We sat in uncomfortable silence for a long beat. The chorus of our sighs and deep breaths played over the march of Icaraz soldier boots from outside of our confines. It was the sound of emptiness itself.

There was nothing else to be said, at least for right now. I understand as much as I was going to for the time being, and the king had no need to share anything else. I knew there weren’t such things as good and evil. History was written by the victors, after all. It was all just endless seas of gray space and faded lines. The king had murdered people, literally intentionally murdered people, just to take their stuff for his own children. Just to further the power of his Kingdom and himself. Was the cost worth it? Would it ever be? Then again, he hasn't done anything horrible to me yet, and he could literally eat me. I decided not to question his reasons for taking the path of the Pearlescent Lord away from Foghurdt and giving it to Fogwarth; it wasn’t my place to understand it. It was his choice to slaughter whoever those people were one by one, and it was his choice to turn on Foghurdt in the end. All of this chaos and mutiny we now could see and hear around us were nothing but an effect of the damage he had caused. I could tell he knew this, and he didn’t need some talking blueberry to remind him of it.

Instead of talking with them, I let the silence proceed as I familiarized myself with my interface again. I remembered about my level up, and decided it would be best to bring up my skill tree again, hoping the 24-hours had not passed and that my point would still be available. The new choices sprung up in my vision and I felt a new sense of calm knowing that my ability point was still available. And it was a good thing too, because Rank 3 in my class gave some tough choices.

[Battle Orchid - Active. Type: Nature. Cost: 116 Mana. Cooldown: 600 seconds. Effect: Summon a Battle Orchid familiar. This is a bound familiar. Familiar lasts until unsummoned or until it is defeated in combat. Battle Orchid gains combat experience at a -40% penalty and may not evolve when a threshold is met. Unbind familiar to progress its evolution]

[Curative Spores - Active. Type: Nature, Light. Cost: 65 Mana. Cooldown: 120 seconds. Effect: burst a cloud of spores around you for an area of 10ft. Spores recover 15 Health per second over a period of 10 seconds for all allies in the vicinity. 3% chance to summon a Spore Medic familiar on casting. Spore Medic lasts for 30 seconds and provides an additional 3 Health per second]

[Photosynthesized - Passive. Type: Nature. Cost: N/A. Cooldown: N/A. Effect: While fully nourished by the sun you gain an additional +2 to your highest leveled Expertise, and +1 to your lowest]

Alright, Barry. Got some brainstorming to make. I really wished Fogwarth was here right now. The big lump would know what the right call would be.

I mean, let’s be honest here. There was a healing ability. The more I lived in this world the more I noticed how much I truly needed some kind of healing, and this skill wouldn’t just benefit me but my entire party of we were close enough. It could have helped those poor farmers, it could have kept Fogwarth on his feet against Daiki. Could it have even prolonged Ix-Lok’s life? I dwelt on that thought longer than I wanted to.

No, I couldn’t make this decision based on the past. This was one for the present and the future. What would save us now and save us again later?

It was great to see a passive show up again. I love the idea of passives. Not always as immediately beneficial, but they were like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz. Always there, always helping, and never asking for much in return. The major downside of this particular one was that I had no idea what an Expertise was or how I would figure it out to begin with. I tried to find it on my interface but found nothing.

Then, there was the shrub thing. The [Battle Orchid]. Another familiar. Wonder what that weirdo Goomba would think about it? How many could I even have? Still, it was tempting just to bolster our numbers a bit more and maybe add some more damage. Its cooldown was way shorter than Goomba so it would be a more practical ally if it died and needed to be summoned again. Wish it told me what the thing actually did. If it was anything like Ak and Ix then it would be a valuable asset for sure, but… it could literally just be a plant. It might not even walk.

Decisions, decisions. I thought about it for another long stretch, seeing advantages to both of the active abilities. Eventually I caved and sought the advice of my two cell mates. I described my choices, which caused them to ask about my current skills, which then prompted Aspenoc to beg me to divulge my full status information to them; I could tell the elder bee was aching to know given that as an Oracle he would normally just know these things anyway, had he had access to his Mana. I had to wonder how often it got him into trouble having that much knowledge.

Especially if the king was a possible sociopath and admitted murderer.

Regardless, it gave me what I needed.

“The passive is the most intriguing to me,” the king said, staring at the ceiling in thought. “Though, I have my reservations on familiars, and have little use for support healing. Obtaining ranks in your Expertise becomes extraordinarily difficult as you progress, and one day you will be thankful for such a boon.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Aspenoc chimed in before I could, leaving me looking like a confused guppy.

