《Delving isn't for the faint of heart, I am the faint of heart》


 Chapter One: A totally normal day

    I pulled into the small employee parking area of Johnsons Burgerhouse, idly noting that Tom¡¯s blue truck was parked in front of the short brick building. The large red and orange neon sign''s light reflected off the truck like it always did. I straightened my back for a moment as I got out of the car, getting a small pop from the action, and then carefully slouched. I was average in most ways, my hair was a plain brown and cut shortish, my eyes were vaguely greenish, and I wasn¡¯t especially tan or pale. The only exception was my height, which was 6¡¯3, I preferred not to stand out, so usually I slouched to appear closer to 5¡¯11, still a one the taller side, but not remarkably so (the secret was slightly baggy pants that let me slightly crouch without giving it away) Something was niggling at the back of my mind as I emerged from the car, I was forgetting something, but I couldn¡¯t remember what. I ran through my mental checklist one more time:


    Work shirt? Check. Clean pants? Check. Work hat? Check. Shoes? Check. Nope, everything was in place, so what was I forgetting? It''s probably not important


    I was still trying to convince myself of that when I reached the building. the bell made a happy ding as I opened the glass door and stepped in. Taking a quick look around I noticed the seating area was empty save one person behind the counter. They were a scrawny teenager with long red hair who I recognized as one of the new hires, Paul. Though he looked up when I entered once he noticed it was me he pulled out his phone and resumed whatever game he had been playing. As I stepped behind the counter I noted that there were crumbs sprinkled across the eating area, on both the fake wood tables and the floor; I would have to clean that, but first I needed to cover prep. I grabbed the clipboard and a pen and wrote down 8:20 on the Monday column, ten minutes early as always. I noticed with surprise that there were three others already clocked in, Paul was marked down of course, but Tom and Lilly were also here.


    oh yeah, were fully staffed again, I thought to myself, I still felt like I was forgetting something, but it probably wasn¡¯t important; Dwelling on it could wait until I had finished prep and cleaning. I passed Tom looking through the walk-in freezer, his large frame filling most of the space in it. He was in his mid twenties, and his black hair mostly hidden under his manager''s cap. I paused as I looked into the prep room. To my my slight surprise I found Lilly already working on prep. She quickly noticed me and paused on the prep.


    ¡°Hey Ethan, I¡¯ve got prep covered, but if you need something to do the tables need wiping.¡± she said, and I awkwardly agreed and made my way over to the supply closet, grabbing a rag and a spray bottle, and then started toward the lobby, when a voice drew my attention.


    ¡°Ethan? What are you doing here?¡±


    I turned to see Tom, who had just emerged from the freezer, looking at me, confused.


    ¡°I have work today so I¨C¡± realization hit me ¡°¨CI¡¯m not working today am I?¡±


    Tom thankfully spared my feelings by not laughing, though my ears were starting to heat up anyways.


    ¡°Kate is today, did you not get the schedule?¡± he said, still slightly confused, and I hastily replied.


    ¡°No no, I got the schedule, I guess I¡¯ve just gotten so used to working all the time I just skimmed over it.¡±


    ¡°Alright just making sure. So anyways Kate is going to be covering your usual shift today. She needs to learn to do closing, and you need a break.¡±


    A part of me wanted to protest I didn¡¯t need a break, but I paused. When was the last time I had had anything but Sunday off? Why was I against it?


    Thanking him I clocked out and made my way to the door, stepping into my small tan car and driving off.


    Five minutes later I was pulling into my driveway. My parents pristine two story suburban house had been painted entirely bright orange, it had been a nice soft blue when my parents moved in 17 years ago. Mom had wanted it to be more memorable, and, in the ultimate show of love, my dad had went along with it. Mom made sure to wash the walls every time she watered the garden, so it never had a chance to get obscured by grime. Fortunately the aforementioned garden helped draw the attention from the house itself a bit. Moms lovingly tended garden covered in healthy bright orange flowers. The grass was a deep green from all the extra water that reached it. I parked and locked the car as I walked up to and opened the lighter orange door. To my left was the living room with its orange walls, orange couch, Dads orange chair, and of course the blue coffee table. Ahead of me were the stairs upstairs and to the right was the kitchen. Both rooms were free of orange other than the walls of course.


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    I hung up the keys next to the door before sliding off my shoes and depositing them haphazardly by the door. Next I peeled off my socks, putting them in my shoes and moving them out of the entryway. I stepped on the first stair intending to go up to my room to change when my Mom stepped into view. She looked a bit confused to see me so soon and quickly set about rectifying this fact.


    ¡°Ethan, didn¡¯t you leave for work already, did something happen at work?¡± she asked, and I awkwardly explained how I had forgotten I wasn¡¯t working today.


    ¡°That''s good, I¡¯ve barely seen you all summer. I¡¯m so proud you have shown so much initiative getting a job and preparing for college, but it''s important to take a break once in a while¡±


    She gave me a quick hug, her head only reaching my shoulder, and then started walking away, but she paused for a moment


    ¡°I love you.¡±


    I said I love you back and resumed going up the stairs. I passed Peter and Ivy¡¯s rooms and went into mine. The walls were all painted a soft green, respite from the constant orange. I swapped my black work shirt for a blue t-shirt and lacking anything better to do, went downstairs. I grabbed my shoes, and stepped outside for a walk. Immediately I felt a cool breeze and leaves all around rustled in the same breeze causing the sunlight escaping through the canopy to dance in an unpredictable pattern. I started walking down the sidewalk, no destination in mind. At first I just walked along the cracked sidewalk listening to birds tweeting, leaves rustling, and sprinklers spraying. Despite the occasional kid shrieking it was soothing and I started to appreciate just how nice a day it was. In every yard plump bumblebees traveled from flower to flower and then traveled home, wherever that may be. I eventually stopped as I passed a group of kids running through a sprinkler shouting and laughing as they played. The smell of the sprinkler filled me with nostalgia, of days spent running through the soaked grass and cold water with my friends.


    I wonder what Jake is doing right now I thought to myself, pulling out my phone and opening my texts. I scrolled through Jakes last few messages. each one was a week apart and the same as the last: [Jake: hey i know you probably have work today but i thought id check if you''d be free sometime this week]


    I looked at my replies, each one was the same. [Ethan: sorry, work today, maybe next time]


    Summer was over halfway done and I¡¯d been so busy I hadn¡¯t even seen Jake. I really had been busy at work, but that didn¡¯t stop me from feeling guilty, and I quickly composed a message.


    [Ethan: good news, I am off work today, so I¡¯m coming over]


    Pocketing my phone I turned around and started jogging back home.


    <hr>


    I slowed as I arrived back at home, pausing a moment to appreciate the garden. Earlier when I had passed them I paid any attention to them, but Mom had really outdone herself this year, and the flowers were in full bloom. The house was surrounded in vibrant reds oranges and blues in little clusters. I started to make my way toward the door intending to grab my keys, but I paused.


    I¡¯ve had a nice time outside and Jake''s house is only a dozen blocks away, maybe I should just keep walking. I looked between the door and the sidewalk a few times considering which I should do. Then my phone buzzed, prompting me to pull it out and read the text from Jake that had appeared.


    [thats awesome, see you soon]


    I quickly made up my mind after that, afterall driving is faster, why waste any more time?


    I ran back inside grabbing my keys and starting up the car. The shifter loudly clanking as it moved past each position before reaching reverse. I slowly backed out of the driveway, careful to look out for any kids who might run onto the street. Fully backed up I reached over to move out of reverse but everything went crazy. The trees began shaking in an instant windstorm that ended as quickly as it had begun. I looked around in confusion for a moment and then a sound like metal tearing screamed out. I covered my ears as I looked around confused. Nothing had hit my car like I expected from the sound that was only getting louder and louder. after a moment my hands useless and the sound started actually hurting my ears. just when I felt like I couldn''t hold on any longer it just went silent, no crescendo, no fade, just there and then gone. What could have caused that sound? I grabbed the shifter, moving it silently into park¡­ Grabbing the shifter I moved it down to drive and back to park again but it still didn¡¯t make a sound. Goosebumps spread across my arms as I hesitantly raised my arms and clapped. My hands collided with a faint sting but not a sound reached my ears.


    What if I had gone deaf, the noise had stopped abruptly, what if that was because my ears couldn''t handle it and broke. I can¡¯t live without music, I¡­


    As if called by my thoughts I heard sound again as humming filled the air.


    I wasn¡¯t deaf! I was more relieved than I think I ever had been as I looked around to see where it was coming from. To my left I noticed a kid beside a rosebush. his ice cream cone was laying forgotten on the floor as he stared up into the sky in awe. I reached for the door as a second voice joined the humming, looking up to see what the kid was looking out. If I had Icecream it would be on the ground too.


    A tear in the sky stretched at least a hundred feet wide blotting out the sun with ease. Inside the tear was an expanse of pure black. From within the black void stood a figure, a glowing white silhouette. On either side of the figure floated two lights. The first two lights were red and the second two were orange. As I watched a yellow light appeared on either side of them and they grew brighter as the humming grew once again. When the green lights appeared the figure was easily as bright as the sun but somehow my eyes didn¡¯t hurt as I looked at them. The humming had grown to a whole choir by the time the blue lights appeared. Purple light appeared over the figure and the humming cut out as the ring was completed. The world stood still for a moment, and then everything flashed white.

 Chapter Two: Returned

    I snapped back to attention feeling an odd sense of disconnect. It was like I had just been a million miles away. Why was I on the sidewalk? I had been at home¡­ I was driving to see Jake, and then¡­ I felt a memory tingling at the back of my mind just like earlier today and I knew if I had a second it would hit me. I was almost there when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a lady quickly withdrawing their hand. She looked like she was in her mid 20s and her brown hair was about shoulder length.


    ¡°Sorry, but I thought it might help to be properly conscious before someone took you to the orientation.¡± she said sounding a bit apologetic. I stared for a moment.


    ¡°The what?¡± I said confused, and she quickly responded.


    ¡°The orientation, oh that¡¯s not helpful is it, um, it¡¯s over by the tree. The delvers explain what''s happened in the last four years and well, um, oh thank goodness.¡± That last part was prompted by the arrival of a man in maybe his early twenties with shortish dirty blond hair.


    ¡°Hey I¡¯m here to take you to orientation. If you would please come with me at orientation what¡¯s going on will be explained, and we''ll provide the resources you need to deal with your new circumstances.


    ¡°Umm, yeah? Okay, yeah, that sounds good.¡± I started hesitantly then repeated with slightly more confidence. He slowly started to walk the direction he had come from, and when I started following he sped up to a normal walking pace.


    We walked silently for a minute passing plenty of houses. there were people around and in them, but not a single sign of children anywhere.


    ¡°Earlier, that lady said that it had been four years, what was that about?¡± I asked after a few minutes and my new guide took a moment to think before answering.


    ¡°What was the last thing you remember?¡± He asked, and I ran through what I could remember.


    ¡°I was just backing out of my driveway- well my moms driveway. I ran up against the memory I had failed to recall earlier, and then it rushed to me all at once. Metal screaming, ice cream on the floor, a jagged gash in the sky, the shining figure, blinding light. And then suddenly waking up standing on the sidewalk.


    This all happened mid step and I stumbled. My guide (who I really needed to find out the name of) caught my arm and saved me from a face full of concrete.


    The moment I recovered I looked up but the tear was gone.


    ¡°The tear is closed right now but when it opened four years ago everyone was pulled into it. Every year a chunk of the population returns which is what happened to you today.¡± He explained calmly, and I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond. My first instinct was to protest, to say that it was impossible for it to have been four years. I almost did that, but I paused, his voice had been so matter of fact and self assured, and he had confirmed I hadn¡¯t just imagined the tear. but¡­ four years, what had happened while I was gone? I didn¡¯t ask any more questions the rest of the walk. My mind still too occupied by the memories of the tear and the revelation that it had really been four years. My guide slowed to a stop after a while and I stopped as well, unsure why we had until I looked past him and my jaw dropped.


    The sidewalk we were standing on abruptly stopped, as did the road the houses and the trees. We were standing on the edge of a 20 foot cliff and ahead of us was a grassy crater that had to be at least a thousand feet in diameter, maybe even in radius. That alone was insane, but the middle of the clearing made that look tame because in the middle of the clearing was a massive tree. The tree looked for all the world like just a massively scaled up maple. Its trunk was at least 100 feet wide and the canopy started somewhere around three times that, blocked my view of the tree''s exact height. its leaves looked like they belonged on a normal sized maple which both felt strange and reassuringly normal. The tree¡¯s canopy extended over the entire crater ending just short of us. After a bit I turned my vision to the ground level. Upon further inspection the road didn¡¯t just end, there was a flight of concrete stairs. The stairs lead down to a gravel path that led in turn to a larger concrete sidewalk which in turn led to the tree. The sidewalk was as wide as a full road and had plenty of foot traffic, likely due to the fact that it was lined with buildings. As we made our way toward the maple my guide gave a quick explanation about the area.


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    ¡°the tree was here when the first people returned. The appearance of it took a chunk out of a highway and a apartment complex under construction as well as vanishing over a million cubic feet of dirt and stone. The resulting clearing is now called maple district and is the home of the dungeon and most things dungeon related.¡± he wrapped up around when we reached the first of the buildings. There were mostly stores by the looks of it, and many of them had ¡°returning week¡± sales. As we passed down the street people parted to let us through. Ahead of us I saw a few people with the same shirt as my guide leading other people, all looking around with the same awe I felt.


    Everywhere was such a strange mix of familiar and bizarre a couple waiting in line for milkshakes, both wearing swords on their sides. A guy getting fitted for a suit of glossy black plate inside what looked like an armor boutique. A girl around my age walked past holding an entire crate of red and green fruit in one lightly glowing hand as she chatted with a man an unnecessary amount of knives on his person. I felt like I was at some kind of convention, but everything was real. If my guide wasn¡¯t so nonchalant I would have felt scared of all the armed people around, instead I just felt intensely uneasy.


    After a bit I shifted my attention to the buildings themselves. Most of the buildings were made in the same style with concrete bases and wood for the second level and higher. There were exceptions like an apartment building that looked entirely modern, but the wood buildings were the norm. Around fifty feet from the tree was a dramatic change as the buildings stopped entirely and it was easy to see why. All around the tree were exposed roots, the only exception at the end of the road where the roots formed a smooth ramp. The ramp led to a massive 30 foot wide gate set into the tree. The gate was made of perfectly smooth wood and set into it was an ornately stylized symbol of a maple tree.


    Just before we reached the ramp to the door we turned, going up a manmade staircase that brought us atop the roots. From there we went around the maple on a wooden path built between the roots. We passed a ramp going up the maple and when I looked up I realized that it circled all the way up the tree with another ramp opposite it. The ramp ended in the canopy where there were dozens of buildings built on top of its branches. I got sick just thinking of going to one of those buildings, hanging hundreds of feet in the air. My guide noticed what I was looking at and gave me a quick explanation.


    ¡°That''s the dungeon guard HQ, you''ll learn who they are at orientation. speaking of which its just up ahead.¡± In front of us was the ramp down to the south side of the clearing. The buildings didn¡¯t extend to this side of the tree, with one rather noticeable stand out, a full blown castle. It was surrounded by a wall and moat with all sorts of parapets and machicolations and other features of castle architecture that undoubtedly had equally cool names. after a minute of walking it quickly became clear that this was our destination. We passed more people, many of them doing activities that looked like they belonged at a renaissance fair. There were a couple of people shooting some bows at small targets from a remarkable distance. further along the path some people were sparring with what looked like entirely real weapons, no blunted blades or foam in sight. ¡°This is the Delver''s guild area, the castle is the headquarters and they use the field to train and for events like the orientation.¡± We reached the castle and stepped into a spacious courtyard to an unexpected sight. there were hundreds of metal folding chairs arranged in several layers of half circles around a 5 foot tall ten foot round wooden stage. Almost half of the seats were already filled with people. There were some people around my age there but the majority were closer to their thirties and forties, and some were even older. Regardless of age everyone shared the same expressions of confusion and uncertainty. I took a seat towards the back and my guide (who to my embarrassment I realized I still hadn¡¯t learned the name of) walked over to several more official looking people and had a brief conversation with them. after a moment he left the castle presumably to find more people to return with. I watched as more people were led into the castle and seated until almost every chair was filled. I sat patiently with the crowd for almost half an hour before at long last someone stepped up to the stage. Save his head his six foot plus frame was clad entirely in red painted plate, but despite this he was the oldest person I had seen since waking up on the sidewalk, at least in his sixties. His hair and beard were both short and gray and his white skin had a number of wrinkles, but they almost seemed to vanish as he smiled. He raised his hands to silence the crowd and then he spoke, his voice carrying across the courtyard with ease.


    ¡°Thank you all for your patience as we worked out the last few technical issues. I''m John Green, and the only speaker for this event. Now, I¡¯m sure all of you dearly want to know what''s happened so without further ado let''s begin orientation!¡±

 Chapter Three: Orientation

    ¡°Four years ago I was in the same situation as you all, pulled into a tear in the sky to sleep in stasis by an unknowably powerful entity that has since identified itself as The Primordial. We later learned that this happened everywhere on the planet nearly simultaneously. Since then every year on the third week of June the same rift opens and hundreds of people are returned to us every day of the week. Based on pre and post primordial census data the total amount of people returned each year is a tenth of the total local population. Today is Monday, June 17th, 2028. You are all a part of the fifth return, and you all are this first group of the week.¡± he paused as a few people came on stage with a mike stand. He gave the microphone a few taps before resuming, his voice more restrained now that he didn¡¯t need to shout.


    ¡°Where was I? ah, yes, as I said you are the fifth batch of people to return. The last four years we¡¯ve found that with some exceptions the people who return each year share a general demographic. The people who first returned averaged roughly 25, and no one younger than 16 has returned yet. We also have found that those who returned earlier are consistently more adventurous and self-sufficient. Each year the average age of returnees has gone up. Now that was a lot, but the next order of business is definitely much more unbelievable. Please suspend your disbelief.¡± He paused for effect, and the entire crowd was watching with rapt attention. If that had been the more believable part of what he was saying, what was coming next?


    ¡°I mentioned The Primordial and how it made the rift and pulled everyone into it. It did this to access our world undisturbed. As for what it did while it was here, if you look up you will see the branches of a giant tree. At the base of this tree is the entrance to a miniature world, one of thousands around the world placed there by The Primordial. These places are called dungeons, and contained within are monsters. Monsters are creatures that form from nothing in the dungeon and return to nothing when killed. Before they return to nothing, however, they will produce an origin shard-¡± John pulled out a small acid green gemstone, holding the faintly glowing gem out for everyone to see. ¡°-These shards are the main reason people risk delving into the dungeon. Origin shards value comes from what they become.when ten shards of the same type come together they will create-¡± He pulled a grapefruit sized gemstone out from who knows where. Unlike the shard the glowing gem was a dull gray. ¡°-An origin orb. These origin orbs are humanity''s ticket to becoming more than ever thought possible.¡± John raised his hands to place something on his head with both hands and as he did so a red helmet faded into his hands from nowhere. The moment it settled on his head a flash of red tinged light burst from him. The crowd let out a collective gasp when the light disappeared. He had grown two feet, going from tall to towering, and his armor had gained several new spikes and ridges. When he spoke again a second voice overlapped with him, deeper but still recognizable as his.


    ¡°This is what is called an Avatar, While like this I can stand my ground in the face of a car crash, and probably lift the car as well.¡± He pulled off the helmet, and faded away into nothing, and he was back to normal as he continued.


    ¡°Avatars are both how and why people fight in the dungeon. The shards produced by monsters once combined can be used to fuel the creation of an avatar. If you want to be super durable, strong, or fast, entering the dungeon is the easiest way to get your hands on them, but people do sell them. This brings me to something else that''s a bit important. Since the return The Primordial has divided the world into quadrants. Each quadrant contains a dungeon, and a person can¡¯t summon their avatar outside of their quadrant. This is one of the less understandable things The Primordial has done, but don¡¯t worry, we have found that a person¡¯s quadrant changes to wherever they are during the return. Due to the creation of quadrants the trade of new orbs between quadrants has been slowed, but that¡¯s probably doesn¡¯t mean much to you, so let''s move on. Perhaps more useful to you are the other uses of orbs. By using ten orbs a person can enhance an object in a process called enchanting. This can have a number of effects, but unfortunately an object can only hold one. Now other than giving you superpowers and magic equipment the monsters of the dungeon can also give you materials to make even more.¡± He punctuated this statement with a rap against his breastplate.


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    ¡°This is made out of a monster''s shell. By using an origin shard or orb you can preserve a part of a monster. This armor helps me stay safe if I overuse my avatar. Speaking of safety, several groups have sprung up since the first return to do just that, first is the Delver¡¯s guild, which you are currently standing in front of the leader and headquarters of. We formed to equip people with the tools and knowledge to face the dungeon without fear. If you intend to take a shot at delving please visit us. Next up is the dungeon guard, they have their HQ up in the tree¡¯s canopy, and work on minimizing the risk faced by people inside the dungeon. Amongst other things they clear out dangerous monsters that spring up and map the dungeon. They are the reason the dungeon is currently closed because they are doing just that, alongside exploring the new level.¡± John noticed quite a few slightly confused expressions amongst the audience, and paused. ¡°Ah, I forgot to mention that earlier, didn''t I? The dungeon so far has gained another level every two years. Each level extends deeper underground, with new and stronger monsters cropping up with those new levels. Finally before you go there is one more organization which all of you are at least slightly familiar with.They are the ones who helped to gather all of you and get you to this event, The ONRR. standing for The Organization for Newly Returned Reintegration, the ONRR formed after the first year to help people resettle after the return and provide therapy, housing, loans, help contacting friends and family, and more. They have set up outside the courtyard during orientation to assist you with any challenges you may face after returning, and they will be there all week. They can also be reached at their building on maple lane. Thank you and goodbye everyone, I wish you a smooth transition back to normal life.¡± And with that he stepped away from the mike and down the stage, which several people started disassembling. The clamor of people talking and walking started to slowly fill the air, and I found myself joining the slowly moving stream of people leaving the courtyard. After a bit of shuffling I found myself in the formerly clear area in front of the courtyard, where several dozen kiosks with the blue and white ONRR logo on them had now been set up. Each kiosk had a sign specifying exactly what services they provided. Uncertain what to do next I made my way towards one of the several kiosks labeled finding friends and relatives, and waited. A station opened up pretty quickly and the lady running it waved me over to her. The lady had a kind smile that helped me feel less worried.


    ¡°What''s your name?¡± she asked. I supplied Ethan Wood, which whe quickly typed into her laptop.


    ¡°Middle name Elliot?¡± I nodded, and she continued. ¡±There are two people waiting to see you, the first is Tom Dougherty, and the second is Jake Alexander.¡±


    I was relieved to hear Jake was here and looking for me, it was nice to know someone I knew was here, though Tom looking for me felt a bit odd.


    ¡°Would you like me to notify them that you have arrived?¡± she asked and I nodded


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds good.¡± She did a few things on her laptop and then followed up.


    ¡°Is there anyone you would like to look for?¡± I didn¡¯t take any time to respond.


    ¡°Oh yeah, do you have a James or Willow Wood?¡± I said nervously and she looked it up without cracking a single joke, a remarkable feat based on my past experience.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid those names aren¡¯t in our database currently. would you like me to notify me when they arrive?¡± I wilted slightly at the news they were gone but pushed it down for later.


    ¡°Yes, and could you add a Rose and Peter Wood as well?¡± I asked. She agreed and quickly added them to the system. After leaving the kiosk I weaved out of the crowd, slowing as I reached the outskirts. Here people were slowly figuring out what to do next, and I joined them in pondering. Tom was still here so maybe I could just resume my job at Johnsons burgerhouse. That would help me stay financially stable assuming he still ran the burger house, technically he was never the owner. I was starting to worry about what I would do if he couldn¡¯t when I saw a familiar face, my guide.


    ¡°Hey, I didn¡¯t get a chance to thank you, or ah, catch your name.¡± I said when he noticed me, and he gave me an easygoing smile.


    ¡°No problem, I should be more embarrassed I forgot to ask yours, I¡¯m Al, what''s yours?¡±


    ¡°Oh sorry, I¡¯m Ethan¡± I hastily supplied.


    ¡°Well Ethan, I¡¯ve gotta run; my cat got out, but I hope we meet again, I hope your return goes smoothly.¡± and with that nonsequiteur he started off, leaving me a bit confused.

 Chapter Four: Home Sweet... Home?

    I decided that my best course of action was to start by going home and then figure out what to do from there. I found one of the ramps up the maple''s roots and followed it into maple lane, joining the flow of people. I didn¡¯t see the man who was carrying the fruit on the way back but looking closer this time I noticed plenty other people carrying things that looked too heavy to carry. Paying closer attention I noticed a translucent outline of another figure overlapping the people doing these feats. The most extreme example of Avatar strength I saw was a guy single-handedly carrying a pallet with tightly packed layers of what looked like old train rails to a stone building from which the sound of metal on metal and fire emerged. The man walked into the blazing hot room without any hesitation and I lost sight of him. This wasn¡¯t because of the wall in the way, it was because I tripped on something while looking to the side. I nearly found myself on the floor but fortunately I managed to catch myself. I kept my eyes ahead of me while walking after and that.


    I did stop to stare when a person jumped nearly 8 feet onto a building right in front of me, a plain brown cloak obscuring their appearance. After leaving maple lane the streets calmed down a good deal but after a few wrong turns I realized I was lost. I pulled out my phone and opened google maps to find a route home, and noticed something new. Around half the buildings on the map had red icons on them, and when I clicked on one it stated ¡°inhabitant unreturned, change status?¡±. I quickly found my home and noticed that it too was marked with the icon. I opened the icon and pressed change status. The icon turned blue and the words verification pending showed up, and that was that. I slowed as home came into sight, then stopped as I registered what I was seeing. Most of the houses I had passed had been rather intact. maybe a bit overgrown and a more worn, but not too bad. My house was an entirely different story. It looked like it had been abandoned for decades, not years. The roof over my room had collapsed entirely and the rest of the roof sagged. Many of the visible windows were broken, and the rooms they led to moldy and trashed. Ivy had choked out Moms beloved gardens and then spread across the yellow grass of the yard and along the faded orange walls. The Ivy even grew through the broken windows and into the house. I couldn¡¯t believe what I was seeing. No, I didn¡¯t believe what I was seeing, this was a dream. A vivid extended dream. I had thought that this had felt too real to be a dream, but now I knew that I would wake up soon. Yeah, I would wake up and tell Jake about it. He would laugh about how wacky it was and share one twice as weird, and then we would resume hanging out. I closed my eyes and willed myself to wake up. I almost managed to convince myself it wasn¡¯t real, but when I opened my eyes it was still there, my house in ruins. This nightmare was all too real. I felt numb as I approached the door, the only intact looking parts of the house.


    I pulled the handle and it stayed firmly stuck in place. I gave it a sharp tug, and it shifted a little this time.


    I grabbed the door in both hands, and forced the door open. The scent of mildew filled my nose as the ruined interior was revealed. A patch of ivy had spread across half the living room. The walls were warped from water with a patch of mold spreading along the top of the window. I didn¡¯t bother exploring the first floor of the house. Instead I climbed the stairs, where my room, and the hole in the roof were. There was a large pile of debris with mold growing all over it, a small sapling had even managed to take root in the debris and start growing. I carefully climbed the pile of fully rotted insulation and rotten wood. The pile constantly shifted under my weight, and dry handholds were near nonexistant. As I reached the top I looked down at my room, or at least the chunk of roof that had fallen into it. There were raised chunks of roofing where it had landed on my bed and desk. I approached the patch of roof where my desk had been and gave it a tug, uncovered my desk now heavily scuffed and damp with mold like everything else in my room. The remains of my computer were nowhere in sight. All I could find was a broken picture of me and my family, the five of us all crammed onto a bolder mid hike. The section where mom and dad were hugging was almost completely destroyed by moisture. I felt a tear prickle my eye. Before the lump of emotions that was making its way to the forefront of my mind could arrive my phone rang, buzzing a cheery buzz sound that pulled me back to reality. I pulled out my phone, the caller ID read Tom. I pressed the green button and raised my phone to my ear.


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    ¡°Tom?¡± I asked, and I heard Tom¡¯s familiar happy voice.


    ¡°Ethan! Welcome back. Sorry I couldn''t reach you earlier but I was dealing with a couple of issues, and I didn¡¯t notice the notification on my phone.¡± Tom said apologetically.


    ¡°No problem. Why are you calling?¡± I responded on autopilot, trying to keep any emotion from my voice and barely succeeding.


    ¡°Straight to the point as usual. I imagine you don¡¯t have any plans for the future right now, so I thought I would rehire you now that you''re back. you were always one of my best employees, and I imagine you could use some help getting back on your feet.¡± Tom''s familiar voice was just what I needed. I jumped on the piece of familiarity that he offered me, perhaps too quickly.


    ¡°Yes please! So¡­ back to flippin burgers?¡± I asked hopefully.


    ¡°Kinda. After the world went whack the burgerhouses supply chains were gone. We couldn¡¯t really keep making the same things but I managed to improvise a new menu, and we managed to keep functioning. Meats aren¡¯t as big a part of the menu anymore after how hard it was to get for a while, but we¡¯ve managed to make do pretty well with what we¡¯ve got. Do you want to come over and get started now, or do you want some time to find your bearings?¡± I looked around my former room and made my decision. when in doubt, work. I knew I should have said something about what I was going through, but what? Yeah I need some time. My house fell down and I don¡¯t know where I¡¯m going to sleep tonight. Easier to just ignore it for now.


