by H. C. Mills
She looks at me, all smiles. I can’t help but grin back. I never really had female friends before, never felt the need to make any either. I’m starting to get the feeling I’ve missed out.
“But, ehm, actually, we’ve tried cooking before. Alec made this jicca nut porridge.” Kaitlynn’s nose scrunches up in distaste. “It was... edible. He hasn’t tried cooking again till now.”
I snort, before another question pops into my head. “What did he make it in?”
“Well, the stove in the hut, of course,” Kaitlynn replies. “Haven’t you noticed that open stack of rocks with the large stone basin on top?”
Huh. I thought that was a washbasin. Though I suppose it could be both.
I frown. “But there’s no chimney in the hut. Wouldn’t we suffocate in the smoke?”
Kaitlynn smiles at me. “Fire in this Realm is different from the fire on Earth. Dave called it ‘accelerated decomposition.’ No smoke or gas is produced, so all of the matter you started out with stays behind, and can even be neatly divided into a puddle of Hydrum and a pile of Solith.”
“Wait, Solith?”
Kaitlynn nods. “That’s what the rocks and the walls and stuff are made of; it’s something Dave learned from his question sessions.”
Very interesting. “I’ve got to see this. Do you think we have enough?”
Kaitlynn giggles as she bunches up her collection of firewood under one arm and links her other with one of mine. “Sure, let’s head back. We’ll have to make several trips to keep the fire burning for eight hours anyway.”
I fall into step beside her and together we stride up the spiralling tree trunk.
If life in this Realm could be like this all the time, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad.
Back in the hut, Kaitlynn and I build a pyramid of twigs and branches inside the hollow pile of rocks she calls a stove. I poke it a few times, and it stands surprisingly steady. I still don’t entirely trust it not to collapse in on itself and spread burning wood throughout the hut though.
I think the Hydrum Dave already poured into the basin would put it out if that happened, but I can’t actually be sure that’s how it works. In fact, I’m finding more and more that I can’t be sure how anything works in this Realm.
With the pyramid ready, Kaitlynn carefully pulls a lunchbox out of her backpack. She opens it, gingerly takes out an orange-red flower, and places them beneath the pyramid of sticks.
“Kindling?” I ask.
“Oh, it’s more than that... this is a Yang Fire-Blossom. Just watch.”
She gets up and moves back a bit, gesturing for me to do the same.
Wait, how exactly does she intend to light this fire?
I look at her in alarm and hurry another few paces back.
To my relief, Kaitlynn simply grabs a stick, then whacks one of the flowers. With a ‘fwoosh,’ it bursts into a ball of flames. Actually, with the deep red glow coming off the flower at the core surrounded by a ball of what I’m pretty sure is orange Astreum, it’s more like the inverse of a flame.
Soon, one of the sticks touching the ball of Astreum catches fire. And by that, I mean that it lights up and spontaneously ignites along its entire length. As in, every part of it glows up red and starts producing orange Astreum, simultaneously. Or I guess the whole does. Either way, other sticks follow its example, and soon we have a relatively silent, inverted fire spreading a hot glow throughout the hut.
I move a little closer and stare at it in fascination. It’s clearly an exothermic process, but where does the energy come from? Is it stored in a type of organic compounds that fall apart like in our Realm? Or is it something more primal, like Yang Qi in the wood being converted to Heat like Kaitlynn does in her Focus Crystal when she uses Astreum Manipulation? The latter would suggest that only Yang plants can burn like this. But what would happen then if you tried to ignite a plant that’s Yin, like the Moonshade Flower?
Right around the time that I make a solid promise to myself that I will never attempt to burn a Moonshade Flower, Alec looks up from his dirty work and nods in satisfaction. “Well done! I’ll add some meat to it soon. For now, the Hydrum can just soak up some Heat.”
I look at the weird, yellow cuts of meat he’s carving, and I realise nothing has ever looked more appetising. This is going to be a long eight hours. Perhaps I better Meditate, practise numbing my sense of smell...
