The most annoying thing about it all was that I knew asking would be pointless. I could only conjecture about Gigi's words. Xe appeared to have foreknowledge of the Dungeons, much like Xanth, but unlike them, xe was… human? I didn’t want to put any stock behind xir moderated response to Wren’s question, but it felt like the only real option. Xe looked human enough. If I saw them at Comicon I probably wouldn’t have batted an eye. Gigi could just be an exceptionally weird person.
We all carefully made our way down from the wall to stand next to the xem. Xe smiled widely at us, flashing pure white teeth more suited to a celebrity who had them blasted with hydrogen peroxide on the weekly. Now closer, I could study Gigi a little more. Xir skin was flawless, nary a wrinkle to be seen. In fact, the only thing that could be said to mar xir dappled complexion was the beauty spot above xir brow. Brows that, in their silver, were so thin and sparse you had to double take to see them.
Judging xir age was impossible. Xe could be anywhere from twenty to fifty, maybe even older. Which would either make xem older than the rest of us, or only older than Wren. That was if Tam was actually be into her late thirties. Though I’d never ask her. I feel like somehow she’d be able to break the command on her collar and run me navel to nose.
“So, what’s in the shrine?” I asked, thinking it a safe question. It wasn’t anything about the background or lore of the “game” we were in, so it should be a topic we could breach. There’d be no point in censoring that information since it didn’t give us any unfair advantage since Gigi would already know it.
Xe blinked. “I do not know.”
“What the fuck,” came Tam’s understandable response. “Why is everyone so damn chicken shit. This party might as well be called Just No N—” Her gaze slid over Wren for a moment. “—Guts. Even the clown can barely squeak xir nose in the face of the unknown.”
The newcomer to our party looked confused. “I am not a clown. I am [REDACTED].”
Jye ran a hand under their chin in consideration, then nodded. “She’s just being mean because she can’t hurt you anymore.”
They weren’t wrong. Something in Tam craved violence. Whether it was her sponsorship with Mumma, or an innate quality within the woman, she was ready to throw down and enjoy it at any moment. I only hoped that whatever awaited us in the shrine would whet her appetite. At the very least, she wouldn’t be able to come directly at any of us in Just Friends. Somewhere in the deepest vestiges of my brain, something I didn’t want to acknowledge, the phantom pain of her blade slicing through my clavicle still fresh in my body, part of me wanted to see her fight someone else and mean it. It would be something worth seeing.
Well, if the shrine held a fight, for once our party might stand a chance with its current composition. That’s if we could all work together. I cast a glance at the faces of my team and suddenly felt the odds shift dramatically lower.
Tam loathed or maybe pitied me, or had, despised Axel, and thought little of Jye. Jye hated Axel (a lot) in a will-they-or-won’t-they kind of way, and was a bit on the off-and-off with me, but somehow was only judgemental towards Tam. Wren was acting normal, but there was no chance she was really okay with what I’d done with the wall explosion. Axel was still his weird self, disliked Jye in general, couldn’t tolerate Tam, mostly ignored Wren, and had lowkey been avoiding me. In fact, the only person in our party who didn’t harbour some sort of grudge was the person we’d met not just five minutes ago. And xe looked to be joining us on Tam’s shit list, if her disgusted expression was anything to go by.
Oh, what tangled webs we weave.
Trying to put the party’s interrelationships on the backburner, I asked, “Gigi, what are your abilities? And, Tam, tell me yours.” I paused. “Actually, can you all just give me carte blanche on access to your skills?”
The silver-eyed potentially non-mortal tilted xir head. “I do not understand your usage of French. But my skills are [Shield Wall] and [Focus]. I am primarily here to defend.”
Cheering my own victory in inviting xem to the party, I said, “You have no idea how relieving that is to hear. My only skill is [Channel]. I need everyone’s consent to use their abilities.”
Gigi nodded once curtly. “You have my consent.”
