Gordon answered on the first ring. “Levi! What’s going on, are you alright? Irene is going crazy with worry.”
“I’m in New York state; any chance you can hire an Uber to pick me up? My account has been locked. I can pay you back.”
“Stay where you are, I’ll come get you. Where in New York?”
“No need to come yourself, just call—”
“Where are you, exactly?”
Levi resisted the temptation to hang up, to run away again. He hated to ask so much of anyone, but he needed someone if he was going to reach his family before things went to hell. Gordon was the best option he had right now.
He couldn't believe he was stuttering over the name of a town, more afraid of a person he’d known in the past than of facing a horde of demons, but his voice trembled despite his best efforts to hold himself steady.
The wait itself was almost unbearable.
So many times he nearly caved and said “never mind;” so many times he nearly ran off into the darkness, to disappear and never show his face.
But he couldn't keep running forever. Sooner or later, he'd need to get back to his family. He wanted so desperately to see them. The fear of their rejection and the certainty that he wouldn’t have the strength to oppose them if they said he was crazy were the only things that held him back.
He knew there was a good chance Gordon would force him to go home. Getting in his car could be the same as returning on his own.
He couldn't quite admit that he wanted it anyway.
He needed them. Needed to be there for them, with them, not just protecting them from a distance. He needed to see them, touch them, hold them.
If he could recruit Gordon to drive from dungeon to dungeon, that would be ideal. If he ended up shanghaied back home....
He tried to convince himself it would be fine either way.
It would be.
He'd be fine. Irene would be fine. Peter would be alive and safe and happy, and Levi would never let him be hurt again.
Dawn broke, spilling golden light across the horizon, painting the clouds in peach and scarlet. It reminded him of the stakes—the fire and death, the future he had to prevent at any cost.
He sat there for hours, his fears chasing each other around in his head, all his confidence and certainty useless against this unexpected angle of attack. He'd thought he settled it all, thought he'd found his answers and certainty. But when it came right down to it, he hadn't resolved anything, only put it off until later.
A silver Buick finally drove up beside him, slowing to a stop in the parking lot. A man stepped out, looking around, then made a beeline for Levi. He was tall but not exceptionally so, in crumpled slacks and a T-shirt with an expensive jacket over top, a hodgepodge of clothing Levi realized he must have thrown on in haste. He’d called in the middle of the night.
“I'm sorry,” Levi said at once. “I shouldn't have—”
Gordon held up a hand and shook his head. “It's okay. Are you alright?” His eyes took in Levi's multiple sets of tattered coats, and his leg armor, and his shoes of inhuman make. “You look terrible.”
Levi nodded, then shrugged, then shook his head, then looked away. No, he would not break down here.
Gremlin Two poked his head around Levi's leg, staring at Gordon. Gordon jumped back, recoiling at the sight of the dungeon creature. He looked curiously up at Levi. “What is...?”
“Gordon, meet Gremlin Two. Two, meet Gordon. We go way back, plus he came all this way to pick us up, so he’s a good friend.”
Gremlin Two sighed and crouched down on all fours, pretending to be a cat.
Levi choked out a laugh. “It's fine, you don't have to pretend.”
Gremlin Two dusted himself off and stood, glowering up at Gordon.
“Uhh... ” Gordon looked back and forth between the scrawny horned creature and Levi. “I... what?”
“Gremlin Two is a dungeon creature. I'm a system warrior now, Tamer, actually, uhh... and I'm trying to prevent the apocalypse. Well, I don't think anything can prevent it. Mitigate, probably a better word.”
“That… I… apocalypse?” Gordon stared blankly for a long moment, then shook his head. “How about we talk it over on the way back. Come and get warmed up.” His gaze settled on Gremlin Two. The uncertainty in his eyes grew stronger.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Levi shrugged and followed him to the car. Gremlin Two crawled into the back and sat down on the floor.
Neither of them spoke. Gordon started the engine but then couldn’t seem to decide what to do with his hands. Steering wheel, lap, steering wheel, adjust the vents…
“We need to go to Lexington. Kentucky.”
Gordon looked up from fiddling with the heat controls. “What? Why?”
“There’s something important I need to pick up there.”
“Since when?”
“Can you just trust me, this is important? I wouldn’t have called you if this weren’t life-or-death essential to the future.”
“Thanks. Wow.” Gordon looked at him sideways. “You realize how you sound right now?”
“Crazy, yes. But this is very real, and I've decided to try trusting you.”
“Try? When we’ve known each other how long?”
