“Cursed?” I try to mask the concern on my face as I turn to check out the cursed wounds on each of the children.

Attempting to force Transfusion to work while Cassandra begins triage with some cloth bandages she has Becky produce, I notice that the curse isn’t just preventing my prana from entering the area, it’s inverting the flow.

Vincent begins to look pale and clammy. His breath comes in a rapid, staggered pace. “Cassandra, I think he’s going into shock.”

She looks up from dressing the bandages, assesses him, and her eyes widen. “Shit, he is. Someone lay him down. Colt, elevate his legs. Lucas, keep restoring his HP. Focus on the whole body so you’re at least replenishing blood.”

“Right.” Blood flows from a cut I make in my hand using Hydromancy, coating Vincent’s body. Trying to split focus, I attempt to keep my breathing steady so Pranic Breathing can activate.

Distantly, I hear Cassandra instructing everyone to do different jobs from tying a tourniquet just above his wound to distracting the kids who are panicking now. It’s all I can do to keep control of my blood around Vincent’s body and keep the flow of prana going.

His body stops accepting any more than a tiny dribble of prana from me, indicating that he’s finally stabilized. A bandaged stump is all that’s left of his right arm. He has more color to his face, however, and we still need to move on.

Level up! For using your Anchorist Skills to outsmart your enemy and defend those around you, your Talent: Adept Anchorist has reached (24/50)!

Level up! For continuing to adapt your use of magic to the fights you are in, your Talent: Adept Mage has reached (10/50)!

For reaching your second Talent milestone in Adept Mage, you have been rewarded applicable stat points to Intelligence, Attunement, Willpower, Insight and + 60 XP. In addition, you have been granted the Perk: Voltaic Differential.

Level up! Crush resistance has reached (3/100)!

Garuk Revanas and Pele Tork defeated! 0 XP awarded!

Garuk Revanas and Pele Tork dropped:

Confused, I look over at the bodies. ‘Guess we need to loot them ourselves? Killing someone who’s Construct-enhanced gives no XP? They really must not have been Agents of Restruct then. That’s… depressing. Maybe this Perk will be a higher note.’

Perks:

Voltaic Differential

Description: Lightning has become your strength. Chaining lightning-attuned Skills together causes you to build up an electrical differential, increasing the power of each consecutive lightning Skill slightly. This differential may be discharged at any time to empower a single lightning attack with this charge. Warning: Using non-lightning Skills will cause some of this differential to be lost. Intelligence and Willpower increased by 2. +2 Intelligence and Willpower per level up.

‘That changes things... I’ll have to be careful when using lightning Skills to keep the chain up until I have enough for the differential to be beneficial. Anyway, no time to be distracted, we need to get going soon.’

The most we make time for is Colt and me brewing more potions from spare ingredients we brought. The stock is somewhat limited but we bring everyone to a more comfortable potion count at the very least.

A few people in the group loot the bodies of the yetis, storing everything away in their storage Perks if they have one.

It seems that the cursed cuts on the kids are too small as they’re only small, surface nicks. The glow is fading already, so that gives us hope that it will be the same for Vincent, he just took a harder hit. ‘The curse glow on Vincent doesn’t look any dimmer than before though… I hope it’s not just a spell structure thing where the curse couldn’t properly take root in the kids.’

“We need to get going now, everyone. It’s hard to tell how far we’ve traveled in this dungeon but we can’t afford to waste time when Adreanell could be in trouble.”

No one contests my statement, so we move on in relative silence, only stopping for quick bathroom breaks and a small “meal” of ration potion. We encounter very little in this hallway, it just twists up quite a bit and the temperature around us continues to drop.

This gives us all hope, and anxiety, that we’re approaching the boss room. Just as we turn a corner, we spot another carved stone door. Checking inside as far as I can with my Primordial Perception and Chart Course, nothing appears to be inside the next room.

“It’s empty… Just a large sheet of ice. Let’s be on our guard, could be another ice trout or something.”

With a few confirmations, I push the doors open and we all step inside. A brief chill runs through the room and I feel a pressure against my mind.

A feminine voice echoes in my mind. By the fact that everyone else is looking around, I make the safe assumption that they’re hearing it too. ‘I refuse to fight those weak of mind. It is beneath my kind to even entertain the thought. Your golden-eyed pest already broke that oath, I won’t have it done again. Become stronger so that I may crush competent foes, or die..’

Mirror sheets of ice appear in front of each of us. Moving into a battle stance, my gaze meets the eyes of my reflection and I feel my body freeze up. An invasive sensation drills into my head and everything goes black.

------------

Becky opens her eyes after staring into them in an icy mirror. Looking around, she finds herself in a park. Delightful sunlight shines down on the vibrant, green grass and a pleasant breeze blows across the area, cooling her down in the suddenly warm summer heat.

‘What the fuck? I was just in the dungeon.’

The park only contains a few people. A curly-haired brunette woman standing under the shade of a tree, an older woman sitting on a park bench, a blonde boy on the grass, tossing a ball up into the air and catching it, and then a larger group that are all running around playing what appears to be soccer.

