Ezekiel’s mana slots disappeared from the character sheet. A few options for fighting appeared, and someone else chose those.
Roll to hit for bite.
Tears pricked Rafael’s eyes as the d20 hung in the air. He wanted to do something, but time was frozen, and it wouldn’t let him go until he rolled the dice. Rafael panted, grabbing the die and shaking it. The die dropped out of his hands, and it landed on an eight.
Failed.
Roll to hit for claw.
This time, the die landed on a fourteen.
Success. Roll for damage.
Rafael rolled a d6, and it landed on a two. The +2 bumped it to four. What was happening? What was Ezekiel going to do.
With growing dread, Rafael wondered who Ezekiel was going to attack.
Time resumed, and Ezekiel finished his scream. He opened his eyes to show a green tint to them as he snarled at the velociraptor. Ezekiel actually snarled. He dropped his hands, showing ears with a distinct point, and his fingernails got bigger and thicker. But that was it. He still looked human. Hopefully he still had some humanity left.
“Shit, shit, shit. What just happened?” Derek asked.
Again, there was a roar in the distance, and Rafael felt the real danger of staying. But Ezekiel… what was Ezekiel?
The changed cleric tried to bite a little velociraptor, but the dinosaur backed away, startled. Instead, Ezekiel clawed at it, and it hit. The velociraptor got a face full of sharpened fingernails, gorging out its eyes before it stumbled and fell, dead.
“Ezekiel!” Milo shouted. “Are you okay?”
Quetzal slammed into the remaining small velociraptor, digging its baby fangs into that creature so hard the last little dinosaur collapsed to the ground, dead. Quetzal gave a chitter over its fallen prey before it took a chunk out of it, gulping it down.
Milo grabbed gold mana from his inventory and downed it, adding four more health points. His wounds didn’t look much better, and Derek looked beside himself with worry.
Milo held his torn shirt against his stomach. “Ezekiel, buddy? What’s going on? Do you know who we are?”
The Utahraptor shrieked, then swiped at Milo faster than the eye could catch. Him trying to heal himself didn’t matter. Milo groaned, collapsing to the ground, his hit points dropping to zero.
Derek stood up, pale. “No!”
The Utahraptor then ran. Ezekiel, the partial wererat, ran toward the raptor, shrieking. The raptor got the upper hand and slammed his jaws down on Ezekiel’s shoulder. It snapped, his shoulder caving in on itself. Ezekiel’s wererat eyes fluttered before they closed, and he collapsed.
“Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.” Derek slid next to Milo. “I’ll find some gold mana fast.”
“Level one. The goddamn creature was a goddamn level one!” Tyler shouted. The Utahraptor spun around, focusing on Tyler. He let out a shuddering breath. “And… Steven Spielberg was right to place you in the kitchen.”
The Utahraptor growled at Tyler, and their game master stumbled back, eyes wide. The creature was ready to pounce, and Rafael remembered that dinosaur could in fact hurt Tyler.
Quetzal started to chitter, short and angry, and both Tyler and the Utahraptor hesitated.
“No!” Rafael shouted, too far away to stop little Quetzal.
The Utahraptor spun around, trying to find the enemy, but it didn’t expect a baby drake. No one did. Quetzal leapt toward the Utahraptor, digging his teeth and slicing an artery, blood spraying everywhere. The Utahraptor roared before it stumbled. Quetzal stayed attached to that neck, biting down as hard as his baby jaws could. The raptor collapsed, the life snuffed out of its eyes, before Quetzal let go. He scrambled on top of the dead creature’s head and let out the smallest roar Rafael ever heard. Rafael, Tyler, and Derek stared, jaws dropped.
“How… how the hell…” Rafael honestly didn’t know how to finish that.
Quetzal started eating the raptor, wiggling his bum, his health points rising a few numbers. Rafael would have stared the rest of the night, his mind so scattered. How the hell did Quetzal take down a Utahraptor with three CCNC characters knocked out? The only thing that brought him out of his reverie was that time stood still.
Make a death saving throw.
Rafael let out a breath, seeing the d20 hanging in front of him. He grabbed it, not liking his current rolling streak. But he was relieved when it landed on eighteen.
Success.
“I’ve got them.” Derek held three glowing vials of gold mana. “Feed it to them fast before we get any more of those death saving rolls.”
Rafael took a vial and ran over to Ezekiel.
Tyler held out his hand. “Give me the princess’s.” Derek gave the vial to Tyler. Rafael knelt next to Ezekiel. The cleric was breathing deeply and fast, like something was caught in his lungs. He didn’t know what Ezekiel would do when he woke up, but Rafael didn’t want to chance it to the death saving rolls.
He opened the vial, forcing the gold mana into his mouth. Ezekiel at first didn’t react, then coughed as the gold mana worked inside him. He coughed again, partially sitting up. Rafael backed away, still worried, and watched as eight health points trickled into Ezekiel’s health bar. Rafael then studied Ezekiel’s face, seeing his eyes return to their blue color. His ears were slightly pointed, and his fingernails were still long, like claws. Ezekiel groaned, holding his head. “I’ve got… the worst headache. What… happened?”
