Matt opened his eyes to stare at the fuzzy gray stone of a castle ceiling. He sat up on the single bed and brushed his hands across the soft fitted sheet. The room was a strange amalgamation of the tent interior, a medieval castle, and a teenage bedroom. Matt retrieved his glasses from the side table, and then the posters unblurred.

Murl had called the wing they were in his ‘guest quarters,’ and had set them each up in their own room. It was strange waking up alone. Even though sleep only felt like an instant, Matt hadn’t been truly alone in days. Shutting himself in this small stone box felt wrong.

Matt swung his feet to the floor and then kicked aside some pillows. Like in the tent, there was no top sheet or comforter but there were more cushions than any sane human would need.

At least there’s that, Matt thought, eying the pink sparkles on his XP bar. He padded to the door and tapped Bruce Willis’ forehead on his way out. Totally a Christmas movie.

Kurtis and Fallyn were waiting in the hallway; Val poked her head out a moment after Matt.

“No tabby pillow,” she pouted and then Kurtis gave her a grumpy stare. “What?” she asked innocently and smiled.

“So, Mushrooms?” Matt steered the conversation. “What’s the plan?” He opened his map as he listened for replies.

“Go to cave, fight monsters, pick fungi,” Fallyn listed.

“What monsters?” Val asked.

“There are always monsters…” Kurtis reminded, scratching around his left ear. And Kurtis was usually right.

They exited the castle and located a trail, meandering deep into the mountains. Two hours into following its path, they arrived at the cave for Murl’s mushrooms. Matt led the way into the damp, cool, dark. He could hear the faint rush of water.

A purple glow spidered along the walls and ceiling, some sort of bioluminescent vine. Matt followed it deeper into the bulging passages, Kurtis stiff and quiet behind. Veins of quartz sparkled along the walls as it widened to a large chamber.

Matt’s Lucky Rainbow Brooch glinted too. He’d finally met the level requirement to equip it last night and had it pinned to the black fur of his pauldron. It raised his critical hit chance to 6%, up from 1%. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

Slowly but surely, he was getting more powerful. His heal now specified ‘Rapid Regeneration 2’ and it lasted for five seconds longer. Slapchop had advanced as well, doing slightly more damage, and his Blood Slash was a hair away from joining them. The Aspects seemed to be mirroring this progress, with Earth and Protection now at stage 2, and the Blood Aspect wasn’t far behind. Matt thought back to the crowd around Septimus Flower and hoped it was enough.

“Which way?” Fallyn asked when the chamber narrowed to three branching passages.

“Water is left,” Kurtis said, tilting his ears. “I mean, in one of the two on the left.”

The cat-man was putting on a brave face, but Matt could see the tension. All three options were narrow ahead; Matt hoped it would open up again soon for Kurtis’ sake.

“Do mushrooms grow near or far from water?” Matt asked, trying to puzzle it out.

No one in the group knew.

“Let’s go right!” Val said brightly.

Fallyn narrowed her eyes.

“Left is two, right is one.” Val shrugged. “We need one.”

Before anyone could object, she strode confidently into the corridor. And, unwilling to leave a group member behind, Matt, Fallyn, and Kurtis followed her—right until she froze at the entrance to the next broad cavern.

“Oh my gosh, they’re adorable!” Val cried.

Kurtis rushed past her to freedom, but Matt paused for a moment by Val. At the far side of the chamber, perhaps twenty feet away, was an alcove where white blossoms clung to the wall. In front of those glowing flowers, three Pomeranians were curled up on blue silky pillows, which looked utterly out of place in the cave.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Hello, dog friends!” Val called. Then she knelt and extended a hand in their direction.

Matt cautiously moved to the right of the entrance as Val continued her efforts. He waited by a dip in the rock, which mirrored the alcove but at a much smaller scale. He noticed that Kurtis had stopped, a few feet ahead, tail frizzed to twice its normal size.

“Hey,” Fallyn whispered, joining Matt at his side. “We should keep going.”

Matt nodded as one of the dogs stretched out all four legs, turning lazily towards the noise.

“Who’s the goodest boy?” Val cooed. “Come here puppy… Come on.”

A dark puddle of shadow slunk across the chamber. It flowed over bumps on the ground and lapped up the curved walls like waves. Then, all of a sudden, with the sound of rushing wind, the darkness sucked into the dogs. Matt’s heads-up display flashed.