    ¡°No, I¡¯m good to come over now¡± I answered. Tom wasted no time responding


    ¡°Great, see you soon¡± Tom promptly hung up. I took one look around before clambering over the rubble pile and walked downstairs and out the door. I was feeling a bit better now that I had something to do, and I pointedly didn¡¯t look back. I could pretend a little longer.

 Chapter Five: Familiar Faces

    The burgerhouse was around 2 miles away, a short drive. Unfortunately I still didn¡¯t know where my car had ended up, so I had to walk the distance. An image of my car overgrown by vines and rust flashed through my head for a moment, and I closed my eyes for a moment, willing it away, it would be fine¡­ please be fine. I was thankful when I saw the burgurhouse.


    The exterior was about how I remembered, though the neon sign wasn¡¯t on. I pulled open the glass door, which set off a bell with a familiar ding. I didn¡¯t know how to feel as I looked around the dining area, and the wave of relief that hit me was almost palpable. The interior despite the several years was blessedly unchanged. For a moment I didn¡¯t recognize the person behind the counter, and then I realized it was Paul. He was the first person I knew from before the return that I had seen after it, and It was jarring how much he had changed in what felt like just a few hours. I hadn¡¯t known Paul that well, but I had been familiar enough with him. He had been been lanky and slightly slouched when I last saw him, with slightly greasy long hair. Now he stood straight and attentive. His red hair was in a cut short, just tickling his ears. His outfit was largely normal, but much brighter than the colors he usually wore, and there was a shiny black pauldron over his uniform on his right shoulder. Paul turned to face me the moment I entered the building, his phone nowhere in sight, and he smiled and greeted me confidently.


    ¡°Hey, long time no see Ethan, you haven¡¯t aged a day.¡± he chuckled briefly at his own joke, and then continued. ¡°Tom told me you were back. He¡¯s on a quick errand, we¡¯re nearly out of eggs. Tom asked me to give you a quick tour when you came, so if you¡¯ll come round back I¡¯ll show you everything new.¡± I was caught off guard by Paul actually talking, not to mention surprised he was still working here. From what little he had talked it had sounded like he wasn¡¯t planning on staying for too long, certainly not over a year. But here he was, more confident and happy than ever. Just how much had the people I had known changed? would I even recognize Jake if I saw him?


    Paul led me to the back, which was mostly like I remembered it. There was a long counter with a large griddle built into it, covering a third of the space. That was where we made burgers, but Paul explained that it was now mostly to make omelets of all things. To the side there was an overflowing box filled with odd round fruits. The fruits were cherry red at the bottom, but faded to green on one side, they reminded me of very odd apples, and I asked Paul about them.


    ¡°Ah, you haven¡¯t seen any of those before have you? Come from the dungeon tree, they¡¯re giant versions of those helicopter seeds on maples. We call them samaras, which is apparently what those seeds are called.¡± Paul grabbed one and turned it so I could see the green side, there was a pale line on it.


    ¡°Right there¡¯s where the wing sticks out, but it''s not quite as edible so we just chop em off.¡±


    Next he opened the walk-in fridge, opening it to show me its contents.


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    ¡°We got all sorts of greens in here waiting for prep, but you know those for the most part. The interesting part is these¡± he said, pointing out a carton of eggs almost as big as my fist.


    ¡°Animals grow when you give them shards, and so Tom invested in a couple chickens and some shards for them and voila, giant eggs. Lot more bang for your buck than normal eggs.¡± I was about to ask a follow question about the giant chickens when the door dinged, and Tom stepped into the back room a moment later. He was carrying a new carton of oversized eggs. His hair cut shorter than usual, but he made up for it with a new, equally short beard. In addition he wore a brown shirt, jeans, and sturdy boots. He looked like he was ready to go on a hike, in other words he looked like I remembered him. He also looked happy to see me


    ¡°Ethan! It''s been a while.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I guess it has.¡± I replied with uncertainty.


    ¡°Well I would love to sit and chat, but there¡¯s loads to catch you up on work wise.¡± Coming from most people the first part of the sentence would sound like empty niceties, but coming from Tom it sounded like he really meant it. He always had been a good manager, always friendly enough I almost forgot he just wanted to get me to work effectively and quickly. Our last interaction had been odd, but it was probably because I had been starting to slow down and he knew it would be better in the long term.


    Tom set the eggs in the fridge and Paul went out to grab the rest from Tom¡¯s truck. Meanwhile Tom grabbed a knife and samara, and my instruction began then and there.


    ¡°Rule one: cut along where the wing was, it''s more willing to give there.¡± Tom said, demonstrating how to properly prepare a samara for dicing.


    ¡°Rule five: the eggs are bigger than you need, whisk the whole thing up, but only use a third of it, store the rest in the fridge.¡± Tom explained as he whipped up a omelette for a customer.


    ¡°Rule fourteen: samaras are great for sweetening, but be careful not to add too much, just a bit will do, especially during return week.¡± He cautioned when I went heavy on the samaras. Apparently tomaras were mostly from the dungeon where they grew year round. Outside they only grew during spring, which was already past.


    ¡°Rule thirty eight: when it comes to peppers, start small, add more if they ask for it¡­ or if they¡¯re asking for it, if you know what I mean.¡± Tom¡¯s usual smile was traded out for a sarcastic smirk when he said that last part. After that lesson he grabbed his phone and checked the time, and then turned to me.


    ¡°Alright that''s all we needed to get through today, you¡¯ll pick up the rest in a few days. I¡¯ll see you tomorrow round ten and you¡¯ll start your first actual day.¡±


    ¡°Alright, see you tomorrow, have a nice day!¡± When I finally stepped out of the burgurhouse it was nearly 7. The summer sun was still lingering in the sky despite this, remaining up the entire walk home. I was genuinely smiling when I left, but with every step I got closer to home I felt my spirit fall. My head felt quite as I just walked home, and before I knew it I was standing in front of home. It looked even worse in the dark, and I hesitated outside the door this was the moment of truth, what to do about home? My room was unusable, and all the other rooms upstairs were too. Unsure what else to do I just stepped inside and started looking around. To my surprise the guest bedroom on the first floor was almost entirely intact, save the thick layer of dust. I laid down on the dusty bed, testing to see if it would work. I must have been more drained than I thought because I was asleep within moments.

 Chapter Six: Back To Work

    I woke up hoping it had all been a dream, but the dust all over and around me made it clear that that still wasn¡¯t the case, and all the problems I had tried to ignore yesterday were still present. I didn¡¯t have any food, changes of clothes, or a functioning bathroom. Alright, what can I do? At work I could use the restroom, and employees usually a free meal at the burger house. One meal isn¡¯t a lot, but it would work for now. The only problem is I wasn¡¯t expected until 10 and It wasn¡¯t even 7 yet. Tom wouldn¡¯t mind if he came early, right? Deciding on my next course of action I started the walk to the former burgurhouse, and a bit over half an hour I was there. Now I had a new problem, the burgurhouse was still closed. Well it looks like I would have to get comfortable for a bit. At least I could forget about the condition of my home for now. And let¡¯s keep it that way, I thought to myself, forcing myself to think about something else as well as I could.


    Half an hour later around 7:50 Tom¡¯s truck rolled into view. A moment later he walked round to the front of the building, keys in hand. Noticing me loitering by the entrance, his brow furrowed slightly, the creases deeper than I remembered.


    ¡°Ethan, I didn¡¯t expect you until ten, is everything alright?¡± Tom asked. I tried to think of an answer that wouldn¡¯t make him suspicious.


    ¡°Umm, I just realized I didn¡¯t have the internet set up again, so my usual stuff isn¡¯t ah, usable yet. thought I would get some stuff done, maybe get a bit more practice with the new recipes, you know?¡± I thought it was obvious I was hiding something and he would call me out, but he just accepted it. His expression brightened as he remembered something.


    ¡°Well I can¡¯t get your house wifi, but Johnsons still has working wifi, same password as the day you vanished.¡± Tom explained. I pulled out my phone to connect while he unlocked the door.


    ¡°Oh, great, thanks.¡± I thanked him slightly awkwardly, at least it sounded like it to my ear. Tom didn¡¯t seem to notice anything off so it was probably just me. Tom¡¯s voice pulled me back from my self doubting session.


    ¡°Alright, Paul should be here in a few hours, so you''re my chef today, so remember rule 2 and rule 24.¡± And with that Tom started toward the counter, and I racked my mind for what those had been. I remembered the lessons, not the number assigned to them. I hadn¡¯t realized there would be a test. After a moment of indecision I made up my mind and decided to just pretend I knew what those had been. I would look incompetent if I had to ask .


    I went past Tom into the kitchen, and waited there in silence for a bit. There were no customers yet so I had some time to burn.


    A nagging voice in my head reminded me that Tom was fine with asking questions. In fact, I was pretty sure that had been one of the rules: if you don¡¯t know, don¡¯t hesitate to ask, or something like that. Which one had that been? and then it clicked, rule 24! We and I immediately felt rather silly. Maybe I needed a refresher on the rules after all. After a bit of wracking my brain I remembered rule 2 was always wash your hands which I immediately did, washing twice because it was the beginning of the day. Shortly after I finished that I heard the bell ring. I walked out from the kitchen and got the order from Tom. Once I had the order slip I walked back to the kitchen to get started on the order. The process was still a bit unfamiliar but I managed to finish without burning the omelet, and that was enough of a win for me. The bell rang again and I got started on the next order. I kept working like this until 12, when Paul arrived. At the same time business picked up rapidly. I quickly found my newfound omelet skills left in the dust as Paul pumped out order after order, and I eventually just went to the kitchen to make sure that Paul was supplied with already prepared ingredients the whole time. Around one Tom pulled me aside to outside the burgurhouse. I noticed most of the people in the shop were doing the same. I was about to ask Tom what we were looking for when a familiar tearing filled the air. It was far quieter than I remembered, but I still winced at the sound. I felt my heartbeat speed up as I watched faintly glowing white shapes descend from the tear in the sky. The glowing figure, the Primordial, was nowhere in sight.


    ¡°It¡¯s the second return of the year, I thought you might want to see it.¡± Tom explained. Looking around I noticed several people from the ONRR setting out to find returning people. After a minute the tear silently mended itself without a trace and the crowd dispersed, leaving just me and Tom standing outside the shop.


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    ¡°I should probably get back in, a lot of those people went in johnsons, Paul is probably getting swamped.¡± I was turning toward the door when Tom spoke.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you take the rest of the day off, I can help Paul, and I¡¯m sure you have some stuff to get in order after being away, did anyone other than me reach out?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± I lied.


    ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry to hear that. Maybe someone you know will return later this week, right.¡± Tom said hopefully, but that wasn¡¯t why I felt down; Jake hadn¡¯t contacted me. I didn¡¯t know why he would ask the ONRR to let him know when I returned and then just not contact me. My mind jumped to the worst case scenario, what if he had realized how pathetic I was and decided he didn''t want to be my friend anymore. I quickly shoved that thought away. That wasn¡¯t something Jake would do, I couldn¡¯t completely banish the thought from my mind. It¡¯s been years, how did I know what he would and wouldn¡¯t do?


    ¡°I think I¡¯ll just keep working today, if that''s okay with you.¡± I said.


    ¡°Yeah, alright, just remember not to overwork yourself.¡± Tom requested, and I relented


    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll try.¡±. Once that was done I got back to work prepping food for Paul, who was well and truly swamped. The work felt good and it was easy to push aside my fears and concerns about home and Jake''s absence for later. I barely noticed the time was passing until a few hours later Tom pulled me aside again.


    ¡°The main rush is done, and you worked through the whole thing. why don¡¯t you take a break, no you don¡¯t have to leave, but I haven¡¯t seen you eat anything the entire time you¡¯ve been here. grab a bite, actually try our menu, and then if you want you can keep working, remember rule 12, don¡¯t make food on an empty stomach.¡±


    I almost said I was fine, but my stomach rumbling reminded me that I was in fact, starving. Hadn¡¯t eating here been my plan in the first place? I had just let myself get caught up working so quickly I had forgotten. I made myself an omelet really quick and went to one of the tables.


    I had been making them all day, but the omelets were even better than they looked. It felt wrong on a deep level to put fruit in an omelet, but my taste buds insisted I was the one who was wrong. I managed to pack away the entire meal in no time, and after a refill of water (hydration is important) I rewashed my hands and returned behind the counter to resume working. Soon enough it was 6 and Tom practically forced me out the door.


    ¡°You¡¯ve been here all day. A lot has changed, and some of it is pretty cool. Go enjoy your day, explore what¡¯s new. If you still want to come early tomorrow, come over at 7:30 next time and we¡¯ll cover what''s changed about opening, kay?¡±


    I agreed and started to leave, but Tom abruptly told me to wait a moment and ran to the backroom. He came back a moment later with a white envelope marked with a few scribbled equations and my name and gave it to me. I accepted it, giving Tom a quizzical look.


    ¡°It''s your paycheck, you just got back so I thought it would help to have some physical cash to fall back on, it took a bit of digging to find, but that should also have the money from your pre-vanishing paycheck too.¡±


    I didn''t know what to say. How far would he have to go back to find a four year old incomplete paycheck? I pocketed the envelope and gave an awkward thanks. Tom smiled.


    ¡°No problem, it''s the decent thing to do, just let me know if there is anything you need help with.¡± I had a skip in my step leaving for home, and I decided to make use of a bit of my newfound money immediately. With some looking on my map app I found an open general store nearby, where I purchased a new toothbrush and other general hygiene items. After that I started on my way back home, by paycheck in a little bag with the other items. I was feeling almost happy when I finished buying the toothbrush, it was a bit on the cheaper side, but it was something that I had bought for myself. I had taken control of my future, but every step lost more and more excitement as I remembered the sorry state of home. What good was a toothbrush without running water? I pulled out the paycheck out of the bag, opening it and looking at the cash inside. What was the use of one little paycheck when my house was caved in?


    I paused, looking back at the toothbrush. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but it was a start. I could brush my teeth at the burgurhouse restroom, and hopefully I could think up a better solution to the rest of my problems tomorrow. For today maybe just a paycheck and a toothbrush was enough. I arrived at home and laid down for the night, my envelope beside me, and the little bag of my purchases on the floor next to my bed. I gradually fell to sleep, my doubts and my hopes fighting for control in my mind.

 Chapter Seven: The Daily Grind

    The next morning went much the same as the first. I woke up in a slightly less dusty bed and looked worriedly at a spot of mold in the corner. Then I took a few minutes to dust off my clothes and grab my shoes. Finally I checked the time, 6:40, just enough time to get there without rushing. The walk to work was unremarkable. For the first few minutes it was just me and my thoughts. What to do next inevitably came up, I couldn¡¯t just keep going to work and collecting a paycheck, I would need to do something about my current situation. That¡¯s future Ethan''s problem, for now I just need to accumulate resources. When that failed to help I distracted myself by noting the differences in the buildings I passed. Most were basically unchanged or a little less maintained, but some were a bit more like my home, and some had more recent additions. One house I noticed had a massive cat sitting in the window that glared my way, and I picked up the pace.


    I arrived at the burgurhouse with five minutes to spare and sat on the curb. Just on time Tom pulled into the lot.


    ¡°Hey Ethan, glad to see I didn¡¯t bring the spare for nothing.¡± Tom called from around fifteen feet away, tossing something my way in a slow arc. I caught the keys without too much fumbling and unlocked the door for Tom. After that he guided me through the process of setting up. Most of it was about the same as before in the forms of rules 52-54: Check for foods that need prep and expiration dates (the samaras are very slow to spoil, but that didn¡¯t mean they were immune to it) do a quick cleanup with any extra time before 8, set up the griddle and flip the sign to open. Once he was done explaining everything I must have let my facade slip a bit because Tom asked me if everything was okay. I lied and said I was doing fine other than the darn internet being on the fritz, and he let me be. I took a bathroom break after that, secretly flossing and brushing my teeth before coming back to work. Work went about the same as yesterday. I had had my employee meal halfway through the day, just before the third return of the week. The tear screaming open nearly made me drop my plastic fork, but I managed not to. After that I got back to work helping supply Paul to withstand the midday rush. I was pretty worn out by the end of the day. I considered taking a second break toward the end of my shift. Tom would probably allow it, but another break would leave me alone with my thoughts. Better just to work. Later that day I left for what was left of home and went to bed, slowly drifting into a restless sleep.


    Tom was there to help with prep again the next day, but I barely needed him for it and the rest of the day was unremarkable. Tom didn¡¯t ask very many questions until my phone finally ran out of battery, and I had to reluctantly ask Tom if I could borrow a charger.


    ¡°Yeah of course, it''s over by the toaster. Are you sure everything is okay?¡± he asked. I hurriedly answered, slightly tripping on my words


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    ¡°No- I mean yeah, yeah, I just uh, well my charger broke, and I haven¡¯t gotten around to getting a new one yet.¡± Tom didn¡¯t look satisfied with that answer, but he let it go, and he didn¡¯t bother me again as I went back to work. I took my break watching the tear, got back to work, and then walked back home. I had trouble sleeping that night. I kept hearing something moving around, and I thought something must have wandered into the house through one of the open windows. Eventually I got to sleep despite the noises and worry.


    Friday I woke up poorly rested and walked to work, where I unlocked the door and got started, this time alone. I got everything ready for opening, going through our stock, noting what was needed (onions and eggs) and what was close to needing to be replaced (tomatoes). I still had a bit more time before when we opened at 8 so I went over the floors with a broom. Finally I flipped the sign open. Tom arrived at 9, and I glowed when he said he said was impressed I had remembered so easily:


    ¡°-Though I guess you didn¡¯t have to remember much, for you it was just a few days ago.¡± He paused after he said that.


    ¡°Sorry, I could have said that a bit better.¡±


    ¡°It''s totally fine." I said casually to Tom. That afternoon as I looked at the dusty moldy entryway of home, and told myself the same thing, but the way my voice echoed hollowly through the house made it hard to believe the lie.


    The next day I found the shop unlocked, and sitting in the lobby was Tom, a solemn look on his face. I wasn¡¯t sure what was wrong, but Tom was rarely this imposing. I couldn¡¯t for the life of me think what I had done wrong, and apologies started spilling from my mouth as I prepared to beg to not be fired.


    ¡°Hey, ah, was I late? sorry, I thought it was 7:30, is my clock off, or was it something else?¡± Tom seemed taken aback by this reaction, and then to my concern he became even more serious. I tried to mentally prepare myself for his reaction, I was probably getting fired.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t changed your clothes for five days, you refused a ride when I offered it, your stomach is audibly rumbling as we speak. You have admitted to having no electricity or internet at home, and now you have bags under your eyes. I have tried to ask if I can help you and you have deflected and avoided the topic, so let me be blunt, something is wrong, so tell me, what is going on Ethan?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how to react to Tom''s confrontation, but I settled on trying to convince him I was fine.


    ¡°Oh sorry about my clothes, the laundry machine is just dow¨C¡± Tom cut me off there.


    ¡°Stop trying to brush off my help Ethan. I know that something bigger than that is wrong, I need you to explain it to me, and honestly. Okay?¡± Tom said, more forcefully this time, and I stepped back a little in surprise, making Tom quickly soften with a sigh.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I got a bit loud there. I want to help, and you keep trying to brush it off when it''s clearly not a small problem. I need you to answer me honestly, okay?¡± Tom finished. I knew I couldn¡¯t make him stop, and so I reluctantly got ready to explain.

 Chapter Eight: Intervention

    ¡°What do you want to know?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Just what''s going on that is causing you so much trouble.¡± Tom responded, and I got started.


    ¡°It started just before you called on Tuesday. I had just come home and it was absolutely destroyed. The entire lawn was overgrown, a chunk of the roof had caved in over my room, everything I had was ruined, including my clothes. There¡¯s water stains everywhere, the entire upstairs was leafy and moldy, and there was no power or water. I¡¯ve been fine just using the burgerhouses bathrooms during my breaks, but I have no laundry machines or shower. I have no idea where to go to fix that, it hadn¡¯t even crossed my mind until you brought it up.¡± I realized that I had been talking for a while, but once I had started explaining it was like I couldn¡¯t stop, and I just kept explaining.


    ¡°I don¡¯t have any food at home that doesn¡¯t need some kind of preparation with something that¡¯s broken¡­ so I''m stuck sleeping in a glorified dust pile¡­ my house feels dead without the sounds of my family giving it life¡­¡± eventually I wasn¡¯t even talking about the house anymore. ¡°My car is gone¡­ I just have this job to focus on, I don¡¯t know what else I can do¡­ the only person I know won¡¯t contact me.¡± After almost 15 minutes of just letting loose I managed to get a handle on myself. I looked up to see a slightly blurry Tom, his expression distorted. I quickly wiped the tears that had started forming in my eyes, realizing how unprofessional I looked. I had just spent a sizable portion of an hour just crying and pouring my heart out to my employer, how pathetic was that. The expression on Tom¡¯s face was an expression I had never seen on him, his brow furrowed, and a slight frown on his face.


    ¡°Sorry about that, I should be more professional.¡± I tried to apologize for the display, but Tom cut me off before I could continue. His face softened as he responded to me.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to apologize for being in a bad situation, especially one like this.¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, but I still shouldn¡¯t-¡±


    ¡°Ethan, you don¡¯t need to justify having emotions, you¡¯ve had everything you thought was certain uprooted in a single moment, and you are the most routine focused person I know. You had to get that out, and you need to take some time for yourself. It¡¯s been a while for me, but if I remember correct you were overworking yourself before the return as well, and were supposed to be taking a break..¡± I opened my mouth to protest, and Tom cut me off. ¡°I¡¯m giving you paid time off, you need a break and you need financial security. I can¡¯t solve all your problems, but I have an Idea of where to start. The ONRR has a program for people that have been put into a tough situation from the return, such people who¡¯s living situation has been affected.¡±


    ¡°Are you sure, it''s pretty bad, and they-


    ¡°None of that,-Tom interrupted- they give specialized support based on your needs, and it has quite a bit of funding. They may just get you an apartment, but there is a chance they could do more. Fortunately they are easiest to contact during return week. Today is the last day and no one has descended yet you¡¯re going there, and you''re going to ask for the help you need, okay.¡± Tom wasn¡¯t asking anymore, he was giving me an order, and following orders was something I was quite good at.


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    ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll go after my shift.¡± and Tom agreed.


    ¡°Alright, just make sure you go in time, the stands go down around 6 so you may want to wrap up a bit earlier than usual.¡± Tom went back to Johnsons and I followed. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how I felt. On the one hand Tom had been confrontational, making me tell him what was wrong. On the other hand it had been to help, and I was becoming more disheveled by the day which would probably start hurting business if it kept going. I was still conflicted when I clocked out at 5:30 and walked down maple lane. It was less busy than the last time I had been there, conversely when I went around the roots and the castle was in view I saw tons more people than last time. Most of the people were training with probably fake weapons, while several more experienced people helped give pointers. Up ahead were the ONRR kiosks just like last time. There weren''t too many people there and I found the kiosk labeled residence return assistance pretty easily. It had the same little laptop as the one I had visited on Monday. There was a guy in his mid twenties with brown hair in a messy bun standing waiting. When he noticed me hovering uncertainly around the kiosk he waved me over with a small smile.


    ¡°Good afternoon, can I help you?¡± he asked politely, and I uncertainly answered.


    ¡°yeah, so my house or uh my parents house is kinda wrecked, and I just wanted to see if maybe there was something that you could do to help with that?¡± He gave his laptop a few taps and then gave me a smile.


    ¡°Yeah we can probably do something, but we will need to give the building a look so we know what we''re dealing with. If you could give me your address and number we can be over Monday morning and contact you with more information, does that sound good?¡± When I agreed he gave me a pen and slip of paper to use. After filling out and handing back the paper he let me go, and before I left I spied another kiosk: Vehicle Locating. It took a moment of mental debate, but I decided to approach the kiosk. This time I was a little more confident, actually initiating the conversation with the 30ish black haired lady.


    ¡°Hello, I was driving when I, um, vanished. Do you know how I could find my car?¡±


    Ah, yes. If you know its license plate we could search for it, but unfortunately we are quite limited beyond that.¡± she explained. My heart fell, I had no idea what my license plate said.


    ¡°Ok, sorry.¡± and I left to go home. I was happy that they had been so willing to listen about my home, but the dead end about my car was discouraging. The good and the bad mixed in my stomach as I lay in bed that night, keeping me up late into the night.


    The next morning was Sunday, and I didn¡¯t know what I should do. I always went to church with my family. We went to one of the many LDS buildings that you couldn¡¯t go 4 blocks without running into in Utah, but now what? I hadn¡¯t even thought about it since I got back, but what was I going to do now, what did I believe now? A glowing giant had torn a hole in the sky and grown a giant tree full of monsters while giving people superpowers, where was that in the doctrine? Beyond that, where was the fairness, the benevolence of returning to my home in shambles? I wasn''t sure what to think. Around nine I realized I didn''t have any food at home, and around ten after debating with myself I decided to grab my wallet and go find something to eat. I eventually found a little cafe on Maple lane that was open, where I bought a few muffins and some free water before going back home. I spent most of the day in the weathered wooden chair in the backyard wondering what I believed in to no avail, and I eventually went to bed feeling worse than I had since the first day.

 Interlude: Jake

    Jake woke up in bed, which would be normal if he wasn¡¯t cross legged in front of his laptop on top of his blanket. How had he fallen asleep like this? What was he doing? He had just finished a jog and was going to settle down to watch a video or two when¡­ the sky tore open. At that moment something started scratching at the door. Jake hopped out of bed, looking for a weapon and settling for his metal water bottle. He cracked the door open- and immediately god bowled over by an excited fuzzy yellow missile. With effort Jake got up from under the over excited golden retriever and gave her a few pets. What had Ms. Wiggles so excited to see him? Usually the pupper was happy to see people, but the only time he could think of her being this excited was when he got back from a vacation without her. What was happening? Jake walked over to his window where he had seen the tear, and though there was no sign of a tear he did make out something else marrying the sky, a massive canopy that ended several blocks away covering a fair bit of the sky.


    ¡°Alright wiggles, I¡¯m not sure what is going on, but the giant tree is the best place we have to start, so let''s get going.¡±


    Jake grabbed his sneakers and a large kitchen knife, and with weapon in hand and wiggles at side he set off to figure out what was going on.


    <hr>


    Jake stood at a cliff at the end of the road, before him stretched the giant maple tree in a vast grassy field, and in the distance were around a dozen people around a large door set in the tree. It took some work but Jake carefully made his way down the cliff followed by wiggles.


    ¡°Someone really needs to build a staircase there.¡± Jake muttered to himself as he finished descending, and then he and wiggles went to meet the crowd. One person came to meet him, a small blond who one upped his knife with an actual broadsword sheathed on her left waist.


    ¡°Hey, we ah, don¡¯t. Dang it¡­¡± She turned back to the crowd and dashed back, and after a moment of discussion a new person came forward, a bulky guy with a large branch over his shoulder.


    ¡°Sorry about that, Ann¡¯s great at planning and fighting but speaking in public isn''t her strong suit.¡± Jake looked around, there were barely 12 people here. The large fellow continued


    ¡°Anyways we all showed up yesterday, the tree is bigger on the inside and full of giant beetles and wasps, and killing them gives you these things you can use to become stronger. We were planning on exploring it more when the sky tore open again and white things floated out. We were preparing for the worst, but now I think that the white things were more people.¡± Jake took a moment to run through what was said, and then nodded.


    ¡°Alright, cool, how dangerous are the beetles, because I wouldn¡¯t mind superpowers.¡±


    <hr>


    Jake sighed, no one had returned Sunday and Ethan wasn¡¯t back yet. He could only pray that more people would return in the future. It was probably for the best, Ethan would not enjoy the current lack of infrastructure.


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    <hr>


    Jake was hunting hornets, he needed them for the next tier of his avatar, but they were much rarer than beetles and far more deadly. He spied one descending and followed, finally, he hadn¡¯t seen one for- he spotted the wasps prey, it wasn¡¯t another beetle, it was a person. He was standing unsteadily on the ground, barely standing, and his avatar flickered out of existence as he barely dodged an attack. The hornet attacked again and he barely managed to jump the side, landing in a heap on the ground. As the wasp prepared the killing blow Jake felt his avatar overlap over him, covering him in armor and giving him the strength he needed.


    ¡°Raahhh.¡± Jake shouted as he leapt forward squeezing every ounce of power his avatar had, and his spear pierced through the wasp like it wasn¡¯t there. With another shout Jake swung his spear into the ground, and the wasp came with it. The next day Jake wasn¡¯t hunting wasps for the loot, he was hunting them to keep others safe, and when Ann formed the dungeon guard he was the first one to join..


    <hr>


    Jake had found something no one else had, the hidden shrine. No one could see it when he pointed it out to them, but he knew he wasn¡¯t just imagining it because now he had a second avatar. The dungeon¡¯s second layer was long and winding, and bringing people back up was harder with how far the exit was from the second level, they needed somewhere to take people closer to the second layer. Jake had been spending a knot of time in the dungeon, but what else could he do, no one could clear out monsters as well as he could with his second avatar.


    <hr>


    Jake stabbed his spear into a stag beetle the size of a moped with a flash of his avatar, and then with another flash he hurled it toward Ann who cleaved it in two with a slash. She had found the hidden shrine too, but it was somewhere entirely different for her, and when she showed it to him he just saw a dead end that was completely solid for him, it looked like everyone had to find the hidden shrine for themselves. Jake helped the injured delver they had just saved to the dungeon guard outpost to help him rest and once he was safe went back out, the dungeon wouldn¡¯t guard itself.


