I stared up at the towering wooden doors, taking in their plain facade. Kind of underwhelming for the entrance to the alpha’s den, but eh, it worked I guess.
“Ya’ll ready for this shit?” Carlyn asked with a broad grin after we finished going over the plan once more and we’d readied our gear, the deep rural twang of her accent echoing off the cave walls behind the party.
The others all cheered, their voices shaking the stone beneath our feet as Borgen slammed the bottom of his thick bow shaft against the floor with several meaty thuds. I was still feeling somewhat off after my interaction with Carlyn the night before. Yeah no, I was fucking nauseous with anxiety, and it was mostly because we were about to fight one of the strongest monsters the dungeon had to offer. Whatever was going on with Carlyn was small potatoes by comparison.
I felt my knees tremble slightly, watching as my breath fogged in the chill damp cave air. A week ago none of this would have been so terrifying, but a week ago I didn’t know what it was like to fight monsters, to lay broken with uncertain hope for survival. I didn’t know what it meant to be an adventurer. Now, I did. Or at least I knew enough to know when something was dangerous and likely beyond my capabilities.
The monster depicted in the doors’ relief was the third inhabitant of the dungeon’s first floor, a variant we had yet to encounter so far. A pyugnaek.
Now, you might be thinking that sounds like something you’d find mixed into the bile of a dying infant, but no, my dear reader, that is most certainly not what it is. In fact, I would say that a pyugnaek is far far worse than anything found in dying baby bile.
Recall for me, if you will, Tito the friendly grendling shopkeeper of Tito’s emporium of entirely functional weaponry and armor. Pyugnaeks look very much like the canine equivalent of grendlings with the long bubble-ended grass blades growing from their skulls down their backs. The biggest difference, aside from the canine form, would be the massive as fuck bull horns, the six legs, the maw of sharks teeth.. oh wait, that's the same… oh yes, and their big as shit brains.
Seriously, these things are among the smartest beings in the world. In fact, until their near extinction many hundreds of years ago they ruled their homeland with an iron… Uh… paw… Enslaving all other sentient species on their continent. They were a true menace, and not one I felt ready to face. Might I add that most of this information came from George? He seemed to know a lot about monsters and animals, something to do with the druid’s blessing.
While I was quivering with fear, however, the rest of the party was pushing open the large doors and rushing into the room. Shaking myself, I took a deep breath and charged in behind the others, taking up my position beside Borgen, rapier half drawn as we surged into the dark.
“Hold!” Carlyn called as the doors swung shut behind us, leaving our party surrounded by darkness. We shuffled for several moments before a faint drop of blue light fell from high, high above us, a single drop of glowing rain barely notable in the surrounding void. What began as a pinprick grew to a beam, then a shaft of light, a glowing column, and the whole massive chamber of weathered stone was awash in bright neon blue light.
I held up my free hand against the sudden luminance, crying out in pain as it burned my eyes. Carlyn was ordering us to move back against the wall and my feet moved obediently of their own accord. The brilliance faded and I blinked the light from my eyes to find a chamber lit by a scattering of floating blue translucent flames, a large plant-like canine sat calmly in the center of the space, its multifaceted eyes glowing blue like everything else in the space, it’s gaze unnervingly prescient.
“Attack!” Carlyn screamed, hand glowing red as she readied a spell to hurl toward the massive monster.
George, Nika, and Borgen all immediately sprinted toward the beast with no hesitation whatsoever. George’s claws and Nika’s spear gleamed in the low light, Borgen’s bow shaft whirling through the air as I cursed myself for hesitating and again sprinted after them, preparing myself for my role in the plan.
I raised my left hand to my mouth and gave the loudest whistle I’d ever managed in my life. “Hey bitch, be a good boy and catch this!” I yelled, throwing something from my right hand. It soared through the dark and smacked ineffective against the side of the pyugnaek’s head. Its gaze snapped to me, the first the beast had moved, and the blue glow emanating from its eyes shifted to a sharp red, the force of the beast’s rage palpable in its hateful stare.
It let out a loud howl, the sound like wind blowing hard enough to shear stone from a cliff. The haunting noise cut off abruptly as a sudden bang rocked the chamber, the detonation of the grenade I’d thrown. As it turned out, one of Nika’s many talents was with explosives. She’d given me three for the fight but had emphasized that the last two were for emergencies only.
