A wolf, a giant fire breathing lizard, and a little girl appeared from the ruins of a dungeon. Blood was apparent on the two beasts’ pelt and scales, but the girl was virtually unharmed. These were JJ and her two “familiars”, or they were supposed to be but in reality, both of the beasts were controlled by one who may as well be a god in this realm, M.
“So, you have decided then?” M asked JJ as the pair of beasts looked at the girl.
“Yea, I suppose so. I don’t really think it will be all that good to always rely on you, even if you are all-powerful, all-mighty, and even always by my side. I need to learn all of this myself. From what I gather, most people go through this process alone and that is how they are able to survive in this world,” JJ sighed as she spoke her mind.
“Well, if that’s what you really want, then sure. I’ll go and see what this world is all about. 2 months sound alright to you?”
“Yeah, 2 months should be plenty.”
“Ah, hold on, by that time you would almost certainly have passed level A20 and would have to leave this town.”
“Don’t worry, with how much you have been flexing your incredible powers, I think you’ll be able to find me in no time.”
“I’m not worried about finding you. I’m worried about missing out on all the hilarious screwups that you’ll be in while I’m away.”
“What? When have I ever done something like that?”
“Well, in our day and a bit of knowing each other, you shouted whirlwind at some monsters who were killing you. Even a noob wouldn’t make such a dumb move.”
“...You were the one that tricked me into doing that though. Heh, whatever. See you in however long it takes you to get info.”
“Hmm, I might check in on some of my other projects and see how they’re doing. In all likelihood though, most of them probably bit the bucket.”
“Are you trying to get a rise out of me? Get out of here.”
“Ok,” M said as JJ felt a presence leaving the area that she was in. However, that feeling came back as M gave one last closing remark before his departure, “hold on, one more thing. Make sure you don’t go too overboard, I may have given you great advantages that others would be jealous of, but that doesn’t mean you are invincible.”
“I get it, and I have to say, this genuine worry for me is nice to hear, in a way.”
“Oh no, I’m not doing this out of concern, but rather, it would be pretty bad if you croaked while I was away. I have spent a considerable amount of resources on you so don’t you dare squander all of that.”
“I certainly won’t croak so easily.”
“...yeah… well bye then.”
“Mmmm,” JJ said as she showed a smile on her face for the first time since she had come to this world. After a while of just lazing about, she tried to sense if there was a presence of anything like M around. It was difficult to tell, so she called out, “M! Are you still here?”
No response.
This was a comforting situation. She had never been the one to show emotions in front of anyone, and she sure as heck wouldn’t start now. Although she was almost certain that the feelings of emptiness inside her were due to her missing her family, she could not let out her emotions at all. Perhaps it was the years that she spent bottling it up that she was not able to do so now, or maybe it was the surreal feeling of being in a world that she would dream of. She still could not do it.
No matter how hard she tried, she could not release her pent up feelings. JJ was aware that letting emotions show was helpful, and even healthy to do at times, but no go. For the past few minutes, she had closed her eyes trying to force at least one tear out, but when she opened them again, she realized that the lizard and wolf were still there staring back at her like good boys.
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“Uhh, boss, do you need a minute? Or a room?” Firetank the giant lizard telepathically asked JJ.
“...no, I think I’ll be good. Let’s try to do a few dungeons by ourselves without the help of that dastardly M always poking fun at us,” said JJ as she forged a link with the wolf that was by her side. Once she had followed M’s instructions on how to form a contract, the wolf was linked and immediately a familiar voice spoke in JJ’s mind, it was M.
“Hey! You really didn’t think I’d leave you all alone, would you? Don’t worry, what is inside this wolf’s mind is just a fragment of my power and a very specific characteristic of mine. That is making poems apparently… Yeah, he should be the lowest maintenance personality that I have. This way, at least I’ll know if you die.”
“Why?” JJ said as she felt embarrassed as she had realized that M probably saw her pathetic attempt at letting forth her emotions.
“Do you really want me to repeat what I just said? Alright well, you really didn’t think I’d leave you all alone, would you? Don’t worry, what is inside this wolf’s mind is just a fragment-”
“-You know what? Forget it.” She said as she stormed off to get the key to the dungeon once more. Her two summons followed a short distance behind.
