up at the tent roof.

    When he spoke, his voice faltered. ¡°I just¡­ I don''t know. By now you should¡¯ve given me a straight and unquestionable no, so I''m just trying to understand what I''m supposed to do.¡±

    I didn''t even try to fight the yawn that hit me. ¡°It¡¯s not that deep. Just act normal.¡±

    My muscles began to loosen as the world started to fall away. I was so tired that I''d be out like a light in a few more seconds, my sleeping arrangements be damned. I was utterly and completely drained.

    ¡°So you say. But if you were acting normal, you''d have kicked me out already.¡±

    The weight of the day was tugging me into unconsciousness.

    ¡°I said mostly awkward.¡±

    The fabric of his pillow rustled and I could tell he had turned his head to face me again. I didn''t have to guess what his expression would''ve been. ¡°And what''s the rest then?¡±

    My breathing had slowed, and my senses began to dull. I thought about my response to his question as I fell into nothingness. What else did I feel? That was easy enough to answer. Under everything, it was how I always felt around Axel.

    ¡°Safe.¡±

    Blackness claimed me. I was sure the muffled crying I heard was from my dreams, and it faded into the kaleidoscope of nonsense that followed.

    A sound exploded into the quiet of the night.

    Both Axel and I bolted up, deers in headlights, panicked, groggy.

    During the night, I must''ve rolled onto my right again, as had Axel, based on the overlapping direction we had sprung awake. The residue of additional warmth lingering around the front of my body began to fade, the numbness of my arms from where they''d found themselves during my sleep tingling to life. Wait. Had I¡­

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    ¡°That was a gunshot,¡± Axel stated, his eyes red and voice hoarse.

    There was the sound of commotion to our far right, and as we scrambled to get out of our sleeping bags, and my brain caught up to being conscious, I suddenly and irrevocably knew what had happened.

    I fell back to the tent floor, weak limbed and ill, my body losing all control of itself at the realisation.

    No.

    No, no, no, no, no.

    Phoenix¡¯s high-pitched scream cut through the open expanse of the warehouse that was Tentworld. Killian''s came next, guttural and deep, and pained. He was repeating the same words again and again.

    I''d been wrong.

    I was always wrong.

    We buried them together at dawn.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to join us at another time, but right now¡­¡± Killian''s words trailed off, his face bleak.

    I nodded silently.

    We didn''t need to say anything else.

    In a daze, Just Friends wandered away from Tentworld, leaving Killian to take a seat at the front lookout. One of the expected guests that had the misfortune to arrive during cleanup offered to take over, but the man shook his head. His hands gripped Carrie''s shotgun tighter, his fingers whitening.

    When Killian had spoken during the funeral, I''d finally understood their relationship. Carrie was¡­ had been a high school teacher. She''d taught him, once. He said, fondly, that she was the only teacher he''d ever had that could kick his ass into gear. Phoenix had been too beside herself to speak, but that alone was more than words could ever say. The guests shared their stories too, but their faces and speeches were a blur to me.

    Glancing one last time at Killian, the carefree man I''d dined with the night before now completely gone, I believed his words about Carrie setting him right. He looked like he¡¯d aged years in the past few hours. I wasn¡¯t sure a smile would find itself home on his face again.

    As we walked, my stomach churning, I heard Gigi mutter under xir breath. ¡°I do not understand.¡±

    ¡°She was sad,¡± Wren explained, voice as light as air itself.

    ¡°Suicide does not change that.¡±

    ¡°It stops it.¡±

    ¡°Man, I fully get it,¡± Jye said in a way that concerned me.

    Gigi shook xir head. ¡°Killing oneself does not stop the sadness. It is simply redistributed to others.¡±

    ¡°She made her choice. Not one I agree with, I gotta say, but I ain''t her,¡± Tam commented, her eyes betraying only a glimmer of remorse.

    I should''ve told Carrie.

    If only I''d told her about the wish.

    My feet stopped moving beneath me, too heavy to walk any further.

    ¡°Was I right to lie to her?¡± I questioned, though it really wasn¡¯t what I wanted to ask.

    Was it my fault?

    Did I kill her?

    The others came to a rest next to me.

    Axel nodded. ¡°She would''ve killed someone in our party if you hadn''t.¡±

    ¡°But she died instead.¡±

    ¡°She chose to give up,¡± Tam said.

    I shot her a glare. ¡°We killed her daughter.¡±

    Gigi¡¯s silver eyes blinked slowly and xir hand reached out to gingerly pat my arm. In xir gaze I could see a pain I had never noticed before. It was hard when I barely knew Gigi, but it was obvious xe¡¯d have to have gone through something similar if xe''d won xir wish.

    The Linnikian shook xir head slowly. ¡°It is the price that must be paid for the prize.¡±

    ¡°But we didn''t pay it!¡± Anger fired off easily from me; it had been burning inside my gut for a long time. ¡°Someone else did and everyone else will have to.¡±

    Jye folded their buff arms. ¡°Look at it this way, man. Do you really think other parties are going to use their wish to bring everyone back? I know when Nabu told us, it wasn¡¯t my first thought.¡±

    Wren spoke up. ¡°I didn''t think that first either.¡±

    Brow furrowed, I glanced to the rest of the party.

    Tam shook her head with a scoff. ¡°Absolutely not.¡±

    ¡°It is not how I spent my wish,¡± Gigi said, eyes downcast.

    When my gaze fell on Axel, he grinned, and my thoughts were slingshotted back to our conversation about what he wished for. I repressed the memory, squashing any emotional reaction, hoping the flush I felt along my neck wasn''t visible.

    ¡°So, none of you thought to use it to save humanity?¡±

    The party shrugged.

    ¡°I said you were messed up, sunshine,¡± Tam remarked. ¡°Only someone with a complex has that idea come to them at the drop of a hat. You got scars, babes. Ugly, ugly scars.¡±

    Ignoring her ability to accurately claw into my psyche, I asked, stunned, ¡°What the hell did you all think first then?¡±

    Jye snorted. ¡°Dude, first of all, to justify this, fuck humanity. We¡¯ve made a mess of the world. My first thought was like¡­ a reset. Scrub religion and capitalism and everything that puts a divide between us all. Start it all again from the ground up, you know?¡±

    ¡°What about your siblings?¡± I hissed.

    They shrugged, almost apologetically. ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you, man. I wasn¡¯t thinking about anyone else at that moment.¡±

    ¡°Tam?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why I was checking with her. She was the most tightlipped in our party.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give this one to you as a freebie, dandelion. I only got a handful of people I care about. That¡¯s all that flashed through my mind. Not a lick of a thought was given to those outside that personal circle.¡±

    I had no doubt Just Friends was excluded from her tight knit group.

    Sheepishly, Wren said, ¡°I think my first thought was that it would be really cool to live forever and know everything.¡± Her gaze flicked up to meet mine with a smile. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Gigi frowned. ¡°I have not heard tell of any worlds that chose full resurrection. Most parties who win are not so generous.¡± Xir expression told me that xe hadn¡¯t been so kind either with xir wish.

    I didn¡¯t bother to ask Axel, knowing and being mortified by his past words.

    So¡­ it had just been me?

    ¡°I mean, after you said it, obviously it made sense,¡± Jye said. ¡°It just wasn¡¯t at the top of my wants list, you know? Like, people matter. You can¡¯t just throw them away.¡± They paused, and I could tell they were thinking of two very specific people. ¡°Well, not all of them, anyway.¡±

    The ten-year-old nodded enthusiastically. ¡°Exactly! As soon as you said we¡¯d be able to bring everyone back, I realised that was the right thing to do with the wish.¡±

    Tam rolled her eyes. ¡°Bigfoot has a point. I wouldn''t bring everyone back, but I ain''t got much of a say in this. Though I guess I can¡¯t have a happy life without a society to operate in.¡±

    It was baffling to me how no one else had considered it.

    ¡°Why was it your first thought?¡± Axel asked, head tilted in idle curiosity.

    ¡°It just seemed like the only thing we should use the wish for,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Like the right thing to do?¡± he offered.

    ¡°Yeah, I guess.¡±

    Tucking a hand in the bow of my arm, Axel said, ¡°And that¡¯s why you didn¡¯t tell Carrie what we did, right? Also why you didn¡¯t say anything about the wish. You thought it was the right thing to do.¡±

    My jaw clenched, thinking about the dark sleeping bags we¡¯d buried hours before. ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°There you have it. Your moral compass might be on a high horse, Lee, but out of the six of us, you¡¯re the only one whose first thought was to save the entire human race.¡± Axel¡¯s smile was surprisingly warm and soft. ¡°You¡¯re a better man than you think you are.¡±

    ¡°It just feels like Carrie¡¯s death could¡¯ve been avoided,¡± I said, weakly, almost defeated by the tenderness in his gaze.

    Tam let out a long sigh. She sounded disappointed. ¡°Babes, if we¡¯re really doing this, if your goal is to win this whole thing¡­ No deaths can be avoided. It¡¯s all downhill from here.¡±

    I shook my head, putting my foot down. ¡°No, we can¡¯t think like that.¡±

    ¡°I hate to agree with her, but Nine Lives here is not wrong, dude,¡± Jye said. ¡°You¡¯re gonna die of guilt if you blame yourself for every death we see.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯d be no better than the Deities if we treat every death like a stepping stone.¡±

    This sobered the redhead and the cutthroat, and their expressions sombered.

    Wren frowned. ¡°So you¡¯re going to keep count of them too then.¡± She was referring to my previous words about not letting her worry about the lives she saved or didn¡¯t, about my tallying them instead. She looked concerned.

    And perhaps it was too much to take the weight of every human life on my shoulders.

    But someone had to.

    Taking a breath, I started walking again, tugging Axel along to his surprise, since his arm had remained entwined with mine. ¡°You¡¯re right. All of you. And, on that note, your morality metres are absolutely out of fucking whack. Thankfully I¡¯m here to steer you all in the right direction.¡±

    The others jogged to catch up, and I got an earful from Jye, Tam, and Axel, but their exclamations only amused me. Us having this conversation did nothing to quell my guilt about Carrie¡¯s suicide, or about Anna¡¯s and Test Name¡¯s deaths, or even the sinking understanding of the many, many, many more deaths to come we¡¯d have a hand in some way or another, but it solidified something of a foundation beneath me.

    None of them had questioned our ability to win, to receive the wish.

    I don¡¯t know why they believed in me or why I believed in us either.

    But it felt good knowing that these people were by my side.

    It was a thin line we were going to have to walk now, between making sure the Deities didn¡¯t get bored and end the tutorial prematurely, and ensuring everyone didn¡¯t level up ahead of us. And yet right now it all seemed possible.

    We walked along the middle of the road, occasionally stopping to glance into abandoned vehicles, or stepping into the long-since looted stores that lined the streets. That wasn¡¯t to say there was no activity. It seemed as though some nature was beginning to return to the city, with kangaroos bounding along sidewalks and birds flocking over the now quiet canopies of trees planted into road verges. We came across several people but there was something of a sceptical air about most of them and with nods, we were simply metaphorical ships passing in the night. It appeared conversation would not be welcome.

    I didn¡¯t blame them, considering what Carrie had said about the group demanding payment at the CBD Dungeon. In fact, I''d been expecting outright hostility from most.

    Despite that, in a park we passed, a family was out having a picnic, and we gave them a wide berth. Who they were, how they¡¯d gotten here, why they¡¯d decided to go for lunch in the park, none of this I knew. But staring at them, and their smiling faces, I made up my mind.

    I had two promises to fulfil.

    One I¡¯d sworn to Axel when he¡¯d been dying in my lap.

    That we¡¯d see the end of this together.

    The other, one I''d made to myself, was a little easier, but somehow the idea hurt.

    It was time to take Wren home.

 Chapter Thirty-One | Home

    We all agreed it was for the better to take Wren back to her parents. She couldn¡¯t give us an address but said she was familiar with the area and that our destination was pretty close by. She must¡¯ve been embarrassed about not remembering her number and street because she refused to elaborate on our directions.

    She simply set up at the front of our party and we waddled after her like ducklings. It gave us all time for me to get everyone up to date on everything that was going on. Well, not everything. Whatever was happening between Axel and I was not something I was willing to divulge. Eugh, whatever that was.

    Mostly because I didn¡¯t really know what it was. What had the two of us settled on in the end before Phoenix¡¯s interruption, before we¡¯d fallen asleep? Axel was waiting on my answer, and I was waiting on the bravery to risk everything.

    The numbness of my arms, the warmth on the front of my body, and the scent of citrus when we¡¯d been shocked awake briefly touched on the back of my mind, but I pushed the memory away. Thinking about how it¡¯d been me doing the spooning last night would not help clarify things.

    Instead, as I began to explain all I had discovered about attributes and abilities, I realised only Wren and Axel really needed the information considering that Tam had Mumma, and Gigi had whoever xe had and Jye¡¯s system was pretty much inoperable by standard conventions. That said, being able to inform everyone about it gave me further motivation to delve into the most recent reveals. It also helped distract me from thinking about what we were walking away from and toward.

    While Wren led us wherever we were going, which she had described several times as ¡°not far now,¡± we passed a local library, and I remembered fondly my trips to the one closest to me. It was pretty much the only other time I had left our apartment unless for necessities or to get away from Axel¡¯s parties. When life had been simpler. I remarked aloud that I should¡¯ve visited mine more often. I hoped the librarians were all doing fine.

    My random comment led to us speaking about what a normal day had been like for us before the Gates had appeared and the beginning of the Deities¡¯ event. I was glad for it because it helped me get to know everyone just that little bit better. It was something I was working toward.

    Jye was the first to volunteer details about their day-to-day, and as I listened I loaded up my window and thought about the Nexus.

    They explained that they usually had an early wake-up, 5am or so, a breakfast of seven boiled eggs and a protein smoothie, went to lead some clients in PT in their gym, had a lunch of a whole roast chicken, ran a couple HIIT sessions, and then fucked off home and got high for the rest of the day while switching on anime and ordering in ¡°like two to seven burritos from Zambrero.¡±

    I listened with a humouring smile, but in hindsight, I probably could¡¯ve guessed that was their daily routine. Still the amount of food they ate was positively bizarre. I couldn¡¯t eat a whole roast chicken in a full day, let alone for a single lunch. Had we been starving Jye? I didn¡¯t notice any difference in their muscular physique, but in the long run it might have negative consequences.

    I made a mental note to start differentiating meal rations. Different people required different things. That was like a fundamental truth. What was it¡­ Equity over equality. Though they did have all those protein powders stored away, so maybe they''d be okay? Nutrition wasn''t exactly my expertise. The most I knew was that sugar was¡­ bad?

    As Jye went on to detail that they''d finally gotten around to watching Akame ga Kill!, which they said they hadn''t finished but they were looking forward to the ending, if they ever could. They droned on about how they believed Esdeath and Tatsumi were totally endgame, and I focused on my menu expanding to show that Nexus was greyed out.

    I frowned. It had said it was available after we¡¯d completed the Dungeon.

    Did that mean it was only available after a Dungeon clear?

    Fuck.

    All right, I¡¯d have to come back to that later, after we took Wren home, and we started grinding for real. Because that¡¯s what it would be. Us trying to clear Dungeons at rates that would make anyone else think we were insane. We had to compensate for Jye. There was no other option. Well. There was but it wasn¡¯t one I would ever entertain.

    Though maybe there was a smarter way to go about it. Since I¡¯d been right all along about us being entertainment¡­ Then maybe what the Deities really wanted was exactly what Nabu had explained. A performance. Drama, comedy, action, and adventure, perhaps even horror.

    Wait.

    It was so obvious now that I thought about it.  If everything we were going through was meant to captivate our audience, then The Dungeons clearly leaned towards a particular genre. Nabu¡¯s had been a mythological remake, with aspirations to be an epic, though written so poorly it would¡¯ve bombed in the box office. From the sounds of the CBD Dungeon, it was a monster take on survival ala The Revenant. Putting those frameworks into mind, it was clear all we needed to do was create drama and form a narrative to get the best results.

    It was actually kind of surprising that a lifetime of consuming story almost gave me an advantage. I¡¯d been training my whole life to know what made something worth watching.

    Tam told us her daily life was none of our business and that if we ever asked again, she¡¯d lie. Not much of a shock, but I was glad for her warning. It felt like she was warming up to us. A fortnight ago, she would¡¯ve just flat out lied and taken us for a ride. Based on what I knew about her, I imagined her normal routine was probably doing whatever she did for work and then spending the evening with her wife. It wouldn¡¯t have been a bad life. I wondered where her wife was now. There was no point in asking. She would never tell me.

    Gigi explained xir normal day as much as xe was capable but kept on coming to words that simply had no translation in English. After a while, xe gave up, summarising xir day into simply: ¡°I wake, I work, I eat, I play, I sleep.¡± It gave absolutely no insight into xem on a whole. Though based on some of xir initial attempts, I think I found out that at one point Gigi had multiple partners. No one else had commented on that so it was possible I¡¯d misheard. I wondered what Gigi¡¯s original Linnikian appearance was like. Maybe xe was a total heart throb to xir people.

    In the silence that followed, I explained my own average routine and halfway through realised how bland it sounded. Had I been truly living like that? I''m surprised no one had tried slapping me out of it. Did my parents really think I was happy? My friends? Given the boring nature of what I spoke about, no one had follow up questions, not even Wren. Axel nodded along as I spoke, which wasn¡¯t surprising. He knew what I¡¯d been like. And he apparently loved me for it? Simply unbelievable.

    When it came to Axel¡¯s turn to share since I was fairly familiar with it, I blanked it out, and instead focused on the Deity Commentary.

    Purchase access to applicable Dungeon 16 Deity Commentary Log for 100 credits? Accept | Reject

    I sighed. Well, I hadn¡¯t used any more since the barbecue so maybe this was a good cause. Everything new that appeared that we could use and understand was an advantage against others. I accepted and watched my credits go down the drain. 323 credits remaining. Oof.

    Something resembling an empty messenger app expanded. Timestamps marked the starting and end times. Was this¡­ the fucking stream chat? Were we privy to the commentary of Deities watching us in our trials?

    I scrolled back as far as it would let me go and was surprised to see so many exchanges. Checking the timestamps attached, it looked as though they had occurred just after we entered the Dungeon, and then throughout until we¡¯d left. I guess that¡¯s where the ¡°applicable¡± part came in. It was only the part of the chat that was relevant to us.

    A frame of text faster than a millisecond flashed. I was barely able to parse that it said ¡°translating and localising¡± before it was gone. That was especially useful to know because as I started reading I found it hard to reconcile beings that could smite me talking as they did. That said, Nabu had spoken in a relatively modern albeit nervous way.

    Scrolling, I was thankful that large gaps of inactivity looked to be condensed for readability.

    {Anon123} That was quick. Mod, can we lock onto these guys for a bit?

    {Anon123} Thanks!

    {Anon123} Can we switch?

    {Anon123} Never mind, that¡¯s less interesting. Cycle back.

    {Hisss} Wait!

    {Hisss} Ah, fuck it. Follow these ones. Maybe they¡¯ll give us some actual action!

    {Anon123} This is not the Dungeon for that, Hisss.

    ¡ª

    {Anon123} Wow. Friendly fire this early.

    {Hisss} Hope it dies.

    {Anon123} Oh, shit, I think I recognise that small one. It was in 11.

    {Hisss} Damnit. I hate healers. They ruin all the tension.

    {Hisss} Yaaaaawnnn. Do all these things do is talk?

    {Hisss} Cycle, Mod.

    {Hisss} THIS IS SO BORING. GO BACK.

    {Hisss} COME ON. JUST DO SOMETHING.

    {Anon123} Calm down, Hisss. It¡¯s called character development.

    {Hisss} I just want them to kill each other. Is that so much to ask?

    {Hisss} This Dungeon sucks.

    ¡ª

    {Hisss} Check this out.

    {Anon123} No one¡¯s stupid enough to fall for that. You¡¯re throwing away belief.

    {Hisss} Euuugh, but this is boring! I want chaos!!! Or death! OR BOTH.

    {Anon123} You might need to go elsewhere, Hisss. I¡¯ve heard 1 has some pretty interesting stuff happening. Oh, lol. I told you. They rejected it.

    {Hisss} Damnit. That yellow headed one pisses me off. How¡¯d it know?

    {Anon123} Any idiot would figure it out.

    {Hisss} EUGH. I¡¯m out of here.

    {Anon123} Byyyye.

    {Mumma} No, wait, stick around! Things are about to get good!

    {Anon123} Oooh, what do you know, Mumma?

    MODERATOR REMINDER: All Commentary may be viewed by players, in real time or otherwise. Please ensure that your commentary does not involve incoming Dungeon events, backseat directing, or additional information currently unavailable to players. Breaking this rule will result in a permanent ban. One more warning will be provided before action will be taken.

    {Anon123} Lol. You made the Mod angry.

    {Mumma} Just stay in this Dungeon.

    ¡ª

    {Anon123} Yikes. The very tiny small beast yours, Mumma?

    {Anon123} Mumma, you still there?

    {Anon123} Oh. Lol. Clutch save. Congrats on the new party.

    {Mumma} Shut the fuck up, Anon123.

    ¡ª

    {Anon123} Well, that was stupid.

    {Anon123} Oh. Okay. That balanced out the wall trap idiocy.

    {Anon123} What was the point in that fireball?

    {Anon123} Can we cycle to¡ª Nah, those others aren¡¯t worth watching.

    {Anon123} REALLY, ADDING ANOTHER??? I¡¯m beginning to regret my donation.

    ¡ª

    {Anon123} Oh shit, oh shit. Are we finally¡ª

    {Anon123} CLOSE THE DISTANCE. Come on!!! What the fuck is that big one doing? GET IN THERE.

    {Mumma} Look at my baby. She¡¯s so smart.

    {Hisss} I¡¯m back, 1 got a first clear. Absolutely brutal. So many died. I loved it. What did I miss???

    {Anon123} The old one group finally found the one who shit on your request.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    MODERATOR REMINDER: All Commentary may be viewed by players, in real time or otherwise. Please ensure that your commentary does not involve incoming Dungeon events, backseat directing, or additional information currently unavailable to players. Breaking this rule will result in a permanent ban. This is the last warning before action will be taken.

    {Anon123} Ah, shit, sorry. Forgot.

    {Hisss} YESSS, finally, I get to watch something die here.

    {Mumma} Not if my baby kills whoever is attacking first!

    {Hisss} Who the fuck are you?

    {Mumma} None of your business.

    {Anon123} Sponsor.

    {Hisss} LOL. For one in these groups??? What a waste of belief.

    {Anon123} You¡¯re one to talk.

    {Hisss} Fuck it, this commentary is toxic. Plus this fight is boring. And it looks like the old archer is going to lose anyway since the cat¡¯s sneaking up on him.

    HISSS has been permanently banned from Dungeon 16 Deity Commentary.

    {Anon123} Lol.

    {Mumma} Lol.

    ¡ª-

    {Mumma} Anon123, who are you?

    {Anon123} No one important. You?

    {Mumma} Same.

    {Anon123} So you¡¯re a liar like your pet.

    {Mumma} Don¡¯t start.

    {Anon123} No, no, no. That wasn¡¯t an insult. I think I like this party.

    {Mumma} They¡¯re quite interesting, aren¡¯t they?

    {Anon123} Interesting is one word I¡¯d use, yeah.

    ¡ª

    {South Wind} Someone told me there was some hot shit happening in here.

    {Anon123} Welcome, Wind! Some players are in the Challenge now. Looks like something is gonna go down.

    {South Wind} Oh, I don¡¯t care about that kind of action.

    {Anon123} ?

    {South Wind} A deity came into the Dungeon I was watching screaming about how they got banned and that all the players do in this Dungeon is talk and flirt. So, like, what¡¯s the tea?

    {Mumma} The yellow headed one and the party leader. They¡¯re¡­ something. My baby thinks they are, at least.

    {Anon123} That¡¯s a fair description.

    {South Wind} What does that even mean?

    {Anon123} *shrugs*

    {South Wind} Damnit. Colour me intrigued.

    ¡ª

    {South Wind} ARE YOU KIDDING ME? DID YOU SEE THAT? IT JUST PICKED UP THE OTHER ONE AND SALKDJLKJASD. BRB. I GOTTA GO GET MY FRIENDS. FUCK. They¡¯re gonna eat this shit UP.

    {Anon123} See you soon, Wind.

    {Hissss} THIS DUNGEON IS THE FUCKING WORST.

    APOPHIS has been permanently banned from all Dungeon Commentaries.

    {Anon123} Get doxed, idiot.

    {Mumma} Oh, look, they found the others. These spawn points are a little¡­ Hmmm. The little one is unfortunate.

    ¡ª

    {Anon123} What do you think the plan is?

    {Mumma} I don¡¯t care. My baby isn¡¯t there.

    {Anon123} So you¡¯re one of those kinds of sponsors.

    {Mumma} You¡¯re so judgemental, Anon123.

    {Anon123} No judgement. Just¡­ observation.

    {Anon123} Oh shit, look at them go! YES, RUN! JUMP~

    {Anon123} Wow. Not what I would¡¯ve¡­ But okay.

    {Anon123} Yikes.

    {Anon123} That was easy. Go for the kill.

    {Anon123} PARTY LEADER STEPPING UP, LETS GOOOOOOO!!!

    {Anon123} Always eating my words here.

    {Mumma} Wait. WAIT.

    {Anon123} Oh, fuck.

    {South Wind} Wait, what¡¯s happening? Why¡¯s there two of the yellows? Which one is it?

    {Anon123} Left one¡­?

    {Mumma} The right!

    {Anon123} It¡¯s¡ª oh, shit. Damn. That¡¯s¡­ Rip.

    {Mumma} Where¡¯s my baby, though?

    {South Wind} DID YOU SEE THAT???

    {Peach Bite} You were NOT lying, Wind!!! This shit is insane. They were mates?

    {South Wind} WORSE! They¡¯re ¡°something¡±!

    {Peach Bite} It just died for the¡ª IT¡¯S ALIVE.

    {South Wind} Look how tenderly it¡¯s holding the other. Fuck. FUCK.

    {Sky Shine} AYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. What¡¯s going on???

    {Anon123} Is it just me or is the vibe in here getting weird?

    {Mumma} Not just you, but I¡¯m not against it.

    {South Wind} Did I tell you, or did I tell you?

    {Peach Bite} You know I¡¯m more of a fan of doomed toxic stuff. But this. Chef¡¯s kiss~ The terror on its face¡­ Mmm-mmm.

    {Sky Shine} And there¡¯s room for development!!!

    {South Wind} I cannot wait!

    {Mumma} Oh, there¡¯s my baby! Good girl! Nice work!

    {Sky Shine} I¡¯m getting heavy hints of doomed toxic from your pet, Mumma.

    {Mumma} Don¡¯t say that!

    {Peach Bite} What¡¯s this group, by the way? I wanna add them to my favourites.

    {Anon123} Just Friends, Peach.

    {South Wind} Wow.

    {Sky Shine} Denial, much?

    {Peach Bite} Added.

    ¡ª

    {South Wind} Wait, wait, the two are talking. Is this actually¡­

    {Sky Shine} NOOOOOOOOOOO WAY. DID IT JUST¡ª

    {Peach Bite} They¡¯re¡­ I¡¯m gonna die, literally. That¡¯s so sweet.

    {South Wind} ¡°Every life¡±? I¡¯ll be damned. It¡¯s a romantic.

    {Sky Shine} I¡¯m so glad we got here in time for this. Thanks for the tip, Wind.

    {Peach Bite} This is so lovely. I hope one of them dies.

    {South Wind} Noooo, Peach, I want a happy ending. Orrrrr¡­ maybe they could die in each other¡¯s arms. That¡¯d be so sweeeeet.

    {Sky Shine} That¡¯d be cute!

    {Peach Bite} That¡¯d work too, eheheh~

    ¡ª

    {South Wind} They¡¯re both blushing. This is so adorable. ///UWU///

    {Peach Bite} This shit¡¯s gonna be looping in my head for the rest of the event, even after they die.

    {Sky Shine} I kinda want them to win, actually.

    {Anon123} They¡¯re doing okay. They might win.

    {Peach Bite} Please, have you seen some of the others? They¡¯re doomed. And that¡¯s delicious!

    {Mumma} My baby¡¯s done it. Dungeon¡¯s cleared.

    {Anon123} That was actually pretty fun to watch. Slow start though.

    {South Wind} I guess I¡¯ll be seeing you all around.

    {Peach Bite} See you later, Wind, Sky! And nice to meet you, Anon, and Mumma!

    {Sky Shine} Tee-hee! You better believe I¡¯m joining the next Dungeon Just Friends are in. I need resolution!

    {Anon123} I hope Nabu doesn¡¯t pick the one I want.

    {Mumma} You¡¯re gonna sponsor?

    {Anon123} I wasn¡¯t originally. But there¡¯s something about one of them¡­

    MODERATOR NOTICE: Dungeon Clear has been achieved. Challenge reset in progress. Requests for the party that has cleared the Dungeon will no longer be processed.

    {Anon123} See you later, Mumma. Thanks, Mod!

    {Mumma} Bye, Anon.

    I stumbled over a rock in the road, so absorbed in the chat that I hadn¡¯t even paid attention to our passing surroundings.

    What the fuck was this?

    The only sensible, active Deity watching us had been Anon123 and nothing they said explained who they were. Hisss had been revealed to be Apophis, which made sense. God of chaos and all that. I¡¯m surprised he lasted as long as he had with how orderly the event was. And then there was that last bit from Anon123. Which of our party did they want to sponsor? How did they sponsor us outside of a Dungeon? I¡¯d ask Tam, but she¡¯d never explain. Maybe I could ask Gigi now our censorships had been lifted?

    My mind returned to the way the Deities had requested to cycle between players. Did the Mods control what the viewing Deities could see? I¡¯d been assuming they had a sort of omniscient view of our struggles, but I guess that time with the exploding wall had pretty much proved that their vision was limited to a certain extent. My sense of pride smarted at Anon123¡¯s words regarding that trap: ¡°Well, that was stupid.¡± Yeah, well, if I was being honest, our approach hadn¡¯t been the smartest.

    Still, from the sounds of chat, we needed some way of forcing the Mod to keep us front and centre, if we wanted the best XP results and belief given to our sponsors. It had just been thanks to Anon123¡¯s random curiosity that we¡¯d gotten the chance to shine this time. Though the kind of attention they¡¯d attracted wasn¡¯t exactly what I¡¯d called positive.

    It was downright nauseating.

    That they¡¯d listened in on everything between us¡­

    And to add to that, the three Deities commenting on Axel¡¯s and my relationship had been reprehensibly detached. They wanted one of us to die? For us to die in each other¡¯s arms? It was fucked up. ¡°Doomed toxic stuff¡± was okay in fiction, and had never been my particular cup of tea, but in real life¡­ The idea of Axel dying in my arms made me feel wobbly because it had almost happened and if it had, I think a part of me would¡¯ve died along with him.

    Okay.

    So maybe they weren¡¯t so wrong about us being ¡°something¡± before anything had even happened.

    That said, if that romance and tragedy was what they wanted, if that got Deities talking, watching, the Mod focusing on us¡­ Maybe we should play that up?

    We could Katniss and Peeta the shit out of this.

    It could increase our XP gain, and we needed every advantage we could get.

    However, the idea left a bad taste in my mouth, especially with how heavily I disliked Sky Shine, South Wind, and Peach Bite and the way they acted in chat. They reminded me of why I never interacted in fandoms. I¡¯d gotten chewed out when quite young by someone like them and had sworn to never ever glance in the direction of any fandom ever again. It was probably for the better.

    And then there was Mumma. She had acted completely different to how I pictured her since she was Tam¡¯s sponsor. In fact, she treated Tam like¡­ a child. I guess that made sense considering her handle, but whenever Tam spoke of her, I¡¯d been imagining something like a biblically accurate angel crossed with the Hulk. Instead, she just seemed like a proud mother invested in her child¡¯s progress, perhaps something closer to a soccer mum.

    I didn¡¯t know how to make heads or tails of it.

    Through that all, there was one thing from the chat that intrigued me the most: the Mod¡¯s reminder about the content being available to players. It¡¯d said ¡°real time or otherwise.¡±

    While it was good to see how our performance in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon had been received after the fact, being able to read it when it was being updated would be incredibly useful. We could react to feedback on the spot. After all, the better we performed, the more experience we received and the more belief our sponsors received which in turn helped us too. However, considering that the Deities couldn¡¯t spoil anything for us was something else to consider.

    ¡°Hey, isn¡¯t that right?¡± Axel said, looking at me.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I replied without hesitation.

    He¡¯d finally finished his day-to-day, and I¡¯d not been paying any attention

    The others all snickered.

    At my confused expression, Jye said, ¡°He literally said you would say yes, regardless of what he asked.¡±

    Scowling, I questioned, ¡°And what did I agree with?¡±

    Tam grinned. ¡°He said, ¡®I bet Lee¡¯s not even listening.¡¯¡±

    I fucking hated Axel.

    ¡°I¡¯ll have you know, I¡¯ve been reading the Deity Commentary for Dungeon 16.¡±

    This earned me some looks and I gave them the low down, summarising all I''d read and giving them the main points of interest I''d garnered which turned out to take me quite some time. For once I was glad for Wren¡¯s ever inaccurate ¡°We¡¯re close now!¡± comments.

    When I finished, Jye huffed. ¡°Pity about Apophis. Could¡¯ve been a damn good sponsor, man. Managing to get back into a chat after being banned must mean he had connections. Plus, that name is pretty weighty in regards to mythology.¡±

    I didn¡¯t disagree.

    ¡°Apophis can truly be so stupid. So much belief and so little nuance. He embarrasses himself,¡± Gigi said, shaking xir head. ¡°Surely, he will regret this in the future to come.¡±

    My brows met in worry. ¡°You¡¯re speaking like you know him.¡±

    The Linnikian nodded. ¡°I do.¡±

    Everyone¡¯s eyes fell onto xem.

    ¡°You do?¡± I echoed weakly.

    Xe nodded again. ¡°Of course. He was my sponsor when I got my wish.¡±

    Well. That at least explained why he kept coming back to the Dungeon 16¡¯s Commentary even despite how much he hated Nabu¡¯s work. Apophis had been checking up on and watching over Gigi. Nabu had said that some sponsors grew too fond of their players. Why hadn¡¯t Apophis asked the Mod to switch the focus to Gigi more often though?

    ¡°And you¡¯re¡­ on good terms?¡± I asked.

    Gigi made a face. ¡°I am unsure.¡±

    ¡°Start talking,¡± Axel demanded.

    ¡°If that is what you wish.¡± Gigi took a breath. It was clear this was tied to something the non-human felt was shameful so I wasn¡¯t confident how much xe would reveal. ¡°Once my wish was granted, Apophis¡¯s sponsorship was completed, but we remained cordial. However, I had believed my current participation in your event to have soured our connection. He would not speak to me before I joined.¡±

    ¡°How do you keep a cordial relationship with a god?¡± I queried, genuinely curious.

    ¡°You must match their desires.¡±

    The words floated meaningless in the air between the party for a moment. As if struck by lightning, the four remaining adults in the party came to a sharp understanding. I was shocked into silence, my mouth half open in bafflement. However, Tam¡¯s brows shot up in surprised and scandalised delight.

    ¡°You goddamn dog, Gigi.¡± She slapped a hand over xir back. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be. I never would¡¯ve thought it of you.¡± With a grin, she asked, ¡°What¡¯s it like? With a god?¡±

    Gigi¡¯s thin brows furrowed, and xe appeared to think deeply. Xir mouth began to open, but I flung up my hand to halt xem midword.

    ¡°Hey! Wren is here, you know. She¡¯s like ten.¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s the problem, I¡¯m not ten!¡± the girl replied, eyes wide. Huh. Damn, I guess I¡¯d been projecting Chrissie onto her all along without knowing it. Wren continued with, ¡°What¡¯s what like with a god?¡±

    ¡°Nothing!¡± I said. ¡°And it doesn¡¯t matter if you¡¯re nine, ten, or eleven, there¡¯s some topics of conversation that you shouldn¡¯t be hearing yet.¡±

    After a moment of consideration, and no one else in the party commenting though she sought their support with pleading eyes, she pouted. ¡°If you say so. Well. We¡¯re here.¡± She flourished her hands to the left side of the road.

    I realised we hadn¡¯t had time to hear Wren¡¯s daily routine during our walk, but as I stared at the building she was pointing to, I suddenly understood why. She¡¯d intentionally not told us. There appeared to be a lot she¡¯d chosen not to share. My stomach lurched.

    ¡°Wren¡­ What is this?¡±

    ¡°This is where I¡¯m from.¡±

    Behind her was the Royal Brisbane and Women¡¯s Hospital.

 Chapter Thirty-Two | You Got Some Splaining To Do, Young Lady

    In heavy silence, the five of us trailed Wren up the flights of stairs into the wing of the Ned Hanlon building. On the wall of the seventh floor, the signs listed the relevant wards in the direction we were headed: Orthopaedics, Surgery, Neurology, Respiratory, Dermatology.

    I had been partly horrified of what we might come across in a recently abandoned hospital, but the place was quiet and had been ransacked quite some time ago now. Whatever patients there¡¯d once been, they were no longer here. I didn¡¯t know whether to be thankful with or concerned about that information.

    As we headed down a long hall, a horrendous stench hit me, stemming from a room we passed. Rotten, rotting, death. Without thinking, I reached out to close the open door and was thankful for the reprieve it granted. It didn¡¯t erase the smell entirely, but my stomach no longer wanted to release all the content within it. Nobody said anything.

    Worried, I checked on Wren who hadn¡¯t noticed my actions or seemingly the offending odour either. I hoped it was because of her single minded determination to bring us to her private room and not that she was somehow desensitised to it all.

    My mind was running wild with explanations and justifications about why such a young girl had come from the RBWH, specifically from these wards. And why she¡¯d never told us. Nothing made sense. Nothing at all. If I thought about it, Wren had sparingly given us details regarding her background. When we¡¯d first met, she¡¯d said she didn¡¯t know where her parents were. I guess it turned out there was a whole lot more behind that statement.

    The girl had remained stone faced, requesting us to only follow her further into the unknown. We¡¯d made the promise to take her home so it wasn¡¯t like any of us could refuse. If this was where she¡¯d come from, we¡¯d see this through.

    That didn¡¯t mean I had to like it, though.

    ¡°This¡­ This was where I woke up,¡± she said, slowly approaching the room at the end of the hall.

    Wren stepped inside and we followed.

    It was a stock standard hospital room, the sheets on the bed pulled back and wrinkled as if only this morning someone had gotten up and left. The only thing that marked it different from any other was the childish print on the linen; pastel blue with cartoon dogs and cats. There was something so bizarrely wrong about it all.

    The girl ran her hands gingerly over the bed, hazel eyes searching, brow furrowed. Her lips curled down into a deep frown. Slowly, her hands came together and began wringing in anxiety.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, everyone. I thought¡­ I thought seeing it would help me.¡±

    She turned around to meet our gazes, tears beginning to spring up.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t lying to you, I never lied. I just¡­ I can¡¯t remember much of my life before the Gates appeared. And I¡­¡± Wren began to cry, her hands swallowing up her small face.

    ¡°Hey, hey, it¡¯s okay,¡± I began, stepping closer to lift her to the bed and settle her on its edge. The others surrounded her too, even Tam who kept her distance. There was concern and abject horror on mostly everyone¡¯s faces. Was this also why she¡¯d wanted Nabu¡¯s sponsorship? He was the god of schooling. Perhaps she¡¯d thought she¡¯d be able to learn more about her past?

    ¡°No, no, I¡¯m sorry, I should¡¯ve told you all before, but I was afraid,¡± she began, and sniffed in deeply through her sobs, ¡°I was afraid you wouldn¡¯t believe me.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t believe what, poppit?¡± Tam asked, squatting to alleviate some of her height from pressuring Wren.

    ¡°So you have been lying to us,¡± Axel said flatly.

    I shot him a ¡°shut the fuck up¡± look.

    Wren began to wail, her face reddening, snot running. ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I¡¯m so sorry, goddamn sorry, fucking sorry, don¡¯t you understand? YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE.¡±

    A stunned silence fell over the room as the girl¡¯s sobs ceased immediately, quick as a switch being flicked. The emotional whiplash caused everyone but me to step slightly away in reflex. She wiped the tears from her eyes, a grim expression taking its place. There was something imperceptibly different about her. Nothing outward, but something was wrong. Like everything in the universe had been subtly shifted one atom to the left.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on, Wren?¡± Jye asked, their voice wobbling with concern.

    ¡°You sons of bitches. You really fucking took her back here? After all I¡¯ve done?¡± said the girl in front of me.

    ¡°Wren¡­?¡± I attempted, reaching for one of her hands, wondering if this was some sort of psychotic break.

    ¡°You! You want another girl¡¯s death on your hands, do you? You fucking idiot,¡± she said, growling at me, slapping me away. Where she hit stung, but the weight of her words hurt more. Two girl¡¯s deaths on my conscience. Bodies piling up. I breathed out to gather myself.

    From the corner of my vision, I saw Axel summon his sword.

    He pointed the pointed tip at Wren. ¡°Explain.¡±

    The girl¡¯s eyes narrowed in disgust. ¡°I told her! I told her not to trust you all. You¡¯re bastards. All bastards. Fuck! And you¡¯re gonna drag us down, I know it.¡±

    Using a finger, I gently brushed Axel¡¯s weapon away from her, wondering just how much of the blond¡¯s response was justified. Had I not cared about Wren, I might¡¯ve reacted similarly. The entire situation was making goose bumps form over my limbs. Seeing Wren talk like this was eerie and unsettling.

    ¡°I knew it! You are not a child. Who are you?¡± asked Gigi.

    ¡°Figures the fucking alien would be the only one in their right mind. To answer that, I¡¯m Makris. And let me be the first to say it is decidedly not my pleasure to finally talk to you all.¡±

    Makris?

    Nabu¡¯s words flashed in my head from when he¡¯d sponsored Wren. I¡¯d assumed his hesitation with Makris was simply Wren¡¯s last name in concert with his particular stuttering style of speech. No. Of course it hadn¡¯t been. Nothing was ever so simple. He¡¯d been including this other entity in the sponsorship. Perhaps¡­ only including them?

    That aside, suddenly everything about the girl made a lot more sense. She always seemed deep in thought, always seemed to know more than someone her age should, always had some sort of mature response that belied her ten or so years on this earth. All along she¡¯d been consulting this ¡°Makris.¡± Was this¡­ a split personality disorder?

    Makris rolled their eyes. ¡°I can tell what you¡¯re all thinking. No. She¡¯s not clinical.¡±

    ¡°What are you then, peach?¡± Tam finally said, her voice tight with scepticism.

    ¡°I told you! The name¡¯s Makris! I got fucking eaten by one of the Gates.¡±

    ¡°You died in a Dungeon?¡± I asked, now confused.

    ¡°I thought you were smarter than this. But turns out you¡¯re goddamn deaf. I was eaten by one of the Gates. Before the Dungeons activated.¡±

    Before¡­?

    ¡°Yeah, before, you asshats. Everyone was posting about them, all right? I wanted to see what all the buzz was about. Can¡¯t blame a guy for being curious, damn it! I walked right up and touched one. It swallowed me whole.¡±

    Well, weirder stuff had happened. I¡¯d begun learning not to question things like this anymore. Perhaps I should¡¯ve been more sceptical, but it was clear the person speaking to us was not Wren. Her usually pensive and well-mannered way of speech was completely gone. The way she sat, back straight, and a leg crossed over her lap was completely out of character.

    This was not Wren.

    It seemed like the rest of the party was of the same mind as no one objected to Makris¡¯s explanation. Not to mention, I think we¡¯d all seen the posts and videos before tech basically went down. One second someone was here and then they were gone. I¡¯d assumed they¡¯d died. I guess that wasn¡¯t the case. Or at least it wasn¡¯t completely what had happened. Makris obviously no longer had their own body. Or if he did, it was completely inaccessible to him.

    ¡°How¡¯d you end up inside a kid then?¡± Axel said, folding his arms and leaning against the wall, clearly barely humouring what Makris was saying. He''d returned the sword to his inventory, believing Wren''s replacement to pose no threat.

    ¡°First of all, bloody hell, don¡¯t say it like that. Second of all, how the flying fuck would I know? One moment it¡¯s nothing, the next, I¡¯m playing passenger princess to little miss coma patient.¡±

    My mouth went dry.

    ¡°C-Coma patient?¡± I stammered out, staring at the person who wasn¡¯t Wren but wore her body.

    ¡°Well. She woke up just after I did.¡± Makris¡¯s tone softened briefly.

    ¡°Wren was in a coma?¡± Jye echoed.

    ¡°Yeah, and you fuckers brought her back here. I¡¯m struggling to repress her memories as much as it is!¡±

    It looked like I had to rely on my gut again. Even if I couldn¡¯t tell what people would do, like Carrie, I¡¯d not been a poor judge of character just yet. We had never been betrayed, never been hoodwinked. So I decided to take everything that Makris said at face value. Even if he was lying some way or another, the truth of the matter was that Wren had lost her memories or access to them. Her tears before this entity¡¯s appearance hadn¡¯t been fake.

    When I thought about it, she had never really spoken about her past. In fact, the most I could recall was that she''d talked about her teacher and visiting Japan. Back then I¡¯d thought her reluctant to share information about herself; not that she could barely remember anything.

    So I asked the question all of us were too afraid to voice.

    ¡°Why are you hiding her memories from her?¡±

    The foreigner inside Wren turned their attention to me. His expression markedly soured. It was off-putting seeing this expression on Wren¡¯s face. It sat on her lips and brows poorly.

    He said, ¡°It¡¯d be too much. She¡¯d break. And, goddamn, as much as I¡¯d like to be part of the corporeal world again, this body isn''t mine. It¡¯s hers.¡±

    Briefly the words ¡°this body¡± triggered a memory from when Wren had saved Axel¡¯s life, way back in the cabin. She¡¯d said the same phrase before losing consciousness. ¡°You better take care of this body.¡± It had to have been Makris then. That meant he could control her sometimes. Or could he take over completely, like he was now? As I chewed on this new information, the pieces were falling into place of Wren¡¯s past, of the small things she¡¯d shared with us.

    ¡°You were the one who saved her from the CBD Dungeon,¡± I said.

    He scowled. ¡°I hate thinkers like you. Always scheming. Hard to guess what you¡¯re fucking conjuring up.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for taking care of her.¡±

    Makris glowered at me.

    He muttered under his breath. ¡°Fucking thinks I¡¯m gonna eat his candied words.¡± His voice grew louder. ¡°I didn¡¯t do it for the thanks. She never did a single thing wrong. She deserves to be happy. So you better believe I¡¯m gonna keep my eye right tight to you five.¡± His hazel eyes bore down on the party. ¡°You so much as blink wrong at her, and I¡¯m gonna be down you¡¯re fucking throat.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell us how that works, then?¡± I suggested, curious even under the dull surprise of what was happening.

    ¡°Why would I tell you?¡± he spat.

    ¡°So we know how to get into contact with you if Wren ever needs you.¡±

    Makris¡¯s top lip curled in distaste.

    ¡°Hate your type so much. But she trusts you. Whatever.¡± He exhaled dramatically. ¡°The way I figure it works is I exist within her mind, like a subconscious she can converse with. Sometimes when our emotions overlap, my reactions can spill over into hers. And I¡¯ve found that if our feelings entirely align, or she loses consciousness, I¡¯ve taken over or been thrown into the driver¡¯s seat.¡±

    I nodded, making mental notes. It sounded complicated, but also simple. When they felt the same, they became the same. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    So that meant before Makris had taken over this time, Wren and him had aligned in their emotions, since Wren hadn¡¯t lost consciousness. He¡¯d been genuinely sorry about what he¡¯d done, whatever it was, just as Wren was sorry for what she¡¯d done. For some reason, more than anything else this stranger had said, that reassured me the most. If he could feel apologetic like that, like Wren¡¯s tears proved¡­ maybe he really was just looking out for her?

    ¡°You guys better leave this hospital when she wakes up. I can¡¯t erase new memories. Just restrict access to the ones that¡­ I¡¯m shielding this conversation, so she¡¯ll know that I came out, but she won¡¯t know exactly what I¡¯ve said. Don¡¯t say anything about her past.¡±

    Axel threw his hands up. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell us shit. We don¡¯t know anything about it.¡± His jaw muscle twitched in frustration.

    ¡°And that¡¯s exactly how I like it. Fuck. She¡¯s fighting for control. We gotta wrap this up.¡±

    Gigi said, ¡°It was nice meeting you.¡±

    Makris gave xem a death glare. ¡°I trust you the least.¡±

    Out of all of us, from Axel who¡¯d pointed a sword at Wren, to Tam who¡¯d attempted to kill us, to me whom he¡¯d professed to hate the most, he trusted Gigi the least? It was mind boggling. Xe couldn¡¯t even earn experience without helping someone. It made me wonder if, in fact, Makris might be the one who had mental problems. But then again, here I was, questioning the sanity of what was essentially a ghost haunting and possessing Wren. Who really could argue what mental stability was anymore?

    ¡°Catch you later, fuckers. And remember. I¡¯m watching.¡± Makris flicked us a brow salute with his middle finger.

    Then blinked.

    Wren¡¯s eyes went wide in horror. ¡°Oh no. I¡¯m guessing you met Makris. I¡¯m sorry. About him. And about not telling you.¡±

    An indescribable relief settled over me at her return, and I flung my arms about her, happy to see the girl I¡¯d come to know back to normal. Her eyes widened further and they began to water. Within a second, she was crying again, and I felt the presence of party members encroach, adding their arms into the embrace.

    As Gigi, Jye, and Tam joined us in the huddle, she let her tears fall, sobbing into our hug. Axel, as he always did, remained aloof, but his gaze seemed to stare through us all. I saw in his eyes that same sadness, the one that swept him away, and for a moment I allowed myself the thought I would''ve once suppressed.

    I wanted it to be him in my arms too so I could anchor him back to reality. But as Wren¡¯s body shook against mine, the four of us began to mutter soft reassurances. I brushed her hair back and let her continue to weep. Chrissie had never been much of a crybaby. It was refreshing to see Wren be honest with her emotions.

    And, yeah, maybe I was living vicariously through her, treating her like the sister I¡¯d lost. But that wasn¡¯t hurting anyone, was it? I had no doubt that Jye was doing the same thing too. Maybe even Tam and Gigi were as well. It didn¡¯t make our concern for her any less valid.

    Eventually she stilled, her breath slow and rhythmic.

    She¡¯d sobbed herself to sleep.

    While she was out, we took some time to loot whatever we could of the hospital. Holding our breaths, we delved into the rooms which we knew held corpses, laying hands on them and pulling them into our inventories. I didn¡¯t know what I¡¯d do with them. I mean, it was nice that we¡¯d returned Anna despite what had happened. Maybe we could find homes and family for the others too.

    Though, it was a grim thing to acknowledge. That some of the first casualties in this situation were the people who couldn¡¯t fend for themselves. Surprisingly, in a good way, there were very few dead coma patients. Which wasn¡¯t a sentence I¡¯d ever thought I¡¯d think. I wondered if every person who got swallowed up by a Gate had ended up inside their ¡°vacant¡± bodies instead.

    It wasn¡¯t a far stretch to imagine it.

    The Deities treated us like dolls to play with as they liked. Plucking someone''s errant ¡°soul¡± or whatever it was and rehoming it didn''t seem beyond their apathy towards us. It would increase the player count or, rather, balance it out, considering all the people who¡¯d ¡°died¡± before the Dungeons had activated.

    We reached the lobby of the hospital, Jye cradling Wren in their arms, and I paused at the front reception. Tam and Gigi still hadn¡¯t come back from their building and floors yet. We¡¯d promised to meet here.

    I hadn¡¯t been sure about letting the two of them search together, but neither of them had disagreed. They were an unlikely duo, but perhaps with their closer connections to sponsors, they got along better? The cutthroat didn¡¯t seem to despise xem as much as she did Axel or me. Maybe they¡¯d be a good pairing to consider in the future for combat.

    Switching focus, I said to Jye and Axel, ¡°Either of you know how to switch on emergency generators?¡±

    I was making assumptions, but based on how thoroughly abandoned this place was, it seemed someone had intentionally shut it down, and evacuated whoever they could, leaving those they couldn¡¯t. Wherever they¡¯d gone, it was unclear. However, if it was the case that people had deliberately closed up shop, the emergency generator might not have run itself down and still have had some juice in it.

    ¡°Survival camping teaches you a tonne of shit,¡± Jye replied, nonchalantly.

    I jutted my jaw at the PC. ¡°You think it¡¯d bring the computers back online?¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°The patient files.¡±

    The giant¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°To access Wren¡¯s history?¡±

    I nodded. If Makris was being honest, it¡¯d be easy to prove. Her file would detail what she¡¯d been here to treat and how long. She had said she wasn¡¯t ten, but I couldn¡¯t imagine her being much older or younger. But if she¡¯d been in a coma for some time or if her life prior to ending up in the hospital had somehow stunted her growth¡­ she could be in her teens. We couldn¡¯t know unless we checked, especially with Makris playing gatekeeper.

    Also, other than Wren¡¯s background, I also wanted to know who else we''d picked up here. I didn''t like that my inventory was slowly becoming a mass grave of anonymous individuals. Once we got the computers back up, I had intended on asking Axel to try and log in. There was no way they wouldn¡¯t be password protected, but he knew his ways around PCs.

    Jye didn¡¯t reply for a moment, their soft gaze absorbing the snoring form in their arms. They frowned. ¡°Damn. Oops. My bad, man. Looks like I forgot how to work emergency generators.¡±

    ¡°You just, right now, forgot?¡±

    The redhead met my gaze, their expression steady and solemn. They didn''t answer my question and instead said, ¡°Makris said it was for the better for her not to know. You dredging that up¡­ Nothing good will come of it, dude.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not up to you or him to decide.¡± I shook my head.

    After letting out a short huff of breath, Jye replied, ¡°Both of us went through something as kids, man. If you were in her shoes¡­ wouldn¡¯t you wanna forget it all, if you could?¡± They didn''t elaborate, but I knew what they were implying.

    If Jye could forget their past, they would.

    It wasn¡¯t the first time Jye had presented such alarming thoughts. Rather, their reaction was completely within character for them. That didn''t mean they had the right to make this choice for Wren. No one did except for her. Even if memories were painful, they were the building blocks of our identities. Without them, who were we?

    She at least had to be given the choice.

    Before I could voice my thoughts, Axel replied for me, ¡°That¡¯s where you''re way off mark, Jye. He¡¯d prefer to suffer his whole life than lose a single moment of Chrissie.¡±

    ¡°I¡­¡± I faltered, failing to create any retort or follow up.

    Axel¡¯s words were scathing. They were rude. And they were¡­ true? I¡¯d still never truly moved on from her. Had I¡ª Had I been suffering my whole life because of her loss? I wasn¡¯t suffering. I hadn¡¯t been suffering. No. That wasn¡¯t right. Suffering was the wrong word for it.

    ¡°Have you considered that maybe whatever Wren¡¯s been through is even worse? That maybe she¡¯s been put through the ringer?¡± Jye asked sadly, looking at the girl they held.

    The severity of it all didn''t matter. Jye was wrong. This wasn''t the right way to handle things. Injustice burned in my gut. ¡°You¡¯re taking away her autonomy. She doesn¡¯t even know what she doesn¡¯t know!¡±

    In my peripheral vision, Axel stiffened slightly, but it was Jye¡¯s reaction that stole my attention.

    ¡°I¡¯m with Makris on this¡­ You¡¯re gonna have to find someone else to get those files, man.¡± Jye sighed.

    It was the second time they¡¯d expressed judgement towards me, but the first that they¡¯d intentionally gone against me. Both times had been in regards to Wren. It¡¯s not like I hadn¡¯t been expecting it. But after so long I¡¯d begun to feel that the redhead respected my opinion, my lead. Unlike Axel who listened to me because of our past, the relationship I¡¯d formed with Jye felt based on trust and acknowledgement of personal reasoning. The betrayal I felt was shocking.

    Perhaps seeing this emotion leak out onto my face, Jye blanched and muttered, ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Footsteps sounded from the hallway, and as if cued for peak drama, Tam and Gigi finally arrived. Their curious gazes swung between Jye and me, taking in the tense atmosphere.

    ¡°I spy with my own little eye, something like UST,¡± Tam said sweetly in a sing-song voice.

    ¡°Shhh,¡± Jye hushed, gesturing with their head to Wren.

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about this later,¡± I said. I was surprised by how cold my voice sounded in my own ears. Their behaviour shouldn''t have shocked me, but it frustrated me. I understood where the redhead was coming from. But they weren''t thinking clearly, their rationale clouded by their own past.

    Even if someone¡¯s past held pain, they had the right to it.

    We left the hospital with our inventories packed with a mishmash of medical supplies and miscellaneous items that we''d thought might be useful in the coming days. If our brush with losing our main healer had taught us anything, it was that so long as we had some respite between matches, we could come back from pretty much any injury with enough time. It wouldn¡¯t be pretty, and it would hurt like hell, but anything that we could use to prevent our deaths and aid us in that recovery was beneficial.

    Wren stayed asleep on our way to the CBD Dungeon. Clearly the past day had utterly worn her out.

    The CBD Dungeon, which had spawned directly in the centre square of Queen Street Mall, lodged between a Hungry Jacks and several telco storefronts, was probably only about another leisurely hour on foot.

    We¡¯d make it there before midday.

    It hadn''t been cleared as far as we knew. Though it did kind of suck that we''d stopped receiving updates regarding Dungeons. The more information we had, the easier it was to strategize about our plan of action. The one thing we did know was that the Gates remained even after a clear. From the sounds of the Dungeon Commentary, the final Challenge was reset and the whole thing just kept on going. Players could enter and attempt Dungeons ad infinitum. I guess we could even replay the same Dungeon if we really wanted.

    It did beg the question: was there anything to stop us from handing over an old school walkthrough to get other players to speedrun the Dungeons? If it weren''t for the fact we were all competing to survive I might''ve given the idea more thought. But the Deities were relying on everyone''s natural sense of competitiveness to prop us against each other in a fight for our lives. Had it not been for our need to overcome everyone else''s speed I probably would''ve lent a hand.

    But as the world''s average player level progressed towards 10, we''d been racing to catch up. Still¡­ we weren''t assured to even reach the culling if humanity didn''t entertain the Deities enough. Maybe I did need to give the idea of assisting others more consideration.

    It was a disgusting balancing act we¡¯d have to keep in mind going forward.

    Don¡¯t get us cancelled, but don¡¯t let us get outshone.

    Suddenly I understood how people on Big Brother must¡¯ve felt.

    After discussing this, we''d all agreed, apart from the sleeping Wren, that we needed to clear Dungeons for the best rewards and the most experience. Even if we could walk in and out, as the CBD Dungeon allowed, clearing was the more beneficial course of action. Reluctantly, I¡¯d brought back up how abilities were passed on, and there was a brief heated exchange between the five of us which came to the conclusion that unless a party or individual was willfully standing in our way, we''d avoid further killing, despite the bevvy of rewards that came with claiming another''s life.

    Tam wasn''t exactly happy with that outcome. And surprisingly Gigi also voiced xir discontent. Jye was more chill with the idea, and I realised I hadn''t ever asked them how they were dealing with the whole thing. Our less than amicable conversation in the hospital lobby had left me feeling like I hadn¡¯t considered their feelings enough.

    Out of the six of us, only Wren and I technically hadn''t yet taken a life. Though the girl might''ve argued her inability to save one counted. The idea that my actions had inadvertently caused so many deaths (eight) already did not sit well with me. But maybe Jye was able to take the killing more calmly because of who they were.

    However, the last time I''d come to that same conclusion, Carrie had killed herself. Making a mental note, I decided I''d check in with the obstinate redhead when the opportunity arose. They''d been making one too many concerning comments in the past week for me to properly sideline. It could just be that¡¯s who they were, but I wanted to err on the side of caution. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d be able to handle it if¡­ No, it didn¡¯t bear thinking about.

    Axel, surprisingly, supported my choice to stay our hands from murder. I''d have thought he would''ve been all for it, which would''ve put the vote at three to two, with ¡°try to not kill¡± somehow losing out. When I''d asked why he''d agreed, he''d just smiled and said that he was getting tired of it. Whatever that meant.

    The blond didn''t strike me as someone that felt guilty about defending himself or fighting for what he believed in. If anything that''s what I lik¡ª It was an admirable trait to have, to have confidence in your convictions.

    I didn''t know enough about the granting of XP, but it seemed pretty obvious to me that the first time a party completed a Dungeon it''d be more satisfying than the second or the third and so on and so forth. Just like watching a movie for the first time would have the biggest impact. As such, Just Friends had ultimately decided to get as many first clears as we could. That was why we¡¯d chosen the CBD Dungeon as our next challenge.

    Since our last battles had been sudden and without any ability to prepare, we¡¯d discussed whether or not we should rest up properly. With the ticking clock, I don¡¯t think any of us would¡¯ve been getting a solid sleep with the very real threat of tutorial termination looming above our heads. But Axel suggested we do some recon before making any concrete plans. It was a shockingly decent idea.

    And so, we were heading now to do surveillance before trying to enter the Gate.

    While we walked, and really I was getting bored of it and was considering ¡°claiming¡± a bicycle when I could, I mentally ran through what I could remember of what Wren had said about the CBD Dungeon. Snow biome. Large furry monsters. It made Nabu''s Challenge seem like a walk in the park, well, other players aside at least.

    And if I could trust whatever Anon123 was saying in the Dungeon 16 Commentary, then ¡°the small one¡± they''d spoken about had referred to Wren, and that meant the CBD Dungeon was number 11. The person who''d first entered it was¡­ Adrien something? Damn, it had been so long ago. I couldn''t properly recall all the details, but he''d entered it quite early.

    That he hadn''t cleared it was testament to how difficult the Dungeon might be. The man was probably dead by now. Perhaps we could take him home too. Man, I hoped no one was getting the wrong impression with how many bodies Just Friends was picking up. Then again, public perception wasn¡¯t something we really had to worry about in the apocalypse. Only personal opinion mattered.

    That said, I was glad for the generous amount of baby wipes we¡¯d swiped from the NICU ward in the hospital. We shared them as we walked, scrubbing ourselves of all the grime, blood, sweat, and tears we¡¯d accumulated over the past week. The wipes didn¡¯t replace a shower, but they made me feel a tonne lighter. Sometimes all you really needed was to be refreshed. The rest of the party appreciated it too, and this may have just been me projecting, but with us looking more groomed, we seemed more like a team than a randomly assorted mass of spare parts.

    Surprisingly, Jye appeared to be familiar with the area, and Axel and I explained where the Dungeon had spawned, so they took lead. With the rest of us only vaguely aware of our bearings, we followed behind and spoke further about our plan. Regardless of what happened, the first thing we needed to deal with was the party camping out the front of the CBD Dungeon, demanding payment from those wanting to enter. It wasn''t particularly fair to anyone, but it made a certain amount of sense.

    Had the same group taken over Dungeon 16¡¯s Gate since Carrie had abandoned it when we''d returned with her daughter? It would be the smart thing to do, if they had someone watching. But that was only if they didn''t know what was actually happening behind all the mechanics of the Event.

    Now that I thought about it¡­ Was it our responsibility to inform others?

    To let them know this was all one big reality TV show and we were the contestants aiming for the prize?

    Would anyone even believe us?

 Chapter Thirty-Three | Seized

    Wren finally woke up around about the halfway point in our trek and unnecessarily apologised several times. Once she¡¯d been reassured none of us took any insult from what had happened, I tried to convince her to spend a lot of her points on attributes.

    However, while discussing her upgrade pathway, every now and again, she¡¯d say ¡°Makris thinks¡­¡± or ¡°That¡¯s not what Makris said,¡± to my absolute annoyance. I felt like a divorced parent and Wren was my child on a call with my ex partner. It was an absolutely unrewarding hassle. Why couldn¡¯t have the man stayed silent? There¡¯d been no problem since we¡¯d met Wren until he¡¯d revealed himself!

    Or maybe all along Makris had been judging us, whispering his opinions in Wren¡¯s mind?

    I didn¡¯t even know if there was anything we could do to get Makris¡¯s errant soul out of her. Could we perform an exorcism? Was he actually dead? Or was it more like¡­ he existed in another dimension and his only tangible link to ours was through Wren?

    It was like getting another Tam without the reassurance of having the [Collar of Control]. Technically, Makris could say whatever he wanted to convince Wren to agree with him. We¡¯d never know. But the girl was smarter than that, wasn¡¯t she?

    Thinking about it, I couldn¡¯t even say how much of what I knew about her was Makris in her ear or her own personality. Either way, the sudden appearance of him was more of a risk than an advantage, especially considering that I was almost certain Nabu had somehow sponsored him and not her.

    Gigi and Tam had both said she should¡¯ve gotten a title from Nabu. But she hadn¡¯t. Which led me to believe one thing and one thing only. Makris had somehow stolen it from her.

    I would¡¯ve liked to have known why, but that would mean revealing the man in her head had less than positive designs for her. Or maybe he was doing it to keep her safe, just like he was with her memories? Though none of us could be sure what he was preventing her from remembering. It was just as equally possible that he was denying her the right to recall nothing damaging at all.

    How was I to know?

    I had to trust that Makris wasn¡¯t evil, and that I wasn¡¯t a terrible judge of character.

    One of these things was relatively impossible to prove. The other I had somewhat middling to poor evidence for.

    Axel informed me he¡¯d mostly proc¡¯d further into DEX as well as an assortment of other attributes to support him. I¡¯d asked the party to hold off on picking from the abilities whilst we were unsure of what awaited us at the CBD Dungeon and to keep around 300 credits in their system. I think Tam listened to me. None of the abilities were missing when I checked.

    Gigi had further buffed xir STR and miscellaneous supporting attributes and had agreed about not choosing further abilities mostly because xe couldn¡¯t learn any more anyway.

    This was when Wren proudly announced, ¡°Oh, you can¡¯t? I¡¯ve got six empty slots!¡±

    I stared at her in sheer awe after that. The whole team had. Six empty slots. Which meant she could learn eight in one class. Therefore¡­ that was sixteen over her two classes. I didn¡¯t even think we had that many skills available for us to purchase.

    But thinking of Wren¡¯s two classes brought up something I¡¯d been meaning to address.

    ¡°By the way, Wren, do you prefer being an assistive-type support or a debilitating-type support?¡± I asked. ¡°It might be better to just stick with one of your classes unless there''s an emergency. Like, main one of your classes instead of swapping equally. Considering you only level up one at a time¡­¡±

    She frowned in concentration, and I finally recognised the look as Makris talking to her.

    ¡°We both think that¡¯s a good idea,¡± she replied with a nod. ¡°I think I¡¯d like to assist more, so I¡¯ll main my [Synergist] class.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s pretty whack how Wren¡¯s class levelling works. Which would even count for the culling?¡± Jye asked, green eyes mildly curious.

    I shrugged. ¡°The sum level above our party window changes when Wren swaps between them, so I¡¯d hazard a guess it¡¯d be whatever class she has active when the time comes.¡±

    Then to see if my words held any credence, I turned to check with Gigi. Xir expression said xe had never come across such a situation so xe wouldn¡¯t be able to weigh in. Tam had long since decided to walk ahead once our strategy discussions had finished so there was no point in calling after her.

    ¡°Makris says that he thinks that¡¯s wrong.¡±

    Trying not to funnel my animosity toward Makris at Wren, I pinched the bridge of my nose, and I replied, ¡°He says that, does he?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s saying that since he¡¯s the [Scourge], it¡¯ll always be [Synergist] when the time comes.¡±

    Where was he getting that from? His body had disappeared before the Dungeons activated. Had he even gotten a chance to see his screen? Then again, I''d had access to the system when I''d been in Twilight. It wasn''t beyond belief that even existing as a tumour in Wren''s brain that he could see his.

