Chapter 24

Ava took a deep breath and jumped on the spot, amping herself up. “Fourth chest. Your turn, Hert.” She stooped down and threw open the lid.

Their surroundings changed to a huge bedroom with pink wallpaper. A queen-sized four-poster bed stood at the far wall, and to the right was a glass balcony where morning light seeped through the curtains. A bundle laid under the purple cover, and stirred when a door slammed open behind them. The same fair-haired man as they’d seen before marched into the room.

“What? But it’s not my turn yet,” Ava whined. “Don’t look!”

“Avalene! Is it true?” The man’s voice was outraged as he approached the bed. “I just got a call from a reporter about what you did, asking me for a comment.”

“Shut up,” Memory-Ava groaned.

“I will not!” The father stormed toward the head of the bed and ripped off the cover. “Come out of there, now.”

Memory-Ava contracted her pajama-clad body into a fetal position and pressed her face into the pillow. “Leave me alone. I need to sleep.”

“The reporter said they had photos. Explain what happened.”

Two level four and two level five wolves stepped in through the curtains. They sprang at Leon and the other two. As before, Leon kicked one to the side and lashed out at the second. This time, he didn’t need to ask both party members to participate in the fight, even if they only tried holding back the wolves. Ava held out the staff horizontally in front of her, and her arms shook even before the wolf came upon her.

“I was drunk,” Memory-Ava drawled. “I don’t remember.”

Leon stomped on a paw, and as the creature stiffened in pain, he swung the sword towards its head. It hit and left a long gash. He struck out another time to kill it.

“So, what do you want me to tell the press? That you just happened to forget about it and can’t be held responsible?”

Before Leon’s sword could land, the other wolf came barging forward and Leon sprang to the side.

Memory-Ava pressed her head against the pillow and held out a lazy thumb. “Sounds good to me.”

Leon stumbled over the bed and landed on the soft mattress. His eyes grew wide, but he didn’t have time to think before the wolf was on him again. Leon kicked out, and the wolf fell away. He rose and readied the sword.

“What am I to do with you?” Her father’s chest puffed up and he let out a deep sigh, pulling a hand over his face. “You’re twenty-one. You must realize that actions have consequences. You should have learned it long ago.”

As the two wounded wolves bounded on him again, Leon looked up for a split second. Hert had smashed his stone hammer into the wolf’s skull, and it looked dazed. But instead of taking advantage, Hert raised his shield and crept behind it, as far as his bulky frame could.

Ava’s father sat on the bed and stretched out to touch her shoulder. “You’re considered an adult now. Your behavior can’t be explained by you being young for much longer. Not with your recent track record.”

Leon lashed out at the two wolves ahead, hitting both but killing none. The wolves backed off and Leon spun toward Ava. She’d caught the wolf by the throat with her staff. He leaped toward her assailant and attacked, dealing a critical hit and a message of Warrior’s Build activating showed up. The level four wolf fell down. Ava swallowed and nodded in thanks. Then, she sank down on her knees, staring at the replay, her expression one made of stone.

“I did some recycling,” Memory-Ava said. “That’s a good thing, right?”

“Not when it’s a man’s home.”

Leon spun around in time to slash out, and though it hit both monsters, only the level four one sank down.

“A cardboard box and a dirty, patched sleeping bag can hardly be called a home. They stank, anyway.”

The door opened and Ava’s father walked with hurried steps to meet a man in the doorway. He held forward a few sheets of paper.

“I managed to get these, and the raws are on their way. They won’t publish.”

“Good work.”

Leon sprinted toward the dazed wolf, swung his sword in an upward motion, and the head separated from the body and rolled to the side.

The door to the room closed, and Ava’s father leafed through the photos. “Oh, lord.” He opened the door. “Please try to find the homeless man. I want to speak with him.” Then he closed it again and walked over to Memory-Ava. He spread the printed photos in front of her.

The fourth wolf snarled and jumped at Leon. He stepped aside, swung, but missed.

“Why do you want to speak with him?” Memory-Ava said, turning her head to look at her father. “He’s nothing but trash, anyway.”

The wolf launched again, and Leon held out the sword with trembling hands. The wolf landed on the blade, and blood slouched down its body. Then the dead creatures disappeared.

“You’ve never been in a situation that forces you to make choices you wouldn’t make otherwise.” Ava’s father pointed at the photos. “Look at these. The destruction of a life. The man’s crying. He’s lost everything he owns.”