I paled at seeing the size of that explosion and the way the pyugnaek’s head rocked back, my hands suddenly slick with sweat. There was no way I was using one of those again, I told myself. I liked my hands a bit too much.
Nika, George, and Borgen all began taking advantage of the beast’s incapacitated state, landing strike after strike as Carlyn cast fireballs and Jones imbued everyone with his dark magic. I turned and ran, according to the plan, Pumping my arms and sprinting for the far wall.
Another howl tore from the beast as it recovered from its stupor and my taunt drew its attention back to me, the sound somehow filled with more wrathful rage than before. “Fool’s,” the pyugnaek shouted as it charged, the stone floor shaking beneath my feet as I ran.
The far wall suddenly became the very, very near wall and I abruptly twisted around, my back slamming into the stone, knocking the air from my lungs as the giant plant-like wolf monster barreled towards me at full speed. “The branch… rots… in… the water…” I said between choked breaths, feeling the spell activate as I struggled to catch my breath again.
The pyugnaek shook as the invisible spell washed over it, howling in anger as it charged relentlessly toward me. Breath recovered, heart racing, I held my ground, waiting, waiting, waiting, then ducked into a roll and slid between the beast’s six massive legs. Unable to stop itself, the pyugnaek collided with the wall headfirst, the power of my taunt skill apparently too much for its supposedly big brian to overcome.
I spun, drawing my rapier in one fluid motion and jabbing at the backs of the monster’s rear legs, my thin blade cleanly puncturing the strong vine-like tendons. The beast yelped, but before It had a chance to recover an arrow nearly half as long as I was tall sprouted from the thing’s flank in a spray of white blood and scaled plant flesh. The red glow in the beast’s eyes faded as its gaze left me and shifted to Borgen who was already sprinting away, his strung bow held in a firm grip.
The pyugnaek got up on shaking legs and glared after the half-agondlon man. “Bow to me,” the monster said and a wave of pressure washed out from the beast, dropping me to my knees in an instant. I frantically looked around for Carlyn, thinking, oh gods, this wasn’t part of the plan, only to find her still standing, another spell forming at her fingertips. Borgen let loose another oversized arrow from his position, the projectile whistling through the air faster than the eye could see before slamming into the monster’s shoulder in another gout of white ichor.
The pyugnaek staggered under the weight of the blow, the haze of red obscuring its eyes once more as Borgen’s taunt activated. The monster sped off towards the giant man as the pressure it’d been releasing vanished and I regained my feet. I gave chase, landing a handful of shallow ineffective strikes against its side until it reached Nika and George who began hacking into the monster with spear and claw, forcing the pyugnaek to stumble over its own paws and fall to the ground in a sprawling mess of limbs. Another spell slammed into the side of the monster’s head and it gave yet another howl of frustration.
White blood poured from more than a dozen deep wounds and the pyugnaek’s scaly skin was seared in several places. It seemed our victory was close at hand when its deep voice filled the cavern like the crashing of waves.
“Foolish lessers! Do you think your tricks are enough to end me? Pathetic,” It yelled, jaws spread as it raised its head. Several of the blue flames scattered around the room began to move, streaking through the air to slam into the pyugnaek’s open maw. The beast swallowed the flames with relish, its whole body trembling as a faint blue glow began to shine from between its teeth.
A strange feeling came over me, one I hadn’t felt since my first day in the dungeon, and another voice filled my head. Run, it said, and I felt a sudden compulsion to do just that. As I took a step back, however, a loud pop came from the pyugnaek and a sudden blue light filled the chamber. Blinking the radiance from my eyes I found the pyugnaek sitting on its haunches, unharmed and glaring at us all in turn.
“Now, let me teach you the proper way to show respect to your betters.” The beast twisted on nimble paws, its two lizard tails slamming into George, Nika, and Borgen, sending the two humans flying. Borgen managed to catch the tails as they struck him, wrapping his arms around them as they pushed him back across the stone.
It seemed as if he’d stopped the best, then, in a blur of motion, he was lifted off his feet and slammed into the ground with an echoing crack. A wordless cry came from where Carlyn and Jones were frantically casting spells and a solid beam of red burst from Carlyn’s palm, lancing through the monster’s front left leg, severing the limb at the shoulder.
Its gaze shifted to the woman and the monster growled, taking a step toward her. I acted without thinking. “Hey fuck face! You missed me!” I yelled, feeling my taunt skill activate.