Behind herself, Becky turns around and notes a large wooden door with a golden mechanism over the front of it. Four hollow divots in various shapes adorn parts of the mechanism. Trying it anyway, Becky pulls a lever on the mechanism. Nothing happens so she inspects the shapes more.

One is a spherical divot. Becky looks over to the boy tossing the ball and grins. ‘Like taking candy from a baby…’

Another on the door is in the shape of a trophy’s silhouette. Glancing at the team playing soccer, Becky feels relieved. ‘Oh. This is a puzzle I bet. If Colt could solve a rubix cube back in fourth grade, I can do this bullshit. Besides, I was so fucking pro at soccer back in middle school gym class, this will be easy.’

The last two shapes are less distinct, one an odd, almost half-circle shape with some ridges, and the other a thin rectangular shape, but she assumes they will relate to the woman under the tree and the old lady sitting on the bench.

Approaching the woman first, simply because she’s the closest, Becky meets her eyes. “Hey. What’s going on here?”

The woman looks at Becky with a bit of sarrow in her eyes. “Oh, hello there. There’s not a lot going on today, I suppose.” She looks down and fiddles with the buttons on her blouse. “Well, there is but… I won’t bother you with the details.” She sniffles slightly.

“Okay, not what I was asking, I mean how did I get here? Do you have one of the thingies I need to go in the door?” Becky lays a hand on her hip, sizing up the woman to see if maybe this is a combat challenge.

“A door? I’m… not aware of any door. How would I know how you got to this park? Perhaps you walked? ...If you wouldn’t mind, perhaps we could just… talk for a moment? I’m a bit troubled as of late.”

“I’m in a bit of a hurry, lady. I have some people I need to get back to and help.” Becky rolls her eyes.

“...I see. Perhaps you need this more than me.” The woman hands Becky a thin, hardcover book.

Leafing through it quickly, Becky glares at the woman and walks off. “A fucking self-help book? I don’t need help.” She grumbles and walks back to the door. Surprisingly, the book fits the rectangular slot in the door mechanism perfectly. It slips in surprisingly deep, only the binding of the book shows in the slot now.

“Wow, puzzles are easy. Take that, Colt.” Mood better, Becky walks up to the kid next.

“Hi there, lady! Do you wanna play catch with me? My dad isn’t out of work yet to play with me and I’m really bored.” The kid frowns.

“Sorry, kid. I’m in a hurry. Hey, do you know how I got here?” She glances around once more.

“Why would I know that? Are you sure you don’t have some time to play? Even just a few minutes?” He looks up at Becky with puppy-dog eyes.

“No. I’m busy.”

“Fine! I didn’t want to play with you anyway!” The kid throws the small red ball at Becky. Lightning-quick, she catches it out of the air.

She walks off happily with the ball. “What a shitty puzzle, this is solving itself.” The ball slots into the door similarly to the book, a perfect fit.

‘Next, that trophy.’ Becky heads over to the team of soccer players on the grass field. She notices that a brassy colored trophy is just sitting there on a bench.

“Oh, that’s begging to be stolen. This is totally a stealth section.” Hiding behind a tree, Becky waits for the team to all be on one end of the field away from the trophy and sneaks over. On the way, she finds that none of her Skills or Perks will activate, but she manages to steal the trophy before someone notices her anyway.

The trophy is once again a perfect bit in the door. ‘One more to go.’ Becky grins to herself, feeling proud.

She walks up to the old lady. “Sup.”

“Oh hello there, dear. Beautiful day out, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, gorgeous. Hey, I’m trying to solve a door thingy, do you have some kind of half-circle shaped thing?”

“Door? I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about. Are you quite alright, dear? Here, sit and join me for some tea.” The old woman opens a small basket, taking out a thermos and two teacups.

A plan emerges in Becky’s head. “I’d love some tea.” She smiles fakely and sits down next to the old woman. ‘This must be the part where I trick them into giving me what I want. It’s probably supposed to poison me.’

“Here you are, dear. Careful, it’s hot.” The old woman smiles at Becky, handing her a white porcelain teacup full of a rich, yellow-brown tea.

“Thanks.” Becky stands up, dumps the tea on the grass, walking off. “You won’t poison me today, granny!”

The teacup slots in perfectly just like the other objects. With all the holes filled, Becky pulls the lever on the mechanism. It whirs into action, golden plates slide over each hole. Various parts of the door mechanism spin and move. The golden plates open once more and dust spills out.

The door stops all motion, shutting down. “What the fuck?” The world goes black once more.

Becky opens her eyes to find herself in the park once again. The scene is completely identical and everyone is exactly where they were before. “Aw, fuck. This is like one of those movies where they’re stuck in a time loop, isn’t it? Maybe it’s a sequence thing. I’ll try alphabetical order.”

She repeats all her actions, taking the objects in the order of ball, book, teacup, and trophy. The door dusts the objects and the scene repeats once more.

This time, Becky tries varying her actions. She tosses the ball back and forth somewhat lethargically with the kid a few times but he still won’t stop frowning at her.

