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Under no circumstances should you enter a circle of mushrooms!
— Hero News: Top 100 Adventuring Tips and Tricks
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“Where are we going?”
“Where are we gooooing?”
“We’re going on a trip, _̸̶̷̵̸̶̶̵̢̡̧̨̡̛̩̼̩͇̼̳͉̫̳̟̭̻̹̤̪̻͖̰̤͎͍̥͈͔̘̝̘̹̲͙̻̥̞̣̠͓̲̖̪̝͉͉̗͖̝̰̆̈́̀͌̀̓̋̆̽̃̓̈́̆ͦ̎͑̓̉̀̀ͫ͑ͭ͊ͤͩ̑ͦ̑͛ͦͥ̔ͧͩ̏̉́̐̒̏ͧ͌ͮͫ̂͊͒ͥ̔ͦͯ̃͛͒̈́̀̾͒̀̓̊͌̋̿ͭ̂́͌̒̇̒ͬ͆͂́͗ͮ̇̉͘̚͘͜͟͢͠͝͡͡͠͠ͅͅ_̵̸̵̷̨̙͉̱̻͖͙͓̠̲̜͈̻͙͉͓̜̦̥̖̤̻̤̝̝̟ͪͨ̒̅ͬͬ̂͂͂̇̈͂́̏̍ͥ̌̓̚Ι̵̸̶̸̴̷̸̡̡̨̢̧̡̨̛̛̤̞͉̗͓̯͈̪̲̰̞̮͇̝̘͍̰̞͇̺̞͎͍̲̻̺̭̯̥̳̙͓̣̳̣͈̭̙̫͉̬͚̪͓͖̮̭̯̳̠̙̺̗͓̖̙̳̹̮̞̳̩͙͔̹̊͆́̉̔ͣ̍ͣ͑̀̾̿̈́͐̓ͬ́̌ͤ̔́ͯ̃͗ͧ́̐̄̈́̐̓̊ͮ̌ͩ̌͒ͫͦͬ̽̍̏͆͊ͨ́͑͛͌̓̀̃͐ͧ͊͊̒ͨͮ̉̿͊ͧ̓̊ͤ̈̈ͦ̄̊ͥ̎̕̕̚͘͘͢͢͜͜͟͠͞͝͞͞͞͡ͅ_̩̥̞͔̗̦̰̠̭͈͛͒ͥ̓͒͂ͧ̀ͣ̋̏͆̌͑̾̓͐̕͢͢ͅ !”
“Will it take long? What about my friends?”
“You’ll see them again. Think of it as a family vacation!”
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—Ki—
Ki was drowning in quicksand.
Her eyes fluttered, attempting to find someone.
Anyone.
She didn’t want to be alone anymore.
Is this Hell? Does it actually exist? She tried to move, to no avail.
Great, I can still think and reason in Hell. Kudos to you. Very fitting.
Ki’s stay in hell was interrupted by the smell of food, gentle heat, and a crackling fire. A moment later, she felt solid ground—she was safe. Ki would’ve normally laughed at her catastrophizing, but her attention was consumed by the war in her mind between the sleeping and waking worlds.
Her brain told her she was trying to move, but it didn’t feel real. As she pushed more urgently, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t hear anything, yet something told her that everything was alright.
Maybe I can take a little longer… She smiled and allowed herself to rest.
Ki slept like a dolphin: surfacing for a moment and then diving back into the sea of dreams. Most of that time was a blur, but echoes of one conversation remained in her mind:
“How we met? Feel free to ask her”.
“Well, ah, I’m just curious, a year ago—”
“You’re her family. Ask her yourself. I’m taking a nap.”
———
An earthy scent filled Ki’s nostrils, and wet wood sank against her back. She shifted against a coat bundled under her neck. Reaching to take off an eye covering, she heard a familiar chant—seemingly Druidic in nature. She ignored her body’s protests and pushed herself further upright.
Safety?… Spirit? … Salad? Her attempts to decode the chant ended when her stomach gurgled and the loose eye bandages fell. She gasped, drawing Aidan’s attention.
“You’re okay!!” He blurted, rushing over to Ki’s side. She opened her mouth, but didn’t manage to get any words out. He continued, “A-are you hungry?”
Ki nodded.
Aidan started to reach behind Ki, causing her to flinch backwards and hit her head against something square and solid.
“Ah! Sorry!” Aidan stammered.
Ki gave a pained smile.
“The thing is,” he waved his hands and revealed a boxed lunch, “I, uh, made this for you.”
