Dan had well over an hour to kill before meeting up with those two I told you about, Dotty and Andrew.

He ended up running through the Trial of the Rapture again. Then he meditated until it reset and ran it once more before heading to the Sanctuary of Revelations. He unsummoned Ashen Ruin on the way. No idea why.

Dotty and Andrew had five other participants with them. Can you guess who was among those five others?

[No.]

By the giant balls of the great Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub himself, just…just…this is an easy one. Just try. Just one guess.

[No.]

This is so frustrating. It was obviously the guy working for us, Hector. It was so easy to guess. I swear to Kobal, I will get you to guess before this story is finished. I don’t count your one unsolicited guess that was horribly wrong. Don’t let that incident ruin it. Guessing is fun. You’ll see.

Anyway, the lady always introduced herself as just Dotty, but everyone called her Mrs. Dotty. This bitch hit the trifecta. She was an old, a fat, and an ugly.

I can’t tell if a mortal is considered an attractive just by looking at them. With my keen observation skills, it’s not too difficult to tell when other participants find them to be so. In Dotty’s case, no one did. Science was completely prevailing.

I’m pretty sure Andrew just looked like a plain and bland mortal. Hector was notable due to his giant size and muscular build. His penis was huge. Two giant lumps of flesh on his chest, far larger than even that of the legendary Lincoln Hawk of ‘Over the Top’ fame himself, or that of his archnemesis, Bull Hurley.

If Dotty and Andrew had any reservations about Dan being a crazy, he dispelled them by standing a good distance away, calling their names, and waving them over.

All seven people gave each other strange looks and started walking towards Dan. He called out again, “Just Dotty and Andrew.”

Once those two reached him and greetings were exchanged, Dan said, “Sorry about calling y’all over but I don’t do so well around people. The more, the worse. It won’t stop me from getting done what needs doing though. You can believe that.

“I got a letter saying what needs saying. And I got y’all some gifts to show my good intentions.”

Dan started to remove his backpack as Dotty said, “One second, sweety. Before anything else, I’d like to know how you knew our names.”

“What I can say is in the letter,” replied Dan.

There was an awkward pause as Dan finished removing his pack. “It ain’t how fast how y’all ascend – it’s getting it right. The letter explains what ain’t in the book I’m fixing to let y’all borrow. This here book is critical so don’t let it out of sight. I need it back in a few days. I’m asking y’all to please not lose it. Don’t let no one else borrow it neither.”

Dan continued rummaging through his pack after he handed the book to Andrew and the letter to Dotty.

“Mrs. Dotty, this here Orbment’s for you. It’s a utility. Legendary quality. It changes your mana-type to ash. I reckon you’ll take right to it. The book explains more of mana techniques.

“Andrew, this one here’s a power Orbment called BOMBARDMENT. It’s Legendary quality too. Has a real long cast time and requires some thinking to set it up and get the most of it.”

Before anyone could say anything, Dan rushed out, “I’d like to meet up again the day after tomorrow. Same time. See y’all around.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I can’t let you leave yet,” said Dotty with a smile. “I don’t know about Andrew, but I’ve got a ton of questions.”

She was correct. She had many, many questions. Andrew had a few too. I could tell Dotty wanted to ask about Dan’s outfit but held her tongue out of politeness or something. Andrew had no such qualms.

Dan was miserable the whole time they talked. It was fantastic. Almost all of what was asked and answered was already in the letter. We’ve covered most of it, so I’ll zip through what we haven’t.

All three shared the same goals. Keep as many participants alive as possible, force other participants to behave as sissy prudes under tyrannical and despotic laws disallowing any fun, and eventually win the Game.

Dotty and Andrew were to lead an encampment in the Boneyard and establish some rules. Supposedly, this was so participants would have a sense of normalcy and safety, and not because in their heart of hearts all three were authoritarian dictators.

Dan claimed to believe participants would behave civilly if they knew there were rules and deadly consequences for having the occasional bit of fun murdering, raping, or plundering.

Dotty and Andrew would tell Dan who to look out for and he’d go do something called ‘regulate.’ I believe the word means murdering people in the name of the law, and this word was invented to help prudes differentiate their murdering from those they murdered.

For anyone that had it, keeping Lone Wolf wasn’t a good idea. The only way to remain for long was to join a party with a diverse set of skills, Classes, and Orbments that covered all the basic roles and necessary functions.

Oh, I should add that once they got to the Boneyard, Dan wanted Dotty and Andrew to join the two parties made up of my other team members. He also wanted them to continue keeping an eye out for talented and trustworthy participants.

Dotty briefly brought Dan up to speed on the five mortals they had already collected. Only Hector really matters since…actually, I’ll throw in one of the others since he shows up a few times down the road.

