“Leave her! You can’t help me,” Thomas said to Jessica through a fit of coughing. “Maria’s been healed as much as she can. Only time will tell if she makes it.” There was only so much a Bandage could do. I could see that Maria’s outer wounds were closed, but was she bleeding internally? If Thomas didn’t know then none of us did.

Jessica shook her head in angry agreement. Her clenched teeth and fierce mouth were directed at no one but herself. She was the scout, the tracker, the information gatherer. By all accounts she should have ‘felt’ the enemy coming—at least that’s what she seemed to be telling herself. I didn’t feel that way though. It was simply impossible to find a route through the complex pathing of the mobs when we were so stretched out. And our train could have been even worse.

“Six Children of Sobek, fifteen seconds away at best.” She looked up towards the horizon, a familiar stoic expression returning to her face. And that was far better than regret. At least I knew she had made a choice, that she was preparing herself for a do or die fight.

“What about that snake?” I had the passive Inner Calm, but I couldn’t be sure what affect it was having upon me. Whatever changes it made to my behavior were probably much easier to observe from the outside. For me, it was simply how I felt. Perhaps in the past my fear of death in a situation like this would have been greater; now it was present but ever so slight. Like a wall or thin layer of fog shielded me from panic. Those emotions were there, but a touch away. I could go to them if I chose, but how long would that be the case for?

Jessica shook her head. “Not coming. Not as far as I can tell.”

The relief that ran through me had me wondering about Inner Calm after all. If I was showing calm, I wouldn’t have felt it as a tremor as though an earthquake had struck. I shook the useless thoughts out of my head and focused on the ground between us and the incoming mobs. Alan took the front, as did Lucas. Jessica didn’t hesitate to put out multiple Quagmire traps. I gave my minions a hard look and realized I might not have any left after this fight.

“Focus!” I said in a raspy voice. “Take them out one at a time, use my minions as shields or whatever you need. They can be re-summoned, but none of us can be revived.” No one said a word in response. Every face was as hard as steel, burying their fears deep.

The sound of heavy steps slopping through the swampy ground, splashes of puddles and the ruffling of bush or tall grass grew louder, until they were drowning out everything else. Perhaps it was just my focus, but all I could hear was the approach of the six lizardmen.

We all instinctively backed away just a bit from the tall grass from which they were about to emerge. As far as we could without being right up against the wall: which would put Maria in harm’s way. Fear, fear, and excitement coursed through me.

The Children appeared.

Alan, my undead warriors, and Lucas stood side by side to greet them. The moment they came through the tall brush, the first of them caught an arrow through the eye. Blood exploded from its face and guttural roars escaped all their maws.

Alan charged forth and took two by himself immediately, his spear constantly stabbing out from behind his thick shield. Every blow of his opponents’ heavy maces sent his knees bending, his feet sinking just a tad deeper into this muddy swamp. Yet my heart filled with warmth for him. Alan was an impenetrable wall they couldn’t get past.

Lucas was beside our tank, no care for his own safety in the way he committed himself to holding up one of the mobs. He seemed invigorated even—no doubt a side effect from his passive Ruler. He was getting a huge 60% boost to his stats. In the past, he wouldn’t have moved from behind Alan, but now he stood toe to toe with a Child of Sobek, no easy feat.

The remaining three lizardmen were dog piled by my squad of undead, swarmed like intruders to a bee-hive. I couldn’t even see the mobs behind my mass of undead. It was impossible to even tell how my skeletons were faring. I could feel the disconnect when one of them perished though, and they weren’t going to last long.

My focus shifted to Lucas, whom I felt was most exposed. Alan was holding his ground beautifully, and Thomas was available to heal him still. What he said hadn’t been to placate Jessica—only time would tell how Maria fared from her wound. There was nothing we could do for her but survive this.

I casted Decay over and over. A skill that I hadn’t found much use for previously was showing its merit right now. The DoT didn’t work on undead, and back in the city, most mobs couldn’t hold a candle to Jessica and I so there was no point. The mobs were dead before it ever really made a difference. Now though, every contribution to our total damage counted, and it was imperative we were fast and efficient.