Thinking back to the [Collar of Control], I turned to Tam. “This is part of helping the party.”
“Jeez, sucks that Mumma says this don’t count as ‘when necessary.’ You should really learn to pick your words better, sunshine.” She bared her teeth at me, a smug look in her brown eyes. I breathed out slowly, not allowing the anger to form. Yeah, that really was on me. But when push came to shove she’d have to lend a hand. I had to count on that and her own desire for self-preservation. I immediately gave up on even learning her abilities.
For their part, Jye seemed genuinely apologetic. “Oh, damn, sorry, man. Hadn’t realised I hadn’t given you the go-ahead yet. You can use Load all you want. Though I really don’t know how to explain how to use it.” They scratched at their chin. “It’s like… summoning the emotion of a grunt.” The redheaded giant shrugged. “Yeah, good luck.”
“Thanks,” I said, and even I wasn’t sure I meant it.
Wren smiled. “You’re welcome to use mine, Lee.”
Returning her expression, I raised a hand and ruffled her short hair. She giggled as she pushed me away. The childish delight made me recall Chrissie, but for once the thought wasn’t tinged with regret and sadness and loss. It was just a nice reminder of her laughter.
With a strange surge of affection, I said, “Who knows, maybe I can pay you back sometime. By my count, I think I owe you something like two lives?”
“I mean, you’re responsible for everyone. You have to make that four because of Axel and Tam.”
A chuckle escaped me. “Did not know you were keeping tabs like that, kid.”
Her smile faltered slightly. “Well, a part of me is always thinking about stuff like that. Since the Gates appeared. Lives I’ve saved and lives I…”
Immediately guilt swamped me. I’d reminded her of the trauma of her past. Real smooth, Lee. Eugh. Kids weren’t supposed to carry such weight on their shoulders. She shouldn’t be holding onto life and death like this. “I’ll tell you what, let me ease your burden on that. I’ll keep tally instead. Sound good?”
Wren’s head tilted in consideration and her lips scrunched together. “You’re gonna count us all, right?”
“Does he have to include Tam or Jye?” Axel asked from the side.
I ignored him. “Cross my heart.”
She thought for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”
Her smile seemed relieved and I was glad we’d had this moment. Taking in the expressions of my companions, despite how messy everything was between us all, a warmth filled my chest. I may not be fond of some of them. I may not understand most of them. But was I ever happy to have them. Without them, I don’t think I would be standing where I was. Hell, I was sure I’d probably be dead. Likely would’ve been killed trying to go into a Gate by myself without any planning, unable to fight the compulsion, and having no clue about any of what was happening. At the very least, with everyone here, slowly learning about the Dungeons, we were progressing. Surviving.
Granted, Tam had nearly killed me, and I’d nearly killed Axel, so this nice feeling probably wasn’t mutual all round.
I jutted my jaw at the empty hall of the walls directly opposite the shrine. “Let’s do a rest cycle. After that, we scope out the supposed exit.”
“Not to put a hamper on your grand plans, but what about that random fireball? For all we know, that trio is watching in wait for us to be vulnerable. They could get the jump on us like a certain someone while we’re recuperating.”
I hated when Axel had a point. Tam said nothing, her gaze shifting from side to side. Yeah, like she could pinpoint the others from where we were. We weren’t that lucky. I tried to consider the party’s skills, wondering if anything could help us. Maybe I could get Gigi to use… what was it? Shield something? So long as the mana or stamina cost wasn’t insane, they could probably maintain it. And maybe even I could use it.
Gigi held up a finger. “Oh, I can use [Focus]!”
“What’s that ability do?” Wren asked.
It sounded like something an archer or martial artist might use. Intense concentration to ensure that they either hit their target or to ensure they imbued the entirety of their strength into one specific target upon impact. I wasn’t sure what a [Vanguard] could use it for. Possibly, something similar to an archer to ensure they don’t let someone through their guard? It might be a little too heavy on the ask for Gigi or me to continue doing that during rests.