    <hr>


    Year three and still no sign of his old friends and family, but the ONRR had finished developing a system for finding newly returned, and Jake had set up alerts for his parents and friend, now it was only a matter of time. Putting that aside for now this year the dungeon hadn¡¯t gained a layer. After clearing out all marked threats the dungeon guard reopened the dungeon to the public, and Jake got started on bringing his avatar to the next level.


    <hr>


    I hate the new layer Jake thought to himself as he pulled his legs free from the sappy glue covering his feet. A rumble warned him a leach was coming and right on cue a maw too large for its body emerged from the wall and latched onto his armored arm. Jake smashed his arm into the wall to dislodge the leach and then stomped to finish it off. Another spray of glue informed him another termite was attacking, and with a grunt he hurled his spear toward the insect, piercing clean through it and ending its assault. Up ahead a bulky form crawled closer, a foe Jake was unfamiliar with. At least it looked bulky, Jake could use a punching bag. Jake dodged to the side as a familiar stinger shot out, punching into the wall, and Jake grinned, wasps were his specialty.


    <hr>


    On Sunday morning Jake emerged from the dungeon covered in dirt and sap. He needed a shower and he was so tired he didn¡¯t notice when his phone buzzed with a new notification


    [ONRR: Ethan Wood has returned]

 Chapter Nine: Reunion

    I woke up Monday feeling like trash. I considered just laying in bed all day, but that would leave me alone with my thoughts which meant it wasn¡¯t an option. Having decided I couldn¡¯t just stay with my thoughts I got ready to leave the house and visit the burgurhouse. Tom had told me to figure out my stuff and all that, but what I needed was to work. I was at the door with this plan when my phone buzzed. I pulled out my phone to look at who it was, and I froze.


    [Jake: hey Ethan, sorry about the wait, no wifi in the dungeon, meet me round roots?]


    Just like that my fledgling plans for the day were derailed. Jake was here, and he still wanted to be my friend! Luckily I was already geared up to leave the house, and so with my new destination in mind I set off. I had been so worried that Jake had forgotten about me or abandoned me, but I had been wrong. He had been in the dungeon which had no reception. My friend was back and I was feeling genuinely excited for the first time since returning home.


    Maple lane was the most crowded I had seen since arriving, but the shops were barely being touched. I wasn¡¯t sure why until I got closer to the roots, and could see the source of the traffic. The doors to the dungeon swung wide open, and a flow of people were constantly filing in. I tried to look into the dungeon through the opening, and inside I could make out¡­ nothing. All I could make out was a foggy expanse above the stream of people. Just what was the dungeon like? The equipment people had on them also raised more questions. Some were packed light, with just some armor and a weapon, others looked like they were going camping, with large backpacks with sleeping pads and more attached to them. Did people sleep in the dungeon? actually no, better question, how big was the dungeon exactly? I had imagined maybe the size of a large building like a mall, but with the amount of people filing in it had to be massive. Come to think of it if it was massive that kinda explained the sleeping question. Just how big would it have to be for people to need to camp out inside though?


    After that mental tangent I realized I was probably getting in the way of traffic, so I got back to moving, climbing up the stairs to the top of the roots. Looking down at the crowd from atop the roots I wondered how I was supposed to find Jake in this crowd? Just then a hand tapped my shoulder and I turned in surprise to see Jake standing in front of me. He looked mostly like I remembered him, his blond hair just a little overgrown past his ears. his bangs hung just above his blueish eyes. The thin scar below his left ear was new though. He was more fit than I remembered, his muscles clearly more defined even through his casual black t-shirt. He also had a black backpack, the only dotable feature of it the silver tree shaped emblem pinned to the right strap. Despite all that was different his grin was exactly the same as I remembered, and for a moment it felt like no time had passed since I had last seen him.


    ¡°Hey Ethan.¡± he said simply, and I knew I was grinning ear to ear.


    ¡°Jake! You have no idea how good it is to see yoaahh-¡¯ that last part was unplanned, but when a silver wolf up to your shoulders jumps on you the brain tends to throw plans out the window.


    I was still panicking, trying desperately to get free when the wolf lowered its head and to my complete surprise gave a happy bark and started licking me. I struggled to escape, first for fear of life, then to avoid getting absolutely slobbered.


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t be scared, you remember Ms. Wiggles, don¡¯t you?¡±


    After a moment the wolf paused giving kisses and I realized that it wasn¡¯t quite a wolf, I had just mistaken it for one in the moment because of the size. Now that I could see clearly I noticed its face and body weren''t quite that of a wolf, no, this was a giant silver retriever. And from Jakes comment this wasn¡¯t just any retriever, it was Ms Wiggles, Jake''s formerly golden retriever. Once I gotten to my feet and gotten my bearings back I glared at Jake


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    ¡°You let her do that on purpose didn¡¯t you.¡± I accused.


    ¡°Well I couldn¡¯t stop her from giving you some kisses, she¡¯s been missing you, haven''t you ms wiggles?¡± Jake shifted to dog affection mode, giving a few scritches behind the ear of the giant pupper who, in classic Wiggles fashion, wiggled.


    ¡°How did Wiggles get giant¡­ and silver?¡± I asked, and Jake answered without pausing lavishing pets to the doggo.


    ¡°Well, animals can grow when you give them origin shards, you know what those are right?¡± I nodded and he continued. ¡°Right and when they do they grow bigger and can get powers like monsters. Ms. Wiggles has become quite a menace in the dungeon." Ms. Wiggles barked to punctuate the statement, and I noticed her metallic fangs that looked like they belonged in a particularly sadistic bear trap.


    ¡°Oh.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but she¡¯s still just the same crazy goofball as before, just much better at fighting monsters now.¡± Jake gave a few more scritches, and then turned to properly give his attention to me. I wasn¡¯t sure where to begin so I asked the first question that came to mind.


    ¡°Still want to hang?¡± that was a stupid question, why would you lead with that? Fortunately Jake didn¡¯t see it the same way as I did, and he easily responded


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve literally been waiting for years. your house or mine?¡± he replied easily, and my smile fell for a moment at the mention of my house. Jake immediately picked up on it.


    ¡°Oh, mine then, got it.¡± We started to walk down the ramp and toward his house, any foot traffic parting to let Wiggles through.


    ¡°Do you want to talk about it?¡± he asked softly, and I shook my head.


    ¡°No, the ONRR said they would take a look at it today, and then they will let me know what they can do. Until then I¡¯m just putting it out of mind.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Going to the ONRR first was definitely the right choice.¡± he let the topic drop there and started up a new conversion. ¡°Do you want to hear what I¡¯ve been doing?¡± he asked, and I agreed, glad that he had recommended something new to talk about, and Jake started telling me the story of how he had arrived.


    ¡°So I arrived year one on Wednesday. I woke up on the ground outside of home, and I saw the maple in the distance. It was just a few blocks away so I decided to investigate, Wiggles came with me because she was spooked. I found the dungeon and several people armed with bats and knives and stuff standing guard around the entrance. They gave me a bat of my own and explained what they had figured out so far about the primordial, the dungeon, and origin shards. I should have been more careful, but instead I was like: ¡°sick, monsters, I love that fantasy crap¡±, and I charged in there and started whacking beetles. I joined the dungeon guard when it was founded to help people stay safe, you know, great power, great responsibility and all that. Fast forward to year two and the second layer opens, and while we''re scouting it I find the hidden shrine and get my second avatar-¡± he kept talking for a moment past this, but paused when he noticed my confusion.


    ¡°Oh yeah, I should explain, so you know how the dungeon has the primordial shrine at the entrance?¡± One look made it clear that I did not in fact know the shrine and he backpedaled further. ¡°Okay, my bad, so when you enter the dungeon you enter a pocket dimension filled with monsters. Outside the entrance there is a building called the primordial shrine where you can go and that''s where you make your avatar. Well somewhere in the dungeon there is a second one called the hidden shrine that''s in a different place for every person. It gives you a second avatar that you can layer over the first one, and if you''re smart you can use this to become much more than twice as strong.¡± I wasn¡¯t fully following but it was enough for now and I nodded along.


    ¡°Alright, I would keep going, but it''s mostly more of the same thing, and we''re here.¡±


    I looked away from Jake and noticed that we were in fact there.

 Chapter Ten: Home away from Home

    Besides a slightly overgrown garden and lawn Jake''s house was just like I remembered. The modest one story house was painted light blue. In the large driveway to the right of the door there was a rusty pickup with a pile of something under a tarp. Entering the house I found it too was almost exactly like I remembered. There was a small entry room with a shoe rack with a few dozen shoes. Despite having two less people in his family than him Jake''s family had always had more shoes. I never understood why they needed so many shoes. We took off our shoes and moved into the house proper, allowing Wiggles to dash into the room from behind us. The living room was just like I remembered other than the thin layer of dust barely visible. There was a coffee table in the living room with a few dishes on it, a disco ball hanging in one corner, and finally a small peach couch and big plush chair that matched each other (other than a large red patch sewed into the right side of the couch). I followed Jake past a dining room and kitchen that looked about the same as I remembered them (though I spied a few samaras laying on the gray countertop on the far side of the room). We passed the bathroom and then turned to go down to the basement, where Jake flipped the first the lights on as we were entering. The rest of the house had been lit by the sun through the open windows, but the basement didn¡¯t have any windows. We walked down to the hall and then entered a room I was quite familiar with, the chill room. It was a medium room with several beanbags pushed against one side and on the other a large TV on a cabinet with several game systems inside. Jake brushed some dust from a beanbag and took a seat. After a moment hesitation I followed his lead, leaving us both comfortably seated and facing each other,. Wiggles bounced in after me, laying across the remaining two bags with a happy pant. She was so big that after taking up two entire beanbags she still managed to lay her head in Jakes lap. The way she sprawled out made me give a short chuckle, and Jake laughed too. After we were both done Jake resumed the conversation with a question.


    ¡°Alright, what do you want to talk about?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure at first. I had so many questions I wanted to ask, but after a moment of thinking I decided to just start simple.


    ¡°How¡¯ve you been?¡± Jake grinned.


    ¡°Amazing, I¡¯ve missed my parents, and I¡¯ve been waiting forever to see you again, But other than that it''s been great. Before the dungeon I wasn¡¯t sure exactly what I wanted to do, something to help people, but other than that, no idea. Now with the dungeon I have something I can do, and I¡¯m really good at it. People know and like me, and I can¡¯t count how many people I¡¯ve helped save, and with my avatar it feels like I¡¯m a superhero.¡±


    I smiled, happy to see my friend happy.


    ¡°How do avatars work exactly? I saw one at the orientation, but it didn¡¯t really explain much. He just kinda put on a helmet and grew.¡± Jake smiled in response, and then suddenly there was a sleek black figure in his place. They were covered head to toe in black chitin, and in his hand was a spear with a long blade at its head made of the same black material. I flinched back, and the figure laughed, turning back into Jake in the blink of an eye, still laughing as Wiggles did a little happy dance and nuzzled Jake for pets.


    ¡°Woah, I was not ready for that. What does your second avatar look like?¡± I asked, and Jake summoned just the spear, prompting Wiggles to droop down a moment like the drama queen she was.


    ¡°This is my second avatar, it''s pretty dangerous on its own, but it really gets a chance to shine when I pair it with an enchanted dungeon crafted weapon. With that combination I can take on anything the dungeon can throw at me easily.¡± I was a bit surprised by this.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize avatars didn¡¯t have to be armor.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they can be nearly anything as long as it sticks near you, a weapon, armor, clothing, a cool magic aura, and more. Not to mention there is so much more to avatars than just what they look like. On that note, you should probably try to get your avatar sooner than later. Do you have time to start forming your avatar soon?¡± I was caught off guard by Jake''s question, and it took me a moment to answer.


    ¡°Probably what exactly does that entail?¡± I finally asked. Jake wasted no time answering.


    ¡°Well first you would have to get enough origin shards to make an orb. I already have a couple of different attunements and aspects combined into orbs, so hopefully you¡¯ll like one of those, but if not we¡¯ll have to do some farming. Then once you have one you would go to the primordial shrine and start on the process. Its pretty easy to make adjustments to your avatar in the early stages, so you can experiment if you¡¯re not sure what you want.¡±


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    As I was preparing to answer my phone dinged, and Jake let me pull it out.


    [ONRR: if you could meet us at your home we have several things to discuss.]


    ¡°It''s the ONRR, they are done checking my house, sorry.¡± I apologetically explained to Jake.


    ¡°No problem, need a ride?¡± I thought about that for a moment. Did I want Jake to see my house in the state it was? Well he would see it sooner or later, better to get it over with sooner than later.


    ¡°Sure, I wouldn¡¯t mind one, but just so you know, the house is pretty bad.¡±


    ¡°Alright cool I¡¯ll go start up the- Wait, oh I just remembered something important! I have a surprise for you that could help, follow me.¡± and with that Jake raced out the room, leaving me to follow at a slightly more sedate pace, unsure what to expect. I found him standing in front of the garage door, a massive grin on his face.


    ¡°A few days after returning I noticed something in the road, and I took it here to keep it safe.¡± and he opened the door to reveal a little tan toyota only slightly covered in dust. It was my car.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t touched it since I parked it here so it most likely has an issue or two, but it''s intact and unstolen.¡±


    ¡°Wha- how?¡°I didn¡¯t know what to say. I had already accepted the fact that my car was probably long gone but here it was, stolen by my best friend so it would be safe.


    ¡°Well it had the keys in the ignition, but it was in park and turned off, so I turned it on and drove it home.¡±


    ¡°Thank you so much, I had given up hope of finding it again.¡±


    ¡°It''s no problem, that being said it¡¯ll probably be faster to take my car, it almost certainly needs some maintenance.¡± I thanked Jake a few more times, and then we were off. We arrived at my home in a few minutes to find several people standing outside of the house. Most of them were around 20-30, but the lady in charge looked closer to 50, she had an ipad in hand and was marking a few things down on it. I got out of the car and Jake followed, staring up at the house.


    ¡°How in the world did that happen?¡± his shock evident. I was about to answer when the lady addressed us.


    ¡°I hope I¡¯m not interrupting anything, are you Ethan?¡± she asked, pointing to me. I nodded. To my surprise she abruptly changed gears, her voice filling with empathy.


    ¡°Oh you poor thing, you¡¯ve been sleeping in here all week?¡±


    ¡°um, yes, is that an issue?¡± I said nervously.


    ¡°Of course not, I¡¯m just so sorry that this happened, your home is a perfect example of why we made the ONRR, we are planning on doing a full repair, free of charge.¡±


    ¡°Oh great!¡± I said, and then just how big that was hit me, I hadn¡¯t really though about what I expected, but this was far more than I had thought..


    ¡°Wait, full repair, free! I don¡¯t¡­ how?¡± I said, sure I had misunderstood, but the lady just smiled.


    ¡°Of course, I know it sounds too good to be true, but we are fully capable of it. You¡¯ve been gone a while, but labor is much easier and safer with even a first tier avatar, and we have hundreds of tier 3 and higher volunteers willing to help with projects just like this.¡± Now I really was crying.


    ¡°Thank you so much. I, I didn¡¯t expect this in even my best case scenario.¡± I was choking up, and I knew I must have looked pathetic, but the lady showed no judgment, and Jake was smiling ear to ear..


    ¡°There is one thing though. The work needed is extensive, you won''t be able to stay in the building while it''s being repaired.¡± Well that was to be expected, I thought. I would have to find an apartment to stay at but- Jake spoke up, interrupting my thoughts.


    ¡°Well I have nothing but room.¡± I turned toward my best friend, my body unsure how to handle any further surprise and happiness. I didn¡¯t know how much weight I had been carrying until all of it was ripped away from me in a matter of minutes. My car, my house, and now Jake''s offer. I was just overwhelmed. After a few minutes to compose myself I properly accepted Jake''s offer. I didn¡¯t have anything to salvage from home, so I tried to compose myself and got talking to the lady, who said her name was Beth. After hashing out the details for a bit about what was going to happen with the house and how long it would likely take (2 months), Jake and I hopped in the car and returned to his house. I offered to sleep on the couch but Jake let me use his parents room. It was still abandoned, and if they were here they would want me to use it. He was right, they would want me to be in a proper bed if one was available. So much had happened so fast it felt like it should be later, but when I checked my phone it was still only noon.

 Chapter Eleven: Thriftin

    I settled down in my temporary room once we got back, taking stock of it. The room would be quite spacious, but there was a large bed took up the majority of the available space. There was also a closet, but it was already filled with clothes, and I figured moving them would be overstepping a bit. The clothes did remind me of one of my remaining problems. I found Jake chilling in the chill room with Wiggles. When he noticed me I asked him my question.


    ¡°Hey Jake, could I borrow your car, all my clothes were in my room when it collapsed, and I think I should probably get some new ones now that I have somewhere clean to put them.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, no problem, one sec.¡± Jake went through his pockets real fast, tossing me a set of keys when he found them.


    ¡°Alright, thanks. Bye.¡± I thanked him awkwardly, and then hurried away to the car. Where did you go for clothes? I tried google maps first, but all I managed to figure out was that most major stores I could think of were closed. After a bit more digging I did find a thrift store relatively close by. That would probably work, and be cheaper too, I think. Ten minutes later I was pulling into a small parking lot of a somewhat odd two story building. Its first floor was older looking, with a brick facade and a sturdy looking wooden door. The second story was jarringly different, made like the maple lane buildings but a bit sloppier, with a large wood frame and planks nailed in to form walls. The second floor had a coat of reddish orange paint intended to help it blend slightly with the bricks, but that just made it an even worse eyesore. I was slightly regretting my decision to go to this janky place but it was too late to turn back now. Besides, I hadn¡¯t found anywhere else that would sell clothes, though maybe there was something at maple lane¡­ No, you got this. You¡¯ve just gotta go in and find some clothes and then buy them, easy peasy.


    I took a breath and the pushed open the door; Inside the building was the same janky mix of the two stories. The original store was still there with a tile ceiling and drywall and fluorescent lights, but it had several not so subtle alterations to the original layout. There were several wooden pillars pushed through holes cut in the ceiling to support the second level on top. I also spied a janky wooden stairwell along the far left wall that led to the second floor, which I decided to ignore for now. Other than the random pillars and staircase the interior was how I expected a thrift store to look. One side was shelves and shelves of random books, movies, and knick knacks, while the other half was dominated by hangers with all sorts of clothing items from jeans to trench coats and much more.


    After a bit of wandering through the rows of clothes I found a section of reasonably sized shirts, and I found a few nice single color t-shirts like I liked. It helped that with shirts they can be a bit too big and not look odd. Pants were a whole different ball game, they needed to fit in several places with much less wiggle room than shirts. I had no idea how to find well fitting pants without trying them on, the best I could figure out was just to hold them over me and see if they looked like they would fit well enough. After several long and frustrating minutes I found a few that would probably work. New socks and underwear were last, and after a shockingly stressful hour I finally approached the counter with a solid stack of clothes that fit and didn¡¯t look too terrible or worn out. The cashier was a friendly man in his mid twenties with short black hair, and he greeted me nicely.


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    ¡°Lots of clothes, Let me guess, you returned this week and found something had destroyed all your clothes?¡± I was surprised how quickly he guessed.


    ¡°How did you know?¡±


    ¡°Oh, it happens quite a bit, most business in the first week is people whose closets got infested by rats or moths. Before you buy all this I should let you know that there is actually a changing room under the stairs if you want to try the clothes out.¡± I stopped placing clothes on the conveyor.


    ¡°Oh, that''s great, I didn¡¯t actually know if-¡± he interrupted


    ¡°They would fit you? Yeah, again, this happens all week, I imagine you''re going to want to go make sure everything fits?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sorry about wasting your time.¡±


    ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll take a customer who isn¡¯t sure what they are doing over someone who is convinced they know everything any day.¡± his eyes got unfocused as he recalled some horrible customer of days past, and I collected my clothes and made my way toward the stairs. Sure enough past the knick knacks and stairs there were three empty wooden changing stalls. I entered the nearest one, finding that two of the pairs of pants did not fit well at all. I took a few minutes to find where I had found them and found two better fitting pairs of pants with the measurements of the good fitting pants. When I was about wrapped up and ready to check out again I stole a look toward the stairs. What did they sell up there? A few minutes of mental debate and pacing later my curiosity got the better of me, it couldn¡¯t hurt to check it out.


    When I reached the second floor I found myself in a bizarre mirror of the bottom floor, with racks of armor along the right side, and weapons lining the left. I had found the delver section of the thrift store. Just ahead of the stairs was a glass display with several different colors of origin shards and orbs resting on little pillows like jewelry. Leaning against the case was a partially armed employee. Also on the floor were a few people browsing weapons. After looking around a moment I decided nothing here was really something I needed, and poked back down, but the visual was embedded in my head. The world really was way different than I remembered, and I kept forgetting just how much. I collected my clothes and fifty dollars later I was leaving with six complete outfits worth of clothing. They probably needed a wash before I could put them on, and so did I, so when I got to Jakes after getting permission I started a load of laundry and crossing my fingers I had done that right took a shower. An hour later I was completely clean and ready to face the world for the first time all week. The nagging feeling that I was stupid and didn¡¯t know what I was doing silenced by my successful outing and subsequent hot shower. I even played a round of smash bros against Jake (I got curb stomped, but still) and it was just like old times.

 Chapter Twelve: Bad news

    We mostly just chilled the rest of the day like old times, and it was like I had never left. But all good things come to an end, and after a particularly brutal defeat Jake set down his controller, prompting me to look over.


    ¡°I have some bad news I¡¯ve been avoiding all day, but you¡¯ve gotta know sooner or later.¡± I tensed slightly, unsure what form this bad news would take, and Jake resumed.


    ¡°Dungeon guards work for weeks at a time and I¡¯m one of the best there is, others will catch up, but it¡¯ll take them weeks to replace me. I have to go to the bottom of the dungeon again next Wednesday and I¡¯ll be there for a while.¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure how to take that, I had just gotten my friend back, and I wasn¡¯t ready to lose him just like that. Sure he would be back in a week, but then he would go again and again and again. I didn¡¯t want to grow apart again.


    ¡°How hard is it to reach the bottom of the dungeon?¡±


    ¡°Oh, very hard. you¡¯d need at least a tier seven avatar to be safe alone, or a party of three tier sixes, because as we learned the hard way this past week monsters over tier 6 get much stronger.¡± The tiers went over my head a little, but what I heard was I could feasibly visit him when I wanted if I got strong enough. I felt a rare stupid plan forming.


    ¡°How hard is it to reach tier seven exactly?¡± Jake was catching on to my plan, and he had the beginning of a grin.


    ¡°Very, every tier builds on the last, and you need to have enough sync to advance each tier. Ah, sync is how connected you are to your avatar, it''s easier to explain when you have an avatar of your own.¡±


    ¡°Oh, but it''s doable?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s just time consuming. If you want we can start figuring out your avatar now¡±


    ¡°How would I start?¡±


    ¡°Well if you want to delve the dungeon you would want to find your fighting style first so you know what direction to go. I would go to the delver¡¯s guild and attend a few of the sparring sessions, they¡¯re free and pretty helpful.¡± I decided that sounded like a good place to start, but it was getting late so I decided to turn in for the night.


    ¡ª


    Yesterday had gone so well it almost felt¡­ like a dream! I bolted out of bed, and breathed out a sigh of relief as I saw the unfamiliar room I was in. It really had happened, my home was getting fixed, my car was found, and my friend was back. I checked the time, and froze. 7:30! I had to be at work now. I started to rush out of the room. I was halfway down the hall when I remembered what Tom had said, I was on time off. Looked down at my new outfit, brown pants with a lighter green shirt. Right, relax, I can do that. I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and got ready for the day. Hearing sizzling I walked into the kitchen to find Jake frying an egg.


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    ¡°Hey Ethan, took you a while to get up. Want an egg? Jake asked. I accepted his offer, and he gave me the egg when it was done. I tried to apologize, I hadn¡¯t realized I would be taking his, but he waved it off and just got started on another one, so I just shut up and ate the egg. By the time I was finished Jake had finished and eaten his egg too, leaving me sitting unsure what to do next. Fortunately Jake did have an idea.


    ¡°Alright, so if you still want to start delving then we should probably start early.¡±


    ¡°Alright, that makes sense. So how do I start?¡±


    ¡°I think the best place to start is the delver''s guild, they can give you rental equipment and lessons. I took a look at their current free classes, and there is an introduction to weapons class around ten that you will want to attend before we go to the dungeon. So we have about-¡± jake checked his phone ¡°-an hour before we need to go there.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡± I confirmed I understood and Jake continued.


    ¡°If you really want to make this push I could give you a crash course on avatars so you know what to keep in mind?¡± Jake ended the sentence as a question, and I agreed.


    ¡°Yeah, if you think it will help then that sounds good.¡±


    ¡°Alright. So avatars are almost like a second self over you, their stamina if different from yours. You could push yourself to your very limit with your avatar and when you unsummon it you¡¯ll feel like you hadn¡¯t even had to move. Likewise when you summon your avatar your physical fatigue fades away.¡± Jake explained, and I was starting to understand how this could be game changing even just in everyday life. It put what the lady (I think it was Beth) had said yesterday into context. If a worker could work for hours and then just fully recharge it would be so much easier to do labor intensive work¡­ Jake was still talking, whoops


    ¡°-so you won¡¯t be able to keep up an avatar for very long when your starting out, but it should get better pretty quick.¡± I probably should have asked him to repeat that, but I think I got the gist of it. Besides, Jake looked like he was enjoying explaining him, he had the same expression as when he explained a book he really liked, and I didn¡¯t want to interrupt, so I just let Jake continue explaining. ¡°What exactly your avatar is like and what it provides depends on what orbs you incorporate and how, but even if you don¡¯t incorporate armor your avatar will provide some defense, stopping weaker attacks. More importantly your avatar is only as strong as your connection to it. we call how in tune with your avatar you are sync, a percentage that tells you how much of its potential you can bring to bear, and you need to reach complete sync to add another orb to your avatar, so that''s the key to advancing. You gain sync by using your avatar and making it better match your vision.¡± I decided to keep track of this information better, and opened my phone to start writing down what Jake said, and by the end I had added several new notes


    <ol>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">An avatars tier is how many orbs it has</li>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">How long you can keep your avatar up is a mix of sync and tier </li>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">Attunement is largely useless unless tied to an aspect, and aspects are very limited without an attunement (apparently it will make more sense when I do it)</li>


    <li style="font-weight: 400">Avatars also make you feel stronger because you can maintain your maximum strength for longer. (easy example: sprinting easy as jogging but still can¡¯t manage faster)</li>


    </ol>


    After we were done Jake packed a few things in his backpack and I grabbed my shoes. It was time to get going.

 Chapter Thirteen: A trip to the guild

    Jake drove us over to the maple, stopping in a parking lot at the edge of the crater. We walked the rest of the way there accompanied by Wiggles on a hefty leash. Last time I was at maple lane the crowd entering the dungeon had made it hard to see much of the dungeon through the open doors. Today the crowd was mostly gone and I could see into the dungeon as I approached the roots. I looked through the open doors to see... nothing, just a foggy white expanse. Was there something hiding what the dungeon looked like? Why would be hidden? I wouldn¡¯t be finding out for a while anyways; We turned up the roots a good 30 feet from the dungeon entrance. We walked around the trunk, and again I looked at the ramps up the tree. I would not want to have to go up there for work.


    The castle came into view as we finished going around the trunk. It was just as impressive as I remembered. There were less people than last time but I could still make out several groups of people getting instruction as they swung around swords, spears, and more. I paid close attention, and I was starting to feel a bit worried about this. Most of the people were using fake practice weapons, but fake or not they looked serious. I noticed someone swinging a pair of nunchucks rather enthusiastically until they collided with his head and he collapsed. I watched worried as the instructor rushed over and helped him up. I relaxed when it became clear the only damage was to his pride as they confiscated the weapon. I laughed to myself feeling a bit better about this. Jake turned to me a bit confused about what was so funny, and when I explained he laughed too. Pretty soon we reached the castle, crossing the solid bridge into the courtyard. Unlike last time the chairs were stored away somewhere. Without the stage and seats all that was left was an empty space and a set of double doors leading to the actual building. The doors looked like they weighed a ton but one was propped open allowing us to slip in without any problem. The interior structure was unexpectedly normal looking. It had smooth white walls with wood trim and fluorescent lights that looked like they belonged in a community center. One wall had a large bulletin board covered in colorful fliers. It wouldn¡¯t be hard to forget I was inside a castle run by people who professionally fought monsters if it weren''t for the pair of four foot mandibles crossed in an x over the reception desk we were approaching. The receptionist had short sandy hair and looked to be in his mid twenties, he was also a perfect example of the mix of vibes the room had. He was wearing a beige cardigan and had small glasses perched over his pleasant smile. Despite this he also looked like he could fight a bear and win.


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    ¡°Hello and welcome to the delver''s guild, how can I help you- oh hi Jake!¡±.


    ¡°Hey Leo, I¡¯m just taking my friend Ethan to get some practice before trying the dungeon. Do you know where that would be?¡±


    ¡°Oh course! Any preferences, or just a general class?¡±


    ¡°I think just a general overview, does that sound good Ethan?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, that sounds good.¡± Leo said there was a class starting in just a few minutes in the north sparring area, Jake started leading me along. We passed the bulletin board and one flier caught my eye, a black armored figure holding a black spear facing down a large black shadow.


    ¡°Hey that''s you right?¡± I asked and Jake turned to look at the flier, recognition flashing in his eyes and then a grin appearing.


