1

When the team descended into the spew monster room, they were surprised to see Jordan and Vlad back on their feet and walking around.

The veteran Grimalkin raised his hands and said, “I know, I know. Zahra is going to be pissed.” He paused when he noticed the healer was missing. “Where is she?” His teammates shook their heads silently. “Oh, man,” he muttered.

The members talked about the former nurse from San Antonio and what she had brought to the team. Rachel wiped a tear from her face, which was still pockmarked from the snake bites. She and Zack had to run the Auntie Dote spell three times before it cured their poisoned states.

Although they had opened access to the ninth floor, Damon told the group they should call it a day. The teammates agreed, but said the upper floors were too cold to sleep on, so he led the crew down to the fifth floor. Once there, Zack gingerly started a fire. His left calf and right forearm had healed but were still very sore.

Angie began sewing new garments for the members. She used her throwing knife to cut out thin leather strands to use as ties. Still grimacing from the pain in her side, she handed the first item to Sierra, who finally had a bra again.

In typical Sierra fashion, she unequipped her armor and wrapped the white-furred bra around her bountiful cleavage.

“Hey, you look like the chick from the old dinosaur movie,” Zack remarked.

She glanced at him, not understanding the reference.

While the other teammates relieved themselves, cooked, and prepared their bedding, Angie called them over individually to hand them their underwear. Despite their gruff demeanor, even the orcs appreciated the new clothing. Once all the members were outfitted, Angie continued sewing.

Damon strolled up to her. “What are you doing, Ang?”

She looked up at her man. “These are for Emma,” she replied with conviction. “For when she rejoins the team.”

2

Zack jumped down to the fourth floor to gather some of the frog legs he had intended to eat, but the Aglebemu had decomposed at a much quicker rate than the other mobs. Instead, the team feasted on Angie and Jordan’s salmon. As they ate, their fatigue kicked in and the members slumped against each other. Some took showers at the waterfall near the wall, while others opted to clean themselves off in the morning. Sierra and Hammer lay together in the bedding, crossing a milestone in their affections for each other.

Meanwhile, Damon ambled up to his partner. “Are you up for another roll in the sand?”

Angie smiled at him. “You relentless orc,” she teased, then added, “We can try, but I’d need to be on the bottom.”

Damon chuckled and led her toward the hole in the floor. The teammates, who were settling into their plush bed of leftover furs, watched the couple silently.

That is, until Zack called after them, “Hey, lovebirds! Keep it down this time.” Roars of laughter followed the two team leaders as they hopped down to the third floor.

3

Damon was, of course, gentle with Angie as they made love on the sand hill. Their coupling had been passionate, but mostly silent. They were both tired and their bodies ached from the lingering effects of too many injuries. Afterward, they lay bare-skinned on the sand, staring up at the ceiling.

“In a perfect world, we’d be staring up at stars right now,” Angie sighed.

Damon grunted his agreement and added, “In a perfect world, we’d be home by now. Retired and living together.”

Angie moaned appreciatively. “Retired and married,” she corrected.

He smiled and squeezed her hand. Despite their predicament, he finally had her full commitment, and that soothed his heart. “Do you still think we’ll find a way out of here?”

She nodded. “Yes. I can feel it. A change is coming.”

Damon thought about how they had evolved since embarking into the realms. Hunches and intuitions had never been part of their vernacular. And Angie had finally committed. Silver linings, he thought to himself.

Without the benefit of a fire, Angie shivered in the colder room. He pulled her closer, telling her that he trusted her intuition about getting out of the realms.

“What about your ‘orc intuition’?” she asked.

He laughed. She laid her right arm and leg over his body, curling her head against his shoulder. They remained that way for several minutes, drawing heat from each other, smelling their familiar scents.

Then Damon stretched, leaned over, and kissed her forehead. He worked his way down to her lips and stayed there before they paused to catch a breath. He turned into her, and they focused on each other’s eyes. It was the one change that Damon loved most about the Epiphany conversion. Angie had always had striking, dark brown eyes, but now they were bigger and more brilliant.