Xe didn’t respond to Wren’s question. Maybe xe were trying to think of how to word xir ability? God, I hoped it wouldn’t be a repeat of Jye’s glitch. Which reminded me, I hadn’t checked out the party’s status for some time. We didn’t get any experience from the trap triggering, which was quite disappointing, but I guess we’d been entirely obscured from view during it. The crystal wind would’ve completely blanketed us from curious eyes; the equivalent of watching the static hash on an old analogue TV. If that was that case, perhaps whoever or whatever was observing us wasn’t all-seeing. I stored that thought away for future consideration.
As I waited for Gigi to explain their skill, I popped open the party member menu with a thought.
Just Friends Party | LVL 18
* Lee | LVL 2 | All-Rounder (Party Leader)
* Axel | LVL 2 | Combatant
* J̵̡̢̠͙͉̠͐̄̎̇͛͠4̵̱̳͎̦̳̖͂̀̐͛̑͗1̷͍̮͓͍̹̹̃̓̊̊͐͝ | LVL 1 | |̵̮̲̪͒̽͝|̷̡̩͚̏̊͑\̶̹̙̖̈́̀̊\̵͈̺͋̒͗͜\̶̡̡̘̌̇̍|̵̤̜̟̽̏̂|̶̛̝̝̻͗̕4̷͍̗̭͛͘̕4̶̺̰̟͗͐͒|̵̺̘̀̒͗͜|̷͔̣̠͆̑̌2̵̹͇̜̇͒̔/̶̧͓͎͑́́|̴̢͍̭̊́͒\̴̙̮̜͋͊̂(̷̧͍̺̂̍͝\̸̨̬̥̀̊̄5̵̟͓̮͐̀͛|̵̛̬͇̼͊̀
* Wren | LVL 1 | Synergist
* Tam | LVL 2 | Cutthroat
* Gigi | LVL 10 | Vanguard
I stopped and stared at Gigi’s level, then glanced between my screen and xem. LVL FUCKING 10? My mind turned into a mess of thoughts, all of them accelerating into theories before crashing into each other and collapsing into meaningless muck. I had no words. I had nothing to say. Even a question wouldn’t come out. After a second, my blue window popped up, revealing something I had never seen before.
Party member Gigi wants to share player data. Accept | Reject
We could fucking do that?
Giving me an apologetic smile, xe said, “Sorry. It has been some time since I last did this. I forgot how.”
I didn’t have the time to unpack that statement and instead I consented to receiving Gigi’s information.
A second screen appeared to the right of mine, in a different hue of blue, something closer to purple. Looking between the two, it became clear that this full menu was Gigi’s entire system. It responded to my thoughts as though it was mine, but the information was Gigi’s. I scoured xir data in deep interest.
Other Student* Player Gigi | [Vanguard] | LVL 10
Titles
[Other] Helping others is the only way the owner of this title earns XP.
[Student]* Boosts all experience gain.
100 HP | 10 MANA | 30 STAMINA
Traits
[Stubborn] One injury per Dungeon that would otherwise result in death results in HP remaining at 1.
Abilities
[Shield Wall - 5S] Summon a spectral barrier to defend party members.
[Focus - 10Mc] Project an aura that diverts range attacks to the user.
11 STR | 20 CON | 1 DEX | 10 END | 10 WIL | 2 INT
*Title retained while player remains a member of party Just Friends
There was so much to take in that I struggled with what to focus on. I hadn’t checked my own name since we’d begun, but looking at it now, the title we gained upon entering this Dungeon had affixed itself to mine with the same bottom disclaimer. In simple writing, it said: Student* Player Lee Baz Smith.
Thinking back to it, the wording of the announcement had been “Party Just Friends rewarded titles of Student.” So, the title was attached to the party, not the party members… If anyone joined our party from now on they would get the temporary title. That was insane. It was like a permanent optional buff. It could even be used as a way to convince people to join our side.
