Ten minutes later I was topped out in mana and ready to challenge the stupid core again, but not before I cleansed the entire temple and even a little of the surrounding area. I get the feeling that the temple is some sort of safe zone, away from the infections, but it’s not a chance I was going to take.

Challenging the core was just like last time, the damn thing wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Again, I was victorious against it and just like that, the five of us returned to the real world. Albeit some tossing and bruising.

…

Along with us came most of the stupid temple now sitting in the middle of the hotel, but I suppose that’s the military’s problem, not mine. They can overrun this place and finally give me my house back.

…

Oh yeah, I guess it is my fault we were here in the first place. I was the one that hid the core from everybody and leading the skeletons up here.

And my room at my house is still gone.

…

Stink, this sucks! I hope they don’t try to pin this all on me. It's not my fault the military sucked at keeping the skeletons locked down. They should have just sent depth charges down there like I suggested.

…

Right, totally not my fault.

…

“We’re back!” Smielnisk crowed, opening the stone door out to the hallway of the hotel. Private Jones stepped out as well, falling to his knees and offering thanks to God.

“I can’t see my status anymore!” O’hara complained, making odd motions with his hand as if to summon it again.

I gave him a small chuckle, taking the shriveled core in my hand and handing it over to Jeffrey before I get in trouble again. “The system doesn’t follow us out, but our abilities are still there. You’ll have to try to experiment with them when you have time, O’hara.”

The control board from the temple came with us like I suspected, but touching the panel proved it to be inert. Not surprising considering we only took part of the temple back with us. Many of the characters from the language were still plastered on the dead board though and the wiring or whatever the magic equivalent of is still there, so Keith should be happy.

“I want a big fat burrito,” I say out loud. “Extra enchilada sauce and cheese.” While we had kept the wynot meat in our packs in case we needed them, we did not, in fact, eat anything during the half day we were in the instance. I am very hungry. There’s a local mexican restaurant on my mind.

Jeffrey nodded. “We can grab something out of the vending machine. on the way to the armoured carrier.” He stows the core I gave him before giving the room a quick look around and heading out.

I give Jeffrey the stink eye. I want a burrito. “I feel disgusting too.” I say. “Cleansing doesn’t really get rid of that feeling, you know.”

“You’ll have time for washing and resting later, first we report to the Colonel. Corporal Duncan, you, Jones’ and O’hara will stay here and secure this area. I’m taking Smielnisk and Greg with me. I’ll get the Colonel to send people to relieve you soon.”

“Understood, Sir.”

With that, Jeffrey, Smielnisk, and I walked out of the building, feeling tired but victorious. Marks of our previous fights were still around, a little ice, blood, and bullet holes. Outside, the city still appeared to be in a lockdown, which made sense, since no time had really passed since we entered the instance.

While Jeffrey made the call, Smielnisk and I sat next to the carrier. I had most of my mana back and I reached and grabbed Smielnisk to heal him. He gave me a wry grin and said, “I think I’m getting too used to this at this point. I need to stop getting injured.”

“A wise decision” I reply, “Although, don’t look to me for advice on how to do that. It seems like my whole strategy is to just dish out more damage than I take. My healing abilities have given me a certain lack of perspective on fatal wounds.” I gesture up to my throat. “Pesos had ripped out my throat this time too. This will feel weird.”

I activate heal and watch the private squirm under the feeling of his flesh regrowing. It stops halfway, his arm a grotesque piece of human appendage.

I laugh at the face he makes, looking at it. “Give me another few minutes, I’ll have the job finished.”

Still mildly horrified by his arm, Smielnisk doesn’t say anything. We sit there in silence, listening to the sounds of the city, Jeffrey talking indistinctly on the phone, and the tornado alarms still blaring over the wind.

Even with the state of emergency, the skyline is a billion times better than what was available in the instance.

“Thank you, Greg.” Smielnisk says, looking over directly at me. “Thank you for everything. This whole thing is out of control crazy, looking back on it, I can hardly believe it all happened. I am just a reserve called up into action this last week, and now I was put into the middle of …. “ he waives his arm indistinctly, “whatever this all is. And now I am a kinetic sorcerer. It’s all unbelievable.” He lifts up his functional hand and pauses. A second later a small ‘humph’ noise sounds out and I feel a small breeze hit my face.