“It’s too bad about Zahra,” he said, then immediately regretted it, thinking he was ruining their special moment.

But Angie didn’t seem the least bit perturbed. “Yeah, and to go like that…” She paused. “Just horrible.”

They fell into an extended silence, listening to their quiet breathing. Damon felt Angie’s heart beating against his side and Angie swooned with the rise and fall of his chest.

Damon sighed and a whistling sound escaped from the hole in his cheek. While he cursed internally, he felt Angie’s body hitch with a quiet chuckle. “Do you still worry about me… going into these battles?” he asked.

She reflected on the question, then surprised herself with the answer. “No, I don’t. You’ve learned how to handle yourself in this strange new world, just like the old one.”

He murmured a response.

“What about me?” she asked.

Damon considered the question and realized that he still worried about her. But he didn’t want to tell her that. It had nothing to do with Angie’s abilities or determination. He was just deathly afraid of losing her after working so long to have her. “No, I don’t worry about you either,” he lied, hoping it was just a little white lie—one the Epiphany universe would forgive him for making.

4

They jumped back up to the eighth floor to find some of the teammates still awake. Sierra sat up and the white fur bedding flopped off of her cleavage. Damon noticed she had removed her new bra.

“How was your little rendezvous?” she asked sarcastically.

He chuckled. “I can ask the same of you.” Sierra and Hammer were sleeping much closer to each other than the other teammates.

“Touché,” she replied, “but we weren’t busy using our shakey things like you guys were.”

As they laughed quietly, Harper rose from her bed, wearing her new furry undergarments, and walked to the returning couple. “We went through everyone’s kills and points, so we just have you two to do.”

While Angie yawned and headed for bed, Damon shook his head. “Uh-huh. I want to know what each of them got.”

The veteran mage rolled her eyes. “It’s late, Damon.”

“Just tell me about their kills.”

Harper sighed and droned through the list. “Zack had one anura warrior, one minitaur, one spew, one snake-eye, and six chiropteradon.” She paused, hoping that would satisfy him, but the orc just waited expectantly. “Ugh. Armando had one anura warrior, snake-eye, minitaur, two spews, and three chiropteradon. Hammer had…” She paused, then glanced back at the Alabama orc. “Hammer, what were your kills?”

The southerner rose sleepy-eyed from his position next to Sierra. “Uuuh, four chiropteradon, one of those big Minotaurs, two minitaurs, and three snake-eyes.” Without waiting for a response, Hammer flopped back into the bedding and curled into Sierra.

Knowing that Damon wasn’t going to relent, Harper hurried through the list. “Sierra: the Aglebemu, two cipactli, and three snake-eyes. Jordan: three chiropteradon, one minitaur, and that fat guy on top of the Assimilation Dragon. Thao killed Melynia, the Minotaur, two chiropteradon and spews, and one snake-eye.”

Harper paused for a breath, then continued, “I had one spew. Vlad killed five chiropteradon and one minitaur. Rachel bagged the Assimilation Dragon, one minitaur, and one snake-eye.” She exhaled long and audibly. “Happy now?”

The orc general said he was and started walking toward the bedding, but she grabbed his arm. “Whoa, whoa, whoa there, cowboy. There’s still you and Angie,” she needled with a grin.

Damon complied, telling her he had taken down five cipactli, four minitaurs and snake-eyes, a chiropteradon, and a spew.

“Put your attribute points into dexterity, endurance, and strength,” the veteran mage instructed.

They walked back to the bedding and Harper squatted beside Angie to get her info. The veteran hunter told her she’d killed two spews, a chiropteradon, and a minitaur. With the low XP total, she didn’t have any attribute points to spend.

Harper whispered her goodnight and settled into her spot in the bedding. She fell asleep instantaneously. In the middle of the night, she woke up and saw a fine spray descending from the mouth in the ceiling. It’s raining, she thought, half-asleep, and fell back into her slumber. But the fine mist continued throughout the night, shimmering like stardust in the fire’s glow.