Aki

Our spirits were further boosted when upon opening the door a message appeared in front of our eyes.

Leaving Zone: The Hunting Grounds

Entering Zone: Crossroads

Difficulty: N/A

Description: Choose your destination carefully. Once you cross the threshold - there is no going back.

Notice 1: For clearing the previous zone without completing the optional objective, you have been rewarded with 2000 experience points.

Notice 2: This is a safe zone. You can rest here without worry.

The room itself was nothing special. It was square-shaped, had the same drab decor as the previous two chambers and had a door on each wall. Still… It was an oasis for us. As I discovered all of my friends levelled upon getting here, Ren getting to level three, Caei to eleven and Lilyth to thirteen. We didn’t celebrate those milestones, however, as we were so exhausted after trekking through the maze for hours we took the offer of safety at face value. Caei cast [Ward] just in case, and we just sat down and huddled together against one of the walls. We promised ourselves that it was just a quick rest and that we wouldn't fall asleep, which is why when I woke up two hours later and saw my three other companions still fast asleep I was so mad, I just nuzzled against Lilyth and continued my nap.

So… warm…

‘I wondered why you three are the way you are,’ Ren said after we all woke up and were eating a meal. ‘Don’t take it the wrong way, but none of you three seems the type to be in this kind of a relationship. And yet… I realise now why you decided to make it work somehow. Being trapped in a dungeon… it changes you, doesn't it? When we were wandering that maze… with those monsters around, unsure if there was even a way out… I realised that this really was no grand adventure like they tell you in stories. I had no idea if we would find a way out if there even was one, and this was just the first hurdle, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Lilyth sighed. ‘My first experience here was just like this one. One moment I am heading to work, the next I am standing before Ereshkigal before being yoinked into a hellhole like this place. Alone. With no friends. No idea what was going on. The first friendly face I found was a girl waiting to be butchered and eaten by goblins. That girl also happened to have blue hair, horns and a tail.’

I laughed at that.

‘One of the reasons I took to you so quickly was because you were one of the few people to treat me normally. It took me a while to realise it was because you had no idea what people here looked like.’

‘I would have treated you normally regardless,’ Lilyth smiled and gave me a peck on the cheek.

‘I know that now,’ I giggled.

‘But yeah,’ Lilyth continued. ‘You are never the same after an experience like this. Me and Aki happened because we almost died one time too many. I was hesitant about going through with this… but in hindsight, I regret nothing.’

‘Glad to hear it, darling,’ I said. ‘Honestly, before meeting you I was mostly interested in boys. I found a few girls attractive, but… boys it was. So… if we met under different circumstances I don’t think we would have been together.’

‘No,’ Lilyth agreed. ‘So you know… this is a relationship born out of an accident and shared trauma.’

‘And then I dropped in on Lilyth expecting her to have answers to my problems,’ Caei chimed in. ‘She did, as it turned out. And after everything, me and Aki just decided our jelly meant so much to both of us that it wasn't worth ruining it by fighting. Not after what we’ve been through. Then we’ve been through more. And more.’

‘And this is where I come in, I guess,’ Ren laughed.

‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘Though I think this is where we close the expansion of our little messed-up family.’

My friends all nodded.

‘Before coming here I was single for ten years,’ Lilyth said. ‘Suddenly, I have two wives and am friends with the girlfriend of one of them. That's plenty enough for me.’

‘I think I am in the same boat,’ I laughed. ‘Other than sleeping with one caravan guard, something I now regret, I was alone too.’

‘Me too,’ Caei agreed. ‘I had plenty of lovers. But no one I ever loved. Or who loved me in return.’

Ren just shook her sadly. We knew.

‘So…’ Lilyth picked up the thread. ‘We didn't know what the future would bring, so we lived in the now. We were all broken but found people who made us whole and whom we, in turn, make whole too. And now you are a part of that, Rennie, because Caei, a very important piece of that fucked-up puzzle, wouldn't be complete without you.’

‘You are such a wordsmith, my love,’ I giggled. ‘I fucking love you for it.’

‘And I fucking love you too,’ Lilyth responded and we kissed.

Even while we are in danger, so long as she, Caei and Ren are here I am happy.

I was initially surprised by my inclusion of Ren there, but it just felt natural now. It wouldn't be the same without her.

Caeileera

I was happy to see both that Aki has somewhat recovered and that Ren went from “unwanted pet that came with a girlfriend” to “family” in the eyes of my wives. It’s not that I didn't understand their initial hesitance towards her, it’s just… I guess it is hard to see things their way when you have memories of loving her. All things considered, as time passed I was actually more and more grateful for the memories I got from Leera. It wasn't about Ren, either. No… it was about me. After I met Lilyth and Aki I did my best to suppress who I was previously, a process that started a long time before in the Badlands, while Leera had no such incentive and grew as I would had I… no. To know that the course of your life really hinged on one person coming to your aid in a pivotal moment… it is hard. Still… understanding who I was now and who I would have become otherwise did give me a weird wide perspective on myself and where I want to go. That some things were not worth suppressing, while things I thought fine should have been instead, letting me be true to both of myselves. As my lady swears-a-lot said, I wouldn't be complete without Ren there, so as the four of us sat there in a circle holding hands I could have not been happier.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Then the moment passed and it was time to get back to dungeoneering. The first problem was choosing where should we go next. The notification told us to choose carefully, but that was easier said than done with our selection being three identical doors. The answer to that conundrum came with Ren touched one of them and yelped.

‘Death!’ she screamed. ‘There is death on the other side!’