My sense of smell seems to be rather stubborn today. Though it might also be that my subconscious is rebelling against my attempts to dim it, as closing off my sense of smell would mean losing the mouth-watering scent wafting off the stew.
Ultimately, my trance is broken when Dave calls out that dinner is ready. I stretch out my legs, stiff from hours spent in the lotus position, look at the brown goop presented to me, and frown. “Are you sure it’s ready? It doesn’t look very warm.”
“That’s because you’re used to seeing vapours rising from hot liquids,” Dave responds as he hands me a full, bowl-shaped leaf and accompanying spoon, which is equally leafy. “As far as I can tell, Hydrum doesn’t boil or evaporate, though perhaps we just can’t reach the requisite temperature with our woodfire. Either way, be very careful eating it because it can get very, very hot.”
The way the bowl warms my hands would have been warning enough, even if he hadn’t said anything. The brown goop is filled with pieces of yellow meat and a variety of strangely coloured, undefinable herbs.
I still burn my tongue on the first bite, but I couldn’t care less.
Alec is a god. Or at the very least, his cooking is divine. The broth is thick, heavy, and salted to perfection. The meat falls apart in threads on my tongue, providing a rough yet not unpleasant texture. It’s the softest thing I’ve eaten in this Realm, and it soothes the ache in my teeth like a space heater drives out the cold. Many of the herbs and flavours are unfamiliar, for obvious reasons, but they blend together to form a hearty, exotic taste.
To my credit, I only burn my tongue twice more after the first bite, and barely go over my Tolerance Limit for Heat during dinner. So worth it. I just wanna lie here in satisfaction forever.
Kaitlynn seems to have the same idea and attempts to use my stomach as a pillow. I groan and gently redirect her head to my thighs.
Despite my lethargy, I take a moment to check out the trigot meat’s effects via my Status Bar’s net Lavi flow.
Looks like I’m getting 3 Onkh per minute, exactly like the appraisal window dictated. Not as good as the yams, which provided 5, but still a huge improvement over the mere 1.5 jicca nuts and birberries manage.
I let out a content sigh, feeling more at ease than I have for days, when a notification pops up.
Kaitlynn gasps, her hand clenching down on my thigh.
“Shit,” Alec mutters. “That’s it then, huh. Looks like we can stop patrolling by the doors. Our friends aren’t coming.”
Dave sighs. “No. No, I suppose they aren’t.”
It’s Kaitlynn’s idea to hold a little ceremony down on the forest floor.
Not like we could sleep right now anyway.
I help Kaitlynn make a bonfire, while Alec and Dave busy themselves with building a pile of rocks to serve as a gravestone marker of some kind. I believe the idea is to carve the names of our friends into some softer rocks and place them at the top.
As I stare at the billowing Astreum, Josh’s face once again flashes before my mind’s eye. My heart clenches as a wave of sadness washes over me, and for once, I let it.
“Didn’t we start out with, like, almost 300 people?” I dimly register Alec asking with a grunt as he lifts a particularly large rock.
“289, actually,” Dave replies. “Most of them probably fell in the Second Trial. I was nearly one of them.”
I shake my head silently. Over 3,000 people landed in Hub One, and in this is all that’s left. I guess that means in a way we’re insanely lucky.
Kaitlynn leans into me, and I reflexively wrap an arm around her. I catch her
eye in the dark, glistening with unshed tears.
Her bottom lip begins to wobble when we lock gazes. “Denise... she wasn’t supposed to be there, you know?”
It takes me a second to remember who Kaitlynn is talking about. Right that was Fat Misty’s real name.
“Why not?” I ask gently.
“I was going to ask... someone else, but I chickened out. And Denise was so thrilled when I asked her to come, even though it was last minute, and now...” she trails off as a fat tear rolls down her left cheek, and I idly notice how the Hydrum is too viscous to really leave a track.
I turn back to the fire, searching for words. “Josh... Josh wasn’t supposed to be there either. Our other colleague called in sick. In the end, I can’t blame him. It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just bad luck.”
