Touching Pawly, Stern met the cat’s eyes, then pointed to three spots on the ground. He gently squeezed her before drawing in the dirt what he thought Pawly should do. Placing a hand on his own chest, he drew a different pattern.
With that done, he leaned in as close as he could and whispered, “Glow, duck, pillar.”
Pawly looked at him, then crouched and wiggled her butt. Nodding, Stern made sure he had his first knife ready to throw and his second knife against his forearm in his opposite hand. With a deep breath, he began to sneak into the room.
The moment he stepped into the room, the boss’ head snapped up and it followed him with its eyes. When he stopped moving, the beast’s head snapped the other way as Pawly slinked into the room. With it looking at Pawly, Stern crept forward only to have it look back his way, so he paused again.
When the bunnicorn began to glow, Stern rushed for the closest stalagmite. He got there a second before something crashed into the other side, cracking the stone. Breathing fast, he hadn’t even begun to look around the stalagmite before an enraged yowl sounded from the far side of the room.
Glancing around the pillar, he saw the bunnicorn shaking its head and Pawly rushing for it. Pawly was in mid-leap when it turned to face her. Heart dropping, as he could imagine Pawly impaling herself on its horn, Stern lunged around the column, stabbing at the bunnicorn with his right hand. It easily evaded him, but in doing so, had taken its eyes off Pawly.
Landing on the bunnicorn, Pawly bit down and dug in with her front paws as her back legs raked its back. It let out a pained scream and Stern stumbled back, his ears ringing and disorientating him. His mind supplied the helpful idea that the scream was a debilitating attack. Shaking his head, he tried to focus as the scream trailed off.
The triple vision fading, he stepped around the stalagmite in time to see the bunnicorn glow and launch itself at the closest of the two other pillars, its body turned sideways as it went. Pawly let go just before the boss bashed itself into the stone. She wisely ducked around the stone in case it tried to attack her.
The bunnicorn stood there, stunned for a moment. Stern was quick to capitalize on that moment— he threw his first dagger, then drew his third and threw it. Both daggers slammed into the side of the mob, causing it to scream again. Wincing in pain, Stern slumped around the cracked stalagmite.
A third scream came, but this one was of anger. When he could, he looked back around the stone pillar. Pawly was latched onto the monster’s throat, her paws digging into its neck as her back legs clawed into its belly. Tufts of fur were flying as Pawly tried to eviscerate the bunnicorn, but she wasn’t able to get through its pelt.
Shaking its head, the bunnicorn tried to dislodge the cat, but couldn’t manage it. It saw Stern and began to glow again. Pawly let go and scrambled away as Stern ducked back around the cracked stone pillar. A second later, the stalagmite exploded and the bunnicorn came tumbling through the space. Stern winced when the stone shards cut into his face and hands as he tried to shield himself.
Pawly let out another angry yowl as she charged after the monster. With a haze of stone dust in the air, Stern tried to hold his breath, his eyes watering as he searched for the mob. He saw it a second later with blood leaking from two wounds in its side. His daggers were scattered on the floor, and it was shaking its head again.
Lunging forward, Stern drew his arm back, ready to stab with his right hand. A furred blur went past him, tackling the bunnicorn to the floor. Pawly had its neck again, but this time, she stood on its wounded side. As she dug in, the dagger wounds tore open, sending blood flying.
A spray of blood hit him and he got there just as the bunnicorn began to thrash. A weak scream gurgled in its throat as Pawly’s claws dug deeper. He couldn’t attack with Pawly on it, so he dropped to his knees and waited.
The beast stopped thrashing a few seconds later. Pawly gave it a few more rakes before she let go and hopped off of it. She sniffed at the dead body, then sneezed.
Stern chuckled, then laughed, before grabbing her and pulling her into his lap. Pawly let out an affronted sound, but didn’t swipe him as he petted her.
“Who’s the best hunter ever? Hmm? You are!” Stern grinned, stroking his friend.
Pawly huffed, but arched her neck to the side.
Stern obliged, getting the spot he knew she loved to have scratched.
By the time he finished praising Pawly, the boss had melted into the floor. With all the mobs dead, Stern exhaled and pulled the tin of salve from his bag, treating his face and hands. The cuts were minor, but his parents had always told him that an infection was more likely to kill than a cut.
Chapter Four
When he finished, he stood up, looking for the orb. A hand-sized, glowing ball hovered in the middle of the room. It emanated a soft blue light, brightening the area around it. Taking a deep breath, Stern approached it. “Time for my perk and loot,” he murmured.
When his fingers touched the orb, the cavern vanished. He was suddenly standing in the front room of a shop. It had been described to him dozens of times by his parents. Behind him stood a white glowing doorway, the way out of the dungeon.