The pyugnaek glanced toward me and snorted. “I’ll play with you later, little toy,” the thing said, then something strange happened, and my entire vision went red as pain spread from around my solar plexus as my own skill betrayed me.
A guttural yell broke from my throat and I charged the beast as it turned away from me and strode toward Carlyn and Jones. I stabbed and slashed at the monster, all my training forgotten, landing deep gouging hit after hit, only for each wound to vanish in a flash of blue flames. The beast’s tail swung down and caught me below the ribs, forcing the breath from my lungs and sending me tumbling head over heels through the air.
I hit the stone floor and rolled, chunks of skin tearing free from the friction. I lay there for several agonizingly long seconds as the red bled from my vision and the pain from my broken ribs and bruised limbs assaulted me all at once. My mouth opened in a silent, gasping scream and I felt bile climbing up my throat. I rolled over onto my hands and knees and vomited, a sharp pain lancing through my chest as I pushed to a kneeling position and gasped for breath
Rise and flee,, that voice in my head said again. You cannot win this fight.
I gritted my teeth and tried to stand, stumbling before falling to my knees once more. “The dragon’s skin was impenetrable,” I said in a rough wheezing voice, my resolve firm as iron for perhaps the first time in my life. The spell activated and a lighting lance of pain shot through my whole body as my muscles grew taught with sudden strength and broken bones realigned forcefully themselves.
Pain washed through me again, but I was on my feet again. I glanced around, finding Nika and George lying unconscious not far from where I’d landed. An Idea sprang to my mind and I swept up Nika’s spear, turning to find Borgen climbing back to his feet as the pyugnaek neared the spellcasters. I ran towards the giant man.
“Throw me!” I yelled as I got close. “The strong man’s aim was always true!” Again I used my spell, feeling the drain on my near-empty mana pool, but not really caring.
Thankfully, Borgen understood, opening his arms wide. I leaped into his embrace and without a second of hesitation he spun me like a discus, throwing me with all his strength. I soared through the air like an arrow, flying towards the pyugnaek’s back in a clear arc, adjusting Nika’s spear as I began to fall. A sudden barrage of arrows flew past me and into the beast, making it spin around. I had no time to regret my choices or even to think as I landed atop the beast, jabbing the spear straight through one massive multifaceted eye.
The pyugnaek reared up on its hind legs, bellowing wordless fury as it thrashed its head from side to side, a handful of the red orbs atop the tips of its grass-like spines bursting, sending half-formed pyugnaek pups to smear across the stone chamber. Another lance of fire shot through the beast’s lower jaw as It howled, leaving it hanging limp and useless as its one unemotive eye seemed to glare at Carlyn and I.
I clung to the spear with all my might as the beast toppled sideways, landing with a heavy thud. Its paws scrabbled uselessly against the stone as I rose on shaky feet, the effects of my spell already beginning to wear off. With a careful motion, I drew my sword breaker from my belt and stabbed it down through the top of the monster’s head.
The thing spasmed and died with a whimper just as my spell wore off and I collapsed, slumping against the thing's massive lifeless corpse. A moment later, Carlyn was at my side as my vision began to blur. All I could think of was how happy I was that she wasn’t hurt, and how much I missed my wife.
“Hold on there, little hero. Jones’ll fix ya up real soon, just keep your eyes open for me, alright?” She said, taking my hand in hers. I was honestly baffled by the look of panic on her features. I hadn’t thought she’d seen me in anything other than a physical way. Perhaps… But no. It didn’t matter.
“Yes mom,” I said weakly, then laughed slightly and immediately regretted it as my broken ribs moved painfully. I vaguely heard one of Jones’ muttered spells finish and was suddenly suffused with a near-blinding pain, only for it to vanish a moment later, leaving me awash in soreness, which was much better than the dying agony of before.
“Thanks,” I said as he walked past. The man gave me a grin, the first he’d given me. “The others,” I said suddenly, eyes widening as I remembered Nika’s and George’s limp forms.
“I’ll take care of them,” Jones said. “Looks like the big guy’s coming. Get ready for some hugs.”
Carlyn and I both groaned as Jones left and Borgen appeared with a broad face-splitting grin. He gathered both of us up in his massive arms and spun. “That was the greatest fun I’ve had in years!” He yelled and laughed. “You know how to fucking party, girl.”