“I think freedom is good, but it shouldn’t compromise your safety. Here, look, this wolf has not had its consciousness taken over by me. I am simply using it as a way to speak with you. Anyway, I’ll try to get info for you, but I can’t keep this connection on all the time so you are stuck with a version of me that loves spewing out terrible poems, English ones if you can believe it. Not the thought-provoking ones either, the ones that are very basic and are more comedic than anything.”
“Ok,” JJ said as she knelt down to dig for the key not really paying attention anything anymore.
“Hey! Looks like I’m finally out in the free world again. Wow, who are you?” Someone who very clearly had M’s voice, but somehow even more annoying, echoed inside JJ’s head.
“You like poems yeah?”
“Yeah, so what?”
“Make a poem for me.”
“Hmm,” the wolf looked around as he tried to see if there was any material for him to use until he finally saw the frankly unsightly lizard that was staring daggers at him.
“Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
That thing over there is so ugly I can’t even finish the damn poem.”
“Watch it you small little wolf! I’ll end you just the same as I end my meals.”
“Knock it off, you both act like children. And I think I’ll need a name for you. How about Helot?” JJ suggested.
“My name is still M! Why don’t you just call me that?”
“I believe that you’re different from M and you deserve a different name.”
“Fine, I’ll go along with Helot. So, you should know that I do not possess any powers other than observation, bad poems, strategizing, and contact with the actual M.”
“What about your power of poems?”
“That is something that is meant to lighten the mood. I just stay at the sidelines while you and Mr. Ugly over there go and fight, well, I suppose this wolf as well.”
“Keep insulting me, let’s just see how long you last!” Firetank screamed in the telepathic channel inside JJ’s head.
“Really? You won’t fight?” JJ said ignoring Firetank’s heated response.
“Nah, I’m basically the comedic relief for the audience. Well, I might get involved sometimes, but that is only if you truly need my help.”
“...What do you mean by...audience?”
“...Uhhh…
...Row row row your boat,
Gently down the stream,
Merrily merrily merrily merrily,
I heard you like Neapolitan ice cream.”
“...What…?” JJ was now extremely confused.
“Ice cream, do you like it or not?”
“...Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything? Do they even have anything that could produce ice cream here?”
“While I may not know the specifics, probably not.”
“Right...Let’s go, I have the key now.” JJ said as she turned around to conceal her face of an absolute sense of irritation. She did not find people who spoke nonsense to be particularly good companions. However, it was unlikely that she would be able to ditch it somewhere. So she might as well try to get along with Helot as best as she could. At least for now.
“Hold on,” Helot said while making the wolf look at Firetank, “Hey, big boy!”
“What do you want?”
“Stay here and keep digging for the keys. There should be some kind of reset mechanism that makes the key reappear after a certain amount of time.”
“Why do I have to go and dig for the keys?”
“You think this wolf is capable of digging as fast and as effectively as you? From my calculations, JJ takes about 15 minutes to dig for the key. This wolf bod will be able to do so in about half the time, but you should be able to do it in only about 3 minutes with your big strong shoulders and your suavity, and, and.”
“Stop! I liked you more when you insulted me, just go.”
“Hehe, be attentive, scaly bro.”
“Just get out of here.”
“Let’s go, JJ.” Helot the wolf said while leading JJ back to the dungeon entrances.
“Helot, is there really a reset mechanism to this? Isn’t it possible that it resets every time we complete a dungeon?”
“Yeah maybe. I am not all-knowing like M is so we have to test all this out.”
“I can’t believe you tricked Firetank into doing this.”
“Heh, dumb beasts are dumb.”
“I CAN STILL HEAR YOU GUYS!”
“Oh floop. I forgot the psychic link wouldn’t be broken until we are a hundred kilometers apart.”
“You’re funny.”
“You think so?”
“That has yet to be seen, but at least you are a better companion than that M who constantly picks fun at me.”
“You should know, M is a bit on the loopy side ever since his...nevermind. What dungeon do you want to go to now?”
“How about a ranged one?” JJ said while conjuring up the repeating crossbow and a bunch of ammo.”
“Hah, right on!” Helot said as the two of them both entered into one of the ranged dungeons.