    And if he¡¯d been the one to save her from the CBD Dungeon the first time when she¡¯d lost consciousness¡­ that would¡¯ve meant at the same time he¡¯d first taken over her body, her second class had appeared. But was it just a coincidence her trait had appeared then too? If Makris hadn¡¯t controlled her unconscious form, would she still have had the [Mercurial] trait?

    For awhile now I¡¯d been feeling like a lot of traits were based on intrinsic qualities of the person themselves. Axel¡¯s traits for example. [Swift Footed] could¡¯ve stemmed from his sprinting background, and perhaps the trait had only compounded an already existing element about him. His¡­ uh, other trait as well appeared to be related to his personality and character too. If that was the case, could Wren¡¯s terrible unknown past be linked to hers? Or maybe it¡¯d appeared as a result of Makris shrouding her memories, especially since without her life experiences Wren could very well be an entirely different person.

    I let out a sigh. I could drive myself crazy thinking about the reasoning behind everything. Maybe, just maybe, all abilities and traits were absolutely random, and I was making mountains out of mole hills. Which reminded me, I should try to see if I could borrow other people''s traits sometime, since I''d been able to [Channel] Gigi''s.

    ¡°All right, well, I¡¯m not sure I agree with his explanation, but either way it fits with your plan to stay [Synergist], so I¡¯m okay with it.¡±

    She gave me a sweet smile, her focus falling to about a metre in front of her. Her attention had clearly turned to the system and checking out her stats. Maybe I¡¯d ask for her to share them with me later. Though I''m sure Makris would have something to say about that. Eugh, I¡¯d only just met him, and he was already becoming a pain in the neck. I just hoped he had good intentions toward Wren.

    Every now and then she¡¯d mumble something, and it made me realise just how much she must have been speaking to Makris and hadn¡¯t shown it.

    Increasing the length of my gait to approach Jye, whose long legs could out step me any day of the week, I found the giant was still oddly silent after their question regarding Wren¡¯s levelling.

    This was as good a time as any to bring up the topic of their concerning attitude. I wasn¡¯t the best conversationalist, but I figured a straightforward approach couldn¡¯t hurt. Especially since the last time I''d tried to be more tactful when I¡¯d confronted Axel about his behaviour, I¡¯d ended up making him cry.

    ¡°So¡­ you all right?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Aw, yeah. Existing,¡± they said, wiping at the sweat on their brow. The midday sun was glaring at this time of year. I suppose the one consolation of the system was that even if we got sunburned, it¡¯d heal quickly. It didn¡¯t stop the discomfort of the heat though. ¡°You know how it be, man.¡±

    Okay, maybe I needed to push a little harder. ¡°You don¡¯t wanna talk about our convo at the hospital?¡±

    ¡°Not especially keen on that, no.¡±

    I gritted my teeth. You could drag a horse to water¡­ ¡°I won''t force you. But I¡¯m here, if you wanna talk.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t count on me cashing that in, man. But thanks.¡±

    Attempting a reassuring smile, I slapped them a few times on the back. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±

    All right. Mission failure. Nice work, Lee.

    As I let my stride return to normal, I found Axel hovering by me, the smallest crinkle to the edge of his eyes. It was obvious he was mulling over how to approach me about something. I couldn¡¯t even begin to fathom what it might be. I slowed my pace a bit to put some distance between Wren and us, slotting us at the back of the party.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°Yeah?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°Yeah, what?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, what do you want?¡±

    His lips pursed, caught in the action. ¡°Well. I had been thinking. Before the whole ¡®Wren¡¯s a man thing,¡¯ we¡¯d kind of been walking in a relatively unique way. You and I, that is,¡± he began, an intentional airy casualness tone to his voice. ¡°And you seemed mostly okay with that. It got me wondering, perhaps¡­ perchance, you¡¯d be open to exploring alternate possible¨C¡±

    ¡°Jesus christ, Axel, spit it out.¡±

    ¡°I just want to hold hands,¡± he murmured, his eyes darting away, the slightest blush on the highs of his cheeks.

    Oh.

    ¡°Oh,¡± I replied, mindlessly. I echoed back what he¡¯d said like a bad automated phone receptionist. Sorry, could you repeat that? Did you just say, ¡°You want to hold my hand.¡±?

    Before he could respond to my inane, useless comment, as if she had a sixth sense, Tam whipped around, squinting at us in the distance. That she hadn¡¯t just ran off was a miracle in itself. Who knew what counted as ¡°helping when necessary¡± when we were out of the Dungeons? She stared at me and Axel for a moment before seemingly grumbling under her breath and turning back to watch where she was walking.

    Taking that as some sort of cue, the blond stepped in closer, dropping his voice. ¡°You can say no.¡±

    ¡°I know I can,¡± I whispered back, annoyed.

    ¡°Well, I just wanted you to think about it.¡± He flourished his hands, as if performing a feat of magic. ¡°Put it out there.¡±

    I guess this was Axel¡¯s attempt at closing the distance between us. He knew how he felt about me and was aware I was struggling to figure out my feelings towards him. Perhaps he was hedging his bets by increasing our physical intimacy? I mean, I couldn¡¯t be mad about it, really. If I were him, I wouldn¡¯t have known how to deal with me either. Again, I found myself not wanting to say no and yet still hesitating.

    The idea of holding hands with Axel didn¡¯t seem awful.

    ¡°What are we, in kindergarten?¡± I said back instead, very aware of what accepting this request might mean to him.

    His cheeks had gone redder still. Some part of me definitely got something out of this expression on him. I wasn¡¯t in the mental space to examine that reaction properly.

    ¡°Mocking me? Really?¡± Sincere eyes met mine. ¡°I¡¯m trying to respect your boundaries, man.¡±

    It surprised me that I found his reaction endearing. Despite his defensive tone, he really was doing his best. It was almost cute. I lamented the pinkness fading from his face, as he continued to stare, pinning me under his gaze.

    Fuck me.

    Throwing my hands up in frustration and surrender, I announced, ¡°Fine! Hold away!¡±

    I offered my right one to him.

    A gleeful smile brightened his face, and it was like the sun rising. The sheer earnest happiness radiating out of him nearly knocked me off my feet. For a moment, looking at his overjoyed expression, I wondered why I hadn¡¯t said yes sooner, a strange warmth filling my chest. I''d probably have done anything to have seen¨C

    His hand slipped into mine, and, strangely, he brought them both up to his face.

    Then, without any warning, Axel kissed my knuckles lightly, barely brushing his lips against my skin, his breath warm. I was so taken aback by the action, I wasn¡¯t able to respond immediately.

    ¡°Axel!¡± I eventually hissed, tugging our hands down, irritation thrumming through me.

    The sensation of his lips lingered on my fingers. It wasn¡¯t terrible but underneath the fading feeling, there was guilt. For anyone else, what he¡¯d done probably would¡¯ve been scintillating. Yet I¡­ It wasn¡¯t that I had disliked it, it just made me feel lacking, unable to respond or feel the way someone should to such a display of affection.

    In my search for someone, anyone, who might want a romantic relationship, I¡¯d long ago resigned myself to the fact that intimate touch of any sort with those you were seeing was considered a running step toward sex.

    It was why I¡¯d hesitated to even hold Axel''s hand.

    It was like signing my name on a contract I could never learn how to read. Not that sex always happened or was even on the cards, but it was the hint, the natural performance of that physical want of it, which I¡¯d learned was the general purpose of these touches. For me, who couldn''t fathom the need, I enjoyed the touches for the connection they provided, but had since forsaken them.

    Because I found that these caresses were like a beacon to most people that displayed your sexual desire, almost like boasting of your want to them. They were a manifestation of how the subject of your amorous affections made you crave them; small pieces of intimacy that said, ¡°Look, I desire you and your body.¡± They were an expectation, an ask and an answer.

    To allosexual people, it was obvious, their mother tongue. But for me¡­

    The blond, unaware of the thoughts rushing through my mind, grinned triumphantly. ¡°I¡¯m but a man, Lee! Give me an inch, and I¡¯ll steal a kiss.¡±

    I¡¯d learned to read the signs, be wary of them, because I¡¯d trained myself to, because if you don¡¯t, you get into weird situations and dates that presume a little too much about you when you hold their hand, so you know how to count to the exact number of seconds of touch that wouldn¡¯t lead someone on and also conversely wouldn''t assume you disliked them. A balancing act of parsing a language of longing you could only understand through a dictionary even after a lifetime of study.

    Nothing within me reacted the way Axel¡¯s kiss had been intended to inspire. There was no spark for reciprocation of want. I never wanted Axel like that. I could never want anyone like that.

    It was a churning nausea in my gut.

    ¡°You¡¯ve butchered that saying,¡± I mumbled back, only just conscious of our hands swinging between us.

    Though his hand was warm and his hold gentle, as we walked in silence for a while, I simmered over these thoughts.

    I couldn''t even react right. I never could when it came to Axel, but this¡­ This was worse. Axel deserved someone who¡¯d be able to reciprocate his desires, like Killian or the dozen of men who''d shared his bed. Even if he said he wanted me, he couldn¡¯t possibly understand what it really meant to be with me. For me to not be able to give him properly what he wanted.

    Locking him into a relationship with me wouldn¡¯t be good for him. He was used to being sexually desired, to being wanted in that way. For his kisses to be understood and returned in kind.

    I couldn''t do that. I couldn¡¯t be good for him. Did it even matter what I wanted? I should just reject him for his sake. Maybe that¡¯s why he¡¯d been expecting that reaction from me all along. He¡¯d known I¡¯d¨C

    Axel squeezed my hand, drawing me out of my thoughts. As I met his gaze, I noticed he appeared apologetic. Huh.

    ¡°Sorry. Won¡¯t do that again,¡± he said.

    I blinked. An apology? For what could be seen as such a small thing? And from Axel, no less?

    I mean, it obviously hadn''t been unimportant to me, but for Axel, a kiss on the hand had to be minor in comparison to other similar tokens of signage.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re not really into all that stuff, but I was¨C¡± He cleared his throat, a reproachful look bending his brows. ¡°I¡¯ll ask next time.¡± He frowned, possibly at my baffled expression. Then he added, a little panicked, ¡°Not that I¡¯m assuming there¡¯ll be a next time or anything.¡±

    Truly I was an awful person. Making him jump through hoops and repeat these incantations three. I honestly couldn¡¯t be worth this. Even if he loved me.

    And yet¡­ this was Axel.

    ¡°Why¡¯d you do it then?¡± I asked, the words spilling forth before I could stop them.

    I don¡¯t know what answer I was expecting. How did one even answer this question when they weren¡¯t aware of what their own actions innately meant? It was stupid of me to ask.

    His head tilted in confusion. The response he delivered was matter-of-fact, an undeniable flat truth. He might as well have been reading an article from a newspaper.

    ¡°I was happy.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­ it?¡± I replied, dumbfounded.

    For a brief second, Axel¡¯s brow furrowed deeper. As the silence stretched an eternity between us, an understanding dawned in the depths of his eyes. A mischievous grin stretched over his lips. ¡°What, were you hoping for something else?¡±

    A flush of embarrassment ran up my neck. Had I been wrong? He¡¯d flirted with other men in similar ways, I¡¯d definitely seen it, and they¡¯d led to the one outcome generally desired with such an action. How could I have been wrong? Those types of physical intimacy were always hidden codes. And every time I¡¯d seen Axel do it, it had meant that!

    I stumbled to respond, ¡°I¨C You¨C¡±

    He snorted. ¡°You know, sometimes I wanna touch you, just to feel you.¡±

    This¡­ this fucking guy.

    I was speechless.

    For someone to desire my touch for the simple mindless want of me and nothing else ulterior? That just wasn¡¯t¡­ Platonic and familial love had similar shows of affections; warm embraces, kisses goodbye. But in the romantic quadrant, it felt like it was impossible for these things to exist without becoming something else. You didn¡¯t just kiss someone you were romantically attracted to. There was the bodily motive underneath. Sex was always part of the equation, even when it wasn¡¯t. Especially when it wasn¡¯t, because then it was teasing the absence of it.

    It was a myth, a disappointment, to expect anything else.

    And yet here came Axel, toppling down my lifelong learnings in under ten words. He loved me, romantically, he¡¯d made this very clear. He was not asexual like me, as I¡¯d seen quite the proof for over our friendship. But he was saying his affectionate touch wasn¡¯t always sexual, wasn¡¯t suggestive, wasn¡¯t wanting in that way?

    It was like someone had drilled deep into my subconscious and cracked open the shell beneath.

    The idea that Axel had sought my touch, to touch me, because he just wanted it, and not as a precursor to signal something more, obliterated a barrier I hadn¡¯t even known I¡¯d built. The tears pricked at my eyes before I could stop them. Using my free hand, I wiped at them quickly, hoping Axel hadn¡¯t seen. This was an overreaction. I shouldn¡¯t have been fucking crying.

    But I¡¯d never expected to hear those words in my life.

    I hadn''t replied, and Axel sought my gaze.

    ¡°Like now,¡± he said.

    Swallowing back the dryness of my mouth, I asked, ¡°Like now what?¡±

    ¡°Can I kiss you?¡±

    Using our held hands, he guided me toward him.

    My heart stopped in my chest.

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Baz Smith a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    What the fuck.

    Divine intervention really had some sort of timing.

 Chapter Thirty-Four | Game Recognise Game

    ¡°Rejecting that,¡± I muttered under my breath as I gathered my thoughts.

    So that¡¯s how Deities offered sponsorships outside of the Dungeon. Without any aplomb or decorum. I didn¡¯t even recognise the name. Absalom. It had to be a minor god. Or a foreign god. Either way, it was likely Anon123. There were no other Deities that had shown any interest in sponsoring someone from our party. But why had this one chosen me? What had I done that had interested them?

    I guess none of that mattered since I wouldn¡¯t be accepting their sponsorship. We already had one weaker god tied to Wren-Makris and I wasn¡¯t about to make that same mistake. Without any information exchanged or knowing what this Absalom could do for me, I wasn¡¯t trusting my life to a stranger, albeit an all-powerful one, if I could avoid it.

    Rejected.

    ¡°Ouch, though I appreciate the candidness,¡± Axel replied. ¡°I never usually get the vibe wrong.¡± As I wondered what vibe I¡¯d been giving off, he paused and then asked, ¡°Or are you not allowed to kiss?¡±

    The sponsorship request disappeared from my window, and Axel¡¯s query rammed into my grey matter.

    I stared, sure I was hearing things. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Is it okay for asexuals to kiss people?¡±

    My eyeballs nearly exploded out of their sockets.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a fucking cult, Axel. I haven¡¯t been sworn to a vow of celibacy.¡± I took a breath and let the anger cool. I had no right to be mad about this. He was asking out of ignorance. The general knowledge people had about asexuality was quite low. Still. You¡¯d think if you thought your best friend and crush was aro, you¡¯d have at least googled it once or twice. I pulled my thoughts together. Then, feeling like a school teacher, I explained, ¡°There¡¯s a wide gamut of people under the a-spec umbrella. Not everyone feels the same way about everything. It¡¯s an identity, not a covenant. So what I¡¯d be comfortable with could be completely different to someone else with the same label. Making out, sex, masturbation; it all depends on the person. So for some asexual people, yes, kissing is okay for them.¡±

    He mulled this over for a moment. ¡°And how do you feel about it? Kissing?¡±

    Of course he would press about this. It was Axel, after all. I let out a long sigh. Whatever. If he really wanted this, wanted me, we¡¯d have to talk about it sooner or later. He deserved to know my feelings about this topic if he wanted to pursue us any further. And it was better to get it over now while we still had relative privacy. Gigi was walking along with Wren, and it appeared both of them were animatedly discussing something, but I couldn¡¯t hear them. That meant Axel and I couldn¡¯t be eavesdropped on.

    I steeled myself.

    ¡°Kissing or kissing?¡± I queried.

    ¡°The latter.¡±

    It would be, if it were Axel, wouldn¡¯t it? Not that I was judging. Just that, historically, Axel was¡­ well, quite an avid player in the field. Still, if I was rejecting his, I figured I¡¯d properly give him an honest answer.

    ¡°Generally, not in favour.¡±

    ¡°Generally?¡± he asked.

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    Insistent bastard. I rejected it again.

    ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± I tried to find the words. ¡°I don¡¯t get anything out of it.¡±

    The blond¡¯s head tilted, obviously not really understanding. ¡°What¡¯s that supposed to mean?¡±

    How did I describe this so he¡¯d get it?

    Taking a breath, I began, ¡°Well, for me, making out is just wet, and it has a weird taste and texture, and the logistics of it are just awkward.¡± I paused, and then struck by inspiration I continued, ¡°You know what it feels like? Like mixing raw minced beef to make meatballs. Just warmer and wetter. And in my mouth.¡±

    He made a face. ¡°Have you been kissing the right people?¡±

    I shot him a look that could¡¯ve flayed skin.

    ¡°Are you hearing yourself right now?¡±

    He chuckled a little, abashed. ¡°All right, you got me there. But I¡¯m just trying to understand what we can¨C¡± He held out his hands to stop the severe amount of fury that he no doubt could see lighting my eyes. ¡°I know you¡¯re still figuring things out, how you feel or don¡¯t feel about me, but I''d like to¡­¡± He frowned. ¡°...convince you.¡±

    ¡°Convince me?¡± I echoed, wondering what manner of acephobic micro-aggression would next spill from his lips.

    ¡°To love me back.¡±

    Huh.

    That was worse. I felt a migraine coming on and pinched at the bridge of my nose. ¡°That¡¯s not the way it works.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m very persuasive.¡±

    ¡°Well, you sound insane.¡±

    ¡°I might be. I probably am.¡± There was a very brief dip into that murky grief, and my concern peaked, but then he winked. ¡°Crazy about you.¡±

    I groaned.  ¡°Congratulations, I took ten psychic damage from that.¡±

    Stoically, he nodded, running a hand over his chin in consideration. ¡°Yeah, me too. As I was saying it, I was regretting it.¡±

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    Come on. Fuck off!

    ¡°Corny line aside,¡± Axel said, and he lifted our hands up between us. His earnest gaze held mine captive. ¡°I want to do what you want. Anything you¡¯re comfortable with. If holding hands is the only thing you ever want, my hand will always be open for you.¡±

    The tenderness in his slight smile held too much weight.

    Axel, whose moans of pleasure overlapping with another¡¯s I¡¯d heard through our shared apartment walls, was really just okay holding hands for the rest of his life? It beggared belief. I could accept that not all his touches were sexual or expectant, but he was not made the same way as me. It wasn¡¯t just that he desired sex, he liked to be desired too. Yes, maybe this Axel was different to the Axel I¡¯d lived with, he¡¯d changed, whatever, but this was simply unimaginable.

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I love you, you idiot,¡± he growled. ¡°Fucking hell.¡± He let the frustration on his face fade, but his tone was still irate. ¡°How do I get this through your thick skull? Making you happy makes me happy and when I¡¯m feeling good I want to make you feel good.¡± He was glaring at me now, not even embarrassed with how he¡¯d managed to quintessentially boil down his feelings towards me into one sentence.

    The worst part was it had made sense.

    Was it really so simple as that? Because, yes, I preferred it when he was happy too. But could he be happy with me? He seemed sure of it. Could I be okay with knowing that was enough for him? I didn¡¯t know. It was our conversation outside of Tentworld all over again. The always looming question of what Axel would be losing to be with me, to make me happy.

    Though maybe in the end that was what every relationship was, regardless of its lean. Asking yourself again and again, every day, if you could make another happy. Perhaps there was no final answer. If Axel was fine, content, with holding my hand, and it didn¡¯t lead to anything else, then¡­

    I sighed. ¡°You don¡¯t have to ask.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Next time you want to hold hands. You don''t have to ask.¡±

    His brows shot up, a delighted smile curling his lips. He really was too damn pretty. If I was honest with myself, seeing that I¡¯d elicited this joy caused a warmth to spread through me. This expression on him¡­ It hurt seeing him upset, seeing him broken down, and I wanted to stop those emotions from overcoming him, but deeper down, just like Axel had said, making him happy made me happy. The feeling reached my face, and I found myself smiling back against my will.

    Axel¡¯s eyes sparkled. ¡°See? I am winning you over.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get ahead of yourself.¡±

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    Deity Absalom offers Player Lee Bastion Castillo a sponsorship. Accept | Reject

    ¡°Jesus fucking christ,¡± I exclaimed, pulling my hands free to clutch my head in an attempt to deal with the bombardment of the notifications. Slowly I went through and rejected them all. Was the Deity bad at taking a no?

    ¡°You good?¡±Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    Unable to ignore the god anymore, with a groan, I raised my voice and called out, ¡°Any of you familiar with the name Absalom?¡±

    The party stopped in their tracks and turned to face Axel and me, confusion etched on their faces. It was a bit out of the blue, so I wasn¡¯t anticipating any resounding answers, but their vacant stares did not fill me with reassurance.

    ¡°Hello? ¡®Absalom¡¯? Ringing any bells?¡±

    From far up ahead, Tam shouted back, ¡°Sounds Jewish to me, sunshine.¡± Well, at least she¡¯d answered. It was more than I was expecting. Not that I hadn¡¯t been able to pick that myself. Better than nothing, though. Perhaps she really was warming up to the crew. Yeah, and pigs were flying.

    Wren added, ¡°Makris says it¡¯s a pretty dated name.¡±

    Again, nothing I didn¡¯t know. I glanced at Gigi, but xe shook xir head. Not a god from the world of the Linnikians, at least. Which meant it might be a minor god from some mythology unknown to me.

    ¡°Absalom. You fully sure?¡± Jye asked, surprisingly, thought bending their brow.

    ¡°Yeah, no mistaking it.¡± I¡¯d read it about a million times now. ¡°You know it?¡±

    They nodded. ¡°I think its from the Tanakh.¡± This earned them blank expressions party round. The redhead crossed their buff arms. They guffawed. ¡°You guys don¡¯t read much, huh? It¡¯s the Hebrew Bible. Though I guess technically Absalom is Old Testament too.¡±

    ¡°I thought that was called the Torah?¡± I replied. Raised as Christian until my father finally gave up on attending Sunday church since it was a decent drive from our property, and now agnostic, I was about as familiar with the Hebrew holy texts as I was with the one I¡¯d been christened under.

    The giant let out a disappointed huff. ¡°Dude, the Torah is just one scripture of the Tanakh. But¡­ I don¡¯t remember much about Absalom. The word count is high.¡± They pursed their lips in reflection. ¡°I think Absalom was, like, a prince that swore revenge on the man who,¡± their gaze flicked momentarily over to Wren, and perhaps remembering my warning about her being too young for some topics, continued with, ¡°uh, mistreated his sister and ended up losing hardcore after attempting a coup. Why the sudden interest?¡±

    Bizarre for someone from Judaism to appear as a Deity. So far it¡¯d been, well, we only knew of Nabu, but everything seemed like it was more mythology related. Using a currently practised religion was very odd. Then again, maybe the name was just a coincidence. Sometimes there were two etymological roots for a word that started off in entirely different places. Absalom¡¯s name could be just like that. And considering that the Deity Commentary was ¡°translated and localised,¡± maybe even god''s names were too?

    Though, what Jye had said about Absalom¡¯s sister¡­ It struck a little too close to home. It could be the reason why Anon123 became interested in me in the first place, if that was actually his history. Maybe he felt kinship towards me after hearing we¡¯d been through something similar?

    ¡°Why the hell do you know anything about Judaism?¡± Axel asked, baffled enough for the rest of us.

    It was a reasonable question. It didn¡¯t seem a very Jye thing to do, this was true. For someone whose first thought of an all-powerful wish was to scrub the world of all religion, it wasn¡¯t really on brand. I spoke for all of us when I say we were waiting on bated breath for the redhead¡¯s response.

    ¡°Dude, I¡¯d like to see you cut off your family and not do a little soul searching,¡± the giant replied. ¡°I ended up finding it elsewhere, but that didn¡¯t stop me having a peep at others¡¯ solutions.¡±

    ¡°How many religions was that?¡± Wren inquired, probably on behalf of Makris.

    Jye¡¯s green eyes narrowed in thought. ¡°Pretty much all of them.¡±

    ¡°Well, truss me up and fill me with stuffing, Sasquatch,¡± Tam said, walking over. ¡°I didn¡¯t even think you had a soul.¡± She slapped a hand onto redhead¡¯s back, her frame comically dwarfed by Jye¡¯s. ¡°At least you have some use to us.¡±

    The giant visibly stiffened from her words. She was referring to their inability to level up in the crudest way possible. Of course she¡¯d noticed. We¡¯d never explained Jye¡¯s glitches to her, but only an idiot wouldn¡¯t have seen Jye¡¯s level remain stagnant. Selfish as she was, she was taking her frustrations about being forced to party with us out on Jye. Well, it was time to do my job as our party¡¯s social lubricant. I repressed the sigh that wanted to leak out of me and redirected the conversation.

    ¡°A Deity called Absalom keeps trying to sponsor me. That¡¯s why I asked.¡±

    There was a brief exchange about what that meant, and everyone voiced their opinions.

    Gigi outright said xe didn¡¯t recognise the name nor had xe ever heard the tale Jye shared. Xir advice was to continue rejecting the sponsorship. The Linnikian went on to say that if the Deity especially wanted to sponsor me, they¡¯d be able to send requests in upcoming Dungeons that might grant me more information.

    Wren was much more gung ho about it, still of the opinion that a sponsorship early was better than none, even after our conversation about Nabu. Perhaps it was Makris convincing her of this. But maybe it came from the perspective of further protecting her. I hoped so.

    Tam said, ¡°No comment.¡± And then waited until we finished because we¡¯d stopped around a block or two from the Queen Street Mall, and we had previously discussed attempting to sneak in behind the Gate area. She didn¡¯t want to go solo when there was a high likelihood of a large party lying in wait.

    Jye surprisingly said that they¡¯d recommend taking the sponsorship. They explained that they pitied Absalom, and his story, to Jye at least, was tragic. Not only that, but apparently, if Jye¡¯s memory was to be believed, Absalom had his fair share of good qualities. The redhead said they thought that even without the clout of a big name, it was an impressive enough sponsor¡ªdoomed ending aside.

    Axel flat out said I shouldn¡¯t take it and wouldn¡¯t elaborate. He then took my hand. This earned him a glare, and several confused glances from the party, but I didn¡¯t comment. I¡¯d given him permission, after all. I was good for my word.

    I decided to put the whole sponsorship thing on the backburner since Absalom had seemingly given up with his assault of notifications. Maybe all he had wanted to be was noticed. I was glad for his silence because we needed to focus on our approach.

    Even though it was only for a short time until we got closer to the CBD Dungeon, I found myself enjoying the comfort of Axel''s hand in mine.

    It turned out that Carrie had severely munted her description of the people surrounding the Queen Street Mall Gate. She¡¯d called them a group of upstarts. Unless in the past few days since she¡¯d last been given intel they¡¯d grown twice in size and organisation skills, then perhaps her ability to understate things was a fun little quirk of her personality I wasn¡¯t aware of.

    Suffice to say, as we crept down the sidewalk of one of the walkways, keeping to the walls as close as our bodies could cling, there were a dozen people milling about the black hole of the Gate. Worst yet, they appeared to be armed in one way or another. Some wielded baseball bats, others crowbars.

    The smallest consolation was that none of them seemed to have any ranged weapons. I hadn¡¯t gotten the chance to ask Carrie where she¡¯d gotten a shotgun from, but somehow I imagined she probably had her licence and a membership at a gun range somewhere. Inwardly, I was thankful for Australia¡¯s stricter gun laws.

    The six of us watched in silence as the crew took turns patrolling the area, walking at certain intervals into each of the four laneways of the outside mall''s intersection before turning heel and walking back. They''d put up high steel construction fences surrounding the Gate, held together with thick metal chains and chunky padlocks. Only one such connection wasn''t locked shut. Probably the joint they hinged open to let paying customers through. There was also makeshift barbed wire stretched out horizontally over the top of the Gate, forming a lattice roof of spikes. Clearly, they were trying to prevent all types of approaches.

    As far as I could see, there wasn¡¯t an apparent chain of command either, which made it difficult if we wanted to avoid the more challenging whole party wipe and instead figure out who we could even single out to cut the head off the snake. It was a gruesome analogy, and as I detachedly realised I¡¯d coldly considered killing the lot of them, I felt a little ill.

    Beckoning with my finger, I signalled for the others to follow me back out.

    Once we¡¯d made enough distance, I opened the floor to suggestions.

    ¡°Wait until the cover of night and wipe them out,¡± Tam remarked casually.

    I gave her a look. ¡°What did we say about killing?¡±

    ¡°Hey now, brown cow, I do believe the exception was if someone was actively between us and the object of our desires. So, if that ain¡¯t reason enough, I don¡¯t know what is,¡± she replied.

    It was the worst when Tam¡¯s opinion made sense.

    ¡°Could we try talking to them?¡± Wren suggested, her small brows furrowed in thought. For once, this felt like a genuinely Wren idea with no Makris input. She was a much more forgiving person than anyone else in our party, Markis definitely included.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure that¡¯s such a good¨C¡±

    ¡°Short stuff¡¯s got a point. They are accepting payment for entry. Maybe the easiest solution is to just give them what they want,¡± Axel said, cutting me off. I tightened my grip painfully on his hand as revenge, and his eyes flicked toward me. Misunderstanding my intent, he squeezed back, as if we were playing a game, before continuing, ¡°We¡¯re pretty much rolling in valuable stuff right now. Diplomacy might actually be the go.¡±

    Even though I was irritated that he¡¯d spoken over me, and completely ignored it, I instead focused on his argument. Curiously, his response was a little out of character. The Axel I¡¯d seen so far had been pretty zealous about throwing himself into the thick of it; from being ready to kill Tam to Test Name to the Minotaur. But this group was the largest we¡¯d come up against so far. Maybe the number was deterring him¡­

    Still, should we end up following his suggestion and try to hash it out with the gate guard, I¡¯d be volunteering myself as spokesman. The rest of the party were, let¡¯s just say, unique communicators. Axel, for example, might be able to talk his way out of mistakes, but he was just as liable to talk his way into them. And that was not what we needed.

    Jye did some squats on the street, clearly unimpressed by the level of exercise we¡¯d been putting them through on our hour-long walk. As they came back up with a grunt, they said, ¡°They¡¯ve got, like, double the number on us. Not to be a downer, but our chances if things go tits up during peace talks aren¡¯t exactly great.¡±

    Counselling caution, Gigi remarked, ¡°Perhaps it would be better to get more information.¡± Xir expression was grave, xir mouth pulled into a single flat line. ¡°I understand we are bound by the deadline threatened by the Deities, but, I say this with the utmost concern, it has been mostly luck that our previous altercations ended with all of us surviving. Should we push any further, I fear we will meet our fate.¡±

    The party sat on xir words quietly, a grim weight sinking into us.

    It was true that whenever we¡¯d gone into battle, we¡¯d known nothing about our opponents. We¡¯d been ambushed two, no, three times, and almost each and every time one of us had ended up in dire circumstances. Gigi was correct. It was sheer chance one of us wasn¡¯t dead already. If we had the opportunity to gather proper intel, we should take it. It was better than risking our lives unnecessarily. But the ever approaching danger of the culling was at the forefront of my mind¡­ We had to make a choice. One that might doom us, either way.

    I shared my thoughts with the others, and then added, ¡°They say knowledge is power. I think Gigi might be right this time ¡®round. All those in agreement that we hunker down for a few nights to surveil longer, raise your hands.¡±

    Axel lifted our joined hands above our heads with a cheeky smile, followed by Gigi, Jye, and then, shockingly, Tam. Wren¡¯s hand did not join ours.

    ¡°You a no, Wren?¡± I asked, softly.

    ¡°Makris says it¡¯s stupid to waste time, especially with this party as it is.¡±

    Was that a general insult at all of us or another jab at Jye? In the corner of my eye, I watched their lips curl down slightly.

    I frowned, annoyed by the man in her mind. ¡°But what do you think?¡±

    She glanced at her feet, wringing her hands. Looking up shyly, Wren said, ¡°I think¡­ I would like to sleep in a bed for once.¡±

    Laughing, I nodded.  ¡°We¡¯ll see what we can do.¡±

    At the very least, this gave me some time to start working on the foundations of something I¡¯d been considering since we first entered the Dungeon; a base of our own.

    If we were going to survive this, we needed a headquarters for operation, much like one that Killian and Carrie had built. But we needed to think further in the long term too. Their group¡¯s base was mostly reactive and had solid planning for the current situation. But since the world had stopped operating as we knew it, famine would soon sweep the populations of every import-based country, which was almost all the developed ones. And given it was hard to tell if the Australian government still existed and what they were doing, we had to assume no aid would be coming. The marketplace didn¡¯t look to sell food either, based on the browse I¡¯d had earlier.

    Thus, regardless of how fast we pushed for levels, if we had nowhere to rest and recover, and nothing to eat and drink, we would doom ourselves, the culling and tutorial termination be damned.

    So while we did recon, we needed to start sowing some seeds, metaphorically and literally.

    It was time to plant a goddamn garden.

 Chapter Thirty-Five | A Higher Calling

    Obviously, all of us discussed turning our respective homes into bases. Wren couldn¡¯t remember hers (thanks, Makris), Gigi didn¡¯t have one because xe was genuinely an alien, Tam wouldn¡¯t tell us about hers, and Jye said they¡¯d lived in a shoe-box of a studio apartment. I¡¯d discounted Axel¡¯s and mine as well for similar reasons; it was too small to host six people and it had nowhere to grow anything. Though it might be nice to stop by eventually to pick up some personal items. I suggested as much to Axel and Jye (and Tam, though she didn¡¯t acknowledge the idea), and we added it onto the list of things we should do during recon.

    After that, it''d been a free for all on suggestions. There were mentions of pre-established buildings, like prisons Walking Dead style or even schools, but since it wasn¡¯t clear how the government, if it was still operating, would react to that, we¡¯d crossed them off. Not to mention, the amount of electricity required to operate full complexes like those was out of our resource capability. It was a safe bet that most of the servos had been drained of fuel by now. We¡¯d check when possible, but we wouldn¡¯t go out of our way for it.

    Wren, and or Makris, recommended just shacking up in a regular old house that fit our needs. I couldn¡¯t argue with the idea. But that did bring up a whole new topic. What exactly were our prerequisites for a base? Most of us agreed it had to have enough separate rooms for us all, solar panels (because we refused to live in the Dark Ages), access to water (we¡¯d sink to being next to a dirty river, if it came to it), and room for planting a garden (this was our no-compromise item). It was a short list of our bare minimums but quite specific. Part of me had been expecting to spend the rest of the day wandering about the nearby suburbs looking for something that matched our criteria and probably not even being able to find one. Though to my surprise¡­

    ¡°Oh, easy as. I know a place,¡± Jye had said.

    Out of everyone in the party, the redheaded, anime-loving gym junkie wasn¡¯t the one I¡¯d been anticipating to contribute the best option to create our headquarters. Okay, so ¡°best¡± might be an exaggeration, but based on how Jye¡¯d explained it as we¡¯d inquired further, if it was empty, I couldn¡¯t imagine finding a better location. If being the key word.

    ¡°Lusi usually meets me at the door, but I¡¯ve been inside once or twice. She¡¯s chill like that,¡± Jye said with a casual shrug.

    As we approached the rather excessive two storey house, I noted the solar panels on its slanted roof. Perfect. We could check that off. And it looked like there were enough of them that it probably would¡¯ve fed back into the power grid when it¡¯d been operational. That meant the potential for a Tesla battery too, if we were lucky. My dad had one installed in their house last winter and had bragged about it to me. Damn, it was hard not knowing how he and my mother were. I hadn¡¯t had the clarity of mind to ask back at Tentworld, but I should¡¯ve seen if I could¡¯ve charged my phone to contact my parents. I¡¯d do that here as soon as I could.

    The solar panels weren¡¯t wasn¡¯t the only thing that caught my eye. There appeared to be the tops of two large water tanks poking out from behind the tall metal fences to the side of the building. A little unusual for a house in the city, but I knew some people hated tap water. I shouldn¡¯t have been looking a gift horse in the mouth. So¡­ water was checked off too.

    I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, but it really was living up to Jye¡¯s description. However, I did have one issue. How did Jye even know about this place? It wasn¡¯t exactly in the most prominent location. It¡¯d taken us the better part of the rest of the day traipsing to it, with the property fence that surrounded it starting much earlier than anything on the nearby land. The house was located toward the back of its plot, high in some hills, obscured by a treeline. Had Jye not led us to it, I wouldn¡¯t have even known it existed. Hell, I didn¡¯t even know Brisbane had this type of locale.

    ¡°Remind me again how you know the owner of this place?¡± I asked, trailing behind Jye up the stepping stones to the mahogany front door. Just to get here alone had taken five minutes down a dirt driveway. ¡°You said she was a customer?¡±

    The giant reached out and swung the ornate copper knocker once, twice, three times before we all waited.

    ¡°Oh, no, I''m her customer,¡± they said.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s my dealer. We met when I was finding myself.¡± They gave an affirmative nod. ¡°Best prices, hands down. Think she grows the stuff herself, kinda as a hobby.¡±

    All at once a fear blossomed in my chest. Holy shit. What the fuck was Jye thinking? I¡¯d never done recreational drugs in my life, the extent being prescriptions I¡¯d been given as a kid to help with losing Chrissie, but the industry behind the illegal trade never painted a pretty picture. Knees broken in with steel pipes, dodgy meetings in alleyways, the police at your back¡­ I knew it was stupid to think all of this when we¡¯d literally killed people, but a lifetime of being worried when a cop even so much as glances at you, and you¡¯re convinced you¡¯re breaking some sort of law accidentally, is hard to kick.

    Thankfully no one came to the door.

    Skimming down to one of the rocks in the gravel surrounding the stepping stones, Axel picked a large one up and flipped it on its back. A glimmer of satisfaction crossed his face. ¡°Classic.¡± He plucked a key from the hollow of the fake stone.

    ¡°If you¡¯ll do the honours,¡± he said, tossing it to me.

    After fumbling to catch it, I stared at the key for a moment.

    If the house was abandoned I didn¡¯t see any problem taking advantage of it. At this point having any qualms with this would make a mockery of the lives we¡¯d taken. I took a breath. This was necessary for survival. Breaking and entering laws be damned. Wasn¡¯t this covered under squatters¡¯ rights anyway?

    I unlocked the door and pushed it open.

    We were met with quite the lovely interior absent any people, luckily. Inside it was like those sales images when people are advertising an open house; pristine without any mess, almost like no one lived in it in the first place. Though there were some personal touches, like the two metre tall watercolour painting of some random person smiling. Was that Lusi?

    ¡°Uh, Jye. If drugs are her hobby, what¡¯s her main job?¡± I asked, stepping in so the others could enter as well.

    ¡°Well, put it this way, my contact name for her is Doc.¡±

    I stared. So like a GP?

    With a grin, Jye said, ¡°Because she¡¯d fix you right up.¡±

    If Lusi were actually a doctor, this kind of house didn¡¯t seem beyond that occupation¡¯s wallet. It was almost the perfect cover. Who would suspect the doctor you went to see to get a sick note when you had a cold was also running drugs on the side? Either way, if we were going to take up the place, we¡¯d find out sooner or later who Lusi was.

    Ignoring the admittedly fantastic pun, I pressed, ¡°And you came here to buy?¡±

    If this was where she lived, wouldn''t it have been idiotic to invite clients to her home? But maybe Jye was understating their relationship. Perhaps they were closer to friends than purely business. They¡¯d mentioned it was when they were finding themself. Maybe that went a lot deeper than it sounded.

    ¡°Yeah, fancy place, huh?¡±

    I nodded in silence, taking in the huge entertainment room with a flat screen that stretched perhaps a hundred inches and the most comfortable looking black leather sofa I¡¯d seen in my life; its sheen practically sparkling. This place was luxe. Really, who the fuck was Lusi? Or rather¡­ who had she been? If she wasn¡¯t here, I could only come to one conclusion.

    As we took the tour of the house, switching on lights powered by the solar panels, I was even more gobsmacked. Whoever Lusi had been, this property was probably valued in the millions. The first floor consisted of the shared spaces, like the entertainment room, dining room, kitchen, and more, whilst the second story was dedicated to several bedrooms, each with their own en suite, including the master bedroom which boasted an ultra king mattress, sheets still mussed. Separate rooms¡­ Check.

    Some of them looked lived in and decorated, so Lusi probably had a family or renters, whilst others were conspicuously empty of character. Guest rooms, I imagined. I tried not to look at the family portraits on bedside tables, hoping that whoever they were, they hadn¡¯t fallen victim to the CBD Dungeon. Though with them having been so close and unable to stop the itch, it didn¡¯t seem likely. Wardrobes and drawers had been left open and askew, the clothes inside disturbed, as if someone had been searching within. At least the house¡¯s prior occupants had been prepared for their evacuation. Maybe they would¡¯ve survived the CBD Dungeon, like Wren.

    As we left the last bedroom in the hall, I caught myself staring at what had to be a family picture in the hallway that included the same person in the watercolor painting in the foyer. The five of them wore warm smiles; three adults and two kids. Lusi, her partners, and her children? It was the kind of photo you get a passerby to take when you¡¯re somewhere nice, with the framing slightly off with too much headroom and the smallest hint of the photographer¡¯s finger on the lens.

    I hoped they weren¡¯t dead.

    In fact, this was something that was beginning to concern me. We really hadn¡¯t encountered a lot of people. We¡¯d crossed paths with maybe two dozen during our travels. How many of us were there actually left now? It¡¯d only been two weeks, but surely the majority of the Brisbane population, over a million people, hadn¡¯t walked into a Dungeon and died¡­ Right?

    That wasn¡¯t something I had considered before. That as more and more people died, the majority that would be needed to reach the average would continue to drop. If we wanted to get all the time we possibly could to level up, we would have to ensure the survival of others, at least until the culling. Part of me felt relief at that. That now I had a reason to not kill.

    We finished the second story exploration, and the house appeared relatively normal, apart from the sheer excess of it all. But then I found a staircase on the first floor heading down further. A basement. Australian houses didn¡¯t have basements nor did we really have attics. It was always a gripe of mine watching so much American media and being unable to replicate the same kind of bunkers that kids often made in those weird spare spaces their parents let them have. I think the closest we got down under was the stuffy enclosed downstairs areas when homeowners lifted the bases of their houses up on stilts; it was usually turned into storage and or the washing machine room.

    I met the gaze of the rest of the party, and, without a word, we descended the stairs.

    It shouldn¡¯t have shocked me what was down there.

    The basement stretched the same expanse as the breadth and width of the house.

    And over half of it was filled with neatly organised rows of hydroponics supporting flourishing lush weed. Though I didn¡¯t know the price they sold at, I couldn¡¯t imagine there was anything less than thousands, if not tens of thousands, of dollars around us. Or there would¡¯ve been, back when society had been different.

    I guess¡­ that checked off the area for planting.

    Other than the weed, the rest of the room looked to be taken up by processing equipment, with some harvest still in the middle of drying, hung up upside down by their stems. In the corner, there also appeared to be a few monitors displaying camera feed from around the exterior of the house. The low hum of the fans and the growing lights filled the moist air as we continued to absorb the situation.

    ¡°It seems this may have been more than a hobby,¡± Gigi commented.

    Axel let out an impressed whistle.

    Tam said, ¡°Fuck me sideways.¡±

    I¡¯d long since stopped trying to police cursing in the party, especially since Wren had a pottymouth who¡¯d taken up residence in her head. It was no wonder she understood so many of our adult jokes.

    As if to punctuate my thoughts, Wren remarked, ¡°This is a lot of drugs.¡±

    I stepped further in to examine the plants, pushing down the image of Lusi and her family and what they¡¯d been running in here.

    ¡°Bagsed,¡± Jye announced, waving their hand over the entirety of the basement.

    ¡°Really?¡± I asked.

    They nodded. ¡°You have no idea how much I¡¯ve been needing a chill sesh, man.¡±

    ¡°Well, take whatever you want. We¡¯ll be converting this system to fruits and vegetables soon.¡±

    Jye let out an anguished sound.

    I explained, ¡°Food is more important.¡±

    ¡°Says who?¡± inquired Jye.

    This earned them a look from the rest of the party. Their shoulders slumped in defeat.

    ¡°Fine,¡± they huffed. After just a second, a look of resigned acceptance swept over their face. ¡°I guess I don''t really know anything about growing the stuff. Just using it.¡±

    Giving them a consolational pat on the shoulder, I remarked, ¡°Might be for the better.¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    A huge pout curled their lips down as they gazed at the plants.

    Having seen what I¡¯d needed to, I left the giant to their over dramatic antics and headed back upstairs to the main lounge and sunk into the luscious sofa, mulling things over. A moment later, the rest of them joined me, Jye still visibly salty.

    The house had been empty. It had power. It had water. It had a hydroponics system. It had cameras we could monitor. It wasn''t too far removed from the city but also hard to find. It had enough rooms and then some. I almost felt like we were cheating. It shouldn''t have been this easy. But what was the catch? Maybe Lusi¡¯s background would come to bite us on the ass in the future, but right now¡­ This was perfect.

    ¡°I guess this is our base,¡± I announced.

    This elicited excited comments from a few.

    I pointed a finger up, gesturing to the floor above us. ¡°All right. Room claims are open. If any of you want the master, we''ll draw lots for it. Other than that, first in first served.¡±

    There was a beat and then Wren, Jye (both giggling with delight) and Gigi all but made skid marks on the floor as they all bolted to dibs a room. Axel and Tam remained, watching the others in amusement and disdain, respectively.

    I really wanted the master, a desire which surprised even me. I''d slept in a king single pretty much all my adult life because it was space economic, and without the thought of anyone ever having to share it, I had never bothered upsizing. But, just once, I wanted to be indulgent. If this was where we''d be going home to rest, I wanted somewhere I could completely spread out. I¡¯d probably end up sleeping on my side, curled onto less than one third of it, but that was besides the point.

    A quick glance for something on hand, I spied a vase on the coffee table with ornamental sticks poking out of it. Well, not like it really had any use sitting there like that. I never saw the appeal in decoration that served no practical purpose. Grabbing one stick, I snapped it into three lengths with one notably shorter.

    ¡°Close your eyes,¡± I said. Axel did as I''d instructed, his lashes brushing his cheeks. Eugh. It really wasn''t fair.

    ¡°How can we trust you ain''t scamming us?¡± Tam asked, eyes narrowed.

    I stared.

    She scowled, understanding my silence, and then closed her eyes. I followed suit, mixing the broken pieces on the table until I couldn''t tell them apart, and then brought them into my hand, evening off how much poked out by tapping them against the table. Where they ended at the hollow of my palm, I had no clue which was the shortest. As I opened my eyes to check, the winning stick was as indistinct to me as the others.

    ¡°All right.¡±

    Axel and Tam''s eyes flashed open, and after an intense moment of speculation, the cutthroat plucked one. Axel did too. I held the remaining one out to compare against theirs. We all stared in quiet concentration.

    Axel had gotten the shortest stick.

    Ah, well. The other rooms had doubles or queens, so it wasn''t that bad of a loss. Technically all of them would be an upgrade when compared to my bed back in our old apartment.

    The brunette let out a frustrated growl before hurrying to claim one of the other rooms, given that there was only one left with a nice view of the hills. That she had played along was good news. Perhaps we were slowly wearing her down. Who knows, maybe she''d tell me her wife''s name next! The impossibility of the idea made me laugh inwardly.

    Smiling, Axel held out his stick to me. ¡°For you.¡±

    I blinked. ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I actually hate large empty beds. I get cold in them,¡± Axel said.

    ¡°You didn''t want the master bedroom to begin with?¡±

    ¡°Nah. Take it.¡± He pressed the broken stick into my hands.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± I murmured back, unsure how to process this.

    ¡°Don''t mention it. Though if I get cold in mine¡­¡± he trailed off and then shot me a grin with a raised eyebrow.

    I couldn''t help but chuckle. It was a very Axel tactic.

    ¡°Sure,¡± I replied.

    His smile slipped off his face, replaced with absolute bafflement. ¡°Wait, that worked?¡±

    ¡°It''s the start of summer, and, to conserve power, we¡¯re definitely not turning on aircons. Should you get cold in that weather, we can probably dig up some spare blankets for you, sure.¡±

    Axel''s expression wilted. ¡°You¡¯re evil.¡±

    I knew he was playing it up a little bit, but I did feel slightly guilty since I was technically messing with his feelings for me. He should¡¯ve been used to this by now. However, even though he had literally been trying to wiggle his way into my bed, I decided to give the guy a little leeway. I said, ¡°But you¡¯re welcome to drop in before bed, though. It might be nice to just chill.¡±

    His eyes lit up. ¡°I¡¯ll be there.¡±

    It was very odd that he genuinely wanted to spend time with me. Not that I didn¡¯t want to, but he¡¯d never shown such interest before. Or maybe I¡¯d never noticed? I found myself looking forward to it. I really couldn¡¯t remember the last time we¡¯d simply sat and talked for the sheer sake of enjoying each other¡¯s company.

    ¡°Great,¡± I said, attempting to mask my excitement.

    ¡°Great.¡±

    A beat.

    ¡°Is it bedtime yet?¡± he asked.

    With a grin, I glanced at the watch on my wrist. It was just past seven. ¡°Not even close.¡±

    ¡°Damn.¡±

    Scoffing, I said, ¡°Let¡¯s see what Lusi has for us for dinner tonight.¡±

    ¡°Dibs not cooking,¡± Axel replied almost instantly.

    ¡°I know, I know. I¡¯ll see what I can whip up.¡±

    The blond was notorious for ruining every recipe he tried, so much so that even when he hosted parties, no one would eat anything that looked homemade, even if Axel hadn¡¯t prepared it himself. He¡¯d once burned an egg to such a black crisp that the pan was unsalvageable afterward. As such, he¡¯d subsisted on take away and eating the remnants of whatever I left in the fridge, which had only irritated me a little bit. Rather it saved me from feeling bad about wasting food. Now that I thought about it, had Axel been intentionally eating my cooking and not surviving on it out of desperation?

    Well, the more you know¡­

    We moved to the kitchen, and Axel took a seat behind the breakfast bar. He propped his chin up on a hand, and I felt his eyes on me as I checked the cupboards. Whoever Lusi had been, she¡¯d kept everything fully stocked. I really did not want to think about how she was likely some sort of drug king and would be out for our lives if we stayed here. That was something I did not want to think about. I also didn¡¯t like thinking about how we¡¯d moved into a dead family¡¯s home.

    Instead, I focused on considering what was in her walk-in pantry. After a moment, I left with the foundation of any good dish. Onion and garlic. I placed them on the counter and returned to scrounge up enough other ingredients to put together a haphazard excuse for a pasta dish. It wasn¡¯t a difficult recipe to freestyle, as most pasta was just cooking whatever you liked, adding a sauce that complemented it, and then not overcooking whatever pasta you¡¯d chosen to accompany it.

    Having found a chopping board and knife in the dishrack by the sink, I tasked Axel with cutting the onion and garlic, much to his complaint, while I got familiar with the rest of the kitchen. Some things followed standard conventions, with the top largest drawer housing eating cutlery, followed by cooking utensils, miscellaneous kitchen items, and then hand towels and wipes. All the stainless steel pots and pans hung down from hooks attached to the ceiling above the stovetop, and I pulled off two needed for the meal.

    As he cut, Axel said, ¡°I missed this.¡±

    ¡°You never cooked with me,¡± I replied, beginning to measure things out by eye.

    He blanched almost imperceptibly then cleared his throat. ¡°Yeah, I know. I was just¡­ When you were in the kitchen back at the apartment¨C It was nice. Walking past and seeing you there. Hearing you when I watched TV.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re so weird, man,¡± I said back with a laugh.

    I thought back to the times he would return from work and, without comment, would stroll past me cooking to switch on something mind-numbing to unwind to. My job was closer and had a hybrid work style, so more often than not I was home before him, or I¡¯d never left. Usually, during those times, he¡¯d really never acknowledged me unless on the occasion when he¡¯d ask what I was making. It was bizarre to think he held those memories important.

    Dourly, he responded, ¡°I think I just took it all for granted, you know?¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± I was limiting the use of whatever I was including because I knew eventually we were likely to run out. It was very, very confrontational to cook without the surety of future grocery trips to restock common household ingredients. It made me all the more aware of what life had been like and what it was going to be like.

    Axel pushed his finished task toward me, and I scraped the onion onto the frying pan. It sizzled on contact with the olive oil, some of the shreds dancing in the heat. Shortly after, I added the garlic. Their combined allium smell filled the kitchen, and I switched on the overhead fan. My stomach growled. The barbecue had been a pleasant meal, but nothing beat the perfect scent of onion and garlic beginning to golden. Truly a home cooked dish was something else.

    Summoned by the enticing aroma, Wren peered down from the stairs.

    ¡°What are you making?¡±

    ¡°Pasta something,¡± I said back. ¡°Wanna help?¡±

    She nodded enthusiastically and came trotting to my side. I handed her the pot. ¡°Fill this with water and a huge handful of salt, all right?¡±

    With a serious murmur of agreement, she took it to the sink.

    As I¡¯d been hoping, the faucet fed out water easily though without much pressure. So, the tanks held potable water. Thankfully. But that wasn¡¯t an unlimited resource. We¡¯d have to be careful with how we used it. Considering the hydroponics too, I had to accept we unfortunately wouldn¡¯t be taking showers too often, to my chagrin. At least with summer upon us, we were likely to get storms and thus more rain.

    Carefully, I added the rest of the ingredients as per my assumed cooking times for them, and when I looked up again, I¡¯d gained a further audience of Jye and Gigi. That figured. I didn¡¯t think Jye liked cooking for themself, and I didn¡¯t know if Gigi even really knew what counted as fully edible on Earth.

    Wren handed a full pot of water cloudy with salt to me, and I added it to the stovetop on high.

    ¡°You guys really just gonna watch?¡±

    ¡°I did my part,¡± Axel said, holding up his hands.

    ¡°I¡¯m helping!¡± Wren chimed in.

    ¡°Not gonna poison me, are you, babes?¡± came Tam¡¯s voice as she descended the stairs, her nose held high, audibly sniffing.

    I rolled my eyes. ¡°Tell me why I¡¯d kill the highest damage dealer in our party. Make it make sense to me.¡±

    Her mouth opened to retort, but no words came out. It looked like for once I¡¯d managed to silence her. Rather in fact, there appeared to be something of sheepishness in her mixed expression. Well, that was very different indeed. Memo to self: wrangle Tam with compliments.

    Turning back to the stove, I gave the mix a stir, and Jye offered, ¡°What you need?¡±

    I considered for a moment, adding several handfuls of the rigatoni pasta to the boiling water, switching it to medium heat. ¡°Didn¡¯t Test Name have some cheese or something on them?¡±

    They nodded, pulling a hunk of parmesan from their inventory. It had been one of the weirder finds from their party that all of us except Jye had been too suspicious to claim. How long had it been unrefrigerated for? The old archer had at least half a wedge on him, but in Jye¡¯s hand, it looked even smaller now. Was that a bite mark?

    ¡°It still good?¡± I asked, dubious.

    ¡°And it¡¯s the good stuff. Got those crunchy crystals.¡±

    I instructed Jye to crumble up some and leave it to the side.

    While they did that, I started pulling together the sauce. I decided to go traditional with a tomato base from canned tomatoes and some tomato paste, adding seasoning as necessary, and herbs and spices from the quite varied selection on Lusi¡¯s shelves. It was a bit of a messy combination, but I was confident it would turn out fine. For a while during uni, I¡¯d gone basically vegetarian out of pure necessity because the price of meat was absurd. You learn how to really bump up the umami of meals to compensate.

    Suddenly, Tam was behind the breakfast bar with me, a spoon in her hand, tasting the sauce.

    ¡°This is¡­ nice?¡± she said.

    ¡°It¡¯s insulting you seem confused.¡±

    She frowned and then added, ¡°Pasta¡¯s done, bee-tee-dubs.¡±

    I gave her a pointed look, and, with a huff, she fetched a strainer before draining the water, putting some of the starchy liquid aside. She left the pasta dripping dry above the kitchen sink, resting on the edge. So Tam cooked as well, if she knew about taking advantage of the pasta water. Maybe I¡¯d get her to do a meal tomorrow. Heaven knows, I wouldn¡¯t be the only one cooking here. That wouldn¡¯t be fair. We should be taking turns.

    Jesus christ. I was turning into my mother. I was even thinking about making a chore chart. Speaking of, I made a mental note for after dinner to charge my phone. I¡¯d dragged my charger with me through the full Dungeon for a reason after all.

    I briefly heard Axel, Gigi, and Wren discussing something but wasn¡¯t able to listen in, as I added the retained pasta water to thicken the tomato sauce, stirring absentmindedly.

    In the corner of my eye, I spied the others beginning to set the dining table.

    Oh. That was kind of sweet.

    After one final taste test and another sprinkle of salt and pepper to correct, I added the slightly cooled pasta to the sauce, made sure it properly coated the ridges in the rigatoni, and then brought it to where the rest of the party had begun to gather, each of them sitting at the table. Setting the pan down carefully onto the pot holder someone had positioned in the centre, I took my own seat which apparently the others had decided should be at the head.

    I gestured. ¡°Bon appetit!¡±

    It was Gigi who reached out to begin dishing out the food, standing on their tippy toes to reach, ladling not an insignificant amount onto each person¡¯s plate. Far too much for Wren, too little for Jye, but probably about the right amount for Axel, Tam, xemself, and I. Separately, those brave enough grabbed a bit of the parmesan and crumbled it further on top of their dishes. I felt it was necessary to properly balance the flavours, so I added some to mine. Without much ado, everyone began to eat. The food earned a few murmured compliments, but otherwise it was mostly silent dining punctuated by utensils clinking on plates.

    I had to admit, it was very odd, sitting there like that in a house we¡¯d basically stolen, enjoying a meal. But it was nice. Weird, though. Very, very weird.

    As everyone began finishing up, Tam started interrogating the others about their lack of cooking skills, laying into them without mercy. I wondered if she felt bad about having made me cook by myself. Perhaps not contributing to the party actually made her feel restless. Based on what I¡¯d managed to infer about her, Tam was a woman who did not like to appear weak or useless and liked to hold her own. What her wife was like, I couldn¡¯t even imagine.

    Axel defended himself ardently against her accusations, but Jye¡¯s expression seemed more sour than it should. What could be the cause behind that? Maybe I¡¯d never know. Wren asked to help for the next meal we cooked, and both Tam and I agreed at the same time which earned a tense stare between us followed by half-accepting nods.

    The atmosphere was warm and kind, and as I had my last bite, I took in the group. Had I not known any better, if I were an outsider, I might¡¯ve thought we were friends at a dinner party. It was a silly idea, but I let myself soak in that moment for a little while. It would be something far and few between once we finished recon.

    ¡°All right!¡± I took a page from Phoenix''s book. ¡°Those who cooked least need to clean.¡±

    A collective groan escaped everyone.

    I grinned. I hated cleaning too.

    Later that night, after changing its sheets, I collapsed onto the ultra king in the master bedroom. It¡¯d been two weeks since I¡¯d last slept on a bed. The bedrolls and sleeping bags that we¡¯d been surviving off hadn¡¯t been awful. They¡¯d done their job. But this¡­ it was like being held aloft by clouds.

    Before parting for bed, everyone had agreed to a wake-up time tomorrow; ludicrously early by my standards, but we really needed all the daylight we could get. I didn¡¯t want to waste electricity. We¡¯d all said our goodnights and retired, even Axel who¡¯d explained he just wanted some alone time. I wasn¡¯t about to say I was disappointed.

    I spread out my arms across the empty bed, letting out a content sigh, and closed my eyes.

    The mattress was plush and soft, a level of extraordinary comfort I¡¯d never had.

    And yet I found it difficult to fall asleep.

 Chapter Thirty-Six | Worth vs. Cost

    The next two days we spent surveilling the CBD Dungeon, setting up the base, and trying to work as a team.

    Because of their personal (though questionable) interest, I put Jye in charge of the hydroponics, telling them to hit up the Bunnings a few suburbs away to get some stuff to plant. Not once but twice I¡¯d gone down into the basement to be treated to the dank, grassy smell of the giant smoking and had promptly retreated back upstairs. The first time, I¡¯d accidentally seen Jye crying and had hightailed out of there so quickly I nearly tripped on a step. It was obviously a private moment for them, and it felt incredibly wrong of me to intrude, but it did require some sort of follow up eventually. Had they been holding something in this whole time? My concern about the redhead grew. I shifted the mental note of checking in with them again to a higher priority.

    The second time I¡¯d come down, hoping to catch Jye in a better mood, I¡¯d done a double take, having seen Gigi down there with them, passing xem a blunt. The two appeared to be in discussion about something, and it had the air of confidentiality about it, so again I turned away. I might want to get closer to them both, to know Jye and Gigi better, but I knew some conversations were not intended for everyone. This had definitely felt like one of those.

    Perhaps I caught the word ¡°family¡± before closing the door at the top of the stairs. But I couldn¡¯t be sure.

    I didn¡¯t think I needed to worry about the two of them smoking, since they¡¯d run out sooner or later. As far as I knew, growing weed and getting a good harvest was actually a pretty difficult challenge. Good luck to them both, though, if they decided to keep a few to cultivate. I¡¯d turn a blind eye to it. People needed their luxuries, after all.

    Speaking of, the first I''d had a shower after my very last one at Jye¡¯s gym, I felt reborn. Being able to properly scrub away the dirt, which by now had become a darker second skin all over my body, was cathartic, though I did come out of it red from scraping myself raw. Of course, I¡¯d told everybody there was a five-minute time limit to showers.

    Most of them did not appreciate this rule, least of all Axel. I think I did hear a mumbling under his breath about bathing together. Jye, having overheard, had thought he was talking about how in Japan people often showered first, with the bath being more like a treat afterward that family members took turns with. Regardless, since most of the en suites didn¡¯t have baths for us to take turns, and we¡¯d still need to shower first, it wasn¡¯t the most practical or hygienic. The conversation took a turn toward saunas, and I¡¯d had to wrangle back on track.

    Before my shower, I¡¯d checked the soap, shampoo, and conditioner, and found that not only was Lusi rich, super chill, and a big time drug dealer, but also environmentally friendly. All the products had low chemical impact, which meant the greywater they made could be used to grow plants. The body wash had a lovely floral scent too, something like frangipani.

    Keeping in mind our limited reserves, I instructed everyone to plug the bathtubs and collect the greywater to use for flushing toilets when they showered. This type of water collection was something I¡¯d done living rural as a kid when we¡¯d gone through a particularly dry spell. I¡¯d hated the pooling of water at my feet at the time, but it was good to know now, I guess.

    Also, if we messed up the hydroponics, we might need it for outside gardening; there was more than enough land to build something up. Given the fact it was summer too, we could plant something and get a pretty strong yield. I added it to my plans for the future.

    I did end up channelling my mother as I put together a chore chart, slapping up the hastily scribbled schedule on the fridge. Over breakfast that first morning, something I¡¯d cobbled together while still half asleep, having discovered that Lusi or someone in her household had been vegan and had powdered egg substitute in the pantry, I crankily probed each of my party members about what tasks they didn¡¯t mind performing.

    It came as no surprise that Wren was fine doing anything, since she said Makris kept her entertained during mundane activities. What was he saying to her? Maybe one day I¡¯d ask. I put her in charge of dishes. Unfortunately, when it came to household chores, the others were much more picky.

    Tam reluctantly volunteered to share cooking duties inclusive of meal prep but absolutely refused to do regular house maintenance like sweeping, dusting, or mopping. She mumbled something under her breath about enforcing gender roles, and I¡¯d had to physically slap my cheeks to stop myself from reacting. I¡¯d breathed deep and assigned her to cooking and exterior maintenance. Since I¡¯d given Jye the basement garden, I hadn¡¯t added much more to their load other than ensuring the house¡¯s furnishings were tidy in general.

    Gigi asked to do all the chores that Tam had rejected, so that ended up being quite easy to arrange. When I¡¯d asked why, xe had replied that xe liked the repetitive motion involved, that it was almost like meditation to xem. Truly, the Linnikian was alien to me.

    To Axel I gave laundry, much to his chagrin. After I spoke about how immaculately he always dressed and how I wanted that same level of cleanliness applied to the party, he capitulated with a smug smile. Had he always been so easy to deal with?

    As for me, I was like a stop gap, ensuring that everyone wasn¡¯t doing the same thing every day. I would be cycling through each of the chores on different days, though I found I¡¯d also taken up half the cooking and dropped in to help out each member in their chores if I had time. I also found other stuff to fill my time.

    Like that, two days passed.

    But not without us preparing for the assault on the CBD Dungeon.

    After breakfast, we¡¯d send Tam out in cat-form so she could watch the way the gate guards patrolled the area, and she¡¯d report back to us, in quite impressive detail after watching them all day. She informed us about some of the abilities she¡¯d seen the players use when catching people who tried to sneak in, as well as figuring out that the actual person in charge was a man that went by the name Damien. This Damien appeared to have some sort of military background and had taught that to the people who¡¯d joined his group. Tam also explained that there was a steady trickle of people entering the Gate after paying but none of them were coming out. That did not bode well.

    Truth be told, I didn¡¯t understand this shift in Tam. She appeared to actually be listening to me and doing as I said, though with initial objection. Perhaps Tam had changed her tune about the party? Maybe Carrie¡¯s death had more of an effect on her than I¡¯d thought. But, unlike with Jye, confronting the cutthroat with a well-being check would be like pulling teeth. She¡¯d storm off before I¡¯d be able to get a word out edgewise. Though maybe I should still try¡­

    While she¡¯d gone on recon the first day, Axel and I had returned to our apartment and picked it clean, shoving pretty much every important item we owned into our inventories. It¡¯d been incredibly otherworldly returning home after everything. It seemed both the same and different. There was comfort in its familiarity but nothing else. When we left it, I didn¡¯t feel even an echo of the same fear that¡¯d struck me originally.

    Maybe it was because I knew where I was going this time.

    It was also kind of enjoyable how simple everything was without the daily pressure of normal life and practicalities. Like, when you didn¡¯t have to worry about carrying stuff everywhere, life became easier. At my suggestion, Axel and I also commandeered several ebikes from the neighbourhood as we went. I¡¯d gotten sick of walking from place to place. Despite the somewhat hilly nature of Brisbane, it was still far better than trekking to and fro.

    Some part of me felt bad about our thefts, but the likelihood was that whoever owned the bicycles had already passed, and I¡¯d eventually be reviving them. So I began to justify our grave robberies as a type of pre-payment for the service I¡¯d be providing. It only made me feel slightly better. During this trip, we didn¡¯t run into many people and those who did see us often avoided us like the plague.

    The lack of people was beginning to concern me. Had they all really gone into the Dungeons and were still trying to complete the Challenge? I prayed they weren¡¯t all dead.

    Jye went out that first day to their apartment too and to head to Bunnings for anything they could salvage. I told them to just grab everything they possibly could. Since there was no apparent cap on our inventories, there was no reason to be picky. They told me they wouldn¡¯t leave a single screw unturned with a very excited thumbs-up before heading out with a jig in their step. When the redhead had returned, after a concerted effort to remove the car from the garage, they¡¯d dumped the majority of their looted goods within, filing the enclosed shed to the brim. We had tried to pull the vehicle into our inventory, but were met with an Unacceptable parameters error message. It appeared there were limitations to what we could add, after all.

