The rest of my watch passed without comment, and I woke Jye for their turn. As soon as I closed my eyes, I was unconscious. That slumber was exhausting with dreams of people I loved dying without me being able to do anything. Again and again, I watched as my beloveds breathed their last breaths while I sat by their side, simply witnessing it, eyes blank and empty.
When Jye shook me awake, I felt more tired than I had before sleeping, but it looked like my stamina had regen’d to almost full. That was good at least. They seemed to restore faster with rest. It made sense. Axel had recovered faster when sleeping as well. Now we just needed to master actually falling asleep. It was something I was bad at even before all the Gates appeared.
Wren was already awake, and was chewing idly on some jerky.
“So. I guess I should explain,” she began as everyone gathered around.
She passed the packet to me, and I took a handful before giving it to Jye.
“That would be nice,” Axel oozed.
Rolling her eyes, she said, “By now you guys have guessed that I’m not just a Scourge.”
We all nodded. She had healed Axel, which definitely wasn’t a debuff.
“And that I’m also a Synergist.”
Again, we nodded. This much we all knew from the party information accessible via the status window. I’d mentioned it to Jye and Axel in passing whilst Wren was still unconscious. Axel hadn’t seemed surprised. Jye seemed delighted that there was another glitch character like them.
Wren cleared her throat. “All right, well. How to explain… I can swap between the two classes. I was originally a Synergist, but…” Her hazel eyes darkened.
“But?” I prompted, intrigued.
“But everything was so confusing when it started. I felt such a strong need to enter the CBD Gate. I didn’t even think about it. I crawled out of my bed, and went into it. There were a bunch of people in it already. Maybe seven of us?”
I guess I hadn’t been wrong when I thought she’d been through the gauntlet. However, this was far more complex than I’d been imagining. I thought maybe she’d lost her parents to the Gate, and then got separated. This was so much worse. Jye’s eyes were wide as they listened, but Axel had crossed his arms over his chest. There was a sceptic tone to his stance. Axel didn’t believe her? Why? What would she gain from lying to us?
Wren shivered. “It was like the arctic in that Dungeon, none of us were prepared. But it wasn’t like this one. The entrance was still there, the same Gate but inside the Dungeon. We could’ve all left. We could’ve all lived.”
“What do you mean?” Axel asked sharply.
Her eyes shot over to him, lips quivering. “No one wanted to leave except me. They…” She took a deep breath, “They demanded to know my class and abilities and threatened to hurt me. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Understanding of the situation was beginning to dawn on me.
“They made you join their party?”
She nodded softly, and her voice broke as she continued, “I told them everything I could see on my screen. We went further into the Dungeon. Eventually, we got into a fight with some sort of monster. It was big and furry, with sharp teeth. People got hurt. They screamed at me to help them. When I couldn’t heal them quick enough, they…”
It didn’t need to be said.
“Then what?” Jye asked, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“The remaining party members blamed me. Said I was the reason everyone had died. I did my best!” She was crying now, sobbing. Snot trickled out of her nose over her blubbering mouth.
Jye pulled her into a hug, letting her tears absorb into their shoulder.
In between gasps of air, she continued, “They left me there. In the middle of the Dungeon, as they went further in. They kicked me out of the party. I tried to track my way back to the Gate, but it was all white, the sky was white, the floor was white. My footsteps in the snow disappeared as I moved forward. And it was cold.”
She was shaking now in Jye’s embrace. “I couldn’t feel my fingers, and I knew that was bad. So I tried to use [Healing Hand] on myself. But I was low on mana. It drained me, like it did when I used it on Axel. I blacked out.”
All of us remained silent, waiting for her to finish.
“When I woke up, I was outside the Woolworths you found me in, and my class had switched to Scourge. I have a trait that appeared then. It’s called [Mercurial]. It lets me switch between my classes.”
That meant someone had to have helped her. But it sounded like her party had abandoned her. Maybe someone else had come across her, but hadn’t wanted to take on the responsibility of her proper, and yet still couldn’t leave a child to die. It wasn’t beyond the scope of reasonability. I mean, we had picked her up and she hadn’t even been in that dire of a circumstance. The possibility of other samaritans wasn’t that low. Though I guess leaving her alone without protection while she was still unconscious downgraded them to something closer to an anti-hero than a do-gooder. Still, I silently thanked them for helping her, whoever they were.
Axel pursed his lips in thought. “That’s why you wanted to know if we were going into the CBD Gate?”
“I didn’t want to go back in.”
