38.

The shower water was filthy as it streamed down the drain. I couldn’t stop staring at it, the black sludge rolling off of me to drain away. The hardest two days of my life were summed up in gunk rolling off of me. I had to scrub, using a hard bristle brush till my skin was pink. My hair was a disaster, I resorted to using a knife and hacking it off till it was at least manageable, though it left me looking like a hedgehog.

I was the only one in the showers, others having already filed in while I was sleeping. I had no choice in the matter, my body had simply shut down after the second healing draught. I wasn’t there to watch the stone walls grow out of the ground or the golems that sprang from the earth. Bobby handled all of it for me.

When I came to, I had grabbed a loaf of bread, a fresh stack of clothes and marched down to the empty showers. It had been an hour of scrubbing every inch of my body in an attempt to get clean. To feel clean. I don’t think I’ll feel clean again. The memories push at the bounds of my sanity, the feeling of suffocation inside that turtle's eye. The powerlessness of being trapped in the webbing. Fighting the Queen had been an effort in futility. So utterly outclassed that only Agatha, the most lopsided stat person among our group, had the power to kill her.

I was finally empty. That rage that had been boiling for so long in my gut had guttered out. A shell, that’s what I felt like. Just an empty vessel, continuing on only with the vaguest hints of will. My hands trembled, the fight flashing through my mind over and over. Weak, I was weak. Too soft, too caring, not willing to do what was needed to be supreme. Wrapped in plots and plans when the simple truth was so simple. Power was absolute in this world and I hadn’t done enough to gain it.

“Billy, you in here?” Bobby’s voice echoed through the steamy hall. It was muffled and distant, diffused by the steam. There was an edge of concern in her voice, but did it matter. She had stuck with them for her own protection, it was easy enough to fake concern, I did it all the time. Did they really care about me, or just what I had provided them. It was my planning and strategy that had allowed them to grow strong, without the predations that others had suffered. Did she care that I felt like a wrung out dishrag, or did she care that one of her protectors wasn’t acting right?

Could I judge her? I was the same, wasn’t I? Using people for what they provided me, a transactional relationship. I stood under the stream and breathed deep and long as steam filled my lungs. It was nice to sit here and think rationally, without the edge of fear or anger clouding my thoughts.

“I’m good,” I lied.

“You’ve been here awhile. Wanted to make sure you hadn’t fallen or something,” Bobby trailed off, perhaps realizing how ridiculous that was. If I fell, it was the stone beneath me that had to worry.

“Just dirty. I don’t like being dirty.”

“Don’t need to tell me twice. All those fantasy books never talk about how gross you get trekking overland without reliable water.”

“Or toilet paper,” Billy said, he didn’t have to fake the chuckle he let out.

“Well, hurry up. Dan’s calling a meeting with the survivors. I brought the rest of our people from outside, but we need you. They’re sworn to you, not me.”

Of course Dan was going to call a meeting. The slimy shit. Waiting till I was busy with my own hygiene before trying to reassert control. I hadn’t gotten the full casualty list, but the dead might outnumber the living by this point. His faction had been crushed, worse than any decimation.

“I’ll be right out. Have the gang waiting for me,” I told her as I shut the water off and started walking toward the rough fabric towels that awaited me. It took only a few minutes to get dry and dressed and then I rushed to the meeting.

This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

The similarity to the original meeting was too hard to miss. Dan and what was left of his cronies were clustered around the biggest table in the middle of the hall. The hall had been cleaned, the silk cobwebs absorbed by the stone once we had taken ownership. Weird, but this entire place was weird and I hadn’t questioned it.

Luke leaned against the table, his green eyes hooded and lazy as he took us all in. He was dressed in fresh armor and his spear was within reach, he kept his back to a wall. Was he worried now that he was no longer the undisputed strongest? I had no doubt Agatha could kill him, but she was incredibly squishy. A true glass cannon. He could shatter her with ease if fighting broke out.

Agatha, Olivia, Miguel, and Bobby stood together in a wedge next to the table. The look on their faces wouldn’t be categorized as glares, but it was in the same family. I wondered what it was that Dan had said to antagonize them. Or more likely, one of his minions. The knot of people around him was noticeably smaller than it had been when we decided to go our separate ways.

