Boyd was exhausted, but only mentally. He couldn’t be exhausted physically anymore, but he’d never had a day like that in his life. It was exhilarating, but also left him dripping with a mixture of fear, anxiety, and defeat.
Party Marty was caked in blood. It had dried solid from the edge of the blade all the way down to the handle. Boyd had decided he had no intent on trying to get the blood out of his leathers. It was caked in already. It would eventually dry and fall apart in the dust and winds and battles and everything else. He just stripped them off and threw them on the ground. He finally trashed his Def Leppard t-shirt. He’d recently bought new socks (or the Zenith equivalent) at the Trade Bazaar, and those were still useable. The jeans were mostly trashed but he thought he would try them on one more time.
Boyd fell into bed at Glipglaup’s Hiphop House Flip Flop House. He should’ve cleaned himself or his equipment, he knew, but he didn’t have the energy. His Life was still reasonably high after killing a substantial number of critters, but his Mana was largely depleted. Every time he had an even nominal amount he Manatapped it as fast as possible to try and fix whatever had happened to his ankle when he jumped off the ledge earlier in the day. He had been low on Life and was being chased by some sort of four legged hybrid of mammals he didn’t really understand. He couldn’t hit it because it was too fast, so instead he ran and then baited it to follow him over a ledge. The creature paused and then jumped over the ledge. It was enough time for the system to consider the creature unaware of him, a lesson he took to heart. The hybrid mammal landed right next to him, but he was on his feet and he already had Party Marty lifted in the air. His Targeted Ambush had just come off cooldown, so he’d activated it just as the creature hit the apex of its jump. It landed with a thud and Party Marty landed on its neck half a second later. He cleaved deep into the creature’s neck and shoulder and was rewarded with an endless fountain of blood and stink and shit. He smelled so bad that the new Innkeeper had made him stand outside while they re-negotiated his room. He’d paid more than double the going rate but he needed it and he had the money.
He'd get clean tomorrow. Tonight he needed to rest.
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Zina’s voice echoed through his brain, “Wake up! Wake up! Emergency! Seriously, you gotta wake up now. Get your shit and get ready to go. Doesn’t matter what it looks like. This is already in motion. I used our little connection to start this. You are going to loop cast the spell so don’t fight it okay? This took a lot of effort on my end.”
Boyd could hear the voice in his head but he was out of it.
“You gotta go with it, ok? Don’t fight it. Just make sure you have all your stuff. The spell will be instant the second it works. I’ll tell you more in a bit. I don’t know for sure what’s going to happen, but I think that we are getting ready to get a lot closer to a few big events that could change the shape of things to come. You gotta let this happen or we don’t have a chance. Say you understand. Say you understand so I know I can go through on my end.”
Boyd had no clue was the voice in his head was talking about.
“Get up and grab your shit. If you start casting without it just ignore it and grab everything you can. It’ll take you at least a few tries to luck out on the cast. Please say you understand!”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Boyd, who had minimally woken up rolled out of bed and began grabbing his things and stuffing them into his pack.
He tried to ask the voice “What’s all this about?” or “How’d you get in my head?” or “What in the flying ever-loving fuck are you talking about?”
Instead he started saying something he didn’t understand. He waved his hands to invoke some sort of incantation he had never heard of and knew nothing about.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
Boyd was continually saying words, but still didn’t understand at all. It was happening over and over again, almost instantly, and he couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t quit when he didn’t want to do it to begin with. He keep failing and failing. He tried to regain control, to use his mouth for something else, but he couldn’t. He was mentally and physically exhausted and this wasn’t helping. He wanted sleep, not whatever this was.
“Zina what the fuck is happening? I don’t know what this is.”
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
He shook the sleep from his body. He tried to focus his efforts.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
“Zina!!!! Help!!!! What’s this fucking spell do?”
He had no idea what was going on and he’d never heard of this spell. He’d certainly never learned how to cast it.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
He desperately started packing up his things, whatever was happening he’d want his equipment.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
“I’m freaking the fuck out, what is this?”
Every time he moved a bit too much it happened again. Spell failure came with an internal zap of sorts. It didn’t affect his life, but it made him a bit nauseated.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
He wobbled over to the bathroom and began puking in what passed for a sink. It made it harder to talk for sure.
“I need you somewhere else. This will get you there. Don’t worry about it. Just let it happen.”
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
He threw everything he could into his pack and tried to remain still. He tried to concentrate as hard as he could on letting the words fall out of his mouth. He was getting sicker and sicker. He tripped over a chair while walking around the room and barfed on the floor.
You have Mana Poisoning from spell failures. Casting spells has a chance to damage you.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
Life 133/154.
He couldn’t cast it. He knew that.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
Your spell fails.
Life 116/154.
“You can’t cast it. Ever. You need to embrace your own abilities,”
He thought back to what Fleon had said and realized what Zina meant. It was the wrong approach. He needed to make it harder. He started doing jumping jacks. He started attempting a cartwheel. He stood on one foot. He tried to recite the alphabet at the same time. Somewhere around the 14th puke spewing cartwheel everything changed.
You begin casting Interconnectedness.
[Uncultured Swine Activated]
SYSTEM: You have joined Fleon’s Fine Foray for the Filary!
SYSTEM: Fleon’s Fine Foray for the Filary is the first to reach the 20th floor.
SYSTEM: Your Foray is currently in Stasis.
SYSTEM: You have been placed in stasis until a suitable opposition can be found.
SYSTEM: Opposition has arrived. Stasis removed. Stasis duration approximately 22 hours and 15 minutes.
SYSTEM: Welcome to Level 20. Currently, 84/100 Forays remain. 19 additional independent Combatants remain.