Kaitlynn buries her head into the crook of my neck and starts sobbing for real. I just hold her tight and rock back and forth gently, tears now freely rolling down my left cheek as well.
Well, not truly nobody’s, perhaps. Josh deserved better than this. They all did. Someday, I’m going to find out who’s responsible for this mess, and give them a piece of my mind. Just you wait.
CHAPTER 33
Narc Week
AFTER I WAKE, I find myself staring at the ceiling while I mull over the announcement from last night. Something about it is making my stomach twist with something other than grief. I guess I just can’t figure out why they made a point of letting us all know about it.
A rudimentary drying rack hangs from said ceiling now, filled to the brim with small strips of cured meat.
Alec’s currently studying one of the other remnants of the trigot: the scaly blue hide he spent the better part of an hour removing yesterday.
“You know,” he says thoughtfully. “I’ve worked with leather before, for cosplay.”
Of course you have.
He shoots me a hopeful glance. “Maybe I could try whipping us up some armour?”
I narrow my eyes at him. “You’re not saying that just to get out of training, are you?”
His face falls so abruptly that I have to force myself not to laugh.
“No but seriously,” he argues, “we’re going into combat, aren’t we?”
“He has a point,” Kaitlynn pipes up, eyeing the blue skin.
I narrow my eyes at her, next. “You’re not saying that just because you’d look amazing in blue leather armour, are you?”
She pouts at me. Darn, I just can’t say no to those puppy eyes.
I sit upright. “Fine,” I say with a sigh. “Alec can make you some armour.”
Alec’s eye twitches as he watches Kaitlynn pounce on me for a hug. “I got what I wanted, yet why do I feel like it’s only because it happened to coincide with what Kaitlynn wanted?”
Ignoring him, I idly study the back of Kaitlynn’s head. Huh, the blue colour of her hair extends all the way to her scalp. You’d expect to see some kind of roots showing by now with how long we’ve been in this Realm. Odd.
Just as suddenly as she jumped me, Kaitlynn releases me to give Alec a hug as well, bringing out a smile on him.
For some reason, the look on his face kind of pisses me off. “Just make sure it’s actually functional armour, and not pointlessly sexy cosplay armour,” I tell him when Kaitlynn releases him.
“You could probably use my rock to carve some wooden tools,” Dave suggests.
Right, ’cause the Toughness of the wood is still higher than that of the leather. Smart.
But these are all distractions, and something is still gnawing at me. I need to focus.
I take a deep breath, assume a lotus position, and let their chatter fade away in my lucid trance. A little while later, I open my eyes and frown.
I think I know what I need to do. This is going to be... bothersome.
“Suri, could you, ehm, perhaps show me that window with the results of our training again?”
[Who in the what now?]
I sigh. “Suri...”
[I’m sorry, Emma, you’ll have to be a tad more specific.]
Ugh. A little while ago. I asked Suri about designing me a custom window in which I could track the progress of our stats since arriving in Hub Two. She agreed, on the conditions that I get everyone’s permission to view and monitor their stats, and... that she would get to name the window.
From the corner of my eye, I catch Kaitlynn looking at me in anticipatory glee. I sigh. “Suri, could you please open ‘Suri’s Super-Amazing Ultra-Custom Training Results Window’?”
[Of course, Emma. All you had to do was ask,] Suri chimes smugly.
Why, you little—
Mmm, we really have made some excellent progress.
[How much longer are you planning to train, Emma?]
I roll my eyes and open my mouth, but then freeze. Was that... is Suri hinting at me to get a move on? But why would we need to get a move on?
Wait... that’s what was bothering me about the announcement: they made a point of mentioning the exact number of participants that made it through! They keep saying there are limited resources, so what if resources are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis?
I was gunning for all of us to reach a Strength and Toughness of at least 11, but it sounds like we may have to speed up our timeline.
I clench my jaw and make a decision. “All right, guys, listen up. I think we’ve trained enough, for now. Time for the next phase; we’re going to collect one each of the Yin or Yang Qi Pearls, the Minor Lavi Crystals, and the Stardrop Flowers. Then, we’ll level up.”