He didn’t look convinced, but Axel was like that. Despite his social butterfly tendencies, he still believed the worst of everyone. Maybe it was because of them, actually. He knew a lot of different people and lived between rumour and gossip. But a child was not the same as the type of people he hung out with. Besides, what did a ten-year-old girl gain from lying to us about herself? Even if she wasn’t telling us the full truth, stepping up to take care of a kid is what any decent adult should do. Not what had happened…
“You could’ve told us,” Jye said, pulling back from her.
“You might’ve been just like them,” she said.
“You’re right.” The words I wish someone had told me when I was young suddenly found themselves pouring from my mouth. “You were right to distrust us.” The words would’ve protected Chrissie. “Sometimes adults can’t be trusted.” God, I wish someone had sat me down properly, and set me straight. “Sometimes adults are bad.”
I smiled at her, as kindly as I could. “But thank you for telling us now. And thank you for saving Axel. You didn’t have to.”
Axel cleared his throat. Not meeting her eyes, he said, “Yeah, thanks for that.”
She laughed through her tears. “You’re the first ones to thank me for using my abilities.”
“It won’t be the last time we’ll be thanking you either,” Axel replied.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
He wasn’t wrong. A healer in our party was crazy beneficial, especially when we still didn’t have a tank to take on damage. I reflected on the current party composition. It was still incredibly unbalanced in regards to ranged positions. Axel did frontline damage and had some crowd control, Jye did backline damage, Wren could cast debuffs and buffs from a distance, and I could only barely use anyone else’s skills without levelling up.
“Your old party was shit and that’s not on you,” Jye said.
“Right. You did what you could. And I’m sorry I forced you into a situation where you had to reveal your second class,” I continued, the guilt of Axel’s injury still incredibly fresh in my mind.
“It just sped up the sharing,” Wren admitted. “I was going to wait until we got out of the Dungeon, and if nothing had happened like the CBD Dungeon, I was going to tell you all.”
I nodded. It was a smart plan, though incredibly optimistic. Sussing us out, making sure we could be trusted. Good instincts for such a young kid. Chrissie had always been too trusting because there had been no need for caution in the small hometown of Charleville. Stupid. I’d been so stupid.
“Not to sound like an ass and change the direction of this heartwarming moment full of thank yous and sorrys, but we all got experience from that fight, right?” Axel said.
There was a murmur of agreement from the rest of the group.
Thinking of it brought the screen up. “The notification said our whole party got 5 XP.”
Jye’s brows furrowed. “Oh, we got XP?”
“Yeah… I need to hit 250 to reach my next level.”
“That seems a little steep,” they replied, probably thinking about their own levelling requirements.
I shrugged. “I don’t make the rules. I honestly don’t really know who does.”
Wren, her eyes now dried of tears, was frowning in very clear confusion. I shot her an inquiring look and she clamped her mouth closed, lips forming a thin straight line. Right, that wasn’t normal.
“What’s wrong?”
She hesitated before confessing, “I don’t think I got any experience from the fight.”
“But the notification said our whole party got some,” Axel said, suspicion colouring his tone once again.
God, why did he think this little girl was lying to us so much? I knew he expected the worst of others, but this was too much. Repressing my desire to berate him, I instead pulled up the party screen. Wren was still part of the group, listed below Jye’s mess of a status. Her [Synergist] class hadn’t changed since she’d gained consciousness, which meant that her [Mercurial] trait was something she had to activate.
“Wait, you swapped to Synergist after we received the notification, right?” I asked.
She nodded once, the earnest expression on her young face oddly comical. The others all seemed interested in my next words, even Axel who rarely believed others knew more than him.
I lifted my pointy finger in the air. “Maybe your experience went to your Scourge class.”
I watched as the repercussions of what I suggested rippled over her face. Her expression went from consideration to dismay, which was a fair reaction. It would be a crippling disadvantage if I was right. If Wren could only level up as per the current class she had active, it meant she’d essentially grow at half the speed of everyone on our team, if she continued to switch back and forth. Well, assuming Jye levelled up normally. At least with Wren we could prove this theory.
“Can you switch back to Scourge to check?” Axel asked.
Looking upset, she shook her head. “There’s a cooldown.”
“For how long?”
Her eyes focused on what I assumed was her personal window.
“It’s a 24-hour cooldown, so I’ve got another 16 hours until I can change back.”
I sighed. “Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do until then. What about you, Jye? Can you make anything out on your screen?”
They chuckled and then flatly said, “No.”
