Matt exhaled a calming breath as he approached Herbert, the tree quest-giver. His heart was still beating rapidly. The triple question mark goos had not followed him outside, but Matt was glad for the distance. Gravemist flowed in soft waves over his ankles and lapped against the back of the tree.

Holy shit, that was close, he thought.

They’d run to the first floor and paused before the basement doors, Comic Sans sign reminding them of the army just beyond. Then Matt had looked at the wall and known. It was that strange intuition that wasn’t quite his own.

He remembered placing his palms on the wall and—though he wasn’t quite sure how he did it—it awakened to his key. A circle of pale purple light bled through the stone. Slow lines etched across it. The goos were sliding down the hallway, almost upon them. The others were preparing to brace the door. The design flared.

Matt scrunched his eyes and hurled himself at the solid, glowing wall. He tumbled out into thick gravemist. Then the others were falling on top of him.

The gas was thinner, now, near the tree. Matt paced his breaths with the crunch of their footfalls, acutely aware of his heartbeat. You escaped, he told himself. You’re outside. You’re fine. We’re all okay.

“Oh, oh!” called Herbert with his English accent. “Are those travelers I hear? Could I have company?”

“Hi, Herbert!” Val called, speeding towards the tree’s front.

“Oh, goodness me. Come around where I can see you,” Herbert urged.

Fallyn tucked brown waves behind one ear as she followed Val. Kurtis trekked more slowly at Matt’s side, spread his oven-mitted hands, and shrugged. Matt offered him a smile.

They didn’t know what to do about the third floor yet but had completed Herbert’s quest. So, they might as well try the tree-man.

Herbert twitched his tree-bark nose, which wiggled his large curl-tipped mustache in turn. Val reached up and scratched it.

“Oh, thank you!” Herbert exclaimed, closing his eyes.

Wiggles head-butted Matt’s leg.

“We’ve completed your quest,” Matt announced, absently scratching the beaver between his tiny round ears.

“Excellent!” declared Herbert, and the world blurred to focus on Matt and the tree. “What did you find in the tower?” Herbert asked.

Wiggles pawed at Matt’s leg but had become a brown blob. Matt made a scratching motion in the air and left the animal to find his hand.

“The first floor was empty,” Matt recounted. “Bookcases, a desk… The second floor had a lab with Frank Stein and animals in cages. There was also a man—”

“Frank Stein you say?” Herbert raised a bushy eyebrow. “I’d heard rumors he was involved.”

“Something was really wrong with the man in the cage,” Matt continued. “He had green all over and was aggressive. I’m not sure he knew we were people.”

“Sounds like one of Doctor Frank’s experiments,” the tree mused.

“Is there a way to help him?” Matt pressed.

“Perhaps,” Herbert said. “If you find it in the tower.”

“Any hints?”

The tree was silent.

“Alright,” Matt caved. “What’s next for this quest?”

“Why, scout the next floors, of course!” Herbert winked. “I’d go with you on the next leg of your journey, but I’m a little short on legs.” He grinned expectantly. The leaves above rustled slightly.

“Right,” said Matt slowly.

“Oh, you’re no fun.” Herbert sighed. “Fine. Here you go!”

Matt’s surroundings unblurred and ‘906,000 XP’ floated up and away. Then Matt began to glow. ‘Level 12,’ ‘5 Stat Points’—the white notifications triggered, one after another.

“Hey!” Kurtis said with a slap to Matt’s back. “About time!”

Matt grinned wide. “Thanks, man.”

“Congrats Matt!” Val cheered, mirroring his smile. Then she ventured, “So, the floor with all those question mark goos… How exactly we gonna do that?” She steepled her hands. “We all got the quest right?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Kurtis frowned.

“Hee?” Wiggles tugged at the sleeve of Val’s jumpsuit.

“Okay,” she said and patted him.

Fallyn had the far-off look of menu reading. Herbert looked equally removed, staring beyond them at the landscape.

“Well if she’s doing that, I’m going to spend my points.”

“Yeah, go for it,” Kurtis encouraged.

Matt knew exactly where his Stat Points were going. He opened the menu and scanned the text to find Vision Distance.

“Hey Kurtis, it worked after 10 Stat Points?”

“Yeppers.”

Here goes nothing.

Matt committed his five new Stat Points and then, suddenly, he couldn’t see. He jerked his head back, panic rising.

Did I fuck it up?

Matt slid his glasses down his nose. Above them, the world looked crystal clear. Matt hissed. It didn’t feel real. LASIK had nothing on these aliens. He gently folded the arms of his glasses, grateful for how they’d served him all these years, and sent them off to his inventory.

Fallyn still seemed occupied, so he opened his Skills Menu. He still had the Skill Point from Level 11. He’d been saving it for Basic Taunt. He thought he’d have it by now.

He reviewed the options. He could spend the point on Shield Slam, Deflect, or Defensive Posture from his knight class. He also had that freaking ‘Apology’ Earth Aspect skill available. ‘Sorry we blew up your planet. Primary Stats +500.’ He still couldn’t believe that was a skill.

