Party Hard

by David Petrie

  It wasn't so much that he thought Ginger was hot. Well, he did. Anybody would. She was gorgeous. It was more that after meeting her, he knew she was almost old enough to be his mother. Which was even stranger considering that he was adopted and had never even had a mother. Sure, he loved both of his fathers. He had put them through a lot over the last few years, and they had always stuck by him. But that was really beside the point. No, the point was that meeting her out in the real world had caught him off guard. Actually, it wasn't just meeting her, it was meeting everyone. He wasn't sure why, but he had always assumed that at least Max and Kira were close to his age. So it was jarring to find out that not only was he wrong, but that he was the youngest of the group by far. Even worse, he was closer in age to Ginger’s children than to any of the others, which left him feeling like he should be sitting at the kids’ table. He couldn't help but doubt his placement in the party. There must have been someone more experienced than him. He cringed, the thought threatening to send him into a downward spiral of mental anguish. It didn't help that his tail kept brushing against the inside of Ginger's thigh, making her chortle in his ear. He tried his best not to think about it.

  Without the use of party chat, they struggled to hold the small hole open just in case there was an emergency and Kira needed to come back for air. Max had told them he was afraid that if they let it close, she might return to find a dead end.

  The way that Max worried about his friend was cool. That's when Corvin realized that it wasn't Kira that they should've been worrying about.

  Two massive sections of the wall opened on either side of the room - most likely triggered by the progress that Kira was making in the water below. He looked at the open spaces for a moment, foolishly hoping that it was nothing to worry about. His hopes were lost when two massive spiders, just like the one before, emerged.

  "Seriously?" Max cried, glancing back at the hole they held open. "We're going to have to let go and hope for the best."

  "Wait," Corvin heard himself say as he spoke up without thinking.

  The others looked at him all at once, catching him off guard. He didn't offer an explanation. Instead, he just shoved his hand into his item bag and pulled out a small stone, holding it out in front of Max's face like an offering of food at a petting zoo.

  "Nice." The Fury's face lit up, recognizing the item as an echo stone. He thanked him with a quick, "Good thinking."

  Corvin closed and opened his hand twice in quick succession, activating the enchantment on the item.

  Being mostly used for distraction purposes, an echo stone had the ability to record audio and play it back on a loop. One would imprint a sound of their choice and throw it in another direction to draw enemies away, but Corvin had something different in mind.

  As prompted, Max proceeded to yell into Corvin's hand to convey a sense of urgency. "We got two spiders here, hurry! We won't last long!"

  That's an understatement, Corvin thought, knowing that they would be done in pretty fast without someone to heal and remove the poison effects.

  They released the lever just as the spindly legs of the beasts came into range. Corvin made a break for the pool of water, hoping to get close before it closed. He didn't think he had the athletic ability to make the shot if he threw it, but in the end, he didn't have a choice. He let the echo stone fly, shouting out a loud, "Yes!" when it dropped into the space with a quiet plop. He hoped that the water would carry the stone's message to Kira, like a whale singing to another in the ocean. He pumped his fist once in victory. It was an uncharacteristic gesture for him, but he had let his excitement get the better of him. Then he ran for his life like a frightened mouse.

  "What's the plan here?" Farn asked as soon as Corvin made it back to the group.

  Max paused as if coming up with things on the fly. "Umm, we run around in circles and stay away from them as long as we can until Kira gets the door open."

  "Seriously?" Ginger questioned, her tone rising.

  "What if she doesn't make it to the other side?" Kegan added.

  "She will; don't worry," Max answered as if it were a fact.

  It really was cool, thought Corvin again, seeing how sure Max was that the fairy would make it. Then Max fired a few rounds behind him without even glancing back to aim. Yeah, definitely cool.

  Farn looked back. "They're gaining on us!"

  "Damn, these things are fast," commented Kegan, stating the obvious.

  "What do you expect? Spiders are fast when they're small, and these ones have a longer stride," Corvin informed, not sure if he was trying to be funny or not.

  "My kids always take care of them for me." Ginger gasped for a lungful of air. "I'm not a fan."

  "Just keep running!" Max ordered to cut the chatter as the five of them circled the perimeter of the room, the two giant spiders close at their heels. "You got any bombs left?"

  Ginger responded by lighting a fuse and tossing a small round explosive over her shoulder. It detonated under one of the spiders. There wasn’t much damage, but the blast caused it to stumble. The other spider didn’t even slow down, climbing over its partner as it recovered.

  "Any more ideas?" she asked.

  Corvin thought about it but came up with nothing. If there had been one enemy, he might have some options, but there wasn't much he could do in such a large room against two. He was only a Venom mage after all.

  That was when the sound of stone dragging against stone reached his ears like music as the huge door began to move. What was odd was that the passage didn’t open from the ground up like the others had. Instead, it split in the middle into two enormous slabs. There must have been a reason for the difference, but the out of breath cheers that erupted from the group around him told him that no one cared to think about it now.

  "Okay, we make one more pass and head for the door," Max commanded as soon as the new walls of the open passage stopped moving.

