The next morning, we spent the last of our zeni to buy an unfortunately bland meal of porridge and some dried fruit.
I put down my spoon and looked Eshaan in the eyes. “We are spending at least some of our market money on food. This is intolerable. How can an inn in the big city have worse food than I can make at home?! This is outrageous.”
Eshaan grinned. “I can’t believe a simple inn meal has insulted your pride like this. What happened to you being so mad about cooking on our trip?”
I glared at him. “That’s that and this is this! Bland food that doesn’t need to be bland is a crime! A little sweet, some sour even, just something that isn’t… nothingness!”
Eshaan continued mopping up the meal with the last of the bread. “It’s edible, it fills you up, and we don’t have any money.” He shrugged. “At least it’s not fish gruel. I’m so sick of fish gruel.” He muttered.
“Oh, that’s right. You come from a fishing village you said.”
Eshaan nodded. “Even if things didn’t quite work out the way I wanted with the imperial army, at least it was a break from fish gruel.”
I grinned at him. “We can do better than that.”
Eshaan smiled. “I’m in your care then.”
We finished up the meal and headed to the market. I wanted to head straight to delivering the parcels and letters, but money really was impossibly tight. As we entered the market square, I looked around briefly, and was on the verge of asking Eshaan how one went about selling monster drops when otherme shared a memory.
Just look for the sign saying monster hunters. See? Right there.
Sure enough, there was a sign hanging from an awning with a sword through a monster’s head, reading “monster drops, bought and sold”. We headed over and I looked around curiously at overflowing shelves full of odd and exotic curios. It was a bit like a cross between a taxidermist shop, a leatherworking shop, and a general store. A very strange mix.
I headed over to the counter, thinking about what I could afford to sell.
I think we can get a better price if we use ‘that’.
Oh come on! Not the cleavage trick! I already feel dirty!
Well… but we do need money!
No! We have some pride!
Then what about {Persuade}?
I bit my lower lip, considering, then nodded. Ok. That feels like cheating, but ok.
“Excuse me?” I said to the gruff looking shop keeper behind the counter.
He eyed me skeptically. “Yeah?”
“Do you buy potions here?”
He appeared to chew it over for a bit, then nodded. “Provided they’re not cheap quality, yeah. We could take those.”
I smiled at him, and felt that same gentle “push” in my mind as we activated {Persuade}. I pulled out some of the potions that mother had packed for me, and laid them out on the counter in front of him. I could see from the way his posture altered that he could feel and recognize my {Persuade}, but he didn’t see it as a threat, more as though I had been acknowledged as a real negotiator. It made me feel much less guilty and even a little proud.
If this is how it’s done in the big city, then we should do it!
Good! So it goes like this… otherme guided me, and the {Persuade} immediately felt stronger, and my words came out in a rather embarrassingly sweet and earnest way.
“So you see, I’m from Breezewood, and my mother makes potions there! She’s really just the best, I assure you that you’ll find the quality to be more than acceptable, and we’ve come such an awful long way, I hate to go home without something to show for it.”
He examined the potions with a practiced eye, uncorking them to smell and lightly taste the potency. He nodded grudgingly, and we settled into steady patter of bargaining. I didn’t manage to get what I really thought mother’s potions were actually worth, but I didn’t do too badly I felt. At least better than the typical half price that all shops seemed to offer as the baseline! We sold the rest of the drops, though I was loathe to part with the crystal drops from the midboss slime. I bit my lower lip thoughtfully. It was always such a risk, sometimes those items turned out to be super useful later for some random miniquest! But we needed money now… In the end I sold everything that I could to him, and turned a respectable sum.
I turned from the counter to find Eshaan staring at me.
“What? Do I have something on my face?” I glared at him.
“No… it’s just… you haggle like a fishwife. That was… impressive!”
I pulled the purse strings tight and tucked them into my girdle. “We need the money! You said so! And now we have some.”
He nodded in agreement. “I did, yes. I’m a little surprised you sold your mother’s potions so easily.”
I grimaced. “We needed the money.” I repeated stubbornly. “And I can do healing, we don’t need as many of those.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door.