We all laughed, and I shared a look with Carlyn that was all smiles and pleasant promises before I realized what I was doing and gently pushed out of the big man’s embrace.
“It was a group effort,” I said, trying to make things at least somewhat formal, not that things had ever been like that with this group. I was just suddenly reminded of the events of last night and wanted to get back to my wife.
“You’re too modest, girl,” Carlyn said, still smiling. “Come, once everyone’s on their feet again we’ll skin this thing and split our rewards, then you can be on your way.”
I looked over the beast and let out a weary sigh. “Do we have to skin it?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Carlyn just laughed and clapped me on the shoulder, offering me a skinning knife. I looked down at the blade and smiled. Almost home, I thought to myself, then set to work.
My knife plunged into the beast’s thick plant hide, drawing a line of sticky white blood, and the beast's entire form convulsed, reproductive pods shuddering at the ends of their grass-like stalks, a handful falling free to splatter wetly against the cavern floor.
That same strange feminine voice spoke in my head once more, run, fool, run. It’s not over yet.
Before I could react to the strange voice, Carlyn’s hand fell on my shoulder with a fierce grip and she tossed me away from the corpse as the pods began to pop one by one into clouds of green dust, dropping their contents to the cave floor behind the Pyugnaek’s body.
Borgen stumbled up to us with his now unstrung bow as Carlyn lept away, a spell already glowing in her hand. “What just happened?” the big man asked, voice a bit more full of gravel than usual.
“The damn thing’s spawning,” Carlyn said, almost spitting acid. “I thought it was moving slow, guess this is why.” She shot a bolt of blindingly bright yellow-blue lightning from her palm as the small form of a pyugnaek pup crested the top of its parent’s corpse. The wretched thing didn’t have so much as a moment to scream before it was turned to ash, the spell arcing away towards the pup’s siblings behind it, the flashing light the only evidence of the devastation that must be happening behind the giant body.
Jones shouted something incoherent from where he was still trying to revive Nika and George, but I couldn’t make it out as I readied my rapier for the swarm of tiny monsters washing over the dead monster. What I was planning to do with a dueling weapon against a horde of tiny plant puppies, I had no clue, but I was ready all the same.
“Give me a moment,” Carlyn said, letting go of her book to let it float in the air before her as both hands began to glow with crackling energy. Borgen and I both stepped forward without any hesitation, both our weapons held out before us.
Focusing inward I activated my false rest skill, feeling my exhaustion fade away as a sudden sharp clarity overcame my thoughts. I adjusted my stance and focused on my other new skill, demotivating call. I opened my mouth and bellowed like a naked barbarian at the approaching mini monsters. The front lines of the mass flinched away from the sound, causing the others to fall atop each other in a mess of uncoordinated limbs, holding them off for a few more seconds.
A few of the more courageous beasts leaped over their kin and charged, but Borgen and I were more than prepared. The first of the little beasts stepped into my range and I lunged forward in a blur, impaling the wretched thing completely through. Taking a step towards the next monster, I gave my blade a quick flourish, sending the small corpse sliding from the rapier with a wet slurping noise before I brought the weapon down to stab at the next newborn pyugnaek, taking it clean through the head.
Resting my stance I glanced over to see Borgen turn four of the ugly mutts into a green and white paste with one swing of his bow shaft, the sound not unlike that of rotten fruit falling from a cart. More of the nightmare spawn stumbled towards their destruction as the two of us continued to attack in an unrelenting barrage of death and destruction.
After what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes I watched as one of the pups latched onto Borgen’s thick arm, razor-sharp teeth gouging out a glob of flesh before he pulped the thing, but his strength was obviously failing. Another beast bit into his leg and two more lept past his swinging staff, their gnashing teeth, and claws cutting into his shoulder and side.
Still under the effects of false rest, I let a challenging growl escape my throat. “Over here you little fucking shits!” I yelled, feeling my taunt skill activate with a torrential whoosh of energy, unlike anything I’d felt from it before. There were probably close to fifty of the little pyugnaeks at that point, and each and every one of the monsters gained a bright red glow around their eyes as I finished speaking. All those several dozen gazes snapped to me in an instant and I felt the bottom go out of my stomach.