  The others agreed. Then, running faster, encouraged by the open door, they sprinted into the hallway.

  Corvin brought up the rear, panting and wishing he was more of a runner.

  The corridor was only wide enough for one of the spiders to fit through at a time, but unfortunately, they didn't seem to care. Instead, they just skittered over each other through the passage in a tangled mass of legs and eyes. Their progress slowed but not by much.

  Max’s shoulders fell as he ran. "Damn. I was hoping they wouldn't follow us in."

  Corvin glanced back, regretting the decision as soon as he did. Judging by the last fight, he wasn't sure they could win against two of the creatures at once. Then things got worse as the same ticking sound from before signaled that the passage was about to close. He did the math in his head, feeling relieved. The intervals between ticks were longer than before, telling him that they had enough of time to make it to the other side. Although, this brought back the first problem of the spiders, since, from what he could tell, they would have plenty of time to make it through the passage as well.

  "Maybe we can get the spiders caught in the hallway as it closes?" Farn suggested.

  Max shook his head before coughing an exhausted, "No." He must have been running the same numbers.

  "They're too fast," Corvin added, breathing heavily.

  "What if I hang back and act as bait." Farn huffed, her pace slowing. "I think I can hold them long enough."

  Max gestured for her to keep up. "I'm sure you could, but you might not make it back out, and we're going to need you for whatever's next."

  He was right; their Shield was far too valuable to risk, but a Venom mage, on the other hand, was almost always expendable, and Corvin knew it. He reevaluated the situation. There wasn't much he could do in the previous room, but in the narrow space of the hall, things were different.

  "I might have a plan." Corvin tried to sound confident. "Whatever happens, keep running."

  Max started to ask a question, but it was too late, Corvin had already stopped and turned to face the monste
rs. Max paused, slowing down with him a for a moment. He looked worried, but he didn't argue.

  Corvin’s knees trembled as the click-clack of the spider's legs hitting the floor shook him to his core. He wanted to run, but he held his ground nonetheless. Then, just as they were almost upon him, he grabbed the thick cloth that covered half of his face and yanked it off.

  The spider in front skidded to a stop, locked in position as if unable to move.

  Max gave Corvin an approving slap on the shoulder that almost made him stumble. "Don't stay too long. We still need you." With that, Max turned and jogged away.

  The spider at the rear scraped and scratched to climb over its frozen counterpart until it could shove its way through. Corvin took a few steps back and shifted his gaze to meet with the second monster's shining black eyes. Having eight to choose from made it easy as it, too, froze. Now trapped underneath its partner, the first spider regained control of itself and began struggling to get free. Corvin winced and placed a hand to his face, making sure not to cover the bright yellow eye that needed to stay focused on his captive. The patch of dark scales that surrounded it was rough under his fingertips as he pressed them against his face, reminding him of the contract he had made. Normally kept hidden under the fabric that wrapped around his head, he had almost forgotten the gift that he had received from the Nightmare Kafka after offering his left eye.

  Corvin stepped backward, alternating between the spiders to keep them in the hallway as long as possible while he waited out the clock. He couldn't tell how much of the passage was left without looking back, but the ticking grew faster, reminding him to keep moving. He shuffled backward, making sure to keep the monsters in the effective range of his eye.

  Max called from behind, telling him he had twenty feet left. He also heard Kegan call out to tell him that he was, “The Man.” He smiled, then winced again, almost losing both spiders as he struggled not to blink, the pain in his head growing from the continued use. Why the developers had added such a large amount of simulated pain to go along with his one of a kind ocular ability was beyond him, but he couldn't argue with the result.

  He counted his steps and figured that he only had about ten feet left as the ticking merged into a steady buzz. Then he slapped a hand over his eye and ran for the exit just as the walls started to close in. He assumed that they would move as slowly as they had opened. He was wrong, but not dead wrong. He could still make it, probably.

  With only a couple feet left, he was forced to turn sideways as the walls left no room for his shoulders, their sides almost squashing him as he cleared the space. There was a brief screech from the two spiders, followed by a nauseating squelch as the doors shut inches behind him, close enough to catch the end of his robe as he ran. He let out a sudden, "urk!" as the fabric pulled tight and he fell to the floor like a cartoon character, ruining his first ever moment of epic badassery.

  To his surprise, no one laughed as Max helped him up and attempted to free his robe from the door. Both of them pulled until the black fabric tore at the end, causing them to fall once again.

  Corvin stood, shoving himself up from the stone with both hands and forgetting to cover his eye. It throbbed, the tendrils of dull pain reaching into his brain as he briefly caught Farn's gaze by accident.

  The Shield froze in place, only moving her lips as the word's, "Holy shit,” fell out of her mouth.

  Corvin broke the connection for both their sakes, uttering a quiet, "Sorry."

  Farn shook out her limbs and added, "That's a basilisk eye." She sounded impressed.