Ki just stared. A magic trick…? After all this—wait, besides that, is he making fun of me? I am not in the mood for food poisoning.
“I promise I’m not trying to kill you. Just give it a shot—if you hate it, I’ll pack up right now and go.”
He opened the lid of a surprisingly well-balanced (and cooked) meal of rice, green vegetables, and sausage patties covered in rich gravy. The smell wafted to Ki’s nose, warming her up, and before she realized it, she’d taken the lunch and started eating it with her bare hands.
“Ahm—” She tried to say something, before being interrupted by Aidan handing her a plastic fork and napkin.
Aidan sat on a broken section of wall and looked toward the fire. While an awkward silence developed, Ki finished the lunch and looked at her surroundings.
The aesthetic of the ruins they were camped in was reminiscent of an ancient fort or guard station. Through mossy, decaying walls, she could make out four or five room-type spaces, though a few of them were partially hidden by stretches of unbroken wall ranging from seven to nine feet tall. On the outside perimeter, a portion of what was supposed to be a second floor was now about the size of a hunting stand.
Maybe just stable enough to serve as a lookout post?
The internal logic of the encounter fell apart on closer inspection. There were no remnants of a floor or ceiling, in fact, it seemed that neither had existed in the first place. The corridors had dead ends in illogical spots, more reminiscent of a hedge maze, and the ‘rooms’ wouldn’t have ever been able to store furniture, much less living things.
The chaotic mess wouldn’t even work well as a maze, especially considering the entire area was probably under two hundred feet across. They were clearly in an encounter created by the imagination of the Mugen Mori.
She set the box aside, noticing Aidan still had a smile on his face.
“What?”
“Oh, it’s… it’s just watching you look around—I was thinking back to the letter you wrote me when you were ten, about that presentation.”
“Oh man, don’t remind me.” She cringed.
Ki had put in intense effort into the project, believing other people viewed the city like the Druids viewed nature. Immediately after saying “Architecture is my passion!”, her popsicle city collapsed during a show-and-tell session in school. It wasn’t exactly the end of the world, but at the time, it felt like a cruel reminder that she was a fish out of water.
I wonder what life would have been like if I’d stayed.
Aidan… If only you weren’t a coward.
Ki took a breath and turned back to Aidan. “Did I hear other voices?”
“When I finally got that letter from you, I came earlier than when you asked. Something didn’t feel right. The way you phrased—”
After considering something, he continued, “Well, anyway, a while back I had been looking for you and saw the boxing match between you and Cassie… I also saw you exchange numbers after that alleyway brawl.”
Ki listened in shocked silence; her normally over-active brain couldn’t even manage a complete sentence.
“I called her and said that I thought you were in trouble, and she said she would bring someone else. You definitely made an impression: they both dropped everything to come help. The Circle helped us from there. Having Kossetsu’s True Healing and Cassie’s combat prowess was really helpful.”
So you spied on me, went behind my back, and brought the only two people whose opinions I care about, so they could see me nearly get killed. Oh, and then didn’t show—
“I was late. Again. I don’t expect your forgiveness, but I am sorry.” Aidan spoke in a tone she’d only heard him use once.
Oh. I’m just as bad.
Ki sat beside Aidan.
“It was my arrogance that got me in this mess. I’d have to be a pretty shitty person to get mad at you,” she saw his eyes, typically dry as the desert, were glistening.
“You’re here now,” Ki said.
Aidan turned to her, “Is… is it okay to give you a hug?”
Ki surprised herself and threw her arms around Aidan. The floodgates opened between the uncle and niece, who wordlessly squeezed each other tight. She let herself be transported to a time when her favorite uncle was a mainstay in her life.
Neither of the two had felt familial warmth in a long, long time. They took their time and enjoyed the moment. Eventually, their eyes grew dry and the embrace ended. He looked at her and cleared his throat.
“Are you happy?”
Ki paused. He was asking two questions, but was clearly afraid to put one into words.
She did her best to answer both. “Honestly? I think so. I'm starting to be afraid of losing things, so I guess feeling that fear and anxiety is a nice change of pace. I’m happy that I was actually afraid of dying. I know that sounds dark, but…”
Aidan silently nodded along.
Ki said, “I'm sure my brain will find new and even more convoluted ways to challenge my happiness. It already convinced me to do all this. I suppose now at least I’m aware it's not a reliable narrator.”
Aidan snapped his fingers, generating a small flame. He blew it into the fire, then said, “The brain always finds a way, doesn’t it? Thoughts like, ‘why couldn't I have been born when magic was adored by the public and there were more unexplored horizons to chase?’ ”
He looked sheepishly at Ki. “Sorry, I shouldn’t give your brain more ammo.”
