Rafael remained quiet, keeping his character sheet open. More importantly, he kept Ezekiel’s hit points at the front of his mind. He would know if Ezekiel got hit at all, and so far, he was at full health. Rafael refused to think about what might happen if Pippa or another creature discovered Ezekiel. He didn’t know where his cleric was, and there’d be nothing more to do but roll the dice and hope for the best.

It was a risky move to do it this way, but he agreed they needed something more than the characters’ protection. With Akshi now dead, it brought him more relief. He was reminded once again that everyone else got experience points from that fight except Ezekiel. Grizzizzik’s offer to do another session became more tempting every minute.

Time slowed down, the opposite of what Rafael’s heart rate was doing. He was terrified a creature was attacking the cleric, but words appeared in front of him, almost like boxes of text appearing and disappearing.

Claw, accepted.

Sword, accepted.

Silver…

Rafael waited, his stomach churning, too afraid to look at anything else.

Accepted.

He let out a breath, even if his heart rate didn’t ease at all.

Roll one d6 to determine the strength of the silver.

He swallowed, grabbing the d6. He wasn’t sure what that meant, but he rolled it anyway. It landed on a two, and he winced.

Claw, +5 to roll.

Sword, +5 to roll.

Silver, +2 to roll.

+12 to total roll. Anything lower than twenty will result in a partial cure of lycanthropy, past twenty will make a total cure. A nat one, two, or three will result in total failure. Please roll for the cleansing ritual.

Rafael stared at the d20. His fingers trembled as he wrapped them around the die. Get an eight or higher. Statistics were on his side. He tried to steady his breathing as he wiggled his wrist, refusing to panic.

“It’s fine. It’s fine. If it fails, it won’t be my fault. It’s chance.”

He couldn’t do this. If it failed, he’d be a complete mess. But he couldn’t put this off anymore, either. He needed to know.

The dice clattered on the invisible table and he stared at it, not daring to look away.

Ten.

His chest exploded with relief.

10+12

22.

Number higher than 20 reached.

Lycanthropy cured.

Rafael wanted to collapse; the relief was that much. That was close. But close enough.

Time resumed, and Alejandra noticed his elevated breathing. “Rafael?”

He closed his eyes, concentrating. He felt the connection, the link, and he grabbed Ezekiel and teleported him to where they were.

Rafael opened his eyes as Ezekiel stumbled next to him, patting his face. The pointed nose shrank. His ears returned to normal. His teeth shrank inside his mouth, and a full head of hair grew back on his head, curly and blonde. There was almost a sheen to it. He turned to look at the full moon rising, then saw his friends and smiled. He about said something, but Clarissa had already barreled toward him. She slammed into him, and Rafael doubted she would ever let go.

“You’re alright,” Milo said, mostly in relief, but also to be sure.

“I’m alright.” Ezekiel kept his arms around Clarissa. “I felt it leave. It’s gone for good. I knew the silver would work.”

Clarissa was covering her face in his shoulder, sobbing with relief. Milo was hugging him too, and Hraktar walked over, scooping all three of them up and lifting them off the ground in a hug. Alejandra snorted at the action, not bothering to hide her smile. Ezekiel was alright. He was fine. The dice was in his favor tonight.

Rafael leaned over, gripping his knees. Five hundred experience points filled Ezekiel’s bar. It was nice, but everyone else probably got experience for killing Akshi.

Ezekiel was cured. That was the big thing. Rafael now had the time with Ezekiel they needed to get more experience points.

Ezekiel was hugging Grizzizzik, because of course he was. The rogue did nothing more than pat his back, muttering a few words. Nick pulled out his phone, checking the time. “Really glad you’re healed, Ezekiel. I’ve got to get back.”

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“Yeah.” Evelyn deflated a bit. “Princess? Are you staying at Ezekiel’s place?”

“Yes, if that’s alright,” Clarissa said.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

“Wait.” Grizzizzik held up a finger. “What about tomorrow?”

Ezekiel frowned. “What about tomorrow?”

“We need to do another session. Akshi’s gone. We could use this time strategically to level up,” Grizzizzik asked.

The cleric rubbed his chin, then nodded. “Actually, yeah. As long as there are monsters to fight, we should get rid of them.”

And just like that, it was decided. Everyone agreed to Ezekiel after him saying a simple phrase, and Grizzizzik’s eyes hardened ever so slightly before he rolled his eyes, heading toward the car. Evelyn reached into her pocket and pulled out the keys. Rafael frowned, trying not to stare, but he couldn’t help it. He watched Evelyn, Nick, and Grizzizzik leave as Evelyn got into the driver’s seat. He forgot that Evelyn’s birthday this week was her sixteenth, but it still surprised him that she was driving now.

Granted, he had bowed out of her life for three years.

Rafael shut his eyes, turning his head away as he tried not to shudder. He didn’t open them again until he heard her car pulling out of the dirt parking lot. When he did, he saw Ezekiel standing there, facing him. Rafael looked up at his character and tried to smile. “Hey.”

Ezekiel wrapped him in a hug that Rafael did not realize he needed. The stress from the past month, the worry, the ache, it melted away as he felt this assurance that Ezekiel was okay. Rafael hugged his character, closing his eyes. He remembered a month ago when he saw that dice land on a failure. He remembered how much it crushed him. It was all up to chance, but it didn’t matter, because it was all his fault. Some sort of karma for abandoning his friends and doing what he did to Evelyn. Ezekiel suffered a decay of character as he struggled to stay true to himself despite the monster wrestling in him. Something Rafael felt was another stark reminder of himself.