I watched as if caught in slow motion as the monsters gave up all other pursuits to charge towards me. My rapier came up in a suddenly sweaty grip and I started moving backward, away from both Carlyn and Borgen. I slashed in wide arcs with every backstep to ward the creatures away, ignoring Nika’s lessons on not doing that, catching a few with glancing blows but not landing any really substantial blows. A handful of the little terrors broke past my guard and lunged towards me, but their claws barely left grazed skin where they got past my gambison.
Bit by bit, the monsters’ infant strength seemed to wane, but I knew the effects of false rest would soon leave me little more than a plucked hen for their feasting.
“Get out of the way, Mai!” Carlyn shouted from where she still stood channeling her spell. The cracking power from before was a full-blown thunderstorm now, the energy a dark ball of lightning between her shaking hands.
A trickle of fear crept down my spine at the sight. Without a hint of hesitation, I turned and ran with everything I had away from the pyugnaek pups. Some of the things made pathetic mewling noises behind me, but I didn’t so much as glance back, so scared was I. A moment later the chamber was filled with an odd smothering silence, followed almost immediately by the loudest crack of thunder I’d ever heard or felt.
The entire caver shook, stalagmites toppling, stalactites falling to the floor, the ground itself cracking. White light filled the corners of my vision as a wave of force knocked me off my feet and sent me tumbling through the air like a rag doll in a hurricane. I hit the far wall and for the second time in less than an hour felt my bones crack. I slid to the floor like salami down a window and finally felt the false rest’s power fade. I dry heaved with my face to the stone, paralyzed by pain and nausea. I vaguely heard distant voices, but before anything else could happen I hit the floor, and my mind shut out as if someone had simply flipped a switch.
I came back to myself in a haze, the smell of bile filling my nostrils as my head thundered with rhythmic beats of agony. “What the fuck,” I said groggily as I tried to sit up, then fell limp to the ground once more. Distantly I realized that there was something beneath me since the ground felt unreasonably soft, but it was a bit far from the forefront of my thoughts.
“Hush, little hero, close your eyes,” an oddly familiar voice said from my side. I reached towards the sound of the voice, feeling someone’s hand grip mine in a gentle caress before my eyes closed of their own accord and unconsciousness claimed me once more.
My rest was fitful, to say the least, filled with a dizzying array of voices and images that left me nauseous and confused. Several someones spoke of a core, of puppets and pockets, of gods and mortals, whilst another more distant voice spoke of fear and contingencies, broken cities and imperial plans. Everything swirled together in the vortex of my mind and came out a chaotic slurry of incoherent nonsense.
The second time I woke there was a dull ache covering my whole body like an uncomfortably heavy blanket. I slowly rose to a sitting position, surprised to find myself surrounded on all sides by the canvas walls of a rectangular tent. Before I could do anything, a flashing icon in my vision drew my attention. I focused on it and couldn’t help the smile that split my dry lips.
==========
=Level Up!=
-Congratulations, you are now - Level 5
==========
Suddenly excited I pulled up my character screen and was not disappointed with what I found.
==========
=Status=
-Name: Mairenn Crowe
-Blessing: Reverse Minstrel
-Level: 5
-Experience: 22,891/24,300
-Attribute points: 2
-Skill points: 1
-Ability Points: 1
-Health: 35/35
-Stamina: 35/35
-Mana: 4/7
=Attributes=
-Strength: 9
-Dexterity: 13
-Constitution: 15
-Intelligence: 10
-Wisdom: 8
-Charisma: 9
-Luck: 10
=Skills=
-Basic One-Handed Weapons Handling
-The Minstrel’s Taunt
-Oration Casting
-Demotivating Call
-False Rest
=Abilities=
-The Minstrel’s Luck
==========
I was amazed by the amount of experience I’d managed to obtain, it was more than it’d taken to reach level four from zero. A quick glance through the combat log revealed how. Whilst the adult alpha pyugnaek only gave me around five thousand experience, each of its alpha pups granted between two and four hundred each, and I’d slaughtered almost a hundred of the little fuckers.
Only a few more higher-level kills and I’d reach level six! Excitement built in me as I wondered how much I’d gain from the next boss, but my celebration was cut short by a sudden, but not unwelcome system message.
==========
=Would you like to allocate points now?=
Yes/No
==========
I chose yes, because hell yes, I’m not that much of an idiot. First things first I put a point into my dexterity since moving with greater speed and accuracy just made sense to me. I liked the way I fought, I just wanted to be better at it. I put the other point into my constitution since that was already my highest stat and you could never go wrong with more health. Next came the list of new skills I could choose from.
