Look, so I was the one who saved Rutger, really. And Jose saved the day with a Seer chant that let him track the dragon. But nobody cares. There's a talking kitten so that takes priority.

Jose and I, ignored by everyone else, go and prod the dragon until it turns into loot. It becomes several thousand Sacagaweas, a green glowing crystal and a scroll.

Scroll of Draconic Flight. You gain the chant “Draconic Flight.”

Green Dragon Heart. Enhances wind or poison affinity.

Since nobody else seems to care, we get the loot, I guess. “That scroll gives flight. Probably temporary, but still rad. You want it?”

Jose reaches for it and unfurls the scroll. He reads a bit and nods. “It uses a bunch of Spirit Points, but I'm building that up for my Seer stuff.” The scroll crumbles to dust in his hands. He says,” Draconic Flight,” and friggin dragon wings made of wind shoot out of his back. He flaps them experimentally, then takes off, hovering a few feet above ground.

Still, everyone else is petting my cat and offering her snacks.

“It says the speed increases with the chant repetitions,” Jose explains. Chants can be spoken over and over again when you cast them, increasing their power without increasing their Spirit Point cost. They're something I haven't really used yet because Spirit Points regenerate through Wisdom. And, you know, my Wisdom was crap until like an hour ago.

We all take a minute to recover, and once everyone has had their fill of belly rubs, I send Biscuits home, teleporting her back.

“Alright, so does anyone have a particular use for Wind affinity?” I ask, holding up the baseball-sized green gem.

Nobody raises a hand.

I shrug. “Okay, so need is out, what about wants? Who wants to use it?”

Cappy and Rutger both raise their hands. They exchange glances and Cappy speaks first. “I'm hoping to build an aerial assault ability set. I've got High Jump, Double Jump, Triple Jump and Air Dash already. I think some Wind spells or techniques might help in that direction.”

I glance at Rutger and they say, “I want it because I don't have any Wind magic, and that could get me it. Also, I almost died.”

I nod. “Both compelling arguments. Roll off!” I pull a d20 from my pocket and crouch down. “Cappy, your roll is first.” I'm rolling for both because otherwise Cappy's higher Luck would just give her the win automatically. It's a nine. “Nine. Kinda low. Rutger's roll is next.” I roll. “Six! Cappy gets the gem!” I toss the dragon core over to Cappy.

She holds it in her hand, then looks at it, concentrating. The gem glows green, then crumbles to dust. The dust swirls around her, then seems to be absorbed into her chest, right where her heart is. She keeps her eyes closed. “Boss, I know you said to consult with you on classes, but I just unlocked the Aerialist class and I'm taking it.” She's quiet for another few seconds, then goes, “oh hell yeah,” and opens her eyes.

Cappy jumps onto the air once, then double jumps, then triple jumps, and then fires straight down. The bullets impact the ground with enough force to shatter the stone. Meanwhile, Cappy seemed to float in the air when she was firing. She drops down and explains excitedly. “So I now get extra damage based on my height vs the target's height, and I can float while attacking.” She seems really amped up about it.

Rutger nods. “Then I guess the dice gave that gem to the right person.” It's nice that they're not a sore loser about it.

We still have no idea how big this fog-filled room is, nor where the exit is, so we fan out looking for... Anything, really. A few minutes later Kailani has found the exit, a stone platform that looks like it descends like an elevator. Rutger, on the other hand, has found a veritable dragon's hoard. They found a button in the wall that slid away to reveal a hillock of gold coins with Masonic symbols on them, and various magic items.

Ring Of Resistance. +10 Toughness. It's got a ruby set into it, so you know it's valuable.

Cloak Of Shadows. Enhances Dark elemental attacks and spells by 15%. Also, you become 33% more goth while wearing this.

Belt Of Unusual Size. Increase your size (and your clothing size) by 50%. This doesn't increase your stats, so you're not hulking out, you're just Shaquille O'Neil-ing out.

Scroll Of 50% Off Sale. Choose any ability that has a point cost, and reduce that cost by half. Oh, yeah, everyone is going to want this baby.

I give everyone the scan info and indeed, everyone wants the Scroll Of 50% Off Sale. Since Rutger found the cache, and they're already goth, they get the long black cloak to help complete their wizard ensemble. After comparing stats, the person with the lowest Toughness (Quins) gets the ring.

