I was surprised when I woke up. I had thought we were going to die. I knew I hadn’t, because I wouldn’t feel this tired if I was a corpse.
“Idiot.” K said, when I sat up, “Are you awake?”
“Yeah.” I said.
“Finally.” K sighed, “What do you want to know first?”
“Who survived?” I asked.
“Copper.” K said, “We didn’t find Marie’s body.”
“How’d you search the rubble?” I asked.
“What rubble?” K said, “You stopped that tower from collapsing. You were just unconscious and vulnerable, out in the open.”
That was right - the tower had collapsed in the Dream, but that didn’t mean it had been mirrored into reality. That wasn’t how Dreams worked.
“How’d we survive that?” I asked.
“Your blood trick didn’t stop.” K said, “And the people you saved helped you stay alive until Copper could bring you back here.”
“This is a hospital, then?” I asked.
“No.” K said, “We have one, but it’s for other people. Ones who aren't constantly turning their surroundings into a blood-marsh.”
“Thank you for watching over me, then.” I said.
K rolled her eyes, “What the hell did you think you were doing? Marie was being an idiot, but did you have to follow her into the grave?”
“I lived.” I said.
“Barely.” K said, “Don’t do anything that stupid again.”
“No promises.” I said.
“I’m sorry, was I not clear?” K demanded, “Dying heroically does nobody any good! Don’t be this stupid again!”
“I’ll try not to.” I said, “How's the evacuation going?”
“It’s as good as done.” K said, “We’ve covered the city, and with the threat of sunderers, we’ve turned our focus to training combattants and crafters instead. Anyone who’s still there is there willingly.”
“That was quick.” I said.
“Idiot, you’ve been unconscious for four days.” K said, “The job’s done.”
“Can you-” I yawned, and suddenly I was exhausted.
“Go to sleep, Ashlyn.” K said.
I did.
---
The next time I woke, Mimic was standing over my bed.
“How long was I out?” I asked.
“About fifteen hours.” Mimic said, “y’know, we worried.”
“Organizing a few thousand people will do that.” I said, and yawned.
Mimic stared blankly at me. After a second, she said, “No, we were worried about you.”
“So you aren’t worried about Sanctuary?” I said, “That seems kind of irresponsible.”
I should note, here, that I was not intentionally being obtuse. I don’t like describing the visceral details, but I was definitely not at my best. As I thought at the time, ‘It was like thinking through a woodchipper’.
“I’m not talking about the city.” Mimic said, “Don’t get killed. K’s finally accepted that she likes you, and she doesn’t need any more dead friends.”
“Cat’s definitely alive.” I said, “She’s possessed by her past selves and emotionally compromised, but she’s doing well personally, just-”
“What?” Mimic demanded, “Don’t tell K that.”
“Being dead is forgivable, but forgetting her isn’t?” I asked.
“Nah, ya got it backwards.” Mimic said, “Dead ain’t fixable, damaged is. K’s practical, she won’t go hunting Cat down. Too many folks’re depending on her for that. But she’d want to.”
“Anyways, I’ll try my hardest to stay alive and in touch.” I said, “I don’t plan to do anything dangerous for a few days.”
I rose from the bed slowly.
Mimic said, “Easy does it. We couldn’t guess what was wrong with you, so I don’t know if you’ll pass out again. Let me know if you’re feeling tired.”
I wasn’t. I walked across the building without difficulty, but Mimic stopped me when I got to the exit.
“I get you want to get moving again.” Mimic said, “But you have to get a spotter, at least for a few hours, and I have paperwork. I’ll give Copper a ring. Sit tight, alright?”
I sat down, and started looking through the menus. Killing the Sunderer had pushed me to the next rank, and now I could buy class upgrades. It would be a lie to call any of the three types of class upgrades cheap. That said, Modifiers could run as little as ten-thousand Potential, while the cheapest Class Evolutions cost millions and Multiclass Unlocks could run billions.
I only had 11,000 Potential, so I could only buy the first Modifier right now. I mean, hypothetically I could have unlocked more using Quanta, but I wasn’t in a life or death situation at the moment, and I wanted to source a ‘Dimensional Envelope’ on the marketplace first.
Each class upgrade was associated with a unique gem, representing a single slot, and could only be used in that slot. Once an upgrade was used in a slot, it could be replaced by a different one for the cost of the new upgrade. However, swapping would never be free. You would need to repeat this purchase for every swap, and usually there were more permanent upgrades to be done with your potential.