Unsurprisingly, the news is well-received. Apparently, my ears can ring in this dimension as well.
The Yin-Yang Temple is in the exact centre of Hub Two and—despite standing on a bluff—is still easily towered over by the enormous trees all around.
It has a weird style; it’s basically a large circular dome, covered in complicated geometrical shapes and twisted humanoid bodies who appear to be suffering from the after-effects of terrible tortures...
A bunch of shacks surrounds the lovely landmark, and twenty or so people are milling about.
“It wasn’t this busy the last time we were here,” Alec mutters.
I shrug, even though the size of the crowd gives me the jitters. This place is making me paranoid. “All the better, since we need information. But let’s check out the temple first.”
We get some wary glances as we weave our way past the shacks and towards the centre of the impromptu slums, but nobody tries to stop us. Still, we move cautiously and stick together.
Well, most of us. Alec is soon distracted by a stall selling different kinds of plants and simple items, like improvised cutlery made from carved sticks and cracked stones. The prices are listed in jicca nuts.
“Ooh, maybe I can find some leatherworking tools,” he says excitedly and veers off. “You guys go ahead; I’ll catch up!”
I apply my palm to my face. Dave shoots me a questioning look, but I wave him off. The mood may be a bit sombre around here, but it doesn’t seem tense, so it should be safe enough. It’s not like Alec is carrying anything of value either.
Except for jicca nuts, apparently.
Kaitlynn frowns at a nearby stall. “Wait, pints of jicca nuts? Why are jicca nuts measured by volume, and not weight?”
I shrug. “Maybe building scales and agreeing on a standardised weight was too much of a hassle?”
Dave hums. “Could be. Or perhaps they decided they couldn’t trust scales in a Realm with extreme gravity gradients.”
My brows rise towards my hairline. Damn. I hadn’t considered that.
We make our way towards the temple unhindered, but find the doors inside guarded.
Leaning against the wall next to the entrance is a bored-looking woman decked out in all black, with bottle-blond hair, a pierced nose, one blue eye and a grey crystal in the other socket. She holds up her hand, showing off the sleeve of tattoos on her arm as we walk up to the door. “Entry permits, pleas
e.”
I blink at her. “Excuse me?”
She rolls her eyes. “I said entry permits, puhlease.”
“Yeah, I heard you the first time,” I respond, folding my arms across my chest in irritation, and giving her a once-over. “You’re an enforcer, right? Aren’t you supposed to, like, ‘protect and serve’ or something like that? Tell me, on what grounds is the council withholding access to the Yin-Yang Temple?”
Dave subtly flanks me. Kaitlynn mimics my pose and silently stares the woman down. Or, well, glares up at her, really. It’d be cute if it weren’t such a tense moment.
Who am I kidding, it’s cute regardless!
The woman gapes at me then pushes herself off the wall and straightens. “Ehm, look, it’s regulations, all right? I don’t make the rules, just enforce ’em.”
“Is there a problem here?” a familiar voice asks behind us.
I turn to find my old pal Security Steve with his arms carefully folded over his impressive chest. He’s similarly dressed in all black. Recognition flashes in his deep brown eye before a grin breaks out on his face. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
“Steve!” I yell, as I launch myself at him, suddenly overcome with emotion at seeing a mere acquaintance alive.
I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve seen him smile, even...
Regardless, he catches me in a bearhug with an exaggerated oomph, followed by a laugh that I can feel rumble in his chest. We disengage pretty soon, but he keeps his big hands resting on my shoulders. “It’s good to see you, girl. How you been?”
“Eh,” I say with a shrug. “I’ve been better.”
Kaitlynn clears her throat.
I blink and take a step back. “Right, guys this is Steve—”
“Former security guard of the Con, currently head of the council’s enforcers,” he finishes. “It’s nice to meet ya’ll.”
I spin back around to face him. “Really? Cool. Can you tell this lady to let us into the temple?”
