“Evelyn, where have you been?” Karl asked.
Evelyn bit her lip and pondered how to respond. Her boss did not need to know that she’d just been taking a dump while playing on her phone. “I was just stretching my legs and taking a coffee break. What can I help you with?”
“I need you to sort our client list by age and send out an advert to all of our seniors about the new 55+ community that is coming soon,” Karl demanded.
At least it wasn’t a hard task. She had a list of keyboard commands and formulas that would let her organize their client list on their spreadsheet. It would only take a moment. “Can do, Karl. Is there anything else you need?” Evelyn smiled, what she liked to call her soul-less work smile. Karl was an idiot, who didn’t like anyone pointing out his mistakes. She’d learned to smile and nod. That way she still got a paycheck.
“I’ll take a coffee too. You’re not the only one who needs caffeine. We’re in a housing boom right now. People have money and are looking to upgrade their homes and we need to make sure that they start looking here at Truman of Portland Realty.”
Here he goes again.
Evelyn wiggled her toes and tried to ignore her boss’s spiel about how much better his realty group was while implying all the other companies were garbage. He loved speaking and hearing his own voice. A few minutes later his lips stopped moving, and she reconfirmed his choice of beverage before heading to the break room to get him his drink.
She finished all of her work for the day plus a little extra before clocking out and stepping outside. It was raining. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
It’s always raining.
Evelyn pulled out the umbrella she kept in her suitcase and opened it. She wished she could drive home and rest, but if she wanted to keep a roof over her head and food in the pantry she needed to work two jobs.
If her father could get and keep a job, life would be different. Maybe she’d even have time to go to school and find a better career path but for now, she was working as a receptionist during the day and mining rhodium and other rare earth metals in dungeons in the evening.
Last year, she’d foolishly chosen druid as her main class when she’d awoken. Back then she had a solid team that needed a healer. Together they had conquered dungeons and then once all the monsters and scary things were gone they had about an hour to look through the dungeons for anything that was not commonly found on Earth. They’d made a good amount of money playing together, almost $100,000 each.
Her friends had been able to use that money to get ahead in life. Instead of starting on a new adventure she’d had to deal with her father who took all of her money and threw it away gambling in Vegas. Now all of her friends had left for college or gotten married and she was struggling to find people to raid with who would accept someone without an offensive skill.
To be fair to her friends they’d known her and her pipe dream of becoming a doctor. Now that she was twenty, she was too busy to dream. She had to pay off her father’s debts and make sure she paid the mortgage on time. Could she run away and leave him alone to wallow in his own misery?
Yes.
Did she dream of doing that every day?
Also, yes.
But she couldn’t bring herself to abandon him. She wasn’t anything like her mother, and she wouldn’t give up on the only person who cared whether she lived or died. Besides, she kind of enjoyed leveling up and joining raiding parties. But the next time she got to choose a skill, there had better be something that caused damage because only having Heal was hard.
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Evelyn pulled open the DungeonFinder app on her phone. Once she logged in she searched nearby dungeons to see if any of them had openings. There were a couple of time slots available near Washington Park. If she hurried she might be able to pick up a spot. She switched over to the party finder section and started scrolling to see if anyone nearby needed a healer.
She found a duo looking for a third member that might accept a healer. There was a profile picture of a slimy wizard and a tattoo-covered warrior who wore head-to-toe camouflage with at least ten different weapons strapped onto his legs and arms. She sent them a message a few chats later they agreed to meet up and run through a dungeon together.
She drove to the Washington Park dungeon and parked at the entrance to the park. Caution tape was all around the glowing blue portal and soldiers guarded the entrance.
She waited twenty minutes before a blue truck pulled up next to her. She recognized the warrior from his profile picture. It was her makeshift party members.
Evelyn grabbed her gear and locked her car. She waved at the two men and introduced herself. The warrior’s name was Wayne and the wizard, who was slightly better looking in person, was Paul.
They shook hands and a moment later Wayne handed her a gun. “Since you are a healer you should use this in there, just in case.”
The cold metal sent a chill down her spine. She’d never held a gun before and she quickly gave it back. “I don’t know how to use it and I think it would be safer for me to stick to my axe.” Evelyn pulled out her heavy-duty pickaxe. She wasn’t strong enough to take down monsters, yet, but she could keep them at bay.
“Nice,” Wayne said. His cowboy hat moved as he nodded in approval.
“Just leave all the distance work to me,” Paul added. His slicked-back hair was covered in so much grease she wanted to touch it to see if the whole scalp would move.
“Anytime we aren’t busy, I plan on finding crystals and rare metals. Feel free to join me.” Evelyn showed off her backpack and extra reusable grocery bags that she’d brought to fill.
“Do you think the three of us will be enough?” she asked. Her old group had been a party of five.
“It’s not even that dangerous. The dungeons reset to the level of each party. All the monsters will be lower leveled than us. Honestly, I’d go alone if the government allowed it,” Wayne explained.
With his muscles and arsenal, it made sense. He probably would be fine all by himself. “Then let’s not waste any more time.”
They showed their badges to the soldiers in front and were waved through. The portal glowed blue and Evelyn closed her eyes and held her breath as she stepped into the dungeon. Her skin tingled and almost felt wet but the feeling only lasted a moment. No matter how many times she’d gone through the swirling portal she couldn’t get used to the pit of doom that settled in her stomach. It was similar to motion sickness but more intense and short lived.
Evelyn took a calming breath and rubbed her queasy belly. The guys were already moving so she scuttled forward to catch up. Bioluminescent fungi growing on the walls gave off a gentle glow. It wasn’t bright but after a few minutes her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she was able to see the first wave of creatures. Their red eyes reflected the light and gave away their position. It looked like eight or nine extra large rodents.
Everyone took their places. Wayne stepped forward pulling out a machete and a short sword while Paul started chanting. Wayne ran to the rats and they circled around him biting and clawing at his cowboy boots.
Paul sent a bolt of ice that crashed into three of them and took them out in one blow. The battle only lasted three minutes. Paul was fine, but Wayne had a gash on his arm.
Evelyn carefully rolled up his sleeve and said, “Heal.”
Green sparkles flowed from her hands to his arm. Her magic settled on his wound and soon the blood was gone and his skin started growing back. It started off raised and bruised, then it cleared, and even the leftover scar went away. By the time her skill was done, the only evidence that he’d been hurt was the tear on his shirt.
“Wow. Thanks. I haven’t partied with a healer before,” Wayne said. Evelyn was just about to reply when she sensed movement.
“We’ve got company.”
A wolf appeared out of the darkness. It was taller than any human and every hair on her body started to rise. Something wasn’t right. She’d never encountered anything so large or intimidating. She stepped back, only to stumble because her muscles were frozen in fear.
It growled and jumped onto Paul before any of them could even move or cast a spell. It knocked him over and bit his shoulder, shaking its head as it ripped into Paul’s flesh. An anguished cry came from her party member. Then he went limp and silent. Another bite and his arm tore away from his body. It dangled in the beast's mouth for a second before the beast tossed his limb aside. Paul’s arm went flying through the air and landed next to her.
Evelyn screamed.