My hope smashed in defeat against the shore of stupid decisions. I shuffled down the staircase, eyes on the treads, seeing the obvious flaw in our genius plan to make a party using the fae, of all people. The smooth banister curved under my hand, cold and solid. Despair fogged my mind for half the descent.

  You don’t use the fae, the fae use you.

  I continued my slow way down, considering how I’d gotten there. My success had been part luck and part sticking to their dumb rules. Maybe I could do it, again.

  Then, I started plotting. I’d find out how much power the Heartland Lord had over me, first. Test the boundaries, and then figure out the escape plan. I fell back on my immutable belief in perseverance.

  Meanwhile, we might have to work for the district. Whatever.

  I was thinking ‘we,’ but what if the others didn’t want to go this route?

  My feet stilled. I looked up at the tree’s heartwood that I’d gone around over and over again, eyes jogging from the dizzying circular path and the immense height. If they wanted to leave me, so be it. My path was set.

  We’d been audio-off for a while. I appreciated that, but, as I stepped out into the sunshine at Gleamholt’s base, I reached out.

  “Hey.”

  Jake: “How did the meeting go?”

  “Not great. Turns out, faction Respect means I’m locked in.”

  I dragged my feet through the illusion and stepped out onto the wooded path. Tiny ants marched across the dirt path, weaving around prints, cloven and humanoid, alike. I stepped over the line of bugs and headed for the park entrance.

  Akilah: “What were the exact words he said?”

  “Did you think you could earn a place at my table and then abandon it without consequence?”

  I was so preoccupied that I almost crashed into a centaur’s fat ass. He was standing in the path, reaching eager fingers toward a butterfly flitting over his head.

  “Fucking fae,” I grumbled, stepping around him.

  Judging by the dirty look he shot me, I hadn’t kept my internal dialogue to the party chat. The man-horse stomped a hoof at me, blowing a snort. I picked up my stride to leave him behind.

  Jake: “Oh, man. That’s brutal.”

  Elora: “That’s deep. So, what do you want to do?”

  Akilah: “The System won’t recognize a sub-unit without a main unit. You’d have to be a recognized district manager to lead one. We’ll have to bear with it if we want to keep these perks.”

  “That’s what I figured. If you guys want to drop the party, feel free. I’m stuck, but you aren’t.”

  Jake: “No way! We’re in this together.”

  Elora: “I’m already fae, so, it doesn’t matter to me.”

  Akilah: “I’ll consider the options, but right now? We have this group, so let’s see how it helps us for tasks and combat. I want to see what we can do.”

  “Meet at the usual place?”

  Jake: “Okay.”

  Akilah: “Sounds good.”

  Elora: “See you there!”

  I stopped at the archway that let out onto the street. Wind whipped up behind me, blowing black strands of hair across my face. Turning into the gust, I glanced back at the forest district with a twinge of frustration. I should have seen it coming.

  The taste of regret was acidic as I looked out the vine arch to the city beyond. Moving forward was my only option, and so I left Heartland for the shadow of the Colosseum.

  I checked my HUD. My HP had started at 60, based on my CON, and a paltry 5 HP from surviving every level gained. My available 3 points showed up, as yet unassigned, and my HP blew up to 80. Photosynthetic Skin also took a jump to 3% HP recovery when exposed to sunlight.

  I could add the unassigned points anywhere—boosting base stats, skills, or professions. If the System worked like before, it felt like advancing tiers instead of stacking numbers. Level 1 had been Tier 0. Level 3 was a Tier 1.

  Would there be an even bigger incremental hierarchy, past the tiers?

  Akilah probably figured it out already.

  I strolled into the bazaar by the Colosseum. They sat on the usual bench, snacking. Elora had corn on a stick, Jake had meat kabobs, and Akilah had a skewer with fruit coated in a candy shell. I glanced around but only saw a few food vendors, none of them selling what they were eating.

  Jake gestured at my hand with his meat skewer.

  I looked down like an idiot at the sword I carried, then held it up. “Yeah, Baneheart. A gift for my cleverness.”

  Akilah nodded, narrowing her eyes at me. “You’re not under his control or anything, are you?”

  “Ha!” I barked out, scoffing. It wasn’t really a laughing matter. It was difficult to keep my head straight around someone like that. For anyone.