    We¡¯d left Wren with Gigi since xe wasn¡¯t familiar with the area, or Earth at all, and because Wren was a child who still required adult supervision. To her objections, Makris didn¡¯t count. I¡¯d given her the duty of tallying up all the food we currently had, as well as other sundries. This had rewarded me with a head tilt and prompted a dictionary explanation of the word. Afterward, she¡¯d pulled a notebook from her inventory and sprinted to the kitchen to begin her lists.

    That night Tam and I cooked together almost harmoniously, though we did bump into each other several times. I really had never cooked with someone else in the kitchen, but we managed well enough. Too late we discovered she had a penchant for a particular flavor profile.

    The noodles we served, from the classic Indomie ten pack, sprinkled with rehydrated vegetables and gussied up with a bit more toppings and sauces, had lit most of our tongues on fire and had us crying for milk. In the fridge, the closest thing we¡¯d found was almond milk that had already expired. I wasn¡¯t so desperate as to tempt fate, accepting the acute organ failure, but Gigi had been, sweat dripping profusely from xir closely cropped silver crown into reddened eyes. Xe¡¯d also remained home the next day as a result of less than favourable bowel issues.

    I¡¯d spent the time after dinner talking with Axel, as I¡¯d offered. We spoke about the day, recounting the things we¡¯d seen, from several people who¡¯d full on sprinted away from us in fear to the funny-looking graffiti of a cartoonishly disproportioned monkey we¡¯d seen, until eventually he¡¯d begun to doze off in my bed. I stirred him, and he¡¯d sheepishly smiled before leaving. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    It was difficult to sleep that night too.

    The second day had Jye making headway into the basement garden, Gigi planning out our training regimen given xir history as a warrior on xir planet (which shouldn¡¯t have come as a surprise to me considering what xe¡¯d previously shared), Wren finishing up her stock count, and Axel doing his first load of clothes. That night, Tam came back to report that she¡¯d watched some others approach the Gate to ask for entry for the first time, having heard the full details this time.

    ¡°What happened, exactly?¡± I asked while getting dinner ready.

    Axel was folding laundry in the living room listening in, and Wren was helping, sorting the pieces out. Gigi, in the hallway, was finishing up vacuuming, and Jye¡¯d decided to call it a day in the basement having ripped out half of the weed and replaced them with appropriate vegetable seeds and seedlings. They¡¯d spent the better part of the morning reading up on the gardening books they¡¯d taken from Bunnings to get better acquainted with the hydroponics system. Part of me thought they were mostly doing it for the weed. But that still benefited us in the long run.

    Tam took a seat at the breakfast bar, folding her arms upon the bench.

    ¡°Damien was absent, thankfully, ain¡¯t a fan of him, but some no namer stepped up to give specifics on what they¡¯re accepting as payment. Just food and fuel is it. They tried to haggle, but that was a no go. Don¡¯t imagine they¡¯d change their tune for us either.¡± Their requirements were smart, I had to admit. It was almost exactly what we were doing. Food and fuel were necessities to survive in this world. Tam continued, ¡°It also was sounding like his little fan-group had set up similar guards around other Gates.¡± It meant it was a pretty big organisation. Perhaps they¡¯d known each other before the start of the event?

    Still, Tam¡¯s words had piqued my interest.

    ¡°Gates, plural?¡± I decided to inquire further.

    ¡°Yep,¡± she said, popping the ¡°P.¡±

    Axel creased a shirt in half. ¡°Obviously there¡¯d be more than Dungeon 16 and Dungeon 11, if we¡¯re supposed to be using them to level up.¡±

    ¡°Dungeons will continue appearing until there are no more interested Deities,¡± confirmed Gigi, while unplugging the vacuum and retracting its cord.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t it just weird this many have appeared in Brisbane?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Apophis once explained that it is a combination of population density and random chance.¡±

    Jye let out a yawn. ¡°Like, what does that even matter? Doesn¡¯t have any impact on our plans.¡±

    I added the rehydrated shitake mushrooms to the soup base, testing a sample, before sprinkling some MSG in.

    ¡°Just curious,¡± I replied. Truthfully, I was hoping that no Dungeon would appear near my parents. Though by now, it was possible they¡¯d have tried to make their way to Brisbane. I¡¯d checked my phone the moment it turned on once charged but found nothing had changed regarding reception. The Deities had to be interfering with it. Not even the hardwired internet on the PC in the basement seemed to be working.

    ¡°How much food and fuel were they asking for entry?¡±

    Tam¡¯s brow furrowed. ¡°For each person entering, either enough for three days of food or five litres of petrol. They waffled on about how traffic had died down recently though.¡±

    If the itch got worse the longer you held out, it was likely most people had already felt compelled to enter the Dungeons. Once those people entered, there would be less and less willing to pay to enter¡ªunless they knew about the truth behind the Event and wanted to level up. Maybe in the case of the gate guards, it was better to keep that information from them, otherwise they¡¯d start preparing for it.

    ¡°Dinner¡¯s nearly ready,¡± I said into the silence that followed.

    It was obvious what everyone had begun thinking about: whether the price to enter the CBD Dungeon was worth it. With the six of us, it¡¯d be fifty-four meals or thirty litres of petrol. It was that or killing a dozen people. But those people weren¡¯t without sin. They¡¯d taken the lives of others attempting to sneak in without payment.

    Knowing that they were also taking over other Gates meant that sooner or later we would end up clashing. And as it was, based on Wren¡¯s stock take, I wasn¡¯t confident we had enough food to keep us going for the rest of the month. Given the minimal granting of XP, I had to assume the Deities would allow for ample time before pulling the plug, so we¡¯d need more food. There was no possible way we could afford to do it multiple times to enter several Gates.

    The equation of our lives against others was messed up. But it was a choice that would be put to the group. I¡¯d asked tomorrow morning, and we¡¯d make our plans based on that. I''d meant what I said the other day. We''d be ready to kill if there was no other way.

    Solemnly, the party set the table and we ate our third dinner at our new base in grave silence.

    Axel let out a little moan as he stretched across the length of my bed, propping his head up on a hand. ¡°I regret giving this up to you.¡±

    I smacked one of the surplus pillows at him.

    ¡°I asked what you thought about what we should do.¡±

    ¡°And I was politely changing topic, since you weren¡¯t asking because you wanted my actual opinion but because you wanted me to justify yours.¡±

    I scowled, hating how well the blond knew me.

    ¡°You know what I¡¯d say,¡± he added, with a humouring smile.

    ¡°Us versus them, right?¡±

    With his spare hand, he took one of mine. ¡°You¡¯ve got too much niceness in you. And that¡¯s not a compliment.¡±

    Sighing, I slid down the bed, letting my focus rest in the warmth of Axel¡¯s hold. It was unusual how easily I¡¯d grown accustomed to it. To constantly be in contact with him. It grounded me but was unable to completely distract me from the monumental decision that awaited us at breakfast tomorrow. The longer I thought on it, the clearer the right choice became.

    ¡°It¡¯s never gonna be easy, is it?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Never is,¡± he replied, the weight of that indiscernible sadness dripping from each syllable.

    Instinctively, I squeezed my hand, and his gaze shifted back. A small relief fluttered through me. Part of me was always worried I¡¯d lose him to that grief completely. It looked so easy for him to be swallowed by it, like he was hanging by a single thread. It scared me a little too much to think about what would happen if that snapped. I¡¯d seen him breakdown before, but even then, something had kept him here. I didn¡¯t know what I¡¯d do if that ever happened.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I began, meeting his eyes, ¡°for being here with me. I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve made it this far without you.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t doubt that,¡± he said with a smirk.

    Jabbing an elbow into his rib cage, I muttered, ¡°You¡¯re meant to say it back, not just accept it.¡±

    Recovering from my attack, he chuckled, shifting to lean against the pillows. He cradled my hand between both of his. ¡°Here you go then: thank you for being here.¡±

    I absorbed the moment; the insanity of Axel in my bed, of him holding my hand, of us in a drug den penthouse, the apocalypse, the fight for our lives, the pressure of morality in a world without laws.

    ¡°When you say it, it sounds corny,¡± I remarked, grinning.

    ¡°Now that¡¯s just rude.¡±

    We shared a laugh, and I thought about what would¡¯ve happened if the Gates had never activated. Axel never would¡¯ve confessed, I would¡¯ve never acknowledged his feelings or attempted to meet them, and we¡¯d have never had¡­ whatever this was. Sure, I was only seeing the positive side now, and ignoring all the grim details, but I figured it was okay now and then to appreciate how things had changed instead of always bemoaning them. This, Axel, me¡­ Well. Maybe there wasn¡¯t that much of an upside.

    Axel¡¯s gaze slipped to the watch at my wrist, and his eyes widened. He let out a low whistle, then angled my hand about so that I could see the time too.

    10:57 p.m. We had to get up at sunrise, around 5 a.m, to take advantage of the light. I blinked in surprise. The time had passed so quickly. I could¡¯ve sworn it had only been eight o¡¯clock five minutes ago. We¡¯d accidentally stayed up talking much later than we should¡¯ve. The two of us should definitely be heading to sleep or we¡¯d be wrecked for tomorrow which was slated to be a big day.

    Axel must¡¯ve seen my expression because he straightened up in bed.

    After a moment, he said, ¡°Bit cold tonight, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    It wasn¡¯t. But that¡¯s not what he was asking.

    Put on the spot, I found myself unable to reply, and he nodded, as if completely understanding, as though he¡¯d guessed I¡¯d reject his unspoken request, like it was some forgone conclusion.

    The blond made a move to leave, and, sending my gratitude to Lusi and whatever had granted her the wealth we¡¯d claimed, a PhD or otherwise, I reached to the bedside table for the remote that controlled the lights and switched them off.

    Darkness settled around us. Now only the moon¡¯s kiss spilled in through the windows to faintly illuminate the room. As I¡¯d hoped, the lighting change had halted the blond, his back to me. I couldn¡¯t see his expression. I didn¡¯t know what mine was either.

    It seemed time itself stopped in that moment.

    Axel¡¯s frame sat at the precipice between standing to leave and returning to bed.

    ¡°So you don''t mind if I borrow your blanket?¡± he asked into the silence.

    His hand was still anchored in mine.

    I gently pulled him back.

    The soft glow of moonlight caught the planes of his face, revealing a dazed smile so adoring that I couldn¡¯t help but return it. With no comment, he slipped in beside me, pulling the sheets up over us. Then he settled in, pressing his forehead against mine, our hands clasped together between us.

    I stared at him, his face so close to mine, his eyes warm, and a hum of contentedness travelled through me. He had the same scent of frangipani body wash as me. A fleeting thought, so quick, flickered through my mind. That I wanted to always smell like him. But it disappeared into the ether of sleepy satisfaction of the moment.

    Having him here, in contact with me, felt right.

    He didn¡¯t ask, he didn¡¯t push.

    Nothing else was said.

    The last thought I had before losing consciousness was a strange confidence that even without me, Axel would¡¯ve been fine. The pragmatic flatness I¡¯d seen in him when I¡¯d become paralysed proved that. He was more than capable of it. I might¡¯ve needed him to survive this far, but he wouldn¡¯t have needed me. Perhaps that made this, whatever we were, all the more special.

    I fell away into my dreams listening to his light rhythmic breaths.

    It was the best night of sleep I¡¯d had since the Gates had appeared.

    The next morning the vote was unanimous.

 Chapter Thirty-Seven | To Fight

    They say the best battles won are those that are never fought.

    That''d been our ethos going in.

    Sneak one member under the cover of [Cloak] (the ability the fireballist had used to stay hidden) into the Gate and get the rest of us sucked in through the power of party retention (the same thing that''d dragged Jye and Wren along when Axel tackled me into Nabu''s Dungeon).

    It was simple.

    It was elegant.

    It was the fine line between life and death that I so desperately wanted to tread.

    Unfortunately, everything went to shit.

    Sitting around breakfast that morning, we''d all agreed: no mercy but no murder.

    We¡¯d do it clean or as clean as we could.

    The conversation after that went in circles, with Tam insistent on us knocking them unconscious at the very least, if we could. I hadn¡¯t been against the idea but couldn¡¯t see how that would ever be logically possible with the number difference, and Axel chimed in that, even if we wanted to, none of us had the experience to know how to pull our punches and none of the abilities we could purchase really helped us in that regard. Gigi¡¯s training could only extend so far.

    Which meant we had come to the crux of the issue. I knew vaguely how everyone had spent their credits, but without us understanding how all party members were currently sitting, it would be impossible to properly tailor a plan and figure out who should take which ability.

    So, I asked everyone to share their player attributes.

    I was surprised by what I saw.

    When we went around the table to fill each other in on our new stats, I realised that I¡¯d finally caught up to and was on par with Tam. Though that was based on her word since she¡¯d only reluctantly agreed to let us know her HP, stamina, and mana. Still, that she allowed us that much was truly momentous. I¡¯d struggled to even learn about her favourite foods when we cooked together. We were genuinely making progress, and that wasn¡¯t me being sarcastic!

    Taking in the three extra windows that had popped up, absent Jye¡¯s and Tam¡¯s for different reasons, I considered who the abilities might best suit to get us through to the CBD Dungeon and past the guards that surrounded its Gate.

    Other Student* Player Gigi | [Vanguard] | LVL 10

    140 HP | 25 MANA | 60 STAMINA

    28 CON | 19 STR | 5 DEX | 5 INT | 18 WIL | 18 END

    Student* Player Axel | [Combatant] | LVL 3

    110 HP | 45 MANA | 90 STAMINA

    22 CON | 18 STR | 18 DEX | 9 INT | 15 WIL | 18 END

    Student* Player Wren | [Synergist] | LVL 3

    50 HP | 120 MANA | 55 STAMINA

    10 CON | 11 STR | 11 DEX | 24 INT | 16 WIL | 15 END

    In comparison to the others, my stats looked very aesthetically pleasing now: 75 HP, stamina, and mana, and 15 on all attributes. I¡¯d decided to pour all my credits into each attribute equally, settling on the idea of being an [All-rounder] truly and fully. For now, with our limited wallet, there was no point in purchasing any additional abilities on my end, since my singular one meant I could use everyone¡¯s, so now I only had 23 credits remaining whilst everyone else had retained just enough to be able to buy one ability each.

    Jye had explained to me that during one of their chillout seshes, they¡¯d been able to haphazardly upgrade their attributes by getting so high they couldn¡¯t remember how they¡¯d figured anything out. Based on what Jye could recall, they thought they¡¯d mostly bought points in DEX, CON, and INT. I wondered if that had been the one where they''d been crying¡­

    Like Tam, they shared their HP, mana, and stamina, since that was pretty easy to parse for them, which also put them on par with Tam and I.

    But still, it begged the question: who should get what ability?

    ¡°I¡¯ll take Cloak if no one else wants it,¡± Tam said, casually.

    ¡°Uh-uh, no way are we letting you go ghost.¡±

    She gave me a pointed look. ¡°It¡¯d work best with my skill set. Me being assassin-like and all.¡±

    Axel began to retort, and I knew it wouldn¡¯t be complimentary, so I intervened.

    An honest approach would be best with someone like her. ¡°Look, Tam, I appreciate that you¡¯ve been on good behaviour, but that doesn¡¯t mean I fully trust you yet. Historically, you¡¯re there for finishing blows, but as far as teamwork goes, giving you an ability that lets you genuinely piss off whenever you want would be stupid of us.¡±

    With a whistle, she leaned back into her chair and folded her arms. ¡°Fair.¡±

    Warning bells began ringing in my head. The cutthroat was taking this with alarming ease. She had to be planning something. But what? She had been a little too cooperative lately. I hoped she hadn¡¯t found some sort of loophole around her [Collar of Control] and was scheming outright betrayal. I had literally just warmed up to her icy attitude when she was cooking alongside me in the kitchen.

    Repressing a sigh, I asked, ¡°Jye, what about you? Apart from Tam, you could benefit the most from sneak attacks.¡±

    They ran a hand over their jaw in consideration.

    ¡°I was thinking about putting my hand up, yeah. Might be cool to lob my knives from an invisible position.¡±

    Glancing at Wren, Gigi, and Axel to see if they disagreed, I was met with two approving nods.

    The third¡¯s expression was one of deep thought.

    ¡°Wait a tick. Volley is more up Jye¡¯s alley, isn¡¯t it?¡± Axel said.

    I reflected on our battle with Test Name and the continuous rain of arrows that the old man had sent our way. Since we¡¯d allocated Jye as backline damage, and given I was also hoping they¡¯d take to the bow and arrow, Axel¡¯s idea wasn¡¯t without merit. If they could mimic the same ability, it could be a fantastic advantage.

    It was Gigi who voiced xir disagreement. ¡°I believe I am familiar with Volley. I do not know it by that name, but having seen it in action, it is likely the same ability. It is not as simple as you would believe.¡±

    Like Tam, Gigi had been restrained in sharing xir past, insofar as xir experience with xir own Event, so xem talking about this was unexpected. Xe hadn¡¯t even told us what xir wish had been. Other than giving us weapon training and xir explanations of previous battles, xe¡¯d been quite reserved.

    ¡°How so?¡± I replied, hoping my tone didn¡¯t betray my interest.

    ¡°One of my prior party members used it. The ability is not a summoning of arrows. It is a magical duplication of the weapon shooting the projectiles.¡±

    So, Gigi had previous teammates. Well, of course. While I didn¡¯t doubt individuals had won the wish before, it was far more likely to win with more than less. What had happened to them? Were they also somewhere on Earth now? That was assuming they¡¯d survived alongside xem. It was possible xe had lost them in xir pursuit of the wish. Certainly, xir empathy toward our mission would make sense if that were the case. Maybe that was also why xe stayed silent unless spoken to. Perhaps xe was too afraid of forming bonds and losing them again.

    Returning my focus to xir explanation of the ability, a saltiness descended on me fuelled by how little the system explained of the skills available to us. Why couldn¡¯t it just describe things without all this guess work? Instead we were forced to hem and haw over them.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

    A duplication of the weapon shooting the projectiles... Based on the Test Name fight, its complexity didn¡¯t stop there either. The shots that had rained down hadn¡¯t all come at once but had been staggered.

    A thought occurred to me. ¡°Is it applicable only to one¡¯s own projectiles?¡±

    With a frown, Gigi said, ¡°I do not believe so. Thinking on it, my ??? was able to use it with our ???.¡±

    I blinked. Gigi¡¯s mouth had moved and sound had come out, but xir speech was so foreign to me it might as well have been whale song or R2D2¡¯s beeps and boops. I couldn¡¯t have guessed at what consonants and vowels would¡¯ve matched the lyrical noises I assumed were words.

    The Linnikian blanched. ¡°I apologise. I lost myself in my eagerness to respond. What would be the equivalent of your archers was able to use it with our¡­¡± xe paused, brows furrowed. ¡°A blow gun user is the closest English word you have.¡±

    ¡°Was that your people¡¯s language before?¡± Wren asked, eyes sparkling.

    Gigi nodded timidly, an oddly hesitant bend to xir expression. ¡°One of them.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s beautiful!¡± she said.

    The small alien¡¯s human face lit up. ¡°Perhaps I could teach you a few words, if you would be interested.¡±

    She nodded enthusiastically. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can make those sounds, but I¡¯ll try!¡±

    Their exchange had been quite wholesome. I didn¡¯t know if I agreed that the Linnikian language was beautiful, certainly it was unique, but it was good to see Gigi and Wren getting along. Makris words about xem and how he trusted Gigi the least had been weighing on the back of my mind. At the very least, his opinion wasn¡¯t tainting Wren¡¯s. I did wish I could get to the bottom of why the tumour suspected Gigi.

    I said, ¡°Then Wren can have Volley. She¡¯s got six empty slots¡ª¡±

    ¡°Ten now, actually!¡±

    Even better. That would be twenty overall. I didn¡¯t want to say it out loud, but my suggestions for Wren¡¯s build were to make her a bit of a jukebox of abilities for me. Of course, all of them would be applicable and useful to her in her role as a support class, but with her two huge open shelves for skills, it would be a waste to not put them to use.

    Once I earned more credits, and if no one wanted abilities we happened to pick up, I¡¯d also be filling my slots too, now that I also had seven empty as well. That said, I didn¡¯t like how easy it was to unlock these skill slots. It was like it was urging players to kill each other to load themselves up.

    ¡°No one but Jye really uses ranged weapons, so Wren could support you with it,¡± I suggested.

    There was no objection from the party.

    ¡°Sunshine, I really think I¡¯d be the best fit for Cloak,¡± Tam finally said, bringing us back full circle.

    Jye cleared their throat. ¡°Lee said it was for me.¡±

    ¡°Can you and your little LVL 1 status even learn a new ability?¡±

    Again with her bullying! She already made a few snide remarks earlier about it throughout the days we¡¯d been at base. I was glad that the moderation had stopped because if she¡¯d found out we¡¯d lied about Jye¡¯s reactions to that, I didn¡¯t know what she would do. Though it was impossible for our team to get along perfectly, it would be nice for just once if they weren¡¯t actively at each other¡¯s throats.

    Pinching the bridge of my nose, I decided it was best to change topics.

    ¡°What about Fireball?¡±

    Eventually, we allocated the abilities to the most suitable people before discussing both our plan of attack as well as a backup. More often than not things had gone wrong, but this time we had ample preparation to consider the possible forking branches of cause and effect.

    We really had no excuse for not pulling this off perfectly.

    Everything was going well.

    Jye and I, under the cover of [Cloak] had begun our approach toward the Gate, keeping an eye on the twelve current guards. Luckily, exactly as Tam reported, there was a day shift and a night shift, with Damien often visiting at random times. Tam had the most knowledge about day shift, so we''d chosen to put our plan into motion around midday.

    We¡¯d waited until Damien had left for our best chance. Tam hadn¡¯t been able to ascertain what exactly their leader could do, but I did not want him there if we could avoid it. A crew with something to prove to their boss was always more dangerous than one that could slack off without authority watching.

    According to Tam¡¯s information, we were slipping in between the very precise timetable our opponents followed as they completed their patrols. Situated in the center of the Queen Street Mall, the Gate to Dungeon 11 was guarded on each of the four intersecting walkways by two stationary watchmen and one patrol walking up and down the open area between storefronts; twelve in total. All sentries were armed with a melee weapon, either hanging by their hip or already held in their hands, ready for battle.

    Tam had reported all the abilities she¡¯d seen them use when catching the people who¡¯d tried to sneak in. She¡¯d explained them as best she was able: freezing, turning to stone, binding, flash-stepping, flying, acid spitting, shooting lightning, perfect aiming, speed buffing, and shadow controlling. The cutthroat hadn¡¯t gone into detail with how the battle had gone down, but suffice to say, the people had not gotten away alive. With that amount of lockdown, damage, and pursuit, if we fucked up a single thing, we¡¯d follow in their footsteps.

    One wrong move and we were toast.

    I had been especially worried about the weakness Tam had reported in their patrols. Supposedly, when Damien wasn¡¯t around, they didn¡¯t walk as far down the pathways, which would allow us to get closer easier. Part of me thought this might be intentionally planted as a trap.

    To assuage my concerns, Gigi had used [Locate] to ensure that all the guards were in their right places before Jye and I had headed out. Xir new ability was like a sonar ping, detecting all living beings within a given radius. It wasn¡¯t the cheapest ability to use, but I¡¯d borrowed it once we were about the halfway point, to give us as much information as we could get.

    It brought me some relief to do so. The ability appeared like wallhacks in COD but upgraded further into a peripheral sense. I couldn¡¯t see through solid objects, but everyone¡¯s outlines, a blue silhouette, gave away their location, with their brightness matching their proximity. Beyond that, there was a niggling in my mind outside of my sight, like a mental notification that another was near in the direction it vibrated. It tasted like sherbert.

    Knowing where the twelve guards were, even when they were out of sight, was strangely comforting. Since it wasn¡¯t something I needed to concentrate on, [Cloak], feeling exactly as it sounded, like a shroud around me, had remained functional. Technically, both Jye and I hadn¡¯t needed to have gone in together, but I don¡¯t think either of us had been game to do it alone.

    Breaths held, Jye and I finally stepped in direct view of the two guards between us and the fence surrounding the Gate. We¡¯d been trailing quietly behind the patrol, closing the distance to the one connection of fences that weren¡¯t chained together.

    No one had seen us yet.

    Trusting that with [Cloak] active, we¡¯d be impossible to detect, we began drawing nearer and nearer, perhaps only thirty metres away now. As both Jye and I were using the ability, we couldn¡¯t see each other and had opted to keep a hand on each other¡¯s shoulder to stay aware of where we were.

    Our steps were slow and careful. We might be invisible, but we were not inaudible.

    Wren and Gigi had remained hidden out of sight, but close enough to hear if we absolutely needed them to come to our aide. Axel, however, had climbed to the top of one of the tallest buildings nearby that looked down on the street to keep me in eyesight, ensuring that his [Devoted] trait always gave me prior warning of system danger.

    We¡¯d tested it earlier to see if it would work, since technically when using [Cloak], I was invisible, but the trait had still remained functional. It seemed the wording of it leaned toward one¡¯s range of vision and view, rather than what one was able to actually observe. Everything that should fall into his range of vision technically was within his eyesight.

    As we made our approach, feline Tam tagged alongside us in the shadows of the storefronts. She¡¯d said that she wasn¡¯t able to detect us with her cat sight, but our smell was very distinct and easy to track to her. I¡¯d tried not to be insulted, but given we¡¯d all only had one shower since we¡¯d commandeered the base, it was probably more true than I cared to know. I wanted to believe that it was her special animal olfactory senses that allowed her this scent tracking.

    The main reason she was here was to warn us if Damien came back. His presence often put all the other guards on higher alert, probably to impress him. Should he return, that would signal us pulling the plug on the plan and regrouping with another one. She could¡¯ve performed this task from a distance, but she¡¯d argued that, should we need the warning, it would give away the fact that we were trying something and raise everyone¡¯s defences. Gigi had agreed, saying that it would make a second attempt should we fall back doubly hard and all the time we¡¯d spent on recon a waste, as they¡¯d likely switch things up as a result.

    We couldn¡¯t afford to lose any more time.

    Besides, I was hoping even if they caught a glimpse of Tam, they might think the same thing I once had back in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon; that she was just a hungry stray looking for a feed.

    Earlier, Tam had snuck closer and tagged Damien with [Track] before he¡¯d left and we¡¯d begun our operation. While nearby, Tam had also used the ability on the two of the guards who hadn¡¯t shown any of their abilities, maxing out the amount of targets she could use it on. Our reasoning for this was simple: a danger unknown was worse, as we¡¯d long since learned.

    According to Tam, for this shift, luckily both the guards that had unknown abilities were stationed on the opposite intersection that we were approaching. Unless something were to draw their attention, they shouldn¡¯t notice us and we¡¯d be able to skate on by.

    Once there were no more shadows to hide in, Tam skidded to a stop, following my and Jye¡¯s movements with watchful eyes.

    One step, two step¡­ The patrol on our pathway beelined past us, following their route back to the end, away from us.

    So far, so good.

    Three step, four step¡­ Nothing new. Everything exactly as planned. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears and I hoped none of the guards could.

    Five step, six step¡­ Maybe only ten meters now. Should we make a run for it?

    I was deeply considering it when I heard a hiss of an ability be used.

    Heart in my throat, I squeezed Jye¡¯s shoulder to stop them from moving any further.

    ¡°Oh my god, can you see that kitty over there?¡± one of the guards asked, squinting into the shadows where Tam tried to shrink away, excitement in their voice. ¡°I swear I¡¯ve seen it around here lately. Is this the cat distribution network finally working in my favor?¡±

    Both guards in our intersection were now looking directly through us.

    Shit, shit, shit.

 Chapter Thirty-Eight | To Live

    We¡¯d planned for this.

    Tam let out a weak meow and slowly crept out from where she was hiding, knowing her jig was up. This had been contingency number one, based on Axel¡¯s comment that the reported ability of ¡°perfect aim¡± didn¡¯t really sound like anything he¡¯d ever heard of in games. Rather, he¡¯d suggested it was something more like keen eyesight¡ªimproved visual senses to be able to detect or notice small details, allowing for what might be considered ¡°perfect aim.¡± It looked like, with their love for cats at the forefront of their mind, the guard had used this ability to catch sight of Tam.

    ¡°Hey, kitty, kitty. Here, kitty,¡± the guard beckoned, their voice pitched up in an attempt to lure the calico bobtail closer.

    ¡°Come on, Forsythe, stop embarrassing yourself,¡± said their partner, their eyes scanning, passing right over us.

    Tam weaved around in circles, only drawing closer to the desperate guard by mere inches. I wondered how she felt to be putting on this show. The brunette was probably plotting Axel¡¯s demise since using her cute cat form as a distraction had been his idea. It would only work for a short amount of time before we drew the attention of the unknowns.

    Releasing the tension in my grip, I gave Jye a slight nudge, urging them forward.

    It was now or never.

    We crept closer to the fenced Gate, probably only eight meters away now.

    ¡°Please, I just wanna pet you,¡± Forsythe begged.

    Tsss.

    Another ability had been triggered! At the very least, hearing the sound reassured me that Axel was fine where he was.

    But what had the skill been? I used [Locate] again, checking to see the positions of the guards blocked out of sight, the pulse of the sonar spreading out. Fuck. One of the unknowns had turned around at the other side of the Gate and was approaching. The ability faded away, as the blue of their proximity grew brighter and brighter until they were in my actual line of sight.

    ¡°Oh, James, perfect. Use your Tame ability or whatever,¡± the cat lover said.

    Coming around the fenced-off, swirling black mass that was the Gate, James said, ¡°I¡¯d prefer not to. It¡¯s a waste to use mana like that.¡± They stopped next to the original pair, their hands on their hips. ¡°Besides, how¡¯s a cat gonna help us protect the Gate?¡±

    ¡°Ignore her. She¡¯s gonna get us all in trouble with Damien,¡± said Forsyth''s partner. ¡°Just get back to your post.¡±

    James had moved into the exact spot I¡¯d been aiming for, and I¡¯d had to take a step back, all but yanking Jye with me.

    ¡°It could raise morale,¡± Forsythe said, giving James puppy dog eyes. She turned them to her partner. ¡°Come on, Carlos. If I have to go back to an empty hotel room again, I¡¯m gonna kill myself and then you.¡±

    Carlos rolled their eyes as I guided Jye around, carefully stepping toward the Gate, hoping against all hopes no one would notice us. Please don¡¯t see us, please don¡¯t see us, please don¡¯t see us. In between my begging mantras, I briefly checked my own stamina and mana, and was thankful that I¡¯d thrown all my credits at my attributes. I still had ample amounts left.

    ¡°That¡¯s Santiago to you,¡± they said, folding their arms across their chest with a huff at their partner.

    Forsythe ignored them and began to psst, psst, psst to Tam, dropping to a squat.

    ¡°What are you all looking at?¡± came another voice from the opposite side of the Gate.

    It was James¡¯s sentry partner, the other unknown.

    Fuck, maybe having Damien around would¡¯ve been better! These guys might have had some military training thanks to him, but this was sloppy. Two guards leaving their post to come check out a cat? If I¡¯d known it would be that easy, I would¡¯ve just sent Tam in by herself. (Not that she¡¯d have agreed, since she was averse to throwing her own life away.)

    Said cat dipped closer to the three guards, before backing off again to their disappointment. She gave a curious trill and Forsythe let out a charmed ¡°awww.¡±

    Borrowing [Locate] once more, I sensed in real time as the second unknown approached. They took up position next to James. Now there were four people in a row who we had to circumnavigate around. I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose and pushed on. I had no idea how Jye was reacting, considering they were also invisible, but I could feel the nervous sweat forming under my hand.

    ¡°Wow, you don¡¯t see a bobtail every day, huh?¡± remarked the unknown.

    Forsythe nodded enthusiastically. ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying. Pretty please, Jim Jams, I¡¯ll give you my desert rations for the next two days!¡±

    The guard ran a hand under their chin as Tam curled around coyly on the ground, just out of reach of Forsythe.

    ¡°Make it a week and we have a deal.¡±

    ¡°James! You and I both know that¡¯s unfair.¡±

    ¡°Do you want the cat or do you want to die alone?¡± James asked, uncaringly.

    The cutthroat began to pur. Torn, Forsythe pouted. She let out a dramatic sigh. ¡°You win! A week of my desert rations.¡±

    Under James¡¯s breath, he muttered to his partner, ¡°I¡¯ll give half to you, Ira.¡±

    ¡°Hurry it up!¡± Carlos commented. ¡°We don¡¯t want Damien seeing us faffin¡¯ about.¡±

    Jye and I had almost passed by the second unknown, Ira, nearly to the fence, when the hiss of Jame¡¯s ability sounded.

    They frowned. Another tsss. The furrow at their brow deepened. ¡°It¡¯s not¡­ It¡¯s not working.¡±

    Ira¡¯s eyes narrowed, followed by an ability hiss. None of us could know what this guard was doing, but it couldn¡¯t be good. Tam sat up, her green eyes glinting, understanding the risk of the situation to a T. Without a moment¡¯s hesitation, she bounded towards the shadows of the storefronts as fast as her little paws would carry her.

    Immediately, the iron bar in Ira¡¯s hands lifted, a shout on their lips, ¡°Trespasser! Guard the Gate! Pursue the cat!¡±

    The explosion of abilities that followed this command burred into my head.

    Everything turned to shit.

    It was a flurry of sounds and sights, from lightning to frost to the distortion of shadow, all converging in the pursuit of Tam¡¯s tail. Mind racing, I borrowed [Shield Wall] and staggered a short row of them along the walkway in the hopes of granting her some measure of cover, but a few of the abilities were homing, chasing after her as she darted to and fro. The others crashed into the first [Shield Wall] combining into a smokey haze of destruction, obliterating the barrier. One of the guards was behind her in an instant, flash-stepping in, bat raised high above their head.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    We¡¯d been so close! So close to getting out of this without a fight.

    Four guards had now tightened their defence, clinging to the unlocked chain link surrounding the Gate, weapons raised and gazes alert and violent.

    As Tam¡¯s pursuer¡¯s weapon came down, I took a breath, steeling myself.

    We were still invisible. No one had noticed us.

    I hadn¡¯t been expecting anything like Ira¡¯s ability. They¡¯d known that beyond Tam not being a beast for James to use their taming ability on, that she was worth pursuing. That had to mean the ability was something that gleaned some player information. That was a dangerous skill to have. Perhaps Ira didn¡¯t even know how useful it was. If they had, they would¡¯ve been in a much higher position than a simple gate guard.

    The bat crashed into the concrete floor as Tam dodged, jumping onto the weapon and clawing up her attacker¡¯s arm before launching off them to spring for the cover of another [Shield Wall]. She would not last long, not even if she turned back into a human. Another burst of ranged magic attacks showered down over her, this time tinted with a sickly green glow. I guess that was the acid spit.

    Fuck.

    We¡¯d discussed what we¡¯d do if this happened.

    If they started attacking, we had contingency plan two.

    I¡¯d just been praying it wouldn¡¯t come to this.

    I didn¡¯t want to kill anyone.

    Wren and Gigi would¡¯ve heard Ira¡¯s shout since they weren¡¯t too far away. They knew what to do.

    Hoping the sounds raging were loud enough to mask my voice, I pulled Jye toward me, patting them down to find their head so I could whisper into their ear the go ahead. I felt them nod in response, but that could¡¯ve been wishful thinking. Tam began her retreat, having drawn the majority of the guard¡¯s focus, bolting for escape toward where Wren and Gigi would be rushing in from.

    Confident Jye remembered what to do, I considered the stamina and mana I had left, ensuring I could pull off the plan, and then summoned a staircase three steps high of [Shield Walls]. Jye¡¯s presence fell away from my hand as they presumably ascended out of my next move¡¯s range.

    We needed to get through the cage around the Gate.

    Unfortunately, the four guards would be collateral.

    Tam was still dodging blows left, right, and center, an arsenal of magic ranged attacks drilling into the surfaces under her paws as she bounced from spot to spot. Her tail was singed, her movements unpredictable, a blur being chased by eight guards. As she darted left, an arrow descended from nowhere, plunging into the shoulder of the one of the guards. The injured soldier staggered with a grunt, hands slapping up to the wound, face crinkled in pain.

    They yelled, ¡°Hidden ranger! Anyone have eyes on?!¡± Others nearby whipped about to identify where the attacker was hailing from, but, of course, they wouldn¡¯t be able to see Jye. It increased the panic and chaos of the attacking guards, and I could feel the tide slipping ever so slightly in our favor.

    The redhead was doing better with the bow and arrow than I¡¯d expected.

    With Gigi as their guide, who was concerningly trained in all manner of weapons, Jye had spent the rest of yesterday practicing archery out in the trees until they¡¯d been able to at least successfully hit their target two times out of five. When I¡¯d come out to bring lunch and watch, I¡¯d found that their fingers hadn¡¯t stopped bleeding despite our innate regen.

    In the flurry of activity another hiss sounded, and as an influx of magical projectiles shot out, they all redirected to the small forms of Gigi and Wren who were now charging closer. A scattering of [Shield Walls] formed horizontally in the air to take the brunt of the current shower of attacks, some exploding into blue motes of light. With the points Gigi had poured into xir attributes, xe could keep the barriers coming all day.

    Xe¡¯d also drawn a huge metal shield from xir inventory, courtesy of Axel¡¯s new [Smithing] ability and one of the wheelbarrows Jye had brought back from Bunnings. The aegis was large in comparison to Gigi and formed something of a wall with a slit which xe could peek through.

    With a yowl, Tam scurried away from another melee hit but had fallen into range of a different guard, their iron pipe raised high. She wasn¡¯t able to stop her momentum, green eyes wide, hackles raised, as the metal weapon bore down on her.

    There were so many abilities activating that I didn¡¯t hear the specific one that went off from Gigi¡¯s [Shield Wall] flashing into existence before her. The guard¡¯s pipe crashed into the blue barrier, clanking against it, the solid material sending reverberating feedback up the guard¡¯s arms, and they shouted a curse, their numb hands releasing their grip.

    Their weapon clanged to the floor. They were unarmed. Vulnerable. Even from here I thought I saw Tam¡¯s cat mouth curl into a grin. Now that Gigi was drawing fire, Tam could let loose. Black smoke exploded from her, obscuring a handful of guards from my view, a few tsss layering onto the white noise in my head; Wren¡¯s [Whetstone], no doubt. It looked like the cutthroat was going to have some fun. Tam¡¯s summoned blade, replaced by something much nicer by Axel, began flashing about in the smoke.

    An arrow plummeted into a guard who was drawing back to take stock of the situation, tearing into the meat of their thigh. They let out a strangled cry. I didn¡¯t envy them, though I did have to admit it was a good shot on Jye¡¯s behalf.

    With Gigi tanking ranged, Jye covering with arrows, Wren buffing, and Tam getting dirty, it was time for me to clear the way.

    I turned and stepped toward the four guards. It was Ira and James that had remained, along with two others whose names I didn¡¯t know. Memories flashed of the last time I¡¯d done this. I¡¯d hesitated to use it since; the fear of hurting people with it, as destructive and unpredictable as it was, so strong that I hadn¡¯t tried. I apologised under my breath as [Cloak] dropped under the activation of my chosen ability.

    In an instant, as the invisibility dissipated, the four sentinel¡¯s stunned gazes converged on me. The power built in my core, and I brought my foot down, energy rushing into the contact with the stone tile floor. I crossed my fingers that Jye would time their Load right.

    A glint on the roof in the distance caught my eye midattack. It was Axel waving his sword at me. The silly little action lightened the burden of what I was doing. And then he was gone, shredding across rooftops and racing down stairs to close the distance to support Tam in the front line.

    [Ground Smash] shuddered into the surface beneath me, rippling through the stone and cracking them, thundering into the very ground. The tiling tore, flinging outward, hefty pieces smashing into Ira and James and the two other guards. Jye¡¯s Loads activated. Combined with the quaking floor, the increased gravity of the flying debris shoved their undefended bodies off balance and back into the chain link behind them, hurling the unlocked fence pieces open. Unable to react in time, their weapons, from bats to crowbars, were battered from their holds, clattering the ground, skidding away.

    It didn¡¯t look like I¡¯d killed any guards, to my relief. At least not yet. Ira had taken a head wound, the injury bleeding profusely, the guard moaning and clutching at their forehead. The others were all in some state of confoundment, having fallen to the floor after being smacked into the fence, winded and groaning, trying to find their feet.

    Axel had made it to Tam¡¯s side, his [Swift Footed] trait making light of the distance he¡¯d had to run, and he was in the thick of it, sword swinging, slicing. The guards, having seen the uselessness of their ranged attacks due to Gigi¡¯s [Focus], had resorted entirely to melee, and the vanguard had joined the fray, using xir shield like a battering ram. Another of Jye¡¯s arrows dropped down, this time missing, but causing the targeted guard to dive out of the way, straight into Tam¡¯s dagger.

    It was a little unreal watching the battlefield before me.

    Honestly, with the way things were going, we probably could kill all twelve of them.

    The amount and quality of abilities we could harvest, especially Ira¡¯s, would give our party such an insane advantage. And these people had killed others, would go on to kill others. If I just let my team continue unheeded, wouldn¡¯t it be a net positive all around?

    One of the guards tumbled to the floor, blood flowing from a slash at their neck. It was Forsythe. She¡¯d taken a hit from Tam. Her brown eyes were wide, teary, panicked. The cutthroat loomed over her, a feral expression on her face. Forsythe tried to shimmy back, flailing her bat before her to keep Tam at bay, her other hand pressed to her wound, red seeping out from the gaps in her fingers. Tam brought her own hand up, preparing for the final blow.

    I hesitated.

    Another guard thudded down, this time Axel¡¯s blade sweeping through their calf muscle in a surgically clean cut. The injured person let out a scream of pain, as blood gushed down their leg, filling their boot, spilling out onto the floor.

    No.

    We would not become exactly what the Deities wanted us to be.

    We¡¯d hold firm to our words.

    No mercy but no murder.

    Knowing what I was throwing away, I took the last steps toward the Gate and slipped through.

    It was worse inside the Dungeon.

 Chapter Thirty-Nine | To Hell

    Tam, Axel, and Gigi stumbled into step alongside me, arms still midswing, eyes wide in surprise, with Wren and Jye atomising in at the same time not far beyond us. Having watched it happen this time, I was about as confounded as I¡¯d been at the Gate for Nabu¡¯s Dungeon. Maybe for the next Gate, if we survived this one, I¡¯d try to get someone else in the party to walk through so I could see what would happen.

    Surprisingly, since I could see them now, the redhead¡¯s [Cloak] looked to be cancelled by being dragged into the Gate through the party retention protocol. I didn¡¯t look back, knowing from Tam¡¯s reports that Damien¡¯s crew never entered the Dungeon, so they wouldn¡¯t follow us in.

    For good reason.

    My thoughts crashed off a cliff when I focused on what lay in front of me, my breath frozen in my throat.

    I stared, completely unable to react to the sheer immensity of it. It was unbelievable, no, rather I didn¡¯t want to believe what I was seeing. I wanted to clench my eyes closed and pretend I hadn¡¯t walked into this Dungeon.

    Carrie and Killian must¡¯ve gotten lucky early on; Wren and her first party too.

    Because the chill that ran over me was not from the freezing wind whipping past my head nor the snowflakes piling up over my clothes. I was numb to the extremely low temperature, all bodily reaction thrown to the wayside in an attempt to understand the scene before me.

    It put the word ¡°bloodbath¡± to shame.

    The snow at my feet was drenched red, with bodies and limbs scattered this way and that in heaped piles as far as the horizon stretched, torn to pieces, jagged gashes and ripped flesh. Viscera and gore was splattered haphazardly about, soaking and staining the freshly fallen snow. There had to be thousands of corpses, if not tens of thousands; what expressions I could glimpse were frozen in mangled depictions of horror and hopelessness, their faces spanning the ages of babes to seniors.

    The dead terror in their eyes would haunt me forever.

    It was horrific. It was nightmarish.

    It was hell.

    It was where everyone had ended up.

    The icy cold blast of the Dungeon¡¯s biome, anything but a greeting, fogged my breath when I finally managed to exhale.

    I was thankful that the freezing temperature had kept the bodies from rotting, the smell only coppery, the faintest stench of strewn bowel contents underlying it, though my numbing nose wasn¡¯t able to sense much more than that. Little consolation that it was, since what replaced smell was the taste of bitter bile snaking its way up my throat.

    We¡¯d hadn¡¯t had lunch today, but the vestiges of breakfast, porridge and dried fruit and nuts, was curling in my stomach. The sick of it cloyed to the back of my tongue, and I swallowed it down, standing there, staring. Trying to accept that this was real. That the Dungeon, that the Deities, had claimed these lives.

    I¡¯d been expecting something bad.

    I think we all had been.

    But this¡­  massacre was beyond even what my worst imagination could conjure up.

    I¡¯d known people entering weren¡¯t coming out, but for them to have not made it beyond the first steps of the Dungeon was incomprehensible. Had the beasts Wren described truly butchered so many like this? It seemed impossible for them to have killed all these people. I didn¡¯t even have the mental bandwidth to check on how everyone else was fairing, my mind still unable to process anything except the carnage in front of me.

    Wren let out a little shriek, and Jye¡¯s bow and arrow disappeared into their inventory so they could pull her face to their chest, blocking the child¡¯s view, holding her close. This was not something a kid should see. Hell, as my gut clenched in disgust, I wasn''t sure even I could stomach it. What was before us was unfathomable. It was a mass desecration of human life.

    But a second had passed, though it might as well have been an eternity; the weight of deaths distorting time like gravity.

    ¡°Incoming,¡± Axel warned, sword raised.

    Glad for the distraction, I whirled about to where Axel was pointing; a single person sprinted towards us, the gale of frosted wind curtaining them. Their features were difficult to make out, but there was a frantic energy in their movements. Something was wrong. Well, more wrong.

    ¡°You have to run!¡± the stranger shouted, voice strangled by hysteria. ¡°They''re coming!¡±

    I could hear it, the crunching of ice and frozen flesh along the crimson ground, like pounding war drums, growing louder and louder. A stampede of something unknown approaching, bearing down on us. The beasts Wren had described. It had to be.

    But this was all wrong. Wren said we¡¯d have some time to walk in, to set up camp. I¡¯d thought all these people would¡¯ve gotten further inside too. We¡¯d been planning on helping them, if we could, to ensure the human density didn¡¯t get too low and slow the average decay. Fuck.

    The plans of mice and men and all that jazz¡­

    My stomach settled, the threat against my life a familiar panic compared to the dread stretching out before us. I could deal with sudden danger. I was used to it now. We¡¯d been in life-or-death situations more times than I cared to remember.

    ¡°Run for your lives!¡± the stranger shouted as they barrelled past the party.

    I didn''t need to be told a third time.

    I started sprinting. The Gate loomed before us, which had remained exactly as Wren had said; the ever tantalizing escape route.

    My hands clenched into fists.

    No.

    We would be clearing this Dungeon.

    As I pushed my feet as fast as they could carry me in the opposite direction of the stampede, past the Gate, half sinking into the mushy human snow that squelched with each step, I risked a glance back. I needed to know what was pursuing us, a morbid curiosity. What I saw was something entirely different to what I¡¯d been expecting.

    Instead of abominable snowmen, behind us, charging at full pace on six legs, were beasts of stark white fur, easily visible against the reddened combination of snowfall and plentiful corpse bits. The creatures were more than the height of an adult human and built with whip-like muscle, sleek and angular in shape. Made for speed, for pursuit. From their snarling mouths razor teeth glinted. Had there been one or two, perhaps I would¡¯ve tasked the party with standing ground. Given our experience so far, we¡¯d have been able to take a few on.

    However, since there were fifty or so snapping at our heels, it was all I could do to not think about our imminent demise.

    We had not been prepared for this.

    During our discussions in base, Wren had gone into as much detail as she could about the Dungeon, with Makris filling the gaps from his observatory position in her mind, and even then, the most we¡¯d readied was how to deal with the biome. The girl¡¯s memory was spotty with details on the beast that had attacked, and Makris hadn¡¯t been able to help either, since he could only see what she could, and the attack had been so swift and sudden, she could describe very little. Compiled with the trauma it put her through, it had been a miracle she could remember anything at all. We¡¯d been hoping to trek through the arctic environment for at least a day before being set upon by our new assailants.

    So these creatures, and the number of them, was beyond the scope of what we¡¯d planned for. As Gigi followed after me, xe dropped some [Shield Walls]. It did not stop the predators but slowed a few down as they had to dart about to dodge the obstructions in their pathways.

    It didn¡¯t even need to be said that the bodies we¡¯d seen had been ripped to shreds by our pursuers. The players, naive and ignorant to the dangers of the Dungeon, would¡¯ve been like newborn lambs to the slaughter. And Damien¡¯s crew had known what was laying in wait. Had let all these people walk unknowingly to their deaths.

    Regret was heavy in my gut as my lungs burned.

    I pushed it and the mountains of bodies scarred into my eyes away, knowing they weren¡¯t something we could do about now, just a distraction that could make us slip and lose our own lives.

    Blindly, we ran deeper into the snow biome, a white expanse before us now, even the sky barely a blue, hazed by falling flakes, my only guiding light the stranger running ahead of me. My eyelids felt oddly heavy, and I realised, as I blinked, that whatever moisture there¡¯d been on my lashes had begun to freeze over. Oh, that wasn¡¯t good.

    The six of us sped after the stranger, the square of their back my singular focus, the pounding of the creatures¡¯ paws secondary to not losing sight of our helper.

    ¡°This way!¡± they urged, whipping out a hand in gesture to get us to follow them.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    I hesitated for a split second, running through whether or not they should be trusted.

    But there weren¡¯t a lot of other options, at least on my end. I¡¯d burned all of my stamina in that last ability back on Earth, and it was coming back up slowly. Well, much much faster than it had before I proc¡¯d into the attributes with my credits but not enough to really assist me in borrowing anything in the meantime. Sure I could borrow something that cost mana, but there wasn¡¯t anything particularly useful in a chase sequence.

    Which reminded me¡­ As far as entertainment went, this had to be relatively eye-catching.

    Hopefully, that meant we were being focused by the Dungeon¡¯s Mod. It¡¯s not like there appeared to be anyone else alive in here apart from us and the stranger. The Deities had to be watching us. And if worse came to worse with the stranger, it was one versus six. Actually six and not just six-ish, since this time I felt like I could rely on Tam to do her part. Something had changed about how she¡¯d been treating the group lately. Though it did make me less trusting toward her.

    Taking a calculated gamble, I followed the sharp right in tow of the stranger, and we trailed them into the crevice wedged between high hardpack snow, the light of the sky snuffing out the further we delved into what now appeared to be some sort of cave system. The air grew colder, stinging my lungs as I heaved in breaths.

    The stranger did not slow down. If anything, in the tight space, they sped up, darting about the dim narrow tunnel corners as if they knew the ins and outs of them like the back of their hand. If I didn¡¯t keep my eye on them, I was liable to take a wrong turn and get my entire party and myself killed.

    Right, left, left, right¡ª

    Tsss.

    An ability or several; Gigi was littering [Shield Walls] still, but it didn¡¯t seem in sync with xir activations. I lost track of our turns in that moment, desperation to survive the only thing snaring my focus onto the stranger¡¯s back.

    The thunder of the creatures¡¯ pursuit echoed in after us, but more controlled now, perhaps because they were being forced to file in one by one into the cave, rather than continue on in the cluster that¡¯d begun our chase. With that relief giving me a moment to think, I checked to ensure everyone had made it so far, not as worried as maybe I once would¡¯ve been entering Nabu¡¯s Dungeon.

    We¡¯d grown since then. Well, I hoped we had, at least.

    Axel was beside me, Tam not too far behind, followed by Jye carrying Wren, and Gigi, still throwing down [Shield Walls] to block the tunnels as we raced through.

    The stranger skidded to a halt at the dead-end before them, ramrod still, eyes flicking back and forth. They brought a finger to where their lips under their scarf would be and fell into a crouch, gesturing for us to do the same. I shared a look with everyone else, panting heavily, muscles burning, and silently we agreed to once again follow suit.

    Dropping into a squat, I tried to control the air pumping rapidly in and out of my lungs. The others appeared to be doing the same to different degrees of success. It hadn¡¯t been much, but for the days we¡¯d been doing recon, I¡¯d started including some cardio into my morning routine.

    At my request, Jye, a ¡°licensed PT¡± (in their words), had given me a training regimen, and I¡¯d stuck to it as closely as I could. If attributes weren¡¯t going to improve our overall physical fitness, it was up to us to do it instead. It was part of how I could protect the others better.

    Said PT deposited Wren gently to the ground, and she shot them an appreciative though strained smile. Seeing the monsters again had to be horrific for her, but she was taking it on the chin. Hopefully Makris was supplying some sort of emotional support as well. I was glad Jye was looking after her.

    The clambering of the creatures¡¯ clawed feet upon the ice floor inside the cave didn¡¯t quieten. In fact, it sounded like they were closing in on us. Axel¡¯s grip on his sword tightened, turning to check with me for our next move. Would we have to stand our ground here? It wasn''t exactly the most defensible position, the frost-caked walls further ingraining a coldness into my flesh.

    To my left, Tam¡¯s brown eyes were narrowed in suspicion, the blade she held already surreptitiously pointed towards the heavily clothed stranger before us. Her distrust toward them might be deserved.

    It was possible this unknown person had worked in tandem with the beasts to trap us. In our haste, we''d trusted them and followed them, but that could''ve been just what they wanted.

    I took a sharp breath, weighing up the options, the sound of the creatures drawing nearer.

    It would only take a swipe or two at Gigi¡¯s barriers for those aggressive beasts to get through the ones xe¡¯d use to plug the tunnels behind us. They could be upon us in seconds, if that was the case. If we preemptively attacked the stranger, assumed they had betrayed us, and took them hostage, would it stop the creatures?

    I doubted it.

    Rather it would pit these beasts and the stranger doubly against us. We weren¡¯t in the right shape to take on fifty of those beasts. I had enough stamina now for maybe one ability, but without knowing what this person before us could do, attacking blindly would be stupid. Add to that, though I could feel the blood thrumming through me, a heat of adrenaline too, my fingers had begun to grow numb. The sharp bite of the cold air also cut my airways as I breathed, burning my lips and nostrils when it entered them. It was far fucking below zero in here.

    A tremor of anxiety thrummed through me. In a prolonged fight, we¡¯d freeze to death.

    The beasts were almost upon us, their thunder closing in.

    The stranger didn¡¯t move, a statue in all but the softly rising and falling of their chest.

    In the dark of the cave, I met their gaze, hoping for reassurance, for answers, but it was obstructed by the hood and scarf that encompassed most of their face. Staring though, those eyes¡­ I knew those eyes.

    Why did I know those eyes?

    I opened my mouth to speak, but they shook their head sharply, the pandemonium of the approaching beasts right on top of us.

    My mouth went dry, and I felt my heart slow as I readied myself to fight. We¡¯d have to take them on, filed into our cave end, one by one. At least there was some ease in that.

    The stranger pointed up.

    Following the line of their finger, the party and I angled our heads. We were treated to a glacial transparent ceiling above which an extended line of the beasts stampeded over.

    One by one, the whole fifty plus of them swept overhead, before ambling out of view.

    They were gone.

    Just like that.

    Suspicious gazes fell to the stranger.

    Somewhere along the line, the beasts had taken an alternate route, a detour that had led them to the tunnel running adjacent but basically one floor above. Had¡­ had the stranger planned this? They¡¯d used an ability, I was sure. But what? Something similar to Anna¡¯s [Mirror Aide] maybe, to lead them away from us?

    Without a word, said stranger pressed their finger further into the scarf, instilling even deeper silence on us. I heard the hiss of another ability and watched as the stranger¡¯s eyes pressed closed, their brow furrowed.

    Something told me that even like this, they weren¡¯t vulnerable. It was in the tension of their body. Muscles coiled, ready to spring. I sought Tam¡¯s gaze and gave her a curt shake of the head. Utterly seen through, her expression flattened. She¡¯d wanted to attack them.

    We held our breaths.

    Were they sensing the creatures somehow? Listening to their distant movements?

    A tangible vibration of expectancy hung in the air.

    After what seemed like forever, the stranger¡¯s eyes finally flashed open and they stood, their familiar gaze taking us in. Another hiss followed, though it didn¡¯t seem like it came from them.

    ¡°They¡¯re gone. For now.¡± It wasn¡¯t just their eyes¡­ I hadn''t noticed it because of the hysteric emotion colouring it, but their voice was familiar too.

    Gigi¡¯s hand found my arm and xe nodded tightly. Xe must¡¯ve checked the beasts proximity using [Locate] to confirm their words. Xir touch was glacial against my skin.

    A shiver rocked up my spine, the chill beginning to tremble through my limbs. I would¡¯ve immediately liked to have begun interrogating the stranger, but there were more pressing matters to consider. My health had begun to pip down slowly, and the biome also seemed to be taking a toll on my stamina and mana regen. We had to do something about that first.

    ¡°W-Win-Winter suits,¡± I chattered, my teeth clacking together from the cold.

    The stranger¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    Whatever. They would have to wait. They¡¯d saved our lives. I''m sure getting them to hold off a little bit wouldn''t be asking much more. And it wasn¡¯t like they¡¯d use this chance to attack us either; the creatures might come back with a big disturbance.

    Almost simultaneously, the six of us pulled out some of the gear Killian had offered us before we¡¯d left Tentworld. He¡¯d been emotionless but apologetic (mostly to Axel) that he couldn¡¯t do more for us, considering he wasn¡¯t able to honor Carrie¡¯s extension of an invite. Having stepped in and out of the Gate, he¡¯d recommended an assortment of equipment and had suggested we¡¯d layer up if we were intent on checking it out ourselves.

    In silence, though Axel muttered complaints under his breath about the cold, we turned our backs on each other and started stripping. We only took the top off of whatever we were wearing since the falling snow had dampened them and was no doubt part of what was sapping our warmth. This was something Jye had explained to us about extreme camping. This extra layer had been uncomfortable for the duration of the fight we¡¯d just been in, but most of us had chosen to wear tank tops beneath our shirts, just in case.

    We¡¯d agreed on this quick change during planning, since we knew it was unlikely we¡¯d be able to step into the Gate dressed in appropriate gear for the arctic. I¡¯d made sure to check with Wren and Tam, and they¡¯d both understood the practicality of it. I¡¯d hoped we might find privacy or be able to pitch up one of the tents Jye took from Bunnings to change in, though I told them not to count on it. We¡¯d tried to fit an already built tent into our inventories, but we were met by the same Unacceptable parameters error message like when Jye had attempted to store the car.

    The six of us had formed a circle with the stranger standing in the center, our backs to them as we layered on the equipment. For some reason, Jye had stepped ever further away from us all. Were they shy about nudity? I mean, I understood. I wasn¡¯t exactly pumped to be getting half naked with an audience, but you¡¯d think a gym junkie would be more proud of their hard work. In the corner of my eye, I noted that they¡¯d opted for two tank tops.

    Subconsciously, I¡¯d put myself closer between Wren and the stranger, and I think Tam also had a similar idea.

    I was surprised either of us had done so because my thoughts were stuttering to complete, the freeze beginning to seep into my bones. The warmth had since left my body, and just in my underwear, my hands and arms shook violently as I slipped on a thermal long sleeve shirt, long johns, and socks, followed by a layer of clean normal clothes, and then a down jacket and pants, gloves, a balaclava and topped it all of with a beanie. I dismissed the old damp set to my inventory.

    It was quite the lengthy process even though I think we were all changing as quickly as we could, the uncontrollable spasming of our freezing bodies making the struggle more difficult. I was shivering even when fully dressed again, muscles clenching in response to the cold, and I folded my arms about myself to capture and retain as much warmth as I could. Yes, it looked like I was hugging myself, so what.

    When we all turned back around, the sight nearly made me laugh.

    We looked like some sort of confused gang of plump bank robbers.

    ¡°Awfully well-prepared, aren''t we?¡± the stranger mused, and I was sure I knew that voice.

    It was difficult to forget it. But it didn¡¯t make any sense.

    How had he ended up in here?

 Chapter Forty | Familiar Faces

    Tam was the first to speak, the balaclava barely muffling the suspicion. ¡°Killian?¡±

    The stranger¡¯s brow shot up in surprise, and they flipped off their hood and tugged down the scarf from their face to reveal the rest of their features; striking and dark, but there was a crookedness absent along the nose. A cloud of white breath exhaled from their brown lips that were curled down in scepticism. This expression was all wrong too.

    ¡°You¡¯re familiar with my younger brother?¡±

    It was Killian standing before us, except more gaunt, maybe leaner in general, though it was difficult to tell because of all the layers. The only other major difference was that his haircut was sensibly parted down the middle, granting him bangs¡ªnot the mullet his brother sported.

    ¡°You¡¯re twins?¡± I clarified, baffled.

    ¡°So they say, but I¡¯m not entirely sure he wasn¡¯t adopted.¡±

    Of course. I had forgotten because it¡¯d been so long ago. The name of the first person to enter Dungeon 11.

    Adrien Galbraith.

    ¡°I thought you would be dead,¡± I said, dumbfounded. How was he alive? It¡¯d been two weeks! And in the presence of those beasts! Wren¡¯s prior party had been practically decimated. And all those bodies¡­ It was ridiculous. Beyond belief. And then there was the sheer coincidence of us having a tenuous connection with his brother. What kind of weird luck.

    ¡°I assure you, tales of my demise, if there have been any, which I am doubtful of considering our circumstances, have been greatly embellished.¡±

    Axel¡¯s nose crinkled in distaste. ¡°Killian was always right about you.¡±

    The twin¡¯s eyes twitched. ¡°I can¡¯t escape his fans even in a Dungeon!¡± He threw his arms up in anger, before folding them over his chest. Annoyance clouded his face. ¡°You¡¯re all welcome, by the way. For me saving your lives and putting mine on the line.¡±

    A mumbled thanks rose from everyone in the party, some people chattering it out.

    ¡°How have you¡­¡± I began, unsure how to word it.

    ¡°They¡¯re mostly muscle so they¡¯re quite chewy.¡±

    The words sank slowly into me, their meaning only making sense as Wren blanched, Makris possibly explaining it to her in the same time I took to parse it.

    Adrien had been eating the creatures. That couldn¡¯t be healthy. Even if he¡¯d needed to sustain himself, surely there were other ways. As I thought on it, I couldn¡¯t conjure anything else except maybe looting the bodies? That wouldn¡¯t be reliable. Obviously for water, he¡¯d been melting ice. Protein, fat, and H2O weren¡¯t exactly the building blocks of a nutritious diet, but they¡¯d keep you alive. It begged the question, though, why?

    Stealing my thunder, her eyes wary, Tam asked, ¡°What¡¯s your rationale in staying in this eighth circle of hell?¡±

    The brunet gave her a wry smile. ¡°Call it an amateur¡¯s mistake.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna have to give us more than that,¡± Axel followed up.

    ¡°Say, isn¡¯t it a bit rude to start questioning me without even introducing yourselves?¡± Adrien¡¯s head cocked as he said this, the smile on his face pleasant but facile.

    He was a very different man to his brother, that was for certain. What had Killian said¡­ Adrien was the academic? It was true that there was something of an analytical bend to him. It wasn¡¯t alarming. Just off putting. He reminded me of peers I¡¯d had in university who¡¯d dismiss you after you answered one question not to their liking. As if you were suddenly beneath them.

    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said. ¡°I¡¯m Lee, that¡¯s Axel, Jye, Wren, Tam, and Gigi,¡± I listed off, gesturing as I went along. ¡°We¡¯re the party Just Friends.¡±

    Suddenly remembering proper social etiquette, I reached out a hand and he shook it, his grip firm. ¡°Apologies, I¡¯m not familiar with your group. As for me, you may have gathered, I¡¯m Adrien.¡± He paused, eyes flicking over each member of our team. ¡°I don¡¯t suppose you would mind helping me clear this Dungeon?¡±

    ¡°Wait a momento. If you already know how to clear it, like, why haven¡¯t you?¡± Jye asked, incredulous hands resting on their hips.

    ¡°Not for want of trying, o¡¯ tall brutish oaf. It is simply impossible to do alone. And not many people survive long enough to get to the nest,¡± Adrien explained as though he were talking to school children. His expression hardened. ¡°Though you appear to have seen some combat.¡±

    ¡°Some,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Perfect. Then we can team up. I¡¯d be more than happy to lend my expertise provided you relinquish the clear to me.¡±

    ¡°Not happening, dove,¡± Tam hissed. ¡°We don¡¯t share.¡±

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t speak for us,¡± I said.

    ¡°And you do?¡± she snapped.

    My gaze dropped to the [Collar of Control] around her neck, and she scowled before falling into a sizzling silence. And here I had finally gotten onto the¡­ well, the not bad side of her. All that work, thrown into the wind! I repressed the sigh that threatened to escape me. Three steps forward and two back was still progress.

    ¡°Your petty squabbles aside, it¡¯d be in your best interest to partner up with me.¡± He threaded his loosely gloved fingers together. They didn¡¯t look his size¡­ Had he pilfered them from the corpses? It made sense. We¡¯d done the same, really. ¡°I know the ins and outs of the Dungeon. You¡¯re liable to end up like those poor unfortunate souls at the Gate should you set out on your own.¡±

    A flash of that sickening image burst through my mind, and my stomach lurched.

    ¡°Tell us why you¡¯ve stayed inside the Dungeon, and we¡¯ll consider your offer,¡± I countered, trying to forget the staggering loss of life.

    Adrien let out a sharp sigh. ¡°You¡¯re a bothersome bunch.¡±

    I waited.

    With a roll of his eyes, he explained, ¡°I received a request that the Dungeon be cleared without me leaving it. There were only a few of the beasts I knew of then. I thought it would be doable. Blinded by my own hubris, I accepted it. The reward was incredible. The penalty, terrible.¡±

    It all hit fairly close to home. I wondered if Apophis was to blame here too.

    ¡°The penalty was your death?¡± I asked.

    He nodded grimly. ¡°It is not a mistake I will be making again any time soon.¡±

    ¡°Why hasn¡¯t anyone else survived?¡± Wren chimed in.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I don¡¯t appreciate the judgement implied in your question, girl. I¡¯m not a monster, just pragmatic. I warn them when I am around, but there is only so much one man can do,¡± Adrien said tersely. ¡°Most people step into the Gate and freeze at the sight of the beasts or attempt to fight them. Neither option ends well. Everyone I¡¯ve tried to help has perished. Well, almost everyone.¡± At that, he peered down at Wren now, a curious glint in his eyes.

    She shrank away from his gaze, her jaw still chattering from the cold, and rubbed her shoulders to warm up. It looked like she¡¯d forgotten to pack her thermal blanket. The others had already summoned their own, the mylar fabric shiny in the dim light of the cave.

    Pulling mine from my inventory, I stepped closer to her and flicked it out, drawing it about her shoulders. She gave me a small smile, her cherry nose Rudolph red, and pulled the lightweight material tighter to herself. Seeing her stop shivering, I was content enough without the added warmth and had started thinking of a way to get the most benefit out of this potential arrangement with Adrien. As I did so, Axel slung half of his blanket over my shoulder, bringing his body closer and pressing into my side. I don¡¯t know whether the heat that found me was due to the blanket at all. My face ignited as the rest of the party¡¯s gaze fell on us, and I was thankful for the balaclava masking most of my expression.

