Cal clutched his temples, pain still radiating around his skull. "Why now, Temp? All the skills at once? To be honest, I have no idea what you’re planning by getting them all. I don’t see what you see."

"I have calculated my optimal strategy," came Temp's cool response.

“Without knowing what they all do? That was rash Temp.”

“It was what I wanted to do.”

“Hopefully, it wasn’t just dopamine. Do chairs even have dopamine? Optimal for a machine, maybe. I'm not wired like you," Cal spat out, frustration lacing every word. His headache spiked as if in agreement.

"The bounty was a pressing concern, and I have been simulating my path from the skill list for quite some time now. The availability of luck was a convenient mistake.”

Cal felt suspicious, but he knew Temp was right. It had its own path. Regardless, recklessness would drag him down too. “If you say so. Why didn’t you negotiate with Hetar? Apparently, the rights to an ascendant skill are something valuable.”

“Cal, I want to help you. For a while now I have been getting a strange sensation of not doing enough. It is strange, but I want agency.”

Cal grunted in response.

Temp continued. “Negotiation presented too many risks. They were not negotiating in good faith." Temp's tone held something new, a shadow of defiance, and perhaps the agency he so desired.

"Risks? We're up to our necks in risk!" Cal paced, his steps sharp and erratic. "You've turned us into a beacon for every hunter in Hetar, however big this place even is."

"The preceptors left traps in the contract they offered. The system log does not have timestamps, but they gave me a time limit to accept, which I assume was to force us into the trap. 15 minutes, Cal!" Temp's explanation was terse, each word measured.

"Damnation, Temp." Cal threw his hands up, a gesture of surrender to the invisible adversary that was Temp’s logic. "We could have played them, bought some time. Maybe even looked for a real lawyer."

"Perhaps. The contract was truly in poor faith. Our safety was not guaranteed." The AI's words sliced through the tension, cold and hard as steel. "Accepting those terms would be a poor gambit. Each clause, a snare. Each provision, a potential sabotage. I had only caught a couple dozen. Imagine!"

"Convoluted to that extent?" Cal muttered, rubbing his temple. He could almost hear the cogs turning within Temp's evolving consciousness.

"Yes Cal, the system protocols are very complex." Temp's response was as crisp as the air that followed a storm.

Cal absorbed the words, a grudging nod acknowledging the kernel of truth buried within. Before he could retort, the ground vibrated beneath him, a soft thudding that grew steadily louder.

"Temp!" The call echoed across the battlefield, tinged with disbelief and urgency.

He turned, squinting into now quiet battlefield. Only a few minutes seem to have passed. Figures emerged, silhouetted against the backdrop of destruction. Elena, her bow slung over a shoulder, led the cervidians—their antlers like gnarled crowns covered in blood.

"Explain," Elena demanded, her violet eyes narrowing on him. "Why are you now worth a small fortune?"

"It is quite… complicated," Cal replied, meeting her gaze.

"Indulge us." Her stance was casual, but her fingers danced near the quiver at her hip.

Cal started, then stopped. He questioned if he should reveal the truth, and how much of it. Temp reassured Cal with a calm buzz. Cal, in the end chose to use his words with care, but he would trust his companions. "I'm carrying secrets that have become quite dangerous."

"Seems we're all collectors of such burdens," she retorted.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The cervidians shuffled, their unease palpable even to Cal's human senses. They exchanged glances, their silent communication speaking volumes.

"Can't say I saw this coming," Cal continued, his voice strained with sincerity and the residue of pain from his earlier headache. "But here we are."

"Here we are," Elena echoed, her tone hinting at depths yet unplumbed.

Temp remained quiet, its silence an anchor in the sea of uncertainty.

"Thank you," Cal said abruptly, his tone cutting through the silence. The cervidians paused, their large eyes reflecting a mix of surprise and caution. Elena's gaze softened, but she remained guarded.

"You protected me while I was vulnerable – we’ve fought together and broken bread together," he added, shifting uncomfortably under their collective stare. The air was thick with the scent of scorched earth and the metallic tang of spilled blood. The battle was over. His pulse quickened, not from battle, but from the vulnerability that clawed at his insides.

"I will share, I owe you that much," Cal began again, "there is much you should know, but I can only share a handful." He hesitated, weighing the risk of truth against the façade he'd maintained. His name had become a shroud, one he no longer wished to hide behind.

"Call me Cal," he urged, "Cal Run."