He trailed behind me like an obedient puppy.
We stepped outside, and I looked around again, then nodded, spotting my next quarry.
Eshaan frowned in confusion. “I thought we were going to deliver letters?”
“We are. But you always need to gear up in the first town, that’s just common sense.”
“What?”
I sighed and stopped, pointing at his tunic and sword. “Your armor and weapons. They’re clearly imperial make. They’re equally clearly cheap knockoffs. I saw you looking at the swords longingly. Now that we have enough money, let’s get you a better one. One that doesn’t have the imperial legion markings on it?”
He looked down at the sword on his hip. “I… never thought about it like that.”
“Right. So let’s get you your first gearup!” I pulled him along to the weapon maker.
Eshaan’s eyes lit up as he ran his hands over the swords on display. I couldn’t help but smile a little as they did. It felt nice to buy him something he wanted.
“Give me your sword.” I said briskly.
“What? Why?” he looked confused, hugging his sword to his chest.
“We’re selling it. I’m selling it. You’re buying whatever we can afford.”
He looked at the sword with regret and pain, and didn’t move. Otherme jumped in.
“I know it’s precious to you. It’s ok to remember things that were important. But this thing caused you pain. You shouldn’t hold onto your pain; it never gives anything back.”
He frowned at that, but eventually nodded, reluctantly handing over his old imperial sword. I took it from him and called out to the shop keeper.
“Excuse me please! We’d like to sell and buy!”
The merchant came over, and put his hands on his hips, staring at me and then Eshaan appraisingly.
I grimaced internally. Well there went our chance of making a good deal. Eshaan couldn’t be more obvious if he tried.
I haggled with the merchant, selling the old sword, but I really didn’t know much about swords, so I couldn’t talk up it’s price. And the array of weapons in front of us did look much nicer than the starter gear Eshaan had started with. It cost a lot, but the look in Eshaan’s face as he ran his hands over his new sword made the expense feel like it was a good one. We stepped away and I looked around the street for the armorer, taking in just how big this market was.
The stalls along the market street were a little bit like Breezewood’s town fair, but clearly much more permeant and much larger. Just like the town fair, it was a strange sense of déjà vu. Every store front sold real things, every store front had a person in it, nothing was fake or just a façade or a blank pixel wall, the market was a living breathing bustling place full of the sounds of a crowd doing active commerce. It was… it was real. In a way that none of the jrpgs that I’d played so happily ever were.
Selling Eshaan’s armor and buying new was equeally easy, and I couldn’t help feeling that my {Persuade} just wasn’t as good as the ones the merchants had… but we still had more money than we’d started with, and now Eshaan had better gear. I tucked my purse away and was checking the first delivery address, puzzling over the odd formatting, when Eshaan tugged on my sleeve and said “What about you, Lilyanna? I feel bad, you buying me all this gear, what about your staff and robes?”
I looked up at him, blinking in surprise. “What about them? They work fine.”
“Yes, but see? There’s a magic store there that has some really nice looking staves.”
I looked, and otherme immediately jumped up.
“Ooh. Oh those do look nice.” I found myself saying.
Eshaan grinned. “You see?! Come on.”
And somehow I found myself being pulled by the hand into the magic shop, eyes wide at the large selection of amulets, staves, wands and general magical paraphernalia.
“Ho there, young lady!” I was greeted by the merchant behind the counter. “I haven’t seen a {Spiritist} in some time… and your hat says you’re an {Elementalist} as well?”
I blinked, my hand going to Soriya’s hat on my head. I’d almost completely forgotten about it.
“Ah, heh. Not exactly. I’m holding onto it for a friend. But I am interested in your staves!” I replied.
Otherme and I spent the next little while letting ourselves get lost in the magic shop gear, but fortunately, otherme was quite sensible with money, and so saved me from spending far too much cash we did not have. We did walk out with a new staff and a better, much cuter, bangle on my wrist though.
I glanced up at the sun and winced. “Sorry, Eshaan. I didn’t realize I took so long.”
He shrugged easily. “It’s ok. I took a longtime shopping for my new sword.” He patted the hilt.