My focus was on the saber-wielding arm of the Child facing Lucas, specifically its shoulder. Under the impact of Decay, its thick, green-and-brown scales started to wilt at a speed visible to the naked eye. Sloughs fell off like a snake shedding skin. Lucas wasn’t an expert, but he wasn’t blind either.

His Nodachi came down like thunder, and cut across the lizardman’s shoulder blade like lightning. Normally it would have left a gash, but its once-thick outer exterior was now soft and rotted like dead wood. One slice: that was all it took to see the entire arm fall, and its weapon with it. The arm had not even landed on the gound when a flash of light appeared on the Child’s face, blowing it clean open.

The explosion was something that Jessica had cast, no doubt, but there was no time to ask her. None of us said a word, but Lucas moved like an assassin towards Alan. I cast another Decay without waiting at all, and that flash of light appeared again.

Within a matter of seconds we had dispatched two enemies. I felt elated, but also felt a sickening feeling in my gut as the MP poured out of me. Lightheadedness was overtaking me at the same time as the nausea crawled and slithered up my chest towards my head. Again! I cast another Decay.

I was aware that my MP was basically depleted, but I didn’t care. My squad was nearly depleted as well—well, the melee ones—as only the shield wielding skeleton general, one reincarnated child, and a single melee skeleton had survived the initial onslaught.

My mages continued to pelt spells from a distance, and that feeling of sickness grew stronger. My vision was blurring. Another Child of Sobek fell and Alan was free to assist my skeleton general. The second reincarnated child died just then as well, but not before its death roll dispatched another Child.

“Two left…” I mumbled with a stupid grin. The world was toppling around me. Huh? My vision swam, and then turned black.

I heard talking all around me, the sound muffled and distant yet so close. Nothing made sense in my head, and my vision remained black. A throbbing pain came first, right behind my eyes, and I couldn’t help but let out a hiss in pain.

The sound came closer, excited and repetitive. A faint shadow cast over my closed eyes. I opened them carefully; a figure drowning out any light that might have blinded me. It was blurry at first, but eventually the face came into focus, the sound made sense.

“Mike, can you hear me? Mike?” It was Jessica just above me, face inches above mine, her expression showing all the concern and worry in the world.

I don’t know what came over me, but all I could muster was pure stupidity. “It’s you.” I half-forced a smile that caused another spike of pain in my head. “How did it go?” I asked. Obviously, the Children of Sobek had been defeated, but at what cost?

“You passed out suddenly and all of your minions despawned. Lucas and Alan had to deal with the remaining two lizardmen alone while I dragged you to safety. Fortunately, they had taken decent damage already, and Lucas got away with a small cut to his forearm, nothing a Bandage and heal couldn’t take care of.”

I turned my head to the side and saw Maria still lying in the small cranny in the wall. A heavy, dark feeling started to swell up… “Is she…?”

“She’s still alive.” The face that was just happy to see me turned downcast. “As long as she’s breathing, I won’t leave her.”

“No one is leaving,” I promised. “If we have to carry her out of here unconscious, we do so.” Jessica gave a firm nod while keeping her eyes locked on Maria. “How long has it been?” I asked while trying to sit up. An involuntary groan escaped my mouth.

Jessica’s hands supported me, “Careful,” she said. “You’ve only been out about an hour. Thomas healed you, but it’s pretty clear you’ve not taken any damage. You’re physically and mentally exhausted.”

I managed to lean up with her support and glance over my party members. Everyone seemed in good shape. Alan was smiling and Thomas didn’t have a scratch on him. Lucas had his back against the stone wall and was fighting what was obviously a battle against sleep. “It’s probably near sunset now,” I took a guess. “I wonder if there’s a night-time in the dungeon.”

Jessica followed my gaze to Lucas. “He really put up a tough fight after you went down. Alan had to support him so he could even walk over there. We told him it was fine to rest, but he insisted that he sleep when we all do: to keep our schedules as close together as possible.”

