Benjamin Vryce

Benjamin laughed for a solid minute. He couldn’t help himself, he laughed at the absurdity of his new life. Grace stood beside him and watched him laughing, with a confused scrunch to her nose. That set him off even more and he laughed all the harder, that look was too cute.

The laughing fit eventually died off, soon he was collected again. That had helped him a lot, laughing like that had relieved tension he hadn’t realized he was carrying. He supposed it really wasn’t that funny, but the laughter had felt so good.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Benjamin assured Grace he was ok. Looking back down the length of the room he took in the sight of the crocodile turtle. It was walking back and forth, like it was on guard duty. What had really set him off, was the sign over its head that read: Warning: dangerous Beast ahead. If you don’t have fangs and claws…or can’t grow them. Be patient, your chance will come.

Reading the sign, Benjamin burst into laughter all over again. Poor Grace, she just stood beside him while he lost it. Her hand was raised awkwardly. He thought she might have tried reaching out to touch him but had changed her mind halfway. He waved his hand dismissively as he settled down again.

“Its fine Grace, I’m ok.” He breathed deeply a few times, looked at the sign and snorted, then breathed deeply again. Finally, under control he turned to her, “When I first got here, I didn’t look like this.” He waggled his clawed fingers. “I came across one of these beasties and couldn’t get passed it. The damn thing killed me like four times…so I…actually… grew fangs and claws haha” he tried to explain and started laughing again.

Grace watched him laugh for long moments. She looked at the sign in question, then at the beast. She looked between them all for a time before speaking.

“Grace thinks she understands. You had to get past an armored snapper?” She asked, at his affirming nod she continued. “You couldn’t figure out how to get passed it, so you transformed your body to kill it?” she asked waiting again for his confirming nod, then tilted her head in thought.

He hadn’t known the beast was called an armored snapper. He looked at it, still chuckling while he waited for Grace to gather her thoughts. Grace’s people might not be original with how they named things, but it was armored and it attacked by snapping its jaws on its prey. The name certainly got the point across.

“Grace’s people hunt armored snappers sometimes. Why didn’t you throw out a swamp rat to distract it? They can’t resist them. While they go after the rat, grace’s people just shoot them from a distance.” She finished with a puzzled, everyone knows this, look on her face.

That sobered Benjamin right up. He must have killed a dozen dire rats before he reached the armored snapper. He had arrived at the snapper’s cave covered in rat blood from killing so many, he must have smelled like its food.

As he stood there thinking over Grace’s words, a new movement caught his eye. Looking in that direction, he saw a dire rat stick its nose out of a hole in the wall before scurrying out. No sooner did its tail clear the hole, the armored snapper spotted it and rushed over.

The rat darted back into its den, but the snapper wasn’t deterred. It stood at the entrance, snapping and clawing at the opening. Completely ignoring what was going on around it. Benjamin frowned, and reread the sign. Warning: dangerous Beast ahead. If you don’t have fangs and claws…or can’t grow them. Be patient, your chance will come.

The Erlking, was fucking with him. That was the only explanation. He just stood there, slack jawed and watching the snapper paw at the hole like a cat. Grace stood beside him. Looking between him and the armored snapper. From her expression, this type of behavior was completely ordinary for the beast.

“Grace wonders if maybe, Benjamin wants to go through the door now?” she finally asked, somewhat hesitantly. Benjamin could tell she was trying to be considerate, but the question pushed him over the edge.

“No Grace, I don’t think I’m ready just yet…wait here for one moment, will you?” he said, entering the room. This…thing…had killed him. A lot. It had also been this thing that triggered his slow change away from being human, and the Erlking thought it was funny.

“I’ll show you funny, you antlered asshole. I’ve got your funny right here.”

* * *

Benjamin held the door for Grace. They had reached the exit on the far side of the armored snapper’s room. He popped his head inside and, determining that it was a puzzle room motioned for her to proceed him inside. The first half of the room was painted red, Benjamin thought that was very fitting. The room they just left was now painted red as well.

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Once inside he closed the door and let out a long sigh of relief. A good laugh followed by an intensive workout, just what the doctor ordered. After he had settled his…dispute…with the reptile, Benjamin had a long inner debate whether or not to take its pattern and core.

In the end he decided against it. The wolves had made it clear the Erlking had allowed it before, but wanted it stopped. He might have given in and taken them anyway but honestly, who would want that freaky rat loving lizard in their soul anyway?

Door firmly shut on acts that would never be spoken about again, Benjamin looked around. The walls in this room were painted half red and half blue. There were two clock looking dials on the far wall and a sign that read: Welcome to the first puzzle room, turn the dials together to match the pattern on the walls. First right, then left and on to the next room!