==========
=Siren’s Lure=
-Skill Type: Active
-Description:
- Allows the blessed to draw creatures or people of equal or lesser power to them in a non-aggressive manner.
=Caustic Concoctions=
-Skill Type: Active
-Description:
-Allows the blessed access to knowledge of crafting caustic mixtures, and explosives.
=Countercharm=
-Skill Type: Active
-Description:
- Allows the blessed to counter the effects of any mind-altering powers afflicting themselves or allies
-The effect is passive for blessed but may be used as an active skill on allies.
==========
I picked the countercharm skill without a second thought. If I’d had that when fighting the alpha then perhaps I wouldn’t have gotten my ass kicked so hard in that first phase. Now onto the abilities.
==========
=The Minstrel’s Luck - Rank II=
-Ability Type - Attribute
-Description:
-Grants a (+2) bonus to the blessed’s luck attribute for ten minutes after performing a skill with ‘The Minstrel’ in the title.
-Does not stack
-Replaces - Minstrel’s Luck - Rank I
=The Minstrel’s Grace=
-Ability Type - Attribute
-Description:
-Regenerates the blessed’s health by (+0.2) per second in and out of combat.
-Cannot heal major injuries on its own.
==========
The health was enticing, but I chose to double down on luck. I figured it was probably the only reason I’d survived my first encounter, so why not keep investing?
Closing all my screens, I slowly rose from the pallet I’d been resting on and found my clothes freshly washed beside it. I dressed with careful impatience, the only thing slowing me down was the sharp stabs of pain from swift motions. Dressed and able to stand, mostly, I found the tent flap and pushed it aside, stepping out into a small dirt clearing in a vast ocean of waist-high grass, the sun shining from a bright blue sky overhead.
Shielding my eyes from the sudden and unfamiliar light I blinked and glanced around before a voice reached my ears. “Mai! You’re awake!”
Suddenly Carlyn was at my side, hands hovering over me as she inspected me. “How are you feeling? Does anything still hurt? Oh, let me fix that,” she said in a rush, then redid the laces of my tunic before I could stop her. “There, that’s better. Now, tell me, how are you?”
“I feel like shit,” I said simply, taking a step away from the over-eager woman, too tired to come up with something else. “Where the fuck are we?”
“Come sit and have some tea, it should help,” Carlyn said, guiding me to a collapsible chair beside a low-burning fire. I frowned at the woman’s back, uncomfortably aware of her sudden shift in personality and trying to piece together what it might mean. Borgen and Jones both gave me a nod as I slid into a chair, but Nika and George were nowhere to be seen. Must still be in their tent, I figured, noting the other four tents arranged around the camp.
Carlyn pushed a cup of still steaming tea into my hands as I sat and then began to explain as she pushed another chair close to mine and settled in beside me. Borgen and I shared a look of exasperation that Carlyn ignored.
“This is the safe zone of floor two,” she said, giving me a slight smile. “After we broke down the pyugnaek and looted the little pups we were teleported here. Oh, these are yours, by the way.” She handed me a token and a small ring set with a pale blue gem. “If you re-enter the dungeon the token will let you skip the first floor and teleport straight here. The ring has your share of rewards from the alpha inside it.”
“It's a dimensional storage ring?” I asked a bit incredulously after sipping my tea with an air of longing. Arcana, I missed Síle’s coffee. “Why would you give me this? Isn’t it stupidly valuable?”
“We all got one after the fight,” Carlyn said, waving away my concern. “This one is bound to you, but we took the liberty of adding your share of everything else. You should be the only one who can take things out though.”
I took the ring and slid it onto my pointer finger, surprised when it adjusted itself to match my finger. I held up the hand, still a bit miffed about the missing middle finger, admiring both rings on my hand. With Carlyn’s help, I stored the token inside the ring, surprised by how easily it was done. It was as simple as just touching the item to the ring and thinking of storing it, then woosh, it was sucked inside with a flash of blue light. To pull it out all I had to do was touch the gem and focus on pulling the item out. If I wanted to empty the whole thing or see what was all inside all I had to do was think of doing either. As I said, simple.