Eventually, she gets bored and just takes the ball after a pass. She listens to the the woman with the book talk about her problems with sick relatives and a recent breakup, responding with “Mhm” and “Yeah” when she feels its appropriate.

The woman eventually gives her the book, which she slots in the door.

Risking poisoning, she sips the tea from the old lady. It’s pretty good. The old lady seems to want her to talk about herself some so she gives a happy response, figuring that’s socially appropriate. At the old woman’s pushing, she makes up a fake sob story. ‘Old bag probably just wants some drama to tell the girls at bingo night. Whatever.’

Their conversation concludes and Becky decides maybe she needs to ask for the cup, which the old woman is more than happy to allow her to take.

Becky joins in with the soccer team for a bit and does manage to score a goal. She takes the trophy after that, figuring she’s met whatever conditions.

Once again, the door dusts the objects. “What the fuck is this door’s problem?” She punches it, hurting her hand. The area resets once more.

The process continues on for what feels like forever, with Becky trying various orders and trying her best to fulfill whatever conditions she thinks the area contains.

Each time, she breaks down mentally a bit, worrying about if she’ll ever get home.

Approaching the boy with the ball, Becky, feeling incredibly bored, decides to actually try a bit for more than just distance or skill with a throw.

“Hey, kid. Let’s play catch.”

He smiles. “Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve got time.”

They toss the ball back and forth a few times before the distance between them increases. She feels a bit silly but figures it’s some kind of simulation anyway, so Becky starts to mix up her throws. She finds that she enjoys the kid’s laugh when she does an especially ridiculous throw.

After a throw where she bends over and tosses it between her legs to the kid, who then mimics her, she notices a genuine smile on her lips.

A blonde man in a full three-piece suit walks up to them and Becky stands up straight quickly, feeling slightly embarrassed at being noticed doing weird ball throws.

“Thank you for playing with my son. It’s hard sometimes, working long hours. I don’t get to spend enough time with him.” The father frowns. “Come on, Jackson. We need to go home for dinner.”

“Okay, dad!” The kid runs up to both of them, smiling ear to ear. “Here, lady, take this, I have more at home.” He hands her the ball and Becky gasps as she notes that it’s turned completely golden.

“...Thanks. I… had fun.” She smiles sheepishly and the father and son walk off, thanking her once more.

“...That wasn’t so bad.” She bites her lip, feeling awkward.

She slots the ball into the door and it’s a perfect fit. It gleams with a pleasant light.

‘Alright… next. Maybe that self-help book isn’t wrong. Best way to help yourself is to help someone else.’ Approaching the woman under the tree, Becky finally starts to get it.

“Hey there, are you okay?” She lays a hand on the woman’s arm, giving a comforting squeeze.

“...Not particularly. But… I wouldn’t want to bother you with the details.” The woman looks off into the distance, not meeting Becky’s eyes.

“No. I think I want to hear. Tell me about yourself, will you? I’m Becky, by the way.”

“Jeanette. Pleased to meet you. And… well, both my mother and father are in the hospital right now, and during all this stress, my boyfriend broke up with me too.”

Finally actually paying attention to what the woman says, Becky finds that she can relate to these issues too. She relates about her own experiences with parents in the hospital as well as telling a few stories about asshole boyfriends that cause Jeanette to give a small laugh.

As the conversation progresses, she finds that she’s spent what feels like hours just chatting away despite the sun being in the same position in the sky. Both are in a considerably better mood afterward. Jeanette thanks Becky for the chat and turns around to find both her parents walking toward them.

Her eyes light up. “They’re out of the hospital! I apologize, Becky. I need to go.”

“Don’t worry about it, gurl.” She winks at her.

“Well, I need to thank you for talking to me somehow. I wasn’t in a good place. Here, take this. I don’t think I need it anymore.” She hands Becky a solid gold version of the original self-help book. This time, it appears to be a self-empowerment book.

Grinning, she waves goodbye to Jeanette who runs over to her parents, happy tears in her eyes.

The book slots into the door just the same as the non-gold version, but with an accompanying gleam of light.

She approaches the old lady next. “Hi there, mind if I sit?”

“Not at all, dear!” She older woman scooches over, patting the open space on the bench. “Would you like some tea?”

“...That would be nice.” She takes the teacup the offered to her and takes a sip. It’s pleasantly sweet and refreshing despite the summer heat.

“Now, how are you, dear?” The woman smiles at her disarmingly.

“I’m f- worried.” Becky corrects herself mid-sentence, deciding to be honest finally. She lets go of inhibitions she normally keeps on herself, letting the walls come down in this setting. It feels… safe to do so.

“What has you worried? If it’s not impolite of me to ask.” The old lady sips her tea and gives Becky her full attention.

She mirrors this gesture while thinking for a moment on how to phrase it. “I have this… friend who is in a lot of danger right now. I normally don’t act that nice to her and I kinda feel... bad about that now.”

“Ah. Somehow I sense this isn’t your only worry. I apologize but I don’t know your name, miss. I’m Eleanor.”