    Ignoring them, especially Tam¡¯s manically gleeful glare, Axel asked Adrien, ¡°Right, well, you said there were only a few when you entered. Tell us why there are so many now.¡±

    ¡°I see why you have lived as long as you have,¡± the twin said in dry acknowledgement, taking this moment to reapply his scarf and hood, his nose bright pink. ¡°The number climbs the longer they remain and the temperature drops the longer the challenge is incompleted. I whittle off what I can to cull the herd, but I cannot handle the sheer volume.¡±

    Well, that explained why it was colder than when Wren had entered. I¡¯d assumed the difference was due to her healing herself and not taking as much damage from the weather. But if it grew colder the longer the challenge wasn¡¯t completed¡­ Surely that was the Deity¡¯s anger brewing over someone slowballing their Dungeon?

    ¡°Are you confident the clear is killing all the creatures?¡± Gigi asked, a furrow to xir brow.

    ¡°When you get near their nest, you get a notification detailing it. It¡¯s a simple challenge, but one entirely out of my own abilities.¡±

    I nodded. ¡°What are your abilities and class, then?¡±

    ¡°Shall I give you my bank account information and PIN while I¡¯m at it?¡±

    This earned a snort of amusement from Tam. I shot her a death glare, and she just shrugged, the blanket at her shoulders crinkling up with the movement. As I turned back to respond to Adrien, I caught Axel¡¯s gaze which was also narrowed in distrust.

    Honestly, in this I was in concert with him. Something about Killian¡¯s brother was off. It was the first time I¡¯d come across someone in discussion where the idea of inviting them to our party hadn¡¯t so much as drifted through my mind. Even despite all the beneficial skills it looked like Adrien had access to, it didn¡¯t feel like a good idea. In fact, as I took in the situation, I was reminded of when I¡¯d met Nabu¡¯s gaze.

    Adrien didn¡¯t care if we lived or died.

    He had a use for us, and that was all that mattered.

    But maybe we could use that to our advantage.

    ¡°If we¡¯re going to be working together, we need to put all our cards on the table,¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll tell you this much: I¡¯m a Sorcerer.¡± His gaze flicked over the party. ¡°I¡¯m sponsored. And I have every intention to win the Event.¡±

    I blanched, not just from how he¡¯d revealed he knew exactly what this entire thing was, but that he was essentially admitting to working against us, eventually. I should¡¯ve expected this from someone who¡¯d been stuck in a Dungeon the entire time. There was no way one could be sane eating those creatures. Then again, maybe he¡¯d been like this before the Event. Who was to know?

    ¡°Then why would we help you? We¡¯re in direct competition.¡±

    He gave me a cool look. ¡°Let me put it this way, Lee. I can and will make your lives a living hell while you are within this Dungeon. I will thwart you at every turn, sabotage all of your efforts, and lay to waste any and all plans you make. And should you cross me, I will not hesitate to strike you all down. Or¡ª¡± He raised an eyebrow. ¡°¡ªwe can work amicably together and you can give me the clear.¡±

    ¡°Not very cash money of you,¡± Jye commented sullenly.

    ¡°No. It isn¡¯t. But those are my ¡®cards on the table,¡¯ as you put it.¡±

    Adrien had to be confident he could defeat the six of us if he was willing to threaten us like this. The way he stood was without a care, a casualness, but still guarded. He could defeat us. Or he was sure he could. Without knowing what abilities he had as a [Sorcerer], if that truly was his class, or what LVL he was and the experience he had, it was possible we were already somehow under his thumb.

    Fuck.

    This wasn¡¯t really an ambush as it was a semi-expected betrayal. At least there was that. I¡¯d learned slightly from our past experiences. Becoming a paranoid person had never seemed like a good thing, but it had its perks.

    ¡°Can I have a moment to talk this out with my party?¡± I asked.

    He chortled. ¡°All the time in the world. Though I remind you, that¡¯s far more limited these days.¡±

    With that, he turned his back and walked to the only exit of the tunnel we¡¯d run into, giving us space until I could only just make him out. He stood there, arms crossed in a solid stance. I heard several hisses. However, nothing visible appeared. What abilities was he using?

    He had to have a reasonable amount of mana (I was assuming he¡¯d be using mana over stamina based on his class, but I had no proof), since he was activating skills so often. Possibly that meant he¡¯d earned a large amount of credits too. There was no doubt in my mind that Adrien was a higher level than us, him having survived on his own here for two weeks. And it was very possible he¡¯d come across other less than welcoming players, resulting in him gathering a nice assortment of abilities from their deaths.

    The party dropped into a crouch, huddled around each other, a silence sitting between us, wisping out as fogged breath from our covered mouths. None of us were sure what to say. All our planning had basically worked out exactly as we¡¯d wanted. We were all alive, we were all in the Dungeon, and we hadn¡¯t killed anyone.

    And yet, the acidic taste of failure rankled my mood.

    First there¡¯d been the mass death pit. I still wasn¡¯t properly processing it, the image on a buffer in my head. Then, Adrien had completely soured our accomplishments by just genuinely having a better hand. Or bluffing well enough that it appeared as so. He¡¯d saved our lives, yes, but purely for his own gain.

    These two things pissed me off, actually. They made my hate for the Divinities reignite. For once, for once, we¡¯d done everything right! We¡¯d thought about it from every angle we could¡¯ve, and we¡¯d succeeded!

    We should¡¯ve been celebrating our success, sharing the hot cocoa I¡¯d stored in my inventory for our first night here, sat around a propane heater and telling stupid stories right now. Instead we¡¯d had to run for our lives from an impossible battle with monsters and then gotten threatened by an asshole in a cave and none of us could even be sure said asshole had anything on us. Not only that, but the swathe of dead bodies we¡¯d fled from meant that it was more than likely the Deities would not be entertained; the doom of tutorial termination was very, very real. Apophis had been the only active Deity who enjoyed bloodshed. The others had wanted interesting things to happen. And people dying straight out the Gate had to get boring quickly.

    So all this¡­ this just wasn¡¯t fair!

    I was livid.

    Another moment passed.

    ¡°Fuck,¡± said Axel.

    ¡°Yeah, fuck,¡± I agreed.

    Jye nodded. ¡°Bit fucking shit.¡±

    ¡°Complete fucking ass,¡± Tam supplied.

    Gigi contributed, ¡°This appears quite fucked.¡±

    Unified, our focus fell to the ten-year-old. It was now or never. Wren¡¯s eyes widened, sensing the opportunity, and she checked with the rest of us silently. We gestured in encouragement, approving shines to our gazes.

    ¡°Fu-Fuck this?¡± she said testingly, unsure.

    Simultaneously, we chorused back, ¡°Fuck this!¡± then shared a defeated laugh.

    Our frustrations spoken, and somewhat alleviated by knowing all of us were for once very much on the same page, I sighed. It would do us no good to continue on this path. I pulled out a notebook and six differently colored pens, before holding them out for the others.

    In all caps, I wrote: HE USED A FEW ABILITIES AS HE WALKED AWAY. I THINK HE¡¯S LISTENING IN ON US. I was basing this off how he¡¯d sensed the creatures were gone. He¡¯d demanded silence. Following this, I underscored the sentences several times, flipping it to face the others so they could read.

    ¡°But we have to say yeah to his demands, right?¡± I said aloud.

 Chapter Forty-One | Beneath a Smile

    In our semi-circle, we leaned over the notebook. Even if the Deities had been watching, all they¡¯d see would be our heads and shoulders, like a terrible view in the cinemas. I didn¡¯t want Adrien¡¯s sponsor giving him any heads-up. I assumed there were certain rules in place, similar to the Mod¡¯s, in communication between sponsor and player, but neither Tam nor Gigi had explained, so this was the best I could think of.

    Grabbing the green pen, Jye wrote, And then when he least expects it¨CBLAM¨Cwe kill the dude. They struck a closed fist into their palm. ¡°Do we have to work with Mr. Killjoy, though?¡± they asked aloud so it appeared we were having a real conversation if Adrien were actually eavesdropping

    In red, Tam added, Hows about we dance along to his fiddle and then wipe him out with the monsters? Her callousness was like second nature, belied only by the beautiful cursive she wrote in. Make the whole thing a turn of the tables, so to speak.

    She said, ¡°Well, sasquatch, that¡¯s what we¡¯re discussing, ain¡¯t it?¡±

    We could trap him in the snow, Wren suggested in unpracticed purple, and I was sure this was Makris speaking through her. It seemed a little too similar to how her previous party had treated her for it to be her own idea. The girl added nothing spoken, opting to remain silent.

    I pinched the bridge of my nose but found myself not disagreeing with any of their ideas, just disliking how tasteless they were. Betrayal seemed beneath us. But it wasn¡¯t as though Adrien deserved any loyalty from us. He was using us. We could use him in turn. And this kind of thing was quite the common tactic. Plus, it might intrigue the Deities. I cast a glance around, aware they would be watching us right now. There was no one else for them to tune into.

    Quickly I checked to see if Deity Commentary was available, but nothing came up. To my disappointment, I realised it must just be the log we could access after the fact. Reading it in real-time had to be some other kind of purchase or unlockable. A trait, probably. At the very least, I¡¯d tried to save some credits to check our performance once we cleared this Dungeon.

    It was the first time I didn¡¯t check myself on that thought.

    We would clear it.

    ¡°Come on, it¡¯s not like we have any other option. He¡¯s forcing our hand,¡± Axel said. He wrote in blue, We could take him on right now. His expression was colder than the air around us. None of the others were taking this forced offer of partnership well.

    Neither was I.

    Unfortunately, I did have to point out the issue with Axel¡¯s suggestion. Underneath his sentence, my black penned response said: There¡¯s no way of knowing what abilities are currently in effect around us.

    I thought back to Ira and their head wound and their ability that had found Tam out. Maybe we should¡¯ve¡­ No. I couldn¡¯t start thinking like that. I couldn¡¯t let myself. Despite the fact they¡¯d been complicit in the murder of each and every person in the Dungeon, we weren¡¯t judge, jury, and executioner. I wouldn¡¯t delude myself into thinking I was righteousness incarnate.

    ¡°He does seem quite familiar with the environment,¡± Gigi chimed in.

    I believe I should mention, though they are not native to my homeworld, I know of these monsters. They exist as four separate niches: hatchlings and their guardians, a scout, and the horde, Gigi¡¯s orange script explained, xir writing immaculate, as if printed. We waited for xem to finish. And Adrien speaks true about their reproduction. Given enough resources, they will continue to spawn more.

    Can you tell us anything else about them? I scribbled down. ¡°He does seem to know a lot.¡±

    If Adrien is telling the truth about the creatures'' nest holding the challenge, it will be no mean feat to approach it. The guardians protect their young fiercely.

    Well, no part of me had ever expected this to be easy, so this was par for the course.

    Aloud, to keep our audible discussion flowing, Tam said, ¡°I loathe to admit it, but our chances if we say no aren¡¯t exactly pretty. Tall, dark, and annoying doesn¡¯t seem like he¡¯d even let us sneeze in the direction of the clear anyway.¡± I gave her an appreciative head nod for her reticent summary, and she huffed, unimpressed with my acknowledgement.

    ¡°Add to the whole shebang, the monsters are a complete unknown to us,¡± Jye replied, flicking me a thumbs-up. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the audacious lie, considering what Gigi had just written.

    Was there a Dungeon like this one in your Event? I asked Gigi on paper, suddenly hit with an idea. The first page was full so I flipped to an empty one. ¡°And there¡¯s a lot of those beasts out there. Who knows how many.¡±

    Xe nodded, xir right hand penning quickly. I¡¯ve seen a very similar Dungeon, but this one is more extreme.

    Who was the Deity?

    Bia. The personification of force. I recall her sponsored player got fairly far in my Event.

    Well, I didn¡¯t like that. Adrien hadn¡¯t said who¡¯d sponsored him, but he would¡¯ve received the title for this Dungeon when he had first entered. I couldn¡¯t recall what it was. Wonderful? Wonderment? It definitely had the word ¡°wonder¡± in it. If a title was themed around a Deity¡¯s domain, like Nabu¡¯s had been, could it be something like Wonder Force? No, that didn¡¯t sound right.

    Still, I didn¡¯t know anything about Bia¡­ Nabu had several minor domains under his belt, while it sounded like Bia had a singular major one. The title granted to Adrien might be more complex or abstract than we could anticipate because of that.

    ¡°We know the monsters are scary,¡± Wren said, shivering despite the thermal blanket about her.

    ¡°Which means we should accept his help,¡± I replied, and my concern for Wren made the sentence sound a little too genuine, even to my ears.

    I turned to the others, tapping Bia¡¯s name in the book, jotting down, Any of you familiar with her?

    Tam gave me a disgusted look, and I recalled her opinion on mythology. Jye¡¯s brows were knotted in thought. Given their knowledge of Absalom and Ariadne¡¯s string, perhaps the name might ring a bell. The giant was something of a strange repository of information, from anime to gods. I was grateful to have them by our side. Though it did make me wonder where they¡¯d found the time to learn all this.

    Pleased with our attention, Jye wrangled the book from the center, beginning in their green, There¡¯s not a tonne in the books about her, really. But people draw sick fanart sometimes. The only actual story she¡¯s featured in is Prometheus¡¯s.

    Really? I asked, confused. I followed this up with, You sure? To fill the empty air, I inquired, ¡°Does anyone disagree?¡±

    Come on, dude, this is me you¡¯re asking. They paused, and I guess they must¡¯ve seen the party¡¯s hesitancy, because they continued their green message with: ¡®Course I¡¯m sure. Bia¡¯s the one who chains up old mate for the eagle¡¯s endless liver buffet.

    Axel spun the notebook toward himself, the movement sharp with judgement. In blue, he wrote, Wasn¡¯t that Kratos?

    ¡°How are we to trust Adrien, though?¡± Gigi asked.

    Tugging the paper to herself, angrily, Tam scrawled, See this? This is erasure of women in history. She shook her head. Strong independent woman and she¡¯s forgotten, her accomplishments passed on to others. Happens too often.

    Irritated, I centered the book on the floor equally again between all of us, penning my thoughts without thinking, It¡¯s a little degrading to compare someone like Rosalind Franklin to a mythological figure. She scowled at me. Worried I was pushing her good humor too far, hastily, I continued, Not that I disagree it happens much more than we think. But can we try to stay on topic? I underlined Bia¡¯s name a few times to punctuate my meaning.

    Jye leaned forward. Their green read: It really blows about Zelda. This was written with a sigh.

    ¡°He did save our lives,¡± I said in response to Gigi¡¯s inquiry, utterly baffled by Jye¡¯s words. With the way the spoken conversation was leaning, it was sounding a lot like I was siding with Adrien. I hoped everyone knew I didn¡¯t actually want to work with him. Historically, I knew that might be difficult to believe, but it was true!

    Zelda, the¡­ princess from the games? Wren scrawled, brow furrowed, in response to the redhead. I didn¡¯t allow myself to dwell on it, but that Wren knew of the Zelda franchise was surprising, though I guess she might¡¯ve been the right age to have enjoyed watching a parent play Breath of the Wild. Makris didn¡¯t strike me as the type of guy to enjoy the more stylised production design that Zelda games utilized, so this had to be her. Just what memories did she really have access to and what had Markis sealed away?

    Shaking their head, Jye wrote, Zelda Fitzgerald. Scott¡¯s wife.

    ¡°He also coincidentally has put our backs into a corner,¡± Axel said. Looking incredibly skeptical, Axel asked in blue, The Great Gatsby¡¯s Scott?

    With an excited nod, Jye penned, Yeah. He stole some of the book from his wife, Zelda.

    ¡°Trust ain¡¯t essential to working together. I mean, I don¡¯t trust him as far as I could throw him,¡± Tam commented out loud but wrote, I do recall squizzin¡¯ that too. Plucked lines right out of her diary.

    ¡°That¡¯s horrible,¡± I remarked, the written and spoken conversation blurring. I clarified, But completely off tangent. Could we return to the subject at hand: Bia?

    The cutthroat huffed. ¡°Ain¡¯t that just typical of you, babes.¡±

    Not liking what she was implying regarding my feeling toward trusting others, I began, Tam, for the love of G¨C I stopped, thought, then scribbled over it, ¨Ceverything good in this world, please let this go.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not make this personal,¡± I said.

    Looking like she was eating a lemon, the cutthroat wrote in red: Fine then, dandelion. What about this Bia?

    Surprised she¡¯d relented, I responded, She sounds like a formidable Deity. And, based on what Nabu said, the entertainment of these Dungeon¡¯s bolsters their belief. It¡¯s possible Bia¡¯s completely pissed off by the fact Adrien¡¯s still in here ruining it.

    ¡°I agree Lee¡¯s a little naive,¡± Axel said.

    I blanched. ¡°I¡¯m not naive.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Tam snorted loudly in amused disagreement.

    We need not fear their emotions. Deities can not directly interfere or communicate with players, Gigi responded, xir penning gravely perfect. They may only make requests. Even sponsors cannot interact beyond a certain point.

    ¡°I¡¯m not naive!¡±

    Gig¡¯s words disappointed me to an extent. I guess that would rule out me attempting to converse with Absalom before considering his sponsorship. He¡¯d slipped a few more invites to me during our days at the base, usually while I was alone, and given how persistent he had been, I was sure he¡¯d be sending additional invitations in the future. I just wanted to get to the bottom of why he so desired to sponsor me. Not that I was genuinely thinking about accepting it, but the more information the better.

    A silence hovered between the party.

    How do sponsors communicate? Wren inquired.

    It was a good question, and I was annoyed with myself for not asking it earlier. It¡¯d been buzzing at the back of my mind but had never come to the forefront enough for me to voice. Part of the reason I¡¯d never entertained it was because Tam and Gigi were both reluctant to share things. It was hard to know what I could inquire about.

    For once I didn¡¯t care whether the person who¡¯d asked this time was Makris or Wren. The answer was the only important thing.

    ¡°Just because I want to see the good in others doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m naive,¡± I said, defensively. This spoken conversation no longer seemed to be about Adrien, unless everyone was taking me for my superficial words.

    I can only speak from my own experiences, but typically it is similar to penning a letter; written back and forth through the system. However, stronger Deities can temporarily summon their player to their Realm for a conversation in the flesh, xe wrote. So long as the administering Dungeon Deity agrees.

    I glanced over to read Tam¡¯s expression for any change in it, but as usual she was giving nothing away for free. I repressed a sigh, disappointed at myself for expecting anything from her.

    ¡°You see the good when there isn¡¯t any,¡± Axel said, crossing his arms over his chest.

    I blinked, taken aback by his words.

    This definitely wasn¡¯t about Adrien anymore. This comment was all Axel, the secret he held, that he wouldn¡¯t unburden.

    This double conversation was beginning to do my head in.

    I focused on the half that I could actually think properly about.

    So Deities needed the Mod¡¯s permission to meet their player. I wondered if Tam had ever been summoned before Mumma. She sounded like a strong Deity based on how Nabu had been acting toward the cutthroat. It¡¯d explain why they had such a strong connection. No doubt Gigi had also met Apophis back during xir Event, if xir words about matching his desires meant what we¡¯d all taken it to mean. How often had the god summoned Gigi to his side? How much belief did he actually hold? Well, since he''d been banned from the Dungeons, I guess that meant we''d never know.

    ¡°Fine, then! We help Adrien, give him the clear, but stay wary?¡± I said and summarised in black, So, we¡¯re out of luck trying to get an understanding of Bia, as well as Adrien¡¯s skillset. Turning to a new page, I wrote, But we all agree that the second we get the chance, our partnership with Adrien is dissolved?

    Everyone nodded and muttered their agreements.

    I wrote one more thing and met Tam¡¯s eyes. After a moment, she nodded. Say what you will about her being selfish, but when push came to shove, she did have our backs. Somehow.

    As I stood, I clapped the book closed. ¡°Okay, meeting adjourned.¡±

    The others all made it to their feet too. After retrieving the pens and putting them and the notebook back into my inventory, I cupped my hands around my mouth and called out to Adrien, ¡°We¡¯re done!¡±

    His silhouette down the ice tunnel shifted, and he turned to face us, approaching with a vapid smile. It made an uncomfortable shiver travel down my spine. Yes, there was something not quite right about him. It went beyond his amicable hostility. I didn¡¯t know exactly what it was, but I was relieved everyone felt similarly about him.

    ¡°We¡¯ll do it. We¡¯ll help you clear the Dungeon.¡±

    His expression brightened. ¡°Oh, fantastic. I was so hoping you¡¯d say that. I¡¯ve everything planned out. I really just need more bodies on the ground.¡± I was not a fan of his wording. ¡°I¡¯ll explain on the way tomorrow. Until then, I have things to set in motion.¡± His dark eyes flicked between all of us, calculating. ¡°I assume you¡¯ll be fine in here by yourselves tonight?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, right as rain,¡± I replied.

    ¡°Lovely. I¡¯ll be back in¡±¡ªhe glanced at his watch¡ª¡°around ten hours to get things moving. Get some rest. You¡¯ll need it. And, oh, just to triple check¡­¡± Adrien¡¯s finger pointed to each of us as he began listing off information: ¡°Wren, support; Tam, crit damage; Axel, melee damage; Gigi, tank; Jye, ranged damage¡­¡± His considering gaze fell to me, lips pursed in thought. ¡°Hmm. I don¡¯t mean to be insulting, but you appear to be a token figurehead. Do you play any role?¡±

    Goosebumps formed on my arms. I hadn¡¯t thought we¡¯d telegraphed our party composition so obviously. Hell, all he¡¯d seen of us was us running for our lives. Were we that transparent? No. This was more than observation. Killian had completely undersold his brother. This man wasn¡¯t just an academic. He was outright Machiavellian.

    With a dry smile, I shook my head. ¡°No, I¡¯m just here as a mouthpiece.¡±

    ¡°I see,¡± Adrien said. ¡°Well then, I must be off. Should you leave here, you will get lost. I¡¯ll fetch you in the morning.¡±

    With that, the man strutted away. Should we get Jye to pursue him under [Cloak]? No¡­ They¡¯d likely lose their way. There¡¯d been far too many sharp turns in the tunnel network. Fucking Adrien and his planning.

    I heard one more ability sound off, but this time I knew it¡¯d been Tam, using [Track] as I¡¯d asked so we¡¯d get an idea of where he was in regards to us. She really was trying to do her bit these days. It was very suspicious. I considered making Tam follow him, but if Adrien was confident he could kill all six of us, then Tam wouldn¡¯t pose a single threat alone if he noticed her.

    The party watched Adrien until his back disappeared completely. No other abilities activated, but that didn¡¯t mean Adrien¡¯s current ones were no longer in effect. They could still be hovering about. Thus, we couldn¡¯t discuss when or how to deal with him, not that we¡¯d be able to without more information anyway.

    There was nothing we could really do now except call it a night.

    ¡°At least he has a plan,¡± I said into the silence.

    ¡°Yeah, to get us murked,¡± Axel replied, petulantly.

    I frowned, thinking back to the audible discussion we¡¯d held over our written one. ¡°Just to set things straight, I am not naive.¡±

    ¡°You are,¡± he stated. A glimpse of that sadness flashed through him, darkening his eyes. I wondered for a moment why it was only ever me who triggered these states but couldn¡¯t fathom any answer so I pushed the thought away. It¡¯d been awhile since I¡¯d had to add something to the ¡°Worrisome Axel Behaviour¡± partition of my mind. Well, additional unrelated things.

    Wait.

    No, maybe it was connected. Way back when in the gym, he¡¯d said he used to be cruel to me for my own good.

    Had he been¡­ trying to give me a thicker skin?

    No. There was no way.

    Right¡­?

    Regardless, I couldn¡¯t sit still while that sorrow reared its ugly head.

    I did it without thinking, without a thought: in an attempt to temper the emotion, to center him, I reached out and took his hand. I glanced down, as taken off guard with my action as he was. His mood immediately shifted, a shadow deepening in him at first, but then the corners of his eyes crinkled with a pleased smile. It made me feel better too, the warmth increasing in his hold despite the layers between us. Certainly this was easier and more pleasant than wheedling him for an explanation or trying to change the topic of conversation. I just had to trust that eventually he¡¯d tell me what this all was. He knew I wanted to know. Whatever it was, I¡¯d wait.

    Maybe I was naive.

    To the others, I said, ¡°I guess it¡¯s camp and cocoa time.¡±

    There was a buzz of excitement from them sans Tam, whose gaze was glued to Axel¡¯s and my hands. She raised her slit eyebrow in quiet question. The cutthroat hadn¡¯t commented on our closeness lately, too preoccupied with her own training with Gigi. She¡¯d also taken on an exercise regimen from Jye, but I felt like she didn¡¯t need it. The woman was incredibly toned. Just what had her job been before the Event?

    Axel reluctantly released my hand, either ignoring Tam or not noticing her glare, and started pulling our tent from his inventory. It was one Jye had gotten from Bunnings, and the two of us fit comfortably.

    I shrugged back at Tam, because I hadn¡¯t given my answer, not truly, not properly, despite Axel and I sharing my bed to sleep. He knew I hadn¡¯t either, that I was still working my way toward understanding it myself. In that, he was being uncharacteristically patient and understanding, but maybe that¡¯s what love did to people. It still seemed unbelievable he felt that way for me.

    Tam looked like she wanted to rib me for a moment, and I was preparing to take whatever it was she was about to heckle, but instead her expression softened. It was a completely unfamiliar look on her face. It made her features, usually permanently sharpened into antipathy, earnest, on the precipice of caring. Before I was able to process what I was seeing and react, she said, ¡°Life¡¯s short, Lee.¡±

    Dumb, I couldn¡¯t respond. Why was Tam¡ª

    Under her breath, looking a little annoyed, she muttered to herself, ¡°Bleh, this kind of stuff was always more her forte.¡± Though her expression was sour, her tone was all affection and warmth. There was only one person who came to mind who Tam could be referring to.

    She was talking about her wife.

    ¡°I¡ª¡± I stammered to reply, but she turned away.

    Then she started setting up her tent, pulling the separate pieces from her inventory, followed by the paper manual, as if we¡¯d never had our exchange. The iota of fondness I¡¯d seen faded into intense attentiveness to the task at hand, the moment gone. Wren walked over to assist her since we¡¯d agreed sharing would be better in this climate. Jye had reluctantly consented to cohabitating with Gigi. Considering how much preference the two of them had for sleeping alone, I had been worried neither of them would be able to sleep, but they¡¯d waved away my concerns.

    After a moment, still reeling from Tam¡¯s voluntary mention of her wife, I realised it was the first time she¡¯d used my name.

    Chewing on her advice, I wondered if Tam perhaps saw herself and her wife in me and Axel. Like some sort of distorted reflection. If so, I hoped she saw herself in Axel¡­ But maybe that¡¯s why she heckled us. The thought was strangely moving and gave me a bit of a further glimpse into Tam as a person. I¡¯d noticed she had changed lately. She was still her snippy self, but she felt more rational, understanding. I¡¯d thought it was some sort of ploy to wiggle her way onto our good side, but maybe¡­ maybe Tam was actually just trying to get along with us in her own way.

    Huh.

    I went to help Axel with our tent and her first short succinct sentence echoed endlessly in my head. ¡°Life¡¯s short.¡± She wasn¡¯t wrong. Especially now. The tutorial termination was a possibility. And then there was the culling on top of that. Our lives were the playthings of fate.

    I wanted to win the Event and attain the wish, but that didn¡¯t mean it was a done thing. Wants and desires were nothing in the face of reality.

    If Adrien was just one example of others on the same path we trod, it meant our likelihood of achieving the wish was low.

    Life was short.

    I handed Axel one of the tent poles, and he accepted it, building the frame. Watching him, his concentration fixed entirely on the construction, a crinkle of focus along the bridge of his nose, I still struggled to understand how I felt about him. I¡¯d loved him as a kid, I was sure. And what emotions I held when looking at him like this¡­ they weren¡¯t the same. Granted, both he and I were different people now, so maybe it should feel different.

    His gaze caught mine, and, though his mouth was masked in fabric, I could tell he smiled. A content warmth drizzled over me. Well. My feelings about that seemed obvious enough.

    ¡°You admiring me is very flattering, but we¡¯re not making any headway,¡± he remarked.

    ¡°I like it when you smile,¡± I said, the words leaving my mouth unfiltered.

    Axel dropped the tent pole he was holding, a redness spreading into the partial open expanse of his face that the balaclava revealed. A rush of giddiness hit me from his reaction, tendrilling out from my chest. I really did get too much of a kick out of his being embarrassed. Maybe it was because others rarely caused the expression on him. That pinkness, that reaction, was something only I could make happen.

    He stared, breath fogging the air between us.

    I plucked the tent pole on the ground and handed it back over to him, unsure where I was going with this, Tam¡¯s words having provided some sort of impetus but for what I didn¡¯t know.

    ¡°And that means¡­?¡± he asked as he grabbed it, trying to unravel the cryptic words.

    I didn¡¯t relinquish the pole, both of us still sharing the weight of it.

    It took me a moment to reply. ¡°I think I¡¯d like to make you smile more.¡±

    More than that, I wanted to see different expressions on him, to elicit them. See more that only I could. But what that meant I didn¡¯t know either, so I kept that to myself.

    Axel blinked, parsing this information, the blush on his cheeks pinkening deeper. Then he chuckled a little; a glittery sound to me. He tilted his head, eyes dancing with amusement. He said, ¡°I have been told it is a pretty nice smile.¡±

    Beneath the fabric covering his face, he had to have had a shit-eating grin. Even though the expression reminded me of the time between our closeness, I didn¡¯t hate it anymore. So long as it wasn¡¯t his unspoken grief, any smile of his was preferable.

    My mind replayed Axel¡¯s words upon kissing my hand. Certainly I felt a reflection of that; his happiness influenced my own. However, I didn¡¯t know if I could admit that without it having the same connotations as his confession had. His smile did make me feel a certain way. It was an expression that made everything easier.

    I took a breath.

    ¡°My world is a dimmer place without it.¡± Having put to words what I thought about and felt for him, I released the tent pole and stepped back, retreating, horrified. ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve got this. I¡¯ll try and get a campfire going.¡±

    After a second, he nodded, still flushed, his intense gaze lingering on me for a moment before returning to the tent. I thought maybe I saw absolute confusion flash in his eyes, but I wasn¡¯t sure.

    What I¡¯d said wasn¡¯t much, but I knew that it was how I felt.

    Yes, Tam was right.

    Life is short. But it¡¯s also the longest thing you¡¯ll ever experience.

 Chapter Forty-Two | Ships in the Night

    Jye¡¯s large hand stilled my actions as I tried to light the wood burner.

    ¡°Whoa there, dude. You wanna smoke us all out?¡±

    I stopped, and they helped me up from my knees, righting me like I was nothing more than a feather. An extended groan escaped me as I resettled onto my feet; the cold had locked up my joints even with all our layers. Trying to not look as rigid as I felt, I asked, ¡°What do you mean?¡±

    The giant gestured at our cave. ¡°Dude. There¡¯s no airflow or ventilation in here. You¡¯re gonna nuke us with smoke inhalation. That there¡¯s six of us shacking up in here for the night is pushing carbon levels as it is.¡±

    With a nod, I slapped a hand over their back in appreciation. To be completely honest, I hadn¡¯t even considered that. The combination of fleeing from my conversation with Axel and the idea of a toasty warm source of heat had completely stolen my thoughts.

    ¡°Damn, I¡¯m glad you said something.¡±

    I did wonder though if what Jye was worried about could actually kill us now with our health regen. Either way, I doubted it would be a pleasant experience.

    The redhead grinned, abashed. ¡°Hey, gotta put my childhood trauma to use, don¡¯t I? Not much else it¡¯s good for.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t the first time I was thankful we had Jye in our party. In fact, I could easily picture a universe where I¡¯d lit the burner without thinking, and we¡¯d all gone to bed, never to wake up. I smiled (putting a peg in Jye¡¯s depressing comment) and noted that everyone¡¯s tents were pitched up now, and the others were beginning to insert insulation pads inside them to ensure the chill wouldn¡¯t travel from the hard and cold ground through the thin fabric into their backs as they slept. That too had been Jye¡¯s suggestion. Having saved us from my attempt at carbon monoxide poisoning, they returned to helping Gigi.

    As the others finished up, I checked in with Wren to see how she was holding up. She reassured me that seeing the monsters hadn¡¯t been that scary, but I was worried she was just trying to make me feel better. This, in turn, had me questioning what Makris was saying in her head about me. He¡¯d called us all bastards before. I hoped he wasn¡¯t insinuating my concern for her wellbeing was selfish. Then again, if Chrissie had never existed, had never passed away, would I have cared about Wren as much?

    I didn¡¯t have an answer to that.

    Either way, Tam waved me off, telling me I was distracting her ¡°tent buddy,¡± (her words) and so I wandered away to see how everyone else was fairing. It looked like Gigi and Jye were pretty much done. It¡¯d taken longer than I¡¯d expected, but we¡¯d only managed one practice set-up and that¡¯d been before the shock of what¡¯d greeted us when we entered this Dungeon. Everyone was clearly still unsettled. A palpable tension hung in the frigid air, fuelled by the unknown.

    We desperately needed to wind down.

    Carefully, I retrieved the hot cocoa from my inventory, the pot thankfully stored between two oven mitts. It wasn¡¯t so much a discovery as something we¡¯d taken for granted that the inventory preserved items exactly as is, like they were saved in that state. Time did not touch things inside our inventory. That said, we¡¯d come across a couple more Unacceptable parameters error messages in our fiddling around. Things too hot or too cold weren¡¯t allowed, but to what degree, I wasn¡¯t sure. Tam and I¡¯d prepared several hot meals for this Dungeon, but there was only so much prep we had time for.

    This had been a last minute addition.

    ¡°Get your cups,¡± I said, placing the pot onto the ground, the steam billowing wildly in the cold air, and I plucked a serving spoon from my inventory.

    Eyes sparkling with excitement, everyone summoned their mugs, each specially chosen from Lusi¡¯s large assortment, and held them out. One by one, muttering thanks, they came by me, and I ladled the thick, hot cocoa into their chosen receptacles, glad that Gigi had mentioned how much xe¡¯d loved the foreign food of chocolate and given me the idea. Each of us had pulled out a camping chair and had set it up in the middle of our tents, and the others settled into their respective seats, waiting until everyone had their drink. Once the entire party had been served, slowly they pulled down their balaclavas and took their first sips.

    I joined them with the last cup, sitting between Axel and Jye, the swirling heat like a steam bath for the now cold and bare bottom half of my face.

    The hot beverage was decadent and rich, sweet, and clung pleasantly to my mouth. If I was feeling Master Chef-y, the word unctuous would be an applicable descriptor. I¡¯d added some cinnamon for extra warmth, and it rounded the flavour nicely.

    Silently, we sat there, letting the heat seep from our stomachs throughout our body. It was no victory lap, like I¡¯d wanted, but it would suffice. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like there was anything else to do right now. We might as well just kick back and relax while we had it easy; try to forget the corpse pile in some inane conversation. Whatever Adrien had planned for tomorrow would likely not be easy.

    Neither would betraying him.

    ¡°Unlucky you live in the north, sunshine. You could¡¯ve made a pretty buck selling this in a colder state.¡±

    Grinning, I said, ¡°It¡¯s mostly pre-mix, but maybe I¡¯ll give it a shot when this is all over.¡±

    Tam whistled in thought. ¡°Getting a bit cocky there.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s better to think on the positive side.¡± I shrugged, cooling the drink with a white breath. ¡°We¡¯re gonna win, and we¡¯re gonna get that wish, and I¡¯m gonna make you all hot cocoa again in the future.¡± Saying it felt stupid, but for some inexplicable reason it made me happy.

    Jye waggled their thick brows. ¡°You take custom orders, man? Because, yeah, this is good, but some whipped cream and marshmallows would take it to the next level.¡±

    ¡°If you''re open to other drinks, I want a hot strawberry Nesquik!¡± Wren chimed in.

    Gigi said, ¡°I would perish for a drop of ???.¡± Xir brows furrowed at xir use of Linnikian language. At our intrigued gazes, xe explained, ¡°It is an alcoholic drink served hot and sweet. Retains heat in your organs for many hours.¡±

    ¡°Oh, yeah, I¡¯d love an Irish cream mocha instead,¡± Axel purred, his lips dipped over the edge of his drink, almost continuously sipping.

    I frowned, confused. ¡°You hate coffee.¡±

    ¡°No, you hate coffee.¡±

    That was true. I had just assumed Axel had too, since he¡¯d never said anything. Even with many spoonfuls of sugar, I found the taste repugnant. There¡¯d been no coffee in our pantry at home, just various selections of tea, as that was typically my preferred hot beverage. I thought back to the nights we¡¯d watched TV together before he left for a party, and because I was making some for myself I¡¯d ask if he wanted tea and a bickie and he¡¯d say yes. He could¡¯ve had coffee. I would¡¯ve made him coffee, if he¡¯d told me.

    Why had he never told me?

    ¡°Oh, I wanted to ask, are you dating now?¡± Wren asked, all childish innocence, her hazel gaze flicking between Axel and I. Had Makris prompted this? Her carving of us back outside the shrine popped back into my head. Or was this all Wren? Perhaps her perception was more keen than I thought¡­

    ¡°Say, that¡¯s a great question, kid,¡± Axel replied. He turned a teasing smile my way.

    I took a sip of my cocoa, my cheeks burning. Were we dating? What was a date in this current world? Did our conversations at night count as dating, or us sleeping in the same bed? Our outings to get supplies?

    Besides, wasn''t it too soon to be calling whatever we were doing ¡°dating¡±? It''d been six days since Axel¡¯s confession, five since I''d started holding his hand, two since we''d started sharing my bed, and barely half an hour since I''d allowed myself to admit to Axel how his happiness influenced mine. Still¡­ Tam¡¯s rare soft expression, her mention of her wife, and then her succinct advice replayed in my mind.

    Clearing my throat, I steeled myself, and then said, ¡°Yes?¡±

    Axel¡¯s brows shot up, clearly not expecting my response, and he sunk his pleased-as-punch face into his mug, cheeks lightly pink.

    ¡°Congrats, dumplings,¡± Tam said with perhaps too much joy. Her eyes fell on Axel, the glee growing, some sort of bottle uncorked in her mind. I don¡¯t know what this information was about to release upon the world, but it was clear her previous ribbing had been her being restrained. ¡°What¡¯s this make it for you? Your millionth man?¡±

    Axel sputtered into his drink, insulted. ¡°Are you calling me run through?!¡±

    ¡°Seventeenth,¡± I said unthinkingly.

    There was a beat.

    The party¡¯s collective gaze creaked and jittered over to me.

    ¡°What was that, sunshine?¡±

    I froze, suddenly understanding what I¡¯d said, what I¡¯d shared.

    ¡°Just joking.¡± Forcing a laugh, I took another drink, my throat incredibly parched, my cheeks stinging. Fuck. Shit. I couldn¡¯t even meet Axel¡¯s gaze, finding the icy floor suddenly very interesting.

    Jye¡¯s eyes had grown large. ¡°Bro, did you say seventeen?¡± Their awed stare settled on Axel in the seat beside me.

    Simmering in embarrassment, I risked a glance at him too. The blond¡¯s expression was something between utter astonishment and befuddlement. The relationship count was not something he was ashamed of, this I knew. He¡¯d always been the short-fling kind of guy. But that wasn¡¯t what was causing his reaction. We were both feeling put out for the same reason.

    Why did I know that number?

    ¡°Is seventeen on the low side on Earth?¡± Gigi asked, xir head tilted, having come to the completely opposite conclusion.

    ¡°Hold up, hold up, hold up,¡± Jye began, their hands held out in the air as if to stop an attack. ¡°That¡¯s not high where you¡¯re from?¡± The giant appeared utterly flabbergasted.

    ¡°No, though our life spans may be longer than yours twofold. Still, my relationships number much higher.¡± Bloody hell. How old was Gigi? Xir lips pursed in consideration, hand rubbing xir chin. ¡°Does this count relationships occurring at the same time as one or multiple?¡±

    Hit again with such monumental information, I only managed out, ¡°You¡¯re poly?¡±

    ¡°Ah, that is your word for it. I was polyamorous, yes. It is how things were done back on my planet to keep our warring nations in check. Fighting with family is frowned upon. The marriages between my spouses and I kept civil unrest at bay.¡±

    Everyone took a moment to catch up to this new Gigi lore drop. I was glad to have left behind my own poorly-thought-of response, having buried it under Gigi¡¯s words. Though as I reflected on what Gigi had shared, if xir relationships had been so influential, didn¡¯t that mean Gigi had to have had a high social position? Had xe been royalty?!Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    ¡°You were married?¡± Wren asked, her eyes shining with curiosity. No doubt Makris had explained the definition of ¡°spouse¡± to her. It was actually my preferred term for a marriage partner because it allowed for the fun phrase ¡°house spouse¡± for a gender neutral stay-at-home parent. After losing Chrissie, my own father hadn¡¯t felt strong enough to return to the workforce for some time, and he¡¯d taken to the expression warmly.

    Xe nodded to answer Wren¡¯s question. ¡°Yes, three times.¡±

    Three times to three different people? Or three times to more than three people? Either way, Gigi¡¯s personal life was much more complex than I¡¯d ever anticipated. It annoyed me, but I didn¡¯t know xem enough to ask in more detail. I felt like I¡¯d be putting my nose where it didn''t belong. Maybe once we¡¯d become closer and if we had some time to kill, I¡¯d inquire further. Perhaps once Gigi told us xir wish¡­ But that was xir right to keep closely guarded if xe really wanted.

    We¡¯d tried to get xem to admit it when we were in the base, but xe¡¯d clammed up, refusing to elaborate. Though I¡¯d confidently demanded Gigi should tell us more once in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon, I really was all bark and no bite. I¡¯m sure Tam had wanted to push further, but her means and methods wouldn¡¯t be allowed by her collar.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to get married someday,¡± Wren said. She smiled tentatively. ¡°I remember there was a boy I liked in my class. Xavier. He was always nice to me. I think.¡± Her expression faltered, and I cursed Makris. Why steal memories of her crush? How petty. ¡°I hope he¡¯s okay.¡±

    Tam raised her hand to pat Wren on the head. ¡°I¡¯m sure he¡¯s just dandy, doll. Just like I know my wife¡¯s okay too.¡±

    This resulted in a marked reaction in everyone but me, mostly shock.

    Understanding hit Tam and she glowered. ¡°You didn¡¯t tell them?¡±

    It was like she thought I¡¯d tricked her into sharing this private information about herself. Did she really think me a gossip? I don¡¯t know where she¡¯d gotten that idea from. If anything, Axel would¡¯ve been the one to spill the beans, if he¡¯d known.

    I gave her a look which clearly said, Of course not. Aloud, I remarked, ¡°If your wife is anything like you, I¡¯m sure she¡¯ll be more than fine.¡± It was both a dig and a compliment. I could see the recognition of the double-sided comment settle on Tam, her eyes narrowing minutely.

    ¡°Is your wife pretty like you, Tam?¡± the ten-year-old inquired, tempering the anger forming in Tam.

    I reflected on Wren¡¯s question. Objectively speaking, Tam was attractive, though her strong jawline and cleft chin leaned more handsome than beautiful.

    ¡°Much, much, much prettier, poppit,¡± Tam said, an affectionate smile curling her lips.

    I wondered how much of that was love speaking and how much was the truth. Certainly, it felt like Axel seemed to find me more attractive than I was. I don¡¯t think I would¡¯ve ever classified myself as cute.

    A second passed, then Tam checked herself, the expression of tenderness dropping. Blinking to clear whatever memory Wren¡¯s question had conjured up, she pinned me under her now hostile gaze.

    ¡°You¡¯re not getting out of this.¡±

    Pointing a finger at my chest, I asked, ¡°Me?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. You. You¡¯re up on the docket, dandelion.¡±

    I breathed in. Well, since it was all coming out, I might as well too. Good time now as any. It wasn¡¯t like I was intentionally keeping it a secret. It just didn¡¯t normally come up in day-to-day conversation. And wasn¡¯t this type of bonding activity I¡¯d been seeking to get to know everyone better?

    ¡°Well, being asexual has made dating difficult. So there¡¯s been nothing serious.¡± Until now, I guess¡­ But I accompanied these words with a shrug, acting nonchalant. In the corner of my gaze, I took in their reactions. No one seemed surprised. It was a bit of a relief to share this aspect about myself. Until now the only person here who¡¯d known had been Axel. As I went to take another drink, I added, ¡°Marriage has never really been on my radar either.¡± A flash of Axel in a tuxedo down an aisle of flowers flitted through my mind, and I choked on the last bit of my cocoa, my throat burning.

    Coughing, I turned to Jye, hoping to erase the image. ¡°If we¡¯re all sharing¡­.¡±

    They chuckled, threading their fingers together to rest them behind their head. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m a clean slate, dudes.¡±

    Tam¡¯s head tilted. ¡°What¡¯s that mean, Lurch?¡±

    ¡°Zero XP.¡± They paused, briefly glancing at Wren, then said, ¡°I¡¯d be able to rock white at my wedding, if you¡¯re picking up what I¡¯m putting down.¡± The giant then winked at us.

    So, Jye had never¡­ I stared, my mouth open in a daze, hoping Makris refused to elaborate on this bombshell to the ten-year-old girl hosting him.

    It wasn¡¯t like Jye being a virgin or having no dating experience was unimaginable or that there was anything wrong with it, but the way they presented themself had made it seem¡­ not like that. Even Axel¡¯s first introduction to them had been during their attempt to hook up with a DJ in the Bahamas (though that tale might not be true). Jye was most certainly not ace too because I¡¯d seen the stolen glances the redhead cast at Axel and Tam on the occasion. I knew what lust looked like, even if I wasn¡¯t capable of feeling it.

    ¡°I¡¯m just not people¡¯s cup of tea, you feel me?¡± Jye explained, still smiling. Underneath their words, I could sense something repressed, even as they tried to laugh it off.

    An awkward silence followed this admission.

    I¡¯d never felt as they had. Rather, I¡¯d felt incapable of finding others sexually attractive and guilty for not being able to return interest in the same way, but I¡¯d been aware of being wanted, even if I didn¡¯t understand it. In this same way, Axel¡¯s feelings were difficult for me to accept, but I knew he wanted me too, somehow.

    That Jye thought themself unwantable wasn¡¯t right. My chest tightened. It wasn¡¯t pity. It was sympathy. Our lives had been different, but beneath it, there was a similarity there. I wanted to let them know that they¡¯d be fine, but I also hated empty platitudes. Telling another that ¡°you¡¯ll find someone¡± was stupid. Sometimes you didn¡¯t. And sometimes you didn¡¯t want to.

    It was a difficult thing to comment on. Finding romantic partners wasn¡¯t the be all, end all. However, society put that type of relationship on a pedestal, above friendship, above family. As a collective, history had decided that lovers were the default number one, the people we were meant to rely on, to give everything to. Without one, you would never be prioritised. I knew what pressure I¡¯d put on myself to find something, anything, even when I¡¯d been on autopilot.

    It¡¯s what people did, right?

    You¡¯re told to want something all your life. And to never find it, never even glimpse it, was unusually cruel. You might as well get a letter in the mail calling you a failure. Doubts filled you. I¡¯d only shallowly had them, and they were tied to my asexuality, but I knew enough.

    Am I not good enough as I am? Why will no one choose me for me?

    Especially for someone like Jye, whose personality was as straight as an arrow. They struck me as the type to fall head over heels for another, throwing their whole heart into the fray. But that no one had ever wanted them back¡­ was so egregiously unfair I didn¡¯t know how to reply.

    It wouldn¡¯t be right to start ranting about decentralising romance. It would be hypocritical of me, particularly now with Axel to my side.

    Laughing, the redhead said, ¡°Oops, didn¡¯t mean to kill the convo. It¡¯s all G, guys. If I die before anything happens, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll know what I missed.¡±

    Somehow that was even more bleak. Nobody said anything. It wasn¡¯t the same as comforting Wren and the potential loss of her crush. Jye wasn¡¯t a child. It was obvious that beneath the thin facade Jye wore that the lack of interest had been hurtful. Banal assurances would be meaningless.

    They¡¯d once said they were happy with who they were. For the first time, I wondered if that was true. I¡¯d been concerned about their mental health since I¡¯d known them, but I¡¯d never considered this an issue for them. Then there was the fact that the world as we knew it was over. The likelihood of finding another now¡­ at least until we won, it would be incredibly low.

    How did I make them feel better? Should I stop holding Axel¡¯s hand as much in front of them? Was our fresh relationship a reminder of what Jye never had?

    The moment withered away into nothing, the rest of us lost to thoughts of loved ones, real and or hoped for.

    Wren let out a yawn, her expression sheepish. ¡°Makris says I should go to bed.¡±

    I checked my watch, glad for the topic change, and nodded. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea. Adrien will be back in around nine hours.¡± We¡¯d been chatting for a while, nursing our hot cocoa.

    Whatever the sorcerer had planned when we woke up, I guess we¡¯d find out.

    As confident as Adrien was that he could defeat us all, I was just as sure we¡¯d be able to figure something out. We just needed more information and time.

    Everyone started getting ready for bed, but Jye remained on their chair, staring into nothing. Their eyes were watery, lips thin. There was a look on the giant¡¯s face, one I¡¯d seen before, except they¡¯d been high then, sobbing, all alone.

    Was this unspoken personal crisis what had fuelled their sadness then?

    Some people might think it trivial, but this kind of loneliness could damage someone deeply. I¡¯d let my choices self-impose a type of isolation on me and my personal relationships until the Event, finding others to want something I couldn¡¯t give them, but to think that Jye had earnestly sought something with others and never had it reciprocated¡­

    ¡°Jye?¡± I laid a hand on their shoulder.

    Their green gaze focused on me. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll be heading to bed soon too, man. Just thinking.¡±

    I hesitated and then said, ¡°I¡¯m here, if you want to talk. Always.¡±

    They grinned. ¡°Dude, you keep saying that and Axel¡¯s gonna start thinking something¡¯s going on between us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m worried about you,¡± I admitted, unamused by Jye¡¯s attempt to play off my concerns. I dropped my voice to a whisper to say, ¡°I saw you. In the basement.¡±

    Their smile tightened, and one of their hands reached up to run through the loose locks of their hair. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. Just a bad trip.¡± I opened my mouth to say something, but the redhead cut me off as they stood and dismissed their camping chair. ¡°Serious, man. I¡¯m chill. Just let it be.¡±

    Everyone was always keeping secrets in this party. Tam and her past, Gigi and xir wish, Wren-Markis and their memories, Axel and his grief, Jye and whatever this was.

    Well. At least I was trying to do my part.

    The giant walked off to their and Gigi¡¯s tent, but they paused at the entrance. For a moment they just stood there. Were they changing their mind? To my disappointment, Jye didn¡¯t turn around. Rather, quietly, they said, ¡°Thanks, Lee. For caring.¡± And then they zipped the tent door open, stepped through, and closed it behind them.

    I sighed, following suit to Axel¡¯s and my tent.

    The blond was already snug in his blankets, a drowsy expression tugging at his eyelids. He¡¯d stripped off his balaclava, perhaps finding it too awkward to sleep in. I did the same as I entered fully, happy to take the extra tightness from my face, though the cold immediately rushed in to remind me of its presence. I tugged back on the beanie while closing the tent up.

    Axel pulled out an arm from under his blanket to pat the section to his side where he¡¯d spread out my own sleeping bag. Had he always been this considerate? Shooting him an appreciative smile, I settled into the bedding with a tired groan, letting my eyes close as I wriggled around. When I¡¯d finally gotten comfortable, I blindly extended my hand out, seeking Axel¡¯s.

    Sourly, I had to admit I¡¯d been absolutely right before; it would¡¯ve been incredibly sanctimonious to have told Jye to not care about finding someone, reflecting on what I¡¯d just done subconsciously. To be prioritised, to be cared about first and foremost¡­

    Axel¡¯s hand didn¡¯t meet mine, forcing me to open my eyes.

    He was staring at me from beneath his lashes, an amused expression on his face.

    ¡°Seventeenth, huh?¡± he asked.

    Panic cut through my exhaustion, and I felt my eartips go aflame. I¡¯d forgotten what I¡¯d let fall from my mouth because of news of Gigi¡¯s background and Jye¡¯s existential loneliness. I curled into my sleeping bag, letting the top blanket cover my heated face.

    ¡°You were counting,¡± he stated, matter of fact.

    There was no point in denying it.

    ¡°I was.¡± This was delivered muffled by fabric.

    I felt him shift beside me, and suddenly my sleeping bag was being pulled back to reveal a very smug Axel looming above me. It was more than a little concerning that I also enjoyed that expression on him. Reflecting on that did nothing to help the situation, so I let the thought pass.

    ¡°You were jealous.¡±

    It was positively narcissistic. But correct. I had to wonder why that was always what he had to say when we shared a tent.

    Scowling, I clarified, ¡°Of how easy it was for you to find someone.¡± That was the basic truth of it. It was similar to my feelings toward Killian. Mostly. The segment that wasn''t the same¡­ I didn''t really understand. Had I wanted something else? I tried to distil my emotions into something I could comprehend, but like all thoughts that involved Axel, they danced out of any sensible reach.

    ¡°Still. Jealous.¡± His sleepy smile grew.

    He was getting much more satisfaction out of this than the last time we¡¯d been in a similar position. It¡¯d been less than a week ago, and nothing extreme had changed, but it felt like so much had.

    Knowing I wouldn¡¯t come out of this exchange on top, and already feeling mortified and confused, I conceded, ¡°Yeah. Now let''s sleep.¡±

    ¡°Mmm-hmm,¡± he agreed, settling back down with a yawn. His eyes fluttered closed. ¡°Love you.¡±

    The words, delivered so casually, as natural as the sun rising, hit me in the sternum, and his hand dipped into mine. He brought both of them tight to his chest, hugging them close, as though my touch was a precious treasure he held dear.

    Even through the layers, I could feel the beat of his heart; slow, relaxed, calming.

    Huh.

    Maybe it''d been this I''d been jealous of too.

    Just being held.

    I fell asleep to the rhythm of Axel''s heartbeat.

 Chapter Forty-Three | Mind Over Matter

    Sometime during the night I stirred, my waking view the vulnerability of Axel¡¯s sleeping face. I found myself unable to look elsewhere.

    Everything faded away except Axel laying there. With the curl of his lashes upon lightly golden skin, the sleekness of his cheekbones, his expression one of complete content passivity, I was forced to wonder if he were actually a life-size porcelain doll. He seemed so fragile asleep. That complete relaxation, his utter defenselessness¡­ like he could shatter at any moment.

    And I knew he could.

    He¡¯d stabilised recently, and it was audacious but I was sure it was because of me, though I still saw the grief every now and then. Had to witness that brokenness.

    So these moments of unguarded ease as reality no longer sunk him down¡­

    It made me want to protect that delicate expression, protect him, even though it was a pointless desire since he didn¡¯t need me to. If he would even want me to was the more poignant question. Regardless, whether or not I loved him, I wanted that softness that existed in his dreams to be something he could always return to.

    For him to not hurt, even if it was just in his sleep.

    I let his breath lull me back to my own dreams, though I wasn¡¯t sure there was much difference.

    ¡°Wakey, wakey, lovebirds,¡± came Tam''s voice outside our tent.

    What a thing to be awakened by.

    With a groan, I pulled away from Axel, my arms having curled around him during the night. Of course, neither of us had said anything about this magnetic draw we had to each other when we slept. Whether it was me wrapped around him or vice versa, when we awoke, we went our separate ways.

    I was too embarrassed to say anything, because when we went to bed all we¡¯d been holding was hands. As far as I knew, this was abnormal for the both of us. I obviously didn''t make it a habit to sleep with others, and my only other experiences had me waking up on practically the other side of the bed, ready to leave ASAP.

    I think Axel didn¡¯t mention it because he was afraid of me denying him the comfort. He knew I had boundaries, but I guess I was still forming them, figuring them out. Beyond waking up red-faced each time, I wasn''t sure how I felt about the subconscious spooning or cuddling for that matter either. Did I like it? There was nothing sexual about it, nothing expectant. It wasn''t leading toward anything.

    Maybe I just wasn''t comfortable with thinking about what it meant.

    And so we simply didn¡¯t talk about it.

    That was a very healthy approach, no doubt.

    Starting off this relationship well.

    ¡°I can feel Adrien about to roost. He''ll be here in twenty at the speed he''s travelling,¡± Tam explained, having tagged him with [Track], talking through the tent door.

    ¡°We''ll be out in a sec,¡± I answered back. ¡°Start packing down everything.¡±

    I didn¡¯t want Adrien to know just how prepared we¡¯d been. The more we could keep from him, the better. That was if he wasn¡¯t watching us. I¡¯d made assumptions about his abilities, but there had to be some sort of limit. He couldn¡¯t be all powerful. The man had been in the same Dungeon for two weeks. Yes, that would¡¯ve granted him a lot of XP, but with the way that Adrien was only whittling the beasts off, it had to make for less than fun entertainment the more he did it; a case of dwindling returns.

    I pulled my balaclava back on and exited, followed shortly by Axel (who¡¯d never been much of a morning person.) Barely alive, he helped me deconstruct our tent and put the pieces back into our inventories. He let out a yawn, and I caught myself thinking the way his eyes squeezed closed was endearing. Snatching my thoughts from whatever that meant, I focused entirely on the tent after that, and with everyone working in tandem, soon we¡¯d packed the entire camp away.

    Just in the knick of time too.

    Tam coughed loudly, covering her mouth with a fist, announcing Adrien¡¯s return.

    The brunet¡¯s voice sprang through the tunnels. ¡°Fantastic, you made it through the night. Not to say I had my doubts, but¡­¡± Through the scarf and hood, he gave a falsely apologetic smile. ¡°I hope you¡¯re all rested and ready. So long as you follow my plan, we should be done in the hour.¡±

    ¡°And your plan is what?¡± I asked, genuinely curious.

    His gaze, familiar but foreign, whipped toward me. ¡°Nice try, self-proclaimed mouthpiece. You¡¯ll know only what I tell you.¡±

    Shrugging, I said, ¡°If that¡¯s what you want. I¡¯m usually the team¡¯s voice of reason, so don¡¯t blame me for what happens when I can¡¯t guide them.¡±

    Adrien continued to stare. ¡°I just so happen to have a lovely solution to this communication issue.¡± He turned to the rest of the party. ¡°Your hands, give me your hands.¡±

    Anxiously, I reached forward, joined with the others.

    He grazed his gloved hand over ours, muttering under his breath, the hissing of an ability buzzing again and again. As his touch came into contact with my hand, a spark zapped in my head, followed by a brief moment of static. Everyone had cautious and alarmed expressions on their faces, presumably having felt something very similar. What had he just done?

    Testing, testing. One, two, three, came Adrien¡¯s voice directly into my mind.

    Fucking telepathy. He could use telepathy.

    Of course.

    Oh, neat. Wren smiled, her face lighting up.

    I am fuckin¡¯ hating this, said Tam.

    Gigi nodded. This will be useful, indeed.

    Bit too intimate for my taste.

    The last comment was very Axel. I turned to him, his expression unreadable. Standing before me, his wide awake eyes caught my gaze, and he smiled. I didn¡¯t have to hear his thoughts to know what that look meant. It was the same as how he¡¯d smiled at me last night before falling asleep. I swallowed back a strange lump in my throat. How often did he think it? How much of his mind did I occupy?

    Feeling unusually warm, I was glad when Adrien shook his head to continue his explanation.

    ¡°For clarity sake, I¡¯m not reading anyone¡¯s minds. The ability merely scans your thoughts and only broadcasts what you would actually say to another had you been in the same location. It¡¯s very useful in that way. Especially since all communication devices don¡¯t appear to work in here.¡±

    Well, there went the walkie talkies Jye had taken from Bunnings. I¡¯d been intending on keeping in contact with the others with them if Adrien split us up. I guess we could make use of Adrien¡¯s telepathy if we didn¡¯t make it obvious what we were saying. We had enough of a backlog of personal knowledge to be able to communicate without being completely transparent. Though it seemed like Adrien¡¯s ability was more like those olden times switchboard operations, where he could pick and choose whose conversations were connected.

    Adrien¡¯s cool gaze fell onto Jye, and it was then I¡¯d realised they hadn¡¯t said anything with our mental connection. The giant avoided eye contact, shifting to the edge of our group. Ah. They were worried about their glitch since most instances of communication tied to the system with Jye tended to bug out or not work as intended. There was no way I could let Adrien think of Jye as a risk.

    Hoping it looked casual, I stepped forward to guard Jye in my shadow.

    ¡°Where to, general?¡± I asked, the bite in my tone much sharper than I¡¯d intended.

    Follow me.

    As we walked through the snowy biome, snacking on the type of single serve packs of food kids had for school lunches, I couldn¡¯t help but have a grudging respect toward Adrien. He clearly had committed the entire landscape to memory. There wasn¡¯t a single misstep in his stride, his direction and lead confident and strong. I certainly didn¡¯t cut the same figure as the party leader for my team.

    To each of us, via telepathy, he¡¯d only explained our separate parts of his plan.

    Obviously, I hadn¡¯t been privy to what he¡¯d said to anyone else, but I saw several grim expressions flitter over their faces. Axel¡¯s was especially feral. I didn¡¯t doubt my own wasn¡¯t the most welcoming either.

    I¡¯d be going with Adrien and Gigi to the beasts¡¯ nest. He didn¡¯t elaborate on what the others would be doing. Though I could extrapolate based on what I knew about Adrien. He was clearly a tactician, a strategist. He wouldn¡¯t expect the others to take on the fifty creatures head on. Nor would he be happy to let us steal all the credit for eradicating them. Not to mention, he¡¯d spent last night preparing.

    It was fairly obvious.

    Adrien had built a trap.

    If Gigi, he, and I were headed to the nest, Axel and the others were going to trigger the trap to capture the horde and eliminate those that survived the initial damage. I was confident on that until I remembered Gigi¡¯s four beast niches. With the horde and the younglings and guardians covered, it left one unaccounted for: the scout. Cursing myself again, I lamented not asking more about its role in the beasts¡¯ hierarchy, but by name alone I was assuming it performed the function of alerting the horde and the nest to danger. That meant that Adrien needed it dealt with too. I cast my mind back to his breakdown of our party composition.

    The question was who he¡¯d be sending after the scout.

    I was drilling holes into his back as we trailed after him, wracking my mind to try and narrow it down when it finally occurred to me.

    Of course.

    He¡¯d be using fire against fire.

    Satisfied with my conclusion, I glanced at the others to take stock of their current attitude. Everyone seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Rather, they appeared more irritated than before. Even Tam had a pissed bend to her brow. Had Adrien insulted them all in their telepathic conversations? He¡¯d been polite, though brusque and demanding, toward me, so I found it difficult to imagine that was the case. However, our discussion had been completely one-sided. There¡¯d been no point drawing it out by engaging more than I needed to. Plus he just rubbed me the wrong way.

    Given that the sorcerer was leading us, I couldn¡¯t exactly ask the party what had caused the shift in behaviour. And I was certain Adrien would notice if I whipped out a notebook and pens. I just had to hope that this annoyance wouldn¡¯t influence the rest of their actions.

    Pinching the bridge of my nose, I let my thoughts redirect to Adrien¡¯s plan.

    There was one thing that didn¡¯t make any sense to me.

    He hadn¡¯t taken a hostage. It was a very odd choice, uncharacteristically unwary of him. How could he ensure that we¡¯d go through with his plan? Typically in this type of situation, to bargain with those forced to work with you, you needed to hold a blade to a captive¡¯s throat. But Adrien hadn¡¯t mentioned anything like that. If I were him, I¡¯d have chosen a party member with minimal battle impact and the least likely to rebel.

    Oh.

    Right.

    It was me.

    I was collateral.

    He was holding me metaphorically hostage by forcing me to go along with him and Gigi, especially since he was aware that I had no specific role in the party. In all actuality, I had no use to him at the nest. It gave further credit to the idea that one of his abilities was connected to listening in on us. Obviously, Adrien had heard how much I¡¯d been defending him, as well as the other¡¯s insults about me being too trusting. Jesus. He truly thought me someone who wouldn¡¯t fight back; someone useless.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    A spark of irritation buzzed through me as the subject of my ire paused and squinted into the distance.

    ¡°Ah, this is where we part ways. I trust you are all aware what would happen should you not fulfil my directions.¡± Very cool. He was definitely threatening my life.

    The hiss of several abilities sounded.

    Movement speed increased.

    There was a countdown attached; a limited-time buff.

    I frowned, glancing at Adrien. He smiled emptily. ¡°Can¡¯t have any of you dragging me down. Come. Say your goodbyes and let¡¯s be off.¡± With that, he turned away, taking a few steps as if to give us some privacy. Yeah, right. I didn¡¯t believe it for a moment.

    I knew I couldn¡¯t say anything to give away our intentions since no doubt he¡¯d be listening in.

    And yet, this was a charged moment. It might very well be the last time we saw each other.

    We could all die here, separated.

    The thought was like the floor disappearing under my feet.

    So sudden, so easy.

    The never-gone tightening of my chest flared, an incoming panic attack on the edge of my mental periphery. My throat closed. The torrent of inexplicable emotions began to eclipse my thoughts, raw animal instinct overriding logic. I took a deep, shaky breath, closing my eyes.

    No.

    Not now.

    I couldn¡¯t.

    Air scratched into my lungs as I counted the pattern, thinking of my happy place in between the numbers of inhales and exhales. As I did so, I realised the flashes of memory had changed, what was dear to me was different, altered.

    I inhaled.

    It was Tam¡¯s guilty and defensive expression upon catching her sneaking a piece of chocolate at night when I¡¯d gotten up for a glass of water. It was Wren¡¯s delight after giving her my etch-a-sketch from my apartment, her grin huge as she drew everything she could. It was Gigi¡¯s fifth gentle but firm correction of the same error in the way I held my glaive. It was Jye¡¯s cheers as they lapped me for the second time during a morning jog. It was Axel, his hand in mine as he smiled, the warmth of him, the frangipani of our shared scent.

    The breath settled in my chest, a calmness loosening my limbs.

    I exhaled.

    Opening my eyes, I met the waiting gaze of my party.

    Oh.

    They''d closed the gap between us and were right in front of me.

    The first time I¡¯d nearly died I¡¯d decided I¡¯d protect them.

    It was time to do what I could.

    The dread of potentially sending all of us to our death did not fade, but my desire to encourage the others stymied my fear, the beat of my heart relaxing. I knew I couldn¡¯t be there with them. And that they didn¡¯t need me, not really, but I needed them to be okay.

    Swallowing back my anxiousness, I attempted a smile, hoping the muffled panic attack had gone by unnoticed. As I breathed, I allowed the moment to gain clarity in what my own plan was, what I wanted to do.

    I wanted to raise morale for the party, transform whatever had frustrated them into productive energy.

    ¡°We can do this,¡± I said, finding it the most reassuring and unassuming comment. I reached out and laid a hand on Axel¡¯s shoulder, my grip tighter, tenser, than I¡¯d intended. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything too crazy, yeah?¡±

    He grinned, eyes sparking, his hand coming up to rest over mine. It was clear he was taking my words as a challenge. ¡°Worry about yourself, idiot.¡± His tone made ¡°idiot¡± sound much softer than it ever had. Along with his touch, it alleviated some of the anxiety clenching my stomach.

    To Jye and Wren, I said, ¡°Be careful, and take care of each other.¡± The two of them nodded. They would''ve done so without my having asked.

    I met Tam¡¯s gaze and glanced at Adrien in the corner of my eye. Her focus flickered over for a second, astute, observational; critical.

    And then I shook my head, almost imperceptibly.

    I said, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Her eyes narrowed to thin slits and then she barked out a laugh. ¡°Don¡¯t die, sunshine. I¡¯ll miss that blind trust.¡±

    She¡¯d known what I¡¯d meant. But I guess it was up to her if she would take it to heart. I hoped she would. She''d changed recently. I didn''t know why and maybe she''d never tell me, but I was betting everything on her.