I rescanned Gigi’s info. The [Other] title was a weird one. I guess that was why Gigi had been so eager to join our party (and also why xe was so… odd). Xe wouldn’t be able to level up without helping others. But at LVL 10 already, did xe even need to level up any further? Could xe level up further? Surely there was a level cap.
Though at xir level, their attributes were kind of low. Not like my low, but much lower than I imagined someone at LVL 10 to be. As I considered xir stats, I had to agree that the distribution made sense for their class. Xir foundation of focusing Constitution to take damage, and then spreading the secondary priority equally into Strength to fend off people, Endurance to survive the damage, and probably Willpower to defend against magic was well thought out. Dexterity and Intelligence being xir dump attributes was understandable; xe was essentially meant to be an immutable wall.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Still, the numbers looked like they belonged to a much lower level player. If I added them all up, it equaled out to 54. Granted, in totality, mine was only 24, so maybe that was a decent sum of attribute points. But it begged the question, how had Gigi gotten credits if xe’d increased their stats? I’d have to ask xem later.
Their trait was interesting too and would be super helpful if things got super dire. With [Stubborn], Xe could basically tank past xir death, though not for long. I wonder how it worked for injuries like what Axel and I had sustained. Bleeding or lingering DoTs… Did it mean xe’d survive a single hit of either of those status damagers and then die anyway? That’d suck ass.
And finally the abilities… [Shield Wall] wasn’t half bad. And if xe could summon it multiple times, the entire party might very well be incredibly safe. Since I had the stamina required to use it too, we could even double them up. I turned my attention to the ability that Gigi had suggested xe use [Focus].
It was literally the perfect ability for our party and our current situation. I had been an idiot to think of dismissing it. Or maybe whoever had named the skill was the idiot. Who calls an aggro skill “Focus”?
But, man, I was a little jealous. Why hadn’t my character sheet even slightly looked like this?
“Gigi, damn.”
I blinked, realising that I’d been silent for an exceptional amount of time and everyone was waiting on me to say something more. Briefly I explained what just happened. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Jye wearing a particularly sour face. That’d figure. They couldn’t read the status window at all.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Gigi’s ability [Focus] draws range fire. It’ll focus aggression on xem. We’ll split watch 50-50 between me and Gigi. Pick your poison.” I flourished a hand between the two of us.
Tam chose Gigi. I could understand why. She wanted to keep an eye on xem. Jye also chose Gigi. That I understood too. The redheaded giant had taken a liking to xem. Wren and Axel picked me, which secretly made me happy. Maybe Wren had truly forgiven my mishap. I was surprised Axel had gone with me, but he’d been the slowest to react so he must’ve ended up with me rather than actually wanting to be on my watch shift. Ah, well.
In silence, we set up camp, Gigi mixing into the fold as though xe’d been part of us from the get go. I watched xem curl into xir coat, having refused Wren’s bed roll on account of being worried xe’d stretch it out. Given the bare ten centimetre height difference between them, I really don’t feel it was a genuine concern but a courtesy extended to her out of politeness (though possibly the width and breadth of Gigi’s body might present the issue). Generally, after a person refused an offer, you were meant to double check, and then they could accept without feeling like they’re imposing. But maybe Wren wasn’t old enough to pick up on those types of social queues. That or she’d deliberately chosen to ignore the etiquette. It was possible. Out of the whole party, the only person she’d been outright insulting to had been Gigi.
I volunteered my group for first watch, and I activated [Channel] and borrowed [Focus] from Gigi. Much like [Thick Hide], the ability had a mana cap, halving the pool I had access to. In contrast to Axel’s skill which felt like a warm second skin, Gigi’s [Focus] was more like someone whispering your name across from you in a crowded hall. You could tell something was there, you knew it, but when you turned to look, nothing. The ability was an unseeable presence that I could innately tell where it ended. It was like having another sense.