  “Curse his name, then we’ll know for sure,” Elora said, then absentmindedly took another bite of corn, eyes still on me.

  “Screw that fae piece of trash Ashwynn and his shitty sprite minions,” I said harshly. There was a weird, sickly twinge about it. Normally, I could talk shit about anything at any time—a gift honed in warehouse banter. This time I felt like I kicked a puppy.

  I opened my aspect screen and ran over my faction status. Nothing changed. My lip curled briefly as I dropped the screen out of sight.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Akilah crossed her arms, chin dropping, but gaze cast up at me standing in front of them. I guess she did know more than anyone else here about the spells Ashwynn could cast on people.

  “I should at least learn how to use it right,” I suggested, but, looking across their faces, I sighed, “But I can put it off one more day if you guys have something you want to try.”

  “Good,” Akilah replied, smiling. “I do.”

  Dammit. Mr. Kim would have to wait one more day.

  “Want some corn?” Elora asked, pulling another ear of corn from nowhere—her inventory, most likely.

  “Sure. Thanks,” I muttered, though finding corn for fight training didn’t feel like a balanced trade. Free food was free food. Tusks did not make eating corn on a stick easy. I had to find the right angle to bite it without mashing elongated teeth against it.

  “Let’s try the bounty board,” Akilah suggested, looking up. The translucent screen floating in the sky flashed through a few open options.

  “Jake and I can’t turn in the bounty,” I sighed.

  Akilah smirked, pointing at Elora and then herself. “We can.”

  Jake hummed in agreement, looking up. “Gangsters… not recommended for under level ten. The Killer? Hmm. PKer in the city outskirts killing PCs? At least, that’s how I’m reading it.”

  I focused on the board, and my aspect screen lit up, giving me the details. A Killer harries the city, murdering citizens. Capture or destroy the Killer. Did the System create an NPC like that? No. This seemed—more real. It could have been an abductee with a griefer mentality. I shook my head, turning down the idea. The level suggestion was higher than our collective, but Jake was already reading the next one out loud.

  “The Den! Let’s do that one,” Jake said, bouncing lightly on his hooves.

  “In Subterania? That’s close to Thorn Ridge.” I spoke hesitantly. The idea of going anywhere near the sheriff’s department made my skin crawl.

  “Only the surface part. It goes deep, and no way is Sheriff Zayan going where he can’t fly.” Jake’s tone was confident.

  I squinted at him and slumped. Climbing into fathomless tunnels full of Tan’fukshan knew what. Bugs, probably. Great.

  “Alright,” I paused, glancing at Akilah. “It might be dark down there.”

  The mage held out her palm, and a glowing blue crystal appeared. She shot me a smug look. Problem solved.

  “Looks like we’re going underground. Let’s get provisions and discuss our strengths,” I suggested, moving toward the shop I’d gotten rope from before.

  “In chat,” Akilah clarified.

  I shot her a startled glance, then looked around. NPCs walked lazy circular routes; shopkeepers lounged or bustled, depending on their status as living abductees or constructs of the System. Would there be spies? Did she think we’d get into a PC brawl and they’d know our big secret?

  But maybe we did break a rule.

  “Do you think the NPCs can tell on us?”

  Akilah: “There’s a lot of things we don’t know. Sure, maybe the System will come after us for this, but I’m more worried about people wanting what we have.”

  Elora: “Why not just share this with everyone?”

  Both Jake and Akilah waved their hands and shook their heads at her. I squinted between them, then around to see if anyone noticed our sudden ‘psychic’ powers.

  One of us had to act normal, so I turned my attention to the menu. I knew stuff about climbing, but not spelunking. “Anyone know what we’ll need?”

  Meanwhile, in the chat:

  “I’m a LVL 6 fighter, Baneheart is poisonous, and that’s it for me.”

  Jake: “LVL 6 Magetech healer. I have a needle for every occasion, and I’m buying a plasma pistol today, pew pew!”

  Elora: “Druid LVL 4, I can use tanglevine, blaze path, um, charm tiny animals, and wilderness survival. My preferred terrain is forest. Oh, I have a bow and arrows.”

  Akilah: “Make sure you stock up on arrows, Elora. I’m a LVL 6 Entropy Incarnate mage. I have Fireflick, Summon Water, and Dig.”