    Adrien started running. It was the sprint of an athlete, an Olympian. He¡¯d boosted his own movement speed too, obviously. If Gigi and I didn¡¯t shoot off after him, we¡¯d lose him. But I was sure he¡¯d have thought of a contingency against that. The man was an onion, layer after layer of schemes.

    With one final look, the party went our separate ways: Gigi and me following after Adrien; Axel, Wren, and Jye going after the horde; and Tam tracking down the scout.

    All things said and done, it was a very good plan.

    It was nice of Adrien to have put it into action for us.

    With the sorcerer¡¯s speed buff, we¡¯d managed to clear quite a distance when the brunet dug his heel into the snow, coming to a stop before us. Gigi and I slowed behind him. The weather had been kind today, with the skies clear apart from the odd snowflake fall every now and then. Our running had clouds of breath fogging our faces as we waited for Adrien to explain.

    The nest is up ahead. No speaking; their hearing is impeccable.

    We¡¯d scaled a bit of a snowy hill to get where we were, and now we were gazing down on the creatures¡¯ home turf. There was a divot in the trough of the hill, with a car-sized tunnel that looked to travel directly vertically, all this formed from a combination of ice and snow.

    Nodding, I thought, How many are inside?

    So long as the your party deals with the rest, there should be about ten within. Adrien scanned the glacial valley below us. We don¡¯t need to worry about the infants. They are harmless. It is those that protect them we will focus on. There were three in the nest last time I checked.

    Gigi¡¯s gaze met mine, and xe nodded slightly. It appeared the Linnikian¡¯s bestiary knowledge of the creature¡¯s habits matched Adrien¡¯s explanation. At the very least, the sorcerer wasn¡¯t lying to trip us up. He did want our help, even if he had to forcefully wrangle us to get what he needed. Adrien had been honest before. He really did just need more bodies on the ground.

    Axel, Wren, and Jye are in position. We¡¯re waiting on confirmation from Tam.

    Why are we waiting? I asked.

    The nest and the creatures must be destroyed within a certain time frame of each other. If they are not, all of them will respawn.

    Something was telling me this was based on experience. So he¡¯d almost wiped out them before but hadn¡¯t managed a complete elimination. That had to smart. It gave me a little bit of a grim satisfaction. Admittedly, getting pleasure out of someone¡¯s failure wasn¡¯t supposed to feel this good, but I¡¯d take what I could get since the background radiation of my mind was consumed by concern for the others. It had been easier believing in them and their safety when they were in eyesight. Even when we¡¯d left Wren alone in the Dungeon Challenge, I¡¯d known she was secure in that room by herself. I trusted they could defend themselves and stand on their own, but it did nothing to quell my unease.

    Lee, some encouragement for Tam would be appreciated, Adrien said.

    He wanted to remind her that my life was in danger. What a shithead.

    Can you hear me? I asked, testing the connection.

    Not because I especially want to, sunshine.

    I rolled my eyes. Adrien needs results.

    Easy for you to say. This fucker is slippery. I¡¯m tracking it, but it''s fast and agile. Now stop breathin¡¯ down my neck, I need my full brain free to focus.

    I trust you with this, I added.

    She didn¡¯t respond further. That tracked with who Tam was, really.

    My thanks, Adrien said with a polite, almost mocking nod.

    Not bothering to respond, I turned my attention to Gigi who was still staring at the entry to the nest. On any normal occasion, I would¡¯ve asked xem what they were thinking, but since Adrien had put a ban on speaking and wasn¡¯t extending the telepathy to private conversations, the best I could do was raise an eyebrow. Xe pointed at the entrance and then flicked three counts of five at me with xir hands.

    Fifteen?

    Understanding dawned on me, the absence of system warnings from ability usage like a gaping hole in my chest. I was half a soldier without Axel¡¯s trait. Dourly, I copied xem and proc¡¯d [Locate] to double check Gigi¡¯s information, and as the radar spread, the blue silhouettes that appeared below the surface of the ground matched xir count.

    Gigi says there¡¯s fifteen down in the nest.

    Oh, some eggs hatched then. The guardians will be on higher alert than usual. Adrien¡¯s expression flickered. This should be even easier. Gigi, what are your abilities, again?

    I didn¡¯t hear the vanguard¡¯s response, but xe had no reason to refuse to answer. I assumed Gigi filled them in because Adrien¡¯s brow furrowed in thought, his lips pursing. The Linnikian gave a curt nod before summoning the aegis Axel had made xem.

    Man, it fucking sucked not being able to hear conversations people were having. Is this what being deaf was like?

    And you, what can you do? Adrien asked.

    Self-survival stuff.

    It was an answer I¡¯d thought of on the trek here, assuming this question would arise sooner or later. That he hadn¡¯t asked me yet gave further credence to how little worth he thought I had. He¡¯d definitely already checked with the others.

    Back in the cave, he¡¯d shown that he could glean a certain amount of information from us, either from some skill or another. The assertions had been accurate though vague about our roles in the party. As I¡¯d thought about it more, I realised that it meant he couldn¡¯t discern exact details. Him double checking with Gigi had further reinforced this. Had he known more, he would¡¯ve used it to intimidate us back in the cave.

    There was nothing more threatening than having an enemy know your exact strengths and weaknesses.

    Thus, that led me to believe Adrien¡¯s intelligence gathering was more like a summary. He couldn¡¯t access the exact information, just a cursory understanding of it. And so, based on that, he¡¯d come to the conclusion I was pretty much useless. I mean, if you considered that I only had one ability, no traits, and a singular title, with no outstanding attributes, it was a fair (but depressing) overview of me. But that also meant he had no idea what any of the party could actually do¡ªjust a generalisation of it.

    Elaborate, he demanded of me.

    I can heal myself.

    This was technically true. I could do that because of Wren. Adrien¡¯s thoughts were written plainly on his face. He might as well have said, ¡°How useless.¡± A sour expression wrinkled his features. Then a spark shone in his eyes.

    Tam is in position. Come. Gigi, as I¡¯ve explained.

    The small vanguard jutted xir jaw in response, clutching xir shield to xemself. Coldly, Adrien¡¯s focus fell on me. It was so odd seeing how similar his eyes were to Killian¡¯s. You could¡¯ve plucked both sets and swapped them and not noticed any difference. However, the expression would never fool anyone. Even after Carrie¡¯s death, Killian had never seemed so empty.

    Lee¡­ Keep yourself alive.

    He didn¡¯t add, ¡°Since that¡¯s all that you¡¯re good for,¡± but it definitely felt implied in his tone of thought. It low-key pissed me off. However, that meant he was falling for my lies, so I decided to let it slide off me. Something something glue sticking to you.

    The ones guarding the young will not leave the nest without prompting, Adrien informed us, still only just breadcrumbing his plot to us. Then he smiled. Here we go, friends.

    I gritted my teeth. Being addressed as Adrien¡¯s friend set me on edge.

    His focus wavered for a moment, and I recognised the look as him talking telepathically with another. Who was he giving commands to? The horde part of the group? Or Tam? He began to stalk forward, his movements quick and without any hesitation. There was a frenzied energy behind each step, as though he were vibrating with excitement.

    Clearly something was going well.

    Following after the brunet once again, we descended to the nest entrance, resting just on the precipice of entering proper. The distant hollow breathing of the beasts dimly bounced around the cylindrical opening. I didn¡¯t need to use [Locate] again to know they were lying in wait.

    ~Dungeon Clear Available: Eradicate All Mordexi~

    I blinked. A proximity trigger, huh? We hadn¡¯t received the same announcement when in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon. If we had, it would¡¯ve been so much easier to know what was going on. Then again, Nabu was new to Dungeon creation (and that was a generous description). It was obvious Bia, if she was the Deity of this Dungeon, had much more practice under her belt.

    I did briefly wonder about Nabu and our feedback. Had he patched the issues we¡¯d mentioned? Could Deities push updates to the maps while in the Event, or did they have to wait until everything was offline after the culling? It would mean they could only improve their Dungeon designs each time they decimated a new sentient race. Though, I guess in the grand scheme of things, gods probably had the patience of¡­ well, immortals. Thousands of years were likely nothing to them. Just as billions of lives were insignificant.

    Timing is important here, Adrien announced, drawing my attention.

    Axel¡¯s thoughts were carried through to me, They¡¯re about to hit the mark.

    I could inhale shit with how my nose is up this fucker¡¯s ass.

    I am ready to deploy, Gigi added, jaw clenched.

    Bull¡¯s-eye, Axel said.

    Adrien took a deep breath. He had to be triggering the trap. At least, that¡¯s what I had to assume.

    Not having Axel and his [Devoted] trait was beginning to unnerve me. I hadn¡¯t realised how much I¡¯d been relying on it. How much I¡¯d been leaning on Axel¡¯s presence. Even just knowing he was around helped. Without him, and without knowing exactly what was happening made anxiety coil tightly in my core.

    Holy licking fuck, dude, commented Jye, unable to keep their thoughts to themself, clearly reacting to the situation unfolding. That answered the question about the giant¡¯s ability to properly use telepathy.

    But what the hell was going on where they were?

    ¡°Attack!¡± shouted Adrien, audibly and mentally, drawing a shortsword from his inventory.

    Wait, wasn¡¯t he a sorcerer?

    It went completely against convention for a primarily magic user to wield a melee weapon like that. What was the man thinking? We¡¯d had Gigi to help us begin finessing our combat skills while at the base, but Adrien couldn¡¯t have even had the bare fundamentals in sword fighting, his trial of fire during the two weeks in here not worth anything beyond survival.

    I watched in horror as he jumped down the vertical hole, landed with a thud, and then disappeared past the lip of the entrance, screaming all the while as he charged in.

    The shock I felt was palpable, my heart stopping in my chest.

    Had the Dungeon genuinely driven him insane?

    How was this any sort of plan?

 Chapter Forty-Four | Following Orders

    Gigi waited next to me, xir hands tightening white against the bars of xir shield.

    ¡°What the hell is he doing?¡± I asked, activating [Thick Hide] as a precaution and drawing the glaive that Axel had made for me. He¡¯d formed it from the same weapon from Test Name, incorporating further material from Jye¡¯s Bunnings loot. The resulting polearm was sturdier and a length better suited for my height; the prior glaive user having been half a head taller than me. It was still a simple-looking weapon, but [Smithing] could only extend so far. I¡¯d hoped Axel would be able to upgrade the ability eventually.

    ¡°He¡¯s drawing them out,¡± Gigi said.

    ¡°With his own life?!¡± I cried, incredulousness rife in my voice.

    It was beyond ridiculous. The idea belied the very essence of the man, of everything he¡¯d shown us of his hand thus far. Adrien wouldn¡¯t put his life on the line in such a ludicrous manner. In fact, I¡¯d be hard pressed to think of anyone who¡¯d do what he¡¯d done, running in sword blazing. You¡¯d have to be a certified lunatic. And if there was one thing I was sure of about Adrien, he was not so unhinged as that.

    So what was really happening?

    My mind raced to untangle the weaves of Adrien¡¯s web, linking and connecting what I¡¯d seen of his choices together, trying to find the pin that his scheme was centered on.

    Seconds ticked by.

    The overlapping roar of the mordexi guardians blasted through the nest, the bass of it quivering the frost-limed walls of the tunnel before us. They would be upon us soon, chasing Adrien¡¯s fleeing form, there was no doubt. Their anger at the threat we posed to their hatchlings fuelling their movement, their speed increasing with their rage.

    What was Adrien¡¯s plan?!

    The pounding claws of the beasts slammed into the hard ground, thundering toward Gigi and me. I could feel it vibrating the icy floor beneath our feet. Stilling the panic blooming in my chest, the familiar whisper of an attack on the cusp of my lungs, I narrowed my focus, remembering to breathe slowly and deeply. We were okay, and the others were okay. I had to continue to tell myself that, letting it repeat in the back of my mind; a mantra.

    Everyone would be just fine.

    As if someone were listening in, almost like a reassuring hand on my shoulder, the ping of experience points and credits began rolling in; the notifications appearing and disappearing into one another again and again.

    Axel, Wren, and Jye were doing their part, cleaning up the horde.

    They were fine.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 10:00~

    My thoughts resharpened, the anxiety of the countdown simmering away all my doubts.

    Why had Adrien run in like that?

    ¡°They¡¯re almost in proximity,¡± Gigi said, and I assumed xe¡¯d use [Locate] again to check.

    Again, I found myself longing for Axel¡¯s trait. And not just that, the absence of him was like missing a limb. I wasn''t as calm, wasn''t as collected. Without the reassurance of him by my side, a taut high insecurity threaded through my body, each of my movements tight and tense.

    I never realised he''d had that effect on me. Probably because I''d gotten used to him being around. Strange of all, my gaze seemed to instinctively search for his reaction, his expression, his silent words.

    But he wasn''t here, and it felt wrong.

    I took a breath, thinking of everyone at the end of this, after we cleared it, Axel''s hand in mine, the other''s smiles, though Tam would be scowling. The thought made me laugh out loud.

    My mind drawn back to the physicality of reality, I proc¡¯d [Locate] to take stock of the unfolding situation too, and the larger guardian forms, three as Adrien had said, were bounding up through the tunnel network of a nest. Unlike the twelve small hatchlings still inside, the guardians appeared bulkier than their horde kin, their singular role likely to protect their young.

    And that¡¯s when I noticed it.

    As the radar ping flashed through the nest, highlighting each creature''s silhouette, there was one important figure missing.

    It was so obvious!

    The answer hit me with such sudden clarity that I cursed myself for not having realised it earlier.

    Adrien was using the same ability that he¡¯d activated when he¡¯d drawn the mordexi off our tail in the cave system yesterday. I¡¯d assumed it was more specific, like Anna¡¯s [Mirror Aid]. But it wasn¡¯t. It was more broad, more versatile. More fitting for a [Sorcerer]. In fact, I¡¯d bet it was the exact same ability that had hidden whatever trap he¡¯d placed to capture the horde.

    The Adrien that had just run to his death was nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

    He was conjuring an illusion.

    Adrien wasn¡¯t in the nest.

    He never had been.

    I waited for the weakening waves of [Locate] to spread further, watching where we¡¯d been before the clear notification had been triggered, on the edges of the slant of the hill.

    Once [Locate¡¯s] ping reached our previous position, Adrien¡¯s blue outline flashed into existence, but as I squinted back, a hand held above my brow to cut the sun from my gaze, there was no one standing there that I could see. The ability faded as Adrien¡¯s azure form dashed forward, his location blipping out of sight. Fuck, I wished Tam had consented to let me use her abilities. [Track] would¡¯ve been perfect in this situation. Without knowing where he was because of his mirages, it was impossible to tell what he was doing.

    All I could do was guess.

    Though, it was clear what his plan was. I didn¡¯t know how much he¡¯d told Gigi, but taking into consideration that the Linnikian had summoned xir shield in preparation, xe knew we¡¯d be going to stand off against the guardians. It was unlikely Adrien had explained just how much he expected of us to xem. I do not think Gigi would be so calm if xe knew.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got to back off!¡± I yelled to Gigi.

    For Adrien had led us to our doom.

    He was intending on leaving us to distract and tank the guardians now he¡¯d drawn them away from their wards, while he took out the hatchlings and then circle back once we¡¯d weakened them; our fates be damned. Without any other means of communication, the rest of the party had to take Adrien¡¯s word that I was still under his thumb. Fuck. Whether we lived or died, it didn¡¯t matter so long as we served our purpose.

    How very efficient of him.

    Gritting my teeth as I sprung back from the entrance, Gigi in my shadow, I had to admit if I were so heartless as Adrien, I might¡¯ve considered the plot well-thought out. Were human lives just toy soldiers to use on your chess board, his tactic was terrific. Horrible but terrific. The idea of sacrificing others for a greater goal was not something I was capable of doing. It wasn¡¯t a concept I ever wanted to become familiar with either.

    Stomach curdling growls erupted from the tunnel entrance, the foul stench of decay heavy on the three mordexi¡¯s huffing breaths, as they clambered from their nest, Adrien¡¯s illusion running just ahead of them.

    The guardians were here.

    They were twice the size of their horde brethren, their white hide thicker, fangs like tusks. Red eyes glowered at us, foamy saliva stringing from agape vicious jaws. It was clear our presence was unwelcome.

    At least there were only three of them. I didn¡¯t envy the other half of our party who were taking on fifty horde mordexi, though the beasts were undoubtedly injured from whatever trap Adrien had sprung.

    I hoped my teammates were doing okay, but the well wishes drowned under the adrenaline pumping in through my veins. It was time to fucking go. Whatever Adrien was doing, he¡¯d better be doing it quickly. Gigi was a tank, yes, but I knew the brunet wouldn¡¯t believe Gigi could hold off the guardians for long. He thought of us as expendable pawns, weaker than him.

    He¡¯d be back soon.

    It was a flaw of his personality.

    He didn¡¯t trust.

    It also meant he didn¡¯t believe others could either.

    However, so long as he wasn¡¯t here, and he couldn¡¯t hear what I was doing, it was time to start using [Channel] to my advantage. I¡¯d been hesitant to show it off while Adrien was nearby, wanting to ensure I left it hidden up my sleeve. But there was no way Gigi would be all right taking on all these mordexi at the same time. Xe was just a tank, after all.

    Like a bubble bursting, the illusion of Adrien disappeared, and the mordexi¡¯s murderous glares swung over to Gigi and me.

    The Linnikian summoned several [Shield Walls], dotting them before us, a quick simple barrier, to allow us some time to plan our next actions. The mordexi crashed into them, all brawn and force.

    They were all grouped together right now, which made them a perfect target for [Ground Smash]. However, with the tunnel system of the nest beneath us, I might destroy our footing and plunge us to an icicle stalagmite death. I ran through the other abilities in my mind, trying to think about what would work.

    Well, they were just large, blundering beasts.

    And we¡¯d faced the Minotaur.

    Would the same strategy work here?

    The only real difference was there were three of them.

    ¡°What¡¯s their weak spot, Gigi?¡± I inquired.

    ¡°It may have changed, but when I last fought their kind, it was their third ear!¡±

    Well, that made a certain kind of sense given their keen hearing. However, there was nothing so obvious on the monster¡¯s large bodies. I couldn¡¯t even tell where their regular pair of ears were. The mordexi¡¯s heads had nothing protruding besides their snarling snouts. Even their eyes were set in deep sockets, barely slits that I could see as they tore into the first wave of [Shield Walls].

    It occurred to me that I¡¯d be wrong before, when we¡¯d been fleeing from the horde mordexi last night. Gigi¡¯s shields likely would''ve lasted much longer against them than a few hits, had they attacked them. With the increase in attribute points, Gigi¡¯s shields had become tougher.

    ¡°And where exactly are their third ears?¡±

    ¡°For the guardians, it is unique to each!¡±

    Of course. Repressing a sigh, I took stock of the mordexi¡¯s strength as they hulked out, ramming and clawing at the barriers Gigi had put in place. Yeah, I¡¯d only survive like two direct hits from them, three at most. It was a little sad to admit, but the life of Gigi¡¯s shields still matched my own.

    I took a breath.

    There was nothing else to do, really.

    We couldn¡¯t run. They¡¯d be upon us in seconds, the buff Adrien had given us practically useless compared to the length of their bounding strides.

    So, history would repeat itself.

    ¡°Keep on with this,¡± I told Gigi. The Linnikian nodded, pulling a dagger from xir inventory. The sight almost made me laugh. Almost.

    Unfortunately, I had never accounted for a split party when considering group composition. Neither Gigi nor I was really equipped to kill tanky creatures, let alone three of them. I¡¯d been hoping to rely on Tam, Axel, and Jye for that in battle. Sure I could borrow their abilities, but without the appropriate attributes to back them up, my attacks would pale in comparison. So, the best we could hope to do was to put into practice what we''d learned, rewards and XP be damned.

    Slapping on [Cloak], I dropped from sight, invisible. I activated [Locate] one more time, careful to keep an eye on my mana and stamina, and noted Adrien''s blue form delving deeper into the ground, perhaps only a short distance from the small hatchlings.

    As the mordexi guardians stomped at Gigi¡¯s [Shield Walls], fumes of anger steaming from their three nostrils, I slowly arched around behind one, careful to avoid the thrashing of its errant, whiplike tail. One hit from them and I¡¯d be winded and set upon in the blink of an eye, my [Cloak] cancelled by my loss of concentration.

    Gigi was replenishing the fallen [Shield Walls], sparking a fury in the mordexi, their awful noises of animalistic fury filling the air and thankfully masking the sounds of my approach.

    The mordexi¡¯s tail flicked by my face and, holding my breath, I stumbled back slightly to dodge, only just catching myself. Luckily, it hadn¡¯t noticed, still intent on shredding through Gigi¡¯s [Shield Walls], all three guardians working on them. Behind them, Gigi had braced xemself with xir shield, a dagger gripped sideways in xir hand.

    After Gigi¡¯s attribute increase during our time at the base, xir health was also stockier than it used to be, so I knew xe could hold out, even if they slipped through xir ability barriers. I¡¯d also seen xem swipe that dagger through tree branches thicker than my thigh. Xe¡¯d stand a fighting chance.

    But I needed to do my part.

    And I could do this.

    I could.

    The others were relying on me.

    Taking a stilling breath, and waiting a moment to time it right, I darted forward to the closest mordexi¡¯s hindlegs and, slapping my hands down against its thick white fur, applied a burst of Loads. Immediately, the mordexi¡¯s back leg sunk into the snow, a shriek of shock stringing from it, and I yanked my body back, skittering away from the panicking beast, heart pounding in my chest.

    Holy shit. I¡¯d done it.

    I¡¯d locked down some of one guardian¡¯s movements! Sure, it could spin on that limb like the pin of a compass arm, but it meant we¡¯d compromised it.

    The thrill of success shot through me, and I thrust the giddiness back down. It wasn¡¯t time to celebrate.

    Because now I just needed to repeat the process for each mordexi.

    Which meant I needed to be just as lucky two more times.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Add to that, they knew a scheme was afoot so they¡¯d be extra wary of my movements, even if they couldn''t see me. I was invisible, not intangible, after all.

    Still, it should be super easy, right?

    More experience and credits continued appearing unendingly, popping up as notifications, filling me with a sense of pride and reassurance. The others were doing well. Based on the lack of notifications about anyone falling into critical health, they were practically killing it.

    I wish I could say the same for Gigi and myself. The mordexi I¡¯d already Loaded up seemed intent on taking its anger out on Gigi, and xe¡¯d been reforming [Shield Walls] at an alarming rate, trying to juggle all three, keeping them in place and preoccupied so I could do what I needed.

    I went in again, aiming for the guardian on the left. As it split a [Shield Wall], the particles fluttering into the snowy white sky, I ducked in, glancing my fingers across the backward bow of its knee, applying as many Loads as I thought necessary. The limb dropped, increased gravity pinning it down.

    Unfortunately, Lady Luck wasn¡¯t on my side this time. Before I could retract my arm, the mordexi¡¯s snout lashed back toward me, sensing where I was based on my touch, the razorlike teeth sinking into my hand.

    It happened quicker than I was able to actually feel it.

    Three of my fingers from my right hand were crunched through, blood gushing out, and as the mordexi thrashed its head away, the digits were ripped from me. Gasp strangled in my throat, I pulled back, and a crisp, pulsing pain shot through my arm, my breath hitching in my constricting chest. [Cloak] dropped due to the sudden shock, my concentration absolutely obliterated by sharp agony.

    Clutching the bloody claw remnants of my hand, trying to ignore the electrifying torment coursing, pounding, from my left arm, I turned tail and fled; the mordexi who¡¯d taken my fingers wouldn¡¯t be so generous as to give me a breather. As I was now visible, and trailing blood through the snow, I was an easy target.

    Maw reddened, the mordexi lunged after me, yowling, but it thudded to a snow stop not far from where it leapt. Its single Loaded limb rendered its mobility limited, and it lashed out against the ground in frustration, only barely able to pursue me, dragging its leg behind it.

    The last untouched guardian had no such issues in this.

    My breath shuddered inside my chest, and the shock of the pain made any thoughts other than running for my life difficult. Staggering under me, my feet trudged forward, entirely detached from the panic blasting through my head.

    RUN. RUN. RUN.

    I need to get away!

    Gigi was still fully concentrating on restoring xir own [Shield Walls], following my prior orders. I couldn¡¯t rely on xir assistance without xem putting xir life on the line. That was assuming I¡¯d even be able to get any words out of my tight throat. Besides, with three mordexi on xem, there was little xe could do any help anyway.

    Body shaking, I sprinted my heart out, the mordexi right behind me. Thinking quickly, I borrowed [Healing Hand]. Staunch the blood flow. I could hear the thought, knew that it was good advice from some entirely calm part of my mind. If I didn¡¯t stop it, I¡¯d probably bleed out, passive regen not able to keep up to the damage. My health was blipping down, 20 HP already gone and dropping still.

    The ability activated, the green glow encompassing the gaping fleshy wound, tender cracked bone and slimy exposed threads of tendons and all, and I was suddenly struck by the horrific possibility of the injury just healing over.

    Had I permanently lost half my right hand?

    The ability faltered, the green sputtering.

    In my distraction, I missed how close the guardian had drawn behind me.

    I¡¯d been stupid to think I¡¯d even be able to momentarily outrun it.

    Its sharp claws flashed forward, catching me in the calf, slicing straight through the layers of warm clothes, and running through skin into flesh. Muscle split and tore as the claws exited. A shriek of pain ripped out of my lungs, and I crashed forward, tumbling to a snowy stop. Wind punched from my diaphragm, I tried to right myself but only made it to my back as the mordexi immediately claimed its hunt, stepping over me, its six limbed, large frame smugly encompassing my prone body.

    Shit, shit, shit.

    I was staring up at my death, the cold of the snow seeping into my ripped clothes, chest burning from exertion, my health leaking away. Not critical just yet, but it wouldn¡¯t stay like that for long; that was if the mordexi didn¡¯t end me first. The guardian¡¯s head reared up in preparation, its slobbering jaw opening wide, and then it snapped its snarling snout down at me.

    I had only a millisecond to act.

    Please for the love of all that¡¯s good, please work.

    My glaive shimmered into existence, completely vertical, the point of its blade meeting the mordexi¡¯s neck at the perfect arc of its swinging head. Propped directly in the crook of my right elbow, my left hand loosely holding it up, with the butt of the polearm reinforced against the icy floor beneath the snow, the mordexi drove its own flesh deep onto my weapon.

    The metal head pierced through the thick hide, eating into its soft, vulnerable throat, the wood of its hilt bowing under the creature¡¯s weight and the momentum of its halted movement. Purple blood trickled down the shaft of the glaive. Some dripped off and onto my face, dotting against my cheeks. Stunned by the damage, the guardian stared down at me, slitted eyes grapely bloodshot.

    I hadn¡¯t killed it, I was certain, but I¡¯d given myself time to escape.

    Scrambling, ignoring the burning pain of my shredded left calf, I heaved in a breath, spittle colored crimson flying from the subsequent exhale. Before slipping out of range of the injured mordexi, I slapped several Loads onto the guardian¡¯s closest limb. Then, as a steamed shriek bubbled from its throat, and it reared up to shake the glaive loose of its neck, I hobbled as far away as I could from the three guardians who now would struggle to close the distance. All of them were restrained in movement, one limb each Loaded to the floor.

    We¡¯d created a weakness we could exploit.

    Pride at my work was tempered by the wet heat of the dangling sinew stringing out of my leg that screamed with each step I took.

    The injured mordexi finally freed itself from its self-impalement, flinging my glaive far into the snow. Dimly, I considered reactivating [Cloak] to try and retrieve it, but the current injuries I had would¡¯ve made the focus and concentration required to maintain the ability all but impossible. In a strange strike of luck, though, but not at all that of good fortune, my half-hand was now completely numb. That was definitely not something to be happy about.

    My health had dropped just below half.

    ¡°Gigi, retreat!¡± I called, voice hoarse, fighting back the sting in my eyes from the pain.

    Xe jumped back from the first mordexi I¡¯d Loadlocked, having still been placating its rage with a neverending barrage of [Shield Walls], and then raced to my side, wrapping an arm around my back to help me walk. Xir expression was grim, the set of xir thin silver brows pressed tightly together. Gigi appeared to be staring at my mangled limb.

    ¡°You could say I need a hand,¡± I joked, a bolt of agony choosing that exact moment to strike, jerking my right arm out of my control.

    The Linnikian gravely shook xir head. ¡°Lee, you must retrieve your fingers if you wish to heal entirely.¡±

    Groaning, I asked, ¡°They won¡¯t grow back?¡±

    ¡°Do humans grow limbs back?¡±

    I sighed and glanced at the raging mordexi. In part I was glad I hadn¡¯t healed the injury fully, the momentary fear that matched Gigi¡¯s caution having stilled my actions. The vanguard lowered me to the ground, and I began seeing to my leg, desperately trying not to look at the torn muscle. I wasn¡¯t squeamish like Axel, but there was a difference between seeing gore and knowing and feeling it on your own body. Still, having to touch the injury to use the ability, I gritted my teeth through the pain, glad when it finally activated and the anaesthetic side effect soothed the feeling.

    We¡¯d put some distance between us and the three mordexi, who were struggling against their invisible restraints, growling and clawing at the ground in our direction, making only slight headway. They weren¡¯t fully contained, but their movements were compromised. They¡¯d eventually make it over to us. But we needed to regroup, to breathe for a moment.

    As I continued with [Healing Hand], I was struck with a thought. I pinged [Locate] in a panic, focusing on the nest, realising I¡¯d lost track of Adrien in our attack.

    No forms were revealed in the tunnel network.

    Shit.

    Adrien had killed all the younglings already. How long ago had he finished? Where had he gone? I waited for the radar to spread out, wondering if he was beyond the limits of it already. Had he seen what I¡¯d done to the guardians? If he had, my hidden ace was spent. Hopefully, with any luck, he¡¯d only just completed his Annakin speedrun, and he wouldn¡¯t suspect what my true ability was. In the battle of knowledge, with the advantage Adrien had, we needed to keep what we could under wraps.

    ¡°You both performed better than I anticipated,¡± came a smarmy voice in my ear, as the devil himself drizzled into existence beside me.

    His illusionary powers truly were something else. I would¡¯ve never noticed him. In his hand, he held the handles of a sagging duffel bag I hadn¡¯t seen before.

    ¡°Gee, thanks,¡± I replied, the sarcasm the most energy I could muster.

    Since I¡¯d previously admitted to being able to use it, I continued with [Healing Hand] until the flesh stitched closed, trying not to stare at the bag. My leg wasn¡¯t back to normal, far from it, and would probably rip open again with too much strenuous effort, but now Adrien was back, I needed to remain wary of him and keep some mana and stamina in reserve. I didn¡¯t have much of either left.

    ¡°Axel, Jye, and Wren are wrapping up their part,¡± he informed us. ¡°Tam is done.¡±

    I tried not to let the disappointment show on my face, and instead glanced at my meters, watching them restore on their own. It frustrated me that they still regenned too slowly for any immediate use in real-time combat. We¡¯d all need to rest after this battle otherwise we¡¯d be far too vulnerable. Even knowing how strong the rest of the party was, we still hadn¡¯t grown enough to fight in back to back engagements.

    Especially not me. Taking in the damage to my right hand, I wasn¡¯t surprised that even after all my healing, my health was only just above half now.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 5:00~

    ¡°I¡¯ll clean up your mess, shall I?¡± Adrien asked, stepping toward the Loadlocked guardians.

    Well, I wasn¡¯t about to fight him on that. I didn¡¯t need to risk my life anytime soon if I could help it. Whatever XP and credits came with their deaths could go straight to Adrien for all I cared. With my leg screaming in pain, I was not prepared for another battle. Not yet.

    Gigi and I watched the sorcerer approach the mordexi, the eyes of the furious creatures full of hate, fumes of anger wisping from their nostrils. When Adrien was within spitting distance, he disappeared.

    Literally gone.

    What a fucking overpowered ability.

    Gigi raised a hand and pointed for my benefit. I nodded, appreciating xem using [Locate] since xe knew I had to be scraping the bottom of barrel for mana and stamina, considering what I¡¯d just done. I followed xir finger as it glided about the mordexi before resting directly on them. Was the sorcerer standing in the middle of them?

    A green gas began to form, hissing out from between the guardians. It was the radioactive, toxic viridian that you associated with hazard signs, with venomous creatures, that of cartoonish beakers of poison. The fumes billowed up, spreading about the mordexi, and as the creatures snorted in a vehement furor, their muscles seized up, their bodies stiffening, free limbs twitching.

    Gigi¡¯s finger dropped, xir expression one of pure horror.

    The mordexis¡¯ red eyes rolled up into their skulls, and as they continued to inhale the cloud of green, chests juddering wildly, they collapsed to their backward bending knees, gasping. Their six limbs thrashed out uncontrollably, ligaments locking, loosening, before eventually crumpling into themselves, nothing more than shuddering messes.

    Froth foamed from their mouths, saliva dripping from agape jaws, as their eyes fell closed.

    We were notified of credits and XP when the mordexi finally stilled.

    ¡°Bit cruel, no?¡± Adrien asked, once again appearing alongside us. ¡°Waste of good meat too.¡±

    He stretched his arms above his head with a satisfied groan, limbering up. His lackadaisical attitude was really rubbing me the wrong way. But that faded away into curdling dread as I realised that Adrien could¡¯ve used the exact same ability on us last night.

    In fact, I wouldn¡¯t have put it beyond him to have led us to the dead-end knowing full well the gas would¡¯ve brought us an excruciating death, and we wouldn¡¯t have been able to escape it. No air and ventilation, as Jye had said. Adrien had been incredibly familiar with that cave system, after all. If we¡¯d said no¡­

    How many players had he killed in the same way?

    A chill shuddered up my spine, the understanding like being dunked in icy cold water.

    I¡¯d assumed he might¡¯ve come across other people who were antagonistic to him. But now I saw what he¡¯d done, I finally understood. Adrien was one of the sociopaths I''d been worried about since I''d figured out the ability earning mechanism. Not only had he been killing the mordexi slowly, he''d been harvesting people''s skills too. I should''ve guessed. It was the perfectly inhuman tactic to play out.

    Despite the coiling disgust inside me, I felt vindicated that my gut instinct about him wasn''t wrong. I''d sensed something off about him from the get go. It was worse than I anticipated, though.

    After a moment of a faraway look, Adrien sighed and rolled his eyes, casting me an annoyed glare. Yes, yes. He¡¯s alive. Speak, Lee.

    Irritated by Adrien commanding me like a dog, I admitted, A bit hurt but still standing. Uh, metaphorically, at least.

    Lee! came Axel¡¯s voice, high-pitched from concern. I was man enough to confess hearing him speak, even in my mind, relieved me. It was good to hear his voice. He continued, frantic, My other trait, I¡¯m¡ª

    ¡°Yes, enough of that. Chatty, that one. Well, this worked out quite splendidly.¡±

    He stepped back and placed the duffel bag on the ground, unzipping and dumping out its contents to reveal a single small immature mordexi, unconscious, barely breathing. It curled into itself, tail tucked under its chin, all six limbs folded up tight to its torso. It was the size of a dog, and had I not nearly lost my life to its kin, I might¡¯ve considered the young version to be cute.

    Adrien had saved it for last so he could achieve the clear.

    The sorcerer smiled emptily at us.

    ¡°Thank you, Just Friends. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that we¡¯re to be pitted against each other in the future, I¡¯d have liked to work with you again. Alas¡­¡± With that, Adrien¡¯s hand slipped over the hatchling¡¯s body, a swirling black ability forming under his palm.

    With bated breath, we watched as the color drained from the young mordexi, with it whining all the while. Adrien¡¯s skill was some sort of life siphon.

    Eventually, the mordexi¡¯s body went limp; dead.

    There was no announcement.

    ¡°Why¡ª Why isn¡¯t the Dungeon cleared?¡± Adrien asked, his brows furrowed, confusion mixing with unhinged frustration. He kicked the corpse of the mordexi away from him, the squelch of its dead flesh sitting poorly with me.

    You killed them all, didn¡¯t you?! he shouted into our mindlink, opening the channel to everyone in his blind rage.

    It wasn¡¯t nice, but we did, Wren replied, solemnly.

    Got a lot of bow practice in. Dude, my fingers are fried.

    I counted the kills. Fifty-three, right? Axel asked.

    Adrien¡¯s bottom lip twitched in barely restrained rage. The reaction had to mean that there had been the exact number of horde mordexi and the sorcerer knew that.

    The brunet spun about, fury underpinning the movement, sharpening his actions. Then why isn¡¯t the clear¡ª

    You owe me one, sunshine, came Tam¡¯s thoughts, weak and shaky.

    A strange cloud of giddiness, a validation, drifted over me.

    Bee tee dubs, your shitty belief in me has the reaper on my chest.

    The burning glare of Adrien dropped like a sledgehammer onto me, rending into my skin.

    ¡°What is she talking about, Lee?¡±

    Party member Tam at critical health.

    Earth to prick, you still there? Tam asked, her voice just a whisper.

    WHAT? shouted Adrien.

    She rasped a chuckle. It¡¯s a pity, but Mumma says it¡¯s time to share.

    I couldn¡¯t help but laugh too at the ridiculousness of it all, of the cutthroat actually listening to me, of her being worthy of the trust I¡¯d put in her and all but dying to prove it, and it rasped through me, shaking my body.

    What the fuck is she talking about? Adrien demanded, screaming into everyone¡¯s minds, and even Gigi flinched from the psychic backlash. In his anger, the sorcerer was losing absolute control of his separate telepathic lines, and I could hear flitters of Axel, Wren, and Jye¡ªjust words without meaning, but maybe¡­

    Shaking my head, laughter dying down, I said, ¡°The scout¡¯s not dead.¡±

    I steeled myself and shouted inwardly, FIND TAM, letting the thought entirely scramble my brain, projecting it as hard as I could, praying, wishing that the others would catch it. If they got to her in time, they could save her. She¡¯d gotten seriously injured from following the unspoken order that I¡¯d shared with just a small gesture.

    Of the split party, I''d come to the conclusion that Tam was the one least at risk. For Gigi and me, we were too close to Adrien to do anything untoward. Wren, Axel, and Jye wouldn''t have had the leeway to pick fights in their battle against fifty plus horde mordexi.

    Only Tam was capable of it. Especially as my life in danger meant much less to her.

    And she''d followed through.

    Because she knew what my small head shake had meant. She''d seen it enough times to know it implicitly.

    I¡¯d told her, as I was always telling her: ¡°Hold back.¡±

    So now we owed this opportunity to her.

    Adrien¡¯s eye twitched, the situation finally dawning on him.

    It probably would¡¯ve occurred to him much sooner if he hadn¡¯t thought us below him. That our betrayal, born of trust, had thwarted him. The thought would¡¯ve never even crossed his mind. Hell, if he had considered us a threat, he would¡¯ve never even shown us any of his abilities.

    What a self-serving, vain asshole of a monster.

    Adrien¡¯s voice was ice cold, reinforced with steely promise, when he finally spoke.

    ¡°I¡¯ll kill you all when I clear the Dungeon. Mark my words.¡±

    Then he disappeared.

    But not before I borrowed [Track] from Tam to tag him.

    Mumma said it was time to share, after all.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 4:00~

 Chapter Forty-Five | Give & Take

    An off-white notification appeared in my peripheral with a pleasant ding.

    Eliminate Adrien Galbraith. Reward: Pertinent information. Failure: N/A. Accept | Reject

    I stared at the request wondering who¡¯d sent it, who was watching us. Certainly what we¡¯d just done had to be entertaining. With the threat to our lives, I¡¯d forgotten about appealing to the Deities. However, if it was the same crew who¡¯d been following us at Nabu¡¯s Dungeon, they never would¡¯ve guessed we¡¯d be capable of betrayal like this. Especially since so much of what we''d done hadn''t been said aloud. The Mod probably had trouble flicking between the split party to cover all bases too.

    Was this request from Absalom?

    It was bizarre, but I could see the entertainment value attached.

    Yet, what got me was that there was no failure punishment. There wasn¡¯t any reason to reject it. I mean, despite Adrien''s treatment of us, I didn¡¯t want to kill him.

    I never wanted to kill anyone.

    He was a sociopath, but having his blood on our hands would make us no better than him if we sought his life for the sake of appeasing the Deities. However, if it came down to it, and we battled, and he lost his life while I defended mine¡­ well, I might as well get something out of it apart from more guilt.

    I wasn¡¯t allowed to think about the request for too long. The moment Adrien disappeared, the same noxious fumes that¡¯d wiped out the mordexi guardians started spreading, originating where the brunet had been standing.

    Inhaling the gas was what had killed the beasts, I was sure, and with the Loads, they¡¯d been unable to run and escape. So, I took in a large gulp of clean air before the substance could reach us and held my breath. Gigi did the same to my side as my gaze followed Adrien¡¯s invisible form, and we both crept away from the gas.

    Tam¡¯s [Track] was very different from [Locate]. It was like a large laser dot, shining, burning, in the core of the subject I¡¯d tagged. Unlike the other ability¡¯s additional peripheral sensory warnings, [Track] was all visual, overlaid on top of what I could see. When I blinked, it disappeared apart from where it was burned into the back of my eyelids.

    The sorcerer may not be visible, illusioned away, but I could clearly view his movements as he fled, the glowing red sphere leaving a streak like headlights at night.

    I took in the state of my mana and stamina; almost completely dry.

    It seemed like there was no better time to call in a favour.

    I let Gigi know what I was doing, and xe nodded.

    As I began to run in pursuit of Adrien, trusting that Gigi would follow, I opened up the marketplace window and thought about Xanthe. I¡¯d done this before at base, but at the time had no idea what I¡¯d wanted and put it on the ¡°think about later¡± to-do list. A chat box opened up, and I sent through my requirements. I¡¯d previously tried to talk to the merchant through it, but they hadn¡¯t responded. Whether that be from interference or indifference, I wasn¡¯t sure.

    Any self-respecting potions dealer in a RPG would sell what I was asking for. And Xanthe was contractually obliged to pay it up, if they had it.

    Please, please, please let Xanthe retrieve this request. Otherwise, I¡¯d be useless on the battlefield. The consequences of that were monumental.

    Gigi fell in behind me, dismissing xir shield and dagger to xir inventory. We started cutting across the open expanse of snow. Were it summer it might¡¯ve been a lovely field of grass and wildflowers. Instead, it was a depressing flat white plain. And Adrien¡¯s dot was skating over the top of it away from us.

    The throbbing pain in my calf reminded me of the injury, but whatever healing I¡¯d done would have to hold.

    My plan hadn''t exactly gone as I''d hoped.

    I hadn¡¯t been anticipating racing against Adrien to the scout. It was why I¡¯d spent my stamina and mana so freely.

    The way I thought it''d work was that Tam would be able to kill her target after Adrien dealt with the last mordexi in the nest. Clearly, I hadn¡¯t taken into consideration that all of Tam¡¯s successful kills had been more like surprise attacks or ambushes. She wasn¡¯t built for straight one-on-one fights; her health gauge closer to mine than Gigi¡¯s or Axel¡¯s (based on her word, at least).

    But what was done was done. We had to roll with the punches. Nonetheless, the pride of knowing my trust in her wasn¡¯t unfounded was more than enough for me. All she had to do now was stay alive long enough for me to thank her properly.

    Leaving the fumes in our dust, I narrowed all my senses on retaining Adrien¡¯s red dot in my sight, letting everything else fade from my view.

    That singular focus was a mistake.

    A scream shot out from Gigi, both from shock and pain, as xe crashed forward, snow scattering before xem, xir leg caught by something.

    Whatever it was had see-through teeth that were biting into the flesh of Gigi¡¯s ankle. Even from where I was, I could see bone peeking out from the punctures, blood streaming out of the fresh wound. Aghast, I spun on the spot, heading back to Gigi.

    Fuck.

    It could¡¯ve just as easily been me in xir place. With the HP I had left, that might¡¯ve been a one way trip to the shadow realm.

    Once again, frustration at myself churned inside me.

    I¡¯d forgotten that Adrien¡¯s abilities had to have included traps. He¡¯d probably scattered them behind him as he ran, cloaked in illusion.

    As I rushed back to Gigi¡¯s side, following my footprints in the snow to avoid the same fate, I realised the only reason I hadn¡¯t been caught in it myself was because of my lopsided run from my injury. I¡¯d been favoring my other leg to take the brunt of my weight and that had unbalanced my gait and stride.

    The Linnikian righted xemself as I approached, xir hands trembling to clutch at xir hurt foot.

    It was not a minor injury. Damnit. If I¡¯d had the system warnings, if Axel had been here, I would¡¯ve been able to¡ª Cursing, not allowing that train of thought to complete, I knelt down, trying to discern what exactly had xir foot locked. However, given the device was invisible, I had no idea what I was looking at. As I examined it, not wanting to touch it for Gigi''s sake, based on the shape of the damage, and the invisible jagged edges eating into Gigi¡¯s muscles, it could only be one thing.

    A bear trap.

    I reached out, wondering if I could figure out how to reset it. I¡¯d never even considered the mechanics of one. And this was magical. Who knew if it could even be released? Would it time out eventually and disappear?

    Gigi¡¯s face was squeezed in pain, but xe shook xir head and pushed me away.

    ¡°You need to pursue him. This will not kill me.¡±

    I frowned. ¡°What¡¯s your health at?¡±

    ¡°I have sufficient left. Go. We must level up.¡±

    I hesitated, the wound bleeding profusely from the vice of Adrien¡¯s invisible trap.

    A moment passed as I gathered my thoughts. During it, Gigi pulled a few items from xir inventory. It looked like one of the first-aid kits Jye had retrieved from Bunnings as well as a few tools. Xe was intending on prying xemself free.

    I had to admit the silver-haired alien was right. I couldn¡¯t sit with xem and heal xem up, not if we wanted the best chance at the Dungeon clear. Should we lose this opportunity, the mordexi would respawn, and even if we survived Adrien, I couldn¡¯t see us defeating nearly seventy mordexi on our own. This would''ve all been a colossal waste of time, and that was a limited resource.

    Calmed by xir levelheadedness, I patted Gigi on the shoulder. ¡°Good luck. I¡¯ll be back.¡± The Linnikian jutted xir jaw in acknowledgment, xir brow still knotted in pain.

    Just as I began to consider my pathway forward without stamina and mana, wondering if Dune walking would help avoid the traps, I received a notification from the system.

    Item received.

    Like a weight off my chest, the potion I¡¯d requested, cliche color and glass bottle and all, glowed briefly in my inventory. I hoped I¡¯d used that favor wisely. I¡¯d been holding off, waiting for a time of need, and this definitely was one, but still¡­ It was like cashing in a Get Out of Jail card at the start of the game. Whether or not it¡¯d come back to bite me in the ass, I guess we¡¯d find out later.

    Trusting Xanthe had delivered, I didn¡¯t read any of the potion¡¯s description, time of the essence, and reached into the screen. I plucked the potion out, the boutique, clear bottle revealing indigo liquid faintly glowing within, and I then shotted it back.

    It tasted like battery acid and grape. Why did purple things always taste like grape? The potion¡¯s viscous liquid didn¡¯t travel any further down than the back of my throat. Instead, I was grotesquely aware of it piercing into the walls of my oesophagus before tendrilling through the full system of veins of my body, eventually bubbling into my fingertips and toes.

    Blanching, I discarded the empty bottle and checked my stamina and mana.

    Both were now full.

    The extra strong rejuvenation potion had worked, just like in games. I''d added HP to the mix as a preference if possible, but it looked like that was beyond Xanthe¡¯s current wares. Even then I didn¡¯t want to know how much this would¡¯ve cost me without my contract with them. Given the prices in the auction house last time I¡¯d checked, I definitely wouldn¡¯t have been able to afford it. At least not at this point in time.

    I wanted to do a little happy jig to celebrate the actions of my past self but set the thought aside.

    Now it was time to stop Adrien, no holds barred.

    With many more options at hand now, I layered on lightening Loads.

    If the sorcerer¡¯s ability were simply summoned bear traps, they¡¯d likely trigger from weight, by stepping on the center mechanism. Load would increase my speed too, the lessened gravity lifting the burden of my body mass. The only other option I¡¯d considered was making an elevated path of [Shield Walls], but I didn¡¯t have the mana or mana regen like Gigi to support that all the way to wherever Tam was, and especially not if I wanted to keep some in reserve for the possible confrontation with Adrien.

    I could¡¯ve asked Gigi to start me off¡­ but, no, getting xem out of the trap took priority. It wasn¡¯t something I could request of xem with the long con in consideration. Yes, xe might have [Stubborn] still up xir sleeve, but I didn¡¯t want to push our luck with our lives. What if we didn¡¯t get to the scout in time and all the mordexi respawned in the nest? Xe¡¯d be a sitting duck.

    A tremor of pain ran up my leg as I shot forward, hoping against all hope that I was right about weight triggering the traps.

    My heart in my throat, I sprinted, accelerating, in the direction of Adrien¡¯s red dot which had slowly grown smaller and smaller during my and Gigi¡¯s exchange. Metaphorically I held my breath, but in actuality, as I ran, the hot air burst from my panting mouth, tension tightening my body.

    I was expecting the worst. Each step that felt slightly off was a heartbeat skipped. But the more distance I covered as I cleared the snowy plain, approaching hills in the distance, the lighter my doubts became until I¡¯d pushed past the anxiety almost completely. I wasn¡¯t triggering any of the traps, if there were any about.

    I¡¯d been right about the weight, or I¡¯d been incredibly lucky.

    As I let myself relax a little, I found my speed increasing. I must¡¯ve been holding back from fear of losing my life. My surroundings whipped by me in a blur.

    Still, if the bear traps were what Adrien used to help the others with the horde, it begged the question¡ªhow did he get them all in one location?

    Once one mordexi was injured, others were likely not to proceed forward any further.

    There had to be more behind whatever trap Adrien triggered. More abilities I didn¡¯t know about.

    Unsurprisingly, with the sorcerer¡¯s speed buff still in effect, and the Loads assisting me, I was making ground, catching up. His red dot was growing larger, almost the size of my fist. When he¡¯d been standing before me earlier snidely threatening us, the marker had been more like a basketball glowing in his chest.

    Fuck, I really needed to work on my endurance. My lungs were burning, sweat dripping down my body, as I pumped my legs beneath me.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 3:00~

    We were running out of time.

    I gritted my teeth and pushed harder.

    Adrien¡¯s tracking dot grew.

    I was close.

    Too close, it seemed. A huge semi-translucent block of white light flashed into existence a few meters in front of me. It was about the size of a school bus. But that was the only thing I was able to note before I had to clench my eyes closed. It was blazingly bright, searing into my retinas; the concentrated power of the sun blasting outward from the block¡¯s center.

    Hissing in pain, knowing I wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge it in time with the loose frictional force that the Loads applied to me, I blindly summoned a staircase of [Shield Walls]. Hoping my toe wouldn¡¯t catch on the edge of the blue platforms, I floundered up onto the first step.

    As I sprang upward, momentum carried me on, hurtling me above the blinding barricade to the next step. It almost felt like I was flying as I jumped.

    I counted the [Shield Walls], having summoned three, a swarm of wasps in my gut from not being able to see. When I reached the last one, I braced myself for the fall that would follow, already regretting the decision.

    Eyes still closed, entirely unsure what awaited me on the other side, I vaulted from the top [Shield Wall], my stomach flipping with vertigo, falling, falling, falling, and when I finally impacted with the snowy ground, the air grunted out of me in winded surprise. It''d come much quicker than I''d anticipated.

    Thankfully there was no bear trap to greet me. The extra force would''ve been enough to trigger one, I was sure. But through the pain, I could feel wetness on the back of my right calf that wasn''t just the sweat dripping down me. That was not good. I¡¯d split open my leg wound.

    Adrien¡¯s ability, the glowing barrier block, even as it disappeared into the distance behind me, was so fiercely luminous that it lit up the blood in my eyelids. Rather than inky black, I could see a crimson, the view discomforting me as my lungs heaved in my chest. When I was finally far away enough to open my eyes, I sucked in a deep breath of air to resettle my mind, and I redirected to race after Adrien¡¯s dot.

    Despite the interference, the sorcerer hadn¡¯t gained that much distance. I was able to close it easily enough, ignoring the exhaustion and pain dragging at me.

    Adrien¡¯s tracker was about bowling ball size now. I was within throwing distance. That¡¯s when I realised he had slowed down. Were we approaching the scout? As I put on my own brakes, digging my heel into the snow and biting back the grimace the pressure put on my injured leg, the speed buff Adrien had applied finally timed out. Damn.

    ¡°Won¡¯t you just die, mouthpiece?¡± came Adrien¡¯s voice.

    From the red ball that indicated his location, the flicker of a spark zigzagged out toward me, homing in. Lightning?! Adrien could attack using ranged electricity attacks?

    Fucking sorcerers.

    In a panic, I slapped up a [Shield Wall], and the bolt crackled against it, fizzling out as the barrier exploded into a cloud of motes. This ability was strong, that was for sure. My shields were weaker than Gigi¡¯s, but at my current health, they were a good indication of what damage would end me. Not to mention, my HP hadn¡¯t been regenerating, probably due to the continuous damage I was doing to myself by running on my injured leg. I was still barely above 30 HP right now.

    If Adrien had slowed, we had to be close to our contested target. I watched his red core start edging around the curve of the hill behind him, his approach cautious though hurried. Had Tam told him her location before when she¡¯d been tracking the mordexi down? It would¡¯ve made sense. It was probably why Adrien thought she¡¯d been telling the full truth.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    But we couldn¡¯t let Adrien kill the scout.

    I activated [Locate], and around the hill appeared to be the scout mordexi. It was crawling low, possibly injured from its battle with Tam, and trailing toward¡­ the blue form faded away, the ability¡¯s range weakening the further it travelled. At the very lip of the radar ping, I thought I glimpsed the miniscule silhouette of a cat.

    Shit, the scout was still going after Tam. But why had she transformed into a cat again? Especially now she was at critical health. She wouldn¡¯t be able to use the first-aid kit that everyone in Just Friends had received back at base! What was she thinking?

    If Adrien got to the scout, I was sure he¡¯d kill it and Tam. And then everyone else.

    I had to stop him somehow.

    As these thoughts ran through my mind, Adrien shot back another of his electric attacks, the lightning arcing toward me. Again, I borrowed [Shield Wall]. Just like before, it sizzled against the blue hardened material before destroying it completely.

    Real original. Wasn¡¯t the definition of insanity doing the same thing but expecting different results? Though, I guess it was keeping me from closing the distance, so it had a purpose. Each time I tried to approach, he shot one back, stopping me in place so I could take the brunt of it with a [Shield Wall]. It was slowly draining my stamina stores.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 2:00~

    He was getting further around the base of the hill. Panic began to surge inside me. I didn¡¯t have anything to get into range. I could dash forward, but he could throw out another of those bright barricades, and I¡¯d be blinded and unable to react to another attack.

    What else was there?!

    Despite my having gotten used to the pain now, [Cloak] was out of the option. One lapse of concentration and it¡¯d fail; a bad step with my leg would be enough to cancel it. I needed to get close, damnit.

    Think, think, think!

    I hadn¡¯t retrieved my glaive, so I was without my main weapon. There were a couple smaller daggers courtesy of Axel in my inventory, but even though Gigi had been training us, three days was not enough for me to be confident in a knife fight, especially knowing about Adrien''s life draining ability. And with my health bobbing between 30 and 31, I was one, or generously two, of his zaps away from having to rely on [Stubborn]. Engaging in close combat would put me at risk of going down, and no one would be able to stop Adrien from getting the clear, even if I remained alive for the moment.

    Was stalling all I could do?

    Each bolt he sent my way meant he was focusing more on me and less on reaching the scout.

    It wasn¡¯t a pretty solution, and it wasn¡¯t heroic, but if it worked, so be it.

    And so, I stalked after Adrien¡¯s dot, staring hard, hating how powerless I felt to do anything more. Testingly, I threw out a [Shield Wall] to block his path, but he simply skirted around it and sent another zap back at me. I felt like I was playing a poorly designed quicktime event as I flicked up another shield.

    Surely there was something more I could do.

    This couldn¡¯t be it.

    I could run toward the scout and Tam and hope that, what¡­ I killed the scout first? Tam looked to have hurt it but was unable to take it down. If I did manage to kill it, we¡¯d clear the Dungeon, but then Adrien would turn his sociopathic gaze on us. With Tam and Gigi down, I didn¡¯t like our chances. No, we needed to deal with Adrien; incapacitate him somehow¡­ or kill him.

    But how? All I was doing was playing for time.

    Just as my frustration was beginning to boil over, a hiss of an ability sounded the exact moment after Adrien let fly his previous attack. Another lightning bolt so soon? Fuck, didn¡¯t this dude have any cooldown? I was halfway into summoning another [Shield Wall] when the meaning of the system alert hit me.

    Relief loosened my lungs.

    He appeared in the blink of an eye, darting forward, a fist clenched that thundered into the ground beneath him as he brought it down. I hadn''t seen him use [Ground Smash] in a while. And this was a first, using a punch instead of a kick. His pose looked like something out of a shounen manga; the superhero protagonist making an entrance, crash landing into frame. I remembered him practicing it as a kid, and I found myself smiling despite the situation.

    Axel was here.

    Probably having seen where Adrien¡¯s previous attack had originated from, Axel had caught the sorcerer¡¯s red dot directly, the snow covered dirt beneath him bursting outward. As debris scattered, the illusion broke, Adrien¡¯s visible form knocked off his feet, crashing to the upturned ground with a surprised grunt.

    I¡¯d been thinking Axel was rushing toward Tam, not me, when he¡¯d been cut off from telepathic communications; after all, his other trait that he mentioned was [Swift Footed]. But I was glad he was here now. He could deal with the last mordexi, and I could stall Adrien!

    Before Axel could get another hit in, Adrien disappeared again, and the blond swore under his breath. The sorcerer¡¯s red [Track] tag began dipping away.

    ¡°Get to the scout, it¡¯s around the hill,¡± I said. ¡°Clear the Dungeon.¡±

    He shook his head once; a curt, sure movement. ¡°He¡¯ll kill you.¡±

    My relief somersaulted into irritation. But as I scowled, I had to wonder if he was right. I could admit I hadn¡¯t known what to do against the sorcerer. Yes, we''d been batting back and forth, but that''d been when he thought he was just dealing with me alone and had just been trying to shake me off.

    If he''d truly fought me, with the rage of his hunt being stolen, it was likely I would not come out unscathed.

    I tried to think about the situation objectively.

    Adrien was leagues above me, at least in terms of abilities. He had range with electricity and the sun barrier, close combat with the draining and who knew what else, and environment control with the illusion and bear traps. He''d killed three mordexi guardians, twelve hatchlings and who knows how many horde mordexi in his own time. And what was I compared to all that? It nearly killed me just to compromise the guardian¡¯s movements.

    Maybe Axel had a point.

    Besides, the stubborn glint in Axel¡¯s eyes told me he wasn¡¯t going to leave me here alone. It both pissed me off and touched me, though that also ended up pissing me off too. I was moved by his choice to ignore my orders and in doing so potentially doom everyone else?

    Axel may be a better person with me around, but I didn¡¯t know if it worked the other way too.

    ¡°Where is he?¡± he asked me, his brows furrowed.

    Repressinging a sigh, I conceded that last time he¡¯d interfered in my actions, he¡¯d probably saved my life. Maybe together, we could take down Adrien before the countdown ran out and then move onto the scout. It was the next best thing. And, given the blond¡¯s obstinacy, the only way forward.

    I would be Axel''s eyes, and he would be my sword.

    To keep him safe from Adrien''s lightning attacks while attacking, I activated [Focus], the odd sensory awareness settling over me, and double checked my mana and stamina. So long as Axel could get some good hits in, I still had more than enough to let loose. In the meantime, I could also multi-task and heal my leg. Not being able to use [Cloak] was a disadvantage that irked me.

    ¡°He¡¯s about half a meter to your left, one meter in front. Watch your feet for traps,¡± I replied, holding a hand to my calf and activating [Healing Hand], my gaze following Adrien¡¯s tracker.

    Those words were all Axel needed to hear. In a flash, he was at the spot I¡¯d described, his summoned sword slashing through what would¡¯ve looked like empty air to him. To me, Axel sliced the sphere dead on, but as the sorcerer¡¯s form appeared, his illusion once again broken, it seemed like the combatant had only managed to glance across Adrien¡¯s shoulder.

    He had dodged.

    Axel had cut through the layers and into flesh, but by no means was it a major blow. The blond made a move to get another in as if to compensate, his arms swinging back, readying for an executioner-style beheading.

    Adrien¡¯s pained expression only momentarily appeared, staring up at the blade. Tsss. The same lightning bolt sparked through the air from his hand, finger pointing at Axel. Immediately, it redirected to me via [Focus], then Adrien was gone again.

    I slammed up a [Shield Wall] to take his assault, paying no mind to the resulting shimmer of the abilities spent. Axel followed through with his attack, bringing his weapon down, but he only split air. Perhaps he¡¯d been hoping he¡¯d be fast enough to catch Adrien. With his speed buff, the man was quicker than Axel had assumed.

    ¡°Your southwest, two metres,¡± I said, and in retaliation, another hiss sounded, and an arc of electricity shot out from the spot I¡¯d identified.

    It crashed into the [Shield Wall] I¡¯d already begun forming based on the system alert. Damn, it was so much easier to fight with Axel here. Tendrils of lightning skittered over the shield¡¯s surface before both abilities scattered into sparkles. Ensuring that I kept Axel between me and Adrien¡¯s red dot so I wouldn¡¯t become collateral or targeted, I moved between his attacks too, carefully anticipating and following the sorcerer¡¯s movements.

    Axel flickered forward, appearing right next to Adrien¡¯s tag, sword already swinging.

    I didn¡¯t know how much mana and stamina Axel had left. Unlike me, he hadn¡¯t gotten the potion from Xanthe. In fact, he looked worse for wear. Judging by the injuries and blood, and his torn clothing, he¡¯d lost just over a third of his life. Still, after fighting fifty-three mordexi, that was better than I was imagining.

    I wish we could¡¯ve thrown Adrien to his feet again, but unfortunately, [Ground Smash] had a cooldown. Normally, I would¡¯ve thought it generously short for such a powerful ability, but it might not be up before the countdown for the mordexi respawn ended. And I was not willing to distract Axel in combat when we were in a time crunch.

    Almost as if reading my thoughts, an announcement sounded in my head.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 1:30~

    Speaking of time running out, why hadn¡¯t Adrien used his other abilities? I could wave away the light block one since, just by the size alone, it was a significant ability, so it probably had a longer cooldown. I wasn¡¯t worried about that now I hadn¡¯t seen him use it for a while. But the bear traps¡­ For sure Axel would¡¯ve triggered one by now if there¡¯d been any around.

    That meant there weren¡¯t any.

    Their summoning had been instant, and it¡¯d been some time since he¡¯d laid the ones back near Gigi. To not use them in this situation was stupid. It would¡¯ve limited Axel¡¯s range of movement, made both Axel and me wary of pursuing Adrien. So why?

    Wait.

    Since when were bear traps magical? They were things that a scout or tracker used. In fact, the illusion on top of them had probably been what had made them disappear. This ability wasn¡¯t something a sorcerer would typically use. Did that mean¡­

    While it wasn¡¯t cut and dry, I¡¯d assumed that abilities that consumed mana and stamina followed conventional RPG logic. It was obvious to the average gamer, but classes tied to magical fighting used mana and classes tied to physical stuff used stamina.

    My general feeling was that for the system''s creation of our character stats, class had dictated skills, and starting abilities had set our mana and stamina gauges. It was the only way I could explain why my starting stats had been so¡­ subpar.

    I¡¯d started off with minimal mana and stamina precisely because my singular ability matched my class. Technically and mechanically, I didn¡¯t need any of either to activate [Channel].

    Of course, the abilities we could buy weren¡¯t limited to that same type of rule, and we could branch out beyond what suited our initial class as we progressed. That also begged the question why we had set classes in the first place.

    All this to say, the reason Adrien wasn¡¯t summoning bear traps was because he couldn¡¯t.

    Adrien had no stamina left.

    He wasn¡¯t regenerating it quickly enough because of his class and or he hadn¡¯t compensated by spending credits on the complementary attributes.

    The bear traps weren''t one of his initial abilities.

    He¡¯d likely come across a similar difficulty that I¡¯d noted when browsing the purchasable abilities. Since the information provided was so limited, it was hard to tell what each ability used in the purchase window, if not impossible. He¡¯d obviously chosen the bear trap ability and then realised it didn¡¯t suit his class but had continued using it anyway since that was the logical thing to do: make use of every tool at your disposal.

    If I was right about this, it also made sense about why he had been gone all night. He¡¯d needed to lay down as many bear traps as he could to take on the horde¡­ Those ten hours, he¡¯d be using most of them to restore stamina.

    That was one question answered anyway.

    Axel¡¯s attack made contact again, catching Adrien across the abdomen this time, and as the sorcerer¡¯s illusion faltered, I saw the ringent wound the slash left behind, blood seeping from it. The combatant had rended through into his innards, some of Adrien''s organs beginning to spool out. The sight made my own stomach clench in revulsion. Teeth gritted, Adrien scooped them back in with a shaking hand, and then he went invisible again.

    Why did he keep doing the same damn thing?

    Was he waiting for us to make a mistake?

    And how much damn mana did he have?! Surely he had to be running out? Even with the kind of regen Wren had, she couldn¡¯t keep on using her abilities continuously like this. His illusion one couldn¡¯t be cheap. It was capable of changing our perception of things, not just sight but sound too. I¡¯d heard Adrien scream as he¡¯d charged into the mordexi nest.

    In comparison, I was already starting to run dry of stamina with how much I¡¯d been busting out [Shield Walls].

    Adrien¡¯s mana pool must be enormous.

    He had to have dumped all his credits into it and into buying abilities from players he¡¯d killed, or even upgrading them. But if he had also run out of stamina, that meant¡­ the man was a glass cannon. He was all magic damage, nothing physical.

    He¡¯d probably go down if Axel hit him again! Hell, if Axel had managed to get that first attack in proper, Adrien would be dead. That the thought excited me was disturbing. I told myself I wasn¡¯t enjoying the idea of killing him; just winning the Dungeon clear.

    As I watched Adrien¡¯s target dot, he stilled, his blood beginning to pool at the spot he stood, soaking into the snow and blossoming around him like the sickly petals of a rose.

    Why was he presenting himself on a platter to us?

    ¡°Northwest about¡ª¡±

    Axel cut me off. ¡°I see the red.¡±

    Before his last word left his mouth, he dashed to Adrien¡¯s invisible form, sword up and ready, the blade glistening with fresh blood.

    This was it.

    There was no escaping this attack this time.

    But as Axel closed the distance, his eyes flickered, and one of his hands swung up to his throat, clutching it. He gasped, choking, and stumbled back, froth beginning to form over his lips, his sword clattering to the ground. My heart stopped. Axel¡¯s blue eyes bulged, face contorted into pain and dismay. His knees buckled beneath him, and the blond collapsed.

    The noxious gas.

    Adrien had hidden it with illusion. He''d lulled us into a false sense of pattern and success before launching this assault. Fuck!

    My next action wasn¡¯t even a thought.

    I was moving.

    Holding my breath, I was already darting forward into the invisible fumes to reach for Axel. As I leaned over, I tucked an arm about his torso, heaved his arm over my shoulder, and then stood. Dully, I realised he was lighter than I¡¯d imagined.

