Party Hard

by David Petrie

  She motioned to go first, but Max stopped her. "It's too tight a space; if something's down there, we won't be able to get to you fast enough."

  Kegan put another couple arrows in the enemies surrounding them. "Well, someone better get down there," he said over his shoulder before letting off another volley.

  "Agreed," Max prepared to jump. "Watch my health. If I'm still alive in thirty seconds, follow."

  Farn and Kira nodded.

  Max took a deep breath and added, "Geronimo? I guess," as if asking a question more than anything else. Then, without wasting any more time, he leaped into the darkness.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Max fell a dozen feet before the wall of the dank pit curved off to form a crude slide. He shot downwards against the mud-slicked surface, cutting through the warm moist air like a bullet through flesh. An updraft hit him like the exhalation of some foul creature, its breath ripe with sickness. It was as if he had just jumped down the throat of the world itself. The descent was pitch black, and he struggled to keep track of how far he slid below the surface. He moved so fast that he didn’t even have time to let out a sigh of relief when light from below rushed toward him. The steep incline decreased, curving off to align with the floor and dampen the inertia of his fall before spitting him out into a long hallway like a slide in some grotesque water park. He continued along the ground for at least twenty feet before finally coming to a stop.

  Still covered in the mud of the swamp, Max slipped twice before getting to his feet. He glanced around the hallway in an attempt to get his bearings. It was far rougher than the Famine dungeon earlier. Its walls were made up of large stone blocks, stacked and cemented together with what looked like more mud. Dusty cobwebs covered nearly every surface, and torches lit the dim space from four sconces placed along the hall. Black char marked the ceiling above them as if they had been burning there for years.

  Max walked back toward the entrance. He was alive which meant the others should be right behind him. Just as he remembered his own words telling them to follow, a chorus of screams echoed from above, growing louder as their source sped down the slide toward him. He took a stance, ready for anything as Ginger and Kegan rocketed into the hall, Corvin close behind. Max turned, allowing the first two to pass by him on either side, then jumped the third.

  A gentle glow grew at the entrance, clearly Kira drifting down on her wings, but before she came into view, Farn sped past her into the hall.

  She shifted her weight and rolled into a crouch, planting one knee on the ground, her hands outstretched for stability. She came to a controlled stop.

  Max looked down at her as she lifted her head, and he offered his hand to help her up.

  Finally, Kira floated in while Corvin assisted the others to their feet.

  For the moment, none of the creatures seemed to be following, allowing the group to spend a brief period recovering from the fight above in relative safety. It had taken a lot out of them, in both mind and body.

  Ginger stood with tears in her eyes, arms folded as if hugging herself. She looked to Max.

  "You okay?" he asked, not knowing what else to say.

  Before he could finish the question, she collapsed into him. "That scream …" She sobbed without embarrassment. "Oh god, why? It hurt, " she continued, not really making any sense.

  Unsure of what to do, Max just wrapped his arms around her as she clung to him, her face buried in his shoulder. He could feel her body shaking against his.

  Farn stepped closer to Kira. The fairy responded by leaning against her.

  No one spoke for a long while, not until Ginger had composed herself. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not real, but—”

  “It’s fine.” Max moved his hands to her shoulders and held her so he could look her in the eyes. As uncomfortable as he was consoling her, he understood how she felt. “I can’t forget that scream either.”

  She dried her eyes on his scarf. “Thank you.”

  Everyone stood in the torchlight, each still covered in mud from the swamp. Well, all of them but Kira, whose dress and pants remained clean for the most part thanks to her wings keeping her out of the muck.

  Max paced, looking the walls up and down before speaking. "A muddy swamp, horrible toad monsters, rotting trees, and a filthy dungeon filled with cobwebs," he observed. "I'm guessing the next horseman is Plague."

  "Looks like it," Kira blew out a long sigh, "and biblically speaking, it's Pestilence, by the way. Not Plague."

  Max sighed back. "Since when are you a bible expert?"

  "She's right." Farn stepped in. "I grew up in the south. Religion is kind of a thing there."

  "Well, they mean the same thing," Max argued, "and that's harder to say, so we're calling it Plague."

  "That makes sense." Corvin tossed a lemon drop into his mouth. "Also, our items are good by the way," he added, finding a silver lining in the situation.

  "No Flight, though," Kira said, bringing back the glass half empty feeling by accident. "The spell's locked in my menu, and my dust doesn't seem to have any effect other than healing.”

  "Well, at least there's that,” Farn said.

  Kegan slapped dried mud from his pants. "Man, this place is a downer."

  The party chuckled at his comment, as if drawing attention to the situation had helped them to face it and move on.

  Max pulled a torch from one of the sconces since the path ahead was shrouded in darkness. "Can't go back. I guess we go forward."

  The others followed his lead, taking torches one by one, all except Kegan and Kira, who needed both hands free to make use of their capabilities. Then they pushed onward, firelight cutting through the blanket of shadow ahead. It didn’t take long before they hit a dead end.

  The archway ahead was blocked by a solid slab of stone with two large cobweb-covered levers sticking out of the floor on either side. Max handed his torch to Ginger as he and Corvin brushed off the handles. Farn kept a watchful eye on the back, just in case.