Leon put the sword in his inventory and sank down on the floor, huffing. He looked at Ava. She hadn’t moved from her spot since he took down the wolf that attacked her. She stared with vacant eyes at the scene.

Memory-Ava stayed silent, and the man sighed. “Your mother spoils you too much. If something else happens, there’s no guarantee we can silence it. Take a lesson from this, or I’ll have to cut you off. Spend some more time with Maya. She’s good for you.”

The scene disappeared, but Ava still didn’t move.

Leon drew in a few deep breaths and approached her. He kneeled and touched her shoulder. She stiffened. “Hey, how are you?”

Hert put his hammer and shield away. “Wow, it’s one thing to be fourteen and stupid, but you don’t look much older than twenty-one now. How old are you, anyway?”

Ava still sat rigid as text popped up.

‘4 of 12 CHESTS OPENED

11 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN’

The three startled as one of the chains over the arch clicked fell to the floor, landing with a sound of metal on stone. When it laid still, Hert and Leon looked at each other.

“Let’s stop for now,” Leon said, and stretched himself out. “I’m exhausted. Literally. Should I put up a camp?”

“No,” Hert said. “I’ve been thinking about that. As long as we don’t open any chests, it should be okay to rest without one, right?”

Leon shrugged. “I suppose so. I actually forgot all about that.” Leon nodded to Ava. “You ready to sleep?”

She crawled from the chest to the wall behind it, leaned her back against the stone, and closed her eyes.

“I guess that’s a yes,” Hert said. He walked over to the wall by the other opened chest and sunk down.

Leon followed to sit beside him. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to sleep with the thoughts going through his mind. He had honestly started to trust Ava, but who was to say she hadn’t played him the whole time?

Leon didn’t want to admit it, but maybe Ai tried to make a point by putting the Scab title on her? Maybe hoping Ava would learn some humility. But what was the lesson for Leon? Don’t kill yourself for the off chance that you can cure your family? Well, he’d already done that. Maybe she just wanted to do it for the reason she’d said before?

He focused on the deep breaths coming from Ava and Hert. He needed all the rest he could get before they moved on through the chests. A minute later, he slept.

*******

Leon woke up from a scream, and an open jaw full of yellow teeth came toward him.

A wolf had sunk its teeth into Hert’s leg, and Leon didn’t have the time to pull his sword from the inventory before the other wolf fell on him. He instinctively raised an arm, and the fangs closed around it, sinking into the flesh. He screamed out and pounded the wolf’s head with a fist, dealing a surprising amount of damage. The wolf let go and shook its head.

Leon pulled out his sword and crawled to stand on his feet. Half-way up, the wolf jumped into him, and he sprawled back. A bleak yellow “Level 4” hovered over its head. Leon kicked its back leg and hit the body with the hilt, cursing that he hadn’t pulled out the short sword. The wolf backed, and Leon stumbled onto his feet and strode toward it, swinging his blade. The sword sank into its body.

Then he spun around. Hert had hammered the wolf in the head, and pressed it back with the broadside of the handle. Ava sat curled up by the wall, seemingly untouched. Then Leon stared at a small green figure running by the arch, with Ava’s staff in its arms. The level four imp was quick.

“Ava, wake up!” Leon shouted as he bolted toward the creature. On his way toward it, another wolf sprang upon him, and he barely had time to see a second imp running from behind the arch. It ran up to its like and tried pulling the staff from the other’s hand. Leon caught the level four wolf by the throat with the sword, and slashed to the side, leaving a gash.

“My staff!” Ava, finally awake, shot up on her feet.

Immediately, their surroundings changed. Instead of Ava running over the stone floor, her feet landed on a dark blue carpet in a medium-sized room. The imps slammed into one of the two bookshelves lining the wall, dropping the staff. A dark man in a doctor’s coat sat at a desk, reading through the paper in his hand, and Leon’s family and relatives stood in a half-circle in front of him.

The wolf launched at Leon, and hit his back, sending him onto his stomach. Leon huffed as he tried to move his too-heavy arms and legs, and the fangs sank into his shoulder. Hert, having bludgeoned his own attacker, sprang toward him, hammer swinging. It hit the wolf, and the fangs ripped Leon’s muscles as they were forced off. Leon screamed.

The doctor put the paper down on his desk and took off his glasses. “Thank you for coming. Are all who have been tested present?”

“Yes,” Leon’s mother whispered. “Except for the two youngest. What did you find? Are we going to be okay?”

Ava had caught up to the imps and took the staff from the floor. She pointed it at Leon. “Buff Morale!”