“I have these abilities now. I don’t know what to make of it. I’m a warehouseman, you know? I run a forklift and keep materials moving. Now? Does this change anything? I honestly don’t know. I don’t know if I should be happy to have this or not.”

Smielnisk gives me a troubled smile. “But, whatever happens, I want you to know how grateful I am, and I’m sure everybody else feels the same. Even outside of the healing you gave us, your strength and courage kept us sane in there.”

I scoff at him, turning my head away in embarrassment, “I don’t know about that, you guys handled those skeletons easily enough. You just needed a little push….. And a lot of healing.”

Smielnisk just gives me a smile and leans back. At length he says, “I guess it was pretty epic gunning down the skeletons.”

I give him a laugh and sit back in silence as well.

….

It’s only been .. zero time since we entered the instance. It feels like a full day to me, an overstuffed day at that. Heck with that, it feels like a whole week since I talked to my sister-in-law.

Smielnisk’s issues are mine as well. I was a small accountant at a relo company. I didn’t go to work today, and I am not even sure I can go back anymore. Its too much. Its too little.

After facing life and death situation every minute of every day for so long, the idea of how to send a bill of services to a client a thousand miles away seems…. laughable. Yet, it was what I did, it was my job. It’s what kept my mortgage paid and food in my fridge. It was real. Yet, now it seems fake.

…

Perhaps I should look into getting some help. Becoming a social recluse, unable to fit into society anymore, is not the path I want to travel.

I need a holiday.

Jeffrey ends his conversation with the Colonel and interrupts my reverie. “Alright, I’ve given the Colonel a brief report on what happened. They are going to keep the lockdown for a while longer.” He looks over and blanches at Smielnisk’s half heal arm. He looks away quickly, “Finish up healing him, then we are going over to your house for a full debriefing. Smielnisk, you will stay here until backup arrives, in which you and the others will be relieved. You and the others will be debriefed tomorrow. I’m sure there will be lots of eager people like Keith, just waiting to get their hands on you. This place is about to get swarmed. Hopefully we can extricate the temple from the hotel…”

His voice fades away as he looks at the building. My room was at the far side of the building, but I can imagine what it looks like, the smooth sleek and comfortable looking wall of the hotel with a section replaced with solid granite stone. It would be difficult to hide that. Quite frankly, I’m surprised the floor held, considering the weight of the stone.

“Either way, there will be a lookout for more wraiths and skeletons, but we think we got them all. You’ll be coming with me Greg. We will have a lot to talk about with the Colonel.”

I swallow nervously. I don’t like the sound of that. I bet he’s still mad about the core thing. Me? I already forgave myself hours ago. Right, it was just minutes ago to him, God, this time thing is hard to keep track of.

“Will there be food there?” I reply, letting my exhaustion seem into my voice. I reach over to Smielnisk again to finish my healing. He shifts uncomfortably under my care, refusing to look at the ungainly arm grow and fill out, looking more normal every second.

Jeffrey stares at the spectacle in morbid fascination.

“... I’ll let them know to have some available for us.”

Soon enough, Smielniesk was the proud owner of a brand new arm. We stand up and he gives me a big warm hug, thanking me again for everything. I hug him back and feel a little melancholy at leaving him. I didn’t know him very long, but I guess our experience is something that transcends standard friend norms.

“I wish I could say goodbye to the others.” I say wistfully as we get in Jeffrey car, still parked where we left it.

“I’m sure you’ll see them again.” Jeffrey grunts back. “Now that they have these ‘classes’, I doubt we’ll let them go easily.”

I frown and look out the window. “I hope the army will treat them fairly.”

Jeffrey barks out a quick laugh, “I’m sure they will, this isn’t some sci-fi movie, these are real people. If anything, things will be looking up for them. You’ve been treated well, all things considered. They’ll get VIP treatment.”

“Including you.” I add, looking over at the soldier. He merely nods in reply.

The rest of the ride is quiet, as I contemplate all the horrible things that the colonel will do to me for keeping the core a secret from him. Looking back, it was a poor and foolish decision to keep that blasted thing. I had no idea what it really was or what it was capable of doing. For all I knew, it could have been spewing out dangerous radiation and everybody at the hotel will be coming down with cancer and radiation sickness over the next few days.