“That's a good one. Definitely in the chamber now,” Ki replied, laughing.
“You know, it’s been a while since we played the Complaining Game. When it’s by yourself, it's just sad. I’m glad—now that you can cook, I was worried you were too much of an adult,” She said.
“Thanks, I guess? If you’ll permit me to do a little ‘adulting’, I once felt like I was born in the wrong generation, but your dad actually got me out of that,” Aidan said.
He looked up at the clouds. “He said that every era creates unique challenges suited for the people in it”
“Not that people are born to meet the challenges?” Ki asked.
“I guess that's one way to look at it. It just wasn’t his way—I think a part of him was an adventurer at heart. He truly felt that mortals hold the power to guide the world's responses. For better or for worse, he definitely lived his life like that. Being around him could be both extremely frightening and empowering.”
With more venom than she intended, Ki spat, “I wish I could have felt that. My most vivid memory of him is seeing him torn apart. Feeling powerless. You picking me up and running. Other memories are just flashes with an occasional emotion.”
“…I wish it happened when I was older. Losing him at seven, I barely even understand why I hate him.”
Silence hung over the camp.
Oh.
I’m worse.
A branch broke, revealing a familiar figure frozen in place, meat hanging from her mouth.
C-Cassie?? Oh my god, how many times is she going to see me embarrass myself?
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Ki tried to compose herself. “Shit. Sorry, that was too much.”
She bolted to her feet—barely keeping the meal in her stomach—and stumbled out of the others’ sight lines.
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—Kossetsu—
Kossetsu was in the lookout area, staring at the cracks of a wall and doing his best to blend in with the scenery. He had absent-mindedly seen Ki and Aidan hug and figured they deserved some privacy. He didn’t have to plug his ears—he’d already exchanged that sense with sight.
A flash of light flew across his face, prompting him to switch back to ‘hearing’. He grabbed his sight-enabling mask and flipped his head back and forth.
A high-pitched voice said, “Wow buddy, you got it pretty bad, huh~?”
A golden ball of light appeared on his shoulder. Looking closer, it coalesced into a shining, androgynous body the size of his hand. The body sprouted multicolored wings and flew in front of him, wagging a finger.
“Suicide pact offerings at, what, sixteen years old!?”
Kossetsu was too stunned to move and grateful it couldn't see his mouth agape. The creature stopped moving their finger and put their hands on their hips. “At this rate that dark mass inside you is going to get a Name. Then you’re toast.”
The being fluttered in excitement. “Actually, you don’t have any toast, do you? I’ve heard good things.”
Kossetsu tried to set his shock aside, instead focusing on a separate concern: conscious spirits in dungeons, especially the Mugen Mori, are essentially Devils (though the ‘public’ definition is technically monster, unless they exist outside a dungeon) capable of bargains, pacts, and high-level thinking.
He remembered listening to a book that spoke of nature spirits and faeries, but he couldn’t recall if it was nonfiction.
“Um, isn’t it bad to give things to magical creatures? Or is that receiving?”
The spirit snickered. “Don’t worry, Kossetsu. I’m not what you think. I’m just a friend of a friend,”
They flew closer and whispered, “See? I know your name. You didn’t explode or anything~!”
He backed his head away. “…Ok, then you should have no problem giving me your name.”
“Actually that’s kind of an odd thing. Um, I physically can’t tell you my actual name. Not trying to be rude, but you’re not strong enough.”
He slowly slid his hands behind his back. “You could have just said no.”
“Nonono that’s not—heh, that’s three nos, well now fou—. Ahem. I think you do have the potential to overcome certain conditions for knowing me in the future, but there are three main obstacles: One, you are on a path of ruin and do not seem inclined to leave. Two, Kiseki will be the first to know my name. That brings me to the third obstacle: I have something blocking me from remembering my name. In honor of mutual friendship, though, you can call me…Fey!”
During the mile-a-minute information dump, Kossetsu prepared to break the fingers on his right hand. I’m not going to let myself fall for a friendly face. Dominant hand should give some extra damage, right?
He tried to steady his nerves, then replied, “Okay ‘Fey’ what do you want? I…Let me warn you, I won’t let you hurt my friends!”
“You—you are too cute!!!” Fey spun around his face. “Like I said, I’m a friend of a friend~”
“You mentioned Ki. How do you know her name?”
“Asking about her first? What a gentleman!”
The glow turned pink, then gray. “W-wait, I shouldn’t have mentioned her. She, um, hasn’t completely met me. I’m actually here because of her.”