“I’m here. We can begin,” I told them as I stood next to my team. Luke rolled his eyes in amusement, while Dan’s people bristled. Dan himself just looked up with bloodshot eyes, purple crescents under them. He looked like shit.

“The Citadel. We think it’s in the middle, the gap where nothing is,” Dan started off. There was a map on the table that he was using to elaborate his point. Each of the confirmed forts were marked on it, along with their designated keeps. It was easy to see the pattern, except in the middle of the string of forts, there was a gap.

“How many people do we have left?” I asked.

“Mustered here and not garrisoning our forts and keeps? About sixty. We lost thirty-six people taking this fort. More are injured and need to stay here to hold this area's forts and keeps. How many people are left of the other group?”

“They were few in number. The bugs crushed them in the mountain. I brought the best with me. The rest stayed to hold their keeps and forts.” Also to keep leveling, but I didn’t bother to say that.

“We’re fucked then in a big fight. We just don’t have the numbers.” Dan slumped down, the pressure of the last few weeks seeming to have diminished him. I think he actually cared about the others. He was harsh and had some autocratic tendencies, but he really seemed to care for his people. Their deaths seemed to be weighing on him heavier than they did me.

“Small team of just elites then. We send our best and just overwhelm whoever arrives with pure power,” Luke cut in. He spoke as if it was the simplest thing in the world and obviously apparent.

“I agree,” I said. My team, Luke, Dan and what was left of his elites. I’d have to see if any of the mountain squads were still alive. A couple of them were closing in on reaching level twenty. We would have to leave Olivia with the rest of the squad, maybe move them all back to our original fort?

“I doubt that will be enough to fight if there’s a big army like they enjoy throwing at us every night,” Dan sounded doubtful.

“Think about it. The armies at night are weak. This tutorial is designed to build up a core of powerful figures, or at least that’s my working hypothesis,” Bobby spoke for the first time. We all turned to look at her, and when the silence stretched, she continued.

“We don’t know why we were brought here, but evidence shows that this is designed for only a small group of powerful figures. There’s only a handful of skill stones, the slowly escalating nature of our enemies. If we had focused just a handful of our people on farming all of the mobs, we’d have people getting into the late twenties or early thirties right now. Once they reach that level, they are worth forty regular fighters by themselves. Look at what Agatha did to the Queen. Look at what the Queen did to us,” Bobby grew agitated as she spoke, stabbing her hand out to punctuate what she was saying.

“So I was right?” Dan murmured. The rest of us glance at him and then ignore him. He was right, but I had to undermine him for my own growth. A small group of people did need to level and grow strong while the rest supported them. Garrison the forts, build weapons, yadda yadda. I just hadn’t wanted it to be Dan’s group and wanted it to be mine.

“Those we are likely to find are going to be sending their best and we’re likely to be underleveled when we find them. If they supported just a handful of elites,” Bobby finished her lecture and faded back into the group.

“We’re fucked then?” Dan questioned.

“I can control the amount of foes that come to the forts. It’s part of controlling the forts. I can dictate, roughly, where the enemies arrive. Not how many, are the category, but where they do show up.”

“How long do we have you think?”

“A night or three maybe. Three of the forts are still unclaimed. There’s likely to be some type of fighting going on before that. We can use the next few nights to rack up a few levels and then we push to the citadel,” I decided for the group. My team nodded while Dan was looking sick. Luke was bored.

“Twenty miles through rough terrain. We’d have to push to get there, and what if another faction is already there?”

“We kill them and take the Citadel,” I said calmly. Dan was nervous, he didn’t know about the elves I had found. That at least one of the remaining factions was split. I would have to send Miguel out and tell them to go somewhere and send enemies to that region. Start power leveling Sulian and her people. I wanted nothing more than to sleep, to just disappear from my problems for a few hours.

“Because that’s so easy?” Dan muttered, shaking his head. His remaining soldiers were staring at me with distaste. I didn’t really care about them right now, or really anything. I was done for the day. I told them so, and walked away. The bunks were quiet, the handful of people left sleeping peacefully. I slumped into a cot and closed my eyes.

Tomorrow, tomorrow I will deal with all of the problems of the world. Power leveling, politics, foreign factions, and a Sea King. For right now though, I was just going to fade away and let those problems wait.