We settled in, cracking open some of the packets of health food we’d scavenged from Woolies. There had still been around four days left, but with Gigi, now we’d be only okay for maybe three. That was assuming xe ate… Yeah. They were human, so they definitely needed sustenance. I wasn’t even able to convince myself.
Axel and I divvied out the food between ourselves and Wren, and we passed around one of the beer bottles we’d refilled with water back at the gym. I was surprised that in the desert biome we hadn’t been consuming more considering the heat. We’d definitely been sweating more. Well. I had. This fucking temperature. I was essentially a human water fountain, with my pores being bubblers.
I took back what I’d said about dry heat being better than wet heat. Clearly the narrator of that documentary had never lived through either.
Because both sucked ass.
After the exploding wall, most of us had had to change, with the material we’d been wearing ripped and shredded beyond usefulness. You could have barely called any of it even just cloth, to be honest. Not wanting to waste a completely clean set, I’d just changed tops. My hoodie had been eviscerated through to my tank top underneath. Surprisingly, my tracksuit pants had come out of the gale whole, though they now looked stylishly distressed. Or that was what I was telling myself. In reality, I probably looked like I’d lost my home in Cyclone Tracy. That was the one good thing about the apocalypse though. Without the social pressure of having to look decent in public, so long as I wasn’t indecent, I was fine continuing with the torn legs of my trackies.
However, since we’d been walking for perhaps a solid half day after that, that meant I’d now been wearing them for three days straight. There was no way I didn’t smell inhuman. I hadn’t considered deodorant when I’d packed for leaving our flat. Unlike other people I didn’t really have a stay-over kit for infrequent trips to friends and family members’ places, so no pre-packed toiletry bag ready to go.
I gave myself a whiff test, lifting my arm slightly. The shirt seemed all right, but it was possible I’d just lost my ability to differentiate funkiness from normality because I’d been basking in my own stench for so long. I mean, it wasn’t ideal, but what were we supposed to do? Perhaps we could bring baby wipes? Actually, I’d heard sand was a pretty good cleanser. Or we could go Roman and strigil oil off our bodies. Unless there was a potable water source in a Dungeon, traditional modern hygiene was basically impossible.
Along with the baby wipes, maybe I could head back home and pick up the low-profile dry deodorant my mum had once sent in one of her yearly birthday present parcels. I’d never opened it, since my preferred deodorant was roll-on. And while there, I should probably pick out more clothes. Or better yet, why didn’t we use our apartment as a base? It wasn’t like there was any reason we couldn’t. Axel had said we should be prepared to never go back, but nothing was really stopping us. Other than actually being able to clear the Dungeon.
As much as it felt like I was jumping the gun, thinking about this kind of stuff made the watch pass quickly. I hoped I wasn’t jinxing us all by believing we’d clear this Dungeon and even maybe enter more.
Ah, well, better to be pragmatic in my optimism than nihilistic in pessimism. Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst, and all that jazz.
So, was there anything else we should have ready next time, at least human necessity wise?
Wait.
…
It had completely escaped my mind, but I was suddenly hit by an unwelcome realisation. I hadn’t had to go to the bathroom since entering the Dungeon. Literally… I’d felt no urge to. No tight bladder, or pressure in bowels. Absolutely no signals about relieving those basic human needs had been sent to my brain.
I’d gotten hungry and thirsty though.
Briefly, I was reminded of a terf’s famous wizarding school media franchise; a ridiculous post she’d once Tweeted. That no one needed to shit because they magicked it out of their colons. No. That’d be ridiculous. That would be stupid.
…
And yet, it was coming up on our fourth day in the Dungeon.
Wren was idly scraping one of the Kmart knives into the crystal floor, etching out stick figure drawings which I’d definitely be asking about later. While she was preoccupied, it was probably the only time I’d ever consider bringing up this topic.
I turned to Axel. “This is probably not the most appropriate moment to ask this.”
He crunched into a stale vegetable crisp, eyes flat with disinterest. “Hmm?”
“Have you been… regular?”
