“No, this isn’t about quests. It’s the dungeon itself. Once you start a floor, you have to finish it. The exit door won’t open otherwise,” Bisrat said. Max swore and she continued, “I apologize, I should have realized that you wouldn’t know the basic rules of dungeons.”

“Damn. I should have asked more questions too,” Max said and sighed. “This world is always out to get us.”

Bisrat said, “Sorry again. If it helps, the cities are usually quite safe and tranquil.”

A bark of laughter escaped Max’s lips. “I hope our next city visit will be better than the last two.”

Bisrat winced, remembering what they had told her about the war at Wild Plum and the kidnapping in Twelve Meditations.

They sat there in silence for a while as Yang finished bandaging Lily. Once she said it was ok to look again, Max turned around.

Her chitin breastplate was ruined, laying in several pieces on the floor. She still wore the arm guards and skirt. White bandages covered most of Lily’s torso. Yang helped her to her feet. By the way she winced, Max was sure that she had broken a rib or two.

“What happened? I thought it was just the one fish that slipped through,” Max said.

Yang scowled, “It was just the one. Lily panicked. James panicked too, but at least he didn’t get himself hurt.”

She pointed to the monster corpse nearby. The fish had been eviscerated by a dozen sharp slashes, probably James going overboard with his glass shards.

“Yeah, alright. We are going to take a break first,” Max said. Lily opened her mouth to protest and he added, “We need to wait until my magic tools are recharged.”

Lily nodded seriously and then found a half broken chair to sit down on. Tears streaming down her face belied her tough exterior. James moved to sit by her, but then blushed and turned away. He wandered over to the other side of the room. He sat down and stared at the floor. His knees started shaking.

Max plopped himself down next to his friend. He quietly said, “Hey, you ok?”

“I’m fine.”

“Liar.”

James chuckled briefly. “Really, I’m fine. Just a little shook up. I thought...”

“She’s fine. Yang said she’ll be fully healed by tomorrow.”

“I know, I heard.”

There was a brief lull then Max said, “You think about why that hit you so hard? Maybe you think of Lily as more than just a friend?”

“She’s too young for me.”

“We both know that’s a shit excuse. She’s nineteen, not some kid.”

“And, I’m twenty-three,” James said weakly.

Max shrugged, “I’m not trying to play matchmaker or anything, but that’s not actually a big age difference. Is that honestly the only reason you don’t want to date her? Don’t you think she’s hot? I swear you said she was hot when you first met her.”

James glanced her way and then to the ground. “She is hot, but...” He shook his head. “Her dad called, you know? When she first started hanging out with us. I don’t know how he got it. He threatened to kill me if I ever dated her. I know he meant it. Said I should still be friends, but make sure no one got too close. I’m positive Yang has instructions to kill me if I ever kiss Lily.”

Max widened his eyes and then shook his head. “Dang, James. If you were twice as smart you would be a moron.”

“Hey!”

“Her dad is on the other side of the universe, and Yang has no intention of ever working for him again. Quit being stupid. Ask her out if you really like her.”

James shook his head. “You don’t understand, it’s not that simple.”

“It really is,” Max said and stood up.

He could tell his friend needed some time to think. Maybe a smack upside the head too, but he was saving that for later. He slowly wandered around the room to give James some space. This room had fewer bits of broken furniture, no piles of wreckage. That was probably why the monsters had bunched up, no good spot for ambushes.

This was the first room with mostly intact furniture and Max took some time examining various pieces. They weren’t made for humans, or really any race he had seen on Spinworld. The chairs had spots cut out for tails, but were raised up like it was meant for people with legs. The craftsmanship was exquisite.

The blue and brown wood had designs carved into them. Thin and flowing lines with soft edges and curves everywhere. It straddled the line between script and decoration.

“I often wonder if the dungeons are modeled after real places,” Bisrat said.

Max looked up from where he was examining a table. “You don’t know?”

“No, communication with the Builders is almost nonexistent. We mostly know of their continued work on this world by their mandatory quests. They send people to their new creations all the time.”

Max stood and glanced around the room, “It’s a good question. Is this place a set piece for their entertainment, or are they trying to teach us something about their world?”

Bisrat shrugged with her tail. “Maybe both. I’ve been in dungeons on the first layer that felt so real. Not this dungeon though. It seems off slightly. Like an AI that’s been poorly trained.” She paused. “Did that translate, do they have artificial intelligence in your world?”

“Yes. At least I think it did. We have computers and the beginnings of artificial intelligence. It’s weird to think you had computers in your world too.”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“I’ve heard that the builders choose our worlds because they are so similar, practically identical from a cosmic scale.”

Max gave her centipede tail a significant look and said, “We seem fairly different to me.”

Bisrat laughed. “There are some differences of course. But you have to admit that we share some remarkable similarities. Similar size, gender expressions, bones housed in squishy flesh. The resemblance is stark. I doubt evolution is to blame either. Convergent evolution produces crabs, not people. The spell that brought us here was very selective.”

Max nodded. “I guess you are right, there are a lot of similarities between us when you consider how different aliens could be.”

They kept chatting while the rest of the team rested. Max wanted to rest for several hours, but then Gus’s transformation would wear off. They needed a troll on their front lines, particularly now that Max knew they couldn’t turn back.

They assembled themselves and lined up at the door with Lily in the back line. Max asked Yang to join him and Bisrat right behind Gus. She hadn’t done any fighting in the last few rooms because there wasn’t any opportunity for ambushes.

Gus made sure everyone was ready and hit the door to the next room. It dropped into the floor to reveal a dozen monster corpses. They were half absorbed into the floor.

“Looks like another team was routed through this room. That makes things easier for us,” Max said. “On to the next one!”