“Becky. It’s nice to speak with you, Eleanor. And, yeah, there are definitely other things weighing on my mind.”

“What a delightful name. The same to you, Becky. Now, what’s this about weights on your mind? This park is a safe space to talk, I promise you. I’m sure your friend will be fine, but I think you have other parts bothering you about this more than the danger she’s in.” She gives Becky a knowing look while sipping once more.

“...Right. I feel like I never treat those around me right. My parents… well, they always told me to ‘pull up my big girl panties and suck it up’ or that I was being overdramatic. The girls at school weren’t much better to me for a while, so I guess I learned to just… be cold. After I started that, everyone treated me better. It kept me safe.”

“Never feel like you have to keep up a mask like that, Becky. Take it from an old lady who spent too long doing just that. It’s a waste of your time and suddenly, you’re me, sitting here in a park wondering where all the years went.”

“How do I stop?”

“By being honest to yourself, of course. I saw you over there chatting with that woman, and playing catch with that boy. You’re capable of so much good, I believe you’re just afraid to allow that side of you out.”

“You really think so?” Becky wipes a tear away from her eye.

“I know so. I watched you do just that. Now, would you like a refill?”

“...I’d love one. Thank you.”

Eleanor pours her another cup from the thermos. The liquid comes out golden in color. The moment it touches the teacup, the white porcelain turns gold as well.

“My, isn’t that a good sign. I believe our time here is up though, drink that tea. It looks that that team over there is losing and could use your help.”

Becky nods and sips the tea. It fills her more than just physically, her spirit feels lighter. “Thank you, Eleanor. It was nice talking to you.”

“It was wonderful talking with you, Becky. Ta-ta.” Becky blinks a single time and the older woman is gone.

Smiling despite that, Becky walks over and inserts the cup into the door. It shines brightly and fits in flawlessly.

She jogs over to the soccer field and calls out to the losing team, noting that the numbers are uneven. “Hey, you guys need another player?”

They turn to her, surprise on their faces. “Hell yeah we do. Come on!” They gesture her over and she moves on to the field.

The game quickly reaches neck-and-neck as Becky’s help begins to turn the tides. Over the course of the game, she notes one player on her team that seems to be having trouble getting involved. After scoring a few goals of her own, the score is completely tied.

With only a minute left in the game, Becky quickly moves into position to steal the ball from the opposing team. Her stats still help her in this world, so she’s considerably faster and stronger than anyone else here.

Just as she’s about to make the winning goal, she eyes the one girl looking lost on the field. “Shoot!” She passes the ball to the girl with a side kick. Shocked, the girl almost misses the opportunity but recovers just in time, scoring the winning goal of the game.

The team cheers and gathers around the two of them. After the cheering is over, the girl walks up to Becky holding a golden trophy.

“Hi, I’m Dana. ...Thanks, for letting me have that.”

“No problem, gurl. You were the one in position for the goal.”

“That’s not true. You had a completely open shot. I saw all the ones you were making earlier. Why’d you let me have the winning goal?”

“Let’s just say I’m learning to open up a bit more.” She smiles at Dana who returns the gesture.

“Well, I still think you deserve this, and something tells me you need it, oddly enough.” She scratches her head, confused at that, but hands Becky the trophy.

“You’re right. There’s someone else that needs my help right now.”

“And you need a trophy for it? What are you gonna do, smack someone over the head with it?”

“...Something like that. Good shot, by the way, Dana.”

“Thanks.” Her ears turn a little red as Becky turns around and walks back to the door.

The trophy slots in and the entire door begins to gleam with golden light. She pulls the lever on the mechanism, all the different parts spin and move and the mechanism retracts from the door.

Becky grabs the handle, takes one last look at the park, and walks through the door, a smile on her face.

------------

Cassandra appears on a grassy field. Scanning across the area in front of her, she notices nothing of interest, except for the fact that the field ends abruptly. Walking over, she notes that the sky continues in a full sphere around wherever she’s suddenly appeared and she’s on a floating island of earth.

Turning around, she notices a bunch of indistinct humanoid figures building what appears to be the start of a stone bridge. They have large piles of stone bricks and mortar. Wooden scaffolds being built off to the side are being dragged into place as needed.

Across the expanse of empty space is another floating island. This one has a simple, wooden door on it.

Cassandra sees nothing else going on with this island or the other, so she steels herself and approaches the tall, grey humanoids that appear to be made of stone blocks themselves.

She speaks to the flat surface she believes to be the face. “Um, hello there? I’m not sure what happened but… do you know where we are?”

The humanoid stands there for a second before shrugging unhelpfully.

“...Great. Thank you. I see you’re building a bridge, can I help so this process can go faster?” Cassandra’s heart aches as she thinks about how much time she’s wasting here that could be spent saving Adreanell.

With nothing else to go on, that door is the only potential hope of an exit. ‘Is this some kind of challenge or puzzle then? Do I have to build a bridge?’

The stone humanoid shakes its head and indicates to the others of its kind already working on it. An Inspection comes up with no text box and Cassandra realizes she can’t even use Geomancy to help out. No matter how hard she tries, her mana won’t respond to her commands.