    ¡°Yeah, I look pretty great in it don¡¯t I. It took so long if I nearly ran out of avatar¡± Jake said, smiling at the memory


    ¡°Cool, so your kinda important in the guild?¡±


    ¡°A bit, but there are plenty of others as good as me, I¡¯m just more photogenic I suppose¡± Jake, and I decided not to point out his avatar was the photogenic one, it was a joke. I was pretty sure.


    Jake dropped Wiggle off at the courtyard, apparently she loved sparring and interrupted it to get pets from the combatants whenever she was there. I was worried, but Leo said it was fine (which may have been biased biased on the fact he was petting the pupper when we left). It took us three minutes of silence to reach the north sparring area. There was already a small group standing around waiting, and we joined them. The north sparring area was a large sandy circle, and there were a few racks of practice weapons made of wood set up. There was a boy and a girl who looked like siblings talking to each other, three bros messing around, a slight guy with medium black hair who looked around my age fidgeting off to the side. The instructor was nowhere in sight. The black haired person approached me and Jake.


    ¡°Hi I¡¯m Will, I just returned this Thursday. It''s crazy right, like one second I¡¯m asleep and the next I wake up and I¡¯ve slept through being abducted by a super space rainbow god- sorry, I¡¯m working on not just dominating the conversation. What are your names?¡± The person, Will apparently, spewed a verbal tsunami, leaving me frozen trying to formulate an answer. Fortunately Jake saved me.


    ¡°I¡¯m Jake and this is my friend Ethan. I¡¯ve been here for a while but Ethan just got here last week too.¡±


    ¡°Ah, cool, so you already have an avatar and stuff, could I see it or is that prying, sorry if it is.¡±


    ¡°Oh no it¡¯s fine, but it looks like the instructor¡¯s here.¡± Jake deflected, and turning I confirmed the Instructor was in fact here now. He had shaggy brown hair and a short beard, and looked around like he was in his late twenties or so. He quickly gathered everyone''s attention with a loud clap, and class began.

 Chapter Fourteen: Class is in session

    ¡°I¡¯m Zack, and this is weapons for beginners. We are covering several more common weapons: the spear, short and longsword, warhammer, axe, and bows. If you are in the wrong class this is your chance to go.-nobody moved, and he resumed- Great, everyone''s in the right place, let''s get started.¡± Zack had a loud voice that easily carried over, and like he said we got started. Zack started splitting everyone into pairs, and I ended up with Jake while Will was teamed up with one of the bros.


    ¡°Alright, we''ll start with spears, don''t worry, these are larp weapons. They won¡¯t hurt much if they hit you, but they¡¯ll simulate the weight well enough for this class. First you''re going to learn how to best stand. This varies based on your style and weapon but there are a few things that can help you be more effective. The dungeon may make it hard to do a perfect stance, but that just means you need to train harder¡­¡± Zack spent a few minutes explaining the stance and then went through all of us to make sure we had it right. He had us stand right foot forward, left foot back facing left, speartip facing forward. Once we were all ¡°passable¡± we started practicing thrusting, attacking air. Once we were done with that he lined us up and had us dodging each other''s thrusts and trying to counter attack. Jake didn¡¯t go easy on me, I landed maybe two hits on him and both of those ended with me getting hit too.


    After fifteen minutes of practice we moved on to longswords and began anew, tweaking our stance and learning how to swing and guard from attack, and Jake wasn¡¯t quite as good at this, but he was still noticeably better. When we got to short swords we got bucklers as well, and most of the instruction was about how to use the buckler. The bucklers were much smaller than most shields I had seen and had a metal bump called a boss in the middle. Zack explained that the boss protected the hand when it was holding the grip in the center.


    ¡°Don¡¯t just let it hang there, a shield is a dynamic defense, especially the buckler. Move it to cover where you need cover."


    By the time we were done with the shortsword everyone was tired and sweaty (except for Jake and Zack) and we took a break. There was bottled water available, and Jake had brought granola bars. Jake got pulled aside by Zack for a bit during the break, but I was too busy resting to pay much attention. I was content to just lie there, but Will came over to chat.


    ¡°Hey, how you doin? I¡¯m pretty tired, but it''s in a good way you know, like yeah I¡¯m going to be sore tomorrow but¡­¡± He just kept talking, and talking, and talking. I was relieved when Zack told us the break was over.


    We started with warhammers and larger shields I didn¡¯t know the name of, but they made me think of vikings. Unlike the buckler the shields were strapped to the arm at the wrist and lower forearm. The warhammer was actually pretty fun to use. It was really solid whenever it hit and it had a back spike that would give me more options in a fight. One negative was that it was definitely a bit hard to lift and control with one hand, but Jake mentioned that with the avatar that would get easier. Apparently strength attunement orbs were a thing, and it would make it much easier. The next weapon we used were axes, which were pretty similar. In the end I think I preferred the warhammer for its heft, it just felt better. We worked on daggers next. They were all about getting close without getting hurt, and Zack explained how if you were smart they could do some serious damage. I wasn¡¯t a huge fan. I think I preferred a bit of reach and a shield. It made me feel safer. The final weapon had us going on a short walk over to a archery range.


    ¡°I know what you''re thinking, what advantage do bows have over guns? The answer is simple, draw weight. With an avatar I can increase the power I get out of a bow by raising my strength, while with a gun it will be just as effective as normal, no more, no less. The other thing is ammo. Use a bullet and it''s gone, use an arrow and chances are you can reuse it, which matters when you spend a while in the dungeon.¡± Bows were cool, and it was great instruction. That being said once I accidentally hit the wrong target entirely I decided the world would be much safer if I didn¡¯t touch the bow. The last twenty minutes of the class had us practicing a bit more with whatever you wanted, and I chose the hammer. Zack came over and gave me a few pointers on how to hit hard without hurting myself in the process. Once we were done Zack rounded everyone up and gave a quick talk.


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    ¡°Alright, now it¡¯s important not to overestimate your abilities, the dungeon is deadly to the overconfident, and you have only just begun. To demonstrate just how much there is to learn Jake has agreed to have a quick spar with me." When Zack said this Jake walked over to Zack, and I realized this must have been what he was pulled aside for.


    ¡°Hello everyone, I¡¯m Jake, and I am a dungeon guard. I professionally delve the dungeon to save people. We rescue people who bite off more than they can chew and remove deadly threats when they arise." At Zacks prompting we all got off the sparring area to give them plenty of room. I was feeling a mix of excited and nervous as I watched Zack stand opposite Jake. I had heard alot about avatars, but I hadn¡¯t seen one in action yet.


    Zack and Jake stood twenty feet apart, and then they were off. Zack mimed pulling out a sword and as he did a simple steel longsword appeared in his hands and patches of armor appeared all across his body, both ever so slightly less than real. It was a stark difference from Jake, who didn¡¯t have to do anything to instantly be covered in solid black chitin. The moment he had called his avatar Jake started walking forward slowly. Zack approached too, dashing forward. He closed the distance rapidly as he swung his sword, but Jake just raised his arm to block the blow, leaving not even a scratch behind. I heard the class gasp, but I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off the fight. Zack was unloading hit after hit on Jake, who just took them in stride, deflecting when he could. Even when a hit landed directly on his head he took it in stride. Finally after a minute of this Jake caught the blade in both hands, completely ignoring the blade, and flung Zack across the arena. Zack landed and dashed back forward without hesitation. With the room he had opened up Jake reached out his hand and finally summoned his spear, using it to bat away Zack''s attack while slamming the back of it into Zack¡¯s side in the same motion, driving him to the ground. And just like that the battle was over. Zack and Jake dismissed their avatars and gave each other a firm handshake, and that was it. Jake walked over to the rest of the class and Will immediately started bombarding him with questions that he answered quickly and easily.


    ¡°That was awesome! How long did it take you to get that strong?¡±


    ¡°About four years, but most of that was waiting for the next layer to open up.¡±


    ¡°Oh, how long does that take? Oh and follow up question, how many layers are there?¡±


    ¡°So far one has opened every two years, and there are currently three layers.¡±


    ¡°What are the layers like?¡±


    ¡°Well the first one is pretty open, but the other two have been a lot more tight, if you have any claustrophobia you will not enjoy them. Speaking of the dungeon, me and my friend want to go there as soon as possible, so if you¡¯ll excuse us¡­¡± Jake trailed off and Will seamed to get it


    ¡°Oh yeah, sorry. Have a nice day!¡± and just like that the rapid fire questions ended and Will jogged off like the two hours of exercise had been nothing, and we started toward the castle.


    When we got there Wiggles was delighted to see us. After apologizing for leaving her behind with pets Jake turned back to me.


    ¡°Alright, now we just need to get you a rental weapon and you¡¯ll be ready to take on the dungeon. What weapon called to you the most?¡±


    ¡°The warhammer I think, but I don¡¯t know. Shouldn¡¯t I try more things first, or at least take another class on warhammers?¡±


    ¡°Nothing is forcing you to use a warhammer forever, and another class can come later. For today I can make sure nothing actually threatens you while you find your style. If it doesn¡¯t work out we¡¯ll just try another weapon when I get back, alright.¡± Jake reassured me, and I started to feel a bit better. He was right, it was better to try something fast. Worst case I just tried something new.


    ¡°Yeah alright. So warhammer it is?¡±


    ¡°You tell me.¡±


    ¡°Alright, warhammer it is.¡± We went back to the guild, and Jake led me to a large armory, weapons and armor on racks neatly organized by size and type. A few minutes later I had a warhammer and a shield like the strap on one from class. Both with small tags that read ¡°property of delver''s guild¡± on them. The warhammer was a bit on the smaller side, but I had tried one of the bigger ones and couldn¡¯t swing it around very well. We would have to return the rentals after we left the dungeon, and pay a small fee if they were too damaged, but for now they were mine. As we started toward the dungeon I entertained myself by imagining what Will would have done if he saw Wiggles. Come to think of it, they kinda reminded me of each other. I mentioned this to Jake and got a solid laugh out of him, and by the time our resulting conversation was done we were at the entrance to the dungeon.

 Chapter Fifteen: R.I.P random beetle

    When we reached the dungeon maple lane had gotten busier, but the dungeon traffic was virtually nonexistent. Me, Jake, and Wiggles stepper toward the foggy white doorway together. As we reached the doorway I got my first look into the dungeon, and the white made more sense. The dungeon entrance led out on the trunk of another giant maple, and a massive root formed a gentle slope down. The dungeon maple was nearly identical to the one outside but with one key difference, its roots stretched above ground thousands of feet. The roots only stopped when they reached the foggy white expanse that surrounded trees somewhere around a mile out. The dungeon had looked white because all I had seen was the fog wall. The sheer size of the place left me reeling, and this was only the first of three layers. Jake nudged me and I stepped into the dungeon, and as If I had passed an invisible wall the sounds outside faded away and the sound of quiet skittering filled the air, punctuated by the occasional sound of a person fighting a monster. I could see some people walking around, but I didn¡¯t see any of the beetles I heard.


    ¡°Where are the beetles, I can hear them, but I can¡¯t see any?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re everywhere, they just blend in. Look over there.¡± Jake pointed at a person a hundred or so feet away, swinging a sword at¡­ a brown lump. Jake handed me a pair of binoculars from his backpack, and I looked to see the lump was a backpack sized beetle, its exoskeleton mottles to blend in with the bark. Looking around again I noticed more lumps slowly crawling along the ground, many of them in loose groups, once I knew what to look for I realized they were all over the place. I handed back the binoculars.


    ¡°Oh, thats a lot of beetles¡±


    ¡°Yeah, fortunately their camouflage works best at a distance and from above, when you¡¯re on the roots it¡¯ll be much easier to spot them.¡±


    The three of us stepped away from the entrance, and I continued to take in the dungeon. The canopy was just as impressive as the one outside, and I could make samaras and people harvesting them. I saw a shape dart and my eyes moved to track it. It was black and yellow, and I realized that it could only be a giant wasp (or bee I suppose). Maybe I¡¯ll avoid the canopy for now. Wiggles looked around at the dungeon excitedly, and Jake had to grab her so she didn¡¯t bolt off.


    ¡°Not yet Wiggles, can¡¯t have you running around without me, you¡¯ll scare the newbies.¡± Wiggles gave the puppy dog eyes but Jake held firm.


    Looking back down from the canopy something out of place caught my eye. Wrapped entirely in massive roots only the front of the gazebo sized (and shaped) building was visible. It was made of smooth white stone, and only three sides of it were visible. The side facing me had a smooth black door, to the right of the door was a red stained glass window, and on the other side a purple one. Jake noticed my gaze.


    ¡°That¡¯s the Primordial shrine, where you make your avatar. Do you want to go there now or fight some monsters first?¡± I wanted to say go to the shrine, but I had only sparred against air and a dummy so far. Maybe it was better to get to know what actually fighting a beetle was like?


    ¡°Uh, maybe fight a beetle? They''re pretty small so they should be pretty easy to take care of, right?¡± I asked uncertainty.


    ¡°Yeah, These guys are pretty weak, they¡¯re called root beetles. There are other kinds of beetles that are stronger pound for pound, but they don¡¯t appear until the second layer. Don¡¯t let your guard down though, they can still hurt you pretty bad if you let them.¡± With that we started walking down a root. I was a bit reassured, but the last thing Jake said lingered a bit in my headI paused as I had a thought, did I ask, or just stay quiet? At that moment I heard Tom¡¯s voice in my head: Rule 24 if you don¡¯t know, don¡¯t hesitate to ask.


    ¡°Where do the beetles come from anyways? Is there like, a broodmother, or¡­¡± That got a chuckle out of Jake


    ¡°Oh, no, monsters periodically crawl out of small white tears scattered around the dungeon in monster dens.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I was worried for a moment.¡± the root we were on forked, with the end we followed growing into the ground leaving me and Jake on the dirt floor with the massive roots on either side. Jake grabbed my attention.


    ¡°We''re in luck, look over there.¡± He pointed out a lone beetle skittering along the ground, its carapace failing to disguise it from here. The beetle was moving our way, but it would be a while before it reached us, so Jake started talking.


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    ¡°Beetles always spawn in groups of ten, but usually the ones by the tree get picked off by wasps, leaving behind smaller groups that are much easier for a beginner to face. This one looks like it lost its entire group.¡± After asking the first question the next one was much easier to ask.


    ¡°Monsters eat each other?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, they generally don¡¯t touch their own kind, but different monsters hunt each other. They grow if they kill enough monsters, but if they grow enough smaller prey loses its allure and they have to go to a deeper layer. It''s why monsters don¡¯t leave the dungeon.¡±


    ''Monsters can leave the dungeon?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but they never do it on purpose, I think they can¡¯t sense outside of the door, kinda like how it blocks out sound.¡± That was really interesting, but before I could ask a follow up question I noticed the beetle was almost here, time to get ready. I pulled my warhammer out of the little belt it came with, and with some effort got my shield off my back and strapped to my arm. I expected the beetle to look scary or disgusting up close but honestly it was neither, it was almost cute. Its body was made of two bulky sections, and it was covered in a thin layer of fuzz. As the front it had beady eyes and short mandibles. Did I really want to kill it?


    While I was debating if I should really attack it reached me and tried to bite my ankle. I yelped, stumbling back, and I swung my warhammer into its carapace on reflex. The strike was a bit off center but the vibrations weren''t too bad, and it was still effective. My strike drove the beetle into the ground with a large crack in its carapace but it was still alive. Another swing made it stop moving. Its shell had a gaping hole full of a greenish ooze. I felt a bit sick at the sight. After a moment of silence Jake spoke up


    ¡°We really are lucky today, the beetle didn¡¯t vanish, that means it has a shard. Put your hand against the shell to get the shard.¡± I placed my hand on a patch of unbroken carapace, and to my surprise my hand sank in slightly and I felt something thin and glassy. I pulled a glowing silvery gray shard out of the beetle, and after a moment the beetle began to slowly evaporate into a lifeless gray smoke. In just a moment there was nothing left of the beetle but the shard in my hand. It was the first one I had seen up close. It was shaped roughly like a pyramid, on one side it was perfectly smooth and slightly curved, its other three sides straight and slightly jagged. The shard seemed like it should be more special, but if it weren''t for the glow I could mistake it for a chunk of glass. The shard couldn¡¯t distract me from how I felt for long however.


    ¡°That was horrible, how do you do this¡± I asked Jake, and he nodded.


    ¡°Yeah. for me it helps to keep it in perspective, humans kill animals all the time, and this is no different, we''re just doing it for a different product than meat or skin.¡± Jake¡¯s voice was a bit more somber than usual. I nodded but my heart wasn¡¯t in it, and Jake looked like he knew I wasn¡¯t convinced.


    ¡°If it helps monsters don¡¯t know much but violence. It didn¡¯t hesitate to attack you, and other monsters wouldn¡¯t hesitate to kill it.¡± That point hit a bit deeper, but I still felt a bit crappy, why did it have to be cute?


    ¡°You know you don¡¯t have to fight monsters to level your avatar. You could just buy shards, and gaining sync doesn¡¯t need combat.¡±


    ¡°Can I get to the second layer without fighting?¡±


    ¡°Uhh, not really, but I have a few days off every week. If you give it a few months I¡¯ll probably get more time off, we''ll still have plenty of time to hang out.¡± He made a good point, and I considered it for a moment, but no, I didn¡¯t want to be alone, and Jake was all I had. I felt my resolve strengthen, and my negative feelings were buried for now. Now that I wasn¡¯t distracted I noticed my pants leg had a cut in it where the beetle had nearly took a bite out of my leg


    ¡°wow, I barely avoided that didn''t I¡±


    ¡°Sorry, I didn''t expect you to just stand there, that''s on me. On the bright side you have good instincts, if you hadn''t avoided that it would have hurt quite a bit, even a tier one root beetle can get an inch or more in with a bite." I started to feel a bit overwhelmed, this was the smallest weakest thing here, and it had still nearly got me, could I really do this. You aren''t going to be this week next time, I reassured myself, next time you''ll have an avatar. Speaking of.


    ¡°So what type of shard is this?¡±


    ¡°You recovered fast, it looks like it''s a¡­ armor aspect.¡± Jake said, and I realized I had no idea how origin shards worked.


    ¡°So it can make armor?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, pretty much.¡±


    ¡°Alright, and how did you know the aspect? Was it the color or something else?¡±


    ¡°Well for me it was just experience, but you can feel the attunement if you concentrate on the shard.¡± That was very vague, I tried to concentrate and to my surprise I felt it. The shard felt solid and unbreakable, and I saw a vision in my mind. A car sized beetle facing a knight in a field. I watched as the knight''s sword crashed into the beetle, but when he raised it there wasn¡¯t even a scratch. The beetle lunged at the knight with a devastating crunch, but its mandibles were caught in place by the knights own armor, like a metal carapace. I came back to reality a moment later, but it had felt longer than that.


    ¡°Woah.¡± I said quietly and Jake smiled.


    ¡°Yeah, it''s pretty trippy. You make your avatar out of that, you can see why it''s hard to explain.¡± I nodded, yeah, that did sound hard to explain, I had trouble wrapping my head around the idea of it.


    ¡°So, are you ready to start your avatar?¡± Jake asked, and I nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds good.¡±

 Chapter Sixteen: Into the shrine

    Jake and I stopped outside the Primordial Shrine, and he turned to me.


    ¡°Alright, so you need nine more armor shards to make an orb, but I have several complete orbs, including an armor one. If it¡¯s alright with you I can just just bring them all over and you can make your decision, sound good?¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, that sounds good.¡±


    ¡°Okay, one sec I¡¯ll go get some of mine.¡± Jake walked toward the shrine and Wiggles followed him. When he reached the door he didn¡¯t stop, and to my surprise he passed through it like it wasn¡¯t there, leaving Wiggles. She glared at the door and gave it a sharp bark, and then, satisfied she had taught the door a lesson, turned and walked toward me. She pushed her head into my chest seeking pets that I slightly nervously supplied. Intellectually I knew it was just Wiggles, but those teeth were no lie, and my brain was still coming to terms with the fact that the giant metallic wolf was not a threat, but I was definitely getting more used to it.


    A minute later Jake emerged, and shrugging off the backpack with a clink revealed its contents, six glowing orbs.


    ¡°That''s a lot of orbs.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I have one or two just about every local shard, but only these orbs at the moment.¡±


    ¡°Do I just¡­ grab one and feel it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah pretty much.¡± Jake said, and so I got started. The first orb was yellowish, and unlike with the shard I could feel its power when I held it. When I felt it I didn¡¯t just watch a scene, I was fully transported there. I was in a dimly lit dirt tunnel, yet I could see perfectly. A beetle was trying and failing to take a step off of a yellowish orange goo, unable to lift its limbs from where they were stuck. Meanwhile an ant crawled along the ceiling with little bits of the same sappy glue that covered its feet.


    ¡°Glue attunement?¡± I asked, still reeling from how vivid the vision was.


    ¡°Yeah, it''s from the newest layer.¡±


    ¡°What dropped glue attunement?¡±


    ¡°You ever heard of a nasute termite?¡±


    ¡°No¡­¡±


    ¡°Neither had I, they¡¯re termites that spray glue from their face.¡±


    ¡°Huh.¡± I¡¯d have to look that up once we left the dungeon.


    The next Orb I grabbed was off white, and when I let it envelop me I found myself on the branch of the giant maple. A person in a loosely flowing cape faced a massive hornet. The hornet bolted toward the figure but the person seemed to vanish with a flourish of their cape. They reappeared behind the hornet and greeted it with a knife in the head.


    This one was harder, it felt like maybe wind, but my gut said something much odder.


    ¡°Cape aspect?¡±


    ¡°Yeah it''s not very useful on its own, but paired with good attunement I¡¯ve seen it be pretty useful. Its kinda funny that you pulled those two first, the rest are much less odd.¡±


    The next orb was yellow green, and the vision was another wasp facing a person with a greenish sword, both grazed each other, and both collapsed, their veins turning black. The image made me a bit uncomfortable.


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    ¡°Poison attunement.¡±


    The next orb I selected was so gray it was almost black.


    <hr>


    In the end there was also club aspect, tough attunement, and of course the armor aspect. I considered the club aspect, but then I remembered being bit and decided to still go with the armor aspect. Now that I had chosen all that was left to get started.


    ¡°Alright, so I just go in there? Is there anything I need to know first?¡±


    ¡°Nothing that won¡¯t be explained there. don¡¯t worry, it''s easy to start.¡± I took the armor aspect orb in both hands and stepped toward the door. Unlike Jake when Jake approached it the door reacted to me, opening inwards down the middle to expose¡­ nothing, just a white void. I turned to Jake and he gave me a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.


    ¡°Why didn¡¯t it open for you?¡± I asked, and a confused expression appeared on his face for a moment before realization dawned on his face.


    ¡°Ah, that would look odd. The shrine is instanced, basically every person has their own version of the shrine separate from the real one. It makes it so no one is ever in the same shrine as anyone else, which is important because there is one shrine and thousands of people who need to use it.¡± I looked back toward the white void and mentally prepared myself, and once again stepped toward it. When I was only a step from the door a blond girl around her mid 20¡¯s appeared in the doorway midstep. I nearly bumped into her but I hit nothing. and I stumbled, barely catching myself on the doorframe. Turning back I saw her standing several feet to the side, and Jake was laughing. The girl¡¯s clothes were somewhat obscured by a mottled brown cloak she wore.


    ¡°Ah, sorry about that.¡± she said simply, and then she noticed Jake, and to my surprise she addressed him formally.


    ¡°Captain Alexander, shouldn¡¯t you be on layer three?¡± The girl asked. How did she know Jake, and why was she calling him Captain? Jake¡¯s response was much less formal.


    ¡°Yeah, that was the plan, but I had to request an extra day for special circumstances.¡±


    ¡°And what were those special circumstances?¡± She seemed slightly irritated, though it could just be me projecting emotion where there was none.


    ¡°My friend just got back.¡± He said, pointing to me, and Ann turned in surprise, having previously dismissed me as unimportant, a fair judgment.


    ¡°Oh. Alright, you got this approved at HQ right¡±


    ¡°Of course.¡±


    ¡°Very well, I expect to see you at layer three tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Yes Commander.¡± and with that the lady left toward the exit of the dungeon, and I noticed a badge like Jakes but bold pinned to her cloak''s shoulder. I turned toward Jake, letting my dumbfounded expression ask my question for me.


    ¡°That was Ann, leader of the dungeon guard. What were the odds she was in the shrine today- actually no, that''s no surprise, but it''s pretty crazy she came out right before you came in." I nodded and agreed that it was in fact pretty crazy. I was still slightly reeling from how casual he was with the leader of the dungeon guard, Jake was more important than I had thought. Then something the captain had said hit me.


    ¡°You were supposed to leave today?¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, but I wanted to have a bit more time with my friend before I had to go.¡±


    ¡°No I mean, why didn¡¯t you tell me, I could probably figure this out later without wasting your time. If you want, we can still hang out.¡±


    ¡°What, no, you''re fine. We are hanging out, don¡¯t worry.¡±


    ¡°Well yeah, but, well. I just feel like you went out of your way so we could hang and I¡¯m wasting that effort.¡±


    ¡°You''re not wasting anything, I¡¯ve enjoyed everything, I get to share some of the cool things that have changed, and I even get to see the beginning of your avatar. Honestly I should be the one apologizing for dragging you somewhere you don¡¯t like.¡±


    ¡°What? I volunteered to be here, you''re fine.¡±


    ¡°Well in that case we''re both fine with this.¡±


    ¡°So you''re really fine with this?¡±


    ¡°Of course I am. Now quit stalling, the sooner you make your avatar the more time there is for everything else today.¡±


    ¡°Alright, you win.¡± I would have to process that more later, there was more to that conversation that I felt like I was missing, but for now I went with what Jake said. I looked back one last time to Jake who gave me double thumbs up. I took a deep breath, and clutching the light gray orb I stepped into the white void.

 Chapter Seventeen: Prim

    For a moment I felt like I was falling, and then my foot made contact with the ground and the void was replaced by a real space. In the center of the room the floor went down several feet, and rising from the indent stood a statue made of the same white marble as the walls and floor. The statue resembled a androgynous person but scaled twice as big. The statue was beautiful in a way I couldn¡¯t quite place. Its face was the most detailed part of it, with a blank expression looking straight ahead. With effort I pulled my eyes away from the statue to look at the rest of the room. The shrine was an octagon, and while behind me was the obsidian black door once again closed every other smooth stone wall held a stained glass window. Each window was a single color of glass forming a scene. a red boar charging hunters; a green field being harvested; a purple cavern being explored by adventurers. Each window captured an aspect of humanity in one color of the rainbow. After fully taking in the room unsure of what else to do I decided to approach the statue. I took a single step and the shattering of glass filled the air as every single window split in two. The shards floated toward the statue leaving windows open to a black void, the same one the tear led to. My body screamed at me to run, glass was flying but I was rooted in place as I watched an oddly familiar scene, it was happening again. First red took its place, and the statue started to glow. Orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple took their place behind the statue, but instead of a ring they formed two curves that almost resembled wings. Still not done, I heard something else shatter, and I found out what when ten long thin black shards, the remains of the door, took their place over the statue''s head.


    With this final piece the statue came to life, its stiff pose relaxing slightly to become a casual stance as its glass ¡°wings¡± lowered slightly. The Primordial¡¯s spoke, its voice like pure crystal ringing.


    ¡°I am a shard of The Primordial, created to guide humans in the process of creating their avatars. I detect an origin shard of the armor aspect in your possession, do you wish to begin avatar creation?¡± I took a moment to digest what the being had said, they weren¡¯t the primordial, something more like an automated copy?- The being moved making me flinch in surprise. It paused as it noticed my response.


    ¡°Sorry, I was just stretching, being a statue is rather relaxing, but when I wake up I am always a bit stiff.¡± The being resumed stretching, leaving me a bit baffled. After a moment I recovered. So they aren¡¯t The Primordial, but they are not just a construct either. I looked up at the being, and decided to just ask, it had worked everytime I tried it this week, maybe it would work this time too.


    ¡°What do I call you?¡± The being paused its stretching, placing its hand on its chin, and it smiled and pointed up in an exaggerated emote.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got it! You may call me Prim, because I am a piece of The Primordial!¡± the being- Prim said excitedly. They were incredibly expressive for a literal statue, and I felt the last bit of fear I had about this being melted away.


    ¡°Prim, how do I make an avatar?¡±


    ¡°Easy, first you hand me the orb, and then I will help you to see and manipulate the origin essence from the orb.¡± I didn¡¯t follow the second half, but I understood the first part, and I decided to go with it. I held out the armor aspect orb and Prim carefully grabbed it, raising it to their chest and letting go, leaving the orb floating there.


    ¡°Now you¡¯re going to want to take a seat.¡± I looked around, and noticed a seat behind me that hadn¡¯t been there before. Carved from the same stone as the rest of the building throne may have been a more accurate descriptor. The throne was pretty simple, only decorated with fourteen glass panels that made a ring where my back would go like The Primordial¡¯s. Prim had been nothing but polite and earnest so far, so I trusted them and took a seat, which was about as comfortable as it looked. Once I was settled Prim spoke again.


    ¡°Now I will temporarily elevate you, this may be unsettling.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by unsettling?¡± I got my answer very quickly as Prim stiffened in a neutral pose, and the black crown rose off their head, shrinking down until it looked like it would easily fit¡­ My head. I stiffened as the crown settled above me and a tingle ran through my body, leaving me feeling odd, but not bad. I relaxed, only to jump as I heard Prim''s voice directly in my head.