There was a counter in front of him, behind which stood a woman wearing a smile on her lips. Dark hair fell in flowing waves down her back and intelligent gray eyes locked onto his. “Welcome, Walker. Are you ready to discuss your perks and dungeon points?” Her voice was comforting and warm, like a friend welcoming you into their home.
“Yes, please,” Stern said a little slowly, trying to understand the jumbled emotions he was feeling. “Miss...?”
“Oh? Did you want a name from me? Isn’t it rude to ask for someone’s name before giving your own?”
Stern blinked at her for a moment, then nodded. “Stern. You can call me Stern.”
“Stern?” Her smile widened slightly. “Very well, Stern. You can call me Ria.”
“Ria,” Stern smiled. “I’d like to discuss my perks first, Ria, if that’s okay?”
“That’s perfectly fine,” Ria replied. Her hand moved over the counter and three sheets of paper appeared on it. “Take your time. Time has no meaning here. This one is based on what you wanted before,” she said, touching the first sheet. “This one is based on who you are now.” Her hand went to the second page. “And this one is based on who you want to be.” Her finger touched the third.
He stepped closer to the counter and picked up the first piece of paper. Thick Skin; good for ignoring the barbs of life. Your physical skin will become thicker, letting you brush off the least of troubles.
Stern nodded. “This comes before Iron Skin, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, it does.”
“If I had this, the small cuts I had wouldn’t have injured me?”
“There is a limit, but that is broadly true.”
With a thoughtful look, Stern put down the first page and picked up the second. Empathic Return; give unto others what they give unto you. Able to reflect the emotions of another back to them.
Stern exhaled slowly as he set the paper down. “Not sure that’s the wisest perk for me.”
“All of life is choices,” Ria replied.
“Ain’t that the truth…?” Stern grunted.
Picking up the third page, he checked his last choice. Improved Companion 1; best friends give back. Your summons will improve slightly. Improvement based on the summon.
Stern blinked at the last page. He turned it over to make sure there was nothing else written on it. “This, uh… this doesn’t help much.”
“The variety of what it does is too wide to be condensed and explained,” Ria said simply.
Setting down the sheet of paper, Stern stared down at all three of them. “The second one won’t help me with my goal, even if I would love to have people understand what it feels like to be me.” He nudged it back to Ria. “Pass on that.”
Ria’s hand waved over the page and it vanished. “It might come around again in the fullness of time,” she said softly, “or
it may never appear again.”
“Yes, I heard that’s how perks work,” Stern said. “My parents made sure I knew about that, which is why I need to consider this carefully. Thick Skin would give me a little more survivability and would open up to better versions down the road... but it’s reactionary. It would only help me if I would be injured and in this version of it, only the smallest of injuries.”
“Like the nicks on your face,” Ria said.
“Well, yeah,” Stern snorted. “Damned rabbit menace.”
“You want the third one,” Ria said gently. “You want more for your friend.”
Stern exhaled. “Pawly is family. She’s been beside me since I was a child. When my parents went off to do a run, she was always there. I would’ve been a lot more injured in my run if not for her, too.”
“But not knowing what the improvement would be makes you hesitate,” Ria said.
“Yeah.”
Ria just stood there, watching him as he stared at the two remaining papers.
“I’ll take it,” Stern said, picking up the third page.
Ria smiled as the page burst into a bright light.
Gasping as the golden light flowed into him, he could feel something fundamental about his soul changing. He panted as the feeling subsided and leaned on the counter, trying to catch his breath. Underplay that much, Dad? That felt like my whole body was vibrating and on the edge of bursting apart.
“Now that you’ve chosen your perk, we can move onto your dungeon points,” Ria said.
Standing upright, he exhaled slowly.
Ria was looking up at him with amusement. “Oh, you are tall, aren’t you? It was hard to tell with the hunch you had before.”
Stern realized she was at least a foot shorter than he was and automatically hunched down again. “Yeah. Tall and thin, like a skeleton,” he said the words with an almost lyrical cadence, but his tone was bitter.
“Ah, the words of the young,” Ria said softly. “Children can be mean.”
“Adults can be worse,” Stern grunted.
“That’s true. You’ve collected twenty dungeon points for killing the monsters. Pawly’s kills count as your kills, as she’s a part of you.”
“I’d wondered if that was going to be the case.”
“For clearing the dungeon, you received another ten points. There were no style points to be gained or traps to overcome, so those two categories are worth zero on this run. Your crew has accrued a total of one hundred and ten points. As you were a solo Walker, you gain these points to spend as you see fit without needing a majority to do so.”
“So I have a hundred and forty...” Stern said slowly. “Okay. No one died today, but are there soul fragments that can be purchased?”
“There are always soul fragments,” Ria said sadly.
“Any that have only a single fragment or two left?”