I was being childish, miffed by losing my house and my freedom. I pretended to understand the severity of the situation, in fact I spent lots of time arguing for the military to take it as seriously as possible, all the while I played petty games behind their backs for no discernible reason other than I wanted something of my own.

We pull into my street and pass by the guards stationed at the entrance. No reporters are there thankfully, the lockdown still in effect. I’m sure they will be out in force soon enough, more fierce than ever before. I have no idea how the military will placate them this time, but again, it’s not my problem.

Jeffrey speaks up before we arrive. “Don’t worry too much about getting in trouble. Nobody got seriously hurt. Well, nothing you can’t fix up at any rate. Smeilnisk was correct, we are all very grateful for what you have done, and that will go a long way with the colonel. Although how it happened is questionable, results sometimes outweigh the means and we have learned a lot from this. This whole thing could have gone down completely different. In a sense, we were lucky the stone was so close for the skeletons and wraiths to focus on, otherwise, it would have been near impossible to track them down. The temple we brought back with us is invaluable in an of itself. You have secured a great victory for us.”

I give Jeffrey a small smile. “It was a team effort. I hated the idea of going back into the instance yesterday, I was… I was really in despair over it. My time there alone is nothing I ever want to experience again. But having you and the others with me, it made it bearable. This instance was a million times better than last time, and having you guys with me was a large part of that. It wasn’t that bad. We got really lucky, I think, anyway. The skeleton’s plan was desperate and only worked due to the wraiths. Once we got a counter to that, it was an easy win.”

Jeffrey gives me a smile and parks the car in my drive. We step out and are greeted by a couple stooges who escort us in. The place is in an ordered chaos of sorts. Wounded people sporting frostbite in varying degrees are scattered over the place. Keith being one of them, and he’s inside, sitting glumbly on a stool in the kitchen, his arm wrapped and unuseable.

“Keith!” I say, stepping up to him, “Are you alright?”

He waives his good arm at me, “How can I be? Skully is gone! My project! Dust! Less and dust!” he points to his research trailer out the window, “And my workspace, an iceberg! All my tools! Gone! All that’s left is the vault which we can’t get any answers from!”

“What about your arm?” I ask reach out for it.

He eyes it, almost with a look of surprise. “Oh yeah, that too.”

“Let me heal it,” I say and without waiting for a response, I grab it. A few seconds later the warm glow diffuses his arm and then it’s done. I can’t see it under the wrapping it has, but judging from Keith’s surprised face and him testing his arm again, it’s all better.

“And don’t worry about Skully,” I said gesturing at Jeffrey who had moved on to the living room, “We’ve got some other good things for you to look at. You’ll love it I am sure.”

At my words his depression disappears and fire ignites in his eyes. “You promise?”

“Promise, you won’t be disappointed.” Then I look over the crowd of soldiers and say loudly, “Anybody who wants healing, form a line and I’ll take care of you. I’ll get to everybody eventually, so there is no rush.”

My words cause a commotion as apparently, word of my miraculous healing abilities had spread. In fact, the colonel had kept everybody who had gotten hurt from the wraiths around instead of sending them out to the hospitals around in anticipation of this. It would probably help with the secrecy of this operation, or what’s left of it, to know flood the hospitals with soldiers sporting frostbite.

Most of the wounds I saw had been given first aid and were bandaged appropriately, I had even drawn a crowd of observers at my antics, giving appropriate awe filled exclamations at my work. The healed were profusely grateful.

I withstood their gratitude as best as I could. I know it’s something that comes with the gig, but it’s not something I’ve ever been comfortable with nor have I learned how to handle the attention. I just smile and nod and move onto the next one.

Jeffrey rescues me eventually and moves me to the living room to meet the brass. I got a small break to regain my mana and a que of only the injured get’s made and managed outside my view. The rest are pushed away.

The colonel sits in a desk chair, surrounded by aids and peers. I see a few men and women on the screens, looking in at the meeting. They don’t speak though, so I am grateful for that at least.

“Not everybody looks upon your healing abilities with joy.” The Colonel says bluntly at my arrival, gesturing to a chair for me to sit. Keith follows us in, taking up a place next to the Colonel. Jeffrey remains too.