“But, I’m sure I could be helpful! At least let me hand all of you stones or something.”

The humanoid shakes its head with a grinding, rasping noise and walks back to the others.

Huffing, Cassandra walks up anyway, picks up a trowel off of the ground, and moves over to a stone.

No matter how hard she tries, she can’t lift the stone herself. ‘Jeez, I knew I didn’t invest much in Strength but still… these stones don’t look that heavy.’

She takes a seat on the ground and soon all the stone people stop staring at her and return to their work. Several times, she notices them place a brick poorly or off center, wincing to herself as she considers how much that will affect the structural integrity of the bridge.

Time drags on for Cassandra, especially so as she can’t even practice any Skills or access a single menu. She satisfies herself with simply watching the workers for now.

A rumble occurs and part of the bridge collapses, falling into the void. Strangely, all the bricks that fell off of the island fall again from the sky and land back in the pile. The mortar follows this as well, handing in the big, wet pile of the stuff, somehow cleaned off the brick it was attached to.

The humanoids stare at their loss of progress and simply move back to work. Cassandra has other plans, however. She marches up to a stone humanoid once more, hoping it’s the same one she talked to previously, but she admittedly can’t actually tell.

“Please allow me to at least instruct everyone. I’m sure I could help avoid another bridge collapse.”

With more shakes of the head, Cassandra stomps away, fuming. She crosses her arms and sits down heavily on the ground once more. She notes another number of errors made on the part of the stone people that she decides to dub rockmen, if only to give herself a better word than “stone humanoids” to use in her mental cursing against them.

The number of errors builds up once again and eventually, a portion of the bridge collapses once more. Nearly tearing her hair out at this over worry for Adreanell, Cassandra storms up to the rockmen.

“No more asking this time. You, place those stones there and there. And you, move that wooden support over. I may not be an engineer but I can certainly build a bridge better than you lot.” Her assertive tone shocks the rockmen, making them move quickly to her instructions.

For a while, Cassandra continues happily instructing all of the rockmen. ‘Oh this is going so much more smoothly now.’

The bridge is beginning to look quite good, but a scary rumbling under her feet makes Cassandra sprint off of the bridge. Seconds later, the entire bridge falls into the void, taking multiple rockmen with it.

Gasping, Cassandra watches as the stone, mortar, and rockmen fall out of the sky, landing on the island once more. Their faces are expressionless but Cassandra can feel them glaring at her.

They no longer listen to her instructions and continue their previous bridge-building processes. Starting from scratch takes even longer. Cassandra wonders how long she’s even been here for.

After several more collapses, Cassandra has had enough and shouts once more, instructing the golems again. The bridge gets even closer to the other island now before collapsing again, taking Cassandra and the rockmen with it.

Some amount of screaming later, Cassandra lands on the ground with a painful thud. The rockmen refuse to listen to her again.

Taking in a calming breath, she decides to watch the rockmen build the bridge again. This time, she tries to compile lists of the errors made by scratching them into the dirt with a small rock, using mostly representative symbols, writing in the dirt with a rock isn’t easy after all.

This little project staves off some boredom, but the bridge collapses wear on Cassandra further and further. However, she notices something. ‘...With their methods of building, the bridge never fully collapses. It’s broken completely every time I started instructing them. The way they’re doing it, the errors only ever affect the ends of the bridge.’

She continues to record the number of errors and still calls out instructions to the rockmen a few times when she can’t help but do it. When another of her instructions causes a total bridge collapse, Cassandra smartens up and shuts her mouth.

The error counts decrease more and more over time, and the bridge never totally collapses so less progress is lost anyway.

‘...Maybe if I had just been patient and watched from the beginning, I would have realized that these rockmen were learning and improving. My different methods messed them up more than helped here.’

Relinquishing all feelings of controlling the situation, a strange calm settles over Cassandra. ‘Huh… It’s kinda nice to just let go and watch. They’re learning, I don’t need to interfere with that.’

The error count reaches zero and eventually, the bridge is complete. Cassandra runs across it, thanking all of the rockmen, who still can’t express anything as they have no face, but she could swear she feels them smirking. They each pat each other for a job well done and wave off Cassandra.

She grasps the handle of the door, swings it open, waves goodbye to the rockmen, and steps through the door.

------------

Colt opens his eyes to find himself on a sandy beach. He recognizes the location from times him and Lucas went south in Maine during the summer. ‘I’m at… Tassel Top?’ He looks up and down the sandy shore of the lake, taking in the familiar beach.

Small, thin trees line the edges of the beach in areas, and dirt walking paths lead to various parts of the small lakeshore. He notes the large rock him and Lucas used to jump off of into the water. The same large tree branch that hangs sideways from a tree growing behind the rock has several colorful towels adorning it from a family who is currently enjoying the shade it provides.

The lake water softly swishes back and forth against the shore, mostly calm aside from small waves. Warm, pleasant sunshine heats Colt’s skin, shocking him that he has this much awareness of temperature.