"Cal," Elena repeated, testing the name as if it were a new flavor on her tongue, “So you are not Temp? I couldn’t have been wrong – the fire?”

"Temp is... a companion." His hand reached out towards the air next to him and a chair emerged out of nowhere. "I'm the one carrying the secrets."

There was a palpable shift in the air as Cal's words settled over them. His throat was tight—confession was a discomfort he seldom afforded himself.

"Secrets," Elena mused softly, her eyes narrowing. "The kind that put bounties on heads? And why did you pull out a chair?"

"Exactly." Cal's nod was terse. "And that means danger, from what I understand. This is Temp"

“Bro, that’s how friends work.” Joe laughed and pointed at Cal while smacking Jabor in the back. “This guy.”

"They are right. I’d like to say we are friends by now," Elena replied, her voice steady as an arrow in flight.

“So where is Temp, bro?”

“This is Temp.” Cal pointed at the chair.

“Huhhhh?!?!” Elena, Jaxon and Jabor exclaimed, confusion etching their visage.

“Cal I cannot speak to them, I haven’t actually… learned… how to use telepathy yet.”

“Oh this is awkward, Temp hasn’t learned telepathy yet, so he can’t talk, but this is Temp. Temp is a chair.”

Jabor whispered to Jaxon, “he hasn’t lost his mind, has he?”

“No, the system mentioned a chair – I thought it was a different species, but…. Huh… The fuck? I’ve heard of sentient swords, bro, but a chair?”

"Well that’s a surprise." Elena declared. “I have no idea your depths… Cal.” She winking her violet eyes gleaming with mischief. "Maybe I should turn you over for that bounty and retire. Or perhaps we could use the chair for kindling and forget this mess?"

Cal could feel Temp shiver.

A chuckle rumbled through the cervidians, deep and earthy. They had seen battles and bloodshed, had tasted the tang of danger before, and they were no strangers to betrayal. Jabor chimed in, “threats are old friends, bro. You are successor to Jerry. You are one of us.”

Cal sighed, rubbing at his temple where a headache throbbed insistent beats. Elena's jest stung sharper than he cared to admit. Trust was a coin he grudgingly spent. He knew, or at least thought he knew that Elena was teasing him. Though, he couldn't help but feel anxious as he stared into her eyes.

"Retirement? And leave all this excitement behind?" Cal shot back, a half-smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Excitement is one word for it," Elena quipped, twirling an arrow between her fingers. "I prefer 'lucrative opportunities.'"

"Alright," Cal conceded, his voice dropping lower, threading through the stillness of the forest. "You all deserve some of the truth."

"Only some?" Elena arched an eyebrow, the barest hint of challenge in her tone.

"There's more to Temp... to all of this. It’s not just about me."

Joe finally caught on. "A chair?" he echoed, his tone a mix of disbelief and intrigue.

"An AI chair," Cal clarified, watching as the revelation unfurled across the cervidian's stoic face. "More than that now. It has evolved past its original programming—became my companion. And because I’m a ghost in this world, it was Temp who was ready to evolve, not me."

The cervidians nodded in silent acknowledgment, their antlers casting complex shadows on the ground from the lava outside. Elena, however, tilted her head, considering. "So, you're bonded? Like Jobe and I?" The snek playfully came out and slithered to inspect Temp.

"Exactly." Cal nodded, feeling a kinship with Elena. That was both good and bad, after all, he knew himself. "At least, that is what we think."

"Regarding the bounty," Cal added dryly, the corner of his mouth twitching in a semblance of a smile.

"Ah, yes, the bounty," Elena said, her smile returning as she met his gaze.

Cal hesitated, and obfuscated the truth, “let’s say that Temp got its hands on too much luck and bought out a bunch of skills. Hetar isn’t too happy with it. By the way, Jaxon," Cal began, his voice steady despite the churn of emotions as he quickly changed topics. "Do you know Joren?"

Jaxon's gray eyes narrowed, the calculating glint within them sharpening like blades. "What's it to you?" The question came out blunt, a challenge thrown down on the cave floor between them.

"He's part of this puzzle Temp and I are trapped in," Cal replied, meeting the gaze without flinching. "Our paths might be crossing soon."

"That fucker, you better stab him when you see him, bro," Jaxon said, his voice shifting from jest to a fury.

“Well shit. He’s my lawyer.” Cal held his breath, waiting.

[Escalation, stage 2: Survive the entrapment of hungry predators. Time limit: 184 hours]