“Little good it would do him if we all face the fire in the morning,” Aspenoc croaked. “We must utilize this to our own dwindling advantage. If what Barry claims is true, then he has a rare growth path indeed. Very few, if any, obtain abilities every other level gained. Moths seem to gain them at each of four level intervals, and my own people at every third odd number, such as levels three and nine. This is rapid power potential, and while the passive may bolster Barry beautifully in the time ahead of him, it does little now. We must think of ourselves, my lord.”

“Well hold on, wait a minute,” I said but was spoken over again.

“Then, if we must, the choice is only the familiar. This Fight Daisy or Punch Tulip. Alright, blueberry friend, please choose the Brawl Lotus,” the king said.

I furrowed my brown and glared daggers at each of them, stem arms folded over my berry body and my lips turned in a sour grimace.

“It’s a [Battle Orchid],” I scoffed. Literally scoffed. I never scoff. But this time? Oh, this time I scoffed. “And let’s back up here. I want to get out of here too, trust me. I don’t want to die from some fucking bees. But, are we sure this is the move? I mean I don’t even know what an Expertise is! That could be useful, right?”

Aspenoc shook his head. “We have little time to assist you with that, and it is disheartening that you have not yet discovered it through your travels with others. It should have opened to you the moment you claimed your Tier 1 path, and yet it has not. Your path is indeed one of mystery, and it is difficult to discern where it will lead. For now, sadly, we must focus on our current affairs. The Scuffle Dandelion is the only move we have in this game of life or death. We must make it while we can. The sun will rise in only a few short hours, and it will wait for no one.”

“Hate this place…” I muttered under my breath as I brought back up my skill tree and selected the ability.

I watched the others options fade to gray like a pre-storm sky and focused on my new ability. I briefly spread a glance at all of the other abilities that have passed me by. I wondered what it would have been like should I have chosen the others. Would any have assisted us now? Oh well, fuck it. I took a breath and prompted the [Battle Orchid].

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

At first I thought I screwed something up when nothing happened. The Mana drained from my blue bar, eating up a good portion but giving no results. I looked all around, waiting for it to be like one of those movies where I say something stupid then turn around to see the thing right behind me.

That’s not what happened.

The floor before me creaked and groaned. The crackle of splintering wood popped and I could see a seam in the planks begin to spread and bulge. I stepped back, the floor shifted below my stem feet like a rippling tide. As the cracking wood grew louder I grew nervous, cold sweat breaking out over my berry peel as I watched outside of the bars for the bee patrol to arrive. They had to have heard it, and if not then they would on their next round. Aspenoc must have had the same thought because he moved around to block the space between the breaking floors and the bars, blocking any easy visibility.

If some big ass Swamp Thing plant monster popped out I didn’t think Aspenoc trying to hide it would work too well, but then again it would be pretty cool.

A green tendril worked its way up through the crack, thin and wiggling. It grew until it was about the height of my stem leg, so let’s just say a foot and a half for the sake of argument. From the center stem two more sprouted from either side, while the unfurling white petals of a flower bloomed at its top. The bottom of the flower shoved up from the floorboard to reveal two small green root-like legs, and from the center of the flower itself I could see a small, grumpy face staring back at me. Green leaves sprouted in disorganized patterns from its shoulders, arms, body and legs.

The [Battle Orchid] stood before me, harrumphed, then stood in an old Irish boxing stance complete with two tiny, balled fists. It was absolutely fucking ridiculous.

I heard the king quickly squash a laugh.

The orchid huffed and groaned like a drunk guy looking for a bar fight, sizing up me, then Aspenoc, and even turning around to face the king, all while keeping its dukes raised high in front of it. When the orchid shuffled up to the king while still maintaining a full boxing stance he couldn’t hold it in any longer and proceeded to laugh. And laugh. And laugh.

“God damn it…” I said, seeing the alert pop up to name the thing, and feeling like I had just wasted a massive opportunity for a healing ability again. So much for an ability that would benefit us now and later.

Without hesitation I chose the name Scrappy, naming it after the worst and most foul-tempered character from Scooby Doo. It fit the orchid’s aesthetic better than I would have liked, and I dejectedly looked at the familiar’s stats.

[Name: Scrappy.

Title: None.

Race: Battle Orchid Familiar.

Level: 1.

Class: Pugilist.

Rarity: Common.

Equipment Level: 11]

I’d be lying if I said the equipment level didn’t piss me off. 11? It was low, but I was at a flat out 0 when I first got here. Did this world consider the tiny fists to actually be an effective weapon? Whatever, I’d get over it eventually. Nothing else really stood out about the status. I knew from my interactions with the Golems, and now Goomba, that the level would increase, and Ak proved that evolution was possible if I do whatever it is I needed to for the unbinding. The class made sense too, and it made me question if it could use fist weapons. Really tiny fist weapons. Like brass knuckles or one of the gladiator scissor things.