  Jake: “Can you bury enemies?”

  Akilah: “...maybe? My cool spells are Faltered Strike, where I can weaken weapons, increasing their entropic waste, you know, pitting and cracking, so they’re easier to break. I also have Withertouch, which can rot organic material, but I have to touch the thing in question. I also have my new staff, which I socketed with the ashen bead, which can turn Fireflick into Blackfire.”

  “What does that do?”

  Akilah: “It gives the usual Fireflick damage, plus making it linger like napalm, and causes Wither, which drops the target STR stat by 20% for a whole minute.”

  “Noice,” Jake murmured out loud, then shot a nervous look around the kiosk we’d stopped at. “I mean, nice, um, crampons in the menu. Too bad I can’t wear them.”

  “Does anyone know how to cave?” I asked, glancing from one face to the next. Akila shrugged. Elora shook her head. Jake tapped his chin.

  “Well,” Jake started hesitantly, “I read a little about it. You need knee and elbow pads, a helmet, lots of rope, coveralls, blankets, and light.”

  I smirked and looked at the menu. “Lots of rope, got it.”

  “It’s usually cold, so warm clothes are important,” Jake warned.

  I huffed and bought a jacket in addition to another coil of rope and backed away, gesturing to the menu. They could buy their own damn gear.

  “And food,” Elora added, nudging Jake gently and stepping up to the menu to make her purchases.

  If we get lost… I waited until everyone finished and then checked out the MREs. Yes, they had them, and yes, I could afford some without dipping into my fight training gems. Water was added to the purchase as well.

  Jake took off to the gun shop while I sold my junk to lower encumbrance, and we headed out.

  The barren field of holes stretched to the rainy green hills of Shade on one side and the dusty flat of Thorn Ridge to the other. Convergent City’s vista was nothing short of chaotic. It followed no natural order, mashing together biomes that had no business bordering each other.

  I trailed behind, scanning the sky for any sign of a flying sphinx while distributing my new skill points. Jake led the way, bat-like wings bobbing with every step. The other two walked on either side of him, coming up to the first hole big enough to fit us all. Just looking into the black slope gave me the wrong kind of butterflies. A chill breeze seeped out of it, and I was glad that I listened to Jake about the jacket thing.

  Jake glanced back at me, his red eyes showing some of the same discomfort I felt.

  Akilah’s chin lifted, and she nudged Jake with the tip of her staff. “Let’s go. This was your idea.”

  “I know, I know!” Jake muttered and started down the slope.

  Elora shrugged, tugged her cloak around her shoulders, and fell in behind him. Akilah waited for me at the shadowed edge, just beyond the cavern entrance where the darkness robbed her features of anything readable. Elora and Jake were chatting a few paces ahead, not paying much attention to us.

  She walked beside me for a while, quiet, but I could feel her wanting to say something.

  I waited her out. Eventually, after she’d pulled out her glow crystal, she spoke.

  “You know, I was so mad at you,” she admitted, her voice soft, the whisper of an echo bouncing on the uneven walls.

  I nodded, saying nothing, just letting her talk.

  “You basically rearranged our whole plan. You two were gonna work for me, like a team, and explore the city. Do all the quests,” she sighed, a note of wistful regret in her voice. “We’d figure out the party thing, and you’d be the ones backing me up.”

  “Then we went to Heartland,” I prompted when her expression turned grim.

  “That messed up everything. Oooh, I wanted to Withertouch you so bad when you just blasted through everything—no asking, no plan, just doing whatever you wanted.”

  A rueful smirk tugged at my lips. She wasn’t wrong.

  “And then, you got the Rep,” Akilah shot me a hard look, “so you got to be party leader.”

  “You want it?” I offered.

  She snorted. “Nah. You might as well keep it, since you’re also Ashwynn’s bitch, now. We might lose the sub-unit link if you’re not the leader. I’d rather not test that.”

  Beyond the fairytale, being Ashwynn’s bitch was a mysterious threat, heavy with potential consequences. I had no idea what trouble that would bring me. I’d find out soon enough, I was sure.

  A harrowing shriek echoed up from the depths. Jake stumbled, and Elora skittered to the side and looked around. Akilah and I looked at each other.

  “The Den will be cake,” I lied confidently.

  -ARCHIVE-