My lifelong friend blinked slowly at me.
“What?”
“Like… you know. Regular.” I vaguely gestured toward my midsection, feeling as awkward as the movement had to look.
His expression upon understanding was a combination of disgust and displeasure, crinkling the bridge of his nose and upturning his top lip. Neither facial change did anything to mar his aesthetically appealing and photogenic features. Yeah, that’d be right. If I so much as smiled wrong, I knew the resulting selfie would be ruined. Eugh. This is what happened when I spent too much time with Axel. I started comparing myself to him.
He said, “Look, I know we’re on the up-and-up, but we aren’t and, being very honest, have never been that close.”
I’d already dug my grave. “Since we entered the Dungeon. Have you…?”
Axel let out a long exhausted sigh.
“How much longer is our watch?”
“I’m going to take that as a no.”
So sample size of two meant the Dungeon was… evaporating the human waste from our bodies? I’m pretty sure I would’ve noticed excrement being teleported out of my internal organs. Whatever. In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t important. Just a really, really, really weird… perk(?) of being in a Dungeon.
Trying to move past my relatively poor taste of subjects, I noticed that in the corner of my eye that Axel’s gaze was fixed to around half a metre in front of him. He had to be checking his menu out. Must be nice to have so many skills. And secrets. Actually… maybe I could get to the bottom of Axel’s mental instability.
I said, “So, Gigi shared xir player data with me.”
“You mentioned it before.”
“Yeah.” I took a breath to steel myself. “Do you think you could share yours with me?”
Blue eyes met mine. A flash of panic in a millisecond.
“I don’t know how to. Maybe later?”
The muscle in his jaw twitched, and he glanced away.
Why was he always lying to me? Part of my stomach clenched in annoyance, and maybe hurt, but I brushed away the reaction. I don’t know what I’d been expecting. Axel had said we were on the up-and-up, but it felt like I was just as distant as we’d been since our confrontation on the cabin deck.
“Fair. Maybe I’ll ask Gigi about it.”
I obviously still needed to work on our relationship. God, whoever thought friendship was supposed to be this hard? Well, apologising for what I’d said back then would be a good start. Since it was basically just him and me again, this was practically the perfect time to.
“By the way, I don’t hate you.”
His body visibly went rigid. The man I’d known all my life smiled sadly back at me, that look in his eyes that I still didn’t understand, the one that was behind his unspoken upset, the source of whatever anguish took over him.
“You never hated me.” Then Axel winked, the mournful expression gone like a match snuffed, his sitting position again loose. He preened. “Because I’m simply too perfect.”
I decided to let the bipolar dip pass by. Calling it out would just put his guard up again, and we’d be back to square one. Though I often made shit decisions, I wasn’t in favour of self-sabotage.
Scoffing, I asked, “Says who?”
“I’ve a list.” He crossed his arms smugly.
“You would.”
I shook my head but was unable to fight back the smile. For a moment, as we sat there, sharing the flavourless vegetable chips, it was like we were back in our apartment, watching something on the TV. Normally after a short time, Axel would get up and leave, to hang up with the friends who were more involved in his social life. Or they’d visit and take over the lounge and I’d retreat back into my bedroom. It wasn’t like they’d all been bad people. Just not the type that I liked to interact with for any length of time.
It made me wonder why I liked Axel.
Why I even wanted to repair and maintain our friendship.
…
I guess that’s just what happens when you know someone for so long. They become a part of you and not having that is like a piece carved from your very being. You’re not whole without them. Maybe that’s why Axel had never truly left me either.
Hah. Fat chance he was that sentimental.
“Oi, leave some for me,” I said, trying to snatch the packet from Axel’s hands.
He flipped the chips over, revealing it was now empty.
“Too late,” he snickered.
“You can have some of mine.”
I looked down to Wren who had finished her floor carving. It looked like six stick figures. As I stared, it registered who they were meant to be. It was Just Friends. All six of us. I couldn’t explain it, but tears threatened to prick at my waterline. This etching was like being presented a family drawing to stick on the fridge.