That didn’t mean swapping was worthless. While every Gem had a default option that was completely free, new alternatives were unlocked based on your actions, and many of those would provide better buffs. While the benefits from Class Upgrades would multiply with those of gear, they would only add when stacked with themselves. A new ability might be worth using over the old, and if you had a plan it might be worth replacing skills with superior versions. It merely meant that nobody sane should swap between skills unless it was an objective improvement or genuinely necessary. At some point, swapping the lower gems would be cheap, but at no point was it reasonable to do every fight, or even daily.
Currently, I could only afford to fill the first and cheapest gem, “Song” for 10,000 Potential. The next gem would cost 100,000 Potential, and the gem after that would cost a Million Potential. I quickly looked through the options.
[
Song of Endings:
+50% Dream Potency
All Dreamers dream of endings. What kind will you hear?
]
[
Song of Slaughter:
+100% Dream Potency
+100% Dream Manipulation
+100% Dream Borders
- 99% Dream Resilience
You dreamt a song of death, and your enemies fell within it.
]
[
Song of Rot:
+75% Dream Potency
+75% Dream Manipulation
-50% Dream Resilience
+50% “Abyssal” Amplification
You dreamt a song of corruption. What this has changed remains a mystery to you.
]
[
Song of Respite:
+50% Dream Manipulation
+50% Dream Potency
+100% Amplification of skills with healing properties
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
You dreamt a song of healing and recovery, and saved others from injury or death.
]
That was a decent set of options. The number of options I’d have unlocked when I first reached the gem would probably get more scarce as I climbed the ranks of the gems. In any case, the requirements to unlock the options would get harsher. The default option generally was objectively inferior to the alternatives, but it remained worth grabbing if no better options existed.
I didn’t think I wanted to grab “Song of Slaughter”, either. While it granted the most improvement to my offensive capabilities, it lacked any further useful advantages, and would significantly decrease my ability to survive if I did get hit. It would make me a glass cannon without mitigation. Perhaps someday it would be worth grabbing, because the bonuses and debuffs stacked additively, but not while it was the only option.
Given that, I thought I probably wanted to grab “Song of Respite”. All the abilities I had gotten from Eris had enough of a healing component to be amplified, and that was worth the lower improvements to my stats. After a moment of consideration, I did.
Ashlyn's Stats True Base Value Final Value (Always rounds down) Physique 100 102 Dream Potency 100 2,027 Dream Manipulation 100 2,027 Dream Borders 100 1,160 Dream Durability 100 1,160
With my upgrades done, I checked my messages.
K and Mimic had apparently sent me some messages while I was out, but I didn’t read them now. If they had been urgent they would’ve told me in person. There was some spam, or messages from people I didn’t know and wasn’t certain how they knew me. I ignored that for now. There was one obviously-important message chain at the bottom of the stack, from my sister.
---
Bethandria Thresher: Ashlyn, I hear I have you to blame for my new half-brother.
Bethandria: On the one hand, thank you for the Quanta and the backup, it’s made my life a lot easier.
Bethandria: But, with all gratitude, couldn’t you have chosen -
Bethandria: He keeps eating -
Bethandria: Rather than describe it, suffice to say I won’t be able to watch vampire or zombie movies for a long time.
Bethandria: He wants to say something to you, and I’m letting him.
Leon Thresher: Greetings, Ashlyn.
Leon: I am Leon, and I promise, I will do everything in my power to keep our shared sister safe.
Leon: I am not good with humans, but I am listening and learning.
Leon: I may need to reach out to you for help understanding their norms.
Leon: The safe zone we’re currently in is from a spell I cannot sustain indefinitely, so we might not be able to respond consistently.
---
Bethandria Thresher: The good news is, we’ve found other survivors.
Bethandria: The bad news is, Leon has inadvertently charmed half of them.
Bethandria: He’s taking this badly.
Leon Thresher: How do you reject a human without them trying to kill you?
Leon: I mean, I could kill them if they try.
Leon: But I know Beth would rather I not kill anyone here.
Leon: Especially the ones she actually likes.
Leon: Nevermind, talked it over with Beth. The issue has been handled.
Leon: Please reply when you can. Beth is worried.
---
Bethandria Thresher: I hope you’re alright, Ashlyn.
Bethandria: If you are, please reply when you can.
Bethandria: I love you.
Bethandria: And I’m sorry for giving up on you before.
Bethandria: I’m glad to have Leon, but if you don’t reply, I’ll always wonder - if you had kept him for yourself, would you have survived?
Bethandria: Don’t be dead.
---
Bethandria: In the spirit of assuming you are fine, here’s an update.