“The big one’s Hector,” said Dotty. “He’s a real sweetheart. Big into wrestling and mixed martial arts. He made the Olympic team when he was younger but got injured. The little guy’s Bert. He’s…”

Andrew interrupted to say, “Kurt.”

“Yeah. Kurt. He’s a real sweetheart too. Grew up in a big family of scrappers. Doesn’t look like it, but he’s tough and a good fighter. And just because everyone always asks and you seem too sweet to say anything about it – I don’t smoke and never have. This is just how my voice is.”

Dotty sounded like she started smoking a pack of day as a baby. She always yelled when she spoke too.

“I like your voice,” said Dan. “It’s like Kathleen Turner. Called a whisky voice, right?”

“I don’t drink either, sweety. You don’t really think I sound like Kathleen Turner, do you? Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. I’d kill myself if I sounded like that.”

“No. Not at all, ma’am,” replied Dan nervously. “You don’t sound nothing at all like her. I just meant I like both your voices, is all.”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Dotty laughed and patted Dan’s arm. “I’m teasing you, sweety. I know I sound exactly like her. I’ve been told that since I was 15. I don’t mind. She’s famous. I just wish I got the looks and not just the voice.”

“You kind of do look like her, ma’am. I’m sure your husband knows how lucky he is.”

Dotty laughed again. “You’re a real sweetheart for saying so. And such a handsome boy too. You have a girl, or did you want me to keep an eye out for you?”

“Naw, no need, ma’am, but thank you. I should get going so y’all can read that letter and talk to your people.”

“Bye, sweety. Stay out of trouble.”

As Dan shook Andrew’s hand, he said, “Have a good day, ma’am,” to Dotty, and took off.

I guess I should tell you what info their techs provided us on those two.

Dotty was a lunch lady in Shreveport but was originally from Manchester, New Hampshire. As I said, she was a big lady, and most participants found her face disgusting to look upon.

Despite that, everyone loved her. She had some sort of mental defect which caused her to treat everyone like they were one of her brood, no matter their age.

She also thought she was funny, but as that whole voice thing showed, she wasn’t. Not even a little. Her husband owned a chain of dojos throughout Louisiana. Even though she was a fat and an old, she was proficient in a martial art called Muay Thai.

Andrew was an accountant from Houston. Like Dan, he didn’t like talking much. Or people. Everyone thought he was kind of an asshole. But asshole or not, he was competent, so people listened when he spoke.

Unlike Dan, Andrew wasn’t afraid to be around other people. When he was alone, he’d often sing ‘Against All Odds’ by Phil Collins to himself. I love that song. When I meditate, I daydream about singing it to Zixy as I torture her to death.

----------------------------------------

That didn’t go as bad as I reckoned it would, thought Dan. He knew it didn’t go great, but he had expected it to have gone a lot worse.

Half of Dan wished there weren’t people around. It would be a lot easier and far less stressful if he were there alone again.

He wished he didn’t feel the way he felt when he was around people. He believed the way to fix most things was to just suck it up and get it done. He hoped that strategy eventually worked, because he had no choice but to talk to and be around some others.

And if it never ended up working, he couldn’t let it stop him from doing what needed to get done.

Dan didn’t know Dotty and Andrew all that well from last time. He hadn’t seen either until the Castle, and he got to that area later than most. He was just a nameless face back then and mostly ignored.

Dotty spent most of her time in her Boneyard taking care of the kids and the weaker participants. He had heard her name mentioned regularly and knew everyone loved her.

Andrew had taken charge of the Castle area both Dan and Dotty’s Boneyard fed into. No one had much nice to say about the man. The story went that he had gotten fed up with all the chaos and murder and began cracking down. He made some rules and enforced them brutally. He didn’t care about excuses or reasons. He only cared if his rules were obeyed.

Dan knew for certain Andrew had had the BOMBARDMENT Orbment and was a wiz with it. The Orbment required a big set up since it had such a long cast time to invoke. The man had a mind for that – setting things up, both in and out of combat.

Dan had no idea that ash wasn’t Dotty’s natural mana-type until he saw her fighting a few days ago. She had some sort of blueish mana-type.

Looking at Dotty, no one would think she’d be able to put up much of a fight. She just seemed like a nice older woman with a stout build. She was always way too loud, and always very kind to everyone.

There were a bunch of stories of some fool mistaking Dotty’s kindness for weakness and how that always ended.

The first time Dan saw Dotty, three guys were shaking her down. He had heard about her, but didn’t know it was her. He knew he wouldn’t be able to help much, and the men would probably kill him, but he couldn’t just stand there and watch, so ran over to help.

Dotty tore through those three guys like they were made of paper before Dan arrived. She had mastered the ash mana-type. It looked like shadow, it could function like shadow, but it also did more. It wasn’t always cold ash. It could have embers in it and ignite what she wanted it to.