Ezekiel’s monster was gone. Rafael knew it would never be like that in real life. He couldn’t magically wave himself away from the consequences of his own actions, but when he remembered how crushed he was a month ago, he also reflected on how much he’d grown. He and Evelyn were attending sessions together, even if they kept their distance. They still ignored each other’s existence, but this was something he assumed wouldn’t happen for another decade, if it happened it all. To think it happened in a month felt surreal.

“Thank you,” Ezekiel said.

Rafael was afraid if he opened his eyes, the tears he was trying to hide would leak out. “I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s not true.”

“I rolled the dice. It’s all up to chance.”

Ezekiel let go of him, smiling. “You were here to roll the dice. You’re not running away anymore.”

Rafael tried to scratch the corner of his eyes to hide that the tears were coming. “I’m… trying.”

“And that means everything to me.”

Rafael nodded, his throat closing in on itself.

“Everyone, get some rest. We’ll stop by Calawit’s to pick up Quetzal, then ask her if she’s heard any rumblings lately to prepare for tomorrow,” Tyler said.

***

Alejandra walked in with the others before she knelt as Quetzal ran to her, lifting his body enough to rest his front paws around her neck.

“Oof! Quetzal, you’re getting so big!”

Calawit straightened her spectacles as Quetzal nuzzled Alejandra’s neck. “How old is the drake now?”

“Over a month.”

Quetzal was about the size of a smaller cocker spaniel, if the dog breed was blue and looked more like a lizard. But Alejandra could no longer lift Quetzal without grunting. The drake was packing muscle, and his jagged teeth were coming in far sharper and longer.

Calawit nodded, taking this in. “I give him another month or two before you can start taking him on your missions.”

Alejandra’s eyes widened, her mind flooding with fear. “A month or two?!”

“He is eager to help protect you and his friends,” Calawit said.

“He’s still a baby! I’m not taking him with us while we fight monsters. They’ll snuff him out.” Alejandra again looked at Quetzal’s fifteen hit points, shuddering.

“You can’t stop him from wanting to protect you. That much I know,” Calawit said.

“Please, just keep him here. He’s not ready.” Alejandra rubbed her arms.

Calawit sniffed, jostling her spectacles. “You can’t protect him by keeping him from a battle. That helps no one.”

“He’s not ready yet.” Alejandra felt like a broken record, but it didn’t make it any less true.

“Of course not. That’s why I said another month or two.” Calawit climbed up a bookshelf to return to her desk. Alejandra still kept a hold of Quetzal, too afraid to let him go.

“Cal, a question, so we don’t pester you tomorrow,” Tyler said.

“Yes, there are more creatures trickling into this town. I have a feeling you soon won’t need me, because they’ll be covering this place.”

Tyler’s face fell. “Really?”

“Yes. Really. I sense four other places in this realm that are producing mana that draw these creatures, but this is the one that alerts the more powerful ones. We’ve been here for months, and many of the creatures are now finally approaching the bubble.”

“Well, now we’ve approached a conundrum,” Derek said. “If we level up too quickly, the new monsters will flood the town. But taking them out fast will level them up, anyway.”

Tyler grumbled, hands on his hips. “Yeah. My gut says we better take them out before they affect our world. Especially if there’s still over a thousand.”

Ezekiel approached Alejandra, then got on his knees near Quetzal. The drake sniffed, approaching a smiling Ezekiel. The cleric held out his hand. Quetzal gave one sniff before running up to Ezekiel and placing his head under his chin. Ezekiel chuckled as he gave the drake a hug.

“Yeah, little one. It’s gone. Thank the Great Lady it’s gone.”

“You say we’re about to be flooded with creatures?” Derek asked.

“This place already is flooded with creatures,” Calawit said.

Derek frowned, then exchanged glances with Tyler.

“Where are they?” Alejandra stood up. “We only fought Shelob and Bassie that one time in town. No other creature has stumbled far into town limits.”

“I sense them all in the bubble. There are a lot. It’s just… they remain on the outer edges of the bubble.”

Tyler faced Clarissa. “How big is the bubble now?”

“It can almost reach Tucson,” Clarissa said. “I’ve been maneuvering it so it can reach out there, bringing the base of the bubble closer to Elmwood.”

“Oh, thanks,” Tyler said.

“Have you seen any of the creatures while coming here?” Rafael asked.

“Not too much.” Tyler shrugged. “Though I haven’t been looking.”

“They’re mostly here around the borders of the bubble nearest Elmwood, because they can sense the five of you,” Calawit said. “They’re keeping their distance from others, but I don’t like that they’re staying over there. Monsters in groups larger than three always unsettle me.”

“I think that’s a common feeling,” Rafael mumbled.

Ezekiel kept a hold of Quetzal as he remained on his knees. “Why are they staying at the edges of the bubble, though?”

“I’m not sure.” The shopkeeper adjusted her spectacles. “And I hate that I’m not sure.”

“We could go check for you tomorrow,” Ezekiel said.

“Just don’t die,” Calawit said.

Ezekiel shrugged. “Haven’t so far.”