“Do you remember?”
“Everything until… when I saw you holding the dice. Then it got… fuzzy.”
Rafael exhaled. Ezekiel was sort of back. He had the pointed ears and long claws, but he was still Ezekiel. It must have been a moment of weakness when the lycanthropy was triggered. Which didn’t bring Rafael much comfort. Ezekiel was now a walking wererat bomb, and it might be dangerous bringing him to battles.
Rafael watched as a hundred and fifteen experience points tumbled into the bar, giving his cleric two thousand, one hundred and sixty points. Rafael’s heart fell. They couldn’t just leave Ezekiel at home. He was the lowest level character of all of them. He needed to be in these battles.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Tyler helped Clarissa sit up. Rafael searched the ground, looking for Quetzal as he helped Ezekiel to his feet. All three of their characters stumbled with their low hit points. They barely survived a low-level creature with their terrible rolls and lack of mana.
Quetzal climbed up on Rafael’s shoulder, rubbing his head under his chin. The drake was heavy, and Rafael could barely support him on his shoulder, but he wasn’t about to push the creature aside. Rafael placed his cheek on top of the little guy’s head. “I owe you the most expensive steak I can buy. Thanks for saving everyone’s life.”
The baby drake chittered. Behind him, Tyler’s car door opened, and Rafael glanced over to see Evelyn step out of the car. Her leg had a claw mark on it that made him wince. It looked about as deep as the marks on his back. It covered half her calf as she climbed out. He almost turned to Derek to ask how many more bandages were in the first aid kit when Evelyn stood up. More importantly, he noticed her shirt covered in blood as she held it in place over her stomach. She looked paler. Rafael froze, staring at her stomach. The velociraptor never hit her stomach. Evelyn was hunched over, leaning against the car as she held out a hand.
“I’d like to say first that it isn’t as bad as it looks,” she said.
The trees shook as a roar sounded, dangerously close.
***
Evelyn knew what this looked like. She had spent half the battle going through a minor shock, but the wound on her stomach wasn’t as deep as she thought. It was simply bleeding. A lot.
Tyler leapt into action first, letting go of Clarissa and running over to her. She was still standing, clutching her stomach.
“How deep is it?” Tyler asked.
“Not deep. It’s… one of my gray marks. From the javelin stab last month. It… resurfaced and became a wound.”
Tyler grimaced, then looked at the three characters. There was a vibrating sound in the ground, and Evelyn clutched the car, fearing she’d stumble. A much bigger dinosaur was close.
Tyler pointed to Derek. “Give me the first aid kit. You, Rafael, Quetzal, and Milo get out of here. Fast. Ezekiel, front seat. Princess Clarissa and Evelyn in the back.” Tyler caught the first aid kit that Derek tossed to him. “Evelyn, are you okay if Princess Clarissa wraps your wound in the back seat while I’m driving?” She nodded. “Then we go. Now!”
It was a mad rush to the cars. Evelyn slid in the back, still holding her bunched up shirt to her stomach. She buckled herself in the middle as Ezekiel slipped into the front. Clarissa moved in next to her. Evelyn was breathing deeply, not sure if she could calm down until they were moving.
Tyler’s face was focused as he slid into the front seat. He started up the car, waving Derek and Rafael through. He shifted gears before reaching behind him, handing Evelyn the first aid kit.
“Clean it with water first, princess.”
Evelyn took it, trying to say something, but a vibration shook the car. Like a very, very, very large animal started running. She turned, trying to see out the window as Tyler slammed on the gas pedal. She gasped.
There, a mere mile away, outlined by the light of a few cars, was a dinosaur. The hairs on the back of Evelyn’s neck stood straight up. A primal fear awakened, the kind where an apex predator had their eyes on her. It was tall. So ridiculously tall, even a mile away. Evelyn was quite sure it could squish their car with its foot.
“Is that… a T-Rex?”
“No.” Tyler focused on the road. “It’s…” He glanced in the rearview mirror at the dinosaur crouching in order to run before he focused on the road again, pressing down on the gas harder. “It’s a dinosaur I could never pronounce. Just nicknamed him T-Rex’s big brother.”
Clarissa opened the first aid kit, quickly pulling things out as Ezekiel handed her a water bottle. Evelyn got a nervous jitter in her legs. She needed to run. There was a dinosaur behind them. A huge, T-Rex looking dinosaur. But they were in the car. They could drive faster in the car, but it was still terrifying. She checked again, watching as the distance between the dinosaur and the car grew.
“What’s the challenge level of that thing?” She needed to have a conversation.
“Twenty-two.” Tyler again glanced at the dinosaur behind them. “He will eat all our characters. And the car.” He again focused on the road, his breathing irregular, zooming past the other cars.
Clarissa held up a rag. “Are you ready?”