Running his hands through his hair, he takes a loose one and looks at it. Brown, not green. ‘What? I’m not Fae?’

“Earth to Colt. Earth to Colt, you doing alright there?” A hand waves in front of his face, breaking him from the reverie of the moment.

Colt follows the hand to the face to see Lucas sitting across from him on a picnic blanket covering the sand. “W-what? Lucas, what’s going on here? We should be fighting that ice dragon right about now so we can save Adreanell!”

“Who? You’ve been playing too many videogames lately, dude. Let’s just enjoy our date.” Lucas begins unpacking supplies from a small picnic basket.

“Date?” Colt feels the slightest hints of perspiration in his armpits and at the small of his back. He stares around the beach, feeling eyes on him. A few people glance his way and look back to whatever they’re doing.

“Yeah, we’ve been planning this for a week. You’ve been so busy on the farm lately, I’m surprised your parents let you have today off.”

“But… what about The Construct… and saving Adreanell?”

Lucas squints at him. “You sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m fine. Just… tired.”

‘How does he not remember any of this? Wait, that dragon said we were mentally weak, is this some kind of… challenge?’

“Well, try to get some more sleep tonight, okay?” Lucas crooks a finger under Colt’s chin, smiling at him and moving in for a kiss.

Colt feels eyes on his back once more and moves out of kissing range, leaving Lucas frowning and looking hurt.

“Lucas! We’re in public.” He eyes around him, trying to detect anyone staring.

“So what? Well, whatever, I’m just excited for some of your pasta salad.” Lucas’ face returns to a smile, changing to one of determination as he tries to pry a plastic container full of pasta salad open.

Colt smiles at the admittedly cute display his boyfriend is putting on. ‘Well, I guess it’s safe to say this Lucas isn’t Construct-enhanced.’

He grabs the container from Lucas and applies pressure to a certain area of the plastic, breaking the vacuum-like seal and opening it. “You’ve just gotta press on it like this. Here you go.”

“You’re the best.” Lucas smiles and begins doling out pasta salad into a small bowl he takes out of the picnic basket. He takes a bite, face shifting to sheer pleasure. “Oh god, this is heaven. Here, have some.” He spears some on his fork and goes to feed Colt.

Colt takes the fork from Lucas’ hand before it can reach his lips and feeds himself. ‘Wow, this is actually my recipe. It tastes just like how I make it.’

He hands the fork back to a disappointed Lucas who is meeting his eyes less now. The date continues with Colt feeling more and more sweat build up as he senses eyes on himself.

“Well, that was delicious. I’m gonna go in the water and cool off, you wanna come?” Lucas smiles at Colt, taking off his shirt to reveal a considerably less built body than the current Lucas. Still a fairly slim, athletic build, but not the sort of muscle carrying an anchor around for months builds.

“Uh, sure.” Colt bites his lip again and stares around as he gingerly takes Lucas’ offered hand. They wade into the water, Colt still staring around at everyone. Every glance seems to take forever to leave the two of them.

The water is pleasantly cool and allows Colt to clean himself of the accumulated sweat from his nerves. Lucas swims up to him and drapes his arms over Colt’s shoulders. He allows them to stay like this for a bit but when Lucas pulls in for a kiss, he stops him.

“Wait.” Colt’s heart thrums in his chest.

“What?” Lucas looks hurt again.

“We’re in public…”

“So? You’re my boyfriend and I wanna kiss you.” He shrugs.

“People are staring.”

“No one is staring, I promise. People may glance, but what does that matter. Hell, does it even matter if they stare? I like you, and you like me, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“But nothin’. Look, I get it. Your dad isn’t so huge on the whole gay thing, but it’s just us here.”

“It really seems like people are staring…”

“...Fine. Let’s just… go home or something then, I don’t know.” Lucas pushes through the water quickly, a stray splash hits Colt in the eyes.

When he clears and opens them, he’s sitting on the picnic blanket once more with Lucas sitting across from him. ‘What? Back here again? I guess I need to just… get through this.’

The date progresses very similarly to the last time, just with slightly less suspicion from Lucas as Colt omits talk about The Construct. But this time, Colt acts along, pushing through the discomfort and trying to make Lucas happy.

It reaches the point where they’re going into the water again. Lucas offers Colt a hand after he stands, which he takes once more. There’s somewhat of a frown on Lucas’ face, however, but he walks into the water, bringing Colt with him.

“What’s wrong?” Lucas grips Colt’s arm, giving it a comforting squeeze.

“Nothing, why?”

“I can tell you’re uncomfortable, what’s up?”

“No, I’m fine! There are just people staring is all.”

“I don’t see anyone staring.” Lucas glances around, and sure enough, the most that they see is someone glancing out at the water and going back to their own activities.

“...Well, they could be staring.”

Lucas rolls his eyes jokingly. “They won’t bite, and if they do, I’ll protect you, ya big goof.” Lucas playfully splashes a little water at Colt’s face, which he then rubs away. Upon opening his eyes, the scene has reset once again.

This process continues over and over again, with Colt trying different tactics to be comfortable in this situation. Eventually, he recalls a lesson by none other than Pasivier.