There was suddenly a loud splash of water nearby, my head jerked without even thinking, causing another groan to escape my mouth. Was it the snake after all? We surely couldn’t defeat it without my squad, even if we did have a wall at our backs.

“It’s okay,” Jessica did her best to calm my shaky nerves. “There’s nothing nearby right now. There’s also no patrols that come through here, we should be fine to stay the night.”

I gave her a nod, “Can you help me get to the wall?” Like Lucas, I wanted to lean back against something solid. I wasn’t exactly tired yet, but I’m sure it would be coming in the next few hours.

It was weird to feel Jessica easily lift me—carefully, of course—up off the ground. Somehow, I forgot that she was pumping STR, and was easily several times stronger than me now. A strange development compared to life before the apocalypse, but of course I didn’t mind at all. She set me down cautiously, “Thomas got a healing staff as a drop.” She gave an embarrassed smile, “I’ve been wanting to tell you, only now seemed like a good time to bring it up.”

“What does it do?” I asked.

“I’m sure he’d happily show you, but off the top of my head…” she thought for a moment. “It gave him some Wisdom and a boost to his healing.” Jessica sat down directly next to me as soon as I was safely planted on the wall.

The ground wasn’t comfortable, but at least it wasn’t wet. The edges along the wall were like hardened clay, dirty yet dry. It was no wonder I didn’t wake up with a soaked back. Thinking about how uncomfortable it would be to remain damp sent shivers up my spine.

“Maria will be fine,” I thought aloud.

“Yeah, it’ll be fine.” Jessica said with a yawn.

I was simply staring up into space, into the blackness that was the dungeon ‘ceiling’. Whatever it was, it emitted light and yet remained black, an odd phenomenon. Lost in my own thought I suddenly remembered something I had wanted to ask.

“That light—” and before I could finish I felt a weight on my shoulder followed by labored breathing. Jessica had fallen asleep. I was sure it was one of her skills—that explosion in the monsters’ faces—but I’d wait till tomorrow to ask.

Alan walked over quietly, “It’s good you’re okay.” He said then glanced at Jessica. “You’re lucky to have her. She watched over you like a pup. She’s been fighting her exhaustion just as hard as Lucas.”

“You’re fine as well?” I asked him. Jessica had told me already, but it felt impolite to not show concern. He gave a thumbs up and a smirk that clearly said ‘what were you expecting from the best tank known to man?’ “Good, let’s try to get some rest.”

Alan gave a nod and seemed excited to let Lucas know he could finally close his eyes. I closed mine as he started to walk away.

I wasn’t that tired, but the drowsiness came quickly. Jessica resting on my shoulder somehow brought me a serenity I’d not experienced in many days. I fell asleep almost as quickly as my eyes closed.

It took two days of camping in this post before Maria opened her eyes. Thomas was the first to notice and he quickly called everyone over.

Maria peered up at us in confusion with dull eyes. “What… happened?” She tried to sit up in her habitual manner, and let out a groan.

“Careful,” Thomas leaned down to support her. “Your side is all banged up.”

Maria lifted part of her shirt to reveal a huge purplish-green bruise running up from her hip and disappearing just below her chest. It seemed she couldn’t remember anything at all that had happened.

“You were stabbed by a surprise attack.” Thomas said in the simplest way while helping Maria to lie back down.

Her head tilted without moving her body, “Where is Jessica? Is everyone okay?”

“Jessica’s fine.” I assured her. “She’s been scouting ahead for us, so we can all make it out of here alive.”

When Maria hadn’t woken up after that first night, Jessica had grown incredibly frustrated. Eventually she decided her best course of action was not to sit and stew over Maria but to find a way out of here. She had been using her scouting abilities to move along this wall and hopefully towards an exit. Her progress had been good so far, and she had drawn a map in the dirt of what we faced ahead, and which direction would best serve us to get the hell out of here.

“She shouldn’t be gone much longer,” Lucas assured Maria. Originally, Lucas had wanted to travel with Jessica to be safe, but Jessica insisted she go alone, as it was much safer if she only had to worry about herself.