Evelyn nodded, lifting her shirt enough to show the cut in her stomach. Clarissa cleaned it as best she could. She tried to keep her mind off the huge apex predator chasing them. Tyler got onto the freeway, rubbing his face as he sped up. Clarissa was wrapping her stomach as Tyler pulled up next to Derek’s car. Tyler gave a thumbs up, and across the way, Derek did the same.
“We’ll be alright. Cars are faster than dinosaurs.” Tyler let out a long sigh, then glanced at the rearview mirror once again to see the dinosaur getting smaller.
“Right.” Evelyn glanced over her shoulder. “As long as we don’t get in a wreck. Or get pulled over.”
“Hey, we’ll be fine.” Tyler kept his eyes on the road, then rubbed his head. “Totally fine.” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat.
Clarissa tied the bandage around her middle, and Evelyn lowered her shirt. She lifted her leg, and Clarissa got to work on cleaning it. Ezekiel leaned over, hands in his hair. She wasn’t sure what to think about that pose, but she knew this was not the optimistic to a fault cleric they always had.
Tyler kept a hand on his forehead, trying to calm his breathing. Evelyn was worried, considering he was the one driving, and they definitely couldn’t crash right now. Even as the space between them and the dinosaur grew, she still felt the unease of being low on the food chain of a much bigger predator in the area.
Tyler placed his hand back on the steering wheel. “Is everything alright back there?”
“The cut’s not deep,” Clarissa said. “I even think an hour's rest will heal these wounds.” She finished tying the bandage, and Evelyn frowned.
“That’s… not how it works here,” Evelyn said.
Clarissa watched her. “What do you mean?”
“My leg is… it’ll be this way for a while.” Evelyn glanced at how long that cut was.
Clarissa blinked, confused. “I don’t understand. Your wounds… remain? For longer than a day?”
Evelyn shrugged. “Yeah. We don’t have… whatever you guys have that helps you wake up at full health.”
“Mana. The mana heals us. Our world is rich with it. And there’s some mana here, too. Perhaps it will heal your wound?” Clarissa asked.
“But what about in the beginning when you didn’t have mana here on earth?” Evelyn asked.
“We had enough filtering in our bodies to last us a week, I believe. After a week…” Clarissa’s eyes traveled to Evelyn’s leg. “Perhaps we would have suffered for weeks, the same as you.”
Evelyn paused, then glanced at Tyler. “Is it possible this’ll heal tomorrow? It was a velociraptor that got me, after all.”
She noticed how slumped Tyler’s shoulders were. How his hand went back to his forehead, staring ahead on the road. By the light of the passing cars, tears pooled in his eyes.
“Tyler?”
“We did this all wrong. Waited an hour after the stealth spell was used up before healing Rafael. We should have healed him ten minutes before the hour was up. We could have escaped unharmed. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Hey, we’re alright,” Evelyn said.
He sniffed, dropping his hand. “Your wound won’t go away tomorrow.” There was a deep pain in his voice. “It’s…. It’s the two worlds colliding. You got hurt in this world by accident. But it awoke one of the dormant injuries you received on purpose. It’s how this’ll go from here on out. Every injury from a mythical creature will trigger a grey mark. Depending on how much the Shrouded Domain is affecting our world will determine how deep the cuts are. They won’t go away. That… that feels more like a quest for Milo to figure out.”
Evelyn stared, wide eyed, right at the grey mark across Tyler’s throat. “Tyler…”
“I know.” Tyler glanced at her through the mirror. “You all have been stabbed way too many times.”
“No, I mean… you too. Phantom stabbed you a ton.” With a horrifying thought, she spun to look at Clarissa. “Does the bubble reach Tucson?”
Clarissa frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“Tyler—” Evelyn said.
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Too late.”
“I only ever attended battles when I’m in Elmwood. I hardly see any creatures,” Tyler said.
“And we are in New Mexico, and have seen multiple.” Evelyn kept her eyes on Clarissa. “Is there a way to stretch the bubble to Tucson?”
“When we get home, you’ll have to show me on a map where this Tucson is in relation to us,” Clarissa said.
“No need to wait.” Evelyn pulled out her phone and tapped the map icon. Clarissa looked at it with a raised eyebrow.
“These little boxes are incredible!”
Evelyn found Elmwood. “Here’s us. Here’s Tucson. Can your bubble reach here?” She pointed to the city.
Clarissa frowned, looking at it closer. “I’m not powerful enough to reach there. And won’t for a while.”
Evelyn deflated, her eyes drifting to Tyler’s neck. He kept his eyes on the road. “Again, Evie, I don’t enter battles until I’m in Elmwood.”
“True, but we ticked off an apex predator. Can he hunt you down?” Evelyn asked.
Tyler shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine. T-Rex’s big brother will stay here. No doubt confused about cars, and unable to pick up a scent.” Tyler tried to smile. “Believe me, Evelyn. I’ll be fine.” He returned his gaze to the road. “Let’s get home.”