“The Fae are a proud people, Colt. I sense a distinct lack of that inside of you. That has its benefits for you having less hubris, but words will cut you deep. Look around you, has a single one of the people who matter to you cared about your transformation?”

“Well, no, I guess not. But it’s been such a big change…”

“How so? Your hair and eyes are green? You’re a bit paler? Your ears are pointier? Your original race looks remarkably similar to the Fae. So much so that I was shocked when I first found you two in the Fae Forest. You humans are much closer to the appearance of the Fae than my own... avian origins.”

“Avian origins?”

“Another time, Colt. My point is, will a look harm you? Will a word spear you in your place? Will any of these factors affect who you are?”

“Well, I guess not but-”

“No buts here. You are Fae, but you are also Colton Kaine. And who is Colton Kaine?”

“I’m… just a guy. I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”

Pasivier sighs. “I suppose I need to lay it out for you. You are a loving, kind individual who puts his friends' needs before his own. Something I will begrudgingly admit is… admirable. A trait I wish I could iron out, but you must learn to treat yourself with that same respect. You deserve it… Nay, you should command it. Others may envy you for what you have, or hate you for who you love, but it is up to you to show them that their judgments do not matter.”

‘What the fuck am I doing? I’m hurting Lucas by being so insecure about my feelings toward him. I should just focus on him, not everyone around us.’

“Earth to Colt, Earth to Colt, you in there?” Lucas waves his hand in Colt’s face, grinning at him.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, just thinking about how cute you are.” Lucas looks stunned this time, but he just grins again.

“Bold now, aren’t we? Well, I can’t handle too many compliments on an empty stomach, let’s eat.”

The rest of their lunch goes delightfully, Colt keeps Lucas as his sole focus, ignoring stares that may come their way. Finding that he’s enjoying himself far more, he even initiates sometimes with a hand squeeze or a small peck on the lips.

Finally, they go into the water. Once they wade deep enough, Colt’s foot taps against something solid. Peering through the water, he spots a door.

“Today was nice, dream-Lucas, but I’ve gotta go now.”

“Alright, give the real me a kiss then, won’t you?”

“Wait, you knew?”

“Duh. You passed. Took you long enough. Bye now.” He waves.

“Uh, yeah, bye.” Colt reaches into the water and stands the door up. He turns the handle, opens it, and steps through.

------------

I open my eyes to a forge room not unlike my own, just larger. Small crystal lights in the ceiling bathe everything in a crisp, white luminescence.

Looking around, I find Adreanell, Becky, Cassandra, and Colt standing at different stations. Adreanell has a small anvil with sets of ring mandrels in front of her.

Becky has her normal work table with bolts of cloth, scissors, needles, thread, and various boxes of clothing adornments such as buttons, bows, rhinestones, and sequins.

Cassandra has a cooking station with a random assortment of tools and pots, some I don’t recognize.

Colt sits in front of a stovetop with a pot on it. Various herbs are strewn across the countertop next to him and he has a large cauldron of water to his left.

In front of myself, I find my own immoblite anvil, Last Embers, with my hammer, First Spark, sitting atop it. A pile of thin steel rods sits next to the anvil and worktable I have. The worktable has my custom spinning wheel on it, ready to grind away metal.

Across the room, I note a door with five symbols on it. A key, a ring, a potion, a spherical hard candy with the wrapper included, and a dress. There are drawers in the door under each symbol aside from the key, which is just a keyhole.

When I turn back to my anvil, a slip of paper is sitting on it with a diagram for a key. ‘So I’m guessing this is some kind of mental challenge by that dragon. How is it a challenge if it gives me the solution to how I make the key?’

“Uh, guys. Do you know what’s going on here? Looks like we need to make these objects and… that’s about it.”

“No clue.”

“Nope.”

“Nadda.”

“Why would I know any more?”

“Sorry, nope.”

“Well, okay. I think we should-”

An alarm blares and a timer appears as floating numbers above the door marking thirty minutes. Everyone moves into motion aside from me.

Taking their lead, I pick up one of the small steel rods I have and place it into my forge using tongs.

“Lucas, think you could help me chop up these herbs while your metal heats?” Colt beckons me over.

“Oh sure, no problem.” Walking over to him, I take the knife and move to chop up the herbs. It’s strange, but I don’t recognize them at all. I take a sniff but somehow Porcine Nose won’t activate.

“Do you know what I need to cut and where?”

Colt shrugs. “Nope, I kinda hoped you would…” He scratches the back of his head.

By the time I’ve inspected the plants enough to figure out which parts are ideal for alchemy, I look over at the timer to see five minutes gone.

“Oh shit, that steel rod has been in way too long. Hope it helped, Colt!” Running over to the forge, I frown at the steel rod, the magic of the forge has melted the metal.

‘Good thing I have spares here.’ Putting another in, I set it away from the puddle of liquid metal.

“Lucas, can you hold this piece of cloth for me so I can cut it?” Becky holds up a piece of smooth, yellow silk.

“I can do that. I’ll have to be quick though, I’ve got metal in the forge.”