  Satisfied that enough of the dusty webs had been removed to give them an adequate grip, Max and Corvin pulled back on the handles. They didn't budge. Max struggled, only being able to move his lever a couple inches by placing one foot on the wall and pushing off with all his strength. In unison, they let go, Corvin hunching over to catch his breath.

  "They move, but they're really heavy," Max said with a huff.

  "Maybe they just take more than one person," Farn suggested, handing off her torch to Kegan and stepping to Max's side. They pulled the lever together, and with significant effort, it moved. Max heard the sound of mechanisms turning within the walls. Other than that, nothing happened, apparently needing both levers to be pulled at once.

  A couple of empty sconces gave the rest of the group somewhere to put their torches as they approached the other lever. It took everyone to move the two devices. Well, minus Kira, of course. She was too small to be of much help, though she did offer some helpful tips like, "Put you back into it," and asked questions like, "Have you tried pulling harder?”

  Max didn't find her to be as helpful as she seemed to think she was.

  Finally, the second lever reached its furthest point with both Kegan and Corvin pulling while Ginger pushed with her legs, her back against the wall for leverage. A loud click-clack sound came from an unseen source, and the stone slab blocking their path began to rise. Then it stopped, opening a small gap underneath, barely big enough for one of them to slip through.

  They released the levers and it dropped back down.

  "What the hell!? We have to keep holding them?" Max kicked at one of the levers in disgust.

  The others gave a united sigh at yet another aggravating design on Carver's part.

  Max waved his hand in a circle to indicate for them to start over, and moments later, the gap reopened, the team holding the levers in place with a firm grip. "Can you see underneath?" Max grunted to Kira, who dropped to the ground and peered into the space.

  "Crap,"
she said, sounding surprised. "It just keeps going." The light of the torches reached out but couldn't find the end. With nothing to see, she stood back up.

  "Okay, let it down," Max instructed and everyone released the levers once again.

  "I was hoping it was just a door that I could crawl under," Kira ran a toe along the bottom of the slab, "but it's more like a giant block covering the entire length of the hall. The space underneath just keeps going on like that."

  "Damn." Max sat down on the floor to think. Then he noticed Kira fidgeting, her thumb tapping against her item bag. She was making a face that he recognized. It was the one she always made when she had an idea but didn't want to share it.

  She spoke anyway, "I know I'm going to regret this, but I think I could still fit under it."

  Max looked up at her with an expression that he felt was appropriate for such a terrible idea. "I don't think that's the best plan you've come up with. We don't know what's in there."

  "True. But we have to assume there will be a lever on the other side to open it the rest of the way or, at least, some kind of clue to give us more information. We've seen puzzle-based dungeons before."

  "Or the other side might be filled with more of those toad monsters," he responded, the group flinching at the mere mention of the creatures. "Also, you'll pop like a grape if we drop it.”

  "I know. But I trust you." She gave him a look of sincerity that drove the point home.

  Max paused, then let out a long, defeated sigh before standing back up. "Alright, but if you run into trouble on the other side, you get in the air if you can and stay safe."

  He signaled to the others to return to the levers, and the enormous block rose once again.

  Kira dropped to the floor and snapped open her casters to activate a low-level spell, giving their crystals a brighter glow to light her way. Then without looking back at the others, she took one last deep breath. "See you on the other side."

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Kirabell regretted suggesting the plan the moment she slipped her head into the gap, the danger of being crushed suddenly feeling real with the weight of the stone slab above her. Unable to fit her head in upright, she was forced to tilt it to one side, making things even more uncomfortable. Fear bubbled in the pit of her stomach as she slid her slender body into the space. She swallowed it back down, keeping it in check with her will. She was stronger than she looked, and she knew it. The fear subsided, slithering into the back of her mind where it waited, coiled and ready. The feeling of the unmoving stone against her back as she slipped forward reaffirmed the knowledge of what would happen if her friends let go.

  Kira wasn't claustrophobic, or at least, she wasn't aware of it if she was. She'd never really been put in a situation that had tested her before. Sure, she'd hid in small places to jump out at Max, but she still had the ability to get out if she wanted. This was different. She couldn't turn over or even take a full breath, since there wasn't enough room to accommodate the expansion of her chest. The space was too small. She only made about ten feet before the realization hit her.

  Oh shit! I am claustrophobic! The fear came for her again, and the strength she thought she possessed tore like wet tissue paper. It was as if it had never been more than a thin wrapper around her heart, hiding a soft, fuzzy center from herself as much as others. The shock of how fast panic hit her, took what little breath she had from her chest.

  Kira wanted to turn back, even debated it. She tried to look behind but couldn't get the angle right. She froze, lying in the space, her head flat against the floor, each breath pushing dust into the air around her face.

  Then she heard Max call out from the entrance, his voice distant, but echoing toward her. "You okay in there?"

  Of course, she knew he could see her health on his wrist, so he must have known she was fine. It wasn't the question that really mattered. He was just reminding her that he was there. That she wasn't alone. It was as if he knew she was freaking out, like his bro sense was tingling. His words were meant to calm her. It worked.