    ¡°I have now elevated you, you can¡­ oh, it looks you¡¯ve already figured it out, congratulations!¡±


    ¡°Already figured what ou-¡± I stopped before finishing the sentence, my voice sounded melodic, almost like Prim¡¯s, and my mouth wasn¡¯t moving, or my vocal cords. I tried to reach up and feel my face, but my hand didn¡¯t move. I was floating several feet above the throne, my body still seated on it.


    ¡°Aaah, what¡¯s happening! What did you do!?¡±


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    ¡°Oh, you didn¡¯t intend to do that. Do not worry, I have just temporarily elevated you so that you can create your avatar.¡± Prim explained, and I tried to relax, taking- imagining taking deep breaths and latching onto one word Prim had said.


    ¡°Temporary, you said this is temporary.¡±


    ¡°Yes, I have temporarily elevated y-¡± I cut Prim off.


    ¡°Can you undo it now? Sorry, could you please undo the elevation?¡±


    ¡°Yes, just will your spirit back to your body and I will return you to your natural state.¡± Right, I can do this, I just need to focus. At my willing my sight drifted back into my body, and I felt pins and needles as the crown raised off my head and returned to Prim. Prim relaxed again and gave their arms a quick stretch.


    ¡°What the heck was that!?¡± I shouted as I stood up. Prim didn¡¯t seem to mind.


    ¡°I elevated you, granting you greater control of your spirit and origin energy so you could begin to create your avatar.¡± I took a few breaths, I was fine, I wasn¡¯t in trouble or danger. I had been very snappy at Prim, and looking back a moment I had overreacted.


    ¡°Sorry, I panicked. you really should have explained what being elevated meant before you did it, but I guess I should have asked. This won¡¯t cause any problems for my body, right?¡±


    ¡°No, when your spirit leaves your body it is in stasis, it will not even age until you return to it.¡± I took a few breaths, and then sat back down.


    ¡°Alright, let''s do this Prim.¡± Prim smiled, and then stiffened as the crown (which I was starting to suspect was their actual form) moved to my head, and this time I didn¡¯t jump when Prim¡¯s voice spoke in my head.


    ¡°Alright, you are elevated again, you can move outside your body by willing it, and can manipulate flows of origin energy to create your avatar.¡± Testing out my abilities I drifted toward one of the windows to the void, which to my surprise looked entirely different, the darkness was gone, replaced by vast streams of ever changing color. I bumped into an invisible wall as I tried to get closer to the outside.


    ¡°Careful, those barriers are made to keep the Origin out, not keep you in. The Pure Origin would rather effectively vaporize an unprotected being of your size. I do not intend to offend¡±


    ¡°None taken.¡± I responded. The endless rainbow will melt me, noted. Deciding to distance myself from the rainbow sea of death I approached the statue, the gray orb floated over the statues chest, and I noticed something slightly different about it. The orb felt less like a solid orb and more like a tangle of energy. Following what felt natural I grabbed the flow with a mental hand, and with a tug the orb broke apart entirely, becoming a cloud of gray light like the sea of color outside the shrine. It was a wisp of pure origin energy. Looking at the cloud of light as it slowly spread out around the room I realized that I had no idea what to do next.


    ¡°Hey Prim, how do I start my avatar?¡±


    ¡°The statue. In addition to serving as my body the statue is made to temporarily hold an avatar, allowing you to see and manipulate it better. In order to become more than smoke the energy needs shape. As this is armor aspect it needs to become some form of armor, but beyond that it is up to you.¡±


    ¡°Alright, but how do I manipulate it?¡±


    ¡°It will become what you desire, trust yourself and follow your instincts.¡± Prim sounded just like Jake. Alright, here goes nothing. I tried to grab the armor aspect like I had grabbed the orb, and it formed a loose ball in front of me. Alright, that''s a start, now to make it something else. I imagined a breastplate, and the smoke globed onto the statue, loosely resembling a breastplate. It''s a step in the right direction, but Jakes looks like real armor, how do I do that? I imagined the breastplate, solid steel like the knights, and I willed it into existence, the smoke shifted, gaining a slight metallic sheen. Alright, that¡¯s progress. I got closed and tried again, this time focusing specifically on it being steel, and it solidified into steel completely. Yes! I had done it! The only problem was it was just over the chest, and I wanted protection in other places too. I tried to will leg armor into being, and though it partially worked it took some of the breastplate with it, leaving the breastplate short. I tried making chainmail, and after a few attempts I got it to form the links properly. I got more coverage, covering the body, arms, and upper legs, but it still wasn¡¯t enough. I was thinking about how to best defend myself when I had an idea. I imagined the two foot wooden shield I had been using, and watched the armor transform into a vague shield strapped to the right arm. I only had enough mail left over to cover a small part of the chest, but it was enough. Making up my mind I envisioned the statue with a two foot round shield strapped to its arm, the entire thing metal unlike the mostly wood one I had in real life. It took a few tries to get it just right, but soon enough it was done. With the remaining energy I made chainmail greaves to protect my legs where I had nearly been bit last time.


    ¡°There. What do you think Prim?¡±


    ¡°I like it, do you wish to finish the avatar?¡±


    ¡°Yes, is there anything special I need to do?¡±


    ¡°No, just return to your body and I¡¯ll teach you to call upon the avatar.¡± I willed myself back to my body, and as the crown left me I felt pins and needles erupt all through my body. Ack, this was much worse than last time. I stood and shook my body out a bit trying to get my body feeling back to usual, and Prim watched for a moment in amusement before joining in, shaking enthusiastically. By the time they finished my pins and needles were gone and I was laughing hard, leaving Prim watching me slightly confused.

 Chapter Eighteen: A glimpse of pain

    After our impromptu shaking party and my subsequent laughter I was feeling light as air. Prim seemed to be having a good time, but they paused as they remembered something, emoting this realization by slapping their forehead.


    ¡°Ah, I should probably explain a bit about your avatar.¡± Usually Prim just jumped into the explanation, but this time they seemed to be waiting for my answer. I gave them a quick nod, and when they continued to wait I answered out loud.


    ¡°Yeah, I wouldn¡¯t mind that¡±


    ¡°Alright! Calling forth your avatar just requires you to will it into being, and on top of the effects of the aspects or attunements contained within it will provide some amount of increased strength and durability. How much of your avatar''s potential you are able to bring forth and how long you can keep it up in a day is determined by your synchronization, or sync. Sync is gained by using your avatar, pushing it, and understanding it. Your sync needs to reach 100% before you can add on another tier. Adding a tier will lower your sync again, usually less than fifty percent. Your current sync is approximately 10% which means you can only bring about 10% of its power to bear and keep it up for around three minutes before you need to recharge.¡± my spirit sank slightly, I had expected that my avatar would be limited at first, but that was much worse than I expected. Three minutes, that was maybe one or two fights. Did everyone start with 10% sync or was I below average? Well comparison wont accomplish anything, I guess I should get a feel for it really quick. Let''s see, how did I do this? I concentrated on making my avatar appear, and felt a strand of something, but it got away before I could grab it.


    ¡°When you¡¯re at low sync it helps to try tying the summoning of your avatar to an action, such as pulling out a weapon or securing a harness, which can make it much easier.¡± Oh, like how John Green and Zack did, that made sense. Again I tried to summon my avatar but this time at the same time I mimed securing the shield strap to my forearm, halfway into the action I felt something connect and the shield appeared on my arm. The shield was mostly transparent, and I didn¡¯t feel any stronger, but it was still incredible to see it appear on me. I looked down and sure enough my calves had chainmail greaves secured to them. The shield and greaves had a little weight, but it was minimal. My avatar vanished when I willed it to, leaving me back to normal.


    ¡°Excellent, you figured out how to summon your avatar, would you like to leave the shrine now?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯m all done.¡± Prim waved bye, and then deanimated as their crown and wings returned to being the door and windows. I waved goodbye to the statue as I walked toward the door. I was definitely coming again later, if only to say hi to Prim again. The door opened for me, and I stepped out into the dungeon only for a shape to jump toward me. I tried to call on my avatar, but I couldn¡¯t set the strap in time, and Wiggles knocked me over, giving me kisses until Jake got her off me. Once I was standing again I gave Wiggles a few pets, after making friends with Prim I had realized I had no excuse for being scared of Ms. Wiggles of all things.


    ¡°Soo, how¡¯d it go?¡±


    ¡°Great, but why didn¡¯t you warn me about Prim, or the out of body experience. A little warning would have been nice.¡±


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    ¡°I¡¯d never ruin a surprise. Also why Prim? I call them Larry.¡±


    ¡°Well I asked them what they were named, and they said Prim.¡±


    ¡°Huh, I just called them Larry and they rolled with it. Anyways, what''s your avatar look like? I¡¯ve been dying to find out¡± I pulled on the nonexistent shield strap to summon my avatar, and showed my shield somewhat embarrassed.


    ¡°What do you think? I wanted more armor like yours but I didn¡¯t have enough, so I just made a shield instead.¡±


    ¡°I think it''s great! One of the biggest negatives of using my spear like I do is I can¡¯t use a shield, attaching one to your avatar is a good move. It''s not much yet, but give it another tier or two and it¡¯ll be better than most normal shields.¡± I smiled at the compliment, and dismissed my avatar.


    ¡°The only problem is I can only keep it up for three minutes. How long does yours last?¡±


    ¡°Two and a half hours.¡± Wow, it looked like I had a lot of work to do.


    ¡°Oh man. How hard is it to gain sync?¡±


    ¡°It gets hard later, but at the beginning it''s not too hard. You should be able to get a percent or two a day just by having it up and feeling out how it feels and moves, and maybe a few more by visiting the shrine to refine it every now and then. This way you wouldn¡¯t have to fight any monsters and you could get another tier every few months.¡± While I liked the idea of being safe and not killing anything The goal was to get to tier seven, and soon. This way would take ages for each level, and from what Jake implied it would get slower with each tier. Though I didn¡¯t like it, I needed something riskier.


    ¡°How fast could I improve if I did fight monsters.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do that, I know I kinda pushed you into trying the dungeon out, but I don¡¯t want you to be uncomfortable, we can take things slow.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to have to face monsters anyways, even if I want to avoid it I will have to fight monsters to get to the third tier. Besides, how would I protect myself if I never face anything?¡± Jake sighed, and it was like our roles were reversed; I wanted to take a risk and exit my comfort zone while he wanted to choose the safest route. Regardless after a moment he relented.


    ¡°When you are pushed to your limit you can grow your avatar much faster, but don¡¯t think you have to do this, you have time.¡± I considered it, I really did, but I had made up my mind. If I wanted to reach my goal, I couldn¡¯t shy away from the dungeons it held. That being said, there was no reason to throw caution away yet.


    ¡°I¡¯ll be more careful when you¡¯re in the dungeon, but today I have the best dungeon guard out there keeping me safe, right?¡± Jake¡¯s whole expression shifted a bit, and when he spoke again it wasn¡¯t the Jake I remembered. His voice was somber, and hinted at pain I had never had to face.


    ¡°Yeah, the best.¡± His expression relaxed a bit as he continued, but he was still more solemn than normal.¡± Alright but promise me you wont take any unnecessary risks, if you decide to keep delving after I go don¡¯t do it alone, I don¡¯t want you to get hurt. (I don¡¯t want to lose anybody else)¡± the last part was left unspoken, but I understood it clear as day, he had lost people I had never known. If the dungeon had done this to him did I really want to go through with delving? I felt my resolve shake, and it was only one thought that reaffirmed it. My friend had been hurt when I wasn¡¯t there for him, I had to be able to be there for him, and if that meant fighting through monsters to be there then so be it.


    ¡°Alright, I will.¡± Jake stared at me for a moment, and then he relaxed, becoming my old friend again. The pain once again hidden away again, but I thought I still saw a bit of the pain and worry in his eyes.


    ¡°Well you got one thing right, the safest place in the dungeon is by my side, you ready grind sync?¡± I took a final breath, and then met his eyes.


    ¡°Yes.¡±

 Chapter Nineteen: Test Run

    I was standing on one of the maple''s absurdly thick roots facing ten beetles. I felt a small part of me regret my decision, but my resolve hardened. They were cute, but they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to tear me apart given the chance. Jake was standing a few meters back, and I remembered the plan.


    ¡°This swarm of root beetles is all tier one, other than the tier two in the back. I want you to go in with your avatar and fight as many as you can. If you get overwhelmed or in danger I¡¯ll get you out, so give it your all.¡± and so here I was, my shield on my left arm, and my warhammer in my right hand. I reached for my avatar, feeling the wisp of the connection just out of reach. Reaching toward my shield I grabbed nothing and pulled down. The shield of my avatar overlapped my current shield while my greaves appeared, and both my shield and my hammer felt a bit lighter in my grip. It was time to start.


    The nearest beetle was two dozen feet away and had just noticed me, beginning to skitted toward me, and I charged to meet it, coming to a stop in front of it and swinging my warhammer into its head full force and killing it with one sickening crunch. It was going to attack you, it¡¯s fine I told myself, and continued to another one that was approaching. My warhammer¡¯s spike punched a hole in its head. Now the beetles were coming faster, and when I looked up from finishing the second off three more were approaching. I attacked the closest without trouble, but the second one attacked before I could swing again, latching onto my armored calf. I finished it off and then turned toward the third one, stumbling back as it jumped mandibles open to take a piece of my thigh. I avoided the attack, but that was little comfort because I tripped over the still dissolving corpse of the second beetle, and my shield crunched through the first one which wasn¡¯t dissolving, partially cushioning my fall and leaving my upper body vulnerable to the beetle. I made out the beetle lunging at my legs and I gave a panicked kick, which caught it under the head and raised its head away from my legs as it snapped. I scrambled to my feet while it recovered, heart racing, and adrenaline roared as I smashed its carapace open.


    I wasn¡¯t done yet as another two beetles approached, and the closer one of them was almost half a foot bigger, the tier two. My composure was gone, and I was fully running on instinct as I smashed my warhammer into the head of the tier two beetle. Its shell cracked, but it survived and tried to bite my knee, so I lowered my shield in its way, blocking its bite and giving me time to smash into its head again, missing the first spot and making a new crack. A third strike broke the head open and fourth strike finished the tier two off, and I looked down to see a beetle monching my greave. Yelping I kicked the beetle to dislodge it and backed up to make some space.


    The beetle was joined by the last three. I fall into a partial crouch to position my shield between me and them. The beetles spread out, two in front and one on each side. I couldn¡¯t block all of them at once, and an idea came to mind as I remembered my trip. The beetles drew closer and I dashed to the right, my shield between me and the beetle I dived toward, and my full weight knocked the beetle to the ground and made several cracks in its shell. It took me only a few seconds for me to get up while the nearest beetle was stunned and the rest had to reposition, one of the beetles in the middle moving to the left. I finished off the beetle and turned to face the three beetles still facing me. I lunged the right this time, crashing my warhammer into the beetle there and killing it in one blow. Luckily my shield was now between me and the beetles, and they couldn¡¯t just retaliate immediately. I hadn¡¯t thought that far ahead, but I was glad it was the case. I turned to face the middle beetle, and in a lunge and a swing I only had one target left.


    Of course it was then that my avatar flickered and vanished, and my warhammer and shield suddenly felt a few pounds heavier. The surprise weight made me lower them slightly, and the final beetle took the chance to jump for my face. I tried to raise my shield, but I didn¡¯t get the chance to see if I had been fast enough as the beetle was caught mid jump by Wiggles, who gave it a few good shakes before biting down on it and dropping it in two pieces that blew away into dust. Now that my life wasn¡¯t at risk I felt the adrenaline leave my veins, and I realized I still had a fair amount of beetle goop, the remains of the beetle¡¯s I had smashed through, and I felt sick. I had been acting in self defense I reassured myself, and with a few breaths I forced the feelings down. Unpack it later, you have more immediate concerns. The most relevant one was the stinky beetle goo splattered all over my clothes. I started trying to brush it off, and then watched in surprise as it turned to dust and blew away. I turned to see Jake holding three shards as the last of the beetle corpses turned to dust.


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    ¡°Oh yeah, I forgot about that.¡±


    ¡°No problem, just remember not to try to pull anything like this without backup, alright.¡± and there was a hint of grim Jake in his eyes


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know. I promise not to.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Now to review it was a good idea to armor where you got bit last time, but remember that beetles aren¡¯t limited to biting ankles, if that one had a bit longer it would have tried a bit higher up. Avatars can take a few hits, especially once you get a few tiers higher, but if your actual body gets hurt it¡¯s going to heal at its natural rate. If your avatar runs out the best move is to get out of the dungeon as fast as you can.¡± Jake handed me the three shards which I pocketed.


    ¡°Now let''s go to the shrine. We''re gonna want to get an idea of how much you¡¯ve improved and how long your avatar can be maintained now.¡± I agreed and we went to the shrine. I didn¡¯t even hesitate to enter, and only slightly flinched as the windows and door broke and Prim reanimated. I waited for them to finish stretching before talking.


    ¡°Hey Prim, I was wondering what my sync was at now.¡±


    ¡°Hello friend, your sync is at¡­¡±the statue paused to look at me ¡°25%. you have worked fast, though you seem to have paid for it in blood.¡± 25%! That was over twice what it had been at. The comment about paying in blood was a bit morbid, they would heal in a couple of days¡­ or weeks.


    ¡°Great! What does that mean for how long I can use my avatar?¡±


    ¡°You should be able to maintain your avatar for seven and a half minutes.¡± Wow, that was a massive improvement. Doing some quick mental math I realized that it was one and a half times more than before, the same amount as my sync had increased. If Jake could maintain his for two and a half hours then I was definitely missing some variables, but at least the sync seemed to be consistent. I started to turn to leave, and then paused as I thought of something.


    ¡°Hey Prim, do you know my name?¡± The statue managed to look embarrassed.


    ¡°I am afraid not, you never mentioned it.¡±


    ¡°Oh, sorry, my name is Ethan.¡±


    ¡°Ah, thank you Ethan. Is there anything else you would like to talk about or do?¡± I paused, and something weighing on me came to mind.


    ¡°Do you know if monsters are alive?¡± Prim thought for a moment.


    ¡°That depends on your definition of alive and the specific example, but suffice it to say it''s complicated. Monsters below the first milestone cannot even act beyond their base impulses and lack actual emotions, but each major milestone brings with it increased individuality.¡± That was somewhat reassuring, but it raised a new important question.


    ¡°What''s a milestone?¡±


    ¡°Milestones occur at tier 7, 13, 19, and 25.¡± so none of the beetles had feelings, that made me feel a bit less bad about killing the beetles. It had been me or them, but that failed to reassure me, I had come to them not the other way around.


    ¡°Thanks Prim, that makes me feel a lot better.¡± Prim seemed a bit confused, but they rolled with it.


    ¡°You are welcome?¡± They paused uncertainly for a moment ¡°I see you have some shards on you, would like me to store them for you?¡± I hadn¡¯t thought about that, and after a moment I agreed


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds good.¡±


    Prim took the three shards and they slotted into a shelf that rose from the ground before seamlessly remerging.


    ¡°Is that all?¡± Prim asked, and I smiled


    ¡°Yeah, I think I¡¯m all good.¡±


    ¡°Very well, have a nice day¡± I waved bye to Prim, and got an enthusiastic wave back. I walked toward the door, and it was restored as Prim returned to sleep. I stepped back into the dungeon.

 Chapter Twenty: running errands

    When the dungeon came into view I saw an unexpected sight, Jake and Wiggles had been joined by Will, the overly enthusiastic guy from earlier. Will was petting Wiggles while Jake talked to him, but both of them turned to face me when I came out, and Will started waving wildly.


    ¡°Hey Ethan! how¡¯re you doing?¡± Will shouted, and I turned toward Jake for an explanation.


    ¡°Will recognized me from earlier and came for some advice. I gave him some of the pointers I gave you, and-¡± Will interrupted him excitedly, waving a familiar yellow orb. ¡°-And he gave me a orb!¡± Jake resumed, unflustered from being interrupted. ¡°I still had the orbs I got out for you, so I let him have one to help keep him safe.¡± Jake paused, and then remembered something ¡°Oh yeah, when I was talking to Will I remembered something I forgot to say. You should bring a backpack or a bag with you to the dungeon in the future, you never know when you need something, especially in the dungeon.¡± huh, it seemed like obvious advice, but I hadn¡¯t even considered it until now. I jotted down a mental note to get a backpack, I think I saw some at the thrift store. While I was doing that Will said bye and entered the shrine. Apparently he had been waiting to greet me before he left. Once that was done me and Jake left the dungeon and we went home (after a short trip to return the rentals.)


    ¡°You know Ethan, you could probably invite Will to delve with you. He seems nice, and he said he was planning on running the dungeon a fair amount.¡± Nope, I didn¡¯t think my ears would last if I delved with him. Fortunately I quickly remembered something that might work instead.


    ¡°I actually had someone in mind already.¡± I said


    ¡°Really?¡± Jake said in mock surprise.


    ¡°One of my co-workers visits the dungeon to harvest samaras, so I was going to ask if I could tag along sometime.¡± Jake nodded.


    ¡°That''s actually a pretty good idea, but be careful of wasps, your avatar probably can¡¯t take a hit except on the shield. Their poison won¡¯t kill you on its own but you¡¯ll wish it did, and you won¡¯t be doing much outside of bed for a few days¡± the last part sounded like it came from experience, and I didn¡¯t even want to consider what it felt like in case my brain did a good job simulating it.


    ¡°Don¡¯t get stung, got it.¡± I took a quick shower the moment I got back, the beetle goop was all gone but the dirt was not. It was still only around six, so me and Jake resumed hanging out. Jake wanted to show me a small series on youtube made after the return called Under Utopia. It had blown up pretty big, being one of the only shows of any kind to come out since the return. It was live action, but the actors used their avatars as the characters they played, and the filming was apparently done in a dungeon at Yellowstone that was filled with volcanic activity and¡­ mangroves. Apparently it was called the sulfur marsh. The show was really cool, and that wasn¡¯t even taking into account that a lot of the action was actually real combat repurposed and dubbed. We binged for two hours before Jake turned in to sleep. He had to be in the dungeon and delving pretty early, and without much to do alone I decided to go to sleep too.


    <hr>


    When I woke up in the morning Jake was already gone. I had to get Paul before going to the dungeon, and I didn¡¯t have his number, so I would have to wait until Paul was at the burger house at noon.


    I made myself an omelet and it turned out pretty good, my practice last week had paid off. I lost myself in a few more episodes of Under Utopia. Three episodes later it was nine and I decided I should do something with my day while I waited. I still needed a new backpack, so I decided to start there. I grabbed my wallet, my keys, and got in my car. Inside it smelled pretty musty, but I couldn¡¯t be picky. I  turned my keys in the ignition and got a wheezing cough in return as the car tried and failed to come back to life. That¡¯s less than ideal. Jakes car was in the driveway, but I didn¡¯t want to use it without getting permission first, so instead I decided to try to figure out what was wrong with the car. I opened youtube on my phone and popped the hood, and then I got started. I was not a car person, I didn¡¯t know a spark plug from a tailpipe, but hopefully with the expertise of the internet I could do this. After several increasingly specific searches I found a video that dumbed down the components of an engine, and a few videos and a quick check to what model my car was I had a video of someone explaining my car engine for me. It turned out that I needed a new car battery, but I didn¡¯t have one, nor did I know where to get one. At this point it had been an hour and I decided to revisit the car later, walking was good for me anyways. I washed my hands thoroughly to get rid of the oil and grease that had coated them, and grabbed my shoes. The thrift store was a thirty minute walk and honestly it was exactly what I needed, the sun wasn¡¯t too high yet so there was plenty of shade, and the annoyance from working on the car dissipated. There was the same employee as last time, so I waved, and then entered the isles. My mind hadn¡¯t been playing tricks on me, there was a section of backpacks. I selected a simple black one like Jakes, and after a quick purchase I was on my way back, backpack in tow.


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    By the time I was home It was nearly time, so I ate a granola bar and, not sure what else to do, started packing the backpack. I grabbed several more granola bars and then realized I didn¡¯t really have anything else to put in it. I started a quick list of what I would need. A first aid kit, water, a pocket knife? Sunscreen? Uuh, alright, I¡¯ll just start with water, and I¡¯ll ask Jake what he has when he gets back, yeah, we have a plan, we''re good. Unsure what else to do I set off to the burgerhouse, and thankfully Paul was here a bit earlier than I had expected. Paul finished a customer, and noticing there were no new ones I stepped forward to talk to him.


    ¡°Hey Ethan, here for an omelet on your day off. Just so you know you¡¯ll still have to pay.¡±


    ¡°Oh no, Actually wanted to ask you something.¡± Paul didn¡¯t respond, so I continued. ¡±I was wondering if you would be willing to let me tag along next time you go delving? I¡¯ve been told not to delve alone.¡± Paul considered for a moment before responding.


    ¡°Well me and my team have been delving the second tier and are making a push for the third, so you probably couldn¡¯t join us.¡± My heart sank a bit, there went my one plan, now what?


    ¡°But I could probably take you with me when I gather samaras tomorrow morning.¡± my spirits rose back up again, that wasn¡¯t ideal, but it was loads better than nothing.


    ¡°Yeah, that sounds great, thanks.¡±


    ¡°No problem, meet me outside the shrine at seven tomorrow morning, alright?¡±


    ¡°Sounds good.¡± I left the burgurhouse, and halfway toward home I remembered something. Hadn¡¯t there been more classes at the delvers guild? Maybe I should check them out. The lesson yesterday had helped but I could definitely benefit from more focused instruction. I was pretty close to the delver''s guild, and there was plenty of time left in the day. I changed course, making my way toward maple lane.


    Soon enough I was there, the delvers guild was a bit more busy than yesterday though I wasn¡¯t sure why. The bulletin board was covered in fliers, but one stood out more than the rest to me: More than a board, how to use a shield like a warrior. The class was open to walk-ins, free, and in half an hour. I ran through the rest of the fliers, but didn¡¯t find anything I wanted to do that I could do. There was one class about learning to trust and use your avatar that stood out, but the sign said that it recommended you have the ability to maintain an avatar for thirty plus minutes so I just marked it as something to check out later. I made my way to the class at the west sparring area. This time I was there before anyone else. I was alone for a while, but a few minutes before the class a group of four people arrived who seemed to be in a group, three boys and a girl who looked similar enough that they might be siblings but I could be mistaken, they all had brown light hair, though one of the boy¡¯s hair was a bit more coppery. The instructor arrived soon after, a girl probably a few years older than me with a pixie cut dyed bright red. I knew she was the instructor because as soon as she arrived she cleared her through for a second and then shouted.


    ¡°Alright class starts now!¡±

 Chapter Twenty One: getting schooled

    ¡°Before we begin, let''s go around and introduce ourselves. I¡¯ll start, my name is Ms. Albu, and before becoming a delver I was a third grade teacher.¡± Once she had finished talking Ms. Albu pointed at the nearest person, one of the brown haired boys, and he introduced himself.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Scott, and I¡¯m a triplet.¡± When Scott finished talking the next boy in line spoke up.


    ¡°Sup, I¡¯m Kent, I¡¯m also a triplet.¡± Kent finished, and the girl went next.


    ¡°I¡¯m Leah, and it may shock you to learn that I¡¯m a triplet as well.¡± Ms. Albu was grinning at that. The last boy with the more coppery hair spoke next.


    ¡°I¡¯m Rob, and I¡¯m not a triplet.¡± that really got Ms. Albu laughing, and we all joined in, it was pretty funny. Once that died down I was up last.


    ¡°Uh hi, I¡¯m Ethan, I have two siblings but they¡¯re both younger than me.¡± Kent grinned at this.


    ¡°Aw man, same.¡± The other two triplets responded by giving him a synchronized smack on the back of the head. They had a second of bickering and then Ms. Albu took control of the group like only a teacher could, and we got started. She walked to the already set up shield rack, and she had us all come over to it, though we didn¡¯t grab shields yet. The rack had several types of shields lined up, and Ms. Albu started on the right side with the viking shields.


    ¡°Alright, first we''re going to go over types of shields, these are round shields, and are a good solid shield. The wood has the benefit of being able to catch and hold an attack but in the dungeon that can lead to a shield not lasting. You can see the boss sticking out from the center of it, this protects your hand in the grip so that you have more range of movement.¡± She moved on the second shield, a large one was the generic shield shape, a slightly curved triangular with two divots on top.


    ¡°This is a kite shield, its straps limit its range of movement a bit more, but its size makes up for it.¡± she moved on to what I recognized as a buckler.


    ¡°And this is a buckler, it''s much smaller, and is great if you can move it where it''s needed. It also is pretty solid to punch someone with.¡± Once she was done explaining the features of the shields she moved on to the main part of the class, using the shields in different ways. It was a bit of a longer class, but she said a lot of things that I realized I could definitely use.


    ¡°One great thing about a shield is using it as an attack, I wouldn¡¯t recommend it as a primary weapon, but if you punch with the edge-¡± she demonstrated punching with a round shield in hand so the rim made contact with an invisible enemy. ¡°-then you can concentrate the force quite well while keeping a little distance open.¡± I hadn¡¯t thought about using the rim of the shield, in my head I had thought that you never wanted the shield at an angle like that, but as she continued the demonstrations it became clear that I was mistaken, the shield was always moving to allow different attacks and approaches.


    ¡°A shield as I mentioned earlier, can catch attacks in it and limit your opponents options in combat.¡± My avatar''s shield was metal, but I was seriously considering adding some wood, I wasn¡¯t exactly sure how it would work, the avatars were a bit odd, but it couldn¡¯t hurt.