Seeing a hefty older woman tear through three guys Dan knew could’ve easily killed him certainly hadn’t done much for his ego.

Everyone called her Mrs. Dotty, and every civilized person loved her. She was a truly sweet and caring woman. Until she wasn’t.

And when she wasn’t, she was as brutal and murderous as the animals she put down. She had seen too much horrible stuff happen to innocent people and kids in the Game and had decided she wouldn’t tolerate it, so didn’t.

Both Andrew and Dotty were tough, but they were far behind the toughest in the Game. This time, they’d both be a lot stronger with Dan’s help.

He hoped he’d be able to get information to the most formidable people before they made too many mistakes to correct. If not, it’d all be on him again.

He’d do what he could to make everyone as powerful as possible. Not doing so would be stupid. He hoped a lot more people would end up being a lot stronger than last time.

He was also planning around having to fight Asmodon by himself, and, if that ended up being the case, being powerful enough to beat the champion in a straight up fight. Not planning around that would be stupid too.

But if he was to stand toe-to-toe with Asmodon, he needed to be much stronger.

Reflecting on a revelation was only effective for a small amount of time each day. And that small amount of time would shrink and shrink over time.

Since he was so used to reflecting on his revelation in an environment where he was being starved of all opportunities to advance, he had gained a sensitivity to feeling where things stood. He was seeing much better gains with his revelation than he had expected. With a few more weeks of reflection, he’d advance his Soul-grade.

But he couldn’t afford to wait a few weeks. He needed to stay ahead of whatever surprises the forces of Hell were preparing for him.

He couldn’t use the time he had allotted in the Sanctuary of Revelations to rush things along. He needed to save his time in that building for when his gains slowed down to almost nothing. But he couldn’t stay at peak Copper for much longer. Not while expecting to remain for much longer too.

The last boss in the Trial of the Shining One had an ability that sapped willpower. It could only be used on one person at a time. Whatever party member got hit with that ability would just stand there lost in a daydream and not lift a finger to defend themself.

It was impossible to know for certain, but he believed getting hit with and breaking free of that ability helped him advance his ‘obstinacy’ revelation. He planned on finding out if that was true.

If nothing else, that boss helped raise Spirit naturally. And it was his favorite boss fight.

Defeating all three bosses would be extremely difficult, but if he couldn’t tackle them now, he would have no chance of ever beating Asmodon. Taking on the Trial was a calculated risk.

He thought about summoning Ashen Ruin, but it would be a waste of mana since it wouldn’t last long on the first boss.

Dan was disappointed to see the Trial locked and resetting with six men waiting outside it.

All the men were staring at him. He thought he recognized one of the guys, but he couldn’t be certain. Each held a weapon so had done the exhibit. Since they all had footwear still, they were running the Trial on Easy or Normal difficulty.

He took a deep breath. He knew the bad feeling would come on strong the closer he got.

When he was about twenty yards away, Dan waved and said, “Hey, y’all.”

The six men just looked at him as he continued to approach. When he was only ten yards from the men, he stopped and tried purging or controlling the feeling that wormed its way into his chest and asked, “Y’all grinding this one?”

The six men continued to silently look at him. Dan took his backpack off. “If y’all let me cut in and take this next one, I’ll give an Epic Orbment Foundation. First Aid. Utility. One of the best heals but it can only be used out of combat.”

Five of the men looked to the sixth. The sixth said, “What else you got in there, boy? And what in the hell you wearing? You think you Conan or something?”

Dan continued rummaging in his backpack. “Naw. I picked these duds up in another Trial. What I got in here is lot of fragments and two foundations, boy.”

“I hearing right? You just call me boy?”

“I reckoned that was what we were doing,” said Dan. “You call me boy, then I call you boy, and so on and so forth.”

The man smiled. “What I do and what I allow you to do ain’t the same, boy. Why don’t you toss that bag over here right quick. That way I can forget what you called me and let you get on with your life.”

“Naw,” replied Dan. “I’ve grown attached to this here bag. Boy.”

“You more attached to that bag than your life?”

“Yeah, reckon so,” replied Dan as he continued rummaging through his backpack without looking up.

Another man said, “Let’s just kill him. If he got an Epic Orbment, we need it. And those frags and whatnot.”

The leader said, “Last chance, boy. The bag or your life.”

“I done answered that already,” replied Dan as he stood. “Alright, let’s get to it.”

He walked forward and waited for the men to attack first, then invoked STORM.

Maybe there was a chance one or more of the men would’ve gotten lucky and lived if he had used Lava Stomp instead of STORM. Maybe if any of the men lived, they’d end up reforming their ways and behaving civilized.

Dan didn’t think there was much chance of that happening, and Lava Stomp would’ve ruined the footwear he was collecting from their corpses anyway.