That figured.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, and took a deep breath.
“Well, if everyone’s rested, should we just… head out? I like this haunted cabin as much as the next person, but if we want to complete the Dungeon, we should probably get started.”
“I guess?” Jye said, a lack of conviction in both the tone of their voice and the way they idly poked at a piece of wood debris.
Axel rolled his eyes. “It’s not like we really have any other option.”
“I’m ready!” Wren said, pumping a fist into the air.
Kids could really bounce back from anything. I was worried we’d stirred up some traumatic memories for her, but she didn’t seem that badly affected. That said, I think I’d keep an eye on her. When Chrissie had… After Chrissie, I probably seemed fine within the year. But I had definitely not been. I still wasn’t, if I was being honest. Though Wren seemed more emotionally mature than I had been back then. Maybe she was just built different.
Jye ran their fingers through their hair, which I realised they did when they were nervous. I’d only known them for a week, so I still wasn’t super sure how to comfort them. Even after our heart to heart about siblings.
I decided to change the subject. “Actually, can you use your ability on all our bags?”
Axel scoffed, “You want to add weight training to our Dungeon quest?”
“No, Jye figured out they can lighten the weight of things too.”
“Huh, no shit,” Axel replied.
“Yes shit,” Jye said back, and strode over to the packs.
After several static hisses, they turned back around with a thumbs up. “All done.”
Jye experimentally pulled on the strap of one of the bags and watching it lift was uncanny. It reminded me of poor animation where the animators couldn’t convey weight properly. Watching Jye pick up the bag was like watching them pick up nothing but air. It was like poor CGI augmented into a live action film. It was just wrong.
In silence, we all went over and grabbed our remaining bags. They truly did feel lighter than a feather, and I could barely feel its presence when I pulled it over my shoulders and it added little to no pressure to my back. If I wasn’t careful, I would probably forget I was wearing it and get caught on something.
Axel let out a huff as he struggled to lift his bag. He cast an accusing glare at Jye.
A wide grin distorted the lumberjack’s face. “Oh, did I accidentally make yours heavier? Silly me.”
I’d forgotten the level of animosity that Jye held towards Axel. Clearly his first impression had left quite a mark on the gym junkie. His constant suspicion towards Wren was also not painting him in the best light for Jye either. I couldn’t resist smiling as with a grunt, Axel heaved the backpack over his shoulders, and it let out a solid thud when making impact with his back. He said nothing and began walking to the front door. I guess he was taking his lumps this time. Unusual for Axel to suffer in silence. Ah, well. Another thing to add to the “Axel weirdness” box.
It occurred to me as we approached the cabin’s front door that we’d been in the Dungeon for around nine hours now, but no one else had appeared, except for the cat, which probably didn’t count. Did that mean no one other than us had entered this Dungeon? It seemed unlikely considering the Dungeon compulsion. So it either meant that the Dungeon wasn’t letting anyone else in, their entry points were different to ours, or there were different instances of the Dungeon.
It’d be nice if it were the former, though somehow the latter seemed more likely. If the point of this game was for people to enter the Dungeons, then limiting the amount of people who could enter would be a stupid move. Then again, who knew by what logic these systems truly operated by? Some part of me was always trying to find reason or logic behind it, when possibly there wasn’t any to be found.
Axel’s hand curled over the door’s handle. “Are we ready?”
Jye sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Good to go,” Wren said.
His gaze lingered over me, and an entirely different emotion flickered over his face for a moment. I wondered if I was seeing things. For just a second, there was hurt weighing down the blue of his eyes. Again guilt coiled in my stomach. I thought he’d been fine with what I’d done. That he’d understood. We’d joked about it. But I guess I hadn’t apologised…
The expression was gone immediately, replaced with one of his slimy smiles. “Earth to Lee, you good?”
“Are you?” I asked.
Axel’s eyes widened ever so slightly, his thick lashes brushing against his eyelids, and his smile slipped a few millimetres. Oh, that seemed like a clear no. But then he laughed, and the smile was back. Jesus fucking christ, he had to be some kind of sociopath. I couldn’t follow this rollercoaster that was Axel’s inner emotional turmoil. At the very least, it didn’t seem like this was due to how my actions today had hurt him. This was related to the whole shift of him that he hadn’t explained. Surely he knew I’d noticed how unhinged he was being?
“Not that I’m losing my nerve the longer we wait, but are you guys done with whatever this is?” Jye asked.
“Let’s go,” I said.
Axel’s hand twisted the handle and he pulled the door open.