The three Pomeranians jumped to their feet, little brown fluff-balls with solid black eyes—the whites now entirely gone. Then black sinewy spikes began to hiss from their fur, the largest among them as long as the dogs were tall. Black goo glistened on the sharpened tips, and red text, ‘Pomeranian,’ appeared above each animal. They were levels 5, 6, and 7.

The black-eyed creatures stared at the group and barked, a quiet “Grr-ruff” that echoed through the chamber. They stared and barked, stared and barked.

That’s it? Matt thought. He and Fallyn exchanged a look.

“But I wanna be friends,” Val insisted. “Don’t you wanna be nice doggies?”

“Val…” Kurtis warned through gritted teeth.

“Fine,” she huffed.

Matt hugged the wall and led the way to the chamber’s exit. The Pomeranians continued to bark, but if they wanted to make noise and stay on their pillows, that was fine by him. He had a quest to complete. He glanced back at Kurtis, feeling bad for his friend. Then he about-faced just in time to witness fur and spikes erupting ahead.

Matt lunged back, elbowing Fallyn. “Sorry!” he called, turning rapidly and then dashing back to the chamber’s entrance.

His party rallied there as a pack of monster-dogs formed, twenty or more black-eyed spiked things. Their barking grew to a deafening volume.

Fuck, I jinxed it, was all Matt could think, as a Level 7 enemy rushed towards him.

Matt wound up his swing and Blood Slashed; the afterimage deepening to maroon under the purple glow of the cave. Then bolts of light flew from behind him. Val stepped left for more space to draw her bow.

The attacking Pomeranian snarled, revealing black teeth and landing a bite near Matt’s wrist. The wound oozed black and his health shot down a full third.

“Agh!” Matt shook out his arm and bit back the pain. His blue sparks couldn’t work fast enough.

Then two more of the monster-dogs loped forward to join the fight, testing as the pack watched from behind them.

Matt Blood Slashed, hitting all three of the mutts, and the first creature dropped with a whimper. Then the newer pair leaped through the afterimage, hurling spiked bodies at Matt’s legs, carving deep slashes in his shins. Matt renewed Rapid Regeneration and blinked back tears.

Another two Pomeranians broke from the pack, growling, and stalking towards them. Then rings of crystals jutted up to stop them. Matt Blood Slashed the closer two. The trapped dogs crouched in their restraints, like runners at the start of a race. Then suddenly, launched their spikes at the group.

Kurtis, Fallyn, and Matt all screamed as the obsidian knives tore through them. Their health bars plummeted; Matt’s was at half. A spike protruded from his abdomen and had sliced clean through his bicep. His whole body trembled as he reached a shaky hand down to remove the spike. It disintegrated on contact.

Matt drew in ragged breaths as his sparks did their work. He focused on the enemies in front of him. He Blood Slashed and Blood Slashed in front of the growling hoard, as it sent in black-eyed dog after dog.

The pack kept edging closer, closing the distance between them. Fallyn launched forward, Slapchopping to push them back. Matt followed her with a leaping Blood Slash, hitting one dog squarely and severing spikes on two others. Tiny teeth latched onto his forearm as he lunged back.

“Get off!” Matt screamed, health dropping back to half.

Another dog ran past him towards Kurtis. Matt backstepped while jabbing at the dangling creature with his mace. Its legs pedaled, treading water as it growled.

“Get off!” he yelled again.

A volley of black spikes flew over Matt’s head. The pack was closing in.

Fallyn Slapchopped the creature off Matt’s arm; blood and black mixed in the wound. Matt clutched at the arm and blinked back tears. He needed to see, he needed to fight, he needed—

A Pomeranian yipped, leaping into the air between him and Val. Matt spun and bunted with his mace, redirecting it back to be skewered by its companions upon landing. Then Val ran forward—into the dogs! Matt’s heart leaped to his throat. She arced through the pack, health bar dropping. She cried out in pain as she tumbled out by Fallyn.

Then, dark green smoke triggered in the pack and its advance momentarily slowed. Matt watched their health bars tick up as his insides roiled. He wasn’t healing fast enough and there were far too many of them. He watched the smoke and adjusted his grip.

Then the spiked creatures started leaping out of the haze: one, three, five,… There were more than Matt could count. He Blood Slashed frantically as bolts and arrows flew from behind. He tried to back up as they continued to advance.

“Sorry!” he called.

He’d stepped on Kurtis’ feet. They’d backed right up to the wall. The smoke was gone, more than ten of the dogs remained, and Matt’s group was trapped in a corner.