Annria craved another Look at Tav, the particular quirk of vision and focus that had warned her about Tav's achievements in the first place. Anything to distract her from the pain, the thirst, the fatigue. Anything to keep her mind off the growing conviction that the two of them were going to die in a pit.

When she'd seen him at Ford's outpost she'd known something was up. She'd Looked, and seen a filmy notice pop up over his face.

Recent achievements: Hidden!

Security Breached!

Recent achievements:

-D_dicat__ Hunt_r: C__mon Sl_me

-Su_fac__

-C_nnibal 1

-Canni_al 2

-Kinslayer _

The Look was an unreliable talent, something Annria had developed—so she'd thought—as a means of protection. Sometimes it let her know about a hidden weapon, or contraband, or just an extra money pouch when someone swore up and down that they didn't have enough to pay her entirely reasonable prices. Sometimes the Look warned her when someone was lying. Sometimes it told her when someone wanted to hurt her.

The Look hadn't ever shown Annria someone's achievements before, but she had concluded that someone with a "Cannibal" achievement probably wanted to hurt her. She still thought it was a reasonable inference from the available information. She admitted, now, that her response had not been ideal.

Then the two of them had entered a dungeon and the damned System's Authorization Notice had popped up, and Annria had recognized its bright panels as a clearer version of the Look. She couldn't Look now; when she'd tried it the Authorization Notice had just flashed brighter.

Please assign benefits now!

So Annria had been using a faded version of the System the entire time. It would serve her right if the dungeon ate her.

"You're breathing pretty hard, Annria," Tav said. "Do you need another break?"

Annria glanced back at the end of the hallway, keeping pace some two hundred feet behind them. "How about you? You were the one fighting. Why aren't you as worn out as I am?"

"It's the levels." Tav shrugged. On a normal person the smile would have been sheepish, but all the extra eyes rather ruined any innocence the expression might have held. Depths, but he looked creepy. "Higher levels give you more stamina, especially since I'm a martial class. I can keep going a while longer."

"Trying to strand you in the woods really was a stupid plan, wasn't it? And I was hoping you'd take responsibility for the break this time." Annria sank down against the wall and stretched out her legs. "I don't know if the dungeon'll let us take another, not so soon, but I need it. No water, no food, little rest—d'you think this place is trying to kill us?"

Stolen story; please report.

"Not really," Tav said. "Not exactly. There haven't been any more monsters, and I—" He paused awkwardly. "I didn't want to say it, but you deserve to know—I can hear scratching from the walls. I think the dungeon's trapped more monsters behind them, to keep them away from us."

Annria squirmed away from the wall as fast as she could without standing. Not the the middle of the hallway was any better, really, but it was the principle of the thing. "Fuck! You can hear things moving in there?"

"Yeah, ever since—" He gestured at the extra eyes. "All my senses are stronger, really. It's... it's taking some getting used to."

"Whole host of benefits you're getting, isn't it." Annria glanced back. The wall was still approaching, however slowly. She needed to get up and keep walking. Somehow, she needed to get back up.

Tav took a deep breath. "Look, Annria, I don't know how much further this tunnel goes. You might hate me for asking this, but did you want me to Authorize you?"

Annria glanced at the Authorization popup in the corner of her vision and hoped Tav's new senses wouldn't pick up the twitch. "I don't have a knife," she said. "I can't draw blood."

"It doesn't have to be blood, just damage." He held out one of the torches. "Just smack me with one of these, hard enough to injure me—at least enough to bruise. Authorization will help you with the exhaustion, at least a little. And while I've never helped someone with a real build, just theorycrafting with friends back at the Academy, I can at least give you some advice. I've still got all my Academy schooling fresh in my head, it's better than going it alone."

"I—I appreciate the offer, Tav," Annria said. "And I do mean that. I get that you're trying to help, but I can't. I can't be one of those people." She reached out a hand. "Help me up? The wall's already too close for comfort."

Tav helped pull her to her feet. "Okay. I just thought I'd better say it. Uh, if the tunnel keeps going too much further, I can carry you."

Annria smacked him on the arm. Then flinched—it wasn't hard and wasn't meant as more than a joke, but there was a significance to the aggression she hadn't intended. "I see why you offered to Authorize me first!" She licked her lips—cracked, and her mouth was dry from a day's travel without water. At least it was cool underground. "Depths. I might need it. Yeah, if it comes to that, that's fine."

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

It didn't quite come to that, but it was close. Annria tripped over a crack in the stones in her exhaustion and Tav barely caught her. Forced to admit that she was barely able to keep walking, the two of them took a moment to arrange themselves—Tav tucked one still-lit torch into his belt, while Annria draped an arm around his neck and used him as a human crutch. Annria glanced at him as they hobbled along. He faced forward, but the two eyes on his temple—unblinking, with ragged irises—met her gaze. She shuddered, almost fell again, and Tav did her the favor of not mentioning it. He obviously noticed. That was fine. Tav wouldn't point out her weakness, and she wouldn't point out the tremble she could feel in his gait, a sign that even his System-bestowed endurance was growing thin.

"Hey, Annria," Tav murmured. "You still alive? You're walking. You've gotta be."

"Ngh," she grunted.

"I see stairs. These ones are going up."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I saw them a little ways back, but I didn't want to say anything just in case the new eyes were tricking me."

"But we can get out?"

"Yeah," he said. "Just keep walking a little further."

"Then what? Die under the open sky?"

"Wouldn't that be better?" Tav said. "Even in Karmere we try to bring people out, when we can."

"Nngh." His homeland had a hint of civilization, then. "We'll still be dead."

"The dungeon must have a reason to keep us alive all this time. Maybe it'll give us food and water once we're out."

"Maybe it's just trying to feed us to its favorite monster. Didn't want to waste us on the hatchlings."

She lapsed into silence then. Tav helped her up the stairs. Her legs gave out before the top and he shifted her weight onto his shoulders, carrying them both out into a dim twilight. The torches Tav was carrying—one in his hand, one looped through his belt—extinguished immediately. Tav collapsed onto the ground and dropped her unceremoniously next to him.

There was grit and clay under her cheek instead of worked stone. Freedom.

"Annria," Tav said. "Annria, get up."

"No."

"Annria, I need you to hit me with that torch like I told you, okay? It's just a stick now, but I need you to hit me with it. Right now. Do it."

"What?" Annria opened her eyes, uncertain when she'd closed them. "I said I wouldn't."

"I got another dungeon entrance notification. Immediately after we got to the surface."

There was a soft rustling noise and a cloaked figure loomed in Annria's vision. Between the fatigue and the dim light she couldn't tell if it was human or monster. Her Look still wasn't working.

"Annria," Tav said, "we're past the Gate. We're in Nadir."