“I wouldn’t expect them too,” I say after a moment. “iIs a lot of power and influence for one person to have. It makes me dangerous.” I try to ignore the uniformed frowns looking out at me from the webcams. “It can also seem too good to be true. I know I would hold suspicion on myself. My father always said that things that seem to be too good to be true generally are, and I agree.”

The air feels stale at the end of my statement. Nobody says anything and I take a sip from the water bottle I acquired.

“However,” I say, afterward. “I can’t and won’t stop helping people when I can.”

The colonel sighs and rubbed his eyes, “Of course you will.” He then abruptly changes the subject, “Tell us about the core.” He points at the rock lying on his table.

I swallow and my eyes dart back to the webcams for a second. “The core in the temple, which I understand to be the hardware powering the whole instance, is about the size of a beach ball. As you know, I tried to destroy it originally, thinking it was the key to getting out of the instance. It didn’t work and eventually I tried using my cleanse skill on it. That seemed to work and I had something like a tug of war fight with the core and I cleansed it. I won out in the end and was able to shut down the instance and return home.”

“Once I successfully cleansed it, this shriveled rock was what was left over. It doesn’t have any mana signature or anything perceivable about it other than just being a small rock. It didn’t seem dangerous to me at the time.”

“Why did you keep it from us?” He asks frankly.

I pause again and say, “Although I understood everything you people have done since I returned as necessary, I felt a little miffed at what I was costing me. I, uhh…, I felt this was a small way to get back at you. Petty even.”

I felt the weight of the Colonel’s disapproval for a few heart stopping moments before he continued. “The skeletons wanted it back though.”

“Yes,” I say, relieved we went off that topic. “I don’t know how they got those wraiths, but when we fought the skeletons, we encountered a new type, a skeleton mage. I think he was able to summon them.”

“Gregory,” one of the voices spoke up from the web cams. She sat at a dark wooded desk in an office somewhere and she had a lot of plates on her uniform. Several people sat around her, obscured by the angle of the camera. “You had said that you are unable to advance your skills or ‘class’ while on earth and you said the skeletons would not be able to either. Has that changed?”

I stare at her for a second before shaking my head, “No, I do not think so. That said, I don’t believe that the skeletons advanced their classes the same way that I did, or had classes in the same way we are able to. I considered them more like computer generated enemies with no real identity. It’s just my conjecture believe that their powers and ‘classes’ come directly from the instance. As the instance grew, so did their levels, despite how many of them I killed. That said, there is very little I know about how their abilities work.” I shake my head, “There is little to know about my own abilities and how the mechanics work for that matter.”

“So you have no idea how the skeletons managed to gain this new ‘class’?”

“I have a plausible theory, but that is it. I believe that the skeletons sacrificed a few of their members in order to initiate a, uh, class evolution? Yeah, I like the sound of that, a class evolution. Once they raised up one of their own, the mage summoned their wraiths and they were on their way.”

The woman snorts slightly. “Are you just making this up, Gregory?”

I rub my chin for a second and ponder.

“Yes and no,” I say after a moment. “My experience with the instance and the system that it operates tells me that there is a certain balance in what is allowed and what happens. Somebody getting a random powerup out of nowhere doesn’t fit, there has to be a cost or value associated with the increase. For leveling up, I have to exert effort and kill the skeletons. Creatures like the wraiths are given incredible strength, but also great weaknesses to balance it. While the undead there grew more powerful, it took time. There is a cost for power. I had heard of the skeleton known a Skully disappearing before Keith’s very eyes,” I say gesturing to the man. “I know it is little evidence, but it’s enough for me.”

“My greatest mistake is underestimating the skeletons. I thought they were just sitting at the bottom of the lake, doing whatever skeletons do. But the creatures are more like computer programs, created to perform specific goals. I suspect it was their goal from the start to get back the core and so they retreated, formulated a plan, and then executed it. The odds were against them and it was a desperate move that ultimately failed, but it just goes to show the singular purpose the creatures had.”

“They have abilities far beyond what we know. We will be discovering new things everyday, but each new discovery is a weapon we can use as well.”

There was a silence at my words and some shuffling before the Colonel spoke up again. “What happened with the core?”

Jeffrey and I then spent the next hour retelling our adventure. I got some food in the meantime and also healed a bunch of people as they came and went, the injuries getting less and less serious each time. I suppose this is an easy way to help attone for what I did.