“Now this is just a fine creature,” Aspenoc chimed in, getting close to the orchid. He reached his chained hands out toward it in a friendly gesture. “Come here, let me get a better look at you, little orchid.”

Before Aspenoc could even touch the thing, it turned and gave a series of three quick jabs at his hand, followed by a left haymaker; guess the orchid was a southpaw. I watched as a bunch of -0s fluttered up from the jabs followed by a big old -1 from the haymaker. I couldn’t help but to chuckle.

We were screwed, that was for sure. But, I had a plan, sort of. With a quick check of a certain cooldown timer I became confident that plan just might work.

“Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do. Just trust me on this.”

“Aye! Aye! What is that? Is it… some type of Tussle Lily? Squash it, men!”

That was what we had heard from outside of our cage the first time I put my plan in action. I couldn’t help but feel defeated as I watched the bee soldiers stomp out my little flower buddy until the notification popped up a moment later.

[Your familiar, Scrappy - Level 1 Battle Orchid, has died]

It stung. It wasn’t a great feeling at all, and I genuinely felt bad for the little guy. Knowing how sentient Ak and Ix were, or Goomba for that matter, made it even worse. But, I buckled up and went for it again. And again. And again.

“Okay, Scrappy. Try again, but be careful, little buddy. I know you want to fight them, I get it. I promise you will get your shot, trust me on that. But, for right now I just need you to stick to the dark, sneak, and find them! You got this, Scrappy?”

It nodded, putting up its dukes and throwing a couple practice jabs before making another attempt.

The orchid had shifted from his old man boxing stance for a more nimble, ninja style after the last two attempts. I was impressed, the orchid was definitely smarter than I gave it credit for, which made its repeated deaths even harder. The walking flower rolled to the bars of the cage, smart enough not to touch them on this try as it waited for the flickering torch lights of the guards to make their way by before slipping outside of the cage, clinging to the shade and the shadow.

This was shot number four for us and, between waiting on the cooldown and for the Mana to replenish, we had eaten up a full additional hour and a half. I anxiously worried about sunrise and kept an eye on the dark horizon, waiting for the morning glow of dawn. This was our only shot, and it had to work. If we pulled this off… If Scrappy pulled this off, I should say, then we could save ourselves. Hell, we could potentially save them all.

Scrappy moved with more precision and accuracy. It shimmied by a lone soldier, dodging just out of sight as the bee turned to investigate the scuffling sound it had heard, but at that point the [Battle Orchid] was already posing as a regular old flower behind a large rock. I had to nod in approval at that move, the guy was quick. It managed to root itself, twist its arms around its body, and even lilt a little all within two seconds flat. Shit, maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad pick after all. I stared at my little flower as it began to move again, vanishing out of my sight and into a large patch of darkness by a burned building.

I worried about it again for a moment, and selfishly worried about how much time we would have for other attempts too, but I had to put trust in the orchid. Scrappy knew where to go, and I just had to hope that they were still there or that there would be some trail it could follow to find them.

With that done, I pushed myself back to a corner and away from the pinned and chained wings of the king. I wanted to sleep since the [Tired] debuff had lingered a bit too long for my liking, but my mind wouldn’t stop racing. If… If this world was real, then this may be it. Maybe I was resurrected here for a new life only to be put to death a few short days into it. Even worse, I had people here I cared about.

Even if my closest friend actively wanted to eat me.

A long while later our silence was interrupted by two bee soldiers clanging their spears on the Soul Veil bars. The metal made a hollow sound like banging on the pipes of an organ which made my berry eardrums feel like they were going to burst. The three of us looked at the pair, both cackling as they continued to slap the bars to gain attention. Poor old Aspenoc had been startled out of a deep sleep and nearly jumped out of his robe.

“Wake up!” One said, still laughing with his gross bee voice. “Sunrise comes! Soon you shall stand trial before her majesty, Queen Gialda, for what chaos you have wrought, God Slayer! Awaken! And prepare for judgment!”

The two bees cackled as they wandered off back into the darkness, the subtle glow of a slow sun bathing a distant mountain range with a golden aura. An hour, maybe less. That was all we really had. Either the cavalry would come and my plan would work, or we would die. Looking at the king I had doubts on if someone who did what he said should be spared. I shook my berry and let those thoughts fall away like autumn leaves. I couldn’t think that way, not now.

From my corner I could only stare at the mountain ridge, watching the sky shift a bit more with each passing minute.

“Come on, Scrappy…” I muttered under my breath. “Come on…”