When I focused on seeing what was already inside the ring I choked on my tea. “Carlyn,” I said slowly. “This is too much. There’s no way this is an equal share.”
“It’s what’s fair,” the other woman said with a shrug. “We all agreed on it. Besides, with the way you fight, you’ll need money more than anyone else here. You should really get yourself some better equipment before coming back. Besides, rings like these are stupidly rare. I’ve never heard of one dropping from a first-floor alpha, let alone six. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble pawning one or two for more than twice the worth of what you have in there.”
“You’re not fucking with me right?” I asked, glancing again at my ring’s inventory and wondering why the dungeon had been so generous with its rewards. There was a king's ransom inside the thing, more than enough to pay off all of mine and Síle’s debt and get us out into a home of our own.
Carlyn laughed softly. “Of course not. You fucking earned that loot, girl. Take it. We probably wouldn’t have survived that last fight without you.”
I shrugged uncomfortably as she gave me a wide smile. “I’m sure you all would have figured it out eventually, I just did what I could, that's all.”
“Please,” Carlyn said with a snort. “You’re one of the craziest minstrels I've ever met, Mai. You took hit after hit and didn’t go down until everything was dead. Yeah, maybe we could have gotten through it without you, but I’m pretty sure at least one or two of us would have died.”
“Maybe,” I said with another shrug. Silence stretched between us for a long moment as I finished off the last of my tea and thought. Abruptly, I stood and stretched, my back giving a satisfying series of pops. I sighed in relief, the aching in my body mostly subsided.
“Well, it's been fun,” I said with a slight hint of irony in my voice. “But I’ve got a wife to get back to and some loot to sell. Where was that portal out again?”
Carlyn stood with me and pointed at my question. I followed the line of her finger and found a tall rectangle of void black a few yards from where they’d set up camp. I gave Borgen and Jones my farewells, telling them to give my regards to Nika and Goerge, and the two gave me tired smiles and words of gratitude before Carlyn led me to the portal.
“You can stay, if you want,” Carlyn said as we stopped just shy of the flat black doorway, taking my hand in both of hers and staring down at the missing middle digit. “We could use someone like you.”
“I’m flattered,” I said sincerely, letting the bit of sadness I was feeling at this departure leak from my voice, slightly surprised by how genuine that feeling was. “But I really need to get home.”
“Stay here, with us, with me. Please, Mai. I… I want you to stay.” Carlyn raised my hand up to her cheek, pressing herself into my touch as she looked down at me with her bright green gaze. I hadn’t realized how entrancing those eyes were before.
I inwardly shook myself, gently freeing my hand from her grip. “I’m sorry, Carlyn. I really am, but I love my wife, and I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. You’ll find someone else someday, I’m sure of it. That person just isn't me.”
The other woman gave me a sad smile but relented. “Fine, fine. I get it. I’ll give up for now. You go on and get, then. Just know, if you’re ever in need of a party again, just look us up.” She made a slight flourish with her hand and a blank piece of parchment in the shape of an arrowhead appeared between her fingers. She offered it to me and I took it, mildly surprised by its thick waxy texture. “Just drop this in water and it’ll point you in my direction.”
“Thanks,” I said, returning her smile. “If I’m in need then I’ll certainly do that.”
“Go,” she said as I lingered for just a second more, still not quite ready to give up on this adventure yet. “no point in keeping that wife of yours waiting any longer than you need to.”
My smile turned into a grin. “Bye, Carlyn. Thank you for everything,” I said, then turned and stepped into the wall of black without giving myself a moment to second guess myself.
As the world vanished behind me I heard Carlyn softly say, “Goodbye, my little hero. May the Arcana guide you back to me someday.”
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The threads unweave as her presence leaves, our destined fate slipping through our fingers like water through a sieve. We claw and scratch at each unraveling string to no avail, startling our fool pets with our anguished wail. Somehow we’d failed, the opportunity we’d dreamt of for so long gone to a fool's fancy.
We take a calming breath. There is still a chance, we tell ourself, a chance that things might play out our way once again. We set to weaving fate once again, rewriting the path of our play, opening ourself to new possibilities and probabilities. A story unfolds, collapses, rebuilds itself, then fades. Something vital is missing, and without it we find ourself doomed. And so, we cling to the dream, praying to no god or higher being, because in this world there are none in truth, and hope for her return until we are certain that she must.
Time ticks on, and we are left but a fool once more.