Rutger hands Madeline the belt, but cautions her, saying, “don't wear it too much or you'll start absorbing the effect, and you probably don't want that.”

I'm incredulous. “I'm sorry, the what now? Absorbing the effect?”

Rutger nods. “Not everyone knows it, but I figured it out. You slowly absorb the effects of magic items you have equipped, until they no longer grant you those bonuses. The nice thing is that you can then pass the item on to someone else.”

I check my menus. Son of a bitch, they're right!

Dexterity 175 (+3 from M3 Mongoose)

Agility 125 (+3 from M3 Mongoose)

Reflexes 254 (+3 from M3 Mongoose)

Those used to say “+5 from M3 Mongoose.” I check the M3 Mongoose knife itself, and it says this now:

M3 Combat Knife With Mongoose enchantment. +5 Dexterity, Agility and Reflexes. (41% absorbed) Known for their ability to fight snakes, the Mongoose is basically a very angry squirrel.

I come out of my menus, look at Rutger, and say, “well this changes... Ah, probably something?”

Rutger looks like they're trying to convey sympathy for someone who realized something potentially cool is not actually that cool. “Yeah, the absorption rate is slow, though I've heard the Imbuer, Runist and Enchanter classes get bonuses to it.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Rutger and I are purposefully looking at each other and ignoring the FLURRY of arguments for who should get the 50% Off scroll. Everyone is giving it their all except for Mercy. Her costumes operate on cool downs, rather than point costs.

After about 20 minutes of arguing, it's down to Jose, Kailani and Parker. We roll off for it, and Parker comes out on top, using the scroll to cut the cost on her Triple Tap technique. More frequent Ki enhanced shots are in her future.

Cappy sweeps up the coins again with her Thief class “step on/near money to collect it” technique. They total 43,894 coins. If each is 1 ounce of gold, and gold is around 2500 dollars per ounce right now, that's... “Jebus H. Jon Benjamin, I think that's worth 109 million dollars!”

There's utter silence for five whole seconds, before the conjecture begins.

“How do we split...”

“Is that taxed?”

“Can we even move that...”

“Yeah, but where did it come from?”

“It's like a tip for a waiter, right?”

“It should go to this charity...”

“What if it's cursed?”

“Mate, there's no such thing as curses!”

(There are curses, actually.)

I assure everyone that they get an equal split. Oh, and the company gets one share. And I assume that half the team might retire after this job. Or at least Cappy and Kailani. I know the money was a big part of why they joined us, and they both have other things to do with their lives.

Shaking with excitement, we head over to the platform which will take us down to the 11th floor. It's just a stone circle in the floor with a lever in the middle. And it's really only big enough for three or four people to stand on.

“I can fly down, but who is going first?” I'm looking for volunteers.

Madeline and Henry both step forward, followed by Parker and Jose.

With a flash of light Mercy changes into her Angle Frame mecha armor, which can fly. Nice.

The four non-fliers step aboard the platform and Madeline throws the black stone lever with a scraping of rock against rock.

The sound of heavy metal gears clanking was the accompaniment for the elevator's slow descent. The platform descended a few feet, then a few feet more. I switched to Atmos mind to gain flight, and dropped into the hole to follow them. The painfully slow descent suddenly came to a stop, some 15 feet down.

Then, several things happened in quick succession. One, the elevator platform cracked apart and collapsed. Two, Madeline, Henry, Parker and Jose began to fall. Three, I pushed with all the speed I could muster downwards, using the Squall Steps spell to its utmost to catch my team.

“Don't resist!” I shout, and with a mental apology to them, I snap my fingers and Madeline is trapped in a Storm Cell spell. The spherical spell surrounds her, and the others, in a pink cloud. Sparks arc along its sides, and I know that my comrades are being pelted with wind slashes, needle rain and sparks of electricity. I keep acting quickly. I land on the cloud, and Mercy lands next to me. I get down on my hands and knees, ready to reach out for people. Mercy holds her spear up, ready to push it down for someone to grab.