    ¡°Alright, now you all grab shields and a weapon, and we''ll practice some of these skills, well start with these dummies, and try to make some attacks with your shield.¡± I grabbed a round shield (I was most familiar with it), and a mace, and I started practicing on the dummy. Ms. Albu gave me a few pointers on how to hit better and react, and then moved on to help the others. I watched as they joked and laughed, and I tried to join in. It didn¡¯t work out. They didn¡¯t laugh at me or tell me to go away, but I just didn¡¯t have the shared experiences they had, and I just watched from the sidelines. This was why I needed Jake, I didn¡¯t know how to meet people or talk to them, and any time I tried I just ended up here, at the side, ignored. The class wasn¡¯t as fun after that. Toward the end of the class Ms. Albu summoned her avatar, a version of her with gleaming white armor and a white and blue kite shield, and we practiced what we had learned on her. Her avatar protected her from everything we could dish out, but at that point my heart wasn¡¯t in it.


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    The class ended, and the four friends helped Ms. Albu move the shield rack. I tried to help, but they said they had it, leaving me behind feeling useless. Unsure what else to do I started on my way home. My thoughts wouldn¡¯t let me have peace as they spiraled down. Why didn¡¯t I know how to be part of the group? It felt like everyone else was just born able to walk into a group and belong, why couldn¡¯t I? I tried to shove down the feelings of loneliness and not belonging, I have a family that loves and accepts me- Where?- my negative thoughts whispered back. I froze, and then shoved it down where it belonged. That''s why I need to get stronger, so I don¡¯t lose my one friend. I changed course towards the dungeon, I had learned a lot about shields that I needed to apply to my avatar.


    I approached the dungeon gate, and after a moment''s hesitation stepped in. I wasn¡¯t delving, I didn¡¯t need another person. I made a beeline for the shrine and entered the white void. It transformed into the white stone room, and the shattering of windows animated Prim, stretching as usual.


    ¡°Hey Prim, could you elevate me? I need to work on my avatar.¡± Prim paused stretching as I spoke.


    ¡°Yes, one moment.¡± The throne appeared behind me, and I sat down, and a moment later the crown descended, elevating me. This time a hazy mist emerged from my body and approached the statue, resolving into my avatar again. I drifted closer to the statue, and got started. My first change I made was to replace the two straps with a grip sunk into a boss. The biggest thing I had learned was to have good mobility, so it was a must have. I liked the metal, I wasn¡¯t sure if the weight mattered for avatars, and even if it did the extra endurance of the avatar would make up for it. Besides, could an avatar get something lodged in it? I looked at the change I had make with satisfaction, and realized I was feeling much more in control of my life. It must come from holding a piece of a deity''s strength. I considered stopping with just adding the boss, but I remembered the strikes with the edge of the shield, and I decided to make one more change. I lengthened the shield so it was more teardrop shaped, with the point extending over the fist. Normally I wouldn¡¯t try this, a blade at the end of my arm felt like asking for trouble, but this blade could be summoned and dismissed. The other thing was that while it was up I was more durable so stabbing myself was less of a concern. To fully realize my plan I sharpened the metal so it had an edge¡­ or at least I tried to, but it wouldn¡¯t do it. I could make it narrower, but it didn¡¯t feel like it wanted to get actually sharp. It took me a moment to realize the problem. I was trying to make a blade out of armor aspect, but that made it too far away from its aspect, it couldn¡¯t do it. I decided to keep the shape anyway, it would concentrate the force much better even if it wasn¡¯t sharp. I guess that''s it. I returned to my body and felt the pins and needles rush back. I shook out my body and Prim joined in again. When we were done Prim spoke first.


    ¡°Congratulations, your avatar has made significant progress, its sync has reached 48%, and you can now maintain it for 14.4 minutes.¡± I was taken aback, I had made that much progress just from slightly changing my avatar? That was even more than last time. At this rate I would be at 100% in no time!


    ¡°Woah, that''s really good.¡± I didn''t know what else to say. I had expected maybe 5 more, and instead I got 23. I said by to Prim and left the dungeon feeling much better. I could catch up to Jake, and I would catch up to Jake. I went to sleep feeling excited for tomorrow.

 Chapter Twenty Two: I dont like heights

    I woke up and looked at my phone: 6:04. I had to meet Paul at seven, so that gave me plenty of time to¡­ wait no, I had forgotten I would need a weapon, and a shield too. That meant that I had to stop by the delvers guild and get rental weapons first. How long would that take? The Delvers Guild was about a twenty five minute walk, but who knew how long it would take to get a rental. I would need to run. I flew up the stairs, grabbing a granola bar for breakfast and another two. In case I needed them. I threw the bars in my new backpack and ran into the entry. I threw on my shoes, and ran out the door.


    I got to the delvers guild fifteen minutes later, and found an unfamiliar receptionist, a girl a bit older than me with shoulder length brown hair. Ten minutes later I had a warhammer and a shield. The warhammer was the same as last time, coming with a belt loop that I put on so it sat on my right side. I grabbed a round shield with a boss to match my avatars, and it went  on the side on the backpack with a little velcro strap that had been attached to it. Now I just had to wait another twenty five minutes for Paul¡­ maybe I had overprepared, I could have made myself an actual breakfast with this much time, but I hadn¡¯t been sure how long everything would take. Well at least now I know it only took a bit over half an hour to get ready. Not sure what else to do I entered the dungeon, as long as I avoided any monsters it should be fine, right?


    I stepped into the dungeon, and it was just as grand as I remembered. I walked over to the primordial shrine and, not having anything better to do, swung my hammer around a bit, trying to get a feel for it and the shield. I stopped when my arms started burning a bit. I had plenty more to do today, I couldn¡¯t exhaust myself before I even started.


    Paul showed up fifteen minutes later. He had a sword hanging on his left hip that looked like it was made of a large mandible, with a slight sheen to it. I hadn¡¯t seen something that was enchanted before, but I assumed thats what the shine was. Other than the sword Paul was wearing sparse armor made of bleaming black carapace. He had bracers, greaves, a pauldron I remembered from earlier, and a chestplate. He also had a small plastic crate in one hand.


    ¡°Ah, you''re early, great. Follow me and we''ll get climbing.¡± I had just had a horrible realization, something I hadn¡¯t considered earlier. The samaras grew on the maple, the maple that stretched several hundred feet tall. Not only that, it also only had wasps up there. Unfortunately it was too late for me as Paul led me over the back of the tree. As we came around the side I noticed the tree had a natural ramp where the tree bulged out several feet, and an unnatural wood railing hammered in that didn¡¯t make me feel any safer. Paul started casually walking up, and swallowing down my fear I followed after him, hugging the side of the tree. It wasn¡¯t too late to turn back, no one would think any less of me if I didn''t go up the tree. Oh, but I had bothered Paul into letting me tag along, I had to keep going. My vertigo was quickly joined by a burning in my legs, it wasn¡¯t too steep, but that just meant that it was longer. Of course Paul didn¡¯t even break a sweat, in fact he tried to start some small talk. I didn¡¯t join in, just nodded along as he spoke, huffing and puffing as I went.


    ¡°You know, I¡¯ve considered delving full time. It''s an interesting prospect, but I think if I did I would probably burn out pretty fast, ya know.¡± I nodded along and he continued. ¡°I don¡¯t think I could be a dungeon guard either, spending days in the dungeon at a time. I always try to get out of the dungeon once my avatar runs out.¡± He kept talking for most of the walk, and paying attention to his words instead of my body¡¯s protests made the walk feel a bit shorter. It still took around fifteen minutes to walk up the tree, but at least it wasn¡¯t fifteen minutes of silence. When we got to the top of the ramp we took a short break, and I scarfed down one of my protein bars.


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    ¡°Alright Ethan¡± Paul turned to face me and paused. ¡°You''re not looking very good, are you good to keep going?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah I¡¯m good to go, no problem.¡± I wheezed. Why did I say that! I was not fine. My legs were dead, I was feeling a bit dizzy, and I think my head was¡­ buzzing? I saw a large black and yellow form flying over. That wasn¡¯t my head that''s a wasp! No no, It¡¯s fine I reassured myself, that''s why I¡¯m with Paul, so I am safe.


    ¡°Alright, this one''s only tier one, you can probably take it with your avatar.¡± Drat. I wrestled with my shield, getting it from the side of my backpack onto my arm with some difficulty. I latched and made the motion of latching on a strap, only to realize my avatar didn¡¯t have a strap anymore. Panicking, I reached for the avatar mentally, and I brushed up on it, closer than ever. I mentally reached for it, but it slipped away. The wasp was close now, and I tried miming grabbing my shield off my back. The idea got closer and I firmly grabbed on. My avatar manifested and I felt everything snap into focus as my legs stopped burning, my avatar taking the burden. My avatar''s shield almost seemed to merge with my shield, the metal surface extra solid, while the teardrop spike that extended out still remained somewhat transparent. The wasp had almost reached me and I barely managed to grab my warhammer and raise my shield before it reached me It didn¡¯t immediately attack, instead stopping four feet away and several feet above me. It wasn¡¯t cute like the beetles, it was over three feet tall, with large black eyes and antenna drooping on its head¡­ actually it wasn¡¯t too bad, it wasn¡¯t cute, but I wouldn''t call it hideous or horrifying.


    The wasp was keeping out of reach, and the way it was buzzing around made me suspect even if I could reach it it would easily dodge. It raised its stinger toward me, and I crouched a bit, getting a bit more of me behind the shield. I didn¡¯t want to take the risk of being hit, even a single hit would poison me and unlike in a game I didn¡¯t have some universal antidote. I was expecting it to lunge forward, but instead its stinger extended into a smooth black lance that crossed the four feet between us in a second and stabbed into my shield. The force of it¡¯s lance pushed my shield back a bit, but it stayed intact. The wasp started to retract its stinger, and I did the first thing that came to mind, I hit the stinger with my hammer. It was and I didn¡¯t manage to hit it as directly as I would have liked, but I heard a crack and the wasp recoiled back, managing to bring its stinger with it and retract it, but it was damaged.


    The wasp buzzed a few meters, and then flew in for another attack. I held my shield between me and the stinger, praying that I hadn¡¯t misjudged where the attack was going. Its stinger slammed into my shield again with a snap, the force of the attack had finished the job I had started, breaking the stinger. The wasp writhed in the air, and I knew this was the best chance I would get. I swung my warhammer into the wasp, knocking it to the ground and stunning it. I raised my hammer and swung down at the downed wasp, driving the spike through its head and finishing it off. I watched for a moment as it disintegrated, avoiding looking directly where I had struck it. I dismissed my avatar, and my legs resumed burning. My heart was still banging in my chest. That stinger had been way more dangerous than the beetles mandibles, and the threat of poison hadn¡¯t helped.


    ¡°Not bad, now I hope you''re ready for more, because the branches are full of them.¡± Once he finished talking Paul started walking along one of the thinner branches (which was still over ten feet thick) that had had railings added on both sides, and I crept along behind him, making sure not to get near either of the edges. Within a few minutes I heard buzzing again and I watched as another wasp (larger than the last one) buzzed into view. Why did I think this was a good Idea?

 Chapter Twenty Three: Gaining confidence

    Fortunately Paul took care of the wasp this time. I watched as he pulled his sword from his side and his avatar flickered into place. His sword grew almost a foot of almost entirely opaque steel, and armor gained additional segments of armor everywhere that wasn¡¯t already armored. That was clever, using normal armor to compensate for where an avatar didn¡¯t reach, maybe I should try that. I backed behind Paul as he stepped forward to face the wasp. When it reached Paul he easily dodged past the stinger and cut clean through the wasp''s abdomen, and it didn''t last long past that. When the wasp remained he grinned and reached into it, pulling out a green shard I recognized as poison attuned. He seemed a bit disappointed, maybe he was looking for a specific type? Once he pocketed the shard we continued down the branch like nothing had happened. After a minute Paul pointed out a patch of samaras growing toward the end of the branch.


    ¡°In my experience the easiest way to do this is to cut them down and then retrieve them on the ground. You stay put, and holler if any wasps come your way, alright?¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Paul walked along the edge of the branch, cutting samaras down in pairs. I couldn¡¯t see off the edge but I could imagine the seeds helicoptering down. This thought reminded me how high up I was, and I accidentally made my vertigo worse. I sat down on the branch, keeping my hands on the ground, and took a few deep breaths. You''re fine, there are railings, and the branch isn¡¯t going to fall. Just breathe. When Paul was done cutting down samaras I was more composed, though I was still staying as close to the middle of the branch as possible. On the way back a wasp approached and I had the ¡°pleasure¡± of fighting one again. Its stinger struck my avatar enhanced shield, and this time I managed to hit its stinger properly, snapping it in two with a sickening snap and making the wasp hesitate. I stepped forward to drive my hammer''s spike into its body, killing it. This one stayed, and though it was closed to the edge then I would have liked I harvested the shard, which was grayish. I didn¡¯t want to feel its attunement so high up just to be safe, so I put it in my backpack. The worst part of standing on the edge of the branch was the way it started to curve toward the edge. It reminded me of the times I had been on the roof of my house when I was younger, but ten times worse. Fortunately we were on our way back now, so we would be back down soon, but that didn¡¯t mean we were out of the woods yet, we still had a several hundred foot ramp to climb down. At least it wouldn¡¯t be as bad as going up it had been.


    ¡ª


    It wasn¡¯t as bad as going up had been, it was worse. At first it felt great. I was using different muscles going down than I had going up, so my legs felt fresh at the start, but I quickly realized this was not a good thing. I didn¡¯t use these muscles as much so pretty soon the burning was even worse than going up, and that wasn¡¯t even the worst of it. When I was going up I was looking up and the ground wasn¡¯t easily visible. This was no longer the case, I could see the ground in the distance in most directions I looked, so every time I turned to Paul to better listen I caught a glimpse of the ground and my vertigo spiked. I spent most of the walk working on controlling my breathing and looking at the barky wall that was the tree¡¯s trunk.


    Finally we reached the bottom of the giant tree and I swore to myself I was never going on another samara gathering trip. If I had to find someone else to delve with that was fine, as long as it didn¡¯t involve climbing that horrible tree.


    Paul and I took a short break so I could catch my breath, and then we went off to gather the fallen samaras. We passed one group of beetles approaching the fallen fruit, but Paul just carved a path through them, leaving me to just walk past any remaining beetles. When we reached the fallen samaras Paul handed me the crate and then got to work. He used a knife to separate the two fruits and carve off the wings before putting them in the crate. We walked along atop a root nearly ten feet off the ground. I didn¡¯t love it but it was much better than being up in the tree. The next samara pair we found had landed next to the root, so Paul activated his avatar to jump down the ten feet like it was nothing, his legs barely bending on impact. I was left on the root looking down carefully. Paul noticed I was hesitant to follow and called up to me.


    ¡°Your avatar will take the edge off falling in the same way it protects you from attacks. You¡¯ll feel it a bit, but even with a tier one avatar you should be fine.¡± I didn¡¯t want to, I was quite alright up here, but I had the crate, and throwing it down probably wouldn¡¯t go well. I reluctantly summoned my avatar and approached the edge. Paul had already grabbed the samaras, separating them and cutting off their wings, and was wandering off toward another samara. If I didn¡¯t jump I would be left behind. I psyched myself up and hopped down. My legs crashed into the ground pushing two shallow indents into the ground, but my knees bent like I had only fell a short distance. Paul had been right, the brunt of the fall had been absorbed by my avatar.


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    ¡°Hey wait up!¡± I called as I ran after Paul.


    It took us half an hour to find all fourteen pairs of samara¡¯s Paul had cut down, partially due to our leisurely pace, and the crate was filled to the brim with samaras. Paul had easily led us past any beetles as we gathered the fruit, but on our way back Paul had an idea.


    ¡°You wanted to tag along to train your avatar, right?¡± I suspected I knew where this was going.


    ¡°Yeah, I have a friend who''s a dungeon guard who helped me yesterday, but he had to go to work this morning.¡±


    ¡°Oh, cool. Well anyways, I was thinking since we''re here you could fight some beetles till your avatar runs dry and then we can wrap up.¡±


    ¡°Alright that sounds good, it¡¯s about what I did yesterday.¡± Yesterday this hadn¡¯t gone too well when I faced a group of beetles, but my sync was over four times higher and it wouldn¡¯t run out mid fight. I was almost looking forward to it, this time I wouldn¡¯t need any saving.


    It didn¡¯t take us too long to come across a group of seven tier one beetles skittering aimlessly along where our roots met the ground. I looked to Paul for confirmation.


    ¡°I believe that''s your cue.¡± That¡¯s all  I needed.  I grabbed my hammer and shield and then  summoned my avatar with a motion. The beetles were tighter grouped than the group I had faced last time, but there were less of them. When I approached, all seven of them noticed me at the same time and they immediately spread out to try and surround me. I didn¡¯t intend to let that happen. Repeating what I had I dashed toward the rightmost beetle and drove my spike into its head, by shield in the way of the rest of the beetles. My lowered shield blocked the nearest beetles retaliation and before it could position around my shield I dashed past the fading beetle to the other side of the formation, forcing the beetles to all turn around and giving me a window to attack the new right side. Again my shield blocked any retaliation, and it didn¡¯t take me long to whittle the group down to just one beetle. This one faced me head on, but with a shield pressed between it and me it couldn¡¯t do anything to stop me from driving my hammed into it. I felt great, I had improved so much, that had been easy. The entire fight took maybe two minutes, leaving me with plenty more time with my avatar. I dismissed my avatar to make that statement stay true. I looked at the remaining undissolved beetle corpse. I felt most of my adrenaline drain away, replaced by melancholy. They hadn¡¯t hesitated to try to kill me the moment I approached. They didn¡¯t even have access to higher emotions in the first place. But it was wrong to enjoy killing anything, no matter the context. I was doing this because I had to do it, not because I enjoyed it. I harvested the shard from the beetle, an armor attuned one, and stepped back, giving the dead beetles a moment of silence. The silence was broken by Paul.


    ¡°Alright, well I have to go now, but just holler if you want to help me out with samara gathering again.¡± There would be no problem with that, though of course I didn¡¯t say that


    ¡°Alright I will.¡±


    ¡°Okay, see you later.¡± I handed Paul the crate of fruit, and he jogged off, his avatar active to give him a boost. I followed after him at a more sedate pace, I spotted a loose group of nine beetles up ahead, and instead of going around like I normally would I got ready to fight. Every encounter would help me build sync and bring me one step closer to my goal, and what I had done last time would work this time too. The root was higher than the ones around it, and the drop was almost ten feet, so I would have to be careful of the edge, but now I knew if I fell I would be fine. The beetles were moving away from me, so I got the first hit, killing one in the back before stepping back with my shield up. I watched from above my shield as the beetles reacted, turning around and chittering aggressively. Lunged again, I killed a second on the right side of the group as usual. This fight was over as quick as the last, and after gathering two more shards and taking a moment of silence for the beetles I was continuing on my way.


    After winning two fights, one of which without any support, I was feeling much more confident in my abilities in this part of the dungeon, and I continued, fighting two more beetle groups and getting two more shards for a total of six shards by the time I left, with avatar time to spare. I stepped out of the dungeon and went home.

 Chapter Twenty Four: Home alone

    As I stepped the afternoon sunlight hit my face, warming me up, and I started down maple lane, happy to just enjoy the experience. I was halfway down maple lane when I remembered I had to return the rentals, and I doubled back to the adventurers guild. I got there quickly and turned in the rentals to the receptionist. The wasps had left two small dents in the shield, so I had to pay a few dollars, but it was definitely worth it considering without it the holes would have been in me. Once the receptionist was done I thanked her and was on my way back home. I needed to get my own stuff sooner than later, but I didn¡¯t feel comfortable spending the money on it yet. I would have to wait until I had a proper cushion to fall back on.


    My feet were less sore than earlier, making the walk a much more pleasant experience. I got to my temporary home and shed my shoes and socks before sitting on the couch, setting my backpack beside me in a familiar motion. I hadn¡¯t checked what types of shards I had gotten in the dungeon, so I gathered up the shards. I recognized three as an armor aspect, and besides that I had one green shard, one almost black shard, and the grayish one I had gotten from the wasp. Well, nothing to do but to start. I concentrated on the green shard and found myself myself in a grove, a large mossy beetle facing a person in armor that looked like it had grown onto them. The beetle shimmered for a moment, and thorny vines swung toward the person from all directions. The figure burst from the thorns, and their armor grew thorns of its own right before they collide with the beetle. Then I was back on the couch again.


    ¡°So that shard controls plants?¡± I said to myself uncertainly. I hadn¡¯t seen anyone do anything like that so far, but admittedly I hadn¡¯t seen very much combat, especially not with higher tier people. Setting that aside I moving on to the next one. The black shard brought me to what looked like an empty field until two figures stepped out of seemingly nowhere to attack each other, so it was obviously stealth attuned. The silvery gray shard showed me a person with a spear facing a wasp, each one posturing, trying to strike with their weapon until the spear wielder got an attack in, and I felt like that one was the spear aspect. It was a bit premature, but I found myself wondering which type of orb I should use next. I didn¡¯t have very many options, but of the ones I had, the spear aspect was the most interesting. I could finish the changes to my shield with it, but maybe I was better off going for more armor, I had much more of it. No, neither of those would work, Jake said I should pair aspects with attunements for the best result, so I should go with one of the others, maybe stealth? I guess I¡¯ll just shelve it for now, and hopefully I¡¯ll have an attunement I like by then. I still have several minutes of avatar left that I should probably use before the end of the day. I don¡¯t actually have anything to do with it do I? I didn¡¯t really need to move anything, and I wasn¡¯t going back to the dungeon today. I guess I could just practice summoning it faster, that had been a problem today.


    Equipped with some form of a plan I stepped out into Jake''s backyard. I started by just reaching out for my avatar with just my mind. I felt something and mentally reached out toward it. I felt something, but when I tried to pull it to me it slipped away. It was frustrating, like having a word at the tip of you tongue. I had it for a split second and then it vanished. I tried again, this time physically reaching behind me to grab an imagined shield on my back, and I felt the idea of the avatar get more solid. I grabbed onto it without issue, and my teardrop shield manifested in my hand. What was I missing? How did I make it work without acting it out? I let go of the avatar letting it dissipate before trying again. This time I mimed grabbing a shield in front of me, and It worked, though I noticed it wasn¡¯t quite as easy as last time. Alright, well that¡¯s a step in the right direction, but how do I make it motionless like Jake?


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    I tried again to grab it without moving, my eyes closer to block out any distractions, but again it slipped away, not solid enough to hold. What could I change? I tried to grab it, visualizing the shield appearing, and it got a bit more solid, but it still got away from me. I tried a couple more times before giving up for now, I didn¡¯t think I was getting it today. I decided to practice just moving around with my avatar for the rest of the time. I started with just running around the yard a few times, speeding up to a full sprint that I easily maintained. It felt great to push my body to its limits and not even feel winded. Remembering how my shield protected me from jumping down the root I decided to try diving. It took a bit of psyching myself up to get my body to follow along as I effectively just jumped onto the ground, but after a few false starts I did manage to dive on the ground, sliding on the grass without feeling any pain. When I stood up my pants weren''t stained at all from the grass. Emboldened by this success I tried diving into a roll, and though I failed miserably and slammed my back into the ground I was fine, so it was still a win. My avatar ran out soon after that, and I ran around a bit without my avatar. My legs protesting quickly reminded me that without my avatar I didn¡¯t have very much stamina, so after only a few minutes I went back inside winded.


    I took a shower and changed into new clothes and laid across some beanbags in the chill room. Unsure what else to do just watched some episodes of Under Utopia. After a while I made myself toast for dinner and then wandered about the house aimlessly for a little before watching more videos. When I finally got ready to sleep I was left wondering just where the day had gone? I had gone to the dungeon, fought monsters, and practiced my avatar, and then I had just done nothing. I guess I had been pretty productive, but I felt useless as I drifted off to sleep, what was I doing?


    ¡ª


    When I woke up Thursday morning I felt a bit better. It was a new day and a new chance to be productive, but I quickly realized I had a new problem. I needed to go to the dungeon to get to the next tier quickly, but I didn¡¯t want to go samara gathering again. Unfortunately without Paul I didn¡¯t have anyone to delve with. I wasn¡¯t awake enough to deal with this, so I walked to the kitchen and started making scrambled eggs. Only once they were done and on a plate did I start to think about what to do today, eating as I did.


    I needed someone to delve with, but I didn¡¯t know anyone who delved other than Jake and Paul, neither of which were options. I knew what Jake had said, but maybe I could delve alone, just for today. I did fine yesterday. If I didn¡¯t go too far and went back before I ran out of avatar strength then I should be fine. Foolish plan decided on I got ready to delve the dungeon. I gathered up my backpack, the shards on the coffee table, and some socks. I decided to keep my shards in my backpack along with some more granola and protein bars, and then put on my shoes and socks. I made sure my phone was fully charged, and stepped out the door.


    I stopped by the delvers guild to get my rentals, and I saw that ah¡­ I had forgotten his name. I couldn¡¯t quite remember, but the built guy was back again today. I would have walked past but he greeted me first.


    ¡°Good morning Ethan, here for a rental?¡± oh no, he remembered my name. If he hadn¡¯t remembered I could have asked what his was, but now I had to just hope it didn¡¯t come up.


    ¡°Yeah, uh¡­¡± I started to say something, and then realized I didn¡¯t have anything to say. I racked my brain, but my useless brain didn¡¯t think of anything in time.


    ¡°Alright, stay safe out there.¡± He blessedly released me from the interaction I was woefully unprepared for, and I darted to the armory. The hammer and shield I had used yesterday were there again, so I didn¡¯t have to try anything new today. I checked them both out from the built receptionist, managing to evade asking for his name and admitting I had forgotten it before getting out of the building. Time to go to the dungeon to fight monsters.

 Chapter Twenty Five: Fight or Flight

    I stepped into the dungeon at eight in the morning ready to fight beetles. The dungeon was a bit more lively than yesterday. I could make out several groups venturing out, cutting through beetles with ease or ignoring them entirely in favor of venturing further out. I assumed they were heading to deeper floors, though I didn¡¯t actually know where the entrances were. I hadn¡¯t visited Prim yesterday after all my progress, so I may as well start my delve with that. With this in mind I stepped into the shrine. Prim awoke stretching, and I gave them a moment before asking.


    ¡°Hey Prim, could you tell me what my sync is at?¡± Prim happily answered as they finished stretching.


    ¡°Of course, you have reached 70% sync, and should be able to maintain your avatar for 21 minutes¡± That was great progress, though I think it was a hair less than last time at this rate I would be at the next tier in two days¡­ which meant that I needed an orb. Maybe I can trade shards out for different types? But then I still need to figure out what type of orb I want to make next. I guess once I¡¯m out of the dungeon I¡¯ll have to look into trading shards, and what type I want.


    ¡°Is there anything else you would like to do Ethan?¡± Prim asked and I realized I had just been standing thinking for a moment.


    ¡°No, I think I am, good now, thanks.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I hope you have a nice day!¡± The statue said cheerily, and I answered on instinct.


    ¡°You too.¡± Prim smiled and waved, and I gave a quick wave before leaving the shrine. Prim¡¯s enthusiasm always made me feel a bit better, and I felt ready to face whatever came next.


    Outside the shrine I looked out across the roots, seeing which ones had people on them already. If a root had someone on it then it was likely that everything up to them was already slain, so I picked a root that didn¡¯t have anyone on it that I could see and started down it. I made sure to walk slowly and keep my eyes peeled for any beetles.


    It only took a minute before I saw a group of five tier one beetles skirting up the side of the root, and I got ready, grabbing my hammer and shield, and with a grabbing motion manifested my avatar. The beetles noticed me as my avatar manifested over my shield, and as they reached me along the side of the root I swung my hammer underhand, and though it didn¡¯t shove the beetle off the edge like I hoped it did smash part of its face with an uncomfortable crack. The rest of the beetles got up and I backed up, body low to get more of me behind my shield. I wanted to attack the rightmost beetle like usual, but it was the closest to the edge, so instead I smashed the middle beetle. To prevent retaliation I quickly moved my shield to cover me from the beetles on either side. I felt the right beetle make contact with the shield as I got it up. I smashed the beetle trying to get around my shield, leaving three beetles trying to surround me. I backed up to stop them, and then once the new rightmost one was nice and away from the edge I was able to use my usual strategy and make quick work of the remaining three beetles. Unfortunately none of the beetles had any shards, but at least I didn¡¯t have to look at what I had done to them.


    I dismissed my avatar and put away my gear before continuing on my way. I quickly encountered another group of four beetles. This group had a tier two beetle leading the rest, but it was also closer to the middle of the root so I decided to go for it anyways. Not wanting to take chances I flipped my hammer to the spike end and before the beetles could position around me attacked the tier two, driving the spike into its head and killing it. I tried to pull away my hammer, but it was lodged deep in the beetle, which wasn¡¯t dissolving. I grabbed closer to the head and pulled, getting the hammer out, but my delay let the beetles attack. The one on the left couldn¡¯t get past my shield, but the right beetle managed to attack my hammer arm, its jaw snapping closed. I felt a prick of pain, but looking down I saw my avatar had blocked most of the damage.. I punched the beetle off with my shield before it could attack again and backed up. Where I had been bit the usually invisible avatar overlapping me had a slit cut through it. I couldn¡¯t get bit there again. I flipped my hammer to the crushing side again and made quick work of the other three beetles.


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    When the fight was over only the tier two remained, and I pulled a plant attuned shard out of it. That had not gone too well. My arm was mostly fine, and my avatar was quickly regenerating the sliced portion, but a thin red line on either side of my arm reminded me I wasn¡¯t invincible. I shouldn¡¯t have come here without a second person. I should go back. I really should have looked into if there was a delver tinder or something before just deciding to delve alone. The foolishness of my decision determined I dismissed my avatar, put away the shard and my gear, and turned to start leaving the dungeon for now.