His strength returned, and he pressed his hands on the carpet to get up on his feet. As the wolf launched on him again, he spun around and the sword caught in its chest. Even through the awkward position, Leon remained standing. The wolf slumped down, and Leon backed away, horrified. He’d been standing through one of his aunts and one of his cousins.

The doctor sighed. “I’m afraid I have bad news.” He rose. “You all carry the same strain of the disease that killed your mother,” he looked at Memory-Leon and Jane, and then at their two cousins, “and your grandmother.”

Leon’s mother grabbed Memory-Leon and Jane into her arms, as if she could shield them from what lurked inside their bodies. “No. Do the tests again.”

“We have run the blood samples two times. There’s no mistake. I’m sorry.”

The wolf that had attacked Hert came upon them as Leon dismissed the message that he was bleeding. At the same time, the two imps that fought over Ava’s staff had come out of their daze and ran toward her, screeching.

Uncle Jerry stepped forward, caressing the cast on his arm in its sling. “There must be a treatment, right?”

The doctor looked at him, and there was sadness in his eyes. “We could try an array of methods, but they would be the same as we tried on your mother while she was here. Research will continue, of course, but we’re no miracle workers, no matter how much people like to think that we are. I won’t lie—you will have to be strong and do what you can with the time you have left.”

Leon kicked at the wolf, slashed at its side, and though it didn’t die, it gave him the opening he needed to get to Ava. He tried to equip the short sword in his other hand, but a message popped up, saying he couldn’t wield them both at the same time.

“So, you say there’s no hope?” Uncle Jerry said.

Leon’s mother held her arms around her teenage kids, trying to block their ears. Jane broke free.

Leon threw himself toward the imps, trying not to think about the memory or his searing shoulder. The sword missed the quick creatures, and Leon crashed into the desk. He spun around, pushing a hand on the surface to gain some balance.

The doctor spoke from behind him. “I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do.”

Tears ran down Leon’s mother’s face, and she held her children so hard to her chest, it ached in Leon’s current body.

Then, the scene faded away into the stone room, and the desk that Leon leaned on disappeared, leaving him sprawling on the ground. He flung his head to the side. One of the imps pulled at Ava’s staff, while the other spread its claws. Hert held back the wolf Leon wounded with his shield and finished it with a beating of the hammer. It sank to the ground as Leon got up on his feet.

He rushed toward the imps as one of them struck Ava with its claws. It hit her stomach, and she screamed, losing her grip around the staff. The imp stumbled back with its prize. Leon struck at the imp hurting Ava, and it screeched as the metal burned in the hole in its chest. Suddenly, his arms felt too heavy, and he could barely move.

Ava finished drinking the health potion, put a hand on Leon’s shoulder, and mumbled something. Some of his strength returned, and he set off after the fleeing imp. There was nowhere for it to go in the round stone room, but if the room had secrets…

The imp scratched at the stone with its claws, but it didn’t damage the wall. It pressed its back against the black stone and stomped off from it when Leon came close. It sprang into his face and started hitting Leon’s back and head with the staff.

Leon struck out, and the screech from the creature rang into his ear as the blade seared into the monster’s flesh. It fell down.

‘5 of 12 CHESTS OPENED

16 of 80 MONSTERS SLAIN’

Leon sank onto the ground, arms out to the side, breathing heavy. He called forth his status window. 83% fatigue. Ava’s boost helped with increasing his vitality, sure, but even with the spell active, the fatigue kept rising. Only that the exhaustion bit got delayed or lessened.

Hert stood over Leon and looked at his face. “You’d rather go to her than help protect me? I helped you.”

Leon closed his eyes. “I try to protect both. You’re stronger than you think, and you’ve killed wolves before.”

“That’s not the point.” Still, he stretched a hand toward Leon.

Leon took it, and winced when he felt the sting in his shoulder, and the trickling warmth of blood from the wound.

Hert turned his head toward Ava, who took up her staff. “Heal him, will you? He’s bleeding.”

Ava stopped and clenched her hands around the staff. “I don’t have enough MP.”

“Yet you used the health potion on yourself?”

“I was hurt!” Ava said and walked up to them. “Leon, give me the mana potion. Margaret told me you had it.”

Leon swallowed and shook his head. “No. There’s no use. It’s better if we set up a camp. That way, the bleeding will stop, and we can all get some energy back. Your healing doesn’t help my fatigue.”

Hert groaned. “We’re 16 monsters in, and we already need to use a camp.”