Fey adopted a softer yellow glow. “All you need to know is a spirit helped her out in something unrelated to you and she hasn’t talked to this version of me. Without going into detail, it wouldn’t be in her best interest for us to chat.”
Kossetsu realized he had relaxed his hand. Stupid. Man up.
He tightened it again. Eyeing Fey, he said, “So, to be clear, you want me to not tell her she has some kind of magic parasite, and your source is ‘trust me’? And if by some miracle you don’t kill her in her sleep, I’ll just say, ‘She sounded trustworthy, she could glow in pretty colors!’ ”
“She? Do I give that vibe? I don’t particularly care, I suppose. I don’t really understand gender and sex. Seems superfluous to me.”
“Ok, ‘They sounded trustworthy’. My point stands.”
“That is exactly what you should say, when the time comes. I thought me being honest and helping calm down that host of—” Fey stopped fluttering and looked into the distance.
“Have you noticed that you feel calmer? That someone gave you a warning your healing was about to go bad?”
Kossetsu paused and loosened his hands. That gnawing feeling in his wasn’t gone, but it was significantly lessened. It reminded him of when he first met Ki.
Have I just been acting how I ‘should’ act? What does my gut say?
He knew his sister would disapprove, but he decided to trust himself.
“Are you okay? I’m not sure if it's a preference thing, but your glow is getting duller and you look like you’re in pain.”
“Oh my!” A pink hue surrounded Fey as they put both hands to their cheek.
“You really are a kind kid~𝅘𝅥𝅮”
His burst of adrenaline had come and gone, and his muscles were beginning to ache.
“Please tell me you aren’t one of those riddle spirits that are intentionally spacey.”
“Alright, alright. I’m ok~”
Immediately after saying this, Fey fell from the sky, wilting like a piece of paper in the wind and falling directly onto Kossetsu’s shoulder.
Fey whispered, “Ok, I don’t have a lot of energy, so I won’t be *around* around for a while. Just let Ki do her own thing, okay? If you’re so worried, I guess you have to stick around.”
Fey’s body evaporated into pure light. “Sticking around might just give you a fighting chance to solve that problem of yours, too~”
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—Ki—
Outside the walls, Ki tried to appreciate the quiet calmness of nature, instead of the previous interaction.
Calm down—this is still a dungeon. One step at a time.
She muttered, “Ok Ki, time to be a big girl. Get up and apologize. Don’t be a mood kill. Don’t be a burden. Life is giving you everything you want on a silver platter.”
A figure dropped from the wall and landed next to her. Ki yelped and fell backwards, then looked up at Cassie, now leaning against the wall.
The dynamic was quite similar to a decisive moment in an unnamed alleyway, almost a year ago now…
———
Click.
Five out of six? Well…
The rain was coming down heavily now
༙҉༙྇ ྇҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇sat in a puddle of water in the alleyway. They looked at their knuckle’s bruises and then toward the gym’s back door.
They let out a bitter laugh.
I didn’t think I could feel excitement anymore.
༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉ inserted the sixth bullet into the revolver’s chamber and pulled the hammer back.
Too bad it also showed me how far away I really am.
“You gonna pull the trigger?” A woman’s voice asked.
“W-what!?”
In a flash, their previous opponent was leaning against the wall above them.
“You gonna do it?” Cassie asked.
༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉ looked at the gun.
“Yeah.”
Cassie leaned over. “Seems like a bad idea, you got a lot of potential. It’s been a while since someone read my opener.”
“Huh? Oh, it’s not anything about the fight. There’s… Other potential I lack.”
“Hm. You definitely hold yourself strangely—like, really tight and jerky. You could train that out of your system,” she said.
“Some things you can’t train out of a body.” ༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉༙྇ ҉҉ replied.
“Alright, I’m not your boss,” Cassie said, shrugging.
“Actually, would you mind staying alive for ten minutes or so? There’s a group of idiots following me, and I could use a partner to help me beat the shit out of them.”
“…Sure, why not.”
———
Cassie’s laughter broke Ki out of the memory.
“You good?” Cassie asked.
“Yeah, sorry.”
Cassie motioned to Ki’s borrowed sweatshirt. “I’ve been meaning to ask, why didn’t you wear armor? You only had that small backpack. Good thing you left it here and we stumbled across it.”
No small talk at all. Well, no point in lying, I guess.
“Today was actually the second time I tried to go through the Mugen Mori. The first time I had some heavier clothing, but I felt like I was burning up the second I entered,” Ki answered.