    My own lungs beginning to complain at the lack of oxygen, I half-dragged half-walked his spasming and sputtering body away from the gas. Even without breathing it, the stench of the fumes had crept up my nose. It was caustic, so much so my eyes had started watering.

    Finally far away enough, based on my memory of Adrien¡¯s prior use of the ability, I allowed myself a gasp of fresh air. Then I gently lowered myself and Axel¡¯s shuddering form to rest against the ground, pulling him into my lap.

    He looked awful. The image of the dying mordexi flashed in my head, and I pushed it away.

    Blinking back the tears from the gas, my own hands shaking, unsure where to sit to heal him, remained where they were, curled loosely about his chest. I activated [Healing Hand] and hoped somehow the ability would permeate into his lungs. His eyes were blinking quickly, air creaking in and out of him, limbs twitching. Maybe it was the panic, maybe it was dawning dread, but the healing started glowing from my mangled hand.

    Axel shuddered in my hold, mouth foaming.

    It was such a sudden situation flip that my mind was reeling to catch up. But unfortunately my emotions seemed assiduously sharp. Fear formed a chasm in my gut, and the very possibility of losing Axel to this fucking stupid, selfish coward of a sorcerer became real.

    My grip on him tightened, and the barely healed skin of my right hand, or rather remaining finger and thumb, broke against him, a thin dribble of my blood oozing over his dirtied clothes. The pain didn''t register with me, unable to help but think that if Axel had been in his right mind, in control of himself, he would¡¯ve exclaimed his disgust. Instead, the blond began hacking out his lungs with a wet cough, and blood erupted out of his mouth, sputtering into my face.

    I blinked to clear the drops that blurred my vision in time to notice there was something close to horror in his eyes. He clutched at me, trying to restrain himself and his trembling. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said, voice so raw that it hurt me to hear it.

    What number apology did that make now? I realised I didn¡¯t care. Just so long as he lived to continue giving them.

    I lifted my good hand to his face, cupping his cheek, and wiped the blood from his lips with my thumb, knowing he would¡¯ve hated looking like that. I tried to smile. ¡°That was a little gross, but you¡¯re forgiven.¡±

    Even as he convulsed, he pressed further into my touch, pain rippling over his facial features, bringing up a weak hand to overlap mine. He struggled to do it, and I realised he was trying to comfort me.

    He was poisoned, lungs full of toxins, going through unimaginable agony, and he was still¡­

    This fucking guy.

    I felt ill.

    As I fought back the tears, not from the gas now, my jaw clenched, an awful reckoning dawned on me.

    My feelings for him were a double-edged sword. His happiness influenced mine. And when he hurt¡­ it ached deep inside me, raw, and bruised.

    He coughed again, and my anxiety hit a fever pitch. My healing didn¡¯t seem like it was strong enough to mitigate the damage.

    He might¡ª

    No. I couldn¡¯t think that. Axel would be fine.

    Thinking about¡­ what could happen wouldn¡¯t help me. All it would do is make me spiral. Because as I murmured empty words, the skin of his jaw warm to the palm of my hand, I knew I couldn¡¯t lose him.

    I couldn¡¯t.

    The idea was unfathomable, incomprehensible. A world without Axel simply didn¡¯t make sense. He''d always been there even when he hadn''t. And the times that we''d been at our most distant had been some of the hardest in my life.

    I centered my focus on the rise and fall of his chest until it started becoming more steady. [Healing Hand] looked to have finally stopped the lingering damage the fumes were still causing, maybe even purged the poison. Thankfully.

    So absorbed in Axel, I hadn¡¯t paid any attention to whatever was happening to Adrien, dismissing the other man''s insane actions. I''d known he wouldn''t attack because of what he''d done.

    I couldn''t explain it.

    Cradling Axel, I turned my gaze to the sorcerer, whose illusion had shattered soon after I had fished Axel away. The fumes, now visibly fluoro green, wafted about Adrien, spreading no further than a few meters. He hadn¡¯t done anything. In fact, he had stayed in the same spot. It was why I''d felt comfortable taking my time to treat Axel like this.

    But it didn¡¯t make sense.

    The snow under him shifted and scattered with the wild thrashing of his poisoned body as he folded and seized. Limbs were bent at horrendous angles, twitching. He was gurgling, coughing. Dying. Suffering from the same effects as Axel but worse since he remained within it. Adrien¡¯s mouth distended and let out a stomach curdling scream of agony, though it might¡¯ve also been rage, followed by a geyser of mucus and blood.

    Had¡­ had he kamikaze¡¯d?

    No.

    That wouldn¡¯t be logical. He wouldn¡¯t wipe himself out just to get at us.

    It had to be something¡ª

    The fumes evaporated in an instant.

    A golden light, not too dissimilar to the color of Nabu¡¯s eyes, began emanating from Adrien¡¯s body, shimmering off him in waves. A pulse shuddered, the glow scattering away, riding the movement, until the light faded completely.

    After a millisecond, Adrien¡¯s previously taut muscles loosened, and he unfurled from his contorted position, casually standing to his feet. Rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck, he cast a cool look skyward.

    An empty smile curled at his lips as he said, ¡°My dearest thanks, Korravai.¡±

    Then he turned his gaze back to us.

    Adrien had fully restored himself.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 1:00~

 Chapter Forty-Six | Him (Part One)

    What the fuck was this? Stage two of a boss fight?

    We hadn''t even been winning in the first place!

    Axel trembled upwards, pressing his mouth to my ear. He croaked out, ¡°Cloak.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    No sooner had that word left my mouth than Adrien had summoned a blockade of light. It sprung into existence between us and him, and the brightness of the sun exploded before my eyes, little black dots dancing in my vision even as I squeezed my eyes shut instinctively. From the sheer proximity this time, the ability¡¯s radiance pierced through my eyelids, burning, and I curled away, my hands shooting up to block the searing light.

    As my hold left Axel¡¯s body, he shoved at me, possibly to spur me to my feet. Taken completely off guard, I sprawled sideways. Dazed, confused, and blind, I tried to catch myself, completely forgetting that my dominant hand was half missing; too little flesh mete out purchase on. My right arm slipped, and I smacked my head into the now melting snow beneath me.

    Stunned, my head hammering, I thought I heard a hiss as I fell, but it might''ve been my brain rattling about my skull.

    Had Adrien activated an ability? Axel?

    Swearing, I pushed myself up. What way was I facing? The disorientation of the even redness of my eyelids, and the ringing in my head, made telling direction difficult. It was a featureless void. Fuck. Where was Adrien? Axel? Frantically patting the ground around me to seek Axel, I found nothing.

    A strangling began forming at my throat.

    Not only had Adrien gotten this surprise attack on us, I was now on my last shreds of mental and emotional fortitude, mana, and stamina. After the [Shield Walls] and the [Healing Hand], I''d burned close to all of it, believing Axel to be able to get the kill.

    But with Axel beyond my reach¡­

    Had we lost? Really and truly?

    I was blinded, vulnerable, barely able to use one more ability, and Axel was missing, not to mention still low from the noxious gas. Fuck. We¡¯d been completely outplayed. And now, we¡¯d suffer for it.

    Despair rolled in like a thunderstorm.

    We were going to die here.

    As I started to sink into darkness, my chest tightening, Axel¡¯s last comment played in my head. It was something, anything to cling to. He¡¯d been able to speak, able to convey what he wanted me to do. Maybe that meant he¡¯d expected something like this. Maybe he had a plan?

    A flicker of hope dawned inside me as I activated [Cloak].

    He had to have guessed what might come next.

    Luckily, what little pain there was from my clawed hand had long since faded into nothing, ensuring [Cloak] would be stable. My leg wound had been stitched closed during Axel¡¯s attacks, so there was no risk of me losing concentration from that either. [Cloak] would remain up until I deactivated it myself. Thank fuck for that. Even if I couldn¡¯t see right now, I too would be hidden from sight.

    Regaining myself after a breath, I also dropped [Focus]. Had Adrien shot a bolt, I would''ve been a sitting duck¡ªthe system warning would do little good if I couldn¡¯t see the direction it was coming from.

    But was Axel okay? I couldn''t even hear him, and that worried me all the more.

    Trying to quell the hopelessness coiling in my gut, I found my way to my feet, concern for Axel overriding the fear of the unknown around me. If I could just figure out where he was, maybe we could flee¡­

    I wouldn¡¯t leave here without him. Especially when I didn¡¯t know how much [Healing Hand] had been able to help him. I was sure it¡¯d stabilized his lungs, but how far his innate regen could take him wouldn¡¯t extend much beyond that.

    Feeling my path with the toes of my feet, I started forward, hands waving through empty air, praying this same ability blinded Adrien too.

    It was pathetic how useless and idiotic I felt like this. You don¡¯t know how much you rely on something until it''s gone.

    For a moment, I considered using [Locate] to compensate for my lack of vision, but I had so little stamina left as it was. The trade for knowledge didn''t weigh up against a future defense.

    Yet, what I was doing right now was foolish. Pointless. Adrien could have attacked me already in the few seconds that''d ticked by. Hopefully, his lack of assault meant that he''d raced forward to the scout. But remaining as I was right now was stupid. I needed information, something.

    Creaking one eye open a smidge to check, the rays instantly filling my vision, I saw no detail through the luminous glow, the snow biome completely whited out in light, only that Adrien¡¯s [Track] dot had grown in size.

    He hadn''t left¡ªhe¡¯d come closer!

    Heart hammering in my chest, I slammed my eye closed again and retreated, my footing unsteady on the slippery melted snow that was soaking into the ground. I didn''t know where Axel was, but I had to pray he''d gotten away. He had been looking like shit when I¡¯d been holding him but he wasn¡¯t an idiot. He had [Swift Footed]! He''d be fine. Or at least that''s what I was telling myself to stop the anxiety gnawing at me, the pit in my stomach threatening to swallow me whole.

    Along my sightless path, my seeking hands found cold roughness, rounded, at shoulder height¡ªa boulder of some sort¡ªand I ducked down, skirting behind it. I must''ve reached the hill or been close to it. That put me between Adrien and the scout¡­ Not an especially great position, considering how hellbent the sorcerer was on getting the clear.

    Without knowing what else Adrien might have up his sleeve, it was better to keep my distance, and stay cautious, even if I was invisible. This brief pause let me catch my breath, recenter myself.

    But time was running out.

    And where the hell was Axel?

    As I shifted to a more comfortable squat, I tried to mentally analyse what I''d seen happen before vision had been robbed from me, though my concern for Axel was like a high-pitched whine playing in the background of my mind, eroding other side thoughts.

    Adrien had revived from his dying position.

    He was now looking just peachy.

    He''d also cast an ability I thought was on a long cooldown given its relative size and effect.

    This wasn¡¯t just some illusion.

    Was this something one of his titles granted him? Or maybe it was a reward from fulfilling a request?

    Either way, talk about OP.

    If it were the former, in comparison, all Just Friends had gotten was more XP gain from our title.

    Goddamn Nabu.

    I could only assume, based on Adrien¡¯s use of the light barrier and his fully healed appearance, that his Deity-gifted intervention had likely reset all cooldowns, health, stamina, and mana. All of it back to full. And who knew what else. It was something like [Stubborn] but fully jacked on steroids.

    Given Adrien''s suicidal actions, he¡¯d intentionally hit absolute zero to get this renewal perk activated. Korrovai, the name he''d thanked, had to be his sponsor. It didn''t ring a bell with me. But perhaps they required the ultimate form of worship; self-sacrifice. It wasn¡¯t beyond what I could believe of the Deities. They were messed up.

    Abruptly, the pink of my eyelids normalised to black. Adrien must''ve dismissed the radiant block of light. So he could summon it and get rid of it just as quickly¡­

    Huh.

    Without prompting, clear as day, the sorcerer¡¯s trap for the horde mordexi played out in my head. I guess a part of me had remained continuously plucking away at it. Should we survive this, I¡¯d check with the others to see if my guess had been right. And if the trap worked the way I thought it had, it would confirm that the sorcerer could only conjure illusions of and on himself and his own skills.

    There could be no other reason he hadn''t done anything else with it.

    ¡°Step forward and surrender yourself, Lee. Or your boyfriend dies.¡±

    My eyes opened slowly, testingly, to see Axel held hostage in Adrien¡¯s arms, a black swirling mass of an ability forming at his hand at the blond¡¯s throat. It was the same life draining skill that he¡¯d used on the mordexi hatchling. The blazing red sphere in Adrien¡¯s chest confirmed that the man before me was truly the sorcerer; this was no illusion.

    My stomach dropped.

    Fuck. Of course.

    The hiss I¡¯d thought I''d heard when I¡¯d hit my head¡ªAxel had noticed an attack and pushed me away to take it since it was drawn to my [Focus], and then Adrien had easily taken him captive; even without vision, Axel wouldn''t have moved from where he was with the extra damage he''d been dealt.

    And judging by the blond¡¯s limp form, the electric attack must¡¯ve had a stunning, almost paralytic effect. Axel would¡¯ve been kicking screaming, otherwise.

    Goddammit, all along Adrien had been trying to stun me with that ability too, probably hoping I''d slip up with my shields, so that he could leave me behind and go after the scout.

    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    Sick climbed up my throat as I stared.

    Axel was unable to react, unable to move, unable to activate anything to help himself.

    And Adrien was killing him.

    All hope I¡¯d had in my theory of Axel¡¯s plan fizzled to nothing.

    The sorcerer¡¯s eyes swept left to right, scanning for me. ¡°You¡¯ve done surprisingly well, all things considered. You even took me off guard with your ability.¡± The same empty smile accompanied this acknowledgement. ¡°But I¡¯m not above killing Killian¡¯s number one fan right now. Actually, the longer you stay hidden, the more he slips away. So it¡¯s up to you. Inaction will drain Axel dry. Well, I will, but I¡¯m confident you get the point.¡±

    I slipped further behind the large boulder, leaning against it for support. It was a paranoid extra precaution. Especially since with [Cloak] and the Loads on me, I was invisible and also making minimum impact on the cleared ground. I wouldn¡¯t even be leaving notable footsteps. Nothing should be giving me away except maybe the pounding of my heart.

    Adrien didn¡¯t know I was there. He had no idea where I was at all. But what could I do? The sorcerer had Axel captive and was draining him dry. He might as well be holding a knife to my own throat. Anything I tried could kill my friend, plus I was basically out of mana and stamina now after [Cloak]. I couldn''t activate anything else with what remained.

    Axel¡¯s eyelids fluttered, the swirling mass growing in Adrien¡¯s hand, and the blond let out a weak groan, breath whistling out between his bloody lips.

    Nausea roiled in my stomach.

    Party member Axel at critical health.

    Axel was going to die.

    His gaze steadied for a moment, clearing, and it felt like it met mine, though that was impossible.

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± he managed to murmur. It looked as though that took the last of his energy.

    The ground crumbled beneath me as I realised what his plan had been.

    He wanted me to let him die and for me to flee under the cover of [Cloak]. Had he been thinking this would happen the entire time? Was that why he''d come? Was that why he¡¯d apologised? He''d just assumed I''d lose, that I wouldn¡¯t be able to put up a fight.

    He¡¯d come here because he thought I¡¯d die.

    And now he was willing to die in my place instead.

    The thought twisted like shrapnel inside my chest.

    Fucking Axel.

    He knew me so well, but how did he not know that this was something that was unforgivable?

    The world without him flashed through my mind. I might''ve once thought it impossible to imagine, because he was always there, always near, but the nightmare was shockingly clear. It was cold. Colorless. Without meaning, without direction. Just like it¡¯d been after Chrissie¡¯s death. He¡¯d be leaving me again, abandoning me, but this time he¡¯d actually be gone. Permanently.

    My mouth went dry.

    He wasn¡¯t allowed to die.

    I would be able to¡­ I swallowed back the thought.

    If I surrendered, would Adrien actually spare his life?

    ¡°Tick tock, Lee. Give yourself up, and I¡¯ll leave his recovery to you while I take care of the scout and clear the Dungeon.¡±

    Would Adrien break his word?

    Thinking as quickly as my brain allowed and then some, I weighed up the available options. Wren and Jye might be able to get to Tam in time and save her. Gigi would know to run too when the Dungeon was cleared by another. If Adrien did as he said, we could regroup and flee, and deal with the repercussions of our loss. It wasn¡¯t the worst fate.

    But what if Adrien was lying?

    Was that a risk I could take?

    My resolve shaking before turning concrete, I made up my mind, the choice crystal clear inside me.

    I had to do it.

    I had to trust myself.

    And I could do this. I could. For Axel.

    Because I couldn¡¯t lose him.

    The thought alone was like dawn without the sun.

    Axel gasped for air, what little chest movements he still had were in small rapid, strained breaths. His skin had grayed, Adrien siphoning the vitality from his body, the spark in his eyes fading. In the brunet¡¯s grasp, Axel¡¯s body was completely loose, with zero resistance.

    He wouldn¡¯t survive much longer.

    My chest stung, a terrible weight crushing me, unable to reconcile the blond before me and the one sleeping beside me last night.

    I couldn¡¯t watch this anymore.

    Taking a deep but quiet breath, I started moving, careful not to disturb the floor beneath me. The sorcerer hadn¡¯t said anything untrue, so it was likely he meant what he was saying. I walked out from behind the boulder, stomach curling at Axel¡¯s whimpers. My blood was thrumming in my ears, heart heavy.

    I couldn¡¯t lose Axel.

    I had to save him.

    I¡¯d do anything to accomplish that.

    Anything.

    My steps were careful, methodical, as I approached.

    Until finally, I was standing right near them.

    I let [Cloak] drop, my hands raised.

    ¡°I¡¯m here.¡±

    I was doing the right thing.

    Axel¡¯s bleary eyes widened, despair spiralling in the dying blue of them.

    ¡°Lee,¡± he hissed, all but a whisper. It had the echo of grief I heard so often.

    The sorcerer had a little chortle to himself. ¡°You really should have listened to your party. It¡¯s never good to be so naive.¡±

    Quicker than a flash, one of Adrien¡¯s hands shot out, grabbing my wrist, the spark of his electricity attack crackling up my arm.

    In contact like this, I didn¡¯t have a chance to use [Shield Wall] to block it. There was nothing to stop its effects. As it travelled through my nervous system, my body spun out of my control, falling, stiff, to the floor. My muscles seized, jaw clenching, limbs shuddering.

    Gazing up uselessly, I watched as Adrien continued sucking the life from Axel, the blond¡¯s eyes finally filling with tears.

    I''d been wrong.

    The sorcerer was a liar.

    My body disappeared.

    Adrien froze, the ability on Axel¡¯s throat faltering, his eyes fractionally widening in disbelief.

    ¡°I never trusted you,¡± I said, letting my [Cloak] drop from behind him, the vertigo-inducing double vision of [Mirror Aid] thankfully having disappeared with the dismissal of my clone.

    He began to spin about, but I was too close and quicker.

    Adrien hadn¡¯t used any other abilities, so confident in his superiority, in his success. He could¡¯ve done a million different things; hell, he should¡¯ve blinded us both and ran to end the scout, but he was vindictive and vain, and he¡¯d not considered for one moment that he¡¯d be outmanoeuvred again. He¡¯d underestimated me. Underestimated what I¡¯d do to protect those precious to me. He didn¡¯t think me capable of this.

    Until I¡¯d been threatened with losing Axel, I wouldn¡¯t have either.

    Slapping on [Whetstone], I drove my dagger into the back of Adrien¡¯s neck.

    I didn''t know if it would work. I didn''t know if I¡¯d been right. I was gambling, risking it all on what I¡¯d seen of the results of Tam¡¯s kills. As was evident from my being able to borrow Jye¡¯s Load, I didn''t need to know an ability¡¯s real name to [Channel] it.

    Her backstab skill was almost minty on my tongue, a refreshing rush of adrenaline thrumming through my hands, as the critical hit ended Adrien where he stood, the blade sinking in as if welcomed, slipping into the base of his spinal cord.

    He was a glass cannon, after all.

    Through the mental link never severed I heard the last thought he sent: I just wanted to be better than¡ª

    Just Friends has eliminated Adrien Galbraith.

    He was dead before he hit the ground.

    The effect was instantaneous.

    XP. Credits. An excited letter icon as reward for completing the off-white request I¡¯d accepted from some unknown random Deity.

    His corpse ragdolled forward, the spurt of blood as my blade slid out less than I imagined. I didn¡¯t pause. I didn¡¯t hesitate. Bending down, I took him into my inventory, only glimpsing the bloodied befuddlement of his betrayed dying expression.

    How should I feel?

    I didn¡¯t know.

    I¡¯d killed a man.

    It¡¯d been easy.

    Too easy.

    But with Axel injured, Tam in trouble, and the countdown still ticking, I had to act, not reflect. Shifting over slightly, I Load lightened the gawking Axel, who''d fallen to the floor, scooped him into my arms, and sprinted forward, activating [Healing Hand] as I ran.

    Legs pounding beneath me, I let my mind rebalance, my gaze drawn, as it so often was now, to the man currently held in my arms.

    Several emotions hit me.

    Having him this close, tight against me, reinforced that he was still here, that I still had him. His warmth, his scent, his breath. He was alive!

    Relief loosened an invisible tension inside my soul and an iridescent joy rippled over me, an undercurrent of gratefulness humming beneath it.

    Thank fuck.

    He was still here. With me.

    I don''t know what I would''ve done if I''d lost Axel.

    My arms tightened around him.

    As I navigated toward where I''d last seen the scout mordexi, Axel''s presence a comfort, I realised that seeking to hold him close while sleeping was just an extension of this same feeling. Being reminded, even in my dreams, that he was by my side. And obviously I had no problem with it, I just hadn¡¯t known what it meant. Why I sought it. It was clear to me that I deeply needed it too. That I wanted to hold him like this.

    Though the thought was almost entirely fuelled by my near loss of Axel, I wondered if I should ask him if he wanted to be held more. After all, it couldn''t just be Axel figuring out my boundaries the entire time.

    Said man coughed against me, and I hoped I''d be able to heal him enough to give us a fighting chance before we got to the scout.

    Luckily, I could afford to expend the mana, as I now had some to burn, stamina too. In the milliseconds before my lethal confrontation with Adrien, with the credits we¡¯d been awarded from killing the mordexi in this Dungeon, I¡¯d poured them into my attributes ensuring I left enough to buy [Mirror Aid] as well.

    Anna¡¯s ability had been nothing like I¡¯d imagined. The closest I could explain the feeling of summoning a clone was puppeting yourself while also being yourself. It had made the world ripple and churn, the two visions, the two yous overlapping, distinct but the same.

    However, that was neither here nor there.

    Tam needed our help.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 0:30~

    I cast [Locate] to see where the scout was now. It hadn¡¯t made much distance. Tam must¡¯ve gotten some pretty good damage in before she¡¯d been downed. That wasn''t surprising. What was, however, was that as the radar spread out, it revealed the flickering familiar forms of Wren and Jye, approaching Tam and subsequently the scout too. They must¡¯ve gotten my last ditch telepathic message. But how had they figured out where she and the scout were?

    I would¡¯ve facepalmed myself if I wasn¡¯t holding Axel.

    Tam¡¯s transformation.

    She¡¯d use the black smoke it formed as a beacon.

    In this white snow biome, on the relatively clear day we were having, it was the equivalent of sending up a flare.

    Fuck, I could¡¯ve kissed them all. We were doing this, and we were all alive! The happiness that threatened to overcome me pricked at my eyes.

    And finally, the scout¡¯s sleeker though large body was coming into view, only a dozen meters away.

 Chapter Forty-Six | Him (Part Two)

    Axel¡¯s hand reached up, curling about my chin, and he tilted my face down. I absorbed his expression. He was smiling brightly, his eyes soft and dazed, as if he couldn¡¯t believe I was there, carrying him. Despite his health not being fully restored, he looked better, the colour coming back to his skin. And that expression¡­

    Yeah. Yes. I was sure. It was clear to me.

    Why taking Adrien¡¯s life had been so easy and why I didn¡¯t regret it, even though the guilt shredded at me.

    It was difficult to admit, but I truly never thought I¡¯d kill with intent, despite knowing my end goal of bringing everyone back. In self defense, yes, but to purposely do it¡­ I¡¯d thought that was what sociopaths like Adrien did. Even when Axel, Jye, and Tam killed, I mentally excused it. They were fighting for their lives, after all. And me helping them, I''d said I''d killed, but I hadn''t. Not at all. It wasn¡¯t the same thing.

    I''d been running from it.

    Acting holier than thou, I''d been a hypocrite, clinging to ideals even though I stated the opposite. I''d told the others we''d take lives if necessary, but I''d been foolishly believing, hoping, I¡¯d never have to follow through; I''d been avoiding it at every turn, accepting events that were otherwise unacceptable to confirm my own convictions.

    If I were being honest, the majority of life-or-death situations we¡¯d face were a result of my ego. From Anna¡¯s killsteal of the Minotaur, to the gate guard confrontation, to letting Adrien play with us, I¡¯d been hellbent on remaining good, pure. Keeping my hands clean.

    Underneath the pretension of ¡°no mercy but no murder,¡± I believed that I was above killing, better than it. That I would never let myself sink that low. That my morals were infallible. I could never be so base as to murder another living person for such self-serving reasons.

    But I had to confront the ugly truth.

    It had been revealed to me seconds ago.

    I¡¯d kill any number of people who put Axel''s smile at risk, anyone who threatened his life. It wasn¡¯t even a question. I¡¯d have killed Adrien again and again to keep Axel by my side. Whatever it took to protect him and the people I cared about. The emotion was messy and despicable, but it existed inside me.

    Perhaps that made me ruthless and immoral and selfish. All things I''d thought I wasn''t, that I thought were wrong, that I would never let myself be, that were too barbaric to allow myself to feel. Though those aspects of myself must''ve been there all along, hidden beneath the Lee I thought I should be.

    It was almost enough to make me laugh.

    Everything always came back to the autopilot, to society''s expectations, to finding myself after all those years of not knowing who I was or what I wanted after Chrissie.

    Maybe it was okay that Axel didn¡¯t make me a better person.

    He made me more me.

    ¡°I hate to say it, but you actually managed to take me by surprise,¡± the blond admitted from my arms, his voice still hoarse.

    I wanted to tell him how glad I was he was alive, that it was like breath in my lungs, but I found myself saying, ¡°Let me put this warning in words you understand, Axel. If you try to die for me again, I¡¯ll kill you myself.¡±

    What had led to this same sentence back in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon is what had meant infinitely more, had been everything, had changed us. I wasn¡¯t ready to say the same thing. That, for me, wasn¡¯t something I knew entirely just yet.

    But one thing was clear.

    Ever since the party had been split, it¡¯d become startlingly obvious.

    Without Axel, I wasn''t whole.

    Said blond laughed at my callback of a threat and then groaned, digging his face into my chest. I thought I glimpsed blushing cheeks. He said, ¡°Eugh. I can''t believe I coughed blood on you.¡±

    ¡°I think we¡¯re beyond caring about that.¡±

    ¡°You might be, but I have a reputation to uphold,¡± he whined.

    I was glad he was feeling more like himself enough to be this vain.

    ¡°Dudes, holy shit!¡± Jye exclaimed, coming up to our left. Similar to me, they were carrying someone: Wren. She gave us a small wave, but there were bags under her eyes. To my relief, both Jye and Wren looked to be in mostly good health. She''d likely been healing them both as they made their way over.

    Seeing them in the flesh was a weight from my shoulders. I hoped the smile I sent their way expressed my feelings enough, because we didn''t have time for a proper reunion.

    ¡°Stamina, mana?¡± I asked, eyes on the countdown in the system. Twenty-three seconds on the clock. I¡¯d gotten lost in thought but was glad not too much time had passed as I¡¯d run.

    I could see Tam''s barely moving form beyond the scout that was pursuing her. She must''ve really pissed it off for it to be so intent on her death. I could kind of understand its feelings. If you didn¡¯t try to understand her, she could rub you the wrong way. Unfortunately, mordexi were probably not capable of forgiveness.

    Wren, Axel, and Jye reported to me their current capacities.

    It would be enough.

    ¡°Volley the scout, as many as you can, Wren.¡± I turned my attention to Jye. ¡°You''ve got Whetstone on?¡± They nodded. ¡°Good. Load it down once it''s hit. I want it pinned to the ground.¡±

    The redhead saluted me. ¡°Aye-aye, boss.¡±

    I helped Axel to stand by himself and found myself missing how warm he''d been pressed into me and physically had to stop myself from drawing him back closer, snapping my arms to my sides. The reaction stunned me, preventing me from saying anything, my cheeks heating up.

    Huh.

    Axel brushed himself off, flicking free some dirt from his clothes, not fully recovered by any stretch, but better than he¡¯d been when he was dying. He cleared his throat. ¡°What do you need from me?¡±

    I sized him up for a moment, and he gave me a look.

    Accepting his silent reassurance, I said, ¡°After the Volleys, go in. I''m going to see to Tam.¡± Wren was likely low on mana since their trap battle, so I¡¯d have to take on the role of medic.

    ¡°Do you have to?¡± he asked, smiling with spite.

    His disdain for Tam was undeserved, but his return to form was relieving. Axel summoned a new sword from his inventory. How many did he have in there? Well, he had [Smithing]. He might as well make as many as he could to get some practice in.

    ¡°At will,¡± I said, and then I dashed toward Tam''s cat form, giving the scout a wide berth.

    As I did so, the fizzle of abilities sounded, then the twang of an arrow being released, followed by the chorus of several others. They whistled through the air in front of me, reaching their apex, and then the leading one was throttling in faster as Jye applied a Load to their shot. In mimicry, all the other arrows accelerated, hurtling towards the scout.

    I ran past before I could see how many hit the target, my concentration solely on the cutthroat struggling, pawing forward. There was a trail of blood, as if she''d been dragging herself.

    ¡°Tam!¡± I called. My voice was like an off switch; she immediately stopped, falling limply to her side, curling in on herself.

    Reaching her, I took in how badly she was doing. She had to be on her last hit points. There were cuts and shreds through her blood-matted fur, sinew and cartilage visible beyond that. One of her ears was missing completely. I almost didn''t want to know what she would''ve looked like in her human form.

    I laid my hands over the most injured part of her and cast [Healing Hand]. As the green soothing glow formed under my palm, her eyes flickered open.

    With a smile, I said, ¡°Better late than never, huh?¡±

    Even though it had to take more energy than it was worth, she rolled her eyes. Classic Tam.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± I said, glad I could express my gratitude again.

    I thought maybe I saw her lips curl into a smile. But as she was a cat, I couldn''t be sure.

    Letting the ability do its work, I turned my attention back to the others. The volley of arrows had struck the injured scout, several piercing its body. With Jye''s additional Loads after their impact, it''d sunk to the ground, effectively locked to the floor.

    It must''ve been tricky to figure out how many Loads to add after the fact. Too little and they''d just be an irritation. Too many and they¡¯d drive straight through and into the ground. But I guess with the mordexi horde, Jye must¡¯ve gotten some practice in.

    Everything was going as planned.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Axel was now heading in.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 0:10~

    He was a bit off kilter in his run but still as sure as ever.

    Part of me wondered at his swordsmanship. Gigi had barely given him any further guidance, just had professed that xir own school of blade differed to Axel''s, so xe couldn''t comment beyond offering another perspective on style. I''d tried to follow their conversation during practice, but I still struggled to hold my glaive correctly, so I''d focused on the basics: swinging it without hurting myself. In fact, Gigi had cautioned me to use the wooden staff I''d originally gotten from Kmart.

    Axel must''ve practiced a lot more than I''d thought. He''d messed around in backyard cosplay as a kid, but this was beyond that. I did remember a pamphlet for different sports once magnetted to our fridge, with fencing as one option, but I''d thought he''d just put it up there as a conversation starter for his parties. Had he actually taken fencing lessons?

    The blond rushed towards the scout, its head snapping back and forth, and he got a clean cut at its open neck. His blade sank into flesh, purple blood spurting forward. It looked like he''d managed to nick an arterial vein.

    Was there anything I could do to support him?

    Time was almost out.

    Another arrow, absent the additional volley, thunked into the scout''s back, and it let out a shriek. Blood was seeping from all the arrows sticking out of it, the gash at its neck, and the other cuts that Tam had gotten on it, but it wasn''t going down. I wished Gigi was here with xir bestiary and combat knowledge. How much health did it have left? Could we kill it before they all respawned?

    The mordexi raised one of its free claws to slash at Axel, and he rolled back out of range, careful to avoid the sharp of his own blade.

    ~Mordexi Respawning: 0:05~

    Thoughts of Gigi reminded me of xir information regarding the guardians and where their weak spot was. The creatures were all the same species. Surely they shared a similar vulnerability?

    Unlike its bulky kin, the scout was lithe. Its skin and coat were practically aerodynamic, flat to its frame. Because of that, the indents of its head were more visible. Maybe Axel could find it.

    ¡°It''s third ear, Axel!¡± I shouted.

    His brow furrowed, and he sprung back to get a better look.

    An arrow from Jye flew out again, this time missing, sinking into the snow next to the scout. I cut the giant a break. They''d only been using the bow for about a week. That they were already so proficient was testament to how much they trained. In fact, I didn''t think I was imagining it, but the muscles of their shoulders and arms had already appeared slightly larger. Jye no doubt was over the moon at that. But should they really have seen progress this quickly?

    ¡°I think I see it,¡± Axel said back.

    00:03

    His blade raised, and he used the pinned back-foot of the mordexi as a stepping stool, ascending onto its hindquarters, then up along its back, approaching its head.

    00:02

    The scout bucked at him and he lost footing, stumbling, falling to his knees at the creature¡¯s shoulders. He locked his thighs into a vice. His face was crinkled in concentration, sweat beading on his forehead, one hand gripping for dear life onto the beast''s thin coat.

    00:01

    With his other hand, Axel lifted his sword and then plunged it down into the very top of the mordexi¡¯s crown. The scout went limp under him, a fountain of indigo blood spraying up into his face.

    Its limbs shuddered in a death twitch.

    ~Dungeon 11 cleared for the first time by Just Friends. Gate frozen~

    ¡°Gate frozen¡±? I guess that meant no one else could enter. It was a small consolation. We wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the peanut gallery, at least.

    Nexus available.

    I''d be checking that before we left this time, for sure. What followed that was much nicer: XP and credits, 1,500 and 1,000 respectively.

    I hadn¡¯t been keeping count, but surely we¡¯d gotten enough to roll over into LVL 4 by now. We¡¯d been pretty close before, maybe a few hundred off. Hell, maybe we¡¯d made it to LVL 5, but that was probably wishful thinking. Life would never be that easy.

    As Axel sank down off the dead creature, chest heaving, covered in gore, I was hit by the thought that he had never looked so¡­ him. He wiped the purple from his disgusted face, slicking it back into his hair. The blood had stained his clothes, and his body looked weighed down with exhaustion, clothes torn in places from his previous combat. The man was half dead as this point. By all accounts, he should¡¯ve looked a right mess, and he did.

    But there was a spark in his eyes that elevated the sum of each part all into something transcendental. Almost divine. Just like when I saw the softness of his sleeping face, this too was something I couldn''t look away from, my breath caught in my throat.

    It was an odd feeling.

    In a puff of black smoke, Tam transformed back into her human form, her clothes ripped practically to shreds, but she didn''t seem to care. I didn''t for that matter either. That she was letting me help her was all that meant something to me.

    When I caught her gaze, I realised she was staring up at me watching Axel through the clearing blackness. Her left ear was still missing. Maybe we could fish it out of the scout¡¯s stomach. Which reminded me¡­ My fingers¡­

    An evil grin snaked across her face.

    ¡°Well, call me an old heifer and put me out to pasture. Never thought I''d see the day you¡¯d finally figure it out, sunshine.¡±

    I blinked down at her. ¡°Figure what out?¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s worth killing for.¡± She didn''t say it aloud, but as she followed my gaze to Axel and the others patting him on the shoulder, I could hear what her words actually meant: who was worth killing for.

    Ah.

    Just exactly as she''d been doing when I met her. Just exactly as she''d done in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon. Just exactly as she would continue doing. And I would let her. Because she was right. Now I fully understood.

    With my left hand occupied by healing, I reached my injured one up to start unclipping the collar from her neck, ignoring the odd detached pain. Thankfully, I was still capable of a pincer action with my pointer and my thumb. She halted my movement, squeezing a weak hand over mine.

    Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. ¡°What in the blazes are you playing at, pumpernickel?¡±

    She would think I had ulterior motives.

    ¡°You can leave the party if you want, Tam. I hope you don''t.¡± I smiled. ¡°I¡¯ve been meaning to work on my spice tolerance, after all.¡± A steeliness entered my voice, and it surprised even me. ¡°But if you choose to leave us, don''t expect any mercy when we cross paths again.¡±

    Sensing my intentions, the prompt from the system appeared before me.

    Release [Collar of Control]? Accept | Reject

    Instead of responding, Tam started croaking with laughter, though she blanched from reawakening the pain of her yet unhealed injuries. I stared in utter bewilderment. The cutthroat was truly beyond my understanding on so many levels.

    Grinning widely, she said, ¡°Cheese and fucking whiskers, babes, you''re a dime in a dozen. I''d stick around just to watch the trainwreck of your life.¡± She paused in consideration. ¡°I just wish I had popcorn half the time.¡±

    Thrown off by her reaction, I raised an eyebrow, and she brushed my touch away from the collar. Using the same hand, she pretended to cover a yawn, saying, ¡°I''ll keep this pretty little trinket for now.¡± Her gaze flicked around, and her voice dropped, muffled by her fist. ¡°I got my reasons. Just promise me when I say, you''ll cancel it.¡±

    ¡°I swear.¡±

    With a long groan, she sat up and then slapped me on the shoulder. She was nowhere near recovered to a decent amount, several wounds still weeping blood. ¡°I can handle the rest, dandelion.¡±

    Unwilling to push our new comradery too far, and sensing somehow I''d missed an important admission from her, of what I didn''t know, I withdrew my healing and stood to welcome the others who were beginning to approach. As I did, the thought that Mumma didn¡¯t assist Tam in this Dungeon hit me.

    Had she been holding back to save belief? By all accounts, Tam¡¯s sponsor didn¡¯t seem weak. She could¡¯ve afforded to have intervened. Considering Mumma''s behaviour in the Deity Commentary, it seemed like she adored Tam.

    Why hadn¡¯t she helped?

    As for Nabu, that was self-explanatory. The man was a husk of a god. Besides, he was attached to Makris, not Wren. Or maybe he was shared between them and that messed up the sponsorship. Either way, he definitely couldn¡¯t be relied on to lend a hand. Even with all the belief that Wren had to be raking in for him. We¡¯d cleared two Dungeons now!

    Like the Dungeon reacted to my dawning thoughts, the familiar sensation of the world falling away hit me. We were being summoned to the Dungeon¡¯s Deity¡¯s Domain for the rewards. Damn, say that fast five times. My surroundings coalesced into that endless white before flickering into an idyllic millionaire¡¯s holiday home with an infinity pool, a refreshing breeze and the lazy kiss of the afternoon sun completing the vacation atmosphere.

    A sigh exhaled from me, drawn from the depths of my marrow.

    With the pressure of the clear off me, I found myself left with nothing else but tiredness, even in the face of a Deity. There was a sinking in my bones I didn¡¯t know I could feel, like I was fading into the ground beneath me. A short throb pulsed up my right arm. Oh, right. I also had only half a goddamn hand. Less than half!

    Bone-chilling fatigue dragged at me. Only spite seemed to be propping me up.

    I hated the Deities, I hated the Dungeons, and I hated how I knew we''d have to do this again and again to stay alive.

    All I wanted to do was lie down, cocoon myself in a blanket, and then sleep for seven thousand years.

    As everyone teleported in with me into the Deity¡¯s Domain, I watched them pop into existence. They¡¯d been at least a football field away, but now the party, Gigi included (who waved), was close enough to form a huddle before kick-off. The pressure of weight returning to my feet alerted me to the fact we¡¯d fully loaded in.

    We¡¯d been summoned to the shaded area next to the pool. Sweat began to pool under the layers of clothes on my body. Very cool.

    As though sensing my frustrations, Axel gingerly took my right hand, mangled and all, into his. He didn''t even blanch.

    His palm was sticky with mordexi blood, but I didn¡¯t care in that moment. Tired as I was, his touch alleviated my negativity, a comfort, a promise of better things. He was looking at me, just as he always had, his head tilted, waiting for me to respond, the question of my wellbeing clear as day in his eyes.

    He had to be on less health than me.

    But he was still¡­

    Carefully, I squeezed his hand in answer, embarrassed by how much I realised I never wanted him to let go. Then, clearing my throat, I brought our hands up to check my watch.

    We¡¯d gotten the clear in the hour that Adrien had promised. Well, he wasn¡¯t a complete liar.

    ¡°Just Friends.¡±

    Relaxing on a sun lounge, pina colada in hand, was a bikini-clad Amazonian Deity, their sunglasses dipped to watch us, golden eyes dancing.

    They sat up, swinging their muscled legs over the edge of their seat, revealing they were likely taller than Jye, and their long cascading tresses of curly blond hair fell over their shoulders with the movement.

    A crushing atmosphere of absolute certainty emanated from them, an aura of confidence and strength. As my breath stopped in my chest, I had to admit that heavenly didn¡¯t even come close to describing them. Their beauty was beyond human understanding.

    I couldn¡¯t stop staring.

    Other than their get-up, this, perhaps, was closer to what I would¡¯ve imagined when someone spoke of gods¡ªa being who should¡¯ve been in Olympus, a pantheon, something. This was someone I could imagine people worshipping. Hell, if I¡¯d been any less jaded, I might¡¯ve considered dropping to my knees.

    Tam audibly gulped.

    With an unreadable smile, the Deity said, ¡°Come closer.¡±

 Chapter Forty-Seven | Cool Down (Part One)

    With hesitancy, we approached the Deity, shuffling over, eyes averted (really, where were we meant to look?), until we were standing single file before them. Their gaze, heavy and appraising, roamed over us. Recalling Nabu¡¯s suffocating golden stare caused a subconscious trembling in my legs and a cold sweat to bead over the back of my neck.

    Would this Deity be similar?

    ¡°You will call me Bia,¡± she announced. Her voice was deep, husky; like she¡¯d been smoking the better part of her life, though with her timeless face, I didn¡¯t know what that would mean. Actually, thinking about it, she sounded similar to the singer of Bad Reputation¡­ Who was that again, Joan Jett?

    The goddess then stood, towering over us, more than a head taller than our local giant, and my irrelevant thoughts scattered to the wind. Even at this proximity, the sheer oppressive ambience she gave off was a pressure on my lungs, and I struggled to draw breath.

    The presence she had¡­ I was rendered speechless; words were impossible to form, the air too thin, as though we were standing at an incredibly high altitude. Nabu had only granted me a glimpse of his true strength, but Bia wore it like a casual outfit. Power was who she was, and she was not afraid to demonstrate it.

    Should she deem it, she could swat us like flies.

    For once everyone was on the same page, and we waited, jittery and restrained, as she crossed the distance between us, her movements languid but purposeful.

    ¡°You,¡± she started, flicking a perfectly manicured finger to Jye, her notable muscles bunching with the movement, ¡°have impressed me.¡±

    What?

    Tension had strung us so taut that Bia¡¯s words snapped our anxieties, and we nearly toppled over from shock. Jye¡¯s green eyes grew wide, a ripple of worry crossing their features. They stood there, body ramrod stiff, confusion etched into the furrow of their pronounced brow.

    Pointing hesitantly to their chest, seemingly unaffected by Bia¡¯s show of strength, Jye asked, ¡°Are you sure you got the right dude?¡±

    The Deity nodded curtly, strolling toward them, and subconsciously, the rest of us edged back, her power like a cloud we parted in front of. Bia began to circle Jye, eyes trailing over the redhead from head to toe, her forefinger and thumb pursed under her chin. It was the same way one might assess chattel. She nodded once again, as if confirming something with herself.

    ¡°Your built body and calloused hands speak of hard work, and your subjugation of my pets was imperative to your party¡¯s success.¡± She paused, letting the words sink in, though Jye appeared to be staring blankly, unable to process them.

    Her pets? The mordexi were akin to domestic animal companions? Though, with the eminence of her demeanor, the image didn¡¯t even seem impossible as it otherwise would. In fact, I could picture Bia playing fetch with the scout rather easily; its toy stick likely a pike, the creature annihilating forests and houses as it romped around.

    Her next sentence was both understandable and completely unexpected.

    ¡°I will sponsor you, Jye.¡±

    Even Tam seemed shocked by this announcement. I was less surprised, having gotten the inkling this is where the goddess was leading with her opening words, but still¡­ What a bolt out of the blue. That wasn¡¯t to say it wasn¡¯t deserved. Jye¡¯s contributions to the party had been essential.

    The redhead swallowed, their cheeks a touch pink. Were they embarrassed by the goddess¡¯s words? I guess it was true that no one had ever acknowledged the giant for everything they¡¯d done. In fact, if I looked at it objectively, the person who had it the hardest out of our party was Jye. They were forced to remain as a LVL 1, struggled to put credits into their attributes, and suffered from the awful glitches of notifications. In spite of that, they had still thrown themself headfirst into archery training with Gigi and had never once complained, taking it on the chest silently. Thinking back, I¡¯d never voiced my recognition either, too wrapped up in my own concerns.

    I found myself grateful for her appreciation of the gym junkie. In fact, maybe her sponsorship would help with the issues Jye had been having about loneliness. An angel on their shoulder to keep their spirits up.

    Maybe this Bia would be good for them.

    Jye cleared their throat, folding their arms defensively. ¡°And there¡¯s no bad mojo if I say no?¡±

    ¡°No such thing,¡± Bia said, though a confused tone buzzed in her response.

    I don¡¯t think anyone would¡¯ve ever thought to turn her down.

    How did one say no to her?

    The goddess¡¯s jaw jutted forward, waiting for Jye¡¯s response.

    Panicking, the giant turned their pleading gaze to me. Honestly, I didn¡¯t see any issue with her sponsorship. In fact, had I not been fighting to simply breathe, the pressure of Bia¡¯s aura so intense all air stuck in my throat, I might¡¯ve suggested she be my sponsor.

    It was an easy thing to admit that as a Deity, she was impressive. Her Dungeon had been meticulously crafted. It was beautiful and horrific. And if I¡¯d been one of the Deities watching, it would¡¯ve been quite the show. She clearly knew how to play the game and game the players. Gigi had mentioned she¡¯d been involved in xir Event and her sponsored player made it quite far. I sincerely believed xem. Having her sponsor Jye and on our side really seemed like an all-round advantage. (I was ignoring my own personal loathing for the concept of Deities, in general.)

    If we were discounting her less than positive attributes, such as her Dungeon being a complete death trap, and her having killed all those people via mordexi proxy, nothing about Bia suggested she¡¯d be a bad sponsor. It was in complete contrast to Nabu, who¡¯s very speech really should''ve been ringing warning bells the moment we heard him. Maybe relying on Nabu as the standard was a poor idea overall. Still, this wasn¡¯t my choice.

    Like it should¡¯ve been with Wren, it was a whole party decision.

    Everyone had to be okay with it.

    I shrugged in response to their seeking eyes, not wanting to color Jye¡¯s opinion. Personally, I would¡¯ve encouraged it, but I didn¡¯t want the pressure of my thoughts on them. As Jye met everyone else¡¯s gazes one by one, the others expressed their silent sentiments, their voices also compressed by the invisible but dominating atmosphere Bia gave off; Gigi simply crossed xir arms, and Tam didn¡¯t react at all, still frozen, gawking, a redness creeping across her face.

    I didn¡¯t comment, well, I couldn¡¯t, but I snidely noted down her reaction for the future. It looked like the cutthroat turned into a stunned mullet around others she found attractive. Certainly, that would be something I¡¯d bring up later to mock her with, to get her back for the amount of times she¡¯d ribbed me about Axel.

    Only Wren nodded enthusiastically, fixed on the idea that any Deity early was better than no Deity at all. My previous words hadn¡¯t made much impact on her, but I guess they must¡¯ve faded into the following exchange about her reasons for accepting her sponsorship and her subsequent breakdown. Still, I really needed to smack Makris upside his chin for reinforcing that concept in her head. It was a theory that barely had legs.

    Axel, finding some semblance of rebellion within himself against Bia¡¯s spirit, opened his mouth to say something, but I squeezed his hand to quiet him. It was not the time or place for his sassiness.

    Having sought our opinions and come up neutral, Jye frowned, a few dozen thoughts clouding their features. No doubt their system glitch was keeping them from accepting immediately. Perhaps they didn¡¯t want to reveal to a Deity this weakness of theirs. Had I been able to speak, I would¡¯ve assured them of their own choice, but the air was choked in my lungs, my voice box locked.

    Jye breathed in, and a grin split their face.

    ¡°Fuck it, why the hell not.¡±

    Bia smiled, all calm assurance. She reached out her large hand to Jye who, after pausing, took it.

    Just as it had happened with Wren, above their clasped hands, golden light burst into existence, this time glinting brightly in the shape of criss-crossed chains. The sigil shimmered in the air for a moment, sparkles dancing, the chains clinking sweetly, and then dissipated in a mist of radiant motes. Jye¡¯s focus shifted to about half a meter in front of them, probably checking the title they¡¯d received. Almost imperceptibly, their face fell.

    Oh.

    That did not bode well.

    ¡°You are not finished in my Dungeon,¡± Bia said as a fact, casting a look at my two remaining fingers. ¡°I have locked the Gate. You may remain within until you are ready to leave.¡±

    Wren raised a trembling hand. Her voice squeaked out. ¡°Can we¡­ Can I ask you some questions?¡±

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°No.¡±

    With that, and a sweep of her hand, the vacation world smeared away, and we were unceremoniously deposited exactly where we¡¯d been snatched from, my hand now empty of Axel¡¯s who was still standing closer to the dead scout mordexi. The chill in the air bit at my exposed skin, the sweat of my clothes from the pool party immediately cooling, and I sighed.

    Okay, so Bia was a little rude. There were worse personality traits.

    Still¡­ we¡¯d survived. Not only that, but as I cast a cursory look at the party menu, I realised I¡¯d been wrong about our progression. The total amount of XP we¡¯d gathered, 2,550 (inclusive of the clear and Adrien¡¯s elimination), had catapulted me past LVL 5 and the rest of the party too, barring Jye and Gigi! Altogether, it was less than I wanted, considering the difficulty versus Dungeon 16, but I guess I shouldn¡¯t be complaining.

    [|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||_______________]

    49% completion toward next level

    We were getting closer to our goal! Plus, I had zero doubt that our battles would¡¯ve been entertaining to watch. Whichever Deities were watching had to be at the very edge of their proverbial seats while witnessing our betrayal of Adrien and subsequent escape from the clutches of death and failure.

    Our performance had to contribute to the desire to continue the Event, and stopping tutorial termination. Or at least, I was praying that was the case.

    I met Jye¡¯s gaze and raised an eyebrow, concerned about the results of their sponsorship. They shook their head. Another ¡°I¡¯m good, dude,¡± in the form of a gesture. Their prior expression belied their okayness, but I wasn¡¯t going to push now, not as the glow of what we¡¯d achieved finally settled over me.

    The rest of the present party, unfortunately, due to our less than elucidative meeting with Bia, everyone had weary and confused expressions on their faces. Even with them masking their feelings, I could tell Jye¡¯s was a mix between dread and bafflement. Well, I better do my job.

    A helper was nothing, if not a hype man.

    ¡°We fucking did it!¡± I said, my voice breaking from the pride I felt welling in my chest.

    Granted, our only opponents had been a singular man and a lot of very large white feral dogs. Pets, as Bia had called them. That was still wild to think about.

    But we¡¯d cleared the Dungeon, levelled up, and Jye had been sponsored!

    My words seemed to shake the others from their dazed reveries, their eyes widening in dawning belief, and then an excited cheer shot out from the team, their lips curling into grins. Whether authentic or not, Jye swallowed back their prior reaction entirely, and a smile emerged on their face. I¡¯d definitely be checking in with them later. It was obvious to me they either couldn¡¯t read Bia¡¯s title, or, worse, their glitch had warped it somehow, like the awful notification noises they heard. I sincerely hoped it was the former.

    In a beat, the energy and vibe of our party shifted from disoriented exhaustion into elated exuberance. Even Tam seemed to have a bounce in her step, her momentary infatuation forgotten (though I wouldn¡¯t be letting that slip). Morale markedly improved, I was content to let the excitement of the others fill the air.

    Since we¡¯d been taken back to the same spot, we still needed to fetch Gigi, who I¡¯d left at the mordexi nest. Loosely, I guided the direction of our party¡¯s travel, but I could barely remember the vaguest path markers back to xem, so intent on simply chasing down Adrien. I hoped xe¡¯d figure out a way to signal their location.

    As we made our way forward, each step eliciting a pained groan from at least one of us, I mentioned that we might all need to Load lighten as we got closer. Adrien¡¯s bear traps could still be in effect, after all. This announcement was met with understanding and unquestioning nods from everyone. They hadn''t even bothered to ask for an explanation.

    Yeah, they¡¯d definitely seen some shit in their battle.

    Unprompted, to fill the empty air, Wren began to give me an animated play-by-play of what she, Axel, and Jye had done. She added sound effects and flung her arms about, imitating Jye and Axel separately by standing like a Hulk or preening, stepping this way and that to show each person¡¯s movement. I was laughing more often than not.

    ¡°So, a huge blinding block of light appeared under the marker you attracted the horde to, and then it disappeared?¡± I repeated, summarizing the beginning of her explanation. It lent further credence to the idea that Adrien¡¯s illusion ability could only be applied to his own skills and himself.

    She nodded eagerly.

    ¡°And because all the monsters were on top of it, whoosh¡ª¡± here, her hand dipped down ¡°¡ªthey all fell into the pit that was beneath it. Inside the pit was¡ª¡±

    ¡°Bear traps?¡± I asked.

    Jye frowned. ¡°Dude, it¡¯s rude to interrupt.¡±

    ¡°My bad.¡± Miming zipping my lips, I waved her on.

    ¡°There were a lot of bear traps. The hole was maybe the size of two swimming pools and three times as deep as the deep end. When the monsters landed on the traps, you could hear this echoing of them snap shut.¡± She made a clam shell with her hands, clapping it closed with the following words: ¡°Clack, clack, clack, clack! That''s when Adrien told us to attack.¡±

    It was pretty much as I¡¯d figured. A combination of all Adrien¡¯s best abilities to capture and injure the horde. He¡¯d hidden the first light block with illusion, had waited until Axel and the others had gotten them onto position above it, and then dismissed it. The hole they''d fallen into, he''d dug well in advance. It was why the man had been so confident in his clear. He¡¯d been planning it for a while. All the bear traps he¡¯d spent the night preparing had locked them in the pit, making them easier targets to kill.

    The rest was simple enough to guess. With Wren¡¯s [Volley] supporting Jye, the two of them would¡¯ve done most of the damage (probably what had made such an impression on Bia along with the giant¡¯s overall beefy bod), while Axel would dive in for the kills during Wren¡¯s cooldown and mana regen. Adding to their efforts Wren¡¯s buffs as well, and it would¡¯ve been a clean cut eradication of the mordexi horde. I wish I had seen it myself.

    But Wren¡¯s reenactment was much more enjoyable.

    When she finally finished, huffing a little from her over-the-top account, she said, ¡°And then after we heard your garbled message from in our heads, we had no idea what to do. But Axel pointed at some black smoke in the horizon. Before we could ask him anything, he was gone! Jye figured out the smoke was Tam, so they picked me up and started running because I was too tired.¡± She paused and cast a sheepish look at Jye. ¡°Sorry.¡±

    Poor mood entirely melted by Wren¡¯s expression, the redhead patted her on the head. ¡°No apology necessary, dude. You¡¯re pretty much as light as the bird you¡¯re named after.¡±

    Wren laughed, pushing off their hand. ¡°I¡¯m not that light!¡±

    They nodded pensively. ¡°You¡¯re right. With Load, you weighed nothing at all.¡±

    Jye reached down, and I heard the hiss of abilities. They plucked Wren off the ground and plopped her up on their shoulder. She squealed in delight. As they walked, they jostled her a little bit, and she let out a peal of giggles. My dad had used to do the same with Chrissie too. She¡¯d loved it.

    Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t able to fully enjoy the ride Wren was having. Something had stuck out to me about her story: the fact that Axel had been the one to see the side effect of Tam¡¯s transformation. I was sure that I¡¯d told them to find Tam after Axel had said he was running off. Maybe Wren was misremembering the events. Was Makris messing things up in her head even now?

    That reminded me that we still had to deal with him.

    Well, there was something I¡¯d been thinking about for a little while.

    I glanced up at Wren on Jye¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Could you buy one of Adrien¡¯s abilities? The telepathic one.¡±

    No one seemed to mind. I doubted Axel or Tam would want to be heckled with being asked to link a mental six-way phone call all the time. Jye or Gigi might¡¯ve been interested, but the giant didn¡¯t voice it, and, well, I guess the Linnikian would just miss out this time. There were several other abilities Adrien had. Xe could have first pick out of those. Besides, this one wasn''t really appropriate for their class.

    Tilting her head in curiosity, Wren nodded.

    I held up my right hand to her. ¡°Can you link us?¡±

    She placed her gloved hand over mine, her ability hissed, and she shivered. ¡°Feels like a balloon that makes your hair stick up. Oh. Yeah, like static.¡± No doubt the man in her head had corrected her.

    Tentatively, I asked, Makris?

    Well, well, well. Here¡¯s the killer, on my fucking home ground.

    Oh, it worked.

    Nice talking to you too. I didn¡¯t even try to temper my sarcasm.

    Wren¡¯s face was white with shock. She asked, ¡°You can talk to him?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately.¡±

    I heard that, you bastard, Makris growled.

    Ah, right, because you eavesdrop on every little thing Wren does, don¡¯t you?

    I¡¯m watching out for her! You damn well know that.

    I scowled. We all only know what you tell us. The emphasis I put on ¡°all¡± was deliberate and very judgemental. I deplored what he''d done to Wren''s memories, not telling her about it being the worst crime of all.

    It¡¯s okay, Lee. He¡¯s nice, really. He just sounds mean.

    Pinching the bridge of my nose, I repressed a sigh, and said, ¡°Can you drop our connection, please?¡±

    In resigned acceptance, I felt her close the mental link with a snap. At least, we had a way of getting more answers. Somehow I knew it would be like pulling teeth. The man absolutely hated me. But now Wren had the ability, I did too.

    It would feel wrong, but I needed to talk to him while Wren was absent. Maybe when she was asleep. He really made nothing easy. In fact, that he¡¯d rightly called me a killer was also quite depressing.

    I was genuinely a murderer now.

    It made me feel a little guiltier but not a lot. Was I justifying Adrien¡¯s death as necessary to save Axel? A little bit, yes. But I also accepted what I¡¯d done.

    I¡¯d killed him. And I¡¯d carry the weight of his last thoughts for the rest of my life. If it meant Axel was still here, holding my hand, I was okay with that accountability, with the squeezing guilt in the pit of my stomach.

    Still, we¡¯d be bringing him back eventually anyway.

    I¡¯d meant it when I¡¯d said everyone.

    As we walked, I spent some time figuring out how to word a really quite awful suggestion to the party. It was incredibly gross, but we¡¯d done something similar before¡­ I was sure I could convince them, though it might take some reasoning.

    Once I figured out what approach to take, praying it would be persuasive, a discussion began about what our actual plans going forward were. We came to the conclusion that we¡¯d take a short break once we found Gigi. We all needed a little RnR anyway. And given that the Gate was frozen, we didn¡¯t have to worry about anyone else entering the Dungeon.

    Perhaps, Bia was granting us a brief vacation from our worries.

    But we couldn¡¯t stay too long.

 Chapter Forty-Seven | Cool Down (Part Two)

    Eventually we found Gigi, though it took longer than I thought it would. Xe had torn the bear trap from xir foot, treated it with bandages, and had been hobbling after me, but slowly, ensuring to prod the ground with one of the wooden brooms xe kept on xemself for cleaning back at base. It was easier than putting it back in the closet, by any means.

    After we¡¯d returned from our trip to Bia¡¯s Domain, xe¡¯d lit xir gas heater, the smoke rising in the air. We¡¯d spotted it and rushed over (well, as much as we were capable of) and greeted xem with wide grins. The Linnikian had let out a shout of celebration, and we¡¯d folded xem into a hug, Axel dragged into the fray by me. He reluctantly gave in, grouped into the fold, and even Tam joined us with a scowl, unable to deny Wren''s pout.

    Once we were done and we split apart, Jye went to examine the mordexi guardian corpses, their interest piqued. Having battled them face-to-face, I wasn''t that keen on getting another look. I was also glad for the distraction it was serving the redhead. Or maybe they were forcing this distraction on themself¡­

    ¡°Lee, for you.¡±

    Gigi held out a hand to me, something in xir fist.

    I accepted the gift, curious.

    Resting in my palm wasn¡¯t what I was expecting: my three fingers, stiff and blueing, flesh stringing them together. You could almost directly see the crescent marks where teeth had bitten them clean off. Xe¡¯d packed them into a little plastic baggie inside of another, sandwiched in ice in the outer one.

    The alien must¡¯ve retrieved them while waiting for us.

    For a moment, I was speechless.

    ¡°Uh, thank you, Gigi,¡± I said, and I stared at the digits, wondering how I went about reattaching them.

    It certainly was incredibly odd looking at the detached pieces of me. Was this how people who had medically necessary amputations felt? Knowing that the fingers sitting in my hand had once been part of me¡­ it was a very mortal feeling, bringing into sharp relief how easy it was to just be flesh.

    Tam flicked a finger to point at my hand, her next words bringing my attention back to real life. ¡°You gonna sew those back on, dandelion?¡±

    ¡°I guess?¡±

    ¡°Can you sew? And I do mean that to be pissant.¡±

    With my good hand, I made that middling yes-no gesture, careful to keep a grip on the digits in my grasp.

    I¡¯d fixed holes in shirts and replaced lost buttons before, but none of them had ever looked like a professional job. Surely [Healing Hand] and our natural regen would correct any major issues with the reattachment?

    Axel¡¯s scars had long since disappeared, at least as much as I¡¯d been able to glimpse when he was practicing swordsmanship at the base, since he¡¯d taken to wearing singlets and boxers during the sessions. The remnants of my injuries were taking longer but slowly fading too. I believe the same could be said of everyone else in the party.

    Tam let out a long sigh, shoulders slumped in defeat. ¡°I¡¯m gonna need a hot meal sizzling in my gut first.¡±

    My brows shot up in surprise. Not at the fact Tam could sew but that she was offering to help. Well, ¡°offering¡± was a strong word. Telling me that she would be doing it was more accurate. I wouldn¡¯t be looking a gift horse in the mouth. Besides, I hadn¡¯t exactly been thrilled to stick a needle and thread into my own flesh either.

    Wren peered down at my loose fingers. ¡°Did that hurt?¡±

    ¡°A bit a lot.¡±

    With a frown, she said, ¡°I can heal you after Tam stitches you up.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d like that, thanks.¡±

    Jye returned to us and, whether to distract themself or out of genuine curiosity, began interrogating Gigi about the uses for the mordexi bodies. I guess you could take the redhead out of hunting, but you couldn¡¯t take the hunting out of the redhead. The vanguard gave as many answers as xe could, with Jye nodding sagely back. The rest of us listened in, not really able to keep up, and I pulled out one of the dishes Tam and I¡¯d prepared at the base.

    The savory aroma of the stew immediately filled the air. We hadn''t eaten a real meal since the base, the hot cocoa and snacks having tided us by. I wasn''t hungry, exactly, but I knew I should eat. My flagging concentration was a definite sign I was fading.

    In swift response, without any explanation or guidance, everyone opened their inventories and retrieved appropriate plating and cutlery; a bowl and spoon. Dishing it out was easy and simple, everyone lining up without a word.

    Despite the plainness of the ingredients, mostly canned beans and vegetables, the warmth and umami of it was enough to keep people coming back for seconds and thirds, until the pot was scraped empty. Tam had included a prick of spice too, which had added the slightest kick in the aftertaste.

    The stew emanated warmth from the inside out, leaving me feeling satiated and content.

    Jye volunteered to lick the pot clean, to which I shrugged and passed it over. No skin off my back. I didn¡¯t notice Tam eyeing them with a bit of jealousy until it was already out of my hands. Making a mental note to make sure I¡¯d offer the option to her next time, I realised it wasn¡¯t just the stew that had warmed me but the general ambiance.

    Adrien had once said that the temperature increased for as long as the mordexi were uncleared. It was possible now we¡¯d killed them all, it¡¯d started dropping back down to the level it¡¯d begun at. Certainly, it was still cold but much less grating. The change must¡¯ve been gradual as I hadn¡¯t noticed until now. It¡¯d roughly been an hour since we¡¯d cleared the Dungeon.

    So this is how the place had felt when Wren and Makris had initially entered.

    As I gazed around, I allowed myself for the first time to appreciate the beauty of the biome. It was basically the Arctic.

    I had never seen snow until I¡¯d entered this Dungeon. You grow up in FNQ, Australia, and you don¡¯t expect to ever see snowfall unless half-melted hail or frost on the early morning grass counts.

    The stretch of white over boundless hills and plains was picturesque, beautiful. Now silent apart from the congenial conversation exchanging between the party, it was serene, with a gentle wind whistling past us.

    Had we¡¯d not been greeted by a corpse pile upon entrance, maybe I would¡¯ve felt more awe.

    The Deities were capable of making such a landscape, such an intensely real and unique world, and yet they used their powers for the Event, for ruining people.

    I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d ever understand them. I don¡¯t know if I wanted to try.

    But since everyone had finished eating, I figured it was the best time to bring up my distasteful proposition.

    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°There¡¯s gotta be thousands of dead bodies near the Gate,¡± I said casually, dismissing my bowl and spoon after scraping it clean with some snow. It wasn¡¯t perfectly pristine, but it¡¯d do until we got back to base.

    The sting of everyone¡¯s concerned gazes immediately pricked at me.

    ¡°Sweetcakes, no.¡±

    Offended, I replied, ¡°I didn¡¯t even say anything yet!¡±

    ¡°I will not be touching any more corpses,¡± Axel stated with an appalled look.

    ¡°Dude, I don¡¯t wanna harsh your vibes, but honestly, I don¡¯t want my inventory to resemble a slaughterhouse.¡±

    It felt wrong to just leave them all here like this. Maybe it was the guilt from killing Adrien talking, his own corpse resting in my inventory, and maybe this was just me clinging to the vestiges of my humanity, but this was the right thing to do.

    ¡°You want to take them home?¡± Wren asked, frowning.

    ¡°The Deity Commentary for Nabu¡¯s Dungeon said it reset after our clear. Everyone¡­ I think they¡¯ll all be gone.¡±

    Gigi nodded. ¡°Once a clear is achieved, unsuccessful participants remaining within are dealt with depending on its Deity¡¯s preference, including elimination or ejection, and the Dungeons are wiped clean and restarted. Everything considered foreign waste is purged.¡±

    A silence fell over the party.

    Did that mean if Adrien had achieved the clear, we might¡¯ve been killed too? Had the other players in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon been eliminated once we¡¯d won?

    Deaths upon deaths¡­

    Not to mention, Gigi¡¯s words about human bodies being considered rubbish did not rest well on my consciousness nor anyone else¡¯s judging by their expressions. It was moments like these that reminded me how alien Gigi was. It also made me question xir past and background. How did one come to think of dead bodies as simply trash? Xe was so oddly inhuman sometimes.

    Chewing on Gigi¡¯s explanation, Wren appeared to be in deep conversation with Makris, her gaze unfocused. I hoped he wasn¡¯t trying to talk her out of it. For once, this wasn¡¯t something I would compromise on. If the others said no, I¡¯d remain behind and do it myself. Well, that¡¯s if I could and the party retention protocol didn¡¯t suck me along with them.