If somebody had died though, that would have been something I would not be able to get over so easily. My healing ability can let me get away without facing many types of consequences, but death isn’t something I can fix.

…

Yet.

That thought alone terrifies me. I’m not sure if such an ability would be good or bad.

…

I’ll try to not think about it.

During the debriefing there was a lot to unpack. The new classes, the temple, the control board, the revelations as to what the small stone can do.

It was Keith who brought up the small bomb.

“If we can understand and control the core like the skeleton mage did,” He says, holding and starting intently at the core. “We could create a controlled environment with access to this system.”

“A place to train and level up.” Jeffrey adds, at my side. “It would be invaluable. Necessary maybe, if what we suspect about the other instances is true. Sending in no or low leveled soldiers might be futile.”

The colonel gives Keith a look and Keith nods back gravely. “I’ll make it a top priority.”

I keep my own thoughts silent, but apparently I am easily seen through. The Colonel looks at me and asks, “Anything to add, Greg?”

I swallow and say, “Considering a low level skeleton mage able to activate it, I suspect would be pretty simple to do the same. That said, the controls for it are all in a foreign language, until we figure that out we’d simply have possession of a dungeon that we cannot control.”

“With you there, we can, theoretically, enter and exit at will though,” Keith says, looking up at me. “If activating it is as easy as you suspect, you can take a group of my peers with me to give us time to study the temple from the inside and then exit as need be. If the time dilation still persists, it will take almost no time, relatively.”

The thought leaves me dizzy. Thankfully, the Colonel comes to my rescue, sporting a nice frown, “There are a lot of uncertainties.”

“But think about it,” Keith says, getting excited. “There is so much we can learn, information we need to combat this foe. I shouldn’t have to tell you that we can’t fight an enemy we don’t understand. We have an opportunity to learn and grow with this before tackling the sphere in Los Angeles. Greg’s own words state how dangerous the more mature instance will be. I don’t think we can afford not to take advantage of this opportunity, no matter how risky.”

“I agree with Keith,” Jeffrey adds, give me a somewhat apologetic look. “I am a level three striker right now. That said, I would be no match for this instance, no matter what extra munitions and armaments I am given. Much less the sphere in Los Angeles.”

I am getting a feeling that my life is spiraling out of my control again. But it is not a new feeling.

The woman from one of the screens speaks up again, “So, you want to try to activate the core and use the instance to raise the ‘levels’ of our men. How long would they need to be in there?”

“Considering the time dilation, again, almost no time at all.” Keith says unhelpfully.

“Weeks,” I add. “Months, who knows? Time enough to feel confident in the attack on the sphere in Los Angeles. But we can’t just pretend we can activate and deactivate the core as many times as we want. What if there is a limit? We have no idea what powers it, what would be the cost of activating it? For all we know, the next time we activate, assuming we can activate, would be the last and only time we could do so.”

“So we prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Keith says stubbornly.

“Yes,” Jeffrey nods approvingly.

I can’t help but feel ganged up on by my two friends. It's stressful and I wonder what I am even arguing about. Their points are valid, I am just feeling pressured.

Before I can retort, the Colonel butts in, “Greg, I understand your sentiments. This is all hypothetical, but I want your honest opinion on this. Are you still up for the attack on los Angeles tomorrow?”

I close my eyes at the question. I try my best to calm down and think rationally. This all depends on me either way and the pressure is heavy.

What the hell lead me to this point? I feel like I am deciding the fate of the goddamn world here. Smarter and better people than me should be making decisions like this, not me.

I take a deep breath and respond, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “If there is a chance we can level up some people before we attack the sphere in los angeles, we should take it.” The Colonel nods and I continue before he can speak, “But there is another thing we should be considering as we try to use this alien technology.”

I paused for dramatic effect, “The occupants in the instance were building a palace for somebody. Somebody was expected to come and take residence and control of the instance, somebody powerful, beyond our current comprehension. I hesitate to mess with something of his less it brings his attention down on us.”

“More so than we already have?” The Colonel asks with a raised eyebrow. I nod in reply.

“We don’t even know what the purpose of the sphere’s are. We would be messing around with something we don’t have any understanding at all.

“We’ll just have to take care of it when the time comes,” Jeffrey adds, looking confidently at the brass, “all we need to do is become stronger.”

…

Oh please, it's going to take a lot more than that.