“You’re focusing on the wrong things here.”
“Then, please, tell me. What should I be focusing on? Because it sounds to me like you’ve gone completely off your rocker. I want to find something, anything, about this that makes sense. You look like you’ve been violently abducted and here the first thing you say is ‘we need to go to Kentucky?’”
“I’d be happy to tell you all about it, but can we be driving while I do?”
“I came to bring you back to the hotel, not go on an all-night road trip to who-knows-where. You can’t even tell me what’s so important?”
“I told you, I’m trying to fight the apocalypse.”
“Right. The apocalypse. Can you just… say anything that makes sense? I’ve never been in such a circular conversation, and I work with Alia.”
“I’m not used to explaining this all. I’ve been living with this reality now for long enough it feels normal, but to you…” Levi hesitated. “The best way would be to show you first-hand.”
“And you need to go to Kentucky for that?”
“No, there should be a dungeon within an hour’s drive of here, they’re spaced pretty consistently. If you start driving, I’ll let you know when we’re near one.”
“Then I’m taking you back to Ohio. If you can figure out an explanation that makes any sense at all before then, we can revisit the destination thing.” Gordon shifted the car into drive, but didn’t take his foot off the brake, still watching Levi sideways.
Levi sighed. “I’m not going to do anything, you don’t have to worry. Worst case, we end up back in Ohio and I call a taxi from there. I appreciate you coming out to get me either way.”
“Irene is out of her mind with worry. You’re going to need to make this up to her big time when you get back.”
Levi winced. That confrontation was one he didn’t mind avoiding a bit longer. “Just go. I’ll let you know when we’re near a dungeon.”
Gordon nodded and drove back up onto the highway.
Levi sent out a Mana Ping in case a dungeon could be found nearby. He knew they'd go by at least three on this route, but he didn’t know the exact driving distances. Nothing yet.
Gordon broke the silence after several miles. “Could you at least explain what happened on the seventh? You were supposed to meet us at the bar, and never showed. Then you have this... breakdown?” He glanced at Levi for a reaction.
Levi only shrugged. “That was when I met my first System creature and became what I am now. I know too much about the hidden world of monsters and demons to pretend everything is normal.”
“See, you say things like that as though they’re perfectly ordinary, and we both know they’re not.” Gordon sped up to pass a delivery truck and didn’t slow down.
“It is reasonable to disbelieve the existence of dungeons until proven otherwise. However, it is also sensible to verify your facts before believing or disbelieving them.”
“‘Dungeon’ is just the old-timey word for jail, right? Why would I disbelieve their existence?”
“Ah. Well. These are a very different type of dungeon from that. More like in a game.”
Gordon coughed and shot him a concerned glance. “What kind of games are you playing in dungeons?”
“They’re not games, they’re deadly serious.”
“Then why did you say ‘dungeon, like in a game?’”
“It’s a kind of... quasi-intelligent monster-spawning factory in an alternate dimensional space. They can't be reasoned with or understood, but they clearly have some rudimentary strategic ability and adapt their layouts and creatures over time.”
“Intelligent... alternate dimension... monster factory.”
“I'll show you the next time we get near one.”
“I’m not sure I want to know.”
“If we skip it, will you take me to Kentucky?”
Gordon didn’t answer.
Levi sent out another ping. Still nothing. “For now, just assume that there are secret wormholes to dungeons full of monsters hidden all over the world. The first time you come in contact with a System creature, you absorb a tiny amount of System energy. Or mana. Or... whatever it is we call it. It's had many names. We usually just say ‘mana’ for ease of use, but it's not exactly the same as mana that you use for spells, though it tastes the same—”
“Slow down a bit. I didn’t understand any of that.”
Levi considered how to simplify. “You become a level 1 person when you defeat your first dungeon creature. Once you do so, you can level up more by killing more dungeon creatures. Or demons, of course, but they won't be around for another few months.”
Gordon didn't say anything; he took several deep breaths as if about to speak, then shook his head and did it again. A few times he opened his mouth, then shut it.
They drove in silence for several more minutes.
“Once we find a dungeon, I'll be able to show you. That will make all of this much easier to believe.”
“You don't sound like a crazy person, but you sound like a crazy person. You know? Nothing you're saying makes sense, but you... you're too normal, and too off. There's something going on, clearly, but all this...?”
Levi pinged again, and this time sensed a dungeon at the far edge of his range. “Turn off at the next exit,” he instructed. “There's one coming up. I can show you firsthand.”
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