  Other voices called out, Farn and Corvin showing their concern.

  She slowed her breathing, making sure her words came out clear as she called back. The last thing she wanted was quiver in her voice exposing how scared she really was. "I'm okay. Just … just taking a short break," she said as calmly as she could, regaining her composure, if only by a little.

  Then with the voices of her friends encouraging her, she pushed forward into the dark. The soft glow from her wrists lit her way as she fought for every inch of progress, barely able to lift herself in the space.

  The tightness of the gap gave her reason to be thankful that she hadn’t created her avatar to be over-endowed in the chest area like many players. Her focus had been more concerned with function over form. After all, she hadn't been trying to make her character sexy, just unique and comfortable. Granted, on the petite frame of a fairy, her proportions fit a little too well. Thinking about it now, though, it didn't help her to stay calm in the darkness, so she kept moving, calling back to the others in the distance to keep her sanity.

  Kira went on like that for at least another thirty feet, and still, there was no end in sight. Then a noise sprang out from inside the wall. She couldn't tell from where or even if she had imagined it or not. It was just a loud, ka-chunk, like a gear slipping. Her eyes widened as the panic rushed back at full force. Did the others drop a lever? The question shot through her mind like an arrow.

  It was possible, her mind answered. They must have been struggling against the weight the whole time.

  It didn't matter.

  She had to move.

  So move she did, too afraid of what might happen if she didn't. From there, her mind went blank. Her movements became frantic, and she twisted her waist, getting stuck for an instant as her hands slipped helplessly.

  It didn't actually matter if she got crushed beneath the slab. Her real body, Seth's body, was safe back in the Nemo Unit. Kira was never real to begin with, just a character Seth played in a game, but in that moment, to her mind, her existence was undeniable. She was small, frail, and most of all, frightened. She didn't want to die. Not like that.

  Again the sound from inside the wall reached for her, its echo slithering around her body like rotting vines, thorns of cold fear piercing her flesh. She struggled to move faster which only caused her breathing to grow more erratic. She inhaled too deeply, and the gap closed in on her as her chest expanded to fill the space. Again, she got stuck. She slipped, scraping her face on the ground as she squirmed. It didn't cause any real damage, though it rattled her further. She tried to expel the air from her body but wound up coughing as she exhaled too fast. The cough came out like a sob, making her aware of the tears filling her eyes. The strange sound hit again, ripping through what was left of her as her mind failed to control her movements. She reached out for something to grab onto, despite knowing she would find nothing on the smooth floor. Her feet flailed, getting some momentum but getting them stuck just as often. Her heart raced, trying to tear itself out of her chest in an attempt to leave her dumb ass behind to die. The voices of her friends were no longer audible over the distance and the panicked sounds of her hands and feet scraping. She was alone.

  Again came the sound. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she felt the stone slab above drop a bit against her rear as she slid forward. She cried out in a muffled yelp, followed by more coughing. Her out of control gasps stirred the dust around her face, getting it in her eyes and nose. More tears flowed.

  Any second the slab would drop, she knew it. The dark space would never end. There was no way out. No hope. She would die there. The glow from her caster reflected against the bottom of the slab, and then it didn't. Her hand was out. She could feel it. There was open air ahead. She scrambled forward, foregoing the graceful movements that came naturally to her as a fairy.

  Once out, she collapsed in front of the gap from where she came from. She had mad
e it.

  It was dark.

  Too dark.

  Without thinking, she cast a high-level light spell, throwing a ball of glowing energy into the air to illuminate the unknown room. It struck a low ceiling and bounced down to the floor, coming to rest a few inches above the stone. Alone in the room, she knew she should be looking for a lever to open the door, but she didn't. Instead, she just sobbed against the entrance, her arms wrapped around herself.

  Kira thought about the last time she cried. It was years ago, in the real world, as Seth. It had been after he’d been forced to put his cat to sleep. He'd had the adorable thing for most of his life, but pets don't live forever, no matter how much you love them. He wasn't a child, though, and had known he shouldn't act like one, so he‘d kept himself together throughout the procedure only to fall apart when he was alone.

  Now, as a small creature huddled against a wall, she did the same, crying so hard that it choked her when she struggled to stay quiet.

  When Ginger broke down and clung to Max a short while ago, Kira had thought that it seemed reasonable at the time, but now, with herself in the same situation, she just felt weak. Shame washed over her as she pulled her legs close and buried her face in her knees. She was just glad that no one was around to see.

  Finally, after a minute or so of full weeping, she recovered enough to realize that the gap was still open, meaning that the others were still fighting to hold the levers back on the other side. Guilt stabbed at her breast as she dried her eyes and looked for a switch. She found it near the entrance, just where she expected to, a small handle protruding from a slot in the wall. It was the perfect size for her.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Farnsworth stared at her hands as she gripped the handle of the lever, her arms feeling sore and exhausted. There was no way she was going to let go.

  "Oh, God, how long is this going to take," Kegan grunted as he clung to one of the devices.

  Max said nothing, clearly focused on the task at hand.