    Eventually, Wren¡¯s eyes softened, and she nodded. Shortly after that, Tam¡¯s shoulders slumped slightly, and Jye sighed in defeat.

    Glancing between them, aghast, Axel groaned as if in intense pain. ¡°Come on, seriously? It¡¯s gonna take hours!¡±

    I gave him a hard look, and he visibly deflated, grumbling under his breath.

    ¡°Between the six of us, it will not be such a hardship,¡± Gigi remarked.

    With that, it was decided that before we exited, we¡¯d spend time collecting as many of the people as we could. I agreed to a time limit of three hours. Hopefully, that¡¯d be enough to store them all in our inventories.

    Our conversation died for a while, which I completely understood, but Jye then took the silence as an opportunity to offer to butcher and skin the mordexi, to our utter bafflement. Their singular argument was that Adrien had been eating them. I¡¯d thought my proposition to be unhinged, but this¡­ wasn¡¯t very convincing. That said, the issues with the sorcerer seemed entirely distinct to his food source. Ultimately, he was just a dickbag. Well, had been. And given that food was a limited resource back home and we hadn¡¯t actually eaten meat since Tentworld¡­

    ¡°Will the magical toxic fume poison be an issue with the guardians?¡± I asked the only person who might be able to answer.

    Gigi frowned. ¡°Yes. But their hide may be worth taking as material.¡±

    ¡°Go for your heart, Jye.¡±

    The Linnikian went to join them to give pointers on the creatures¡¯ anatomy, as Tam summoned a camping chair. She jutted her square chin at it while meeting my gaze.

    ¡°Time¡¯s up, babes. Into the hot seat.¡±

    She¡¯d also retrieved her first-aid kit from her inventory, unzipping it to reveal the sewing thread, scissor-like clamp device, and needle within.

    Why was the needle so large and curved?

    Despite the life-and-death situations we¡¯d been in, the small instrument in Tam¡¯s hands looked the most cruel I¡¯d faced. I was beginning to have my doubts about this procedure. Maybe having half a hand wouldn¡¯t be so bad. It¡¯d not been such a hassle so far. I could probably deal without it. Despite it being my dominant hand, was I really losing anything important?

    ¡°Come on, sunshine. Don¡¯t be a candy-ass.¡±

    Stifling my apprehension, I took a seat, holding my hand and the bag of fingers to her. Unfortunately, due to our regen, the skin of my mangled flesh had healed over, the scabs dark but still mushy. Grabbing my hand none too gently, Tam brought it close to her face to examine it, flipping it this way and that. I was grateful it was numb. Her expression soured.

    ¡°Gonna have to cut ya open again.¡±

    Axel¡¯s face paled, and he said, voice tight, ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll be anywhere but here if you need me, Lee.¡±

    I would¡¯ve waved him off, but he was gone before I could do anything.

    Wren had retrieved her own camping chair too and had set it up nearby. She was watching with grim fascination, leaning in close.

    ¡°You sure you want to see this, Wren?¡± I asked, concerned.

    This wasn¡¯t exactly PG content. Hell, what rating did surgery get on TV these days? I wasn¡¯t even sure I¡¯d seen anything like it until past midnight. Even then, it tended to be plastic surgery kind of stuff. Not something as hardcore as an operation on the fine ligaments of the hand. If it hadn¡¯t belonged to me, I wasn¡¯t sure I¡¯d have wanted to witness the whole thing.

    Wren nodded firmly, lips pressed flat in solemness. ¡°I want to see how it¡¯s done.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡±

    ¡°In case I need to do it one day too,¡± she said, as though it was silly for me to have even asked.

    Bloody hell. Was this Makris? Wren? The worst part was she had a point. It was a good skill to have in your back pocket. What if one day we ran into someone whose ability stopped healing? Or prevented our natural regen? Learning to stitch up a wound was a practical thing to know. But she was a kid¡­ In this world, maybe that didn¡¯t matter as much as it used to. She¡¯d already been exposed to a lot of shit. Maybe this was just another part of preparing her to survive.

    ¡°Makris is asking if you should clean it first,¡± Wren noted, a concentrating crinkle to her brow.

    As I opened my mouth to reply that our wounds had never gotten infected before, so it was unlikely bacteria and germs would be an issue, Tam shoved a bundled-up sock in between my teeth.

    ¡°You¡¯re gonna wanna bite down on this real hard.¡± She didn¡¯t even look like she was getting any joy from this, which was the most concerning part.

    My would-be surgeon said to Wren, ¡°Now, I¡¯m no expert, dove, so take this all with a handful of salt, you hear?¡±

    Then, without warning, she grabbed the medical scalpel out of the first-aid kit and sliced through the scabbed flesh of my right hand.

    A muffled scream shot out of me, and I clenched down on the fabric between my teeth, biting so hard that my jaw clicked, the numbed pain reigniting in a torrid of agony that shot up my hand. My vision whitened for a second before returning blurred, tears weeping from my eyes, as she continued cutting, opening and separating the melded sinew of my injury, her other hand like an immovable vice, locking my wrist to the arm of the camping chair. Blood began to flow from the wound, as if slow to realise a new escape route had appeared.

    My head swam. How was this worse than the initial injury?!

    After what seemed like an eternity of torture, Tam dismissed the knife. ¡°Okay, dandelion. That wasn¡¯t so bad, was it?¡±

    Wren was staring at us both in abject horror, but she couldn¡¯t seem to look away.

    ¡°Now¡¯s the hard part.¡±

    I groaned, feeling woozy, the floor detached from the sky and foggy, out of focus, unable to even comprehend how it could get worse.

    ¡°You¡¯re a lucky son of a bitch it came off in one piece.¡±

    The needle and thread came out, held almost threateningly in Tam¡¯s hands, alongside the other half of my hand. Her expression was as close to apologetic as I¡¯d ever seen it. In the background of my mind, I heard a few soft pips of my health gradually dropping, but it wasn¡¯t that alarming. I¡¯d been expecting it, and there was something calming about the sounds.

    My consciousness only tethered by sheer will, I idly wondered if duct tape would''ve been just as effective, since all we needed to do was ensure the veins and muscle and bone found each other and reconnected. I had been about to try and communicate the thought, but my mouth was gagged with fabric and only a muffled grunt came out instead.

    Tam began piercing my flesh.

    The first few stitches I was able to withstand, the poking and prodding and pulling and pain rhythmic, but as she started sewing into the meaty part of my hand, feeling the thread tighten between the miniscule muscle fibres, I lost control, and thankfully blacked out.

 Chapter Forty-Eight | And Then There Were Two (Part One)

    I woke to Axel¡¯s furrowed brow, his worried face hovering over me, threads of his fringe dipping over his brows. Brain still foggy, I noted it was a pleasant sight to come back to.

    ¡°How¡¯s it feeling?¡± he asked.

    Curious, I raised my right hand into view, no hint of any pain left at all. Squeezing it closed to test, I was astonished to find it was working perfectly. Both Tam and Wren had done their jobs well. Apart from the horrific scar that split my hand in two and the coloration difference, the stitches already surprisingly absent, it was like I had never lost three of my fingers at all. There was a tightness, a stiffness, as well as bone weariness, but that was par for the course with magical healing.

    A relief spiralled through me. It was nice to have my hand back. I hadn''t realised how much anxiety it was causing me to have it missing.

    ¡°Won¡¯t be doing that again,¡± I muttered, but it croaked out of a dry throat. I frowned. ¡°How long was I out?¡±

    Axel¡¯s hands encompassed mine, his thumb running over the rigid scar down the center. It was then I realised why I was looking up at him. My head was in his lap. Trying my hardest to ignore the heat at the tips of my ears, I resisted the urge to spring up. I took a breath. Reminding myself that we slept together, so this was no big deal, did nothing to stymie the mortification.

    I''d been a client of his lap pillows before, but usually, I''d been dying.

    ¡°Couple hours. We set up a few tents for catnaps.¡± Axel and I appeared to be inside one as well, the blue material above his blond hair fluttering slightly from an outside breeze. He answered my unasked question, as if reading my thoughts. ¡°Wren¡¯s still sleeping. Jye went for a jog, saying they were grabbing all the horde mordexi. Something about protein, I wasn¡¯t listening.¡±

    ¡°Tam and Gigi?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Who?¡±

    ¡°Axel¡­¡±

    The blond scoffed. ¡°Tam went back after the scout to fetch her ear. Gigi¡¯s gone with her. I didn¡¯t ask why. I had other concerns at the time.¡± He stared pointedly at me. ¡°Still do.¡±

    There was a crinkle to his brow and a tightness to his lips that told me he wanted to say more but was hesitant. It was unlike Axel to not feel comfortable speaking his first thoughts. The only times I found he didn¡¯t was when it concerned me. At least this wasn¡¯t that unfathomable sadness. Still, it worried me.

    ¡°What aren¡¯t you saying?¡± I asked after a moment.

    ¡°You¡­ killed someone.¡± He didn¡¯t add ¡°for me,¡± but it rested in his expression. His gaze darted away, breaking eye contact. When he continued, his voice was strained and low, ¡°Are you good?¡±

    Relieved that¡¯s all this was, I smiled.

    ¡°Oh, no. I feel guiltier than I¡¯ve ever felt. Like if I think about it too much, I¡¯ll throw up.¡±

    As justified my actions were, that didn¡¯t stop the gaping pit of remorse that threatened to swallow me up. The previous party kills had been a puddle in comparison to this flood. And it was all pooling into each other. Each death, something harder to wallow through. Yet it was a path I would continue to choose to tread.

    Maybe it was bad for my mental health to take responsibility for each person¡¯s stolen life. But if I didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t feel human anymore. It went hand in hand with taking all the bodies back to Earth.

    Axel¡¯s expression dropped further. What was he thinking?

    ¡°You should¡¯ve run¡­ I thought you¡¯d run.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    ¡°You were meant to run,¡± he said, his voice pinched.

    I stared. ¡°And let you die, yeah?¡±

    Axel cleared his throat, his gaze wavering. ¡°That might¡¯ve been my plan.¡±

    ¡°Bit of a shit plan.¡±

    ¡°In the heat of the moment, it seemed pretty good to me,¡± he said, laughing dryly. ¡°You¡¯d live, and that was the point.¡±

    Unable to stop myself, I sat up, meeting Axel at eye level. The anger simmering inside my stomach surprised me. I shook my hand loose from his, more annoyed by his touch than comforted now, and said, ¡°I promised you that I¡¯d see the end of this with you. Do you really believe I¡¯m not good for my word?¡±

    His eyes went wide. ¡°You¡ª I¡ª¡±

    ¡°And did you ever stop to think about how I¡¯d feel afterward? After you¡ª¡± I couldn''t make out the rest of it, swallowing back the grief at the thought, my throat tight.

    The blond¡¯s brows furrowed, and he appeared taken aback. His mouth opened as if to say something but then closed. This repeated several times. I let him continue to try, watching the expressions ripple across his face. There was shock, pain, a glimmer of delight which made no sense, and then it settled on simple sadness.

    ¡°I just wanted you to live, Lee,¡± he said finally, the words flat and delivered in such a defeated tone, it made me question just how little faith he had in me. There was some of that old unhinged mourning mixed in with his emotions, but he was still mostly anchored here. I wouldn¡¯t lose him to that just yet. I could press harder. No. I wanted to push. His behaviour wasn¡¯t unacceptable.

    I took a deep breath.

    Perhaps this was the only way to get through to him. To bring him some accountability about his actions. He couldn¡¯t rush in like that, couldn¡¯t let himself mean so little. He was always throwing himself into the fray. Since it seemed like he cared about nothing else, this was the only thing I could think of.

    ¡°You owe me.¡±

    His head tilted in confusion.

    ¡°A life. For the one I¡¯ve taken.¡± I breathed out to still myself. ¡°It¡¯s a shit trade, but if you think yours has such little value, I can take that responsibility off your hands.¡±

    Understanding of what I was asking dawned on him.

    If he promised me his life, he couldn¡¯t just do as he wanted with it.

    It was my only solution to his ridiculous antics. A way of enforcing accountability for his actions.

    He chuckled, no mirth in it, the darkness of his eyes deepening. ¡°My life''s already long been yours.¡±

    At any other time, I might''ve pointed out how cliche and corny the line was. But instead, his words stoked a sleeping rage and fear inside me, something I¡¯d put to rest to focus on other more pressing matters. I¡¯d pushed down the dread, buried it in the clear and meeting Bia and dealing with clean up.

    His casual admission reminded me of his near dead body.

    The image of Axel, eyes empty, limply held in Adrien''s grasp pierced me.

    My emotions boiled over, logic flying out of the window. Should he already hold me the arbiter of his worth, so be it!

    ¡°Well, if your life is mine, then who are you to fucking throw it away?¡± I lashed out, my patience for his unspoken grief having worn thin to the point of atoms. I didn¡¯t want to coddle him on this. He¡¯d known exactly what he was doing when we were facing Adrien.

    I couldn¡¯t go through it again.

    Losing Axel¡­

    My hands found the collar of his jacket, and I pulled him close, knuckles whitening with my frustration. I pushed my face near his, wanting him to see just how it had affected me.

    His brows were high, his breathing rapid.

    ¡°If you really think it''s mine¡­ Shouldn¡¯t you treat other¡¯s possessions preciously?¡± My voice broke midsentence, and my own despair split through the rage. Losing strength, my hands dropped loosely to my lap. The truth spilled from me, hot and unfiltered. ¡°If you¡¯d died, Axel¡ª It¡¯d be just like after Chrissie. You can¡¯t do that to me. Not now that we¡­ You can¡¯t abandon me like that again. I wouldn''t survive it this time.¡±

    It was the heart of the matter. It was why I thought I should say no back in Tentworld, even if I wanted to see what we could be. Axel loved me, but he could leave me so easily. He always had. But for me, the real truth was, if I didn¡¯t have him somehow, somewhere, I wouldn¡¯t exist. He was integral to me, as essential as air, and it¡¯d taken until him dying to Adrien to fully prove it to me.

    Something in my words tipped Axel over the edge.

    It happened in slow motion.

    One moment his eyes were large, watery, as if stricken to his core, then his expression transformed entirely. The surprise and hurt shifted, corrupted, became something else. It was beyond that unfamiliar grief: it exceeded sorrow.

    It was an endless void of guilt.

    I fell back in shock. Just looking at Axel made me choke on my words, so horrified by the depth of guilt reflected in his eyes that I couldn¡¯t breathe. I was drowning in it, suffocated by it. And then it was gone, replaced with a distance, as though he were looking elsewhere.

    He didn¡¯t react more than that.

    Axel just sat there, staring blankly forward, as if replaying something again and again in his head. My heart hammered in my chest, still unsure what I''d seen, what I¡¯d glimpsed. It was guilt under that grief, an undefinable chasm of guilt. From what? What had he done?

    Or what hadn¡¯t he done?

    I swallowed, reaching out a hand to lay on his shoulder.

    He didn¡¯t move.

    ¡°Axel?¡± I asked, so quietly it couldn¡¯t even be called a whisper.

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    Again, nothing.

    ¡°Axel.¡±

    He didn¡¯t respond.

    I started to shake him gently, feeling sick, slipping a hand into one of his loose ones, unable to comprehend that I¡¯d put him into this catatonic state. This was what I''d been afraid of for so long, what I''d been trying to avoid! I¡¯d been pulling him back from the brink of this the entire time. But now I¡¯d Spartan kicked him into it somehow.

    What had I said to trigger this?

    ¡°Axel!¡±

    Still, no reaction.

    Normally, my hand in his centered him, but this was so much more extreme. He¡¯d never disappeared like this. It wouldn''t be enough. Panicking, concern tightening my lungs, I wrapped shaky arms around him, pulling him close, pressing every part of myself against him, trying to draw him back with my presence.

    The look on his face struck an indescribable fear into me. It was blank. Devoid of anything.

    Axel wasn¡¯t here.

    What had I done?

    Had I lost him?

    My eyes stung, and I tucked my face into the crook of his neck, terrified, unable to handle his empty expression, my pulse pounding in my ears. The world felt like it was rushing to close in on me, smothering me.

    I''d fucked up so bad.

    I''d known he could break, and I''d pushed him too far. A gaping guilt and fear ate at me. What if he never came back? What if he just stayed like this? And I''d done this to him. And he¡¯d be gone. He¡¯d be gone. He¡¯d be gone!

    I''d known. I''d fucking known!

    If I just had¡ª

    ¡°Axel, please,¡± I murmured into his neck, my tears welling against his skin, pushing myself into him, like maybe I could claw my way inside and find him there and draw him back. ¡°Please.¡± My words might as well have been babbles of useless sounds.

    ¡°I wasn''t telling the full truth. It wouldn''t be just like after Chrissie.¡± I took a shuddering breath, the air not making it far past my closing throat. ¡°It''d be worse. It''d be so much fucking worse.¡±

    He was still quiet.

    ¡°Please. Come back.¡±

    I was begging now, pleading as sobs began to shake me, the world blurring, Axel¡¯s still unreactive form barely anything at all. How could I kill someone to save him and still lose him?

    It wasn''t fair.

    It wasn''t right!

    ¡°Axel, I...¡±

    And it was my fault. Because he was always so close to breaking, losing that link to reality, and I knew that. I just, I had to let him know that he was important to me, that he couldn¡¯t do crazy shit anymore, that I¡ª

    I said, ¡°I just want you here with me... Always.¡±

    It was truer than I would''ve admitted in other circumstances.

    Perhaps it''d been true my whole life.

    ¡°Always is a bit much.¡±

    A strangled laugh escaped me through my crying. Something had connected to him. He was back. The relief that filled me could''ve raised the dead. I inhaled, the breath half snot.

    ¡°I hate you,¡± I said, and it wasn''t what I meant at all.

    His hand came up to rest at the back of my head¡ªwhich felt stuffed with wool¡ªand I allowed my hold on him to loosen, sniffling, feeling weightless in a sickly way, suddenly aware of just how tightly I''d been hanging to him. I pulled away, head hanging low, not wanting to expose the emotions on my face. He¡¯d seen me crying before, but this was different.

    Using his other hand, he dipped his fingers under my chin to raise my gaze to meet his. He was smiling but barely. His eyes were soft, reddened.

    I couldn''t read what any of his expression meant.

    ¡°What about what I want?¡± he asked.

    Scrubbing at my face trying to clear the wetness, the anger and panic deflated but pettiness remained, I grumbled, ¡°What do you want?¡±

    Axel paused, the curl of his smile turning mischievous.

    ¡°I have a thing for men in tears, you know. It¡¯s cute.¡±

    Scowling, irritated by his blas¨¦ change in subject, I replied, my voice scratchy, ¡°You and I have very different definitions of cute.¡±

    He hadn''t answered my question. Axel¡¯s hand dropped from my chin, a self-amused smirk now sitting on his lips.

    ¡°Unfortunately, to me, even your ugly crying is attractive.¡±

    I shouldn''t have laughed, but I did. It sputtered out from me.

    Fucking Axel. At the very least, his teasing meant he was feeling better, feeling himself. And him making me laugh was loosening the anxiety of what had just happened.

    What could have happened.

    I¡¯d nearly lost him, I could feel it. It was a tremor in my hands in my lap. It was a detached horror in the back of my head, pulsing with worry. His mind had slipped beneath the surface of that brokenness, and he¡¯d disappeared entirely. Whatever thread had kept him here had finally snapped with my words, with the dawning of confronting that guilt.

    But Chrissie had been more than half our life ago, his abandonment of me a long cold issue. And I¡¯d never blamed him for it. Sure, it¡¯d destroyed me, but his breaking my heart back then couldn¡¯t be the source of this. He hadn¡¯t known about that until Tentworld. And these dips in sanity, these episodes, had happened long before then. However, this was tied to it, somehow.

    Axel¡¯s expression had evened. ¡°I''ll try to treat it more carefully. My life.¡± The blond¡¯s head tilted in mockery. ¡°Well, your life.¡±

    I didn''t correct him. After all, it¡¯d become clear to me that his life was as precious to me as mine, if not more so. But maybe I understood his actions against Adrien a little bit. I¡¯d died for him back in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon. And now he¡¯d done it for me. Perhaps we were even. Perhaps our lives did belong to each other.

    My tears dried as the moment passed. I let it go without comment. I didn¡¯t want to push again. I couldn¡¯t risk it. He was more unstable than he¡¯d ever been. Fuck. This was more than two steps back. This was a whole marathon in reverse. Now whatever progress I¡¯d made to understanding this side of him had been reset. It frustrated me beyond compare.

    The tension and anxiety of losing him still clasped at my heart, an iron grip that wasn¡¯t fading, only squeezing tighter as I tried to ignore it.

    And I couldn¡¯t do anything about it.

    Well¡­ there was one thing I could do to alleviate it.

    I coughed to clear the air. ¡°When are Tam, Jye, and Gigi coming back?¡±

    ¡°Not sure.¡± His tone was casual, as though he hadn''t just been completely nonverbal and nonreactive. As though he hadn''t disappeared. I decided to play along, anxiousness twirling infinitely inside me. There wasn''t anything he''d explain to me anyway. At this point, I don¡¯t know if anything could ever justify what was happening to him, what he was hiding.

    ¡°You didn''t ask them, huh?¡± I replied.

    With a huff, I laid down on the floor of the tent, pulling a blanket over me. While he could just ignore his outbursts, his breakdowns, the ache in my chest was not granting me the same luxury. In the back of my mind, fear was shrieking that I''d nearly lost him twice. That I could lose him at any time.

    There was one thing I knew would silence these worries. It was what had comforted me after Adrien''s defeat.

    I¡¯d acknowledged that I needed it. But more importantly, I wanted it. And it was the one thing I could do. The only thing I could do to stop the screaming in my head.

    ¡°I''m going to get some more rest while I can,¡± I said.

    Axel began to get up. ¡°I might go for¡ª¡±

    I took a breath. ¡°That was an invite.¡±

    His head tilted.

    Laying out an arm, feeling stiff and awkward, and tenser than a bowstring, I patted the padding next to me. ¡°To rest here. With me.¡±

    He stared and said, ¡°What?¡±

    My cheeks stung, unsure how else to phrase it without it sounding childish. The desire itself was rather juvenile, but I didn''t have a say about that. It was what my body needed right now to stop the cacophony of worst-case scenarios playing on loop in my head.

    His brow raised in genuine confusion. ¡°Are you saying you want to¡­ cuddle?¡±

    Mutely, I nodded.

    ¡°I''m starting to worry you''ve been replaced.¡±

    Like he had any right to say that.

    Despite his words, he was by side in the next moment, under the blanket, his arms slipping hesitantly around me. I let myself reciprocate, just as unconfident, pulling him near, unsure about limb placement but just that feeling him close would calm me. Both of us shifted until the position felt comfortable, natural, folding into each other like jigsaw pieces.

    Axel¡¯s legs slotted between mine, his hands around my back and mine curled about his. I could feel our breathing slowly fall into sync.

    He was warm.

    I was glad I''d realised what this meant to me. How much I needed it, to feel him. I might''ve asked him to completely cover my body with his, layer over me like a blanket, to feel the weight of his presence confirmed into me, but that could so easily be misconstrued that this would be enough.

    Having him here, face to face was enough.

    Gradually, like a drawing in the sand washed away by a gentle tide, my worry about losing him eased. In its place, a sense of security formed. Held in his arms, holding him, it was safe.

    He wasn''t gone.

    He wasn¡¯t leaving.

    He was here with me.

    I could lay here forever, listening to the rise and fall of his chest.

    ¡°You smell terrible,¡± Axel said.

    ¡°You don''t smell too crash hot either, bleach bath.¡±

    He''d obviously cleaned off most of the mordexi blood with baby wipes while I''d been unconscious, but the scent of it still clung to him. It was unpleasant and ammonia-like, but I''d become desensitized, having nosed my face into his skin earlier.

    Our resulting laughter echoed into each other, the vibration of it blending between us. The warmth emanating from him transferred to me, filling my chest, thrumming into each of my limbs. Struck by a memory, I decided I would be a man of my word; I¡¯d be following through with clarifying our boundaries. Bravery and an unfamiliar tenderness pushed me to my next venture.

    ¡°Axel?¡± I asked, softly.

    ¡°Yeah?¡±

    ¡°We wake up like this.¡±

    His response was a tight, ¡°Mmm-hmm.¡±

    ¡°Do you want to¡­ go to sleep like this as well?¡±

    ¡°Of course.¡±

    His arm adjusted about me, nestling him minutely closer.

    For a man usually of so many words, he was being awfully tightlipped. Was he worried I''d suddenly change my mind if he spoke too much? I checked his expression, meeting his gaze, but the only thing on his face was a serenity, similar to when he slept. It loosened his half-lidded eyes and softened his face. He was so close, his slow breath warm on my skin. He smiled at me, and I found myself smiling back.

    I felt at peace.

    Just as I was beginning to doze off, Axel asked quietly, ¡°Can I kiss you?¡±

    My heart froze, my mind suddenly very awake, a thousand thoughts rushing through my head. Was he¡­ Did he think this was¡­ No. He knew better, he understood. This wasn''t him asking for something I didn''t want. Axel knew me.

    Trusting him, I nodded.

    He bent his head down and pressed his lips to my brow. It was gentle and tender, his lips soft against my forehead.

    It was the sweetest thing he could''ve done.

    I pushed the crown of my head under his chin, afraid of the expression on my face, of the fact he might see the tears in my eyes. He always knew how to take me off guard, his emotions and feelings so clear to me but his thoughts forever difficult to understand.

    The gesture had been so unexpected, so loving, so unassuming, that I didn¡¯t know how to react.

    He saved me the trouble.

    ¡°Thank you,¡± he said.

    ¡°For what?¡± I asked, dazed.

    ¡°For being alive.¡±

    Truly, the man was sappy. I made a face. ¡°You¡¯re so cringe sometimes.¡±

    His chest vibrated against me as he chuckled. ¡°It¡¯s your fault.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, pass the blame onto me. You always used to.¡±

    He snickered. ¡°I did, didn¡¯t I? Remind me, why were you even friends with me?¡±

    ¡°Probably the same reason you were friends with me,¡± I said, subconsciously nuzzling closer.

    ¡°Lack of options?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡±

    The tent filled with our laughter.

 Chapter Forty-Eight | And Then There Were Two (Part Two)

    Neither of us fell asleep. We continued like that, reminiscing, talking about the moments we¡¯d missed in each other¡¯s lives too, pressed together, until the rest of the party returned and made their presence known.

    Afterward, I still felt rested.

    And it turned out I¡¯d needed that for what we were about to do.

    I¡¯d given Wren the choice of joining us or sitting out.

    Wren¡¯s response was very Wren.

    She¡¯d said, ¡°I can do it.¡±

    Such a little trooper.

    The task was messy. It was gory. And it was so utterly unrewarding that at one point or another, I wondered why I had even suggested it at all. We still didn¡¯t know what we were doing with them. In fact, I still had one of Test Name¡¯s corpses in my inventory from over a week ago. Adding that to all the extra stuff we¡¯d included, the system was beginning to get cluttered.

    Was this just another stupid flaw of my morality that I would have to work through, like accepting that I could kill others? The gruelling, backbreaking work was beginning to lean me toward yes.

    Yet, when I cleared some red snow and found an adult curled protectively about a child, both their eyes clenched tight, frozen in fear, I laid my hands down and took them in. And I continued to do so, again and again.

    Maybe we were wasting time.

    Maybe it was pointless.

    In the grand scheme of things, should our wish be granted, this would all mean nothing.

    But we¡¯d do it all the same.

    Given the state of carnage, we had previously agreed on taking only torsos and up, excluding any errant limbs. Once you got into the pattern of it, detaching yourself from the horrific truth, everything went by surprisingly quick. Actually, part way through, we discovered we didn¡¯t need to touch them with our hands, and that any part of our body would suffice. It helped Axel stop complaining about being on his knees, to which Tam replied with a very inappropriate remark.

    Overall, it ended up taking more than three hours, but by the time we hit that mark, everyone was so mind numbingly dedicated to the repetitive task of tapping our toes to corpses and sucking them into our inventory before moving on to the next that we probably could¡¯ve continued ad infinitum.

    Eventually, the area around the Gate was clear of larger body parts, though it was still crimson with frozen blood. I didn¡¯t know how many corpses I had in my inventory at that point. I¡¯d lost count sometime in the triple digits. Worn out from what had turned out to be an endurance exercise of both our minds and bodies, we all grouped back together just in front of the Gate, its rippling black otherworldliness pale in comparison to everything we¡¯d witnessed. It might as well be just another doorway.

    I took in everyone¡¯s expressions. There was a weariness there, but in their eyes I also noted the shimmer of a job well done. That took a load off my shoulders. I had convinced, well, guilted them into doing this mostly against their wills. Whilst I was sure they didn¡¯t share the same values as me, it was nice to see they didn¡¯t hate me for this either.

    ¡°I guess that¡¯s it,¡± I said, scanning the area around us one last time to ensure we¡¯d gotten every body we could find.

    ¡°Did fainting earlier knock part of your noggin out?¡± asked Tam.

    I turned my less-than-impressed gaze toward her. While Axel and I had been resting, the cutthroat had retrieved her ear at some point, and Wren had stitched it back on before healing it. With that and the body collection, the kid truly was made out of sterner stuff than I¡¯d been at her age. Though I guess I hadn¡¯t lived through an apocalypse and also become an amnesiac. Maybe that would¡¯ve toughened me up a little bit.

    Tam¡¯s hands went to her hips in consternation. ¡°The reward for killing Adrien. ¡®Pertinent information,¡¯ right?¡±

    Okay, so maybe we weren¡¯t good to go.

    Unable to believe I¡¯d let such a thing slip from my mind, I focused on my inventory and selected the little envelope I¡¯d received as reward for the request. Much like the gift we¡¯d been given back in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon, the icon did a happy little dance as it flipped open and unfolded to reveal the message within. Judging by everyone staring, it only appeared to me. I guess the note back in Dungeon 11 had been the same.

    There was one word from the sender accompanied with a marked map.

    Anon123 says: Apologies.

    That didn¡¯t sound very reassuring. Though it wasn¡¯t surprising that the Deity who requested us to kill Adrien was Anon123. He was the only one who¡¯d seemed invested in our party. However, that he hadn¡¯t bothered me with any sponsorship requests during the Dungeon was a little odd.

    Actually, thinking about it, since we¡¯d entered, Absalom hadn¡¯t sent a single one. He¡¯d been so insistent during our time at base. Maybe he hadn¡¯t wanted to distract me?

    It was unusually considerate for a god, especially taking into account how the other ones in the Deity Commentary acted. Out of that handful of divine beings, Anon123 had been the most relatable. Would he actually be a good sponsor? I¡¯d been rejecting his invites, but perhaps I¡¯d been too quick to judge.

    ¡°You gonna share with the rest of the class, dude?¡± Jye remarked, though they grimaced slightly from the notification sound. Right. We still hadn¡¯t fixed that. I¡¯d completely forgotten I¡¯d wanted to find a way to help them. With their existential dread still fresh on my mind since Bia¡¯s sponsorship, the glitch sounds would have to unfortunately remain a lower priority.

    That said, it didn¡¯t look like it had done anything to shift Jye¡¯s mood. When Axel and I had left our tent, we¡¯d discovered the giant practically beaming, having returned from their jog. It was an absolute emotional flip from their attitude before. Jye was usually quite a laid back person who tried to find joy in small things, though.

    Perhaps they were looking for the silver lining. In any case, whatever had caused this shift, I wouldn¡¯t be raining on their parade.

    They were still slathered in the purple mordexi blood from butchering the guardians, which made my eyes water as the redhead was to my left. Since Jye seemed happier than I¡¯d seen them in a while I was more than content to let the stench go by without comment.

    Axel, as always, did not share my opinion nor my values in social etiquette.

    ¡°You better start standing downwind from me, or we¡¯re going to have a problem,¡± he said, nose crinkled at the bridge.

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    Jye went to respond, but I interrupted, ¡°The reward¡¯s a map.¡±

    ¡°Is there an X?¡± Wren asked, eyes sparkling.

    ¡°There is a marker.¡±

    ¡°What region does the map display? One of your countries?¡± Gigi inquired.

    I studied it, trying to compare it mentally to the spinning globe that had existed permanently on Mrs. Brown''s desk. It¡¯d drawn my focus for most of my sessions with her, and I had it to thank for winning a handful of geography trivia quizzes in junior high school. Perhaps I should¡¯ve been using the appointments to move on from Chrissie¡¯s death, but at that point in time, the talks had felt useless.

    ¡°No, no country on Earth is shaped like this.¡± Saying the words triggered an understanding of what the map depicted, some of the topographical markings seeming familiar. Nothing on Earth was right. ¡°It¡¯s this Dungeon.¡±

    ¡°Could the marker be buried treasure?¡±

    I smiled at Wren¡¯s excited expression. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t get my hopes up. It was attached to a message.¡±

    ¡°Well, spit it out, sunshine. I don¡¯t get anything out of you edging me.¡±

    Jye snorted out an agreeing laugh.

    Opting not to take offense, I explained, ¡°It was an apology.¡±

    Their expressions all sobered.

    ¡°What¡¯s our heading, then?¡± Axel asked.

    There was something off about his smile, but I couldn¡¯t place it. It was almost as if he was desperately trying to keep it from slipping. This could either be a result of almost losing him twice or his response to Anon123¡¯s message. Well, an apology from a Deity couldn¡¯t be a good thing. Even if it¡¯d come from one that¡¯d been a relatively decent being. Maybe Axel¡¯s forced reaction was reasonable.

    I reached out to the map, wondering if I could zoom in like a touch screen. As I came into contact with the system window, it dissipated, fizzling into nothing, but not before the marker popped out into the physical realm. Stunned, I stepped back as the flashing green dot flew to my left, zipping about in figure eights.

    ¡°You all are also seeing this too, right?¡±

    ¡°Neat,¡± Wren remarked, smiling.

    Tentatively, I walked toward it, and the green dot floated forward too, staying about a meter ahead of me. It looked like we had a guide to whatever information Absalom wanted to reveal to us. Or Anon123. There was no confirmation they were the same person. I had just assumed they were based on the sequence of events that had unfolded. Regardless, I didn¡¯t know what would prompt such words from either Absalom and or Anon123. In fact, I had no idea what a Deity might consider worthy of an apology.

    I turned back to the others to discuss our options.

    With the Dungeon empty of inhabitants apart from us and locked to any new players since we¡¯d cleared it thanks to Bia, we all agreed it was relatively safe to follow our green guide back through the biome. The only thing we really had to worry about was the time it might take and the cold¡ªin comparison to the temperature it¡¯d been when we¡¯d entered, the place was practically balmy at this point.

    None of us wanted to run, still weary in body and mind from the task we¡¯d carried out, but we kept a decent pace.

    To our collective chagrin, the guide led us back to the tunnel network Adrien had drawn us into when we¡¯d first fled the mordexi horde. Suddenly, the message¡¯s apology seemed a lot more sinister. There could be nothing good inside these caverns. Whatever optimistic hope any of us still had about what Anon123 wanted to reveal to us withered away into grim apprehension.

    Dotting a trail of small items along the way so we¡¯d be able to make it back to the entrance, we followed the guide into the cave system. It didn¡¯t take us to the same dead end we¡¯d slept in, rather we travelled deeper inside until the tunnels were so narrow we had to turn to our sides to edge further in. I wasn¡¯t claustrophobic, but with how tight the walls were, even I was feeling oppressed.

    To my relief, it eventually opened up to a domed cavern, icicle stalagmites and stalactites jutting from the floors and ceilings. Lessening unease was evident on everyone¡¯s faces as we entered, and I was certain I heard an exhale of held breath from Wren. Of course; her time in Nabu''s Dungeon challenge¡­ Jye''s hand came to rest gently on her shoulder to reassure her.

    It was good the giant cared for her like this. Though it had been a double edged sword for me.

    Our guide stopped in the center of the wide cavern, just in front of what looked like four lumps of ice.

    It was very anticlimactic, to be honest.

    The green dot flickered there for a moment before glowing brighter, illuminating the entire cave in its sickly glow. The color should¡¯ve elicited the feeling of nature, of grass and tree leaves, but instead I couldn¡¯t help but feel it was a portent of misfortune.

    Frowning, I approached the ice blocks, wondering what could be so important about them, what would warrant an apology. If this was just some silly prank from the Deity, then I¡¯d be so irritated with¡ª

    My heart stopped in my chest.

    ¡°Lee?¡± Wren asked, concerned.

    No.

    It couldn¡¯t be.

    My legs buckled beneath me, knees hitting the ground hard, the world blurring, spinning. Struggling to inhale, to comprehend, I stared, unable to speak.

    No, no, no, no.

    But I couldn¡¯t deny what I was seeing.

    ¡°Dude, you all right?¡± Jye walked closer and looked about to offer some help, but they finally registered what was in front of us. The redhead froze, eyes wide. At that same moment, the others seemed to recognise the shapes too.

    I should¡¯ve known.

    They wouldn¡¯t have been able to fight the compulsion.

    I laid a shaking hand onto the frozen bodies.

    Arms wrapped lovingly around each other, my parents looked serene in their death.

    Next to them were Axel¡¯s too, all laying together, as if they were having a nap.

    My family.

    I couldn¡¯t even remember the last thing I¡¯d said to any of them.

    A blackness willowed in from my peripheral, closing in.

    An ache, down to the very bone, a bruising throughout my soul, consumed me.

    Mum and dad were dead.

    It was an eviscerating weight, shredding me apart.

    A tonne of steel constricting my chest, squashing the air from me, my vision blackening, careening. Air wouldn¡¯t enter my mouth, hadn¡¯t squeezed its way into my throat, and everything blurred, hazing my surroundings together. This was nothing like the spiking pain of Tam¡¯s stitching. It was all encompassing, soul destroying. My eyes stung, an inexplicable sound tearing itself from me beyond my control.

    Arms came down around my shoulders, and it was only then I realised I was sobbing, my entire body shaking, my throat raw. Seeking the comfort, anything to distract from the pain, I curled toward the arms, knowing whose they were by touch alone, just the dimmest and numbest bit aware that this was unfair, that he¡¯d lost his parents too, yet I couldn¡¯t do anything else, the inescapable loss wracking every cell of my body, clawing into it, any and all autonomy slipping away from me as the shock stole my thoughts.

    The cave spun, fading into nothing but the darkness of Axel¡¯s shirt as I dug my burning and wet face into the fabric, letting it suffocate my sobs, choking on the gasps of air that failed to inflate my lungs, the breaths in sputters, in half wails of unfairness, of injustice.

    I think it was ¡°See you soon.¡±

    Anguish, anger, and pain pooled in my stomach, clawing up my diaphragm, robbing me of breath, and then lashed out of my throat as a scream, my lips caught on Axel¡¯s top, the sound silent because there was not enough air for it.

    They didn¡¯t deserve this.

    They shouldn¡¯t be dead.

    They didn¡¯t know how much I loved them.

    I never told them enough.

    It hurt.

    I cried until my tears were spent and there was nothing left, and then I threw up until I was empty, of feelings, of everything, of even bile and stomach acid, void of caring, of thinking that life was worth living, of wanting to win this Event.

    Axel never left my side.

 Chapter Forty-Nine | So It Goes

    We left the Gate.

    ¡°Dude, I can handle this all myself. Six deep isn''t even a challenge for these guns!¡±

    We found Damien and his gate guards waiting for us.

    ¡°Chef¡¯s rules, dandelion; you gotta at least clear your dessert plate.¡±

    We killed all thirteen of them.

    ¡°Come to bed. You need sleep.¡±

    We discovered the Nexus let us access a fast travel map of uncleared Dungeons when in proximity of Gates.

    ¡°I drew this for you, Lee.¡±

    We purchased the Deity Commentary, and it held little important information.

    ¡°Surely, we will resurrect them with our wish. I have faith in us.¡±

    We buried them in the backyard.

    ¡°I¡¯ll miss you all. Until we meet again.¡±

    Three days had passed at base.

    Axel hadn''t cried.

    That''s what brought me back fully, plucked me out of the fog of grief I was mired in. It was like a spark of clarity as I stared at his face across from me at their funeral.

    My concern for Axel was something I could tether myself to.

    Even when we tamped down the dirt above their graves, the blond didn¡¯t shed a tear. Was he keeping his emotions in check out of consideration for me?

    He hadn''t gone back home to Charleville as often as I had, but he did visit his parents when the opportunity arose. I knew he loved them. It was impossible not to.

    Auntie Li and Uncle Seb were¡­ had been the kind of people you wanted to grow up to be. Even in my late twenties, they were my image of what successful and truly good people were like. It¡¯s why before all of this that Axel¡¯s behaviour never made sense to me. The two of them had raised him, after all. But the Axel now¡ªI could see them much clearer in him.

    That said, Axel had always liked my parents more than his own. Isn¡¯t that always the case?

    I loved mine. I did. Yet when I needed the feel of home, I found myself seeking the Masson household more often than not and utterly avoiding Axel¡¯s room once we¡¯d had our fallout. They¡¯d been a bike ride away, after all.

    The reason was simple.

    My reaction to Chrissie¡¯s death and the gaping hole of Axel¡¯s friendship had been to withdraw all forms of aspiration, until eventually I lost an understanding of what counted as things I wanted or desired. My parents on the other hand¡­ Mum had thrown herself into work, my father into hobbies, and when that didn¡¯t occupy them, both of them became overly invested in shaping and moulding my life insomuch as they could.

    It couldn¡¯t have been easy. My lack of direction would¡¯ve been hard to navigate around, to channel into something else. But I guess it¡¯d worked well enough to make me a functional adult.

    Looking back now, given how things had gone, the person I¡¯d been before the Event made far too much sense. I¡¯d been doing what I thought I had to. What my parents had led me toward, what society screened as the example of success. The question of what I wanted wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d ever asked nor would I have known the answer to it.

    In fact, me wanting to stop living with Axel had been the closest I¡¯d ever gotten. And that hadn''t really even been true.

    After high school, I¡¯d moved out of home to pursue tertiary education as soon as it was financially viable. Not only was it the done thing for kids in our town not intending to take on family business, it was an unspoken expectation from my parents. Even then, their overbearing interest in the mundanities of my life followed me down to Brisbane.

    Every call with mum and dad started with a ¡°Have you applied for a raise yet?¡± or ¡°What happened to that girl you met in uni?¡± or ¡°Do you still spend time with Axel?¡±

    It was almost funny that the answers hadn¡¯t changed, even now.

    No. Which girl? I guess.

    But I¡¯d have done anything to hear them ask those pointless questions again.

    My singular solace was that maybe I could.

    Their deaths had hit me hard, like a brick wall slammed into me, leaving me reeling and unable to function. I¡¯d barely been conscious the past three days. I loved my parents and Axel¡¯s, and Axel had loved mine and his too. There was no way he¡¯d be unaffected.

    Yet, he operated as if nothing was amiss. In my stead, he''d taken on the de facto leadership position, though Jye and Tam did decry and bemoan this. I could vaguely recall them being very vocally disagreeable to his charge back in Bia¡¯s Dungeon.

    As much as it concerned me, I was glad Axel had been permanently glued to my side. Looking back through the haze, the others had shown their care for me in their own way, but it was Axel''s hand that had guided me from waking to sleeping each day.

    Without him, I''m not sure I would''ve found myself again so easily. Or ever. The sadness was a strangling darkness, weighing me down, and only his presence had pierced the veil.

    He''d taken care of me. I was certain he''d bathed me. I couldn''t remember it, not clearly. Everything between discovering the ¡°pertinent information¡± and blinking into existence at the sight of Axel''s dry eyes during the burial was a Gaussian blur of fragmented memories and unplaceable exchanges.

    Of the first night back at base, all I could recall was the soft of a shower sponge between the blades of my shoulders and warm water trickling down me. I remembered a tenderness on my brow, and sheets, silky, tucking me in, and the scent of frangipani pressed into my back and wrapped about me.

    I was sure all of this had been Axel.

    Part of me wondered if I was a terrible person. He had to be suffering too, and I''d just let him take care of me.

    It occurred to me that I wasn¡¯t familiar with how he dealt with loss. After Chrissie, our relationship severed beyond what I¡¯d thought repairable, I¡¯d not been close enough to him to witness what he¡¯d done to grieve my sister. At the very least, I knew he¡¯d wept before her funeral procession, his eyes red, and then when he¡¯d dropped that Warhead into her grave, his face had been scrunched in sorrow, nose snotty with tears.

    So why hadn¡¯t he cried this time?

    Sure, it¡¯d been close to two decades ago, but the Axel now was more similar to Axel then than the Axel in between. He was much more honest with his emotions these days. It was beyond impossible to believe Axel wasn¡¯t heartbroken about the loss of his and my parents.

    Was he suppressing the pain?

    Had he buried it because I was relying on him?

    Did he need some time alone to process?

    Everyone grieved differently.

    I resolved to get to the bottom of it, most of all because when I focused on Axel I wasn¡¯t thinking about how I might never hear my parents¡¯ voices again.

    Carefully, I slipped from Axel¡¯s sleeping arms and out of bed, ensuring not to disturb him. As I crept away, I cast one last glance at the blond¡¯s resting face, letting the sight soothe me, then walked out of the room.

    The rest of the day after saying my goodbyes had been rough. Well, every day had been.

    They don¡¯t tell you that the emotional pain is physical. I¡¯d forgotten how much it drained you, sapped you of strength. It wasn¡¯t just an ache in your chest. It was full body exhaustion, anchoring you down, making focusing difficult, small tasks impossible. The world reminded you cruelly of their absences. Not only that, but it messed up your biorhythms, bodily functions, mental cognition. But worse of all, grief toed an exceptionally close line to frustration and self-loathing.

    I hated how weak I felt, how I hadn¡¯t been able to save them.

    I couldn¡¯t recall it all, but I¡¯d spent most of the time back at base ferried between bed and lounge, half-carried half-walked by Axel, a hand in mine and another on my shoulder to guide me.

    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    So, despite my weariness, I didn¡¯t want to sleep anymore.

    I was tired of being tired.

    Wandering downstairs for the first time on my own, I was hoping to lend a hand. Be useful in some way. Whatever chores I¡¯d normally be doing had been shared by the rest of the party, but a restlessness had grown inside me. It was part guilt over having the others take care of me and part wanting to distract myself.

    My parents were dead.

    It was an immutable fact.

    The only thing to do was go forward.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be! Look who decided to grace us with his presence, poppit.¡±

    Tam was in the kitchen preparing dinner, Wren assisting her. The ten-year-old caught my eye as she peeled an onion and beamed at me through her tears. I had no idea where the two of them had managed to scrounge up more of the versatile vegetable. We¡¯d been fresh out at the last supply check before Dungeon 11, having cooked the rest of them into the meals we¡¯d made for our journey. Had they made a supply run while I¡¯d been out of commission?

    I watched for a moment, Tam finely cutting the onions as Wren passed them over, letting the normality of the sight sink into me, before joining them on the other side of the benchtop. Leaning against the breakfast bar, I studied what Tam had already prepped and set aside. There was quite clearly a pile of mordexi meat, in all its purple glory, already chopped up. Beside that was a bevy of other prepared ingredients.

    ¡°Curry?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Family recipe with a twist,¡± she replied with a grin, dipping her head at the meat.

    I hoped she would be modest with the spice level. Even ignoring the mordexi, my stomach wasn''t feeling particularly charitable these past few days. I¡¯d kept nothing down but chocolate mousse and that was given sparingly. My body was still so currently haywire that no functions other than sleeping and eating what I could had returned to me.

    ¡°From your side or your wife¡¯s?¡±

    For a second, her expression steeled, guard up, but gradually that eased. I blinked in surprise. She was making a marked choice to try and not raise her hackles at my every attempt to know her. It was a strangely pleasant feeling. Was this my reward for trusting her? For believing in the good inside her? Either way, I wouldn¡¯t be bringing up this change just yet. I was worried I would spook her like a horse.

    ¡°It was her pa¡¯s.¡± Her smile sharpened. ¡°It ain¡¯t gourmet, but it''s good for the soul.¡±

    ¡°Can I help?¡±

    Tam¡¯s mouth opened to reply, and it looked like the beginnings of a firm no, but Wren interrupted, pushing the last halved onion to me.

    ¡°You can take over, Lee. I can¡¯t see anymore!¡±

    The onions¡¯ defensive mechanism had worked overtime, and the girl was practically bawling her eyes out, her nose running. Though an odd void sucked the joy from everything lately, I found myself suppressing a laugh. Blinking rapidly to clear away the tears, she lifted her hands to her face but froze just before contact, concentration on her brow.

    Makris had intervened, no doubt.

    Slowly, she lowered her hands and then went to the sink to wash them thoroughly. Using her clean hands, she splashed a little water over her face, rinsing the tears away before patting her skin dry with a hand towel. When she was done, Tam gave her a different task, fetching spices.

    Watching this all in silence, I fought a frown.

    Maybe the man in her head really was looking out for her¡­

    I plucked at the thin skin of the onion, digging the nail of my pointy finger under its first layer. My right hand still felt stiff. The scarring was no longer as raised but remained very noticeable, a rigid line down the center of my palm. It would take quite some time to fade completely, unlike my other injuries.

    It was hard to imagine Makris''s real intentions with Wren. My own past told me it couldn¡¯t be good. That tearing the memories from a kid was tantamount to child abuse. And yet, seeing that he clearly cared enough to stop her from harming herself with a little onion juice in the eyes told a completely different story.

    It didn¡¯t make me comfortable with the idea of her not even being aware of the memories she¡¯d lost. Just further worried about what they could be.

    With the telepathy skill, maybe Makris and I could come to some sort of understanding. But I wasn¡¯t looking forward to that conversation at all. Especially since I didn¡¯t want Wren to be present, so I could lay into the ghost in her head.

    When I finished peeling the onion halves, I pushed the vegetable toward Tam.

    She jutted her jaw in acknowledgement.

    The clattering of the kitchen as she and Wren continued cooking was oddly calming.

    ¡°Oh, dude! You¡¯re up and about,¡± came Jye¡¯s voice from down the hallway at the door to the basement.

    Their eyes were glazed red, a loose expression on their freckled face. As they closed the distance, the unmistakable dankness of smoked pot wafted over to me.

    I didn¡¯t blame them at all. Finding the dead bodies of friends¡¯ parents wasn¡¯t something that became an in-joke. It was fucked up. Not to mention, there was Bia¡¯s sponsorship which didn¡¯t look like it ended well, along with Jye¡¯s background of masked hurt¡­ If the redhead felt the need to unwind in such a way, who was I to judge?

    Instead, I attempted a smile and patted the stool next to me in invitation.

    Jye sat down, their movements a little too fluid, and sniffed the air like a dog. Actually, it more reminded me of Bear in the Big Blue House. During Jye''s and my brief exchange, Tam had begun to fry off the curry paste in some oil, the fragrant spices of ginger, lemongrass, and chilli filling the air. My stomach growled, my appetite awakened. Maybe a little bit of heat wouldn¡¯t be too bad.

    ¡°Damn, Tam, I hope you¡¯re making, like, a triple batch,¡± Jye said, rubbing their hands together. ¡°I¡¯m gonna be eating my weight in this.¡±

    Tam eyed the giant for a moment, genuinely assessing them from head to toe, then directed Wren to measure out double the amount of rice she was pouring into Lusi¡¯s rice cooker. It was probably a smarter move than trying to increase all the other ingredients now that she was already cooking the dish. I had no doubt that when she served it up, Jye¡¯s bowl would receive an obscene amount of the carb.

    Into the silence that followed, I asked, ¡°Where¡¯s Gigi?¡±

    ¡°I think xe is in the back shed,¡± Wren said from the sink, turning her head away from her rinsing of the rice to meet my gaze. ¡°Xe said that it would be a good place to practice if xe made some modifications.¡±

    I leaned back in my stool.

    I''d been mired in grief, and the world had moved on.

    Did these people really need me at all?

    I¡¯d been absent from the team for the past few days, in mind if not in body, and everything had been running absolutely smoothly. Rather, it all seemed better than it¡¯d ever been under my watch. And I hadn¡¯t done anything.

    I¡¯d thought that the others were all incredibly special, each of them talented in different ways, but that what I had to offer was useful to them. A way to help them remain normal in a world where it was anything but, to protect them from themselves. However, in reality, it looked like I¡¯d deluded myself into believing that when I contributed nothing to the party. I was party leader in name only.

    As I sat there, I couldn¡¯t help but feel like deadweight.

    They didn¡¯t need me.

    In fact, it was painfully obvious with our latest discovery that it was really only me who needed them.

    ¡°Lee?!¡±

    The scramble of feet clattered down the stairs, Axel¡¯s bleary eyes wide in panic as he appeared down the hall. His blond hair was mussed, clothes in a disarray, as he all but stormed over to us, each step like a crack of thunder.

    He was next to me in an instant, his voice raw and shaking as he said, ¡°You can¡¯t disappear like that!¡±

    I froze upon seeing his expression. I¡¯d been expecting annoyance from not stirring him to let him know what I was doing, especially since we¡¯d been attached at the hip. But this reaction, this wasn¡¯t even anger. I stared, my mind unable to comprehend what I was seeing.

    Was he¡­ Were those¡­

    ¡°You, once¡ª I thought you¡¯d¡ª¡± He didn¡¯t finish the sentence and instead swept his arms around me, pressing himself against me.

    Axel¡¯s skin was clammy, his breath like that of a small bird, quick and rapid palpitations of his chest. Able to finally move, my shock passed, dim understanding forming in my head, I folded about him, subconsciously running a hand along his back in comfort. Even through his shirt, I could feel the feverish sweat on his skin.

    His body trembled in my embrace, and he squeezed me tightly, uncomfortably so, pushing his face to my neck, like it was some safe haven. My other hand curled up to his head, fingers threading through his hair. I couldn¡¯t help but compare how this was the exact reverse of when Axel had slipped away from me.

    The others, who¡¯d been staring, looked away, and in silence, they faded from the kitchen, Tam switching off the stove before following Wren upstairs to the bedrooms. Jye retreated to the basement, not even glancing back once. I made a note to thank them for their patience in the future.

    Axel¡¯s tears pooled in the crook of my neck, dampening the collar of my pajama shirt. This was entirely different from his unhinged disappearances. This was just Axel dealing with loss.

    Well, I¡¯d been right.

    I was a terrible person.

    And I was an idiot.

    It wasn¡¯t anything of a secret about why he hadn¡¯t cried until now.

    The reason was obvious.

    Just as he¡¯d kept me waking each morning, I¡¯d unknowingly been propping him up too, a crutch he¡¯d been leaning on, just invisibly.

    I hadn¡¯t thought my presence so important to him.

    But when he¡¯d woken alone for the first time, his parents dead, and with no comfort, nothing¡­

    I couldn¡¯t fathom the feeling.

    Fuck.

    I was always messing up when it came to Axel.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said, my mouth dry, throat constricting. ¡°I didn¡¯t think.¡±

    His sobs continued, but in between stolen breaths, he managed out, ¡°You- can¡¯t- leave- me- again.¡± He swallowed back some of the tears. ¡°Promise me.¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t, Axel, I won¡¯t.¡± I would¡¯ve promised him the world if it stopped his crying, each of his shaky inhales like a dull throb of pain in my chest. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    I repeated those words again and again until they lost meaning and then long after that.

    Time passed. I wasn¡¯t sure how much. But Axel''s sobs had finally silenced.

    He slowly lifted his head from my shoulder to meet my gaze.

    His eyes were bloodshot and swollen, the creases of my shirt had left matching impressions along his cheek, his skin was a mottled mix of pale and flushed, and his nose was runny, the hair of his brows running in all different directions. Even his blond hair had kinked unnaturally, the bangs crinkled from the heat and moisture.

    It was a pathetic sight. The worst I¡¯d ever seen of him.

    My next thought was inappropriate for the moment. It didn¡¯t make sense to think because our parents were dead, and my mind was still heavy with memories of what would¡¯ve been. But this thought was the only thing that took over, and for that I was grateful too. It relieved me of them.

    Staring at Axel, I could only think that Axel was beautiful, no matter what expression he made, and I was grateful to see each one. He was here and alive, and he¡¯d stopped crying. He¡¯d been so distant, so worried about image, during our adulthoods that other than his recent insane breakdowns, I don¡¯t think he¡¯d shown this face to anyone else. That he trusted me to reveal this emotion, in contrast to how we¡¯d once been, that I could rely on him as I had, and that he relied on me like this too¡­

    I lifted my head to lay my lips along his brow, echoing the same gesture he¡¯d bestowed on me just the other day, trying to convey my feelings, my gratitude, my appreciation, for everything he was to me. I wouldn¡¯t be alive without him, and, in that moment, perhaps because their loss was still so fresh and where they should¡¯ve been was a gaping hole, I allowed myself to recognise that I wouldn¡¯t want to be.

    His eyes widened as I pulled back, then his mussed brows furrowed, a displeasure rippling over his features.

    ¡°You choose now to kiss me? Of all fucking times?¡±

    A snort of laughter escaped me.

    ¡°Your forehead is oily,¡± I remarked, the feeling lingering on my lips.

    He growled, his voice still hoarse, ¡°And you¡¯re lucky I love you.¡±

    I was.

    The party had curry rather late the day that Axel and I buried our parents.

 Chapter Fifty | Blockage Removed (Part One)

    We ended up spending five days at the base before finally feeling the crunch. The deadline culling was getting closer, and we had no idea when it¡¯d be coming which made the anxiety about it infinitely worse. Not to mention, there was no way of knowing if we were doing enough to entertain the Deities and avoid tutorial termination. Resting on our laurels was a surefire way to get us, and by extension every other human who¡¯d been alive since the Event started, permanently killed. We needed to press forward. That LVL 10 party average was possible!

    Despite my heavy heart, I knew the XP wasn¡¯t gonna just come to us. We would need to grind and get back into the fray.

    I hadn¡¯t been much help during the fight when Damien¡¯s men had attacked us on exiting Bia¡¯s Dungeon, but we¡¯d wiped the floor with them. It had been too easy. With a current average of LVL 5, the six of us (okay, sans a fully functional me) versus even thirteen LVL 1 newbies was a massacre. Both Gigi and Axel had anticipated the gate guardians would be waiting on our arrival, since their crew had to have heard the announcement about our clear, and the two had discussed what we¡¯d do.

    There were really only two options: fight or flight. The response was unanimous; our mercy, our understanding, our passivity had been spent.

    We¡¯d kill to protect those we cared about.

    I also didn¡¯t think Just Friends had it in them to give any leeway to another antagonistic party, not after what Adrien had done. I definitely didn¡¯t. It went unspoken, but it was obvious to everyone what had happened to Axel¡¯s and my parents. I didn¡¯t think about it for days. I still found the thought difficult to swallow.

    Yet, I knew.

    Uncle Seb, Auntie Li, mum, and dad had all been smart in their own ways; Axel''s parents the more intellectual and academic type and my own more common sense savvy. None of them were so stupid to remain in the cave like that, especially when they were unprepared for the biome, even if their lives had been in danger from the mordexi. There was no possible way they¡¯d have stayed on their own volition.

    It only led to one conclusion.

    Adrien had led them in, locked them inside, and let them freeze to death. It¡¯d probably been before he¡¯d purchased [Cloudeath]¡ªthe ability of noxious fumes¡ªlikely a day or two before we¡¯d entered the Dungeon. I didn¡¯t want to believe that he¡¯d learned some of their abilities, but the possibility was there.

    In the time after discovering their bodies, the others had made their confrontational choice regarding the gate sentinels, and I¡¯d walked to the Gate quietly alongside them, without comment. Not just because I was still reeling from the discovery of my parents¡¯ deaths, but because I understood now.

    It was just as Tam said.

    Knowing who to kill for changed everything.

    Unfortunately, after the Gate guardian deaths, including Damien himself, we¡¯d made the gruesome discovery that outside of Dungeons, taking out other players didn¡¯t grant XP, at least for now. It made sense¡ªno one was dropping in to watch Earth since Mods weren¡¯t assigned to it. Why would we get rewarded for performing without an audience? It¡¯d be like expecting applause in an empty theatre. Though, to our chagrin, the deads¡¯ abilities also weren¡¯t available for purchase.

    At least killing outside of the Dungeons would remain mostly useless to others.

    It was a small consolation.

    I lamented both the unnecessary deaths, adding them to my mental tally, and the abilities we couldn¡¯t make use of, but still we¡¯d taken their corpses. It was something of a ritual now, especially after all the effort we put in for the ones inside Bia¡¯s Dungeon. Perhaps I¡¯d managed to ingrain my view on this on the rest of the party; that we could retain our humanity by taking on this responsibility. Or maybe they just felt bad for me since my parents had been killed and we¡¯d found their corpses. Both were equally possible.

    That said, as the number grew, I did have to soon confront the issue that we¡¯d still not come up with what to do with them yet. We could put them all to rest, but that would take far longer than I think we had time for. The graves for Axel¡¯s and my parents that the others had dug¡ªa hole for each couple¡ªhad taken the better part of twenty hours, in total. Even then they¡¯d only been a meter deep, despite what Jye had boasted of during my comatose detachment. Later, the giant had explained to me that so long as it was past the animal scent barrier of about a ruler¡¯s length, any depth was fine.

    Axel¡¯s point from outside the shrine in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon still stood about cremation too. The fuel cost was absurd, and I didn¡¯t want any smoking beacons leading others to our base. And, yet, still I¡¯d been hoping the dead we¡¯d collected had family or friends somewhere, and they¡¯d eventually somehow claim them. It was an empty prayer right now, and if we waited too late, there¡¯d be no one left to return them too. But we just didn¡¯t have the time to see to it.

    I¡¯d always intended on giving us around three days between Dungeon grinding to ensure we were mentally and physically rested, but this¡­ setback had taken a larger spiritual toll than I¡¯d ever thought I¡¯d have to compensate for.

    Whilst Gigi, Jye, and Wren seemed to manage this delay well, each of them finding something to fill their time, the training shed, the vegetable basement, and polaroid photography (the camera Wren had ¡°found¡± recently in someone¡¯s house during a supply run), respectively, Tam was starting to get antsy, her dishes spiked with chillies, as if literally putting coals under us to stoke us to action.

    And so once we¡¯d seen my family to their hopefully temporary resting spots, the last two days we¡¯d started considering our plan of action going forward and dissecting the events that had happened while I¡¯d been out of it. It was irritating, but I still wasn¡¯t fully there, at moments gripped with an emptiness so intense that my vision lost colour, but the need to level up, to keep us all alive, brought me back quick enough.

    So far, on reflection, we¡¯d all agreed that killing outside of Dungeons was pointless and fights should be avoided, if possible. It wasn¡¯t so different from our prior position, except that I understood the weight of the words now properly. However, our exposure to such unpredictable elements would be greatly reduced by the Nexus. Axel had broken it down, seemingly having been the one to look into it before we¡¯d left Bia¡¯s Dungeon. Perhaps it¡¯d been something else he had been able to focus on to keep him sane.

    Leadership suited him.

    I¡¯d never thought that before, but sitting at the dining table and listening to him talk, it was obvious. Me being the head of the party had never made sense, since I wasn¡¯t the most skilled at anything. Hell, my own stats reflected that. Middling at all, right? If I hadn¡¯t been here, if I wasn¡¯t here, Axel would¡¯ve been their leader. With the way he spoke, succinct though abrasive, and his ability to analyse the situation, he should¡¯ve been directing the team.

    Then again, with his morals, we would¡¯ve been murderers long ago.

    He didn¡¯t show any guilt over killing people.

    I¡¯d thought his expression unreadable upon committing the acts, but I was sure now since seeing him break down and having almost lost him. That was guilt in his eyes. When he killed someone, it was simply another action required to keep going. It wouldn¡¯t be my approach. It could never be. But I understood it.

    Axel explained to me, essentially, so long as we were within proximity of a Gate, the Nexus would let us access a map of other uncleared Dungeons around the world. Presumably, selecting one would bring us to it. Way back way, almost a lifetime ago, I hadn¡¯t been wrong about the Nexus being waypoints. I had just not gotten the details right. Half a point to Lee on that.

    There were a lot of uncleared Dungeons, Axel said. The number he gave from his cursory glance meant there were many, many, many more than I would¡¯ve ever anticipated. ¡°In the triple digits.¡± Gigi had previously mentioned the Gates would stop forming when no more Deities were interested in participating in the Event.

    Just how many Deities were there?

    Taking down the world map from one of the children¡¯s rooms, Axel marked out the general location of the Gates¡¯ spread, with the others prompting him with their own recollections, having also opened the Nexus back in Bia¡¯s Dungeon to check based on Axel¡¯s explanation.

    He¡¯d gone on to say that it also looked as though we could travel back to Gates our party had entered, since they¡¯d been marked on the map too. Was that a way of encouraging reruns? I guess there could be something of entertainment to be had from watching someone perfect a speedrun of a map. Not a lot of people liked to watch multiple attempts though. I could imagine the Deities growing bored long before anyone could perfect their run.

    Given the bountiful options of uncleared Dungeons, we each took a pick, pinning a thumb tack to the map, and it shouldn¡¯t have surprised me, but Wren, Jye, and Axel all chose a Dungeon in Japan. The single mercy was that they were in different prefectures and locales. It wouldn¡¯t have mattered anyway, since the Gates led to micro-worlds outside of our realm of existence. Their actual physical location was pure chance. Gigi selected a random Gate in Russia, saying the shape of the country reminded xem of their homeland, and after a beat, Tam chose one in India. It certainly was an out of character choice. I¡¯d learned not to comment about stuff like this lest Tam bite my head off.

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    It was a long shot, but given our luck so far with familiar faces, I went with a Dungeon in California.

    After that, we¡¯d drawn lots, with Tam winning first.

    In the end, our Dungeon itinerary ended up being New Delhi, Kyoto, Sacramento, Osaka, Tsukuba, and Saint Petersburg. We¡¯d surely lose some as others cleared them while we were busy with ours. If that happened, we¡¯d drop it from the list and simply move onto the next one. I still hadn¡¯t changed my mind over first clears being the most value for money, at least in regards to entertainment for the Deities. Not only would we take the current ones who were fans along for the ride, we¡¯d garner new followers as we went.

    It was irritating that the gods benefiting from our trials were so detached from us. Mumma only cared for Tam, Nabu was barely there (if there at all), Gigi hadn¡¯t explained xir situation in the slightest, and Bia¡¯s sponsorship looked to have fallen into the hellscape of Jye''s glitch.

    Just once, it''d be nice to have someone properly on our side.

    Maybe I should accept Absalom¡¯s sponsorship.

    He was the one who¡¯d led us to Axel¡¯s and my parents, after all.

    The issue was that since we¡¯d completed his request, he hadn¡¯t sent another sponsorship invitation. Was he¡­ being considerate? He¡¯d apologised when he¡¯d delivered the news. So maybe he was giving me time to process, to grieve. The more he revealed of himself, the more I found myself reconsidering his sponsorship.

    Speaking of other options, the Deity Commentary this time around, purchased by Axel since he¡¯d taken on all my responsibilities while I¡¯d been indisposed, hadn¡¯t held much interesting content, at least according to him. Not that I didn¡¯t trust his opinion, but I didn¡¯t, so I¡¯d tried to buy it myself and found it unavailable. Only one person from the party could make the purchase.

    That was just great.

    He summarised it for us, only briefly touching on the fujin behaviour from Peach Bite, Southern Wind, and Sky Shine, though it sounded like their group had grown larger still. The idea made my stomach churn, considering everything Axel and I had gone through in Bia¡¯s Dungeon. They¡¯d probably been screaming in delight as Axel had been nearly dying. Curious enough, Axel said nothing about Anon123, which felt very off to me. There was no way he wouldn''t have been active. I would¡¯ve classified him as one of our staunchest supporters.