“Shouldn’t take more than a second.”

“Got it.” I walk over to Becky and hold the cloth up. She inspects it for a bit, scratching her chin and angling her scissors over it at different angles. Finally, after several glances back at my forge, she makes a cut and I rush back over to my forge.

The metal is just the perfect temperature so I take it over to the anvil and begin rounding it out thinner. I add the loop that will be at the back of the key as well.

“Lucas, I can’t tell what ingredients I should use to infuse into this candy, can you help me pick?”

“...I have hot metal, can it wait?”

“It can’t, if I boil this sugar too much longer it’ll ruin it and I’ll have to start over.”

“Alright, be right over.” Hammering a few more times, I leave the incomplete key on the anvil.

By the time I finish helping Cassandra pick out flavors, she’s convinced that the door will require just the right combination, another five minutes have passed.

On top of the time I spent forging my own key, ten minutes are gone already. Returning to my key, the metal is too cold to be workable anymore, so I place it back into the forge.

“Lucas! I can’t get my forge to heat to the right temperature, it keeps melting my gold, can you look at the runes on this thing?” Adreanell looks at me with panic on her face, glancing between a puddle of gold and the timer.

“Did you try turning it off and on again?”

“Yeah, nothing! Please help?”

“Alright, I can help. Let me just see…” Squatting down in front of her tiny forge, I look over the inscriptions on it.

“Oh, weird rune setup here. This might take a bit. Could you watch my key and make sure it doesn’t get too hot? Just take it out when it does so it can cool a bit, then put it back in if I’m not done.”

“Okay!”

Puzzling over the enchantments for a while, I finally figure out how they work. Another glance at the time tells me I only have ten minutes left to complete my key. Explaining the functions to Adreanell, she nods.

“Got it, slide my finger up that one first, do a little spinning motion with my palm on that one, and tap that one four times, right?”

“You got it. Never seen such weird enchanting before.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Yeah, anyway, I have a key to forge.”

“Oh shit. Lucas, I got distracted watching you and forgot to take it out… I’m sorry.”

“What?” Sprinting to my key in the forge, it’s a puddle of metal again.

“Damn damn damn damn.” Grabbing another piece of metal, I eye the clock and tap my foot impatiently while I wait for the forge to heat it.

Finally, it’s done and I get back to work. I follow the same steps I did before to get the basic shape done, then I cut off the end twice with a metal wedge using my hammer to make the teeth for the key.

Everyone else is done with their projects and they place them in the drawers. The buttons light up a pleasant green, indicating their probably-successful completion.

The timer runs out and my key isn’t done. With a loud blare, the room turns red and I close my eyes. Opening them moments later, I find myself in the room once more and everyone in position again.

Addressing them the same as before, I get identical answers to last time. ‘Weird… Maybe I get a few tries? Well, I know everyone’s solutions now so if they need my help again I can get back to my own work faster.’

The same issues crop up, which I address faster. However, even more issues appear afterward, taking up more of my time.

My key remains incomplete again and the buzzer goes off. With more experience, I solve these further problems down the line again, only to be met with even more problems.

Sighing in defeat, I let the red light overtake me again and the room resets. This process continues until I don’t even have time to start my own key with the number of problems everyone has.

I finally try to just focus on my own work, but everyone keeps begging me to help them. They worry they won’t finish in time without my help. It wears me down enough that I finally stop and help them, which makes me fail to complete the timer.

A few more times this process repeats. Their own creations end up hurting them if I ignore them, such as Cassandra’s sugar boiling over and burning her, forcing me to help them again.

Finally, I’ve had enough. “No, I have a key to forge. I’ve failed this damn challenge every time. I’m not about to fail it again.”

No matter what happens, I simply focus on forging the key. I’ve never completed one before, so this job proves tough. It hurts me to ignore them through their pleading, but I force myself to do it anyway.

Once I ignore everyone, the task proves easier than expected. I make the key with ten minutes to spare and everyone else has completed their own projects, overcoming their own issues when my blatant refusal pushed them forward.

We walk up to the door at the same time. I stick my key into the keyhole, turn it, and the door opens.

“Wait, none of you guys put your stuff in the door.”

They all just smile at me before disappearing in a single blink.

‘I guess I just needed to learn to help myself before I jump in to save everyone else from their issues. They were fine without me. I guess I need to trust in my friends too...’

Walking through the open door, I find myself back in the icy cavern.

Everyone else is standing around me, still frozen and staring at their reflection in the icy mirrors.

Checking them all, they seem physically fine, but the room becomes colder and colder over time. Fending this off with Pyromancy, some people eventually “wake up” from their trance as well and contribute to my efforts with heating the room.

Vincent is the last to break out of the trance, even the kids came out of it before him. Moments after he does, the cursed glow on his arm dies out and he grins at me. “I learned a little trick in there. It worked as expected out here too.”

“What trick?”

“I’ll show you during the fight. Let’s fuck up a dragon.” He strides forward, downing a healing potion as his arm regenerates. Bone protrudes from the stump and flesh crawls up the surface.