    Halfway down the root I spotted a group of eight beetles ahead. They were all tier one, and the root was thicker than the last fight, so I could probably take them. I grabbed my gear and manifested my avatar, and then cautiously approached. The beetles turned to fight me, and I stepped forward, dashing right to start picking them off like usual. I had defeated four of the beetles when a new combatant arrived, announced by the buzzing of their wings. I barely managed to raise my shield in time to catch a stinger from above. The lance stabbed through my avatar and deep into my actual shield. I looked to see the wasp that had nearly ended me just now, its black eyes staring through me and into something inside me. It wouldn¡¯t stop until it had pulled it out, and I froze. The stinger was right in front of me, open to hit, but I couldn¡¯t even breath as the wasp retracted its stinger and prepared to attack again. All I could hear was my heart pounding, and I knew I was about to die.


    *snap*


    A beetle jumped up and clamped onto the wasp, and the rest followed suit. The wasp was pulled down to the ground, its stinger unable to hit any of the beetles, and one by one they let go and bit again, tearing chunk after chunk from the wasp. I watched in horror as the tables turned. All the wasp could do was buzz helplessly as its clear blood gushed out. Slowly its buzzing quieted and it stopped struggling. Finally the wasp evaporated, and from within it thin streams of origin energy flowed out and into the beetles. Two of the beetles began to make creaking sounds, and then their carapaces broke into pieces and evaporated as they grew, leaving two newly tiered up beetles which began to approach me without hesitation. I watched as the hunted became the hunter, and I was the prey. If I didn¡¯t move in time they would pull me down and tear me apart like the wasp. There was a voice in my head repeating something, but the pounding of my heart drowned it out. One of the tier one beetles bit my leg, and the voice got louder: run run run RUN! I felt control of my limbs return, and I tried to yank my leg back. The beetle held tight, and to my horror I fell back. My brain realized running wasn¡¯t an option, and the voice changed: FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!


    My hammer crushed through the beetle on my leg as I jerked up. The rest of the beetles were here, and with strength I didn¡¯t know I had swung my hammer arm right, crashing into the second tier one and knocking it off the root. I rolled away from the tier twos on my left narrowly avoiding their bites and instead falling twelve feet from the root to the ground with a crunch. dull pain shot along my stomach, but I was better off than the rapidly dissolving beetle I landed on. I pushed myself to my feet, and looked up at the two beetles standing over me. They jumped down, aiming for my torso to knock me over, but I dashed forward along the root before turning to face the last two monsters. They came toward me side by side, and I swung at the fight one, and then punched the left one with my shield before it could take advantage of my position. Both survived slightly stunned. I flipped my hammer and drove the spike into the right beetle, tearing it out before doing the same to the left beetle.


    I felt my adrenaline fade away, and I let my avatar drop. I was alive. The entire front side of my avatar was flickering in and out of existence, but my avatar had absorbed most of the fall. My leg was also unharmed, though the chain greave was damaged. Despite being unharmed I had never felt more fragile, especially when I dismissed my avatar.. Neither beetle had faded away, and I pulled out and pocketed plant and stealth shards. I tried to climb up the side of the root, but I couldn¡¯t get a good grip on the root with how it curved inward. I looked around hoping to see an easy way up, but I was blocked on both sides. To get out I would need to go further out and find a spot where the root went underground.

 Chapter Twenty Six: A friendly face

    I kept my shield and hammer out as I ventured down the rootwalled crevice I was stuck in, ready to summon my avatar at a moment''s notice. I scanned the walls for beetles or good grips, but unfortunately beetles came first, five tier two ones. I slowed to a stop, crouching down to minimize myself, but I didn¡¯t need to, they were traveling outward just like me. Slowly I continued on, making sure to stay well behind the beetles. The root walls slowly sank into the ground, until finally I could climb up and start going back to the entrance. I slowly wandered along the root, trying to keep track of everything in my surroundings. It was going fine until I spotted a barky mass coming closer. I froze. Up ahead was what could only be a tier three root beetle, half again as big as a tier one, and it had multiple tier two beetles trailing behind it.


    I didn¡¯t have a choice, I turned and wandered deeper into the dungeon. At this point I was around halfway to the fog wall, thousands of feet from the maple. From the looks of it the further I went the bigger the beetles got, but I had no choice but continue further. I wouldn''t let me forget how screwed I was. I couldn¡¯t fight my way out, I was at under half my avatar, and I was still venturing deeper into more dangerous land. The roots kept getting thinner, and eventually most of them had all but vanished into the ground, revealing more groups of beetles wandering along. They were slowly drifting closer, if I didn¡¯t move soon I would have to deal with multiple groups of beetles, but if I tried to squeeze past them I might need to face multiple groups anyway.


    Stop delaying! If it''s a choice between it maybe happening and it definitely happening the choice was obvious. My mind made up I turned toward the tree, summoned my avatar, and set off at a dead sprint. I flew between two groups of beetles, which turned toward me, but I outpaced them, not stopping to look back. I jumped onto a low root and continued sprinting as it slowly got higher. I was halfway back when I spotted a group of beetles up ahead. I was planning on trying to just run past them when one of them suddenly recoiled and dissolved, and I hastily skid to a stop. Up ahead a black haired figure stabbed a beetle with what was either a long dagger or an extra short sword, and then moved on to the next. The group of nine beetles tried to retaliate, but whenever one tried to surprise the figure it died. The beetles were cleared out shortly, and a second figure stepped up, a blond girl with a compound bow. As they stopped moving around I realized I recognized the first figure, it was Will.


    Noticing me he waved enthusiastically my way, and the girl joined in. I was so caught off guard I forgot to be anxious for a moment, and I jogged over. As I got closer they became clearer. Will was wearing a t-shirt with a rubber duck on it and jeans, while the girl was wearing a brown shirt and pants that were pretty close to the color of the surrounding roots and dirt, though the dyed red streaks in her hair ruined the camouflage somewhat.


    ¡°Hey man, short time no see.¡± Will greeted me as I came to a stop in front of his and his friend. I didn¡¯t knew how to respond, and Will gestured to the girl beside him.


    ¡°This is my delving buddy Rose, Rose this is Ethan, we had a weapon training thing once, and his friend was the dungeon guard who gave me an orb.¡± Rose looked at me hopefully.


    ¡°Oh, does your friend have any more orbs he would be willing to share? I don¡¯t actually have my first tier yet, we¡¯ve been hard at work trying to get enough shards to advance, but a free orb would help a ton.¡± I wasn¡¯t expecting an immediate request, and I gave it a moment of thought.


    ¡°Well he¡¯s on the job for the next couple days, and I don¡¯t think that I should speak for him, sorry.¡± Rose didn¡¯t miss a beat.


    ¡°That''s alright, it just would have been nice, ya know?¡± Rose thought for a moment.


    ¡°Do you have any shards you would be willing to trade?¡± she said excitedly. I wasn¡¯t sure how to respond, wasn¡¯t sure what shard I wanted to use for my next layer, but I guess more information should come first.


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    ¡°I don¡¯t know, what do you want?¡± I asked uncertainly.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been going for stealth, do you have any?¡±


    ¡°Okay, I don¡¯t think I need those. What type would you trade?¡± she pulled some shards out of a pocket stitched onto her pant leg, two armor attuned and three plant aspect.


    ¡°Oh, I have some armor and a plant, do you need any of those?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure, I had plenty of armor attuned, so maybe two more of those would be good, but then again maybe I should go for plant so I could pair attunements, if I could get all three I would have plenty of those.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure, I haven''t actually figured out what to do next.¡±


    ¡°But you definitely don¡¯t need stealth, right? Would you take an IOU?¡± Rose reached behind her and pulled out a piece of cardstock with the words ¡°good for __ shards from Rose¡± printed on it, with a phone number underneath. I looked at her bewildered and she pulled out a pen from yet another pocket.


    ¡°I¡¯ll write down the amount of shards, and you take the card, then you call me and I can pay you back later.¡± she explained. I wasn¡¯t sure what else to do, so I just agreed.


    ¡°Alright, that sounds good. I have two stealth shards, is that good?¡± Rose nodded and filled in 2 on the sheet. I grabbed the two shards from my backpack and exchanged them for the IOU. It was at this point that Will re-entered the conversation.


    ¡°Hey guys, there''s some beetles coming our way, mind giving me a hand Ethan?¡± I looked ahead to see four tier one beetles and one tier two wandering our way. I had almost forgotten I was in the dungeon. I felt a bit of fear rising up as the fight with the earlier beetles came to mind, and I shied back.


    ¡°You alright?¡± Will asked. I paused. I didn¡¯t want to let anyone down.


    ¡°I can help.¡± I summoned my avatar, and some of the fear faded away, I could deal with some beetles, just don¡¯t get swarmed. Will summoned his avatar by tapping his hand against his left shoulder, leaving behind a patch of yellow sap. The beetles reached us and Will dashed ahead, sinking his dagger (sword?) between a beetles mandibles. I winced, it felt more viscarol to stab something in the mouth. I then crushed through the carapace of a beetles back¡­ maybe I was just more used to this kind of violence. The tier two approached, only for an arrow to the face to it stumble. Will finished the job, and I finished off the last beetle. I dismissed my avatar, the sense of fragility and fear returning. I turned toward the remains, or remain, only one of the tier ones remained. Before I could even ask who should get it, Rose called ¡°Dibs!¡± and grabbed the shard, grinning when she saw that it was stealth attuned.


    ¡°That was the last one I needed!¡± She cheered. Pulling nine more stealth shards from various pockets Rose assembled a rough sphere, and with a gray light it joined into one black orb. Rose picked it up with a whoop, and Will joined in the jubilee. I felt very out of place, but Will and Rose¡¯s energy was infectious, and I tried to join in. I felt silly, but they didn¡¯t seem to care. Rose pulled out all and as we set off toward the shrine and the exit, Will and Rose chattering while we went.


    ¡°So how did you two meet?¡± I asked quietly, and Will and Rose started talking over each other in a jumbled mess. After a moment they stopped and Will explained.


    ¡°After I got my avatar I decided to look for a delving group. I went to the delvers guild and they had a flier about finding a group to get together on Wednesday, so I went to it and Rose was there. We decided to form a party, but no one else wanted to join our group for some reason. Anyways then we¡­¡± Will continued talking, and pretty soon he and Rose were chattering again. I found if I just listened, the chattering wasn¡¯t too bad. It was actually kinda nice not to be expected to fill the silence myself, and I could just relax knowing I wasn¡¯t alone. We got to the shrine and Rose excitedly entered. Now that we were done I turned toward the entrance, but Will stopped me.


    ¡°Hey Ethan, I noticed you were alone, do you want to join our group?¡± I wasn¡¯t expecting the offer, I hadn¡¯t even considered it an option. It was exactly what I had needed this morning, but after today did I really want to continue delving the dungeon? Yes. I needed to be there for Jake, especially if this was what he faced on the regular.


    ¡°Thanks, that sounds great, when should I come?¡±

 Chapter Twenty Seven: Post Delve Chillin

    Will said that they were planning on delving again tomorrow at one, and that  they would meet at the shrine. I thanked him for inviting me and together we sat on a short root to wait for Rose to emerge from the shrine. Several people exited the shrine in a row, and Will started talking about how cool (and weird) the instances on the shrine were.


    ¡°I mean how do you even do that, well magic obviously, but even then, I mean avatars are magic but I can¡¯t do anything like that, though admittedly I am only tier one, so maybe I will be able to. Oh cloning myself would be awesome¡­¡± he jumped to different tangents like this several times, occasionally asking a tangentially related question like what superpower I would want to have or what my plan was for my avatar, to which I never had a good answer. He didn¡¯t mind though, he just shrugged, said that it was fine, and resumed talking.


    After about fifteen minutes Rose reemerged from the shrine grinning, and we stood to meet her. Will was the first to speak.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting ages, what''s your avatar like!¡± he said excitedly, and Rose grinned a similar grin. She crouched and a vague layer of something settled over her that made it a bit harder to focus on her.


    ¡°It took a while to figure out how to summon it, but I got it. Now I just need something to attach it  to¡­ Oh! Do you think I could attach it to an arrow?¡± Will grinned at this.


    ¡°Yeess, that would be awesome! Imagine you''re just walking around, and then boom! ya stabbed.¡± Both of them cackled at that, I didn¡¯t quite get it, but I went along with it. We left the dungeon together soon after. Turned out we all were using rental gear, so we stuck together all the way to the adventurers guild. I had to pay a small fee for the damage to the shield, but it was only five dollars, and it saved my life.


    ¡°Man, what did that to your shield?¡± Will asked as we left the rental armory.


    ¡°I got caught off guard by a tier two wasp while I was fighting beetles.¡±


    ¡°Dang, sounds horrid, I¡¯m glad I had Rose keeping an eye on me during our fights. I would be shishkabobed if that happened to me.¡± I felt vindicated in the fear I had felt, only getting reinforced when Rose chimed in.


    ¡°Yeah, and I didn¡¯t even have an avatar earlier, that would have been bad.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it almost was, after the first hit I froze up and it definitely would have gotten me it the beetles intervened. There were three of them, and they all latched onto the wasp. Once it was on the ground it couldn¡¯t escape, and two of the beetles tiered up on the spot.¡± I hadn¡¯t been planning on elaborating, let alone so much. I guess Will and Rose made me feel heard, and I found I really wanted to feel it again. Rose was the first to speak after I finished.


    ¡°What was it like? The beetles tiering up that is. Did it glow, was it cool?¡±


    ¡°Ah well they just kinda grew. I guess their carapace did break apart and dissolve as they grew into their new one.¡±


    ¡°Kinda like super molting.¡± Will interjected, and I nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, kinda like super molting.¡±


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    ¡°So what happened after the beetles supermolted?¡± Rose asked, and I explained how the fight had gone. Will and Rose actually looked impressed when I explained how I had crushed the tier one beetle by falling, and I pretended it was on purpose instead of an incredibly lucky turn of events. We talked outside the delvers guild for a while, jumping along topics. I practically glowed when Will complimented my avatar.


    ¡°I didn''t realize armor could be a shield, like it makes sense, but I don¡¯t think I would have thought of that, plus the shape is super cool.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, honestly it was mostly on accident. I was just having trouble deciding where to put my avatars'' armor and I thought maybe I should just have moving armor. I only came up with the shape because I wanted to make a spike for punching with. It was too spear-like for the avatar to let me, so I ended up with this.¡± we kept talking for another half hour before we went our separate ways. Apparently Rose was working a night shift and didn¡¯t want to be late. I started to leave, but before I left Will got my number to make a group chat for the three. Only then did he let me go, waving happily


    ¡°See you tomorrow!¡± Will called after me. I felt great as I walked home. I made myself a quick sandwich and watched a quick episode of my new favorite show before remembering how my last day had gone away. Deciding not to let that happen again I tried exercising while watching, doing pushups, sit ups, and some jogging in place. After building up a bit of a sweat I took a shower. Once I was clean I remembered that I still had some avatar left. Dang it, I should have used the rest up and then took a shower. Well I couldn¡¯t do anything about it now, so I manifested my avatar a few times, trying to do it without moving, but I didn¡¯t make much progress. I decided to work on getting up from my back, I didn¡¯t want to be stuck in that position ever again. I ran out six minutes later, and feeling much better about myself I sat on the couch and watched a few more episodes. Eventually I fell into a comfortable sleep. As the hours passed the sleep got less comfortable as my anxieties started to eat away at my peace, rewriting the good parts of the day from another angle. Did Rose and Will actually like me, or did they just want a meat shield? Did they notice I didn¡¯t talk like them? Would they realize I wasn¡¯t like them? In my dream I watched Will and Rose stand by as a beetle attacked me, only laughing as I cried out for help.


    I woke up abruptly, my eyes slightly damp. I took a few breaths to try and calm down and wiped my eyes as I tried to sort through the nightmare. They wouldn¡¯t sacrifice me like that, that was ridiculous¡­ but I had to make sure I didn¡¯t stand out like usual, and they wouldn¡¯t notice I didn¡¯t fit in.


    I checked the time, 8:00. I tried to think about the positives. I had almost reached the next tier, and with Will and Rose¡¯s help I could delve safer and longer than before, and hopefully get the shards I needed. I just needed to make a good impression, I couldn¡¯t look desperate or clingy. I went through my new clothes, putting on jeans and a plain white t-shirt. I gave my hair a quick comb, trying to figure out how to make it look, I tried several parts before just combing it back and looking in the mirror. Nope, I looked a leather jacket away from a greaser. Going through my clothes again I swapped the shirt out for a green shirt, and looked again. Much better, not too interesting or boring.


    Happy with my appearance for now I went upstairs to get something to eat. I went through the fridge trying to decide what to eat before deciding to just make an omelet like usual. I looked at the time, still only 9:30. What Could I do to pass the time? I guess the house was getting dusty? Deciding why not I grabbed a broom after a quick search and got sweeping, amassing a decent amount of dust before moving on the vacuum for the carpets. Cleaning was a great way to keep busy, and there was no shortage of cleaning to do. There was plenty of dust buildup, and several chunks of carpet were troves of dust and debris. Jake must not clean very often, especially since he spends so much time in the dungeon. I ran out of floors to clean at 10:40 but I still had plenty of time to burn so I moved on to wiping the windows, which were pretty cloudy. By 11:05 they were all clear, and the mirrors were too. It was still too soon, so I moved on to general tidying up. I put away what was obvious, and left what I wasn¡¯t sure about. Plenty of dishes could use cleaning, and I did some quick handwashing. I stacked the last dish onto the drying rack and looked at the time. It was about 11:45. That was close enough I decided, and I got ready to go. I grabbed my socks, sneakers, and backpack, and stepped out the door.

 Chapter Twenty Eight: Waiting for company

    It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining behind the maple, leaving me with ample shade as I made my way to maple lane. Despite that I was feeling anxious as I walked down the sidewalk. I didn¡¯t want to mess this up, Will and Rose had been nice yesterday, but what if that was just because I was clearly distressed. What if I messed that up and they realized I didn¡¯t fit into their group? I needed to be perfect if I wanted to stay a part of the group. I got there in fifteen minutes and the delvers guild in five more. The usual large guy was working reception again, but I still couldn¡¯t remember his name. I tried my best to mask this fact as he greeted me.


    ¡°Hi again Ethan, here for some rentals?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡± It felt like I should say more, but I couldn¡¯t think of anything more to say.


    ¡°Alright, go on ahead. And have a great day.¡±


    ¡°You too.¡± I said back, and then quickly made my way to the rental armory. I need to get some stuff of my own soon, and not only because it would reduce how much I have to talk to people I don¡¯t know. The rentals were all good quality, but they were also all completely normal. Last time my shield had gotten damaged, and there was a simple solution I had realized on the way here. I needed an enchanted shield. From what I had heard you enchanted things with attunement shards and they basically got that attunement. If I could get a shield attuned to something like toughness then I would be a whole lot safer. Of course this didn¡¯t do much for me right now. I didn¡¯t know how much an attuned shield would cost, not to mention where to get one in the first place. If I could find the right attunement I could do it myself, but I didn¡¯t think it could be found on the first layer so that didn¡¯t mean much.


    I grabbed my usual hammer and a less damaged shield like my usual one, thanking the receptionist on my way out. Man I wish he had a nametag. I checked the time on my phone. 12:13. So close! Anyways, that meant that I still had some time to burn, but at least I wasn¡¯t late. I started toward the dungeon to visit Prim. I had been planning on maybe visiting the shrine after delving yesterday, but then Will had started talking, and I didn¡¯t want to seem rude. Plus I hadn¡¯t wanted to miss Rose coming out of the shrine, she had seemed so excited and I didn¡¯t want to seem like I didn¡¯t care.


    Anyways, that was fine, I could visit them this morning, and I had enough time that that shouldn¡¯t be a problem. It only took a few minutes to reach the dungeon, which was about as busy as usual, some people were viable, and many more were probably deeper in the dungeon out of sight. Part wondered what the next layer was like, and a larger part of me didn¡¯t want to answer that question. Too bad I didn¡¯t have a choice, I would need to get deeper eventually, it was the only reason I was doing this.


    With that unpleasant thought I stepped into the shrine, barely flinching when the windows exploded to animate Prim. As usual I gave Prim a moment to stretch before talking.


    ¡°Hey Prim, what''s my avatar at?¡± Prim looked into me for a moment before responding.


    ¡°Hello Ethan, your sync has reached 89%. You will be able to sustain it for twenty six and a half minutes. Congratulations, you have made significant progress on your avatar this week.¡± They said with a smile. Alright, that''s great to hear. Though at this rate I needed to get another orb today or tomorrow if I don¡¯t want to start stalling. I took a breath, that wasn¡¯t a problem yet. I was pulled out of my thoughts by Prim


    ¡°Would you like to do anything else while you are here?¡± Prim asked, and I found I wasn¡¯t sure. I still had plenty of time, but what would I do? I know my sync and I¡¯m happy with my avatar. I guess I could start by asking Prim.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know, is there anything you can think of?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ve noticed you have been carrying around several shards, eight to be exact. I can store them in the shrine for you if you would like?¡± Prim explained, and I nodded.


    ¡°Oh yeah, that sounds great¡­ Do I just hand them to you?¡±


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    ¡°Yes, that is sufficient.¡± I pulled off my backpack and pulled out the shards one by one. Prim extended a hand and they floated over to them and then entered their chest like it wasn¡¯t there, not even a ripple. When the last shard was gone they turned back to me with a smile


    ¡°I have stored the shards. If you wish to see them again just ask.¡±


    ¡°Alright, thanks Prim.¡± That hadn¡¯t taken as long as I had hoped. It had been barely two minutes, and I still had¡­ I checked my phone, forty minutes to go until one.


    ¡°I guess that''s all for now.¡± I guess I would have some free time after all. Prim smiled and waved.


    ¡° Very well. Have a nice day!¡± I exited the shrine. Prim silently returned to just a statue as I left. Looking around a bit I decided to just wait here. I had never seen any monsters get near the shrine so I should be safe. I took a seat on the short root I had sat on yesterday with Will and just tried to decide what to do with my avatar next. I don¡¯t know enough to make a decision. Should I try to make it more defensive, stronger? Should I invest in another aspect and make the shield actually pointed, or should I invest in something else? Maybe nature, that had looked much different from everything else. Was it worth it?


    Maybe I should consult the web. I pulled out my phone only to be greeted by the not so surprising message that I had no service in the magic tree dimension. I could just stay here, but I need to do something about this sooner rather than later. Deciding it was my best option I stepped out of the dungeon. There were several benches outside the dungeon, so I took a seat and opened my phone. I was pleasantly surprised to find that maple lane had free (albeit slow) wifi. Opening safari I started surfing the web.


    {dungeon crystal aspects}: results turned up too vague, with stuff about dungeons all over the place


    {Maple tree dungeon crystal types?}: much better, but everything was talking about the lower floors and interesting and new attunements like stickiness and dirt. Maybe I was asking the wrong questions?


    {attunements or aspects for avatar second tier}: This search was less than useless. It just filled the browser with videos of avatar reveals. I was surprised that it was a thing, but upon further thought it made sense. Why not, I clicked on a video called Restarting from scratch. Its thumbnail was a guy with a larger, more armored version of them standing behind him. The video opened up to show the thumbnail avatar fighting what looked like a fire tiger, with drift phonk playing over it. They wore sparse armor and a full helmet on their head, and they had a spear dripping flames of its own. A voiceover began playing as the music receded:


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Liam Palmer, professional delver.¡± the camera changed to face the speaker, a blond man in his mid twenties in front of a green screen. ¡°For the last four years I¡¯ve been doing the same as everyone else, delving and improving my avatar.¡± The image of his avatar in armor with a burning spear appeared in the corner. ¡°Earlier this week I finally reached tier seven, the illusive tier that requires new, better shards from deep in the dungeon. Other videos have already been made that go in depth on the subject. I¡¯ll link them in the description but suffice it to say that at tier seven your avatar is locked. This means that the first seven orbs consumed are unable to be changed, and altering anything from before tier seven is very difficult. Now we haven¡¯t had any tier eights quite yet, but according to the primordial shard-¡±  an image of Prim was pulled up on the screen¡± ¡°-the first seven shards lock won''t affect additional shards added. Now initially I was delighted, but then something happened. I found the illusive hidden shrine-¡± a hazy outline of a white shrine appeared¡°-gaining a second avatar. The only problem? I can¡¯t change my avatar to match it. That is why I¡¯ve decided to do the insane. I am going to fully reset my tier seven avatar to start again from scratch. It will be difficult, possibly deadly, but I feel confident I can do it. Stay tuned for updates.¡±


    The video ended, with a peppy song starting as supporters'' names zoomed past, and then the video ended. That wasn¡¯t quite what I had been looking for, but maybe they were what I needed. They seemed to know what they were talking about, and they said they were going through the process again. I checked their channel to see if they had any new videos up, but that had been their latest video. I was going to click off when I noticed the other videos they had. ¡°So you want to be a delver¡±, ¡°how to build a powerful avatar¡±, ¡°what are attunements and aspects?¡±. Maybe this was what I needed. I clicked on the third video, and watched the intro, another fight with monsters of the dungeon before sliding back to Liam in front of a green screen.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m Liam Palmer, and this is episode two of my new series, Avatar Ace. In this series I answer common and uncommon questions about avatars. How to build them, how to train them, and how to use them. In this episode we are covering what attunements and aspects are, and why you should care about what they are and what they do¡­ I had forty minutes left, and the video was thirty minutes long, just what I needed.

 Chapter Twenty Bine: Back Up Again

    The video felt both much shorter and much longer than thirty minutes. It didn¡¯t dwell too long on any one thing, but it had plenty of different tests that they ran through. The attunements and aspects it talked about were different from the ones I knew, but he explained them really well. I could see how the tests they ran could apply to the attunements and aspects I had access to. At the end of the video he summarized the major points he had made:


    ¡°So remember, attunements are abstract and formless concepts like fire or sharpness. Aspects are general shapes or templates that can then be of an attunement. Put them together and you¡¯ll get more than the sum of their parts. You can make an combinations complimentary, like a spear and piercing.-¡± a clip played of a spear sliding through a rock. ¡±-they can add a new layer to something like armor and strength-¡± an image of someone with strength attuned armor lifting the same rock with complete ease replaced the last one. ¡°-ultimately even the craziest ideas can work if you put them together right. Just make sure to think about what your goals are and what you need to reach them and you¡¯ll be fine.-¡± the outro music started playing¡°-So until next time. Stay safe, delving, and I¡¯ll see you, Next week." The outro music got louder as their supporters'' names scrolled past like the last video, and it ended.


    I enjoyed the video. They were exciting without being overwhelming, they did practical demonstrations with their team. Most importantly they gave me good information I could use in an easy and digestible way. I wasn¡¯t sure exactly what I wanted for my avatar yet, but now I had a direction. I was pulled from my thoughts by a familiar voice.


    ¡°Hey Ethan, early too?¡±


    Will sat down beside me with a grin on his face and no regard for my personal space. Before I had time to respond to what he said or did he resumed.


    ¡°How¡¯s your day been? I¡¯ve been on the job hunt, but nothing quite yet.¡± Will paused long enough for me to react, scooting to the left to get a bit more space. I wasn¡¯t sure what part of that to respond to.


    ¡°Uh¡­ my days have been okay, I guess.¡± Will took this as an acceptable answer and continued.


    ¡°I¡¯m looking forward to today, my avatar is pretty close to reaching tier two, a day or two more and it¡¯ll be there, and I can grab an aspect. I¡¯m thinking cape, I think I would look good in a cape, what do you think?¡± as usual it took me a moment to muster up an answer.


    ¡°I guess a cape could look nice.¡± I gave it a bit more thought. ¡°But what¡¯s the point of a sticky cape?¡± Will expression somehow brightened more.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know exactly, but aspects can stretch definitions a bit, right? Like your shield is made with armor aspect, right? So I¡¯m thinking maybe my cape could be more like a shroud or something that slows down things around me.¡±


    ¡°Uhh, yeah, that makes sense.'''' How was he so self assured? I was struggling to figure out how to improve a shield, and Will¡¯s just decided to wrap himself in flypaper. Why was it that he still felt like he knew what he was doing more than me? Another, more important thought occurred to me.


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    ¡°Doesn¡¯t cape aspect come from wasps?¡± I felt fear creeping up on me, but Will didn¡¯t seem concerned at all.


    ¡°Yeah, I think so, why?¡± I didn¡¯t want to seem cowardly, but giant wasps were terrifying.


    ¡°Nothing, its just that¡­ Well, they¡¯re really fast and strong. Plus they¡¯re poisonous.¡±


    ¡°Oh, yeah, but we have Rose, so she can hit them a few times and then we can finish them off if they reach us.¡± Dang it, he made a good point. I can¡¯t just say I¡¯m scared to go up there again. Ah, of course the moment I join a group they decide to go up the tree. Maybe I should have just stayed with Paul. Well, at least if we go up I won¡¯t be alone.


    ¡°Anyway I¡¯m going in the dungeon for now, I want to check where my sync is at. You want to come?¡±


    ¡°Sure. I, uh, already checked mine a bit ago¡­ But I can probably wait outside the shrine for you.¡± Will didn¡¯t seem to mind, so we both entered the dungeon proper. He walked into the shrine while I took a seat on the root to wait. While I sat the same question that had filled my morning came up yet again: what is my next step for my avatar? I wished something would come to me, an epiphany. Nothing came, so I turned my attention to the entrance of the dungeon. Now I would see Rose when she got here and have time to make better impression than I did with Will. This strategy was rendered moot when I heard a voice beside me.