Leon gave him a faint smile. “It’s actually better than I hoped for. Your idea was great, but next time we try to sleep without a camp, someone should stand guard. The only problem seems to be that we won’t have much time to rest before another chest opens itself.”

Ava nodded. “Hert can guard us. He doesn’t use any MP or build up fatigue, anyway.”

“What? I am at 22% right now. What is yours, exactly?”

“I use MP!” Ava said.

Leon didn’t have the mental strength to butt in. He opened up his inventory, took out the camp, and got a prompt asking him if he wanted to use it or not. His health was in the ranges of 30 or 40 from the previous fights, depending on how much the bleeding had cost him since he looked at it last. It felt ironic that this was the first fight where he bled, just when they had gotten the results from the tests back. Or maybe that was his tired mind speaking.

Leon pressed the option to use the camp, and from the small bundle of leather in his hand, a tent sprung up, similar to the ones they had seen the imps use in the tree cave, but bigger. He lifted the flap to look inside. There were three sizeable pieces of leather laying side by side in there, and from how they were folded, he guessed they would act as sleeping bags. They rested on the stone floor. There was nothing else.

He bent his back and went inside. A box popped up.

Camp

First time information: A camp can be erected at any time and place outside of cities. Sleeping in a camp will provide you with the same benefits as if you slept in a bed, except that a prolonged sleep cycle won’t trigger the “Well Rested” bonus. Each camp can only be used once and up to ten hours. The camp will disappear when all inhabitants have exited it, or the ten hours have expired. No monsters can enter the tent, but it’s good practice to place it out of harm’s way.

Remaining time: 9 h 59 min

He sunk down on the sleeping spot in the middle and pulled off his backpack, thinking Ava and Hert wouldn’t want to sleep next to each other. Somehow, it hadn’t felt easier to watch the death sentence scene in replay. It almost felt worse, because he knew the future. No cure would come for Uncle Jerry. Not for his mom, either, unless he got through this. If only he’d known about this world earlier, maybe he’d have a shot at saving Jerry, too.

As Leon laid down, Ava and Hert entered the camp, and stood still for a moment, probably reading the same message that he’d gotten. Leon brought out Troublemaker and put it on his stomach, caressing its fur. It felt oddly soothing.

Hert sat on the right bed. “I didn’t know you died from a disease.” He folded his arms around his legs. “Were you sick for a long time?”

“No. I’d rather not talk about it.”

Ava plopped down beside him and grabbed his arm. “I’m sorry you had to suffer before you died.”

Leon drew in a deep breath. “I didn’t. Please, I just want to rest.”

Even though they were like cat and dog at times, Leon saw them exchange the same kind of look. He’d seen it so many times before, in his friends, in relatives on his father’s side, in strangers, in classmates. Everyone got the same look in their eyes, regardless of what they knew of the disease. No cure meant pity. He’d hoped not to ever see that again, but wasn’t foolish enough to think he’d escape it. Not when the memories had started playing.

Ava grabbed his arm tighter and laid down beside him, between the two sleeping bags. She inched closer to lie pressed against his side.

Leon sighed. “Could you not?”

Ava pursed her lips, and something flickered in her eyes. She let him go, but only moved away an inch. She tilted her head to look from his face to his stomach. “I didn’t know you had a rabbit.”

“Yeah.”

“What’s her name?”

“Troublemaker. Don’t know if it’s a she or he.”

“It’s an odd name.”

“Yeah.” Leon stroke the gray, almost black, fur once more, then opened up the inventory and put the almost grown rabbit inside.

“Speaking of food—are you guys hungry?” Hert asked.

As if seeing a chance to evade subjects that would rather be avoided, Leon’s stomach rumbled. “Actually, yeah. But I didn’t think about packing any food. And before you say it—we’re not eating Troublemaker.”

“Nah. With the corruption, I’m not sure I’d want to risk it,” Hert said. He opened his satchel. “I brought a few loaves of bread. Thought you’d prepared enough, so wanted to do my part.”

Leon sat and winced. He opened up his status page. His health had dropped to 18. “Maybe if I’m quick. It will be good for lessening the exhaustion. Thanks. You might be a lifesaver.”

“Oh, nothing so drastic. Besides, if I saved you, I’d save my own hide. We’re in this mess, and there’s no changing that. No matter how much I wish for it.” Hert handed him a loaf, then gave one to Ava, too, though he required her to say “please” before he let it go.

“Only seven chests to go,” Leon said and bit into the bread.

“Only 64 monsters to go,” Hert mumbled.