Chapter 17

The ringing continued.

The line crackled with static, hissing in my ears as the connection struggled to hold. “Hello?” John’s voice was barely a whisper, strained and full of tension.

“John? John!” Relief rushed through me as I heard his voice, though it was clear he was far from safe. “It’s Maura and Felix. Thank god you’re okay.”

His response was ragged, filled with exhaustion. “I wouldn’t quite say okay… but I’m here. We’re here.” There was a brief pause, the sound of shuffling on his end as though he were looking over his shoulder. “Where are you guys? Are you safe? Is Jackie with you?”

The question hit me harder than I expected. “No…” I hesitated, my heart sinking as I thought about her. Guilt gnawed at me. “We haven’t found her yet. We’re in a dungeon.”

I could feel my mana draining rapidly, each second sapping away what little I had left. The distance was clearly taking more out of me than I anticipated. “Listen, John. I don’t have a lot of mana left to keep this call going. Felix and I are coming back. We’re going to take Galene back, and—” I paused, forcing more strength into my words, trying to project certainty I wasn’t entirely sure I had. “Everything’s going to be okay. Can you safely take a call tomorrow at four and we can come up with a plan?”

The static buzzed loudly in my ear for a moment before John’s voice cut through, strained and urgent. “I’ll make sure I can.” He sounded relieved but also… terrified. “But Maura, listen to me. Don’t—don’t come back without help. You and Felix, find Jackie, but stay away from these guys. They’re… bad news. They’re not—” His voice was swallowed by a rush of static, cutting out for a few seconds before returning. “…don’t know who….they seem……… working with.”

“John, what do you mean? Who are these people?” I tried to steady my voice, but the panic was rising. The static crackled louder, and I could hear faint shouting in the background on John’s end.

“We don’t have time, Maura,” John’s voice was clipped, tense. “They’re.… Some kind of… some kind of—” The words cut out again, replaced by a garbled mess of noise. “…more dangerous than we thought.”

“What?” I leaned forward, clutching the phone like it would help the connection. “John, I need you to be clearer. Who are they?”

The signal flickered back, John’s voice faint and barely audible. Static crackling between words I could barely understand. “They’ve got… blessing…. control people….. Some of the camp…. working with th.. Don’t… trus… help, Maura…..away”

The call cut out entirely for several long, heart-wrenching seconds. My breath caught in my throat. When it flickered back, his voice was a whisper, broken and desperate. “They’ll kill you….. or worse. You need to…”

The line went dead.

The sudden silence was deafening. I stared at the phone, heart pounding, my mind racing to catch up with what John had said—or what little of it I managed to catch.

They’ll kill you….. or worse.

Felix placed a hand on my shoulder, pulling me back to the present. “Maura?” His voice was cautious, but his concern was obvious.

I blinked, the reality of the situation crashing over me in waves. “The call… it’s dead,” I said softly, lowering the phone, the heavy weight of exhaustion pulling at my body. I couldn’t maintain the connection anymore. I’d drained my mana reserves completely. The last bit of John’s warning hung in the air, suffocating. “He said not to come back without help. Something about a blessing and maybe people at camp have gone over other their side.”

Felix’s eyes widened in alarm. “A blessing? What the hell does that mean?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head, the tension coiling tighter in my chest. “But John sounded terrified. He said they’d kill us or worse.”

The words echoed in my mind, their weight pressing down on me like a vice. We were way in over our heads. Felix nodded, his brow furrowed, clearly trying to process it all. “So, what now?”

“We have to get stronger.” I said, a mix of dread and determination filling my voice. “We can’t go back without help. We need to find Jackie first.”

Felix nodded solemnly. "We’ll figure it out. But first, let’s rest. You’re out of mana, and we can’t take any chances if they’re as dangerous as John says.”

I took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. There was no time to fall apart. Byte beeped softly at my side, nudging me as if to remind me I wasn’t alone.

"Tomorrow," I whispered, staring down at the half-dismantled spiders, their mechanical remains glinting in the dim light. “Tomorrow we’ll call John again… and get some answers.”

Without warning, I sank to the ground, my legs giving out as the world around me spun.Felix was beside me in an instant, his expression taut with concern as he gently took the phone from my trembling hands.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice soft but tense.

I nodded, though the world still felt like it was swaying beneath me. “I will be. Just… tired.”

Felix sat beside me, his arm brushing against mine as a form of silent support. “At least we know they’re alive.”

I glanced around at the dimly lit cave, at the faint glow from moss on the walls, at the half-dismantled spiders and the tools scattered around us. The fragile sense of safety we’d found here felt like it could crumble at any moment. “I know,” I replied, my voice thick with frustration. “I want to be stronger now. I’m tired of being scared Felix. My dad scared me my entire life. All I wanted as a kid was to escape into books and games. And now we’re here and people are still intimidating and awful.”

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Felix ran a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly. “There are always going to be awful people. That’s why it’s up to the not awful ones to make a difference. One step at a time, right? First, we recover. Then you upgrade Byte and we get out of this dungeon. We’ve gotten so much stronger already. We’ll figure out how to take those bastards down. Plus, you’re practically the chosen one, you weirdo.” He elbowed me

I let out a weak laugh, grateful for his attempt to lighten the mood. “Chosen one, huh? Like Luke Skywalker or Buffy Summers?” I shot back, trying to keep the conversation from slipping into the dark places my mind had been wandering.