We rushed to her side and she explained that a feeling of existential dread overcame her the moment she touched the wood of the door.

‘Interesting,’ Lilyth muttered and approached the door.

She looked at us and upon me and Aki nodding our assent, Lilyth carefully prodded it with her finger.

She quickly recoiled.

‘There is something… very wrong there,’ she said. ‘But familiar… a sensation of flutter of wings.’

Aki tried next and retreated with a wince.

‘Tooth horrors,’ she snarled. ‘I would recognize that… everywhere…’

Lilyth hugged her.

‘Don’t worry. We won’t let those things touch you again.’

Led by sheer curiosity, I poked the door with my finger and a wave of different sensations flooded me. The smell… the sounds…

‘That’s a “no” to that door,’ I said.

‘The other two could be worse,’ Lilyth pointed out. ‘Those at least we fought. And assuming this is a path to the exit… we could end up in Y-Ram. Which would put us next to our destination.’

‘And in the middle of a nest of those things,’ Aki protested.

Lilyth raised her finger wanting to say something, lowered it, raised it again and then simply said:

‘Forget I ever suggested that. ‘

Due to her being the lowest level and having the strongest response to the sensations from the doors, Ren ended up becoming our kaenaeri, which were those small birds used in Terran mines to check for toxic gases. I was horrified upon learning about this barbaric practice, but Lilyth simply shrugged and said that better than a bird dies than twenty people. I had no support on that one from either Rennie or Aki, as the former pointed out that it is also a practice on Dwynveia and the latter said that even in Dan-Hem you sometimes heard stories about mining disasters from passing merchants, so she found the practice acceptable if it saved lives.

‘I’m just not okay with us using Rennie as a disposable tool,’ I finally protested.

Rennie took my hand in hers and squeezed it.

‘It’s necessary, sweetie,’ she said with a smile. ‘I will feel better if you are there with me.’

I knew she was doing it for my benefit than hers, but I thought she appreciated my support when the other two doors had the same effect on her.

‘Sorry, Ren,’ Lilyth apologised as I hugged my shaking girlfriend tightly, ‘I was hoping that… some of those would prove less horrifying for you than the others.’

‘That would have been the choice then?’ she confirmed.

‘Yes.’

‘Then it was worth it, but I guess “Impossible” really means “Impossible”.’

‘That means I’m next?’ Aki asked. ‘Since I am the “second weakest”?’

‘Aki,’ Lilyth said firmly. ‘I think you are the strongest of us all. But whatever runs this place values other things…’

Level is a shit way to measure people, isn't it? And Lilyth is undervaluing herself. Most people would have been catatonic after what Kojiro did to her, but yeah… Aki has steel inside her.

Aki

I didn't think Lilyth's reassurance was necessary, it wasn't her or anyone’s fault I was considered the second weakest of us all, but it was welcome nonetheless. Just like her offer to hold my hand, especially after I was assaulted by feelings of horror and decay upon brushing my fingers against the wood of the door. My first thought was of the Rot… but no. It was different. When the psychic attack subsided I realised Lilyth was holding me.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

‘Now… yes… thank you…’

‘That bad, huh?’ Lilyth said and put her hand on the door. She immediately recoiled back.

‘Yeah. We can strike this one as an option. I have no idea what's there, but it is bad.’

‘What did you feel?’ I asked. ‘All I felt was… decay.’

‘That was… a part of that, yes. I also heard multi-limbed creatures skittering… screams… and dripping.’

Yeah. Screw this path.

Caei came over to us and with a “might as well” decided to check it out. She held onto the wood for a surprisingly long time, though I could see she was really uncomfortable.

‘Those weren't screams,’ she said finally. ‘It was laughter. Of a thing with many mouths. Then it started beckoning to me. Promising me things. Fortunately, everything I ever wanted is right here.’

‘You know… I think the tooth horrors are starting to sound like a fine adventure,’ Lilyth said.

The memories of the time I was caught by one of them flooded my mind. The helplessness I felt as it pinned me down. It paled in comparison to the dread this path exuded.

Something must have shown on my face because Lilyth quickly said:

‘Before we decide on that option, let’s check what is behind door number three, eh?’

That one was also scary, but not like the previous door. I got a feeling of corpses. Energy… flesh… lots of flesh… tasty…

I quickly retracted my hand.

‘Something with a taste for meat is there. And a lot of bodies.’

Lilyth went next. She was touching the door for a good minute or two before finally saying.

‘My instincts went haywire there, so I did my best to push through that just like Caei did before. Let me put it this way… while the Huntress has mostly fucked off since the hospital and I thought she was gone altogether after I got a new body she decided to rear her head and tell me that whatever we were feeling there… it was the top of the food chain. And… that there were many things there that also outranked me.’

Caei didn't learn anything else.

‘So our options are…’ Lilyth began counting on her fingers:

‘Tooth horrors, an eldritch abomination and an apex predator my instincts are telling me not to fuck with, but isn't inherently insurmountable because the three of us got useful information out of interacting with its imprint.’

‘I think the predator thing might definitely be the easiest of the three,’ Ren, silent up to this point, added. ‘You were only able to decipher the tooth horror thing because you met those before, but otherwise received no useful information. You even got more information out of the second door.’

Ohh… shit.

‘Have I ever told you I loved you, Rennie?’ I said. ‘We got so fixated on that one because we knew what it was so we assumed it was the easiest option.’

‘Yeah,’ Lilyth agreed. ‘That’s a big “you are the best” award from me too.’

And just like that it was decided.