I shook my head. “That’s different. That was important.”
Eshaan stared at me gravely. “Lily, your gear is important too.”
I scowled up at him. “We’re here to rescue Soriya! Not go on shopping sprees!”
“Lilyanna, if I’ve learned anything from the Imperial core, it’s about the importance of preparation. And if we charge in without taking the time to be properly prepared, don’t you think that might impact our chances of success.”
I frowned down at the pavement, then back up at him. “Yes.” I said grouchily. “But now we’re late! Soriya could-”
Eshaan shook his head sharply and put his hand on my lips. “No. I know what you’re thinking, but no. The empire would never mistreat a prisoner. Miss Soriya is fine.”
“But Khine-”
“No. I’ve worked with him for a year. He doesn’t do things like that.”
I stared up into his earnest expression. It just seemed like too much to ask… but then, Khine knew I was coming. He’d practically demanded it. I relented. “Alright. Lets do play postman.”
“What’s a postman?”
“Ah… well, it’s someone from my world. There’s an organization to deliver packages.”
“Oh, a courier.”
I started walking towards the first address. “Well, kind of. It’s hard to explain. It’s a government office, run by the government. There are offices in every town, and they have a whole network to send and receive things.”
His eyes widened. “That sounds amazing! What a great idea!”
“What do you do here?”
He shrugged. “What we’re doing now. In a big city you can hire a professional courier company, but they’re really expensive.”
“Hm.” I wonder if this is a minigame? Find the address…
There were only three parcels to deliver, scattered broadly over the city. We had to ask directions several times, but along the way we picked up several useful pieces of information. One. The imperials weren’t particularly making themselves welcome, Farna being nominally part of the empire. Two, the new airship docks were big and bulky and didn’t smell very nice. And three, the new overbuilt docks ran right over the sewage outflow, and it was making maintenance very difficult, the imperials didn’t listen to any of the very reasonable suggestions that the town kept making.
I grinned. Well, that’s in keeping.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
I had to wrestle with otherme though, it was a real struggle to apologize and explain that no actually we weren’t heading right back to Breezewood, and no actually, we wouldn’t be able to deliver any return parcels.
It’s relaly not that much out of our way, and everyone has been so nice to us-
No! If we’re rescuing Soriya, we’ll be leaving in a big hurry!
But it’s polite! And we’re going right back to Breezewood.
I grimaced. I hope we’re going right back to Breezewood. We are definitely caught in a plot right now. We might not be getting back soon.
I checked mother’s journal with Eshaan after we finished the deliveries. “So, according to Mr. Trumble, the sewage now exits around here? And it should join up with the network there. With all the construction that’s going on, we should just be able to find a sewer access in town!”
“Sure, but we don’t know which way it runs. We need-“
I grinned triumphantly at him. “We do now.” I showed him the diagram of the sewer map in mother’s journal.
Who knew saving the town would get me such a sweet cheat item! I thought happily.
And the fact we saved mother’s life is nice too. Otherme’s mental voice was so sweet that I almost missed the sarcasm.
We walked back through the market as the sun was setting. We clearly couldn’t get to the sewers before tomorrow, so we were taking our time window shopping. I saw Eshaan pause at a jewelry stall I’d been looking at. He looked down at the wares, then up at me. I cringed inside, just knowing what was coming next. But instead he shook his head and trotted over to me.
Thank him. Otherme said. He really really wants to buy us something. Which I still think you should let him do!
I gritted my teeth and then cleared my throat as we headed back to the inn for the night. “Thank you.” I said awkwardly. “For not buying the locket, I mean.”
“Ah heh heh.” He rubbed the back of his head. “You saw that, huh?”
I nodded, and looked up at him. “But it means a lot to me that you didn’t buy it. It means a lot to me that you listened to what I said. Even if I was terribly rude about it.” I reached over and gave his hand a quick squeeze, smiling at him. “You really are a good guy, Eshaan.”
The setting sun made the shade of pink he turned into an almost orange glow on his cheeks, and that made me feel unaccountably warm inside.