“Yeah, but I was thinking more like Samus Aran,” Felix said with a teasing glint in his eye. “You know, a badass with tech and some serious fighting skills. Or, you know, Ripley from Aliens—handling stuff no one thought she could while kicking ass.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I’ll have to avoid a ‘Game over, man’, I said doing my best Bill Paxton impression.

Felix smirked. “In spite of everything. I’m glad I’m stuck in another dimension with you. You’re fun.”

Shocked I stuttered out teasingly, “Yeah. I mean it could be worse. You could be that weird Twilight guy.”

“I’ll take it,” Felix said, clearly embarrassed. We both turned back to our work and I silently facepalmed at the renewed awkwardness. Continuing through the last several mechweavers I acquired many more common and uncommon pieces and even a few new rare ones.

Adaptive Camouflage Circuitry

Uncommon

Description: The delicate circuitry that allowed the mechweaver to blend into their environment. Highly sought after by crafters.

Crystal Storage Tank

Rare

Description: A crystalline tank, used by the Mechweavers to store various liquids, including their venom. It can be repurposed for alchemical storage.

Crystallized Ichor

Rare

Description: The ichor that once ran through the Mechweavers, now crystallized and hardened. Known for its unique alchemical properties, this could serve as a base for powerful mana potions or energy-boosting elixirs.

Felix and I sat in the cave, our awkward moment from earlier forgotten as we focused on our tasks. The hushed silence of the cavern was punctuated only by Byte’s occasional beeps and the quiet clink of tools as I continued to dismantle the Mechweaver spiders.

As I worked, I cataloged each new item, trying to make sense of the intricate components I was pulling from the spiders’ bodies. The more I looked at the parts, the more potential I saw. There was real power in these pieces—if we could figure out how to use them.

After pulling the last gland from a spider, I studied the smooth, crystalline surface of the Paralyzing Toxin Gland. The thought of integrating it into Byte’s system crossed my mind, but I wasn’t sure how safe it would be. Byte was a loyal companion, but these upgrades could change him. Still, having a bot with paralyzing abilities could tip the scales in our favor.

Paralyzing Toxin Gland

Rare

Description: A crystalline gland that once housed the paralyzing venom of the Mechweaver spiders. This can be used in alchemy to craft paralysis-inducing potions or traps.

"I’m definitely going to have to look up the best way to work with this venom. The gland alone could turn the tide. I mean we saw what it did to me.” I shuddered, twirling the gland between my fingers.

Felix, now sitting against the cave wall, wiped the sweat from his brow. "I don’t understand half of what you’re pulling out of these things, but it looks valuable. I’ll stick to healing, thanks. But if you can make use of it, I’m not going to complain. Although,” he began the crystallized ichor catching his attention. “If I could find a way to make mana potions, that would be pretty amazing.”

I grinned. “Mana potions would be incredible,” I imagined the possibilities for a moment. “As for the rest of this, lucky for you, I love this kind of stuff. And trust me, these parts could make a huge difference. Byte’s going to be upgraded like never before. Between the schematics and just how these things were put together I’m starting to get a lot of ideas.”

Felix chuckled. "Well, considering he’s been pulling his weight in every fight, I’d say he deserves an upgrade.”

Byte beeped proudly, and I smiled, patting him on the head. “There’s only one left,” I said, gesturing toward the massive queen spider. The body loomed ominously in the low light of the cave, and its hulking frame made the rest of the spiders look like toys in comparison.

Felix grimaced. "Good luck with that one. Byte and I will try to rustle up something edible while you work. I’m sure some of this moss could be cooked if you want to avoid starving."

I wrinkled my nose. "I think I’ll pass on the moss stew, thanks. But if you find something else, I won’t say no.”

Felix stood up and stretched, glancing back at me with a small grin. “Alright, tech genius. We’ll see what we can find. Good luck with the queen.”

As Felix and Byte wandered off to explore the cave’s nooks and crannies, I turned my attention to the queen spider. She was a formidable beast, and I knew her components would be more powerful—and more dangerous—than the others.

Several familiar, albeit larger components were removed and added to my growing pile but unique to the queen was a glowing orb. The moment I pried it free, a low hum resonated from the orb, and I could feel the energy still pulsing within it.

Power Core

Very Rare

Description: The power source of the Mechweaver queen, this core still hums with residual energy. It has high crafting potential for upgrading weapons or armor.

The power inside this core had my imagination running wild. I didn’t know how to harness the energy of the core but once I could it certainly could be used to upgrade Byte a lot.

Next, I worked my way to the queen’s fangs. They were enormous, easily three times the size of the regular Mechweavers’, and still glistened with traces of venom. Each fang was sharp enough to puncture armor and capable of injecting the queen’s deadly venom into her prey. As was apparent by the hole in my technomancer’s shoulder armor and the new scar that was on display right beneath it.

Venom Injector Fangs

Rare

Description: The fangs of the spider queen, each capable of injecting paralyzing venom. They could be used in weapon crafting, particularly for short-range, high-damage weapons.

I could see these being fashioned into a daggers or short swords. Something quick and lethal.

The last thing I pulled from the queen was a an item that looked like a puzzle box. Inspecting it offered very little insight on its actual use.

Key (1 of 3)

?

“Ugh” I muttered aloud. “Well that’s not helpful.”

“What’s not helpful?” I heard Felix comment and when I looked over he had started a fire and appeared to be roasting something.

I stood and stretched my aching back and walked over to Felix. “Oh the spider had some kind of key. What’re you cooking, it actually smells pretty good.”

He looked up at my guiltily and with a sheepish smile asked, “What will it be, glowing moss stew? Spider legs or dungeon rat?”