Bethandria: Two-thirds of the group I’ve found are pining over Leon.
Bethandria: Yes, they have seen him eating -
Bethandria: He’s somehow so charming they can overlook it.
Bethandria: Maressa seems to have developed an interest now that he’s explicitly unattainable.
Bethandria: To be clear, everyone we’re with are decent people.
Bethandria: They accept his no, but they are still attracted.
Bethandria: He’s honestly both beautiful and handsome. If it didn’t feel fundamentally wrong, I’d probably be pining too.
Bethandria: I just hope it isn’t making him uncomfortable.
---
Leon Thresher: Do humans only mate in breeding pairs? Are the other pairings merely socially unacceptable, or are they physically unsafe?
Leon: There is no reason I should ask this.
Leon: Beth has assured me, with absolute confidence that the girl that keeps watching her
Leon: The same way my admirers do
Leon: Is one of my admirers.
Leon: She looked genuinely upset when I suggested otherwise.
Leon: I won’t bring it up again, but can you explain?
---
Ashlyn Thresher: Bethandria. I am alright, but was unconscious for a few days.
Ashlyn: Are you doing okay?
Ashlyn: Do you need further help?
Bethandria: I’m doing fine. Worry about yourself. Leon’s enough.
Ashlyn: Got it.
Ashlyn: You didn’t give up on me, by the way.
Ashlyn: Or if you did, I gave up on you first.
Bethandria: Maybe. But either way, you were here for me now.
Ashlyn: Your parents would’ve been there for you, if they survived.
Bethandria: Maybe.
Bethandria: But you don’t even like me.
Ashlyn: I might.
Ashlyn: I can’t like - well.
Ashlyn: But before that entered the equation, I liked you. If you move past that, I will again.
Ashlyn: I’ll never like your parents, though.
Bethandria: Anyways! Are things going well on your end?
Ashlyn: I’ve received a death-threat from a colleague who may or may not have died since then.
Ashlyn: But I’m safe and secure in a safe zone that’s probably not going to collapse this month.
Ashlyn: Though safety is always a roll of the dice these days.
Bethandria: GTG. We’re having a meeting today.
Bethandria: Leon should be free, if you want to talk with him.
---
Ashlyn: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Leon.
Leon: The pleasure is all mine.
Ashlyn: To answer your question, the most recent local regime condemned same-sex couples until a few decades ago.
Ashlyn: As do many sects of the dominant local religion to this day.
Ashlyn: Public opinion is mostly that it is normal and acceptable
Ashlyn: And some sects of the local religion disagree with this doctrine.
Ashlyn: But those who are traditionalists or religious tend to think it is wrong.
Ashlyn: And our parents were religious.
Leon: I think I understand.
Ashlyn: Unlike fae, humans tend to dramatically default to hetrosexual relationships for both sex and reproduction.
Ashlyn: We actually can't reproduce in non-hetrosexual pairings, at least not without third party interventions.
Ashlyn: While it is impossible to know what the actual percentage of people who like their own gender is, it seems likely to be less than fifty percent.
Ashlyn: And a larger portion like the opposite gender, even if they’d dabble in both in a pinch.
Leon: I get it.
Ashlyn: That said, if Beth is interested - it’s not like she has to worry about her parents or her society anymore.
Leon: Perhaps. Good talking to you, sister.
Ashlyn: Be well.
---
Full stat table here.
Ashlyn's Gear Physique Dream Potency Dream Manipulation Dream Borders Dream Durability Kindest Venom (S, lv. 7) 0 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 Usurpation By Fire (B, Lv. 11) 0 0 0 4.125 4.125 Melody's Reprise (B, Lv. 12) 0 0 6 0 0 Lake of the Sacrificed (B, Lv. 11) 0 2.75 2.75 2.75 2.75 Internal Apocalypse (S, Lv. 6) 0 6 0 0 0 Total Gear Multiplier (1 + sum of not-conflicting modifiers) 1 13.25 13.25 11.375 11.375
Ashlyn's Stats True Base Value + Achievements Total Base Value Gear Multiplier Class Upgrade Multiplier Final Value (Always rounds down) Physique 100 2 102 1 1 102 Dream Potency 100 2 102 13.25 1.5 2,027 Dream Manipulation 100 2 102 13.25 1.5 2,027 Dream Borders 100 2 102 11.375 1 1,160 Dream Durability 100 2 102 11.375 1 1,160
Amplified Affinities Gear Boost Class Upgrade Boost Final Multiplier Healing (1) 1 2 2 Compassion or Corruption 1.7 1 1.7