“No. All fragments still reside with four pieces waiting.”
Stern sighed. “I can’t afford four fragments, can I?”
“You cannot.”
Exhaling slowly, Stern nodded. “If there had been a quest for them at the local Walkers’ guild, then a piece or two would’ve been claimed, already.”
“Would you like to see your options?” Ria asked.
“Limit it to what I can afford, please, and remove the soul fragments from the list.”
Ria nodded, her hand pausing over the counter for a moment. When she moved again, the counter had become a glass case with various things on display. Each item had a tag below it, indicating its cost.
Looking over everything, he shook his head, noting that something would fade away if he didn’t like it and new items would replace it. A thought of a dagger brought a dozen of them to the case.
“That’s different,” Stern said, looking at Ria.
“The world works as the Goddess wills it,” Ria shrugged. “Trying to have absolutely everything shown at once would take more space than this. Instead, this is based on intent. When you want to see something, a sample is shown. If you’re intrigued by it, more are shown to give you a wider sample.”
“Hmm...” Stern murmured as his brow furrowed. “How many of these shops are there?”
“Enough,” Ria laughed.
“Ah. So after I choose, I won’t see you again,” Stern said.
“That is incorrect. You will see me every time if you’re the leader of the crew you’re with, but if you join another person’s crew, you’ll see the one assigned to them.”
“Makes me want to not join a crew,” Stern smirked.
“For your own good, you need to,” Ria said seriously, then her lips ticked back into a smile. “You’d just need to lead one to see me again.”
Stern shook his head and looked back at the case. “My equipment is already good. Most of this would appeal to someone who didn’t get sent off like I did, though.”
Ria nodded, then tapped the glass case with a finger. “How about these?”
Two items appeared where she’d tapped. One was a small red rune with a stylized flame, and Stern knew an enchantment rune when he saw one. The other thing was odd— a pair of small leather bands, each with a single metal spike attached to it.
“What are those?”
“Fighting spurs,” Ria said. Her face was blank, but the revulsion inside of her was clear to him. “They can be attached to Pawly’s back legs, giving her more weapons to use.”
“You hate them,” Stern said, looking into her eyes. “Why?”
“Because I know their history,” Ria said softly. “Don’t ask me more, please.”
“I don’t want them,” Stern said. “The rune would eat the majority of my points. This is the smallest one I’ve ever seen, though. What can it really do?”
“Heat the weapon it’s attached to. It wouldn’t be enough to start a fire, but it would be enough to sear flesh and cause additional damage.”
“Hmm... better than nothing,” Stern said slowly. “Are there any others I can afford?”
“Just a chilling rune,” Ria said. “Between them, I’d thought you’d like this one more.”
“There is something to say for that,” Stern agreed. “No potions of healing?”
“You fall a little short,” Ria replied.
“Never heard that before,” Stern laughed.
“Terrible, but also true.”
“Fine, give me the rune. That leaves me with fifteen points.”
“That’s a problem,” Ria said. “You could have something like these?” Her finger tapped the glass case and the items shifted again.
“Odds and ends,” Stern murmured as he looked over the trash items that he could afford. He found one thing that caught his eye and smiled as everything in the case turned into different copies of it. “The pink one, please.”
The rune and other item appeared on the counter. “That’s all of your points spent, Walker. You just need this.” Ria held out her hand, his badge resting on her palm.
Stern looked at the simple lead square. There was a complex chain of numbers and letters engraved along the top. Underneath that was his name in quotes. He was glad it was just the name he’d been going by and not the mouthful he’d been born with. The space under his name held the emblem of the city.
“When you defeat more dungeons, the emblem will shrink and make room for the next,” Ria said. “The metal will upgrade to reflect the bracket of dungeons you are in the correct range for. Of course, you already know all this, don’t you?”
“Yeah,” Stern said. He thought about some of the badges he’d seen that were made out of precious metals. “I know that the badge itself will become more ornate depending on how many I defeat, as well, making it easier to recognize the truly powerful.”
“That concludes our business,” Ria said softly. “The door will take you back. I hope to see you again, Stern. Maybe with some companions in tow?”
He glanced at the glowing doorway and sighed. “Yeah, maybe... We’ll see what the Wa
lkers have to say and if any crew has an opening to take me. I doubt I’d get anyone to join me.” Looking back at Ria, he gave her a smile. “Until next time… what do you do?” he asked suddenly.
Ria smiled and faded away into nothingness.
Stern just stared at where she’d been, then sighed. “Same as my cat. Yeah, that makes sense.”
Pulling his dagger, he looked it over before pushing the rune against the pommel. The rune sank into the weapon in the same spot he’d pressed it. He was glad it would only trigger when it hit something or he’d have a real problem. He took another moment to pin the badge to his chest before pocketing the last item.
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