My bar goes through the trunk in one swing, and the tree crashed down loudly. Probably loudly enough that the mass of people I don’t know how far behind me on the road should hear it.

It’s been seven days of this… walking. John calls it walking. I’m not going to even deign to call it crawling. There’s no way Cross Junction’s so far from Winchester we shouldn’t already have reached it, but those people barely want to move.

I could be there already!

So why aren’t you?

Shut up. I fell another tree with one swing.

I think it’s a valid question. This is the seventh day where you storm off like this, wondering why you’re putting up with those leeches, when you could simply leave them behind. It’s not like you need them.

“They need you,” Terry told me, on the second day.

That had been a bad day. The arguing seemed constant. Even if John was the one in charge, I still got people coming to me to do… something. Make things better, take them home, fix everything. As much as I wanted to get away from them,there’s only so fast I can pull a pickup loaded with iron and steel scrap.

What I’d felt had been good for me at the start was now hobbling me so those… leeches could keep up with me and demand things. Always with the demands. Keeping my mouth shut didn’t help. It’s like me not screaming at them acted as tacit approval of them bothering me.

Focusing on pulling the pickup helped ignore them, slightly, and kept my willpower from eroding so fast I turned murderous.

When it flashed red with how low it was, is when I called it a day. Being out of the harness seemed to be a signal I was now happy for them to make yet more demands. It’s like my scowl didn’t even register with them.

Terry saved them. My willpower was down to a sliver when he appeared next to me and claimed there was something I needed to deal with.

“They need you,” he said once we were away from everyone. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but they do. You’re the one who dragged a lot of them out, freed them. And they see you as someone who can fix everything. I know they’re getting on your nerves, but they need that assurance that things can be fixed right now.”

I walked away from him. I didn’t have the willpower needed to talk. To discuss. Opening my mouth would have resulted in me screaming, then hitting. No matter my father’s prodding, Terry was not the person deserving to be hit.

So, like right now, I brought down trees instead of people.

The really annoying thing is that I know Terry’s earnest when he tells me the others need me. I have no idea how true it is, but he believes it. A secondary benefit of my manipulation and perception skill is that I get hints when someone’s lying to me. I can’t seem to trigger it on demand, but it did when Terry talked. And it told me he was honest.

Fuck, I wish I hadn’t known that.

People lie. They always lie. That’s one thing my father taught me. Not only by his actions, but by showing how it happened around us over and over. Sure, my mother was the exception on which I built an understanding that there were people, here and there, who didn’t. But they weren’t better for it. They were fools, being used by everyone around them.

My father always rejoiced in pointing out when he manipulated my mother, his wife.

No one’s using Terry. Even Elizabeth reasons with him, instead of resorting to manipulation, like too many parents.

Having the luxury to think he’s lying would make this easier. I could walk away then.

Keep telling yourself that. You like being used by them.

“I don’t!” Down another tree goes. No one uses me.

Then leave.

Another tree goes down.

I’m creating a path to where I’m going, not that I know where that is.

Nowhere.

So I force myself to stop. I don’t want anyone able to follow me. I want to be alone.

“It’s okay,” I tell Silver, who walks around a tree in the calm. “You don’t count. I mean, you aren’t a pest.” He cants his head. “I mean, you don’t make unending demands of me.”

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

He sits, and gives me a look that clearly means. ‘Do I look like an idiot to you?’

I walk in silence, and he is at my side.

“Why am I putting up with this? Not you.” I tell my father’s voice as I feel him about to comment.

You are looking for answers out of an animal? The tone is incredulous.

“Why not? I spent my youth expecting answers from one.”

There was never an animal around you as a child. You were too squeamish.

“What has you thinking that me being squeamish has something to do with not having a pet?”

Silver looks at me.

“I don’t think of you as a pet.”

With a flick of the tail, he takes the lead.

He thinks of you as one.

At least he doesn’t treat me like one.

I follow Silver.

I’m pretty sure I see a leash, with the way you’re following it.

I ignore him.

* * * * *

My willpower’s up to the three-quarter mark from half, just from the quiet walk, when Silver stops in a clearing and sits before an opening in a hill.

“Maybe you want to sit further back. Remember what happened the last time we saw something like that?”

He doesn’t move.

It’s clearly in charge.

He’s the brain, I’m the brawn.

Not arguing you aren’t the brain.

I approach and peer inside from a meter away. It’s dark. Darker than I feel it should be considering it’s only close to two in the afternoon and the sun’s angled so some light should fall into the opening. I can’t even see the walls on each side half a meter in.

“Yep, not creepy at all.” I extend a hand.

And of course, you’re going to go in.

Dungeon: Unnamed, Class, Wild

Warning: you are the first to access this dungeon, therefore the system is unable to provide any information about it. As an incentive to explore it, all experience gained inside is tripled upon exiting. The bonus only applies to the first party to enter and only applies on the first exit of the dungeon.

Do you wish to enter this dungeon? Yes/No?

I pull away.

Okay, system, how is it you can’t tell me anything about a dungeon you created?

System Query: Dungeon Generation

Dungeons come into being in two ways. Natural evolution and artificial creation

That’s it? Doesn’t whoever made you know anything about a user-friendly interface? It feels like you’re forcing me to play a game of twenty questions.

Fine. How does a dungeon come to exist naturally?

System Query: Dungeon generation, natural

Dungeons come into being naturally when the following criteria are met. A creature must have died and formed a core. That core must find its way into a suitable environment for the existence of a dungeon. A large enough population of sentient being must be present within the influence range of the dungeon.

What’s the range of influence of a dungeon?

System Query: Influence Range, Dungeons

The range of influence of a dungeon extends as it grows in power. The range of a newly created dungeon is 4.8 kilometers. The upper range is

How large must the population be for a dungeon to come into existence?

System Query: Dungeon Generation Requirement, Population

A population of sentient beings must be 1) within a settlement node and 2) have reached the Village level

Does that mean Cross Junction’s no more than five kilometers away?

Freedom.

That is so tempting.

What’s stopping you? It’s not like they won’t be able to reach you there, right? You are just going to sit on your ass and wait for them to find you, like the good little pet you are.

I ignore the derision as I consider the opening, and a question forms.

System, why do dungeons exist?

System Query: Dungeons

Dungeons are a set of creatures that come to being under fixed conditions. Once in existence, a dungeon will begin creating items to draw sentient beings to it. Those items can be purposely set, if the dungeon has acquired its own level of sentience, otherwise they will be generated from a pool of items generated by the system, based on the environment the dungeon exists in, how it came into existence and the needs of the populations within its range.

People drawn into the dungeon can obtain the rewards by besting the creatures and traps created within. Any who die become raw material for the dungeon to use.

Needs of the people.

Not your problem.

Who said it’s a problem?

Not your concern. Just tell them about it. Let them risk their lives for whatever’s in there?

What risk? I beat the Walmart dungeon, and it had to be stronger than something that came into existence in the middle of nowhere. I reach for the opening again.

Dungeon: Unnamed, Class, Wild

Warning: you are the first to access this dungeon, therefore the system is unable to provide any information about it. As an incentive to explore it, all experience gained inside is tripled upon exit. The bonus only applies to the first party to enter and only applies on the first exit of the dungeon.

Do you wish to enter this dungeon? Yes/No?

“What do you say? You want to do some exploring?”

Silver stretches and joins me.

Yes, I think to the system.