He read the sign, looked around the room then turned to Grace.

“You think there’s some kinda trap here?” he asked, pointedly ignoring her quick glance at his bloody clothes before she answered.

“Grace is unsure, but it seems straightforward enough. Assuming there are at least two people in the room. Otherwise, Grace doesn’t think one alone could leave.” She said in answer to his question.

“Well, let’s give it a try, shall we? Just be ready in case something pops out at us.” He said with a shrug.

Grace nodded, pointedly not looking at him. The pair approached the dials and followed the instructions on the sign. Within two minutes of entering the room they were walking out the other side. After the second door was a long corridor. They couldn’t see the end, so it either turned or was very long.

“That room was almost too easy, what was the point? If someone couldn’t get past something that simple, they probably shouldn’t even be here,” Benjamin said, talking largely to fill the awkward silence that had descended between the two companions.

Ok, maybe he had gone a little overboard. Perhaps he should have stopped at killing the beast, no one step before that. Perhaps he should have stopped at dismembering it. No, he should have simply done as Grace suggested and walked by the creature.

On the bright side he had gathered some soul essence. Killing beasts granted him a little. Not as much as consuming their creation cores, but it was a start. Hopefully this tower was full of things he could kill. Unless there was a way to gather soul essence without taking it from the Erlking’s creations. He would have to look into that.

He had grown quiet as he thought about how he could grow stronger. Grace hadn’t spoken unless he had asked her something directly, so he decided to leave her be. Of course, she was usually silent unless he asked her a direct question, so that might not mean anything at all. Other than his own conscience nagging him.

They rounded a bend after walking in silence for a time and arrived at another door. This one was made out of what looked like bamboo, the sign on it read: Rest and reflection, are an important part of advancement. Come in, rest and reflect. You will know when it is time to leave.

Benjamin and Grace exchanged a look, she seemed as confused as he felt. Was this a test of some kind? Without knowing what else to do, Benjamin reached out and pushed the door aside. What greeted his eyes was, rather unexpected.

It looked like an ancient being from another universe, had constructed a Japanese bathhouse, using only art found in badly translated manga for inspiration. Benjamin had to admit it looked amazing, he even toyed with the idea of making his own when he had enough essence. He had no idea how culturally accurate it was, but he wasn’t even on earth anymore so who was going to care.

Stepping inside they explored the space together. Benjamin had to explain the concept to Grace but once he did, she had nearly started glowing. Picking one of the attached bedrooms Grace dropped off her things inside before returning to Benjamin.

“Grace is going to bathe; she thinks Benjamin should do the same.” She barely hesitated when her eyes flicked over his bloodstained clothes. “Then you should rest and reflect, just like the sign says.” With that she left him standing in the entrance to the women’s bath.

Benjamin had the distinct impression he had been told to ‘go clean up and think about what you’ve done.’ Really, who was the creation and who was the soul around here. He wasn’t upset though; he hadn’t wanted her to be his slave. He had wanted a companion, an equal, it seemed the binding process was able to do what he couldn’t put into words.

So, he cleaned up and settled into the tub. He didn’t know how long this rest break was going to last, but he was going to use the time to work on the seal over his soul. He idly wondered if there were any other humans in the tower, and if they were having it as easy as he had so far.

* * *

Jade Benz

Jade wasn’t having a good time. There were more rats down here than she could count. Every few twists or turns down the tunnel they went there was another rat swarm needing to be pasted. She was wet and filthy. Her clothes long since destroyed, between the muddy water and the blood and gore Tik and Tok kept showering her with.

On a positive note, she had made progress on her force shield. She still couldn’t make it work every time, but when her life was really in danger it would spring into existence. It drained her power supply faster than her boys could fill it back up by killing the rats though.

Maybe she could do something about its size or shape to make it cheaper. She wasn’t going to fight these disgusting rats, even if she had a weapon. Watching her ogres smash them up from behind a pretty and protective barrier though? That was a plan she could get behind.

Jade looked around the latest massacre. There had been a bigger rat in this bunch, bigger than the already dog sized rats they had been seeing. For real, a pony sized rat. If that wasn’t bad enough the tunnel was getting smaller. The rats were getting bigger and her boys had less room to fight and move around in.

This was crazy, why did she end up in a sewer anyway. She looked at her ruined clothes again, she hated the outfit but it was the only one she had. Ugh, she would kill for a spa day. Literally kill, any number of things.

Looking up she saw that there was a light ahead. She had nearly missed it around Tok’s broad back. Drawing closer she saw that it was a set of stairs. Yes, about freaking time. Then she saw that they were going down, her heart sank just a little bit further at the sight.