They moved through the room, much like the previous one. This one had more metal bits, silverware and embellishments on the furniture. There was also less general wreckage.

The next room was almost identical, only with more dead monsters. Gus smashed a metal urchin on their way through the room.

They lined up in front of the sixth room and Gus popped open the door. He hopped back immediately, having learned from last time. He didn’t want to get ambushed by monsters again.

Another empty room greeted them. This one had metal bands along the walls and most of the furniture. The lighting was obstructed by broken boards along the ceiling. It created dozens of patches of shadow throughout the room.

Gus looked around and then shrugged. He took a step forward.

“Wait!” James yelled. “There is something big in there.”

“It could be a shadow kraken,” Bisrat said. “They usually appear in rooms six or eight. Even with the same room design, the exact monster placement is different every time.”

“Shadow kraken? What kind of magic does -” Max started before he was interrupted.

A pitch black tentacle poured out of the nearest shadow and stretched towards Gus. He saw it coming and slammed his weapon down onto the three foot wide appendage. The war hammer bounced off. Gus had time to yelp before the tentacle wrapped around him and yanked him into the room.

The seven foot tall troll disappeared into the shadowy room, leaving the other five people standing there in shock.

Max was the first to burst into action. He dashed after Gus, a charged drill and hammer in hand.

Gus was on the ground with a pair of tentacles wrapped around him. The tentacles were slowly squeezing him tighter and tighter as he slammed his meaty fists into them.

Max slammed down his war hammer on top of the tentacle holding Gus’s feet. A blue spell smashed into the tentacle, stronger than normal because his hammer was made of tungsten.

The black tentacle exploded like a popped balloon. The inky blood splashed everywhere. Where the light hit it, the blood puffed into smoke.

Max pivoted and slammed his handheld drill into the other tentacle. The sharp tip only penetrated a few inches. One of Bisrat’s stilettos sprouted from the tentacle a few feet away. The monster didn’t twitch until Max activated the drill’s yellow piercing magic. That tentacle popped too, splashing black blood everywhere.

Gus scrambled to his feet as the rest of the squad arrived in the middle of the room. They spun in circles, looking for the monster they knew was in here. There was nothing but shadows and warped furniture.

“Get out of the shadows, the beast can’t abide the light,” Bisrat said as she motioned them towards her patch of light.

Gus hopped to it, everyone else right on his heels.

A tentacle speared out of the shadows behind them, just barely missing James’ retreating form. The tentacle entered another patch of shadow and was sucked inside.

Max growled to himself in frustration. How could they hit a monster that could disappear into the shadows?

He dropped his weapons and reached into his belt. Max pulled his backpack out of the dimensional belt and fumbled for his outside left pocket. The zipper fought with him for a second. It gave way to his shaking hands and Max pulled out his led flashlight. While he had his bag out he grabbed his rotary saw too. It was the last magically charged weapon he had left.

With the saw in one hand and the flashlight in the other, Max turned it on and scanned the room. The bright light banished the shadows around the room until it reached one of the corners. The light was absorbed into the charcoal colored monster that sat there. It was the shadow kraken, its head alone was six feet high.

Six tentacles branched off from the main body, two of them ending in stubs. The other four tentacles dipped into pools of shadow. As soon as the light hit it, it screeched. The deafening cry felt like a thump to the chest. James wordlessly cried out and threw glass shards at the head. The monster flinched back with every impact, but didn't seem injured.

Max’s heart was beating faster. It was only the sixth room and that looked like a boss monster. It was time to pull out the stops. He activated Levitate and dashed forward, keeping the light on the monster. A tentacle emerged from a nearby shadow, but missed him.

When he was twelve feet away, Max activated his saw’s spell. A silvery disc shot out of the tool, expanding as it went. It was four feet wide by the time it hit the monster’s head.

The cutting spell sliced the shadow kraken’s head in half. The monster stilled instantly, the top half sliding off with comical slowness. By the time it splatted to the ground, Max already had a notice from the system.

Medium amount of essence gathered

Gus clapped and gave him a thumbs up. Yang and Lily joined him.

“Good job, buddy,” James said and clapped him on the shoulder. “Maybe bring out the big guns sooner next time, ok?”

Max laughed and shoved him. “I did! I used three spells in one room. We are going to have to wait again for my tools to recharge.”

“Can’t you just make more? Isn’t your pool refilled yet?” James asked.

“Yes, but it’s not that simple. My cards all say I can’t use something that already has magic in it. I bet all of this junk here was made by magic,” Max said and gestured around. “Do you want to sacrifice some food or whatever so I can make a hammer?”

“Nah, man. We can wait like, a half hour, right?”

Max nodded in response and plopped down onto a nearby chair. It felt weird, but it was better than sitting on the floor.

Bisrat mumbled to herself. “I’ve seen enough.” She straightened her tail and bowed towards Max. “Honored Max. I would like to formally request to join your party.”

Max shook his head in confusion. “What? You are already part of our party. Is this about loot distribution?”

She waved her hands no. “I want to be part of your party. Not just for today or this week. I mean for as long as you’ll have me.”

Max looked back to his friends. James shrugged. Max turned back and cocked his head, “Why do you want to join my party?”

“I promise you won’t regret it. I would make a valuable addition to your team. I’ll cover expenses for the first few months if you want. Selling your tools could make that up within a week.” She sensed something in his eyes and changed tack. “Or, or, if you want to continue to climb towers I would be happy to join you. I have connections to get us the best prices selling dungeon artifacts. One of my friends works with an armorer so I could get us a good deal on getting outfitted.”

Max frowned. “You’re acting weird. We are all new. Why do you want to join a sapling’s party?”

Bisrat straightened and said, “I apologize, it seems I skipped an important step. Please allow me to explain.”