Lucas was right, it was less than an hour later I saw Jessica jogging towards us. Her face was tired and taut. I could tell from a glance she was filled with knowledge she needed to unload upon us, and yet as soon as she saw Maria, her expression of urgency disappeared. I could almost see the mental reset as she rushed to her friend who was now leaning back against the wall much like I did.

“You’re awake!” Jessica yelled.

Maria forced a weary smile, “Yahoo!” she said with a dead voice, which got a chuckle out of myself and Alan. It was good to see she had some of her sense of humor remaining. “Where have you been?” Maria asked. She was already over us doting on her and wanted to move the direction away from her condition as fast as possible.

Jessica still forced a hug, which got a groan out of Maria. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” Jessica’s hands raced over the wound on her friend’s side, trying to find anything that might be wrong. Maria looked defiant, but didn’t voice a word of complaint. At last Jessica turned her attention back to us as a group.

“I’ve discovered the exit to the next floor.” Some of the excitement I’d heard in the past came back into her voice. “I don’t know if we have luck on our side or what, but it’s around thirty minutes away for me alone. If we move quickly and avoid most packs, I’d say we can reach it in around an hour with all of us together.”

Not surprisingly, no one showed much excitement at her comment. Surely it would only be getting more difficult to get out if we went up a level? The mobs here were hard enough. “Good news, I guess.” I fumbled out. Nods told me the others agreed, but their faces showed trepidation.

“We can’t go anywhere till Maria is able to move on her own,” Thomas said.

“Of course, we won’t be going anywhere till she is fully functional. We have enough rations for more than a week. If we run low we can start hunting instead of holing up here,” I agreed with our healer…

“What about the packs?” Alan asked our scout. “Is there anything we should know about what’s coming our way?”

“I didn’t look into it too much,” Jessica confessed. “I had a distant feeling of more of the same, and then something big. I don’t know if it’s avoidable or not.”

“A boss?” Lucas perked up slightly.

“I’m not sure, I was too worried about pulling it so I didn’t try to see what it was.” Jessica said.

“That was the safer play. The Children of Sobek don’t de-aggro here and maybe that’s the same for the boss. If you pulled it, we could have been wiped out,” I said. My mind thought back to the fiend we had encountered, and how acute it was even when being sensed. A fight with a strong enemy while unprepared could prove fatal. It was impossible to know for sure, but another night of rest would probably have Maria in a good enough condition to move and shoot. I turned my attention to her, “Do you think you’ll be good by tomorrow?”

She looked at Jessica and then to me, “I’ll be fine. I can deal with a little pain.” She forced a smile through the occasional groan. It seemed even breathing caused her discomfort, which wasn’t surprising given the size of the bruise on her side. I was half expecting Jessica to retort, but she didn’t say anything.

There was a feeling of urgency prickling the back of my neck and it wasn’t any sense of immediate danger for the group but it related to an anxiety for the people back on the farm. Our trip had resulted in a detour, which in hindsight could prove to be a mistake. People were waiting for us to return, an entire farm of low-level people. The farm was out of the way, but anything could happen to them. The situation was constantly changing.

The coming few days journey could turn into weeks if we were unlucky, and who knew how the outside world would change. Would we even receive status messages inside the dungeon? My mind was taking me down a dark spiral of negativity.

“That light you fired into their faces,” I suddenly looked at Jessica, “Was it your new skill?” She was always a source of comfort, and just hearing her speak helped lift me out of that mire I was sinking into.

“It was,” she smiled, “Pretty good, eh?” There was no doubt she was proud of the choice she made at the shop.

“Have you figured out exactly how it works?”

“Not entirely, but it seems to materialize based on my thought.” No doubt I had a stare as curious as the one I saw on Lucas, eyes that said to explain.

“Basically… if I can imagine accurately, then I can materialize the flares anywhere.”

“So if you could see through walls… then you could materialize them through solid structures?” Lucas asked.

“I think so.” Everyone seemed excited at this thought, which brought on a relatively fun conversation on what might be the limits of this new RPG system. We were stuck here for at least another night, and that extra night of rest was welcomed by everyone.