The inn was happy to have our money for a second night, though we got a different room. Dinner was impossibly bland once more, a vegetable and meat stew that had had all the flavor boiled out of it.
“I don’t understand why they can’t do better than this! We ate better than this on our trip here, and that was camping!” I complained about it to Eshaan as we got ready for bed.
He shook his head. “I don’t know what to tell you Lilyanna. You’re a good cook. It shows. This is just… how normal people eat.”
I glared at him as I wiggled under the sheets. “I don’t want t hear it. I just like good food. It’s not a crime.” I muttered.
Eshaan laughed quietly. “You’re going to have to steel yourself tomorrow. The smell is not going to be kind to you. Goodnight, Lilyanna.”
I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head wishing I could refute his point. Eshaan’s quiet laughter wasn’t cruel, but it held an unfortunate amount of truth.
***
The next morning I found out first hand. We found ourselves standing in a culvert, looking up at a truly massive outflow pipe a little smaller than me, watching a thin stream of brown and grey water flowing out of a badly rusted and blocked grate. The smell was horrendous. I tried to breath through my mouth, but it was no good. The smell seemed to permeate the very fabric of the universe. My eyes were watering, my nose wanted to scream for a full retreat. Eshsaan was irritatingly unaffected.
“Come on, Lily.” He patted my shoulder. “It’ll be ok. You just need to get used to it.”
“I don’t want to get used to it!” I groaned in frustration, taking an unfortunate breath of air that had me retching.
“Well the other option is to not get used to it, and if you do that again, you won’t have anything left in your stomach. It’s very bad to exercise with nothing in your stomach. That’s just basic training!”
“Oh shut up.” I mumbled in misery. “Lets just get that grate open.”
Eshaan grinned at me, and then swung his sheathed sword at the grate. There was a loud shrieking clang of metal, and the rusted grate fell off, accompanied by a gush of utterly foul liquid as the blockage fell into the culvert along with the grate.
“Why does there always have to be a sewer level…” I moaned. “Why does it have to smell so real?”
Eshaan hopped up into the large pipe with a disgusting grace. “Come on. It looks like it opens up further on inside.”
I sighed. “Coming.” I moaned. Eshaan gripped my hand, helping me up into the pipe. I stared at the disgusting outflow completely ruining my boots.
“I swear I’m going to burn all my clothes and buy everything new.” I declared. I lifted my staff, and chanted the Lux incantation. A glimmering pearl of light brightened the darkness, illuminating the passageway into the heart of the Imperial sector’s sewer, and we advanced slowly into the sewer.
It did indeed open up further in, and I hurriedly climbed up onto the ancient brickwork ledges along the side, overgrown with moss and algae. My staff had already stopped me from falling more than once on the slick surface.
“So, what do you think we can expect?” Eshaan’s voice was irritatingly cheerful as he led the way deeper into the maze.
“Well-” I made the mistake of taking a deep breath to answer him, and promptly gagged again. I spent a moment, clutching my staff and trying to breathe through my mouth. It took a moment, but my stomach finally settled. I nodded as the heaving subsided.
“Well. If things hold true, we’ll face toxic slimes, some sort of flying monster with poison, undead and possibly mutated fish of some kind. And almost certainly a giant toxic slime at the end.”
“Uhm. I meant what does your mother’s journal say… why on earth would there be a giant slime in the sewers?!” Eshaan protested.
“I dunno.” I replied. “Tradition?”
“Tradition!? Farna has a tradition of slime?!”
I sighed. “Eshaan, I don’t know. Maybe the slime just grew really large eating the leftovers and sewage down here?”
“Oh, well that makes… a distressing amount of sense, actually. But we should really check your mother’s journal!”
“Oh! Right. Hold on.” I stopped and pulled out the journal. It was going to take some time to remember that I had what amounted to a walkthrough guide. I flipped through the pages slowly, grateful that my Lux spell was hands free.
I came to page describing Farna’s sewer system, and read slowly, trailing my finger across the words.
“…12th of Reaping… came to Farna…” I gasped. “Mother spoke to the Duke?!”
“Your mother knows the Duke?”