The five seconds Storm Cell lasts are up. The cloud fades. My friends start to fall again. My hands reach down. Mercy's spear thrusts down. Madeline grabs my hand. Jose and Henry grab Mercy's spear. Parker starts to fall. I reach out for her. It's not far enough. If only.

My sub-minds race. Each of the other three Astral elements, Solar, Lunar and Void, has a type of weapon I can create and telekinetically throw. Except Atmos. Atmos has... Punching. Punching? Have I been misunderstanding that power? I use Typhoon Punch, targeting Parker, who is now five feet outside of my reach. A neon pink arm of storm energy rushes out from my shoulder, past Madeline and grabs onto Parker's shirt.

I concentrate on the arm. It does what I want it to do, and what I want it to do is fly up and drop off Parker back on the 10th floor. I watch Mercy fly up with Jose and Henry, followed by Parker being lifted by a pink ghost hand.

Madeline looks up at me. “We going up or down, chief?”

“Ah, right, sorry.” I apologize and realize that we might as well go down. We slowly descend into the pitch black shaft. Madeline shines a flashlight at the bottom, which is several hundred feet down. We gently float there, and as we get close we can see the rubble from the broken elevator and an archway that's lit from the inside. We hit the bottom and walk a few yards down an arched brick tunnel.

“It's a Masonic temple,” Madeline says, with a hint of awe in her voice. The entryway opens to a balcony that overlooks a friggin pyramid with an eye carved into the side of it.

-----

Three days ago

Fort Wort, TX

The Waffle House off Loop 820

9:45 PM

Henry Gallup and his dad, Dale Gallup, somehow always ended up at Waffle House. Being open 24 hours meant that if you stuck around talking, nobody minded. And the hash browns. Gotta get them smothered and chopped.

The car ride from the DFW International Airport took out most of the small talk. They'd exchanged the standard greetings, the how's Trixie the dog, the you didn't have to come and the well I wanted to see my busy son.

Iowa hadn't been hit by the Dracosys much, so Dale had been safe there, living out his 60s managing the family farm. The “family” farm which now had almost a hundred employees. Dale had turned it around in the 90s, when Henry was little. Henry had seen firsthand the power of industrialization and the digital revolution. He hadn't known how impressive that was at the time. Now, knowing how difficult it had to be, and how his father and grandfather had to deal with prejudice, he was deeply proud of his dad.

Sally the waitress looked like she'd had the job for three decades and had the experienced moves to go with those decades. She started pouring the coffee as she put the cups down. They ordered All Star Specials, Henry with hash browns and Dale with grits.

“What you're doing is dangerous, Hen.” Henry's father had concern but no condemnation in his voice.

Henry's usually booming voice was lowered in the subdued restaurant. Nobody came to Waffle House at 9:45 PM to make or hear a racket. “It's for the good of the country.”

“I know that, but I still gotta worry about my boy, you know?”

Henry just nodded and took his father's hand, which was on the table. “I know, dad.”

“It was one thing, with you in the SEALs. I know you'd be in trouble sometimes, but not all the time. Now you're fighting God knows what almost every day.”

Henry squeezed his father's hand before releasing it. “I'm with good people. And we're not taking on more than we can handle.”

Dale Gallup looked out the window. The highway was dotted with the lights of cars flying to and fro. “Everyone has someplace to be, Henry.” He looked back at his son. “Is this your place?”

Henry thought it over before answering. An older white man went to the jukebox and played “The Rising” by Bruce Springsteen. The post 9/11 song had gained a new life in the post-Dracosys world.

“It is right now,” Henry answered. “But not where I'll end up.” He thought about his political aspirations. He thought about changing the country. He thought about Ginny West, the pretty NPR reporter he'd talked to, and who he was still talking to. There was a lot for him still to come.

“I'm going to make you proud, Dad.”

Dale gave a raspy chuckle. “Oh, I've always been proud of you Hen. Proud when you were the only black kid in your grade and you didn't fight back. Proud when you joined ROTC and found some good friends. Proud when you joined the Navy, like your pops. Proud when you out did me and got into the SEALs.”

Dale wiped away something that definitely wasn't a tear. “And I'm proud of you now.”

Henry wiped away something that definitely wasn't a tear. “Thank you, dad.”

“I still want grandkids though.”

Henry thought of Ginny West again. “Sure dad, if I can.”