“Interesting. You looked surprised when you used magic back there—you may have been developing it the entire time. Seems pretty reasonable, considering your spine didn’t instantly break when the bear threw you into the tree.”
“Uh, yeah, I guess so.”
Was she there the whole time?
Should I be embarrassed or mad?
Instead of processing the mix of emotions, Ki asked, “Lots of adventurers use lighter armor because of mana conductivity, right?”
“I think I’ve heard something like that. It definitely feels more comfortable to keep my armor limited,” Cassie said.
Ki went quiet again, the previous questions still eating at her.
Cassie powered through the silence. “What’s the Complaining Game?”
Ki raised her eyebrows. “Wait—what? You heard that?”
“You weren’t whispering.”
“Well, it’s not really a game, but Aidan and I called it that when I was a kid. Usually, it was who could come up with the funniest complaint or excuse. Where I grew up, everyone was…overly positive. There’s an art to complaining and still doing your work. Everyone needs to vent, y’know?”
“Huh.”
“…Did you hear anything else?”
“Yep.”
It’s over. It’s SOOO over.
Cassie said, “Family stuff aside, nothing wrong with hyping yourself up. I need you in your best form—you still owe me that rematch.”
Ki laughed nervously, “No, but really, thank you for helping me. It might sound kind of corny but I—”
She stopped when she noticed Cassie seemed confused.
Ki stood up, trying to mirror her posture. “Oh, you mean it. Yeah, well, don't regret it when I beat you. I figured out that one combo in our last fight, remember?”
Cassie’s eyes lit up, and droplets of orange energy fused into a baseball bat. “Oh? Maybe I'll get to use this guy.”
Ki couldn’t suppress her inner nerd. “Hold on, that's the ‘hidden inventory’ technique, right!? Is it hard to learn?”
Cassie shrugged. “It’s best when you have a weapon to bind, pulling out anything is pretty hard.”
Ki went through her mental index of daydreams and found a card that said ‘What if I had elemental magic?’ She smirked at Cassie and said, “Maybe I won’t even need it. I could make a better weapon out of ice!”
Cassie instantly responded, “Don’t forget, I’m still up one in the win column. Plus, I won't give you a chance to make your ice weapon—I'll be studying you, too.”
“What do you mean?” Ki asked.
“You're gonna be late on your promise for the rematch, so I'm going to have to help you train. You'll be focused on yourself, and I'll get to study you.”
Cassie walked over to Ki and stopped when they were side-by-side. “That's your penalty for being late.”
Ki didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Cassie started walking again. She breathed out, turned around, and whispered, “Wait. I need to ask: why haven’t you mentioned it?”
Cassie stopped.
Ki continued, “You saw me before. Don’t hold back out of pity. Ask what you need to ask. Make fun of me. Something.”
Cassie looked Ki up and down, before settling back on Ki’s golden eyes, now on the verge of tears.
Meanwhile, Ki braced for all the worst-case scenarios.
Maybe she forgot. No, that’s stupid. I’m very obviously… Unless I’m carrying myself badly? Maybe she genuinely doesn’t care? Yeah, that seems like her.
Even if she’s just interested in the fight, I'll take what I can get. I owe her that much.
Cassie said, “The interesting part of you hasn’t changed. The reason I’m here hasn’t changed. The color of your soul—it hasn’t changed. It’s just brighter. That’s all that matters.”
Everything around Ki heightened in intensity. The glow of the sun, the gentle touch of the breeze, and her desire to stay in the moment as long as possible.
Ki’s lower lip trembled slightly and tears welled up in her eyes.“That’s—”
She cut herself off and stared at her boots, trying to control her wavering voice.
What did I do to deserve people being so nice to me?
Cassie tilted her head. When Ki didn’t continue, Cassie shrugged her shoulders and said, “If you’re fishing for compliments: you did get pretty hot.”
All the heat in Ki’s body rushed to her face. When she finally worked up the courage to pick her head up, Cassie was gone.
Is this what I’ve been missing out on? No way, right?
Ki found herself staring at the sky, trying to catalog the wild swings of emotions from the past half-day.
Aidan, Cassie, and Kossetsu.
Until today, she hadn’t spent more than a day with either Cassie or Kossetsu, and had avoided Aidan for years. Aidan had obvious family ties, but her only connection to Cassie and Kossetsu was fighting with them in separate back-alley fights.
Meeting Kossetsu had been more recent—less explaining to do.
Aidan and Cassie, on the other hand… There was more catching up to do.
Sounds like a problem for future Ki.
…
I wonder if I’ll still find myself getting into fights.
…
Then she heard an unfamiliar voice.