“I don’t know! She spoke to him at least! Her and her travelling companions…” I shook my head. “I need to focus.” I said, flipping a few pages. “Ah hah! Here we go! …sewer maze… heh. She hates the smell as much as I do.” I smiled. “Animated toxic sludge… spell waste… mm, lovely. Bodies animated by insects. Yep, lots of poison… mhm, looks like poison bats… Well, they fought something that sounds like a mutated slime. Had a nasty poison and acid spray.”
I looked up and around, comparing the layout to my mother’s maps. “If this is still accurate… we go that way.” I pointed to one of the apparently identical tunnels surrounding us.
Eshaan pressed his lips together and nodded. “Alright. We go this way then. Stay close.” He headed into the darkness, his sword drawn. I followed behind, my little orb of light casting a steady glow, pressing back the darkness as we moved.
Our first fight was exactly what we had been warned about, a group of oozing slimes that looked positively ill compared to the round brightly colored balls we’d seen in the forest. They rippled with an oily sheen, and billowed noxious gas at us. It was not a pleasant fight, and they did indeed inflict {Poison} on us. I sighed, popping off several of the {Remedies} we’d purchased in town. Eshaan wiped the sludge off his new blade. “It’s not all bad.” He smiled encouragingly at me. “I just got another level, and the smell hardly bothers you now, right?”
A smile twitched at my lip. “How on earth do you remain so optimistic about everything?”
He looked at me in surprise. “I don’t know what you mean?”
“This! All this! We’re breaking into the imperial dungeons to free my friend, likely going to face off against one of your former companions, and fighting in a sewer of all places, and you’re smiling!”
He laughed. “Lilyanna, you’re the one who’s amazing! You’re the one who’s breaking into the imperial dungeon, I’m just… tagging along here! You trusted me enough to guide you after I did such terrible…” he trailed off, his eyes growing dark. I almost reached out to give him a hug, but managed to stop myself in time, patting his shoulder.
“That’s why I think you’re strong.” I said softly. “But I’m glad you’re here. Even if you drive me insane sometimes.” I smiled weakly at him. “Come on. Maybe if I punch enough slimes, I can gain a level too.”
Several more slimes and a few utterly horrible bats later (I still kept checking my hair. The horrible memory of leather wings flapping at my ears and sharp claws tangled in my hair refused to go away!), I did indeed gain another level.
<{Spiritist} Advanced to level 4. {Cleanse}, unlocked. For steady progress on your quest and overcoming difficulties, you have advanced to {Spiritist:4}> The worldsoul whispered to me.
“Ah, I just leveled. It looks like we can cut back on {Remedies} use, I just learned how to {Cleanse}.”
“Ah! Man, I’m starting to see why the empire really values {Spiritists} so much! That’s incredibly useful!”
“Did you have to deal with many battles where you had status effects?”
“Well, not exactly battles. I haven’t had many of those. But during training we had to do all sorts of horrible things. Like camping in the swamps outside of Eburah for a week, we all had plenty of experience with {Poison}.” He smiled. “The imperial Spiritist reminds me of you, a bit, actually.”
“Really?! What’s she like?”
Eshaan grinned. “He is a sour old man who would give you the shirt off his back. I don’t even know his name, we all just called him ‘Doc’.”
I groaned. “Please tell me his name isn’t McCoy? … And I am not sour!”
Eshaan grinned at me, and gave me a sweeping and very courtly elegant bow. “Of course not, Lady Lilyanna, pray forgive my impertinence to suggest such a thing!”
Otherme’s giggling echoed through our mind, and I felt myself flush.
Told you, she whispered to us.
Ok, so we’re a little upset! I think we have reason to be!
Of course. And Eshaan is an angel for putting up with us.
I kicked one of the tunnel walls in irritation. “Let’s keep moving. We’ve got a big poison slime to fight.” I muttered.
First, though, we had several more fights. The “undead” (corpses ridden by giant bugs!) freaked me out way more than I was expecting. I was shivering all over by the time the last one splattered messily into the sewer canal.
Eshaan was cool as a cucumber, and I hated him for it.