“Who’s who?”
She pointed to each of them, naming us off. Eerily, she’d gotten the height disparity quite accurate, and each stick figure had been marked with something distinctive to separate us further, all in almost dynamic poses. Wren had given Jye jacked arms and traps and they were dabbing. Tam, with had long braids and a generous bust, was sneaking. Identifiable through xir beauty mark and vitiligo, Gigi was waving. Wren had carved herself smiling and giving a thumbs-up. When I looked at the remaining two, me and Axel, I found we were the only ones she’d chosen to have interacting. Our stick figures were posed in such a way that it was difficult to tell if we were fighting or hugging. I guess her artistic talent could only extend so far.
Still, it was an impressive show of promise for the future.
Was there a future for artists in the world we lived in now?
“Wren, these are all so amazing! I think my favourite is Tam, actually. You really nailed her.”
Even the cutthroat’s expression looked quite nefarious. It made me chuckle.
Wren smiled, her cheeks pinking, pleased with the compliment. “I think it’s my favourite too.”
“What do you think, Axel? Jye’s pretty good too.”
Said blond’s gaze was stuck on our carved interaction. But then he tilted his head, his eyes sliding over the others.
“Obviously, the Wren is the best.”
I looked back to her carving of herself. It was the one she’d done last, and you could actually visually see the growth over the progress of her etchings. Each one was slightly better proportioned, more confidently carved with straighter and less messy lines. Logically speaking, the Wren was the most practised and skilled drawing.
Leave it to Axel to be so literal.
She considered her response for a moment. “I think it looks the best, but I don’t really like it as much.” Propping her hands on her hips, she continued, “Maybe because I know what I’m like and what I made isn’t like that.”
What a rather philosophical perspective. I didn’t even know myself well enough to know what this ten-year-old did about herself. Clearly we’d lived completely different lives. And she’d lived more in her ten years than I had in my nearly three decades. I crouched down and ran my fingers over the etchings. Part of me wanted to add more to it.
“You mind if I join you?”
She shook her head. “You and Axel can take over. My hands are tired. I’ll keep watch instead.”
Then, passing me the knife she’d been using, she stood up and headed over closer to the only entrance that led from the labyrinth to the shrine. Kids these days. They had a good head on their shoulders. Or maybe that was just Wren. Certainly Chrissie hadn’t been so assertive and understanding.
“What do you think we’re supposed to be doing?” Axel asked, taking a position to my right. He pulled a knife from his system inventory, as natural as retrieving something from his pocket. Of course we could store regular stuff in the system. For some reason, I’d defaulted into believing we could only input Dungeon items. But if Xanthe could buy our Kmart knives, it should’ve been obvious to me.
God, why were we even carrying stuff around anymore?
I’d have to address this with the others when everyone was rested.
I focused back on Axel’s question. He was talking about the carving of us.
“Obviously I’m karate chopping your neck.”
Axel laughed.
“How’d you know that it’s not me hitting you?”
I snorted, and with my palm down flat, I moved it horizontally between our two heads. Even crouched like this, where I’d started at my forehead, my hand only came to his lips. His breath was warm against my skin.
“You’ve got like ten centimetres on me.” I withdrew my hand, and swapped the knife from my left into it. “High school was even worse since we hit growth spurts at different times.” Pointing at the carving, I said, “In Wren’s drawing, the shorter one is attacking the taller one.” Or hugging them, but I didn’t say that out loud. It didn’t make sense for Wren to have drawn the latter. She’d never seen us care for each other like that. So it had to be us fighting.
Axel mumbled something, but I caught none of it.
Instead, I began my own etching, adding some surrounding environment, like grass and trees and flowers. Typical kid’s drawing stuff. I added the obligatory black hole in the centre of the tree’s trunk.
Silently, Axel joined me, and we spent the rest of the watch like that.
…
It was nice.