    Axel did note that the Mod had been jumping back and forth between the three different battles sites according to their own desires, flat out ignoring the irate Deities demands in chat. That was new information. The Mod in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon had done as Anon123 had asked, following us rather than Test Name. It meant that ultimately the entire collective of Deities engaged in commentary had no say.

    Should we instead be appealing to the Mod?

    That fourth day, we also discussed how to spend our credits. I¡¯d finally gotten my part from the items I¡¯d sent to Xanthe at base last time, and it was a lot less than I¡¯d been anticipating considering what I¡¯d glimpsed when I¡¯d previously browsed the marketplace auction window. With the paltry income it¡¯d served me, I got little more than 123 more credits. It wasn¡¯t nothing, and every little bit counted, but when I tried to pass more to sell, the items wouldn¡¯t transfer.

    Confused by the low return and Xanthe¡¯s refusal to take my stock, when I checked the auction house again, I found it flooded with similar items to that which I¡¯d bartered off. I guess you couldn¡¯t argue with the economics of supply and demand. Xanthe hadn¡¯t managed to peddle my wares quick enough to outrun the sudden influx of other players realising they too could earn credits through the marketplace.

    How many other people also had dedicated vendors? It¡¯d been over two weeks since the Gates had appeared. Plenty had to have reached the same requirements to access Twilight by now, whatever they were.

    So while I mourned that revenue shrivelling up, we went over our current credit count and what we should be spending it on.

    Adding it up in total, Just Friends had each earned 2,172 credits from Bia¡¯s Dungeon: 92 from Adrien, 1,000 from the clear, and the rest from eliminating nearly sixty mordexi, though I was assuming we¡¯d shared experience with Adrien for all those kills, excluding the hatchlings.

    With my speed spending on attributes before I¡¯d taken him out, I¡¯d dropped as much cash as I could into STR, DEX, and INT to boost my mana and stamina capacity and bought [Mirror Aid] (which alone had turned out to cost a whopping 900 credits). My current stats were pretty unbalanced, and it made me uncomfortable looking at them. I¡¯d never been the type to get on edge from uneven numbers, but mine not matching were making my skin itch.

    To our collective vexation, upon hitting LVL 5, the cost of attribute purchases doubled from 5 to 10. On the bright side, that also might mean more information would be unlocked in our system stats soon. Alongside this increase, when I''d been in a clearer state of mind, I also noticed that there was an uptick in my mana, health, and stamina regeneration. It¡¯d started the moment we exited the Gate. Where before it¡¯d been a struggle to refill my bars in an hour, they now were back to full in much less time. Since prior to this, our level ups hadn¡¯t done anything to our general stats, I hadn¡¯t paid any attention (not to mention I¡¯d been preoccupied with other thoughts).

    Even Nabu had once said our levels didn¡¯t really mean anything, but obviously that was wrong.

    Perhaps to a god, these changes mattered little, but for us¡­ this was a critical update.

    It was why we¡¯d leveled Damien¡¯s crew so easily.

    Given the amount of bugs and issues I¡¯d run into, from Jye to Wren, this could really could be some sort of last minute dev push to correct balancing issues. Or maybe this was just how it always worked. Perhaps it was a reward for returning to Earth after reaching LVL 5, ¡°halfway¡± to our goal, a booster to encourage us, to keep us going, just in case we started to flag. In any case, only Gigi and Jye didn¡¯t notice any difference, most notably because neither were LVL 5. I guess it made sense about why Gigi could always summon so many [Shield Walls]. Still, with this new regen, it meant we could take more risks.

    And maybe that was the point¡­

    The conversation about credits continued, shifting to focus on abilities and their upgrades. My [Channel] was still greyed out in the Upgrade screen, so I was at a loss on what prerequisites it required, but other than Jye, and reluctantly admitted by Tam, everyone could upgrade their current abilities. There was no further information about the upgrades other than their costs and the new names that they would take on. Some upgrades cost more than others. I was assuming they were tiered.

    Considering that other than me, everyone was sitting on 2,300 points, it seemed like a no-brainer to at least attempt to upgrade their abilities. No one disagreed. While everyone did so, I¡¯d looked over my newest ability, although thinking about it did make me sick, the double vision like nausea incarnate.

    [Mirror Aid | Rare] Summon a weak replica puppet of a targeted player based on personal observation. May be dismissed at will.

    Looking at it right now, tier currently Rare, the ability would do me absolutely fine as it was. I didn¡¯t see any point in upgrading it yet, though it was possible. Not to mention, the system had once again called me broke, the cost probably ludicrous, as if Anna from the grave was laughing at me once again. I could hear her voice calling me stupid even now.

    I also redistributed my credits so that all my attributes were all even again; 35 in all. Then, given I¡¯d gotten some money from the marketplace, I tried to send the remainder to everyone equally. Surprisingly, it worked. It simply asked for one confirmation, and then my credits were gone. Axel immediately sent his back.

    When everyone was done, we went around the table, detailing the changes.

    Axel: [Groundsmash] ¡ú [Rupture], [Intimidation] ¡ú [Captivation], [Thick Hide] ¡ú [Plated Bark], [Smithing] ¡ú [Furnace]. He¡¯d spent 800 credits for the upgrades.

    Wren: [Healing Hand] ¡ú [Saintly Intent], [Whetstone] ¡ú [Keen Steel], [Volley] ¡ú [Displaced Volley]. 700 credits, total.

    Gigi: [Shield Wall] ¡ú [Sentinel Shield], [Locate] ¡ú [Echolocate]. Only 600 for xem.

    When I asked why the Linnikian hadn¡¯t upgraded xir [Focus], xe told me it was greyed out because Unique abilities weren¡¯t upgradable. I repressed a sigh. If my heart was capable of any more disappointment, it would¡¯ve shattered. At this point, with how the system worked, I just had to let this wash over me and through me.

    [Channel] would never change.

    Without any foundation to draw from, I had to base my understanding of upgrades on what the others were saying. They explained that the upgrades added new effects to the abilities and cost more stamina and mana rather than replacing them with something completely new, even though they had different names. Did that mean we could pick and choose whether or not to use the upgraded version?

    For example, Gigi¡¯s [Sentinel Shield] now allowed xem to assign one of xir shields to another party member, and it would follow them around. Only being able to use it like that would be a disadvantage, rather than a benefit, since Gigi relied upon them quite a lot as stationary barriers and footholds. So, hopefully xe¡¯d still be able to use them as xe¡¯d previously had. Still, it presented a new issue. It would be a steep learning curve.

    It was a good thing Gigi had nearly finished refitting the shed out back. We¡¯d have to practice with all these new changes.

    In character for Tam, she still refused to tell us the name of her abilities, but she mentioned she¡¯d upgraded one of them. I had a sneaking suspicion her transformation ability was Unique too and thus not capable of being upgraded. Quietly, I noted that she¡¯d never rescinded her consent for me to [Channel] her skills. She was an incredibly complex woman. I still couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of why she¡¯d asked to retain her collar.

    Suddenly, I was taken with a new thought. Would I be able to¡­ turn into a cat? The idea was so silly that I found I was genuinely smiling to myself for the first time in a long time. I¡¯d definitely be trying that out. Maybe with Axel to supervise, so I didn¡¯t panic. Wait. What if I turned into something other than a cat?

    And then we came to Jye, who wasn¡¯t able to spend credits with their glitched screen without getting high and taking random stabs in the dark. Although this would¡¯ve filled most people with despair, our resident giant was taking it quite well. Part of me doubted that was the full truth. Not after everything I¡¯d seen of them.

    Jye said they¡¯d let us know after an attempt. Actually, should they be on their lonesome in the basement, maybe I could confront them about Bia¡¯s title then, as well as their sadness too. I¡¯d fled last time I¡¯d seen them crying there, and I regretted that immeasurably. Should I get another opportunity, I wouldn¡¯t be making the same mistake.

    After that tiring and informative meeting, we had dinner, which I wasn¡¯t hungry for, then dessert, which I ate part of, and then Axel dragged me to bed, his arms curling about me as the emptiness of loss finally overtook my now idle thoughts. His shirt was damp with tears when I finally fell asleep.

    Just like that, the day after I buried my parents came to an end.

 Chapter Fifty | Blockage Removed (Part Two)

    The fifth day at base was filled with much of the same discussion as the fourth, but as talks dragged on, a tenser mood weighed down the air. We¡¯d been away from the Dungeons for too long, and I think we were all feeling it. It was affecting the entire atmosphere, darkening our moods. Whether this too was part of the Dungeon compulsion or our own wants and desires wasn¡¯t clear.

    I¡¯d written out Adrien¡¯s abilities and laid them out on the dining table for everyone to see.

    We¡¯d been going through our breakdown of who¡¯d get [Wiretap], [Legerdemain], [Cloudeath], [Light Defense], [Drain], [Haste], [Ensnare], and [Shockshot] for three hours straight, when Wren called for a snack break. An argument over [Legerdemain] (Adrien¡¯s illusion ability, we assumed) had been raring, and hackles were rising, so it¡¯d been a good idea on her behalf. Though as Wren happily chewed on a fruit roll-up before heading off, I realised the girl had just been hungry.

    Everyone else seemed to be taking the break for themselves, with Gigi and Jye going out for a walk, something about meeting step counts, and Tam having rolled onto the lounge for a catnap. I didn¡¯t see her go, but I heard the clicks of Wren¡¯s ¡°reclaimed¡± polaroid camera from her bedroom, followed by quiet murmurs under her breath. Hopefully, the girl was having fun.

    Axel, on the other hand, followed me wherever I went.

    Since he¡¯d finally cried, he¡¯d refused to let me leave his sight, clinging to my side. I suppose knowing that I could look up at any time and meet his cool gaze also reassured me too. And that was all fine and dandy except when I needed to talk to the others privately.

    In contrast to my affection for Axel, the rest of the party held a fond enmity toward him, the way you might nickname a rabbit that snuck into your garden and ate all your vegetables. It was cute, but at the same time it was ruining your life. They¡¯d therefore been less open with him around. It stopped me from having a much needed follow-up discussion with Jye as well as potentially probing out why Tam had warmed to the party. So, that was a bit of a thorn in my side.

    And when I say he would not leave my side, that was no hyperbole.

    Whether it was the breakfast that morning, or pure happenstance, as if waking from its slumber, my body had finally decided it was time to purge the four days of slim servings of only chocolate mousse I¡¯d been eating. It¡¯d been the singular thing that had stayed down until today. Even Tam¡¯s curry had come up within the hour. So now my stomach felt painfully tight, but there was a problem.

    Axel was currently standing outside the bathroom of my bedroom¡¯s en suite.

    And that wasn¡¯t even the worst of it.

    The man was beyond positive that I would disappear into nothing if I was more than a meter away from him and out of his sight. It wasn¡¯t like I¡¯d do anything drastic. I mean, not that the thought hadn¡¯t drifted innocently across my mind once in the grief, but I¡¯d have never acted on it.

    Axel¡¯s stubbornness was a trait I did not enjoy about him at the best of times.

    So I¡¯d already had to fight tooth and nail into cajoling him into letting me close the door. It shouldn¡¯t come as a shock, but I¡¯d never felt comfortable using the bathroom with the door open, and despite Axel¡¯s insistence that he¡¯d seen it all before, that was an issue I would not be changing my mind on. With heated cheeks, I¡¯d argued that us bathing together as little kids did not count. The blond had given me a look, as if to say that is not what he meant, but he¡¯d elaborated little further.

    Of course I knew what he was actually talking about.

    His presence outside my toilet door felt obscenely invasive, but nothing I¡¯d said so far could convince him otherwise. So, what was I supposed to do? It¡¯s not like I could pick him up and lock him outside my bedroom. For one, he¡¯d take me easy. And our doors didn¡¯t have locks, for another.

    It was either capitulate or watch him cry again.

    One of which was infinitely preferable.

    Ironically, I found myself wondering if this counted as the weaponisation of white-passing tears.

    As I sat on the toilet, my ass going numb, waiting for my apprehension that Axel might hear what I was doing in here pass, I let my thoughts wander.

    Unlike myself, no one would¡¯ve guessed Axel had any Asian heritage at all, since he took after Uncle Seb. Mr. Masson, like my mother, was Australian convict stock, born and bred, some absurd mix of every European country you could think of; Irish, Scottish, English, Russian, French, etc.

    Axel¡¯s mother, on the other hand, was something like half Chinese, though she kept that a closely guarded secret. Not even Axel knew, but he¡¯d always threatened to get a 23&Me done. I remember once, as a kid, asking Mrs. Masson about her own parents, and she¡¯d just offered me some sliced fruit instead. (I later learned that Auntie Li didn¡¯t speak about her family since her parents had disowned her for reasons no one had ever explained to me.)

    Actually, thinking about it, the only thing that gave away Axel¡¯s ancestry was the subtle epicanthic fold of his inner eyes. And even then, some Caucasian people naturally had those anyway. Obviously, the hue of his skin color was from his mother as well, but you could wave that away to the good old Australian sun. Everything else about Axel, from high cheekbones to strong jaw to runner''s build, was all Uncle Seb.

    Just like his curly hair when we were young kids, I¡¯d been envious of Axel having inherited nothing of his Asian genes. I¡¯d have liked to have said it wasn¡¯t a race thing, but it was. But more than that, it was the eternal feeling of being different. What I wouldn¡¯t have done as a child to look like the other kids we went to school with. It would¡¯ve stopped some of the bullying, that was for sure.

    As far as I was concerned, growing up in rural Queensland, he¡¯d lucked out looking as white as he had. He wasn¡¯t subject to the racist comments that spat from our peers unfiltered. Part of me was relieved Chrissie never had to suffer their bigotry, especially since she¡¯d been an equal blend of our parents: wavy thick brown hair, green eyes, light brown skin, and a mix of their facial features. She had dad¡¯s smile, but the mischief of mum in her gaze. I still missed her laughter.

    I missed all their voices.

    I¡¯d ended up with all the coloring of my father; darker skin, dark brown eyes, and brown-almost-black hair. Since I didn¡¯t really take much after my mother, she¡¯d once shown me photos of her father who¡¯d passed before I was born. Sure enough, a facsimile of my face was right there in black and white. A flat nose, almond shaped eyes, and softer jawline than I¡¯d have liked.

    As a result of ¡°not looking Australian,¡± I¡¯d been called derogatory terms on a semi-weekly basis attending school in Charleville¡ªthough mostly delivered under the pretense of jest. If I tried to point it out, I couldn¡¯t take a joke. Lucky Axel, however, had skated by on his white-passing looks. It helped that he was pretty too.

    Of course, by the time that this racial prejudice became an pressing issue in our teens, the two of us hadn¡¯t been on talking terms. If I were being honest, the divide in our treatment only further pushed me away from him.

    It was kind of funny how none of that mattered now, not really.

    Chrissie was dead.

    Mum and dad were dead.

    Auntie Li and Uncle Seb were dead.

    And Axel was waiting outside the toilet door.

    It was an awful thought to think, but somehow right now, the last thing was the worst of them all. Everything in comparison, as they say.

    Repressing a sigh, I checked my watch and found the thirty minute break we¡¯d agreed upon was wrapping up. It looked like I would not be shitting today, despite the discomfort in my gut.

    This was just too far out of my comfort zone.

    I¡¯m sure other people went to the bathroom in front of each other all the time, but bodily functions weren¡¯t exactly things I was a fan of, nonsexual or otherwise. The door practically might not be there for how close I knew Axel was; his soft inhales and exhales audible on the other side. The idea of him hearing me was mortifying even though Axel probably wouldn¡¯t have cared less, given stories I¡¯d heard in passing of his past sexual experiences.

    Though maybe he would¡¯ve, thinking on it. When it came to sex, I¡¯d read that allosexual people¡¯s ¡°gross¡± switch turned off. Mine most certainly did not. And since this was as far away from that context as it could be, he had to still feel squeamish about this too. That meant neither of us truly wanted this.

    It was just fear.

    ¡°Axel, please, where would I even go from here? You really don¡¯t need to be out there. ¡±

    ¡°I really do, though your objections are noted.¡±

    Irritated, and stomach upset, I sat forward, reaching up to crack the door open a smidge. ¡°If you don¡¯t leave me alone, my bed is off limits for a week.¡±

    His gaze met mine through the gap, eyes narrowed.

    ¡°You¡¯re bluffing.¡±

    ¡°You really want to take that risk?¡±

    Consideration played over his face, then he sighed. ¡°I¡¯ll be waiting outside in the hall then.¡±

    His footsteps sounded, fading away, and I clicked my door shut again.

    Finally, some privacy!

    Maybe it was a stupid thing to get hung up on when the world was ending. When I¡¯d just held a funeral for my parents and godparents. When I¡¯d killed a man. When I¡¯d spent almost five hours picking up corpse bits. But you had to draw a line somewhere.

    Besides, as far as I was concerned, just because Axel had seen me naked¡ªand admittedly I¡¯d also seen him nude since back in our apartment as he¡¯d never bothered dressing to get a cup of water at night¡ªthat didn¡¯t mean we were on such familiar terms.

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    Yes, I guess we were dating insofar as that counted during this¡­ apocalypse. And, yes, I guess we¡¯d seen each other in much worse situations. And, yes, I guess I also shared his reservations in letting him leave my side, the fear of losing him ever present.

    But I couldn¡¯t think of a single thing less romantic to do in front of my partner.

    Relief finally and mercifully granted, I froze as I flushed the toilet.

    My partner?

    My mind span, hooked onto an earlier part of that thought.

    Romantic?!

    Washing my hands in something of a daze, I left the bathroom without wiping them dry, too stunned to properly process anything, and as I opened the bedroom door to the hallway, I was greeted by an irate Axel, though he graced me with his hand in mine anyway. Still thrown by my revelations, I couldn¡¯t say anything.

    My thoughts were whipping around in my head, like a cat-o-nine-tails lashing away barriers I¡¯d put up.

    It was a ridiculous time to consider this, and I couldn¡¯t possibly be in the right headspace the second day after burying my parents, but if not today¡­ When else would I? They say you shouldn''t make any huge life choices after a traumatic event, but everything from the moment the Gates had appeared was one continuous traumatic event. There might not be an after it.

    Tam¡¯s concise advice was truer now than ever; words I¡¯d wished I¡¯d said to my mum and dad like barbed wire in my throat.

    Life was short.

    It felt like a painfully stupid question to ask myself, and to anyone else the answer might be obvious, but¡­

    Did I actually like Axel like that?

    Since our broken friendship, and my crush on him had been nuclear blasted, I¡¯d struggled all through puberty and adulthood to tell the difference between romantic and platonic interest. It didn''t help that I''d had sparingly few friends either.

    Googling will tell you that the difference lies in the desire for intimacy. And, boy, had I Googled. Nights upon nights of trying to figure things out. No answers. ¡°Everyone¡¯s different.¡± How the hell were sex-indifferent asexuals meant to tell, then? And if you threw alterous feelings into the mix, it became an absolute non-starter.

    I¡¯d confidently announced to Axel I could fall in love back in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon, but other than my childhood feelings for him, I had no other foundation. My basis of comparison was smiling idiotically in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, as I thought about something he''d said and thinking anything he did was cool. Everything I knew was nearing two decades old and involved memories that were rife with trauma, to boot.

    I¡¯d never fallen for anyone else!

    All I knew about romantic love was Axel.

    Not to mention, I hadn¡¯t even wanted to pursue anyone, not really. At least, looking back at it, I didn¡¯t think so. I¡¯d been doing it out of loneliness, out of service of my autopilot goal for the compulsory picket fence life we were all meant to follow, not because I genuinely felt a spark with any of the people I¡¯d dated.

    I did feel a little bit bad about it now, since the people I¡¯d gone out with had in fact wanted something real. But based on what I knew about love, those dates wouldn¡¯t have gone anywhere; the blame solely on me, of course.

    I cared deeply about Axel, couldn¡¯t stand the thought of life without him, would do anything to see him safe and happy, but did that mean¡ª

    ¡°This better be water,¡± he muttered, top lip upturned, gazing down at my moist hand in his.

    Unable to resist, drawn out of my quandary by the very subject of it, I laughed in semi-relief. ¡°You really do expect the worst of me.¡±

    He smiled back. An impish expression curled at the edges of his eyes as he led me down the stairs back to the party meeting. He leaned in close and conspiratorially whispered, ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have let go either way.¡±

    ¡°Gross,¡± I said, though it was oddly touching.

    Again, I found my mind freezing. Had I just thought that Axel saying he¡¯d hold my hand even if I¡¯d pissed on it to be endearing? What the fuck was wrong with me? Was I actually¡­ Did I¡­

    The blond in question had paused in front of me, studying my face.

    ¡°You good?¡± he asked.

    Did I like Axel romantically?

    I know we were technically dating already, but people dated others and then started liking them, right? Or did it come first? Or did it come later? TV shows and movies portrayed it as a sudden understanding, like a light being switched on, or a slow gradual process, the feeling growing as the people learned more about each other. But I knew Axel.

    I¡¯d always known him.

    Axel¡¯s head tilted, punctuating his question. The same expression on his face in everything we¡¯d gone through together flickered through my mind, each one comforting in its familiarity but challenging in its intent. I knew intuitively I cared for him. That was an undeniable truth. But beyond that¡­

    As I stared, the feeling unravelled, unspooling.

    It was the warmth of his hand in mine, his arms around me, his lips on my brow, his smile when he looked at me like he saw me. It was him pissing me off, accepting my worst, pushing me, supporting me. It was all he¡¯d done for me, what it meant to me, the way he treated me, how he made me feel.

    The few times I''d nearly died, it hadn''t been my life that had flashed through my mind.

    Huh.

    My answer was as easy as breathing.

    It wasn''t a reckoning. It wasn''t a revelation.

    It was just as it''d always been.

    And heaven help me.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± I said, a smile tugging at the corners of my lips despite myself. Blinking, I cleared my throat and then clarified, ¡°I¡¯m good. Now, let¡¯s see if we can actually make some headway on assigning Adrien¡¯s skills.¡±

    After two more hours of heated debate, we finally came to a semi-satisfactory conclusion. We spent the rest of daylight practicing with our new skills in the shed Gigi had been working on. I don¡¯t know how xe¡¯d done it, but xe¡¯d transformed the place into a training paradise, with dummies of hay laying at the end, and makeshift steps and platforms, assumedly to practice evasive manoeuvres; something I was sorely lacking at. In fact, the majority of injuries I¡¯d suffered had been me unable to break away in time or me having thrown myself intentionally into danger.

    Maybe alongside jogging in the morning, I needed to start improving my reaction speed. Perhaps Tam or Axel could help me with that.

    But that was another thing I started becoming aware of. I was seeing results from the regimen that Jye had put together for me. It hadn¡¯t even been a full week since I¡¯d started, though I had gone on a break since¡­ my parents. The gradual changes appeared to be happening to others too, though if they noticed it, I wasn¡¯t sure.

    Whatever the system had done to us, from granting us abilities and stats, it had also boosted progression, so long as you put in the effort. That said, I didn¡¯t feel stronger or faster or better at all. But the improvements were there, nonetheless.

    I think I was beginning to understand the system more and more.

    Our very body, our character, our life and background, informed what we were capable of. These things were calibrated into the system as hidden modifiers that we might never be able to see. I had a feeling that even at the exact same attribute score, and if we were both using [Swift Footed], Axel would still leave me in the dust. Just as Gigi¡¯s shields would forever be stronger than mine. Just as Wren would be able to heal more efficiently than me. And Jye had better control over their Load. And Tam could land hits that little bit easier.

    There was something underneath the stats that the system handed out.

    And that was us.

    Undergoing this extra training was shifting these modifiers, changing us at a fundamental level. Given the speed of our progress, I had to assume that this is what players were meant to be doing, or figuring out. This was part of the game. Part of the entertainment.

    Like a magic trick.

    What goes into the box, isn¡¯t what comes out.

    How much can we put these toys through until they break?

    No longer keeping such thoughts to myself, I mentioned as much to everyone else, though in less harsh words, and was met with grim nods. Better out than in¡­

    Once we¡¯d gotten a grip on what we could do, though Tam and Jye stayed behind to practice longer (despite Jye not having been able to purchase their attributes and skills yet), we agreed it was more than time to hit another Dungeon.

    Whilst you could be fooled into thinking our levels seemed decently high and that we¡¯d come so far, the truth was we¡¯d only achieved under 4,000 XP out of the 255,750 needed to reach LVL 11; barely 5 percent. So, with concrete resolve, we started prepping for our next outing, our next first clear. We also discussed our approach to it, practicing an opening strategy that Gigi suggested.

    I guess we were going to New Delhi tomorrow.

    After wrapping up for the night, considering it¡¯d be an early morning tomorrow, Wren approached me as I was heading upstairs for bed, Axel hovering down the hallway, ever near. In Wren¡¯s hands, she held a pile of polaroid photos so tall that to stop it from toppling over, she was pressing down with the bottom of her chin, her head angled up awkwardly. Wow. She¡¯d likely run through her entire collection of film. We¡¯d have to go looking for some more when we had time.

    It was odd how she¡¯d taken to the hobby while I¡¯d been out of it. Maybe we weren¡¯t providing an enriching enough environment for her. I¡¯d thought the arts and craft stuff Jye had given her from Bunnings would keep her preoccupied for a while. Maybe I needed to have another conversation with said giant, since out of the crew, only the two of us had dealt with younger siblings before. Well, Tam might¡¯ve, but I would never know.

    With a frown, not meeting my eyes, Wren said, ¡°These are for you.¡±

    I didn¡¯t hide my shock since I thought she¡¯d just come to show them off.

    Pleasantly surprised, I thanked her.

    With a delicate touch, I eased them from her grip and glanced down at the first photograph, expecting something like flowers and harmless but badly framed and composed candid pictures of the party. I had already loaded some empty compliments into the forefront of my brain, ready to deal them out regardless of the photos¡¯ artistic quality. As much as I wasn¡¯t a fan of empty platitudes, Wren was just a kid. It was better to be encouraging than critical at this age.

    Instead, I was greeted with the dead face of one of the gate guardians we¡¯d killed. Someone had laid a sheet over their chest, their face clean of blood, relaxed, their hands crossed over their chest.

    Laid to rest.

    Flipping to the next, it was another, and then another, and then someone from Bia¡¯s Dungeon. All of them in the same position, under that same sheet. My throat went dry, confronted once again by the insurmountable amount of death we¡¯d already seen.

    ¡°Wren¡­ What is this?¡± I asked, my voice barely squeaking out of me, the weight of the photos I was holding suddenly too heavy.

    Her hands met at her waist, wringing. The girl¡¯s hazel gaze flicked up to meet mine, her expression hesitant.

    ¡°I¡¯m not really good at cooking, or cleaning, or planning training, or helping you sleep, or figuring out things. This is all I can do.¡± She paused. ¡°You said you hoped people would find them, right?¡±

    Understanding hit me. I swallowed. It was all I could do to fight back the tears.

    ¡°You want us to hang these up somewhere in the city so people know what happened to them?¡± I wondered aloud.

    She nodded quickly.

    ¡°And maybe, if we can figure out a way to communicate, we can return people to their family and friends.¡±

    I smiled weakly, part horrified and part mystified how she¡¯d come to this solution. It definitely wouldn¡¯t have been something Makris had asked of her. In fact, I was surprised he¡¯d let her do this at all. Fuck, had she been washing her hands between these? No, wait, while this was touching and thoughtful, it was incredibly messed up. Kids weren¡¯t supposed to be engaged in post-mortem photography!

    And, yet¡­ It wasn''t an awful idea. Rather, it was the only idea we¡¯d had. It was a real tangible answer to the issue we¡¯d been having, and while it wasn¡¯t fully concrete, it was a hell of a lot better than nothing at all. We could work from this, springboard off it from here. It was something to start with. Not only that, but she¡¯d clearly put a lot of thought into this and so much effort.

    I didn¡¯t like that she¡¯d been moving around dead bodies on her own, but that was neither here nor there.

    ¡°Thank you, Wren,¡± I said, and this time I meant it from the depths of my soul.

    The ten-year-old beamed back.

 Chapter Fifty-One | Neck

    It was later that night when I woke to footsteps down the hallway. They were long gaits, plodding quietly toward the stairs. Jye. Likely, they were going to try again to spend their credits to buy attributes and their assigned abilities once under the influence. They hadn''t succeeded last night. In fact, they¡¯d probably waited until they thought everyone was asleep so they wouldn¡¯t stress anyone out.

    Unfurling myself from Axel¡¯s arms, I let him know what I was doing so he wouldn¡¯t freak out again. His clinginess had loosened minutely over the past day. Very minutely. My threat to kick him from my bed had really done a number on him. He didn¡¯t need to know I had definitely been lying. I liked being able to sleep, actually.

    Only part awake, Axel nodded drowsily, his eyelids fluttering, as he resettled into the open expanse of my empty side of the bed. Before I left, I hesitated, hovering over his sleeping form, lingering on how the glow of the moon draped over him, and wondering, as my chest warmed, just how stupid I was to have ever mistaken this feeling for friendship alone.

    Reflecting on it, it was fully distinct from platonic, but it was also entirely different to how I¡¯d felt about him as a kid. That had been an intense crush, blind to his flaws, idolising everything he¡¯d done. This wasn¡¯t the same. I wasn¡¯t putting him on a pedestal like I¡¯d once had before I¡¯d lost Chrissie.

    In fact, half of my feelings toward Axel were very simple. Hell, I¡¯d even expressed them to the man himself.

    I wanted to be with him.

    The other half was something I needed time to unpack.

    A sudden urge, tied to this recognition, struck me as I began to leave.

    Should I?

    Then, convincing myself couples do this all the time, and that if he were awake, he¡¯d probably appreciate it, and if he were asleep, he wouldn¡¯t care, and realising it was something I wanted to do, I laid a chaste kiss on his cheek and then fled the room, my heart racing.

    His brow had crinkled at the touch, and the reaction made me smile, though I did indeed feel mortified by what I¡¯d done, a heat pressing out against my skin.

    Yes, I was still working my way through this understanding. Of knowing I liked Axel like that. The worst part was that I possibly always had. I¡¯d just killed it. Frozen it. Pushed it away to the furthest part of my mind. Because this awareness hadn¡¯t changed how I felt about him. It¡¯d just adjusted the angle through which I saw all my thoughts about him now, some of them embarrassingly transparent.

    Heading down the hall, I steeled myself, scrapping that topic to focus on what came next.

    It was time to talk to Jye.

    I would not be taking no for an answer.

    As I walked down the stairs into the basement, taking in the vegetable sprouts growing from the hydroponics system, I felt the atmosphere shift. The air was heavier, more moist, but there was a distinctive lack of the telltale scent of pot. Hadn¡¯t the redhead lit up yet? I¡¯d dallied a little with my¡­ farewell to Axel. I had assumed they would¡¯ve already started their sesh by now.

    From under their deep set eyes, Jye watched me approach, sitting on the grey sofa they¡¯d commandeered from someone else¡¯s house and installed along the wall at the front of the basement. I think they¡¯d specifically chosen it because of how large it was. It was much longer than your traditional couch set, and when Jye sat on it, they almost looked average size in comparison. They¡¯d probably had to have stored it in their inventory as modular parts.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t know when to give up, do you, dude?¡± they asked, their brows furrowing in amused frustration.

    ¡°What can I say? I¡¯m nothing if not consistent.¡± Actually, I kind of hoped that wasn¡¯t true. Could you imagine if I¡¯d gotten that as a system trait? Depressing. What kind of perk would it have even granted me?

    ¡°Well, if you can¡¯t beat them¡­¡± They gestured to the lounge, and I sat. Given the size of it, I was practically on the other side of the room. It was strangely apt for how emotionally distant I felt from them recently. Ever since the whole Wren-Makris debacle, I¡¯d felt something off in our friendship.

    A silence hovered in the expanse between us as I settled in, the sofa plush and far too comfortable for the conversation we should be having. Its previous owners had cared for it well.

    I didn¡¯t know what topic I wanted to breach first. There was Bia¡¯s title, the giant¡¯s sadness, and also their protectiveness regarding Wren and her lost memories. Maybe they were all one and the same, though.

    Jye said nothing, and they made a move to the desk behind them, pulling out a prerolled joint from a baggie and a Zippo lighter in its top drawer. Then, quietly, they lit their joint, the actions practiced and fluid, the cherry smoldering smoke into the air. Its smell struck me first, as it always did, a combination of the method and material; fire and that unique musk.

    Taking a hit, Jye breathed in through the joint, removed it from their lips, held in the stylish manner of a V of their fingers, and then inhaled deeper still, before exhaling after a pause. The cloud of smoke that whirled from their mouth filled the air. I had no idea if this was the correct practice, but they looked sure of it. Still, they said nothing.

    Out of all things, I wasn¡¯t expecting the silent treatment from Jye.

    Well, if they weren¡¯t planning on breaking the ice, I could¡ª

    ¡°I tried to neck myself that night.¡±

    My mouth froze halfway open, the words stuck in my throat.

    That time I¡¯d walked in on them crying¡­

    They¡¯d tried what?!

    A grin split out on Jye''s face, green eyes dancing. ¡°Got you good, didn¡¯t I?¡±

    The relief that it was a poor joke had my heart beating again, but as their gaze slid from mine, I glimpsed the truth underneath their expression.

    They offered their joint with an outstretched hand. Their words weighing on me, I waved them off; I could barely tolerate my thoughts when I wasn¡¯t high. Not to mention, this conversation was not one I should be having under any influence other than my own. Not now that Jye had shared this.

    ¡°You¡¯re not joking, are you?¡±

    Their smile tightened into a grimace.

    ¡°Nah. I¡¯m not. The good news is I couldn¡¯t go through with it. Obviously,¡± they said, gesturing vaguely to themself.

    ¡°What the fuck.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. Hell, it wasn¡¯t even a statement.

    ¡°I can¡¯t level up, man. I thought I¡¯d set you guys up nice and pretty at Lusi¡¯s and off myself, so you wouldn¡¯t have to carry me.¡± They said this as though it hadn¡¯t even been a second thought. ¡°Besides, I figured you¡¯re keen on winning, so there was a high chance I¡¯d come back.¡± Their head tilted. ¡°Oh, no pressure, though, dude.¡±

    ¡°Jye, that¡¯s¡­¡±

    I had no words.

    ¡°Well, to be fair, it wasn¡¯t my first choice, man. I tried to leave the party.¡± They smiled again, and it was salty. ¡°My glitch doesn¡¯t let me. Gotta laugh at that, huh?¡±

    It was a lot of information at once. My feelings toward their glitch were complex. Part of me was thankful for their problems, just this once. It¡¯d prevented them from leaving us. Alone, they would¡¯ve never stood a chance. They would¡¯ve left us and met their demise by themself. However, what it had pushed them to do¡­

    I summoned the party window, unable to stop myself, and thought about kicking them from the team, just to check if the glitch carried through to me too. The prompt appeared as clear as day.

    Kick party member Jye? Accept | Reject

    My thoughts wobbled wildly. While Jye couldn¡¯t leave the party, I could force them out. The weight of knowing this beaded sweat along my back. A responsibility I didn''t realise I had was now sitting precariously on my shoulders, the balancing scale of it pitting Jye''s life up against everyone else''s.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you tell me?¡± I asked, wondering how I¡¯d missed how severely Jye was impacted by their system errors.

    The audio problems I knew affected them, but it¡¯d been nearly two weeks since we discovered the average culling. And this entire time¡­ Jye¡¯d been crushed by the guilt of potentially leading us to our death. I should¡¯ve had this conversation earlier, even if they kept on putting me off. Reflecting on it, I¡¯d let Jye push it to the backburner because of Makris, and Bia¡¯s Dungeon, but that was no excuse. Life from here on out would only get more complicated.

    Jye snorted. ¡°Bro, you¡¯re you. You would¡¯ve given me some sort of speech about saving me.¡±

    I immediately threw the speech I¡¯d been preparing earlier about saving them into the very depths of my mind, a heat flushing over the back of my neck. Fuck, was I really that predictable? Maybe Axel had been right all along.

    Instead, I said, ¡°And, so, what, you think it¡¯d be better if you were dead, is that it?¡± My throat felt tight, thoughts of my parents fresh in their grave flashing through my head, of Axel¡¯s vacant expression both times I¡¯d nearly lost him, of all those polaroids Wren had given me.

    The giant gave me a look.

    ¡°Come on, be for serious, man. You¡¯re saying it wouldn¡¯t be a load off everyone¡¯s backs if I wasn¡¯t in the picture?¡± they asked, incredulous, and they took another toke.

    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    When they blew out the smoke, I waved it from my face, irritation taking over shock. ¡°Of course not!¡±

    ¡°Right. You would say that.¡± This was followed by a scoff.

    ¡°Jye, you¡¯re not a burden.¡±

    Their lips pressed flat in annoyance, their free hand reaching up to toy with locks of their hair. It was something they did when they were anxious. At least this I knew now. After another deep inhale of their joint, Jye¡¯s face loosened again, eyes slightly glazing over in memory.

    They said, ¡°You never asked why I joined you and Axel like it was nothing.¡±

    I frowned, taken off guard. This conversation had veered off completely in another direction. My mind racing, trying to think back, I was only fed further confusion. Hadn¡¯t they said they hated capitalism and society as it was? Wasn¡¯t that reason enough? In comparison, the only reason I¡¯d gone along with Axel in the first place was because he¡¯d said I wasn¡¯t crazy.

    Into my silence, Jye confessed, ¡°Truth is, dude, there was no one waiting for me back home. No one to call the cops if I went missing. I wasn¡¯t giving up anything to go with you.¡± They smiled, and it was the most forced expression I''d ever seen on their face. ¡°I¡¯ve never been someone people choose, if you''re getting my drift.¡± The redhead paused, eyes downcast, resting only partly on themself before focusing on the floor. ¡°So when you two came to get me¡­¡±

    Immediately, guilt swamped me. I¡¯d never once considered Jye¡¯s past beyond how their parents had treated them as a child. In fact, I¡¯d just assumed after they¡¯d ¡°found themself,¡± their life had started improving, and they¡¯d developed past it. But I¡¯d been wrong. How was I always wrong about everyone?

    As I let their words sink in, everything about them suddenly clicked into place, from their casual nihilism to their encyclopaedic knowledge of anime, camping, and mythology. It was their safety net.

    With a shrug that bunched their muscles, Jye simply said, ¡°It''s kinda lame, but you guys are it for me.¡± They took another toke, smoke curling out from between their lips. ¡°And I couldn''t let the team take the fall for me, especially Wren. Shit friend I¡¯d be, if I doomed you all. Couldn¡¯t care less about humanity really, though.¡±

    I failed to respond.

    How could we have meant so much to Jye while I¡¯d never realised it?

    I''d never examined the redhead''s motivations before, what drove them, but I knew everyone else''s. For Tam, it was her wife; for Gigi, xe had to assist others to level up; for Wren, it was finding herself after losing her memories; for Axel, well¡­ I guess it was me; and for me, it had been figuring out I wanted to protect those I cared about.

    But what moved Jye, what inspired them¡­

    It had been us.

    Their thumbs-up long back at the Kmart when I¡¯d introduced them as my friend suddenly held so much more weight, and their hurt look and concern when I¡¯d nearly died in Nabu¡¯s Dungeon too. Their willingness to follow my orders no matter how unhinged. The trust they put in me. Their bright grins during morning activities together, their relationship with Gigi and Wren¡­ We¡¯d become Jye¡¯s family.

    And I might¡¯ve had Axel, but for Jye¡­ No one else had ever chosen them.

    They didn¡¯t think anyone ever would.

    So, their solution had been ¡°obvious.¡± Take one for the team.

    ¡°You¡¯d be a shit friend if you killed yourself too,¡± I replied, finally finding my voice.

    They chuckled which turned into a cough, likely from the smoke tickling their throat. Thumping at their chest with a closed fist, they said, ¡°Fair call. But there¡¯s no point in talking about it, man. I didn¡¯t have it in me to go through with it then.¡±

    ¡°And thank fuck for that,¡± I muttered, still reeling from the redhead¡¯s admissions, my mind latching onto the last word they''d said: ¡°then.¡± Did that mean¡­ Trying to find what I wanted to voice, anything to convince them, I continued, ¡°Look, Bia wasn¡¯t overhyping you back in her Domain. You are essential to our party. Each of our main kills has been largely due to you and your abilities.¡±

    In silence, ash crumbled off the end of their joint onto their lap, which they casually flicked away.

    ¡°I¡¯m just not worth the risk, dude. It is what it is.¡± Their tone was nonchalant. ¡°And you¡¯d all be A-OK without me too, I swear.¡±

    It was as though Jye were asking for permission. For validation.

    I would never give it.

    The mere fact that this was their solution was far too telling. The version they¡¯d rediscovered after leaving home, after delving into religion and identity, had still been damaged and hurt. And years of no one understanding them, acknowledging them, wanting them, from childhood until now, had made them the person they were today.

    Someone who thought their only value was in how little they impacted others.

    ¡°You are worth it. We can make it past the culling. I know we can. We¡¯ve just got to grind.¡± I hoped it sounded persuasive. It was what I truly believed.

    Jye didn''t say anything in response.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t try again,¡± I pleaded, my voice pinched.

    ¡°Soz, I can¡¯t make that promise.¡±

    My gut clenched with anxiety, mind spinning.

    How did you save a life?

    Hope!

    You had to give someone hope. And I knew just what it had to be, twisted as it was.

    It was hot coals in my throat, but planting the seed was better than letting Jye try to take matters into their own hands. However, they had to hear the idea and think it was their own choice. It''s the only way this would work. Because I knew just as water was wet that Jye would attempt again. Somehow, we meant that much to them.

    Taking a deep breath, I said, ¡°I can kick you.¡±

    The giant stared long and hard at me.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I can kick you from our party. I¡¯m the party leader, after all.¡±

    Jye sat bolt up on the sofa, eyes wide, almost manic. They clawed their way over to me, their free hand coming down to clutch frantically at my leg as they leaned in close. ¡°Do it, then, bro! Kick me, and save yourselves.¡±

    The desperation in their voice hurt.

    I shook my head, resolute. Staring at the giant who''d been with us since day dot, I swore to myself then that I wouldn¡¯t ever kick them, no matter what. As long as there was the single atom of hope, I¡¯d never kick them. They¡¯d never felt chosen, wanted. I could change that. I wanted to change that.

    They couldn¡¯t continue thinking like they weren¡¯t valued, both as a party member and my friend. I hadn¡¯t realised just how much the party meant to them, but that didn¡¯t mean I didn¡¯t reciprocate. It wasn''t the same feelings I held toward Axel, now I knew how I truly thought about him, but I still treasured Jye. I would lay my own life on the line to protect them too.

    They were important. They were wanted. Even with the fate of humanity versus theirs.

    I wanted to protect them.

    From themself, if that¡¯s how it had to be.

    I couldn¡¯t lose them too.

    ¡°No. I''m not going to kick you. You¡¯ll be there with us at the end.¡± It didn''t matter that Jye wouldn''t believe me. That wasn''t important. They just needed to know that was how I felt. They needed to hear my conviction break through their doubt.

    That I wanted them to live.

    For a moment, Jye just eyed me, each of their thoughts flying across their face as visible as a billboard sign; shock, betrayal, distrust, shame, defeat. Accepting that it was okay to exist as they were. That I would take that risk for them. Risk the world for them. Then, they sank slowly back into the couch¡¯s cushioning, their hand retreating. The redhead¡¯s green eyes were red now, and it looked like something of a weight had been lifted from their shoulders, even as the sofa swallowed part of their frame.

    They blew a raspberry between their lips and then said, ¡°You suck, man,¡± but it sounded more like, ¡°Thank you.¡±

    Though I didn¡¯t agree to it, Jye ambled over to the security system computer and brought up a bootleg rip of some season of Pretty Cure, the subs hilariously wrong. They didn¡¯t explain where they¡¯d gotten it from, but we didn¡¯t say anything else. I assumed this was from their own personal collection they¡¯d picked up when they¡¯d visited their shoebox flat. The kaleidoscopic and saturated colors of the show¡¯s magical girl transformations were probably a treat for the now blazed giant.

    We sat there in silence as the anime played, its sound barely audible from the dingy monitor, occasionally laughing at a poor mistranslation, while we waited until Jye finished their joint. The giant appeared semi-present; I think they were working on their attributes and abilities too.

    Me, however, I was content to just sit and fade in and out of the anime, sinking deep into the soft padding of the sofa. While I should¡¯ve brought up Bia¡¯s title, it felt like a long time since I¡¯d relaxed with a friend like this, just enjoying their company, of being in their presence, so I made the decision to push those queries to the backburner. Excluding Axel, because he hadn¡¯t really counted as my friend at the time, the last time I had hung out with someone like this probably would¡¯ve been during university. With Emory. I hoped she was still alive. She was a smart woman.

    Jye had the timing of their joint down to an art, with the episode over as they took their last hit from the vestiges of what remained. Then, they reached over and snuffed the last embers out in a smoke tray at the security system¡¯s desk. With a pat on my shoulder, they flicked the autoplaying Pretty Cure off and headed back upstairs.

    I followed them up until we split at the hallway to our separate bedrooms. Jye paused, lingering just outside their room. I waited for their parting words, wondering what magical clarity the girls had worked on them.

    They cleared their throat. ¡°I won¡¯t try again, okay? Pinky promise. Just so long as you swear if worst comes to worst¡­ you¡¯ll kick me. You gotta swear, dude.¡±

    They''d taken the bait, the hope I''d dangled in front of them. I shouldn''t have felt good for manipulating them, but joy coursed through me knowing that they''d still their hand. That I wouldn''t lose a friend.

    ¡°I swear,¡± I lied.

    I''d already sworn to myself that I would never kick them, after all. With a nod, their large back disappeared into the darkness of their room, and their door swung shut behind them.

    Perhaps I should''ve been disturbed with the choices I''d made, that I''d lied to my friend''s face, and, truthfully, yes, it did make unease bubble inside me.

    But just like I could kill to save Axel, I could lie to save Jye.

    Neither of them were a question of morals anymore. Just a question of what I''d do for the people I cared about. And the answer was anything.

    I''d accepted that part of me now.

    The loss of my and Axel¡¯s parents had sent that fear of selfishness into the stratosphere.

    The world wasn¡¯t so kind a place that you could exist without the risk of hurting others.

    After making my way back to my room, I slipped under the bed sheets, but while I¡¯d been gone, Axel had splayed out his entire body over the bed, so I squeezed into what little space remained, trying my hardest not to disturb him. He stirred anyway. Easing back a little bit to allow me room, Axel shifted to spoon me, his arms wreathing around my torso. The instinctual reaction, generous and sweet, warmed my chest, lightening some of my emotional discomfort.

    It really was something else, returning to bed knowing this was waiting for me every night. That I wanted to be here. He sleepily pressed his face into the back of my neck, and I heard a judgemental sniff. I could easily imagine the accompanying expression. The furrowing of his brows, the near pout on his lips.

    ¡°You brought the bakery back with you,¡± he said, distaste heavy in his tone. Despite his love for parties, Axel was very much a drug-free type of person and very critical of users. In particular, he thought pot smelled horrendous. And yet he didn''t pull away.

    The comment relieved the remaining tension in my stomach, and I laughed.

 Chapter Fifty-Two | Noted (Part One)

    I woke Axel gently on the sixth day, and, still half asleep, he trudged after me downstairs for breakfast. It was clear from his expression he would rather be back in bed. But like a magnet, he was still stuck to me. I would¡¯ve waited for him, regardless.

    Technically, it was my turn to make the morning meal, but it was more like preparation than anything else. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like it would be anything fancy, just some muesli and rehydrated milk powder the party had looted. As Axel sank sluggishly onto a stool at the kitchen bench, a thought occurred to me. He¡¯d always been a night owl. Early mornings were torture for him.

    I flicked on the kettle.

    None of the others had appeared yet, but that was par for the course. Tam would likely be having her insane cold morning shower, since we''d promised to conserve energy, so she wouldn¡¯t be down for a little while. Wren had formed a habit of using the alarm clock that was already in her room, and she¡¯d sleep until it went off; I was more than happy to let her indulge in a little sleeping in. From the sounds outside, Gigi was working on improving the shed out back, and I knew Jye was up outrageously early for their morning jog. I should¡¯ve joined them, but I wasn¡¯t all there yet. Not that that was any excuse when our lives were technically on the line.

    After the kettle clicked, I poured the boiled water, stirring the contents I¡¯d added with a spoon, and then topped it all off with a dash of the rehydrated milk. I hesitated, unsure, thinking back to the past. Then, making up my mind, I headed back to the breakfast bench.

    ¡°Black, no sugar, right?¡± I asked, placing Axel¡¯s coffee down before him.

    The blond¡¯s brows raised slowly, and he blinked at the steam wisping off the top of his hot beverage.

    ¡°Huh?¡± he said. ¡°For who?¡± He frowned, sleep clinging to him.

    I stared, feeling a little put on the spot. Was it so impossible for him to think that I¡¯d make him coffee? That I wanted to show a little appreciation to him, after everything he¡¯d done? Well, I guess I¡¯d never done this before¡­ Without a word, I slid the mug closer to where his arms rested over the lip of the bench.

    His eyes followed the movement.

    ¡°For me?¡± he asked, drowsiness and confusion blurring.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to get cold.¡±

    Gingerly, his hands encircled the mug, and he let them rest there for a moment, as if unsure the drink was real, before bringing it up to his lips to take a small sip.

    Based on his preference for beer, I figured unless it was a boutique $20 per cup coffee, he was more inclined to bitter flavors. Given my family¡ªa pang of loss hit me¡ªhad all been tea drinkers, I¡¯d also had no idea if there were any more steps involved in making instant coffee other than adding boiling water. Surely not?

    Anxious for absolutely no reason, forcibly stopping myself from wringing my hands, I watched the blond¡¯s reaction.

    He smiled as he lowered the mug. ¡°Absolutely awful.¡±

    Heat flashed up the back of my neck.

    This fucking guy.

    ¡°I¡¯ll just tip it. Give it here,¡± I said, scowling as I reached forward to retrieve the mug from his hands. He snatched it off the bench from its handle, leaning back out of my range, grinning all the while, and then adopted an admonishing expression.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I wouldn¡¯t drink it.¡± He tasted it again, his face scrunching up, eyes shooting wide after, like he¡¯d been hit in the chest. ¡°I could learn to like bad coffee in the morning. Really wakes you up.¡±

    Simmering from his teasing, I let my hands fall¡ªI wouldn¡¯t win. He¡¯d just keep going if I tried to defend myself. Well, at least he was fully conscious now.

    With a sigh, I returned to my own tea. Testing the heat with my lips, I then drank a mouthful, letting the soothing flavor of Extra Strong Bushells wash over me. Damn, I missed having a cuppa like this. Maybe I¡¯d add it to our provisions for Dungeons. Axel nursed his coffee too, his expression only slightly blanching each time he took a sip.

    A touch of fondness breezed past me.

    ¡°Teach me sometime, then,¡± I said.

    Coffee swirling steam before his face, Axel froze.

    ¡°Say what now?¡±

    ¡°How you like coffee. So I can make it.¡±

    For a second, he seemed surprised. Then his expression turned mischievous. ¡°If I¡¯d known crying would get coffee out of you, I¡¯d have done it sooner.¡±

    I took a deep breath. Only Axel would reduce my actions into such a mundane summary. Not only that, but he¡¯d missed the point entirely.

    ¡°Just drink your damn coffee.¡±

    The CBD Gate to Bia¡¯s Dungeon was abandoned.

    It made sense given we¡¯d wiped out both its protectors and the man in charge of the crew. Hopefully whatever supplies the remaining team had gathered would last them enough time for them to figure everything out. On top of that, I prayed they didn¡¯t get in our way again. I had far less grace to expend these days.

    Someone had visited the Gate recently to tear down the remaining fences around the black hole portal, so that it sat there alone in the cross section of the Queen Street Mall, as unnatural and distinct from Earth as it could look. Had it been Killian¡¯s group? I knew they kept a close eye on the Gates in Brisbane. I hadn¡¯t worked up the courage yet to return Adrien to his twin, but that was on the list of things to do after we cleared the next Dungeon.

    That¡¯s right.

    Yeah, yeah, jumping the gun, whatever. What was it¡­ They called it manifesting, right? If I believed we could do it, then we could. We¡¯d clear the next Dungeon, easy.

    ¡°Should I leave it here?¡± Wren asked.

    I nodded, and she pulled the parcel locker from her inventory, something Jye had taken from Bunnings, forming it front and center before the Gate. Inside were all the polaroid photos she¡¯d taken. We¡¯d hastily also silicone bonded a whiteboard to the inside door of it and included some markers on string too.

    This morning during breakfast, we¡¯d spoken about the girl¡¯s solution. It would be too time consuming to make a poster or pin each and every one to a bulletin board, considering the sheer amount of dead people we had in our inventories and too dangerous to let people know where we were. But using Wren¡¯s photos as a starting point, we¡¯d come to a conclusion that satisfied us all (but mostly me, I guess).

    We¡¯d leave all photos in this box with a note system and check it periodically. Before heading to the CBD, we¡¯d returned to the house where Wren had initially found the polaroid camera, in a suburb that Tam had picked out, in the hopes of finding more film, and we¡¯d discovered boxes of unopened disposable polaroid cameras too. The quality of their photos was much lower, but it was what it was. All in all, we had some photography enthusiast to thank for the polaroid cameras that each member of the party carried.

    Before taking in any new bodies (or identifiable body parts), we¡¯d take a photo first and note down their code on their skin with a sharpie. Despite the inhumanly detached process, like marking meat for sale, it was the best system we could think of.

    On the parcel locker itself, we¡¯d carved four sentences into its front, filled in with black caulk.

    Include the photo code on the inside whiteboard.

    Wait for a check mark.

    They will be waiting inside the Gate.

    Do not clear the Dungeon.

    The polaroid photos had a string of five letters and digits on their backs, each a unique code we could use to identify the bodies: like some messed up kind of corpse catalogue.

    As long as no one trashed the parcel locker or destroyed the pictures, we could drop the bodies off inside the very edge of the Bia¡¯s Dungeon. Since players could walk in and out of it, everything would remain as is, the corpses frozen inside. That was, if no one cleared it.

    And to ensure it remained safe for others, though it would grant us little reward, we¡¯d agreed to return to Dungeon 11 and try our hand at a smaller group of mordexi during our three-day interim between clears. Gigi had insisted live combat was the only way to truly train with our abilities and would also serve as a measure of our progress too.

    Next time we went in, we¡¯d drop some defensive measures around the inside half of the Gate. Jye¡¯s [Cloak] had been cancelled on walking through this Gate, but when we¡¯d left Nabu¡¯s Dungeon, my [Thick Hide] had remained active. So, abilities didn¡¯t persist when you entered, but they did when you exited¡ªas long as it wasn¡¯t reset. Once we¡¯d finished up in New Delhi and had a day to rest, we¡¯d come out to check the post box and clear Bia¡¯s Dungeon agin.

    Setting up this delivery system was only a partial delay to our itinerary.

    I opened the Nexus for the first time and met the gaze of my party. The system formed a globe in front of me, each uncleared Gate a pulsing white dot, Nabu¡¯s and Bia¡¯s Dungeons a dull grey. Axel¡¯s words were true. There were hundreds of uncleared ones now, most of them around the more densely populated countries. As I watched, a handful flickered out of existence, a tightness in my gut forming.

    We needed to grind.

    It was the only way to bring my and Axel¡¯s parents back.

    To bring everyone back.

    Just to confirm my thoughts about abilities deactivating upon entering Dungeons, I slapped on [Thick Hide], and then, with grim determination, I selected one of the Gates closest to New Delhi.

    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    In a blink, we were elsewhere.

    Well.

    I imagined we were, but that was difficult to tell considering everything was pitch black.

    Pulling a dyno torch from my inventory, courtesy of Jye¡¯s looting of Bunnings (of which I was growing ever more grateful with everything we did), I did a name call with the others, flashing [Echolate] as I did so. Unlike its base [Locate], which just generated silhouettes of living things, it developed a topological map of our surroundings. Around me, as they called off, the rest of the party stared blankly into the darkness. The remaining area in a growing sphere rippled outward from me, generating the biome in a blueprint, pulsing for a moment and then fading. I heard a hiss and assumed Gigi had done the same.

    Around us was a completely flat and empty plain, the ground unnaturally smooth, that continued into infinity in all directions.

    Uh, might be a bad time to say this, but I¡¯m low-key scared of the dark, dudes, Jye said through the [Mindlink] that Wren had connected between the six of us. Though we¡¯d agreed to send only crucial and strictly confidential thoughts through the ability, I really should¡¯ve been expecting this. According to the ten-year-old, she could either cut and connect us depending on necessity, but it involved a lot of concentration to pick and choose. The more people she added, the more difficult it became to split and organise them. That Adrien had juggled all six of us and his own plans was testament to what a fearsome opponent he¡¯d truly been.

    I started winding the flywheel on my torch and shone it into the giant¡¯s direction as a way of reassuring them. Their pupils contracted, face squeezing from being blasted with the light. The illumination revealed nothing else, the glow of it swallowed once it reached a certain distance. Yeah, I should¡¯ve expected that by now. Things making no sense was how life was. I shot Jye an apologetic smile and was about to say something when, on the edge of my hearing, a whisper slithered through the still air, a chilling breath against the nape of my neck.

    ¡°Welcome.¡±

    Startled, I spun about, and in my shock, my hands stopped winding the torch¡¯s flywheel.

    Darkness fell over us once again.

    ¡°Your party level is insufficient to enter this Dungeon,¡± said the disembodied voice. It was neither warm nor cold and far too clear. However, the delivery had incorrect inflections, rising here, falling there, emphasis on the wrong syllables. Inhuman. A shiver crawled up my spine.

    ¡°Insufficient?¡± I echoed back for clarity.

    Was this another Deity? They hadn¡¯t said ¡°my Dungeon¡± like Nabu. It could very well be another NPC like the Minotaur. But the NPCs existed inside the Dungeons. As far as I knew, we hadn¡¯t entered one since my [Thick Hide] was still up. Was this some other place ¡°between¡± like Twilight?

    A thought occurred to me.

    If this voice belonged to the being administering the entries to the Dungeon, could this be a Mod? We hadn¡¯t run into Deities until we cleared their Dungeons, so it was unlikely this was the Deity who¡¯d created the New Delhi Dungeon. Add to that, when Absalom contacted us, it was literally only his sponsorship invitation.

    Maybe this was how all Mods sounded. Or maybe it was just this Deity didn¡¯t care how they appeared to players? Nabu¡¯s and Bia¡¯s voices, and their personas, had resembled other humans, even if their presences hadn¡¯t aligned. But this being¡¯s¡­ it was like the second echo in a canyon of humanity. Something like a vocaloid trained off Siri; at least two steps removed from us.

    Still, if this was the Mod, and they were relaying this information about levels, it was likely true. I was sure they had better things to do while supervising the stream to the other Deities. Playing host to a party of LVL 5 players was probably not on their list of things they wanted to prioritise.

    Not to mention, the differing difficulty levels of Dungeons made a weird sort of sense.

    The earlier Dungeons were probably a lower difficulty. I mean, if someone had entered Bia¡¯s and remained rational, the clear would¡¯ve been a cakewalk. Wren had only seen a few of the mordexi when she¡¯d first gone in. The first fifteen Dungeons must¡¯ve been the kiddie¡¯s end of the pool. Shallow to ease our way in. After all, once you cleared one of them, you got access to the Nexus.

    That all meant right now we were in some kind of purgatory lobby, waiting in queue.

    The voice said, ¡°You may continue to proceed at your own risk.¡±

    ¡°We can continue?¡± I repeated, hating how much I sounded like a broken record player.

    ¡°Bro, who are you talking to?¡± Jye asked, their voice floating out of the darkness from some indeterminable position.

    I frowned, confused. Had the Mod singled me out? Could the others hear them speaking or was this part of Jye¡¯s glitch? Irritated by the lack of vision, the weakness reminding me too much of my fight against Adrien, and troubled by not being able to gauge my party¡¯s reactions, I summoned Gigi¡¯s [Light Barrier]¡ªit tasted like fireworks¡ªsmothering its brightness to about half its original luminance with Axel¡¯s [Legerdemain]. The blond¡¯s new ability felt slimy, as if goo were oozing out of my pores.

    He had conveyed the description to me during practice, and my prior assumptions had been correct. The skill could only be applied to one¡¯s person and one¡¯s abilities and imitate one¡¯s self. I could only imagine how my fight with Adrien would¡¯ve gone if it hadn¡¯t been limited to those conditions.

    None of us would be standing here today.

    [Light Barrier] at half strength formed a solid bus-sized block in the air above us, illuminating the lobby like a divine incandescent tube. The electrical hum supplied in the back of my mind as an odd memory. The pupils of the party¡¯s eyes shrunk into tiny black dots, adjusting to the now lit room, some of the members alighting a hand to their brows, as if in salute, to cut out the brightness. Like all down lighting, it cast less than flattering shadows over everyone¡¯s faces. Somehow Axel still looked pretty, the otherwise harsh lighting only complimenting his high cheekbones. He really was frustratingly photogenic.

    Huh.

    It occurred to me then that this wasn¡¯t the first time I¡¯d had these kinds of thoughts.

    Wow.

    Could a man be anymore fucking oblivious to his own feelings?

    How had I ever¡­ I really was stupid.

    Axel caught me staring and raised an eyebrow. Embarrassed, and my mind going nowhere useful, I redirected it, You guys can¡¯t hear who I¡¯m speaking to?

    As I waited, I cast a glance at my mana and stamina, a habit ingrained from when I¡¯d been suffering from past stringent limitations and was pleasantly surprised to find I was absolutely fine. More than fine, I could almost convince myself I¡¯d never be at a disadvantage again. Though that might be asking for it. The LVL 5 upgrade we¡¯d been granted had really been insane. It wasn¡¯t really much, but it was a lot at the same time.

    Babes, you been talking to yourself for the past minute.

    And none of you said anything? I asked, the tone of my thoughts just as incredulous as I felt.

    I believed it was part of your thinking process, Gigi admitted. Great, even the alien thought I talked to myself. I mean, I did. Just not often aloud and with others around.

    I¡¯ve been hearing, like, a low buzz every now and then, chimed in Jye. Ah, there was the giant¡¯s glitch. Classic. If they could audibly sense Deities speaking, could we use that to our advantage someday? I¡¯d tuck that little tidbit into the back of my mind. Who knows if it¡¯d ever be useful.

    Me being the only person to converse with the Deity must have been a party leader perk. Thinking about it, there were a lot of things that the party leader was privy to that the others weren¡¯t. Only I could accept requests, though it sounded as though the others could see what they were. Not to mention, the rewards from the fulfilled requests went to me first, and I could kick other players¡­ Could I hand over the position to someone else? Not that I had plans to, I was just curious. To add to that, if I died, would it transfer to someone else? Or would the party become unbanded? I hoped it was the former.

    ¡°What party level is this Dungeon?¡± I asked the unknown Deity.

    ¡°LVL 6.¡±

    Unsure if other Deities were already watching since we¡¯d never been in between Dungeons and the real world (other than Twilight), and not wanting to risk giving the impression we were cowards (well, anymore than we already had), I decided it would be best to continue relying on Wren¡¯s [Mindlink] for the privacy it granted, assuming they couldn¡¯t read our thoughts.

    I said, I think there¡¯s a Deity here warning us that the Dungeon is for LVL 6 players, but we can still do it. Should we go in?

    Axel scoffed. Like that¡¯s even a question. I was about to comment, the smallest niggling of irritation that he was still acting so lackadaisical, despite everything, when his lips crinkled in reconsideration. Okay. No, it is a question. One I know the answer to is ¡°Of course.¡± We¡¯d kill a LVL 6 Dungeon.

    That¡¯s almost double the total sum of experience points we¡¯ve collected, I noted. It could mean the Dungeon was twice as hard as everything we¡¯d done so far. Whilst that felt like it would promise great reward, the risk was also extreme. However, with the upgrade in regen, granting us more leeway in combat since we¡¯d be able to use so many more abilities in succession, maybe it was doable.

    Shucks, dandelion, we gotta push, don¡¯t we? We¡¯ve got baggage, after all. And not pointing any fingers here, but we¡¯ve burned too much time as it is for my tastes.

    I cast Tam a deadly glare, angry on Jye¡¯s behalf, but also partly for myself too. It had been my fault we¡¯d stayed longer than we should¡¯ve. Actually, the blame lay on Adrien, since he¡¯d killed Axel¡¯s and my parents, but my comatose mental state was the real thing that¡¯d held us back. Whilst the party didn¡¯t rely on me, I¡¯m sure if they had brought me along when I wasn¡¯t ready, I would¡¯ve just been a health hazard weighing them down. I more than likely would¡¯ve gotten them all killed.

    I think we should do it too, Wren said, followed by: Makris agrees.

    Now, that was surprising. Makris didn¡¯t like it when we put Wren at any risk. I mean, neither did I, but the ghost objected to everything I¡¯d ever said, as far as I knew. Maybe this choice was more pivotal than I¡¯d thought.

    Hesitantly, I reached out to the scourge. Makris, can you elaborate?

    Only silence greeted me. Okay, so the man in Wren¡¯s head definitely reviled me. Fantastic. The next time Wren slept (and I had time), I¡¯d be barging into her unconscious thoughts and giving him a piece of my mind. This couldn¡¯t go on. And maybe I also disliked Makris on principle. I didn¡¯t want to say that my initial innate negativity was based solely off his name being so similar to Mark, but that was possible. I¡¯d actively avoided everyone with the same name my whole life since he¡¯d been arrested and found guilty.

    Gigi nodded resolutely. If it were more than one level removed, I would hesitate to suggest taking the challenge, but I believe we should be able to bridge the gap with our current party skill.

    Only one person hadn¡¯t voiced their thoughts. The giant was just looking about the empty boundless room with a curious gaze, their brows furrowed. Man, I had a dream like this once. Thought I was the last living Tasmanian tiger, and they were holding me captive.

    The party stared in silence, no one even forming a coherent telepathic thought back.

    Shrugging, they said, I¡¯m more than keen to give it a go. Worst comes to worst and we can¡¯t clear it or exit, we can, like, hunker up somewhere and camp out until someone else does. A huge grin split over their face. I¡¯ve loaded a tonne of mordexi for the trip.

    Against our better recommendations, Jye had butchered several of the mordexi and had stored them in their inventory. It was hard to say if the giant genuinely liked the flavor¡ªsomething between soap and shiitake mushrooms¡ªor if they were desperate for more protein. It was likely the latter, to be honest. Tam and I had reluctantly cooked some into other meals, but sparingly, and Jye had taken that as our tacit consent to eat them without question.

    I¡¯d heard them mumbling under their breath about losing gains. Though, if anything, the redhead looked even more jacked than they had when I¡¯d first met them. If I didn¡¯t know better, and I hadn¡¯t seen them in awhile, I¡¯d probably have made a snap judgement that they were taking steroids. But, just like everyone else, it was the system-introduced rapid progression they were experiencing. It was likely the giant just trained harder than anyone else.

    ¡°I guess we¡¯re going in,¡± I said aloud.

    ¡°Understood,¡± came the Deity¡¯s voice from everywhere all at once and still nowhere, and for the first time, their tone was colored by an emotion.

    Amusement.

    Yeah, I didn¡¯t like that at all.

    The [Light Barrier] above us sputtered into nothing, darkness claiming the party.

    ~Gate Frozen~

    While that had been a good thing when we¡¯d cleared Bia¡¯s Dungeon, hearing it before we started one didn¡¯t make me feel great.