“How can you just… look at these things?!” I half shrieked at him. “They’re all… rotting and… and falling apart and the bugs are puppeting them… and… UYUGH!!”
Eshaan tipped his head to the side thoughtfully. “Well, yeah, they’re creepy sure, but they’re really slow. That makes them easy to handle. And with you here, theyre’ not even that scary, more… pathetic really. All they’ve got is poison and slime. They’re easy. And sure it’s… well it’s gross but we handled it.”
“GIANT BUGS! PUPPETING DEAD FLESH!”
Eshaan wiped his sword down and sheathed it in one smooth move, then before I could react he was hugging me, and I realized that I was shaking a lot harder than I had thought.
“Hey. You did great. Way better than the trainees in the swamp.” He let me go patting me awkwardly on the shoulder. Otherme moaned in disappointment.
You shut up! We’re already deep in flag country!
What’s wrong with comfort?
What’s wrong with comfort is that it’s far too close to an emotional connection!
… You really were very lonely, weren’t you? It’s ok to get a hug when you’re scared. It doesn’t have to mean we’re dating; you know?
I kicked a rock into the muck angrily, then said “Thanks.” tightly. “Sorry. They’re creepy. They take you over. What if they did that to a living person!?” I hugged myself. The loss of autonomy scared me more than the fact it was a dead body moving.
Eshaan’s eyes got big, then narrowed. “That would be bad. You’d have to knock out the bug without harming the person. Tricky.” He stroked his chin. “Doable though. You’d need sever the connection between the host and the bug first…”
“EYUGH! Stop it! I don’t want to think about it! Poison slimes are easier to handle! Even the bats were better than this!”
Eshaan laughed. “True, you did freak out when they got tangled in your hair.”
I glared at him but I couldn’t deny it. It was true, I had freaked out when it happened. I will never tease a girl about being scared of bats getting stuck in her hair again! I vowed.
“Let’s move on.” I said tightly. I couldn’t help brushing my hands over my hair a few times nervously.
Eshaan got an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry Lily, I didn’t mean to laugh. It’s just…” he shrugged.
“I know. I just looked so silly. I’m well aware.” I stalked ahead into the sewer maze, following my mother’s meticulously drawn maps.
They weren’t 100%, which was honestly kind of a relief. It was starting to be downright eerie how accurate this all was. No changes? No damage or repairs, even during a major retrofit? But it turned out there had been changes, a blocked path here, a detour there, a perilous rusting bridge over a bottomless abyss. My heart was beating fast by the time I scampered over it.
“I’d like to say lets never do that again, but I’m afraid we’ll have to on the way back!” Eshaan said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Maybe. It could be there are open paths to a different outlet. We’ll have a chance to check when we get to the dungeon.”
The trek seemed to stretch out endlessly, slimes, bats, slimes, bugs, slimes, corpses, slimes…
“I want a bath. I want another bath. Then a bath after my bath.” I groused. “I want new shoes and a self-cleaning spell. I want a pony and a million dollars.”
“Doesn’t your village raise horses? Couldn’t you get a pony? Also, what’s a dollar?”
“Ah…” I grinned sheepishly. “Never mind, I’m just complaining. It’ll all be better once we’re out of the sewers. According to the map we’re almost there. Big broad area.” I tapped the journal page. “And then a ladder up to the lowest level of the imperial quarter. That’s sure to be where the boss is.”
“You’re really sure about this big slime, aren’t you?”
I closed the journal with a snap. “Yes, I am.”
He nodded. “Well that’s good enough for me. Let’s go!” He flourished his sword and trotted into the darkness calling out “Hurry up, Lily! We’ve got an enemy to defeat!”
“Wait, you melon head! I should cast Barrier before-”
There was a rumbling squishing squelching sound from the darkness overhead, and a green slime that glowed like a Hollywood mad science chemistry set started to flood into the room. Disturbingly human bones and skulls floated inside the glooping mass, swirling around like the worlds most unwanted goth party favor.
“-the slime shows up. Spirits curse you, Eshaan!”