Matt closed the menu, shaking his head. Just thinking about Apology made him angry. And then he was angry that he was angry. He was right to be mad, but he just wanted to live his life. But then there was the minor issue of his planet being gone and him being in the Continuance. Matt decided to keep saving the point. He had to get taunt soon.

Damn class quest.

“I think I’ve found something,” Fallyn announced. She was holding out a notebook, the one she’d looted in the tower. “I recalled it mentioning a failsafe. When I opened it out here, it started a quest.” She lifted the book in Matt’s direction and raised her eyebrows.

Matt reached a hand to it and, as soon as he made contact, his Quest Log popped up. It was like the locket. The quest was called ‘Alchemical Apprentice’. It read ‘Think you have what it takes to be an alchemist? Try your hand at making a neutralizing agent. You’ll find out quickly whether it worked! Combine pure water, honey, maple sap, and grave dust at a Leaning Tower alchemy table, then test your concoction.’

“Neat,” said Kurtis with a swish of his tail.

“Well, we know how to get water and honey already,” Matt said, closing his menu.

“I believe the other items are in the same areas,” Fallyn said. Then she gently elbowed Matt and added, “Looking good,” with a quiet smile.

“Yay... Back to the gankers,” Val said, frowning.

Matt pressed his lips into a line. Oh, goody.

After a few minutes of consulting their maps, they were on their way, crunching across the dead grass at a purposeful pace. It took them almost two hours to reach the woods.

They encountered groups of goos for the first hour, which slowed their hike but awarded XP. Then, beyond that, the terrain was clear. The hills rolled, blanketed by gravemist, and got larger and steeper the closer they got to the abbey.

The group marched with weapons ready in their now-standard formation; Matt watched their left flank, Fallyn their right. The emptiness of the landscape was suspicious, but at least they had visibility. He knew that would soon change in the dead forest up ahead.

Nervousness churned at the base of Matt’s ribs. He guessed the forest was about 45 minutes from the abbey—closer to the gankers than he’d like. Two white birch trunks contrasted with the darker trees where he crossed into the wood. They looked skeletal without their leaves. Matt used to like birch trees. He thought they looked pretty in Fall.

One of his neighbors had had three on their front lawn, sprouting from big circular beds filled with red mulch and edged with black plastic. They grew flowers that looked like pom poms too; some years they would do something to change their color from white to pink or blue. He never did find out how they did that. It had seemed like magic when he was small.

Now Matt had real magic and there were no flowers to be seen. The forest in front of him was dried out and decaying. A thin veil of gravemist lingered on the ground. Matt placed a hand on the sloughing birch bark as he walked beside it.

Sticks snapped underfoot as they picked their way between the trees. Matt’s party soon dipped down into a ravine and then followed along its bottom. The overcast sky seemed to emphasize the bleakness of the bare branches stretching out their claws above.

Matt thought he found a maple tree, but wasn’t sure without the telltale leaves. He placed a palm against the grooved bark. He tried thinking about looting, the quest, maple sap. Nothing happened. He checked his map. They weren’t at the blue marker yet, so Matt resumed walking.

“Wuuu.”

“Yes, Wiggles, it’s the forest,” Val said.

The beaver had paused at huge a fallen tree; dirt still clung to its massive root ball. Wiggles eyed it, standing on hind legs with his tiny hands clasped in front of him.

“I don’t think you can carry that,” Val advised.

“Hee?”

“No...”

“Wu.” The beaver dropped back to all fours.

“I’ll be happier when we reach the alive part,” Fallyn said.

“I’ll be happier when we’re not near the abbey,” Matt revised.

“Shh!” Kurtis said sharply. The cat-man had one hand up like Dirk and his ears were flared wide, poking through his silver colander hat. “People,” he whispered.

Shit.

Matt scanned the trees. He didn’t see or hear them, but they could be there any second.

“Over here,” Val whispered. She crouched with Wiggles behind the tree he’d been eying.

It was better than nothing. Matt hurried to her side. Fallyn and Kurtis dropped down beside them. Kurtis held his tail with both hands. The trashcan lid on Matt’s back was awkward. It dug in and prevented him from getting as close to the tree as he’d like. He slouched, trying to make himself shorter.

Faint laughter reverberated through the forest—growing louder.

“Oh, help me! Please no!” a woman mocked, laughing.

“Yeah, we got ‘em good.” Matt knew that voice: Brett.

“Please!” echoed George, laughing.

“Come on guys,” said Cathleen.

“Hey, they’re dumb enough to get killed, they deserve it,” said Brett.

Matt and Fallyn shared a concerned glance. He tried to shrink into the ground and grimaced when his breastplate made a dull clink. He prayed the tree was enough.

“Lighten up,” Brett continued. “It’s just a little fun.”

“I’m light,” she defended. “It was easy XP.”

“Yeah, it was!” the other woman cheered. That must have been Maria.

“Heads up,” said George.

“Get ‘em,” commanded Brett.