    ¡°Hey Ethan. Is Will here yet, or are we both early?¡± I turned to see Rose. Where had she come from?


    ¡°Uh, no¡­ I mean yes! I mean¡­ Will is here but he¡¯s in the shrine.¡±


    ¡°Ah, alright, I was just there, ya¡¯know, working on my new avatar and all that. I¡¯m really excited to-improve-it''s-going-tobesocool.¡± She sped up through the last sentence, making it a bit hard to understand. It was at this point that Will emerged from the shrine as well, walking over and completing our group.


    ¡°Hey awesome, now we have everyone. So I was thinking that we should go up the tree today, the wasps drop some cool shards and I kinda want cape aspect.¡± Rose nodded along.


    ¡°Yeah okay, I actually was thinking of getting a cape too, it¡¯s how I¡¯m using my cami right now so it should make it better, right?¡± Will immediately responded


    ¡°I think so, that¡¯s what the guides say anyways, and so does everyone I¡¯ve asked¡­ everyone who answered anyways.¡±


    ¡°Same.¡± I quietly agreed. And Rose spoke up next.


    ¡°Alright, so it¡¯s settled, we¡¯re going up the tree to fight wasps. We can plan on the way up.¡± And a moment later we were on our way up, and I had to follow along without complaint. Hopefully Will was right and it wouldn¡¯t be too bad. If a beetle could kill a tier two wasp so could I.


    The trek up the root was just as bad as I remembered. The railing was just as unreassuring as I remembered, and I clung to the trunk as we climbed. Rose seemed completely at home as we climbed the tree, but I felt slightly vindicated when I noticed Will was also staying far from the edge as we climbed up. I tried to just listen to Will and Rose talking as they walked ahead of me, eyes on the wooden wall and not on the drop. Of course the conversation didn¡¯t last long before I got pulled into it.


    ¡°Hey, are there any shards that the wasps drop that you could use?¡± It took me a moment to realize that Rose was looking at me when she said this. I jumped to answer to make up for missing the question and tripped on my tongue.


    ¡°Oh, uh, I ah. I¡¯m don¡¯t sure. know! I don¡¯t know. I mean, I¡¯m not sure what I want yet.¡± Well that was horrible. Luckily Will and Rose chose not to comment on the nonsense that I had just spouted, and Will jumped in instead.


    ¡°Fair enough, as long as you don¡¯t go for cape we should have plenty for you to choose from, right.¡± I guess that was true, but now that it had come up again I remembered just what I had agreed to. I really should have just stayed with Paul. Unfortunately it was too late for that. We were here.

 Chapter Thirty: Atop the Canopy

    We took a break atop the tree to catch our breath as a group, and it was apparent that none of us were in amazing shape at the moment. Now that we were atop the tree I was just trying to stay away from the edges, but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid them when we resumed our trip. After we all had some water and our muscles weren¡¯t burning as badly, Rose took the lead.


    ¡°Alright, let''s go down that branch, I can¡¯t see anyone else on it and it¡¯s pretty wide. We shouldn¡¯t have any trouble going down it.¡± Wil lagreed, and so did I, admittedly a bit reluctantly. Rose led the way down the branch, keeping an eye out while I just tried to stay in the middle of the branch and not look down. The branch was about twenty feet around, but only about half of that was easily walkable, the rest was very slopped and blocked off by more crude railings.


    Will was talking with Rose about buying weapons and wondering where he should buy some when Rose spotted our first wasp. It was coming toward us from the far side of the root and looked to be tier one. Me and Will manifested our avatars while Rose just drew her bow. An arrow lodged itself between its abdomen and its torso, and it faltered for a moment. I was hoping that was enough, but it recovered quickly and resumed flying toward us. Rose fired again as it got closer, nailing it in the eye and dropping it just ten meters away with a dull thud. Will and I dismissed our avatars, Will cheering while I just breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°That was awesome Rose. you didn¡¯t even need us, you were just like shheew, thwack-¡± He mimed an arrow in flight and then something falling. ¡°-and then it fell just like that.¡± Will said as he came over to Rose.


    ¡°Yeah, that was really cool.¡± I agreed quietly. My adrenaline had just spiked and now it had nowhere to go, leaving me feeling a bit drained. Rose grinned.


    ¡°It was definitely easier than I thought it would be. They¡¯re really good targets, and it¡¯s not too hard to spot them if you¡¯re looking.¡± After a moment we collectively realized the body hadn¡¯t dissolved and we rushed over to it. The wasp¡¯s body wasn¡¯t moving, laying face down on the root, no dirt to cushion its crash landing. Rose reached in, and pulled out an off white shard I recognized as cape aspect. A quick check from Rose confirmed it. The wasp dissolved, leaving behind two remarkably intact arrows. She picked up those as well, and Will and I joined her in celebrating. Admittedly my celebration was pretty reserved, but we were really high up.


    ¡°This has to be a good omen!¡± Will exclaimed, and Rose winced.


    ¡°Don¡¯t jinx it man.¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry-¡± Will bent down and knocked on the tree three times ¡°-knocking on wood cancels that out, and we''re on a tree.¡± Rose and Will got into a debate about how superstition worked as we resumed walking.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t count if it''s easy.¡±


    ¡°Since when? The rules are the rules, knocking on wood undoes a jinx.¡±


    ¡°No, you have to look for the wood, it shows the luck gods you''re sorry for invoking their anger.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be jinx gods?¡±


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°No¡­ maybe? I guess we could say omen gods?¡± and so on. Eventually another tier one wasp approached, this time Will saw it coming from behind us.


    ¡°Hey Rose, wasp behind us.¡± Rose turned around and knocked an arrow while me and Will quickly got out of the way and behind her. I prepared my avatar just in case, but I didn¡¯t need to, this time it only took one arrow, though it did break in the fall. This wasp dropped a shard too, a spear aspect one. Rose put it in one of her many pockets and we continued on our way. Will seemed to have gotten over his fear of heights by just talking, leaving me alone in the cautious and scared club.


    We continued like this for a while. The next three wasps were dropped with ease but dropped nothing, so we continued down further. I anxiously watched as the branch got thinner the longer we went. It''s fine, there¡¯s a railing, I can do this, I reassured myself, growing more uncomfortable every step. Then the railing ended. Rose and Will continued like it was nothing, not noticing I had stopped.


    ¡°He- hey guys.¡± I called out to them when they didn¡¯t notice I had stopped. They stopped and looked back towards me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can go any further. Is it okay if I hang back for now.¡± what I really wanted to say was could we turn back, but I didn¡¯t want to inconvenience them.


    ¡°Yeah, of course. You good on your own or-¡± I interrupted Will. I couldn¡¯t be a burden.


    ¡°No no, it¡¯s fine. Keep going, I¡¯ll be fine. After all, I¡¯m one with the shield, right?¡± Will and Rose agreed and continued along their way. Will looked back for a moment, but I just smiled and waved. He was too far away to tell how forced they were. I watched them continue down the branch for a bit before deciding to make my way back to the trunk. If I was waiting for them I wanted to do it in the safest place on the tree. I was halfway back to the trunk when a wasp attacked. I was so consumed looking at the branch ahead of me that I didn¡¯t notice it until the buzzing became audible. I got my shield and hammer out while looking around for where it was. Behind me! I barely got my shield up in time, and my avatar manifested a moment before the stinger struck. The black lance pushed into the avatar but not my shield. I swung my hammer with all my might, and the stinger snapped in two, driving the wasp into a frenzy. I stepped toward it and swung the hammers spike into its side with a crunch, and the wasp fell to the ground. My hammer was deep in it, so instead of pulling it out I pulled it toward me while punching with my shield, the tip punching into one of the wasps eyes and making it go limp.


    I waited a moment, but the wasp didn¡¯t move or evaporate. I placed my hand against it and pulled out an off white shard, spear attuned again. As the wasp dissolved I let my avatar fall away as well. As my avatar fell away everything became more real, and I realized how poorly that could have been. It was too dangerous alone, I had to get back to the group, even if they were on the end of the branch. I dropped the shard in my backpack and started down the branch, only to pause as something from earlier hit me. Had I¡­ manifested my avatar without trying? I closed my eyes, reaching for my avatar. I mentally grasped it, and it stayed. I felt something in my hand. I opened my eyes to see my teardrop shield in my left hand. I had! I had manifested my avatar without any crutches. I began to celebrate before remembering where I was. Hundreds of feet up on the branch of a tree. Maybe I would hold off until I was somewhere I trusted the ground. I took one last look back toward the trunk, and then resumed going down the branch to rejoin my team. No more wasps attacked me as I crossed, though I made sure to occasionally check the sky


    I slowed as I reached where the railing ended. There was still plenty of space, but the railings served to reassure me that in the worst case I would be safe from falling off. That wouldn¡¯t be the case anymore. I took a deep breath, and manifested my avatar. With it came a faint sense of safety, a shield between me and the danger. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but it was enough to let me continue along the branch. After a few minutes I felt comfortable enough to dismiss it, and though I felt my fear return in force I was able to continue on. The branch was still almost a dozen feet across, no need to be scared yet. Still, I was relieved when they finally came into view.

 Chapter Thirty: Instant Regret

    We took a break atop the tree to catch our breath as a group, and it was apparent that none of us were in amazing shape at the moment. Now that we were atop the tree I was just trying to stay away from the edges, but I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to avoid them when we resumed our trip. After we all had some water and our muscles weren¡¯t burning as badly, Rose took the lead.


    ¡°Alright, let''s go down that branch, I can¡¯t see anyone else on it and it¡¯s pretty wide. We shouldn¡¯t have any trouble going down it.¡± Wil lagreed, and so did I, admittedly a bit reluctantly. Rose led the way down the branch, keeping an eye out while I just tried to stay in the middle of the branch and not look down. The branch was about twenty feet around, but only about half of that was easily walkable, the rest was very slopped and blocked off by more crude railings.


    Will was talking with Rose about buying weapons and wondering where he should buy some when Rose spotted our first wasp. It was coming toward us from the far side of the root and looked to be tier one. Me and Will manifested our avatars while Rose just drew her bow. An arrow lodged itself between its abdomen and its torso, and it faltered for a moment. I was hoping that was enough, but it recovered quickly and resumed flying toward us. Rose fired again as it got closer, nailing it in the eye and dropping it just ten meters away with a dull thud. Will and I dismissed our avatars, Will cheering while I just breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°That was awesome Rose. you didn¡¯t even need us, you were just like shheew, thwack-¡± He mimed an arrow in flight and then something falling. ¡°-and then it fell just like that.¡± Will said as he came over to Rose.


    ¡°Yeah, that was really cool.¡± I agreed quietly. My adrenaline had just spiked and now it had nowhere to go, leaving me feeling a bit drained. Rose grinned.


    ¡°It was definitely easier than I thought it would be. They¡¯re really good targets, and it¡¯s not too hard to spot them if you¡¯re looking.¡± After a moment we collectively realized the body hadn¡¯t dissolved and we rushed over to it. The wasp¡¯s body wasn¡¯t moving, laying face down on the root, no dirt to cushion its crash landing. Rose reached in, and pulled out an off white shard I recognized as cape aspect. A quick check from Rose confirmed it. The wasp dissolved, leaving behind two remarkably intact arrows. She picked up those as well, and Will and I joined her in celebrating. Admittedly my celebration was pretty reserved, but we were really high up.


    ¡°This has to be a good omen!¡± Will exclaimed, and Rose winced.


    ¡°Don¡¯t jinx it man.¡±


    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry-¡± Will bent down and knocked on the tree three times ¡°-knocking on wood cancels that out, and we''re on a tree.¡± Rose and Will got into a debate about how superstition worked as we resumed walking.


    ¡°It doesn¡¯t count if it''s easy.¡±


    ¡°Since when? The rules are the rules, knocking on wood undoes a jinx.¡±


    ¡°No, you have to look for the wood, it shows the luck gods you''re sorry for invoking their anger.¡±


    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be jinx gods?¡±


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    ¡°No¡­ maybe? I guess we could say omen gods?¡± and so on. Eventually another tier one wasp approached, this time Will saw it coming from behind us.


    ¡°Hey Rose, wasp behind us.¡± Rose turned around and knocked an arrow while me and Will quickly got out of the way and behind her. I prepared my avatar just in case, but I didn¡¯t need to, this time it only took one arrow, though it did break in the fall. This wasp dropped a shard too, a spear aspect one. Rose put it in one of her many pockets and we continued on our way. Will seemed to have gotten over his fear of heights by just talking, leaving me alone in the cautious and scared club.


    We continued like this for a while. The next three wasps were dropped with ease but dropped nothing, so we continued down further. I anxiously watched as the branch got thinner the longer we went. It''s fine, there¡¯s a railing, I can do this, I reassured myself, growing more uncomfortable every step. Then the railing ended. Rose and Will continued like it was nothing, not noticing I had stopped.


    ¡°He- hey guys.¡± I called out to them when they didn¡¯t notice I had stopped. They stopped and looked back towards me.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I can go any further. Is it okay if I hang back for now.¡± what I really wanted to say was could we turn back, but I didn¡¯t want to inconvenience them.


    ¡°Yeah, of course. You good on your own or-¡± I interrupted Will. I couldn¡¯t be a burden.


    ¡°No no, it¡¯s fine. Keep going, I¡¯ll be fine. After all, I¡¯m one with the shield, right?¡± Will and Rose agreed and continued along their way. Will looked back for a moment, but I just smiled and waved. He was too far away to tell how forced they were. I watched them continue down the branch for a bit before deciding to make my way back to the trunk. If I was waiting for them I wanted to do it in the safest place on the tree. I was halfway back to the trunk when a wasp attacked. I was so consumed looking at the branch ahead of me that I didn¡¯t notice it until the buzzing became audible. I got my shield and hammer out while looking around for where it was. Behind me! I barely got my shield up in time, and my avatar manifested a moment before the stinger struck. The black lance pushed into the avatar but not my shield. I swung my hammer with all my might, and the stinger snapped in two, driving the wasp into a frenzy. I stepped toward it and swung the hammers spike into its side with a crunch, and the wasp fell to the ground. My hammer was deep in it, so instead of pulling it out I pulled it toward me while punching with my shield, the tip punching into one of the wasps eyes and making it go limp.


    I waited a moment, but the wasp didn¡¯t move or evaporate. I placed my hand against it and pulled out an off white shard, spear attuned again. As the wasp dissolved I let my avatar fall away as well. As my avatar fell away everything became more real, and I realized how poorly that could have been. It was too dangerous alone, I had to get back to the group, even if they were on the end of the branch. I dropped the shard in my backpack and started down the branch, only to pause as something from earlier hit me. Had I¡­ manifested my avatar without trying? I closed my eyes, reaching for my avatar. I mentally grasped it, and it stayed. I felt something in my hand. I opened my eyes to see my teardrop shield in my left hand. I had! I had manifested my avatar without any crutches. I began to celebrate before remembering where I was. Hundreds of feet up on the branch of a tree. Maybe I would hold off until I was somewhere I trusted the ground. I took one last look back toward the trunk, and then resumed going down the branch to rejoin my team. No more wasps attacked me as I crossed, though I made sure to occasionally check the sky


    I slowed as I reached where the railing ended. There was still plenty of space, but the railings served to reassure me that in the worst case I would be safe from falling off. That wouldn¡¯t be the case anymore. I took a deep breath, and manifested my avatar. With it came a faint sense of safety, a shield between me and the danger. It wasn¡¯t a lot, but it was enough to let me continue along the branch. After a few minutes I felt comfortable enough to dismiss it, and though I felt my fear return in force I was able to continue on. The branch was still almost a dozen feet across, no need to be scared yet. Still, I was relieved when they finally came into view.

 Chapter Thirty One: Wasp Nest

    I started to speed up when I saw them in the distance before thinking better of it and slowing back down. They stopped as Rose shot down a wasp, giving me enough time to catch up. Will noticed me while Rose harvested a shard.


    ¡°Ethan! I didn¡¯t expect to see you here. Got tired of waiting?¡± I tried my best to match his energy, missing the mark entirely.


    ¡°Yeah I, ah, thought you could use a hand.¡± Well at least I sounded sort of confident, fake it till you make it, right? Rose jumped in


    ¡°Hey Ethan, get any shards on your way over?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah, I fought one on my way over.¡± I grabbed my backpack and pulled out a shard, carefully handing it over. Rose snatched it up, and then looked at it with a frown.


    ¡°Another spear, I swear that¡¯s all we''re getting. I wish we needed these, we nearly have an orb of them.¡±


    ¡°Really? How many have you gotten?¡± Will jumped in.


    ¡°Like seven, eight now. I think it''s the only thing we¡¯ve gotten other than the first wasp. I think the curse gods got us.¡± I felt the answer to the question I had been asking myself click into place. I hadn¡¯t thought it was a viable option before, but now¡­


    ¡°Maybe I could use them? I mean, I tried to make my shield spiked, but the armor shard didn¡¯t want to. If I grabbed a spear aspect maybe I could combine them?¡± I realized my idea was dumb as I said it, two aspects were nice, but I needed an attunement. Will answered before I could backtrack, grinning.


    ¡°That sounds awesome, and we only need like two more, right?¡± Will''s excitement reassured me I was making a good choice. I smiled, remembering something.


    ¡°Actually I think we only need one, I have another spear aspect at the shrine.¡± I said, before turning to Rose, confidence falling again. ¡°Of course, if you want to keep the shards thats fi-¡± she interrupted me before I could finish


    ¡°Nah, it''s fine, I owe you a few shards, you give me any cape aspect you find and I¡¯ll call it even.¡±


    ¡°Oh, alright then.¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Now let''s go get that last shard.¡± Will cheered, and we started going a bit further. We stopped after around thirty feet. I looked around unsure why, immediately regretting it when the vertigo hit. I sat down for a moment, and Will joined me on the ground. He pointed past me and gave a quick explanation.


    ¡°We¡¯ve been farming over here for a while cause it''s been consistent.¡± I looked where he was pointing. There was a misshapen beige ball, a hexagonal hole on it facing the branch, though I couldn''t make out the inside from this angle.


    ¡°Is that a wasp nest?¡± I asked, hoping I was wrong, but knowing I wasn¡¯t. Will grinned.


    ¡°Yup, every now and then a wasp crawls out, then we backtrack so that it flies over the branch and Rose snipes it. Pretty cool, right?¡±


    ¡°Uh, yeah¡­ what if they get annoyed and a bunch of them come out?¡±


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    ¡°I don¡¯t think that can happen, I¡¯m pretty sure that they come out as soon as they are created by whatever¡¯s in there, and we haven¡¯t bothered getting closer to it.¡± Well I couldn¡¯t fault him for that logic, even if the nest wasn¡¯t on an entirely different branch I wouldn¡¯t dare to get closer. After a bit Rose joined us on the ground. We all sat there watching the nest for a couple minutes until it began to shake a little. The others quickly got up, and I followed suit as a wasp head poked out of the nest and quickly locked onto our group as Rose manifested her avatar with a motion like pulling something down. We ran along the branch, and I had to manifest my avatar to override my fear of falling off. Rose called for us to stop and I followed Will behind her while she lined up her shot. The arrow flew true and the wasp fell to the branch as it dissolved. We walked over, Rose grabbed her arrow, and then we returned to the nest to rinse and repeat.


    It was twenty minutes later on our fourth wasp that we got a shard, and to all of our dismay it was bright green poison attuned shard, the one wasp drop none of us needed.


    ¡°At least we can trade it right? Will offered, and we agreed, though as usual Rose definitely had more energy than I did. We fought another six wasps before we got another shard, finally another cape shard. We had a little celebration on the branch before we remembered what had resulted from our last celebration. We quickly relaxed, but the damage was done, and the next shard we got was another poison. By then Rose had pulled an entire book from one of her pockets and was reading while me and Will took turns watching the hive. Around four we decided next wasp would be the last for the day, we were all tired and bored, and we¡¯d gone through dozens of wasps. The wasp didn¡¯t produce a shard, and we made our way down the branch. By now I felt much less uncomfortable walking down the branch, though I still wasn¡¯t willing to get near the edge. The trunk was in sight when Rose stopped us.


    ¡°Wasp, looks bigger than usual too.¡± I turned and sure enough a tier two wasp was coming our way. I manifested my avatar while rose took a shot, striking it in the eye as usual. It stuttered mid air, but kept moving toward us. Rose shot again, but the arrow went past as it jolted left. It was unclear if the dodge was intentional, but it worked and now it was in firing range. I had my shield out by then and the lance struck it, pushing me back a hair. I froze up for a moment, remembering last time I had faced a wasp this size. Puckett I wasn¡¯t alone this time, and Will''s sword/dagger went into its undamaged eye, and it fell to the ground dead and undissolved. He pulled an off white shard from it as I regained control of my body, and he and Rose cheered. I joined them a moment later, pretending I hadn¡¯t just frozen up. Will complimented me on how I¡¯d taken the blow so easily, and I felt myself relaxing a bit as I complimented him on taking down the wasp. By the time we got back to the trunk I was feeling much better. We all sat down and relaxed, and I shared some of the snacks I had brought, earning thanks from both of them. While me and Will finished our granola bars Rose sorted out the shards we had found. There were three cape aspect, four poison, and nine spear. Rose repocketed the poison and cape shards, and then looked at me expectantly. I wasn¡¯t sure what she wanted until she spoke up.


    ¡°You were using the spear shards, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, sorry.¡± Feeling silly I started putting the spear shards in my backpack, and Will gave me a quick hand. We relaxed a bit longer before starting the trek down the trunk, and it was just as Sergio as I remembered. After a few minutes my legs were burning, and I decided to manifest my avatar. Immediately my legs stopped burning, and I didn¡¯t feel nearly as terrified to be there. Will and Rose followed suit soon after. All of our avatars had run out by the time we reached the bottom, but my legs didn¡¯t burn nearly as bad as last time. Since I wasn¡¯t planning on delving any more today, it was worth it.


    ¡°So, should we go to the shrine?¡± Will asked, and I paused.


    ¡°Uh, I wasn¡¯t planning on it, why?¡±


    ¡°Well we have all the shards for your next tier, so I thought you could just tier up.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, but I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m at a hundred sync yet.¡±


    ¡°Alright that''s fair. It couldn¡¯t hurt to check though, right?¡± Rose jumped into the conversation.


    ¡°Yeah, plus even if it''s not ready we could at least grab the last shard and make the orb.¡± Now both of them were looking at me excitedly and I didn¡¯t have a choice.


    ¡°Okay, I guess we''re going to the shrine then.¡± and with that we started the short walk to the shrine. I turned back as I reached the door, receiving thumbs up from both Will and Rose. it was too late to turn back now. I stepped into the shrine.

 Chapter Thirty Two: A basic tier up

    Prim¡¯s consciousness was drifting among the other fragments of The Primordial in the vast origin. They were drifting to sleep when something tugged on them, drawing them back to the shrine. Ethan was visiting. They broke free of their dormant form with a shattering sound and assembled themself over their vessel. Their form felt stiff so they gave it a quick stretch before turning their attention to their small friend standing before them. Ethan asked the usual question.


    ¡°Hi Prim, could I see my sync really quick?¡± Prim tried out the thumbs up one of the other fragments had taught them earlier today before answering.


    ¡°Of course, one moment.¡± Their vision shifted from colors to energy and they peered at the bundle of energy within Ethans chest. It was firmly attached to him, none of the shaking and distorting it had been doing just earlier today. Prim smiled, proud of their friend.


    ¡°Congratulations, your sync has reached 100% and you are now able to advance to the next tier.¡± Prim noticed a bunch of spear attuned origin within their friends backpack, and they offered up a suggestion. ¡°I can detect a large amount of matching shards on your person. Would you like to construct an orb and begin?¡± Ethan nodded


    ¡°Yes, or well¡­¡± He stumbled over his words before stopping and trying again. ¡°Yes, but first I was going to make the orb with some others. Could I have the spear shard you stored?¡± Prim was a bit disappointed that their friend didn¡¯t want to share the experience with them, but they quickly let it go. They were happy their friend had other friends. Besides, they would still get to experience the tier up with them.


    ¡°Of course.¡± Prim said as they raised up a pedestal containing the spear shard. Ethan grabbed the shard and dropped it in his backpack with the others.


    ¡°See you soon!¡± Will said as he stepped out of the shrine.


    ¡°See you soon¡± They thought to themself, unable to say it out loud as they returned to dormancy.


    ¡ª


    Ethan stepped into the dungeon proper again. The other two were sitting on the usual root. Rose was the first to notice, poking Will before both of them quickly walked over to me.


    ¡°Soooo?¡± Will asked, excited. I nodded as I answered.


    ¡°It¡¯s at a hundred percent.¡± Will reached out and it took me a second to realize it was for a high five. I slapped his hand with a quiet clap. He reached out for a second high five. This time I was ready and did it without hesitation.


    ¡°Alright, lets make that orb now.¡± Rose said, and I nodded again.


    ¡°Right.¡± I shrugged off my backpack, and started pulling out the shards. Once they were all out, they briefly looked up at the other two.


    ¡°Does one of you want to make it, or should I¡­?¡±


    ¡°Just do it.¡± Rose said, and I did, grabbing two shards and pressing them together. They stuck together easily, like magnets. The entire orb was together in no time, and the seams sealed with a final flash of light. I forgot to close my eyes, but after a couple blinks I could see the smooth off-white orb in my hands. Will gave a quick cheer, and as usual I joined in a bit quieter. Rose cut us short.


    ¡°Alright, I want to see your new avatar before I have to go today. Could you get started?¡±


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    ¡°Oh, yeah. I guess I¡¯ll go do that then.¡± I said, suddenly feeling guilty for taking so long. Was I stalling? I hadn¡¯t been trying too, but maybe I had. I walked back to the shrine and stepped through the doorway. Though I didn¡¯t look, I knew Will was waving and Rose probably was too.


    Prim assembled themself over the statue with the usual shattering of glass, and for once they didn¡¯t stretch.


    ¡°Hi again Ethan. Are you here to tier up?¡± the statue asked pleasantly, and I slipped off my backpack.


    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s the plan.¡± I pulled out the new orb. ¡°Here¡¯s the orb.¡± Prim reached out a hand and it drifted over to them to drift at their chest. I looked behind me to see the throne had silently risen from the ground. I took a seat, and the crown fell into place. My avatar appeared on the statue, or more accurately, my shield appeared on its arm. I drifted toward it, and more importantly I drifted toward the ball of energy that was the orb. Just like last time I reached out and gently poked it, causing the tightly packed sphere to poof out into a loose cloud.


    Grabbing a strand of it I poked the shield experimentally. It refused to stick to the main part of the shield, but the closer to the dull spike the easier it was. Towards the tip the energy almost seemed to be attracted to it. Satisfied, I grabbed the rest of the bundle of energy and got started on making the corner a proper spike. I started by lengthening it into a steeper triangle like I had initially wanted, which was easy enough. I added the metallic appearance matching the shield, and worked on further sharpening the tip. Soon enough all the energy was in the shield, and it had several extra inches of spike. It honestly felt a bit underwhelming. I thought this was going to be a big thing, but not much had really happened, and it hadn¡¯t taken much time either. That was probably a good thing anyways, I was trying to do this quickly. Something seemed a bit off about the avatar, but that would probably go away with sync. I drifted back to my body, and Prim drifted away, returning me to normal. Immediately the pins and needles returning to my body started up, and I started shaking and stumbling to get rid of them. Prim joined in as usual, confused but happy. Once both of us were done I started toward the door, waving bye to Prim. I stopped when Prim spoke up.


    ¡°Before you leave I need to inform you that your sync has fallen back to 27%, and can only be maintained for 16.2 minutes.¡± I had forgotten that was going to happen. I didn¡¯t love the loss of progress but at least my avatar time hadn¡¯t gone all the way back down.


    ¡°Thanks for the warning Prim. see you again soon.¡± I said as I stepped  out of the shrine, Prim waving.


    As I stepped out of the shrine Will and Rose rushed over, or more accurately Will rushed over while Rose walked over. Will of course started talking the moment he was close enough


    ¡°Alright, let''s see the new avatar!¡±


    ¡°Okay, one sec.¡± I reached for it, but it slipped away. Oh yeah, we''re back to the beginning. I sighed and then mimed grabbing it, pulling it over me. My shield, now with a proper point at the end of it, appeared. Will and Rose both complimented me on it, and I smiled. My avatar ran out of time shortly after. It had regained a short amount of charge. I was still feeling a bit down that I had lost so much progress. I was hoping I wouldn¡¯t lose that much, but I couldn¡¯t do anything about it but work on improving it again. We all went down to the guild and dropped off our rentals, and then we split up again going our separate ways. I got home around 7 and found a seat sprawled across the couch. I wasn¡¯t tired enough to sleep though, so after a couple minutes I got up and went to the kitchen. I found some ramen and started searching for a pot. After a couple drawers I found one and started boiling some water in it. I started scrolling YouTube on my phone while I waited, eventually settling on an older Liam Palmer video called avatar tier one. It talked about how he had designed his avatars first tier with demonstrations of its abilities. I paused the video to add the noodles to the boiling water. His avatar was currently just a really detailed spear. He showed some footage of fighting a fire cat maybe twice the size of a house cat. I paused the video to add the flavor packet to the noodles and pour them in a bowl. Sitting down with my too hot to eat food I resumed the video again. I finished my ramen before the video, settling back onto the couch as I continued to the next video. In it he went up a tier, adding fire attunement. The video didn¡¯t help me as much as I hoped, but I noticed his avatar had changed a lot more than mine had. I had a plan for what to try tomorrow as I drifted off to sleep.