  "Yeah, it's a souvenir from …" Corvin started to say but stopped when he noticed Max's face, the Fury's eyes glued to a point behind him as if dumbstruck. Corvin turned to follow his gaze, hoping it wasn't another oversized spider. It wasn't.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Kira enjoyed a rather calm moment floating through the water in the passage beneath her friends. She still had a full minute before her health would start to deplete, and she could already see light at the end. She hummed a happy little tune to herself as she let the water wash away the anxiety and fear she had filled her earlier. It was like hitting a reset button on her mind, turning it off and on again for a better result.

  The moment was ruined the instant Max's voice reached her, the sound traveling through the water. The result was the same as if he was right there yelling in her ear.

  "We got two spiders here, hurry! We won't last long!"

  At first, she wondered how he was sending the message. Then she heard it again.

  "We got two spiders here, hurry! We won't last long!"

  She rolled her eyes as she realized she was going to keep hearing the echo stone yelling at her on a loop until she got out of the water. Something about the amount of science used in the delivery of the message told her she had Corvin to thank.

  Kira sped up toward the light ahead, exiting the passage into some kind of channel that curved off to the side like a moat. The bottom of the tunnel dropped into a deep pit, from which nothing but darkness could be seen. It made her nervous, like at any moment, some Lovecraftian horror would rise from its depths and wrap its tentacles around her body. She regretted that thought as soon as she had it, her legs kicking faster to outrun her imagination.

  She was met with more darkness as soon as she broke through the surface. It wasn't that the lighting was poor but more that her wet hair had plastered itself to her face, blinding her behind a curtain of silver locks. She attempted to blow one away with a firm puff of air, but it fell back into place, the tip landing in her mouth. The water tasted foul, reminding her she needed to get out sooner rather than later. In frustration, she ducked her head again, only to burst from the water a second later with her wings aglow. Droplets of liquid flew through the air around her as she arched her back and whipped her hair out of her face.

  She landed and glanced around the room, not taking in much detail other than making sure that there was nothing lurking in the space that might have an interest in eating her. With her safety confirmed, she ran toward the door, her bare feet leaving a trail of fairy-sized prints in her wake.

  The lever was right where she expected it. Another basic switch a few feet from the door. She grabbed it, and a moment later, the door was opening in a vertical split. She stepped toward the new passage and peeked in from the side. She let out surprised a squeak as the silhouette of two spiders chasing her friends came into view.

  Panic settled across her body with an unnerving shiver as the remaining water from her swim slid down her skin. One of those creatures had been hard enough. She wasn't sure what they could do against two of them, but she was an experienced adventurer. With that in mind, she did what any reasonable person would do. She took three large hops backward, then ran in a little circle whilst flailing her arms a bit. Once that was out of her system, she swiped open her spell-craft menu, dropping several heals into her quick-cast queue in preparation. She made sure to add in some antidote and protection effects for good measure.

  Seconds later, Kegan, Farn, and Ginger shot out of the hall at full speed, turning back as soon as they were out to shout encouragement at Corvin while ignoring Kira altogether. Which was probably for the best, considering she was still wearing nothing but her unmentionables. Max jogged out after them, turning with the others to help the Venom mage by telling him how much farther he had left.

  Drawn by curiosity, Kira snuck in behind the others to see what all the excitement was about. What she saw made her grin. She'd seen Corvin use his basilisk eye once before, but she had to admit that the way he was using it now was genius. She watched, almost enthralled, as he switched between the two spiders, always using one to trap the other in the hallway. He stepped backward until finally, the ticking sound merged into the same singular tone as before. The mage turned and ran, the others taking a step back to make room. Kira stepped back as well, and in seconds, he was out.

  She cringed on instinct with her eyes closed as the doors sl
ammed shut. The sound of insects bursting met her ears, the same as it would in the real world except louder and considerably wetter.

  It took a moment for everyone to get themselves together after such a tense situation, including Corvin who kept falling over. After that, they were ready to move on.

  With all the excitement of the spiders, the group seemed to have forgotten about Kira who had braved the waters below to open the passage for their escape. In fact, with everything going on, she herself had forgotten that she was still lacking in the clothing department, a problem that came rushing back to her as the group’s attention returned. They fell silent one by one, all eyes on her.

  It was at that point that she realized that when white fabric gets wet, it becomes transparent, and thus, the water from her swim had rendered what little clothing she had pointless as it clung to every detail of her skin.

  She glanced down at the pair of small yet perky breasts showing through the sheer piece of cloth that attempted to pass for a bra. She gasped in horror.

  Max froze, his mouth gaping, before blurting out an involuntary, "Oh god."

  Even worse was Corvin, who turned to make eye contact with her, obviously trying not to stare at anything he shouldn't. Although, he must have forgotten that his basilisk eye was still exposed, as he ended up locking her in place, which prevented her from covering herself.

  In response, Kira released a sound, like the whine of a kicked puppy as her mouth failed to form words.

  The young mage realized his mistake and dropped his gaze to break the contract's hold, which of course, left him staring at an area of her body that one could only describe as intimate. At this, he yelped as if it might bite him and resigned to shoving his eye patch back on and pulling it down over both eyes to form a crude blindfold. At least he was trying to be a gentleman.

  Kegan however, stood his ground and summed up the situation with the words, "My boy parts are confused." A comment that led Ginger to slap him in the head again.