“Ah heh.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry. But it looks like you were right! Lets show it what teamwork can do!” He dashed forward, slashing at the rapidly forming bubble of virulent green slime. The blade cut deep into the slime, and a sound like a boiling pot rippled through the air. Eshaan yanked at the blade which appeared to be stuck, and I watched in horror as flakes of metal started to float up from his brand new sword.
“Pull it out! Pull it out!”
“I’m trying! It’s stuck!”
The wobbling green ooze finished inflating itself, larger even than the slime we had fought in the caverns, towering over both our heads. Tendrils of corrosive slime formed from the sides and lashed at Eshaan.
I desperately cast Barrier, hastily gabbling out the words to the chant, a shimmering haze of light appearing around Eshaan seconds before the tendril slammed into him, slapping him across the chamber to slam into a wall.
“Eshaan!”
He pulled himself out of the cracked brickwork, working his shoulders and limbs.
I didn’t think that could happen. There’s really a dip with cracks where he slammed into the wall!
“I’m ok! Thanks to you! Now let’s show this beast what it means to tangle with the imperial legion!” Eshaan charged the slime again. His sword cleaved cleanly through three of the tentacles, which fell to the floor with a splash and a sizzle of melting brick. The slime didn’t even seem to notice, slapping at Eshaan with newly sprouted tentacles. They bounced off the shimmer of my Barrier, and the splash hit me across the left side. I shrieked in fear, and then in pain as I felt the acid start to eat away at my flesh, chewing away large gaps in my robes.
“Hang tough, Lily! I got an idea!” He dashed sideways towards the wall. The gurbling mass of virulent green surged after him. He hit the wall and ran up it, flipping into the air, diving down on the slime sword first.
“Eshaan you idiot!” I screamed at him as he was swallowed by the slime, sword and all. I know I had to be imagining it, but I swear I saw a sweatdrop on his face as he looked out at me from inside the slime.
I rushed forward, pushing my staff ahead of me like a spear, screaming something. My skin burned as I slammed into the side of the slime, but my staff pierced the slime’s body, and Eshaan grabbed onto the curl of the tip. I yanked backwards with all my might, and Eshaan popped free, visibly acid eaten and smoking.
“Great, now I’m hero fishing.” I muttered. I paid a quick price for my attempt at humor however as the slime reached out and yanked me over with a pseudopod. It’s glowing green flesh started to ooze around me, and I suddenly felt distinctly unwell, my empty stomach heaving in an attempt to purge itself. My skin started to blister and the pain was intense, like touching a hot pot handle that I couldn’t let go of.
“Lily!” Eshaan’s voice rose in a panic. “You! Let! Her! GO!” Eshaan was suddenly a whirling dervish of sword strokes, slashing away at the slime with strokes so quick I couldn’t follow them, carving thin slices away as fast as the slime could replace them, digging his way through the slime towards me with his sword.
It was hard to get the chant out, and the taste of the slime in my nose and mouth was beyond foul, but I reached inside myself and clutched my staff, chanting the healing prayer. My skin healed and blistered, healed and blistered over and over. The shattered bones of the slime’s previous prey jabbed at me, my nose and mouth filled with the smell of burning rotted garbage.
Eshaan finally carved through enough of the slime to reach my arm, and hauled me backwards, the slime gripping my legs, and one of my boots left behind. It danced macabrely inside the slime with the bones.
Eshaan tripped and fell down, pulling me down on top of him, and the slime surged towards us eager for it’s meal.
"Spirits of Inferno, heed my command, unleash hell! Flare!" A brilliant yellow white flare of light and heat washed over me, and the slime exploded into a burning hail of acid and poison. I gaped up at the top of the ladder, where a familiar face with a familiar gun hung onto the first rungs at the top.
“Soriya?!” I gaped up at her in disbelief, bits of slime dripping down my hair and clothes.
“Lilyanna? What on earth are you doing down here!? Honestly, I can’t take you anywhere.” She straddled the ladder and slid down with a grace that I could only envy. She came trotting over me, blowing smoke off the top of Diaboli. “Oh! You brought my hat!” she exclaimed happily. “Thank you!”