by Ramy Vance
She saved Stew for last.
Stew kissed Sandy on the forehead before wrapping her in his arms. “I love you, babe. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Sandy rested her head on Stew’s shoulder as she squeezed him as tightly as she could. “I’ll be back. I promise.” She gave him another kiss on the cheek and let him go.
Go to her, Fred said. Embrace her. I will join her now.
Suzuki did as he was told and hugging her, he felt Fred leave him and enter her. But he also still felt the imprint within him.
“What was that?” Sandy asked.
“A guide in the form of one imp,” Suzuki answered.
Sandy nodded with understanding and walked over to Diana. They both went into Sandy’s tent. They were gone for some time before Diana walked out alone. “It’s done. Come on. We should get going.”
“How long is she going to be gone?” Suzuki asked.
“Best not to start thinking about it.”
And with that, the Mundanes tore down their camp. An unspoken tension filled the air. No one mentioned it, but all felt it.
Once the camp was broken down, the Mundanes headed toward the volcano, Smuggles scampering around them as the mountain spewed smoke in the distance.
9
The Mundanes stalked through the jungle for what seemed like hours, hacking at vines that grew thick as a forearm.
They hardly spoke, each of them wrapped up in their own thoughts. Suzuki wished there was something he could say to get everyone out of their heads. That was what a leader was supposed to do.
He had seen José pull that shit more than a handful of times. José would have just the right words to get everyone laughing, to remind everyone they were on an adventure, that they were doing something important, and they could have fun doing it.
Suzuki realized this was probably what everyone else was thinking. They were all in some way thinking about either José or Sandy, and that was what was weighing them down. Suzuki looked from one MERC to another. They looked to be stumbling their way through the forest, their eyes far off as they concentrated on something that wasn’t in front of them.
This was more than just an awkward walk through the jungle. If something happened, if they were attacked, no one was focused. They would fall apart like a house of cards. Suzuki had to get them paying attention to more than their feelings about José. How the hell do I do that, he thought.
Then it hit him. “What do you think is going to happen to us if we die?” Suzuki asked.
The MERCs looked up from their feet and at Suzuki. He had brought attention to the elephant in the room, the one thing no one wanted to talk about. Sure, José showing up as a ghost was definitely disturbing, but it hinted it something even larger. Every mission, they faced death. Yet they had never spoken about it, and they had never spent time trying to understand what they were facing.
Things seemed even odder since they had spoken to the Forest Spirit. The afterlife had been explained to them, at least somewhat. Then a spirit walked into their camp like the ghost of things yet to come? Why the hell not just talk about it.
Chip looked up at Suzuki with wet, bloodshot eyes. “Why would you go and ask that?” she asked.
Suzuki shrugged as he leaned against a tree. “We’re all thinking it, aren’t we?” he countered.
Diana crouched and sighed. She shook her head as if she were trying to get out of a bad dream. She opened her mouth a couple of times to speak, but it took a few moments before she was able to squeeze out the words. “You really want to have this talk right now?”
“We just talked to our dead friend. I think this is as good a time as any.”
Diana laughed as she wiped the sweat from her brow. The jungle was sweltering. She looked happy to take a break from walking. “All right, I’ll shoot. I didn’t think anything happened after you died. Not really. You know, everyone has their own myths, stories about the afterlife. Humans tend to think there’s either a good or bad place you go. Elves believe you become part of the trees. Dwarves don’t think you go anywhere, which makes sense because they don’t even dream. But me? I just thought you stopped existing. It was that easy. You die, and then there’s nothing. No spirit. No soul. You just cease to be. José kinda proved that one wrong today. So, fuck if I know.”
Beth knelt by Suzuki’s side, leaning against the same tree. Going through her inventory, she pulled out a flask of something special.
She took a sip and passed it around, taking another sip when it returned to her. “I never believed in heaven or hell. My parents didn’t teach me anything about it. Not religious people. But my Nana used to talk to us about…I don’t know, where she thought she was going, just like stories her mom told her before and that kind of shit. She said she was going to the place of our ancestors, like it was a huge family reunion or something. That’s why she would always be watching over us, because that’s what family did. They watched over you to make sure you were safe.”
Stew took the flask next and took a long drink before speaking. “My dad was terrified of dying. Not like he was sick or anything. He just was scared of the idea. I asked him once what happened, and he didn’t want to talk about it at first. But then he finally did, and he said you just go on living another life. You know, reincarnation. But it wasn’t something that made him feel more comfortable or anything. He was terrified of having to live all over again. He said he just wanted one go, and that was it. But I liked the idea a lot. You know, you get to try a couple of runs, get it down until you can live your life the right way or however you want to. Sandy helped me with that. It’s kinda what she thinks.”
Beth laughed as she motioned for the cigarette Diana had just rolled and lit. “I didn’t peg you and Sandy to be having deep conversations about life and death,” she joked.
Stew laughed as he waved away the smoke floating toward him. “You know, I’m more than just a cute face and muscles. I have feelings and shit.”
Diana took out her notebook and began scribbling notes as she muttered under her breath. Next to her, Chip grabbed the flask and took a sip. “Not even sure if I get granted an afterlife,” Chip said softly. “The whole not a person thing kinda puts a damper on a soul. Maybe I just deactivate. On and off switch. That whole shit.”
No one was quick to speak.
Suzuki realized he had taken his soul for granted. He hadn’t really thought about what a soul was, but he knew that if human beings had one, so did he. In that sense, he had taken it for granted. He and the rest of the Mundanes had only just recently found out Chip wasn’t a human or an elf.
She was a machine.
And it was a fact it seemed Chip herself was still reconciling.
“Do you dream?” Suzuki asked.
Chip looked up from her cigarette, confused. “Why?”
“It’s from a book. Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. It’s a question about what consciousness is and whether it exists across the board, or if it’s just something humans have dreamed up.”
“Yep, I dream with the best of them. Nightmares, too. That proof of my soul?” Chip asked.
Suzuki shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if it matters, though.”
“That’s easy for someone walking around with a soul to say, boyo. Only recently come into this whole not-a-person situation, so excuse me if I’m a little wary of getting all excited about any kind of existential statement about me own existence.”
Diana burst out laughing, choking on the little bit she’d sipped from the flask. “Are you fucking kidding me, Chip?” She cackled. “You bet your soul on a card game last month. Literally, last month. How are you going to act like you give a shit about having a soul?”
Chip smiled despite herself, and Suzuki could tell she was itching to play into this. That was one thing he respected about Chip. She handled her shit and never let it change the kind of person she was. Even being extremely vulnerable about her fears couldn’t stop her from seeing a gag and wanting to roll with it. “I
only bet me soul because I had a killer hand,” Chip pointed out. “It ain’t a bet if you know you’re going to win.”
“Chip, you were down three hands, drunk as shit, and you lost an entire month of pay. Even if you had a soul, you don’t know.”
Chip waved away Diana’s concerns as she cackled madly and slapped her knees. “The moment, the moment is what I live for,” Chip said. “Souls be damned! Can I get a toast to that?”
Beth raised her flask and took a swig. She passed it around, and each MERC did so as well. Once it returned to Beth, she put the cap on and stood up. “What about you, Suzy?” she asked.
Suzuki considered it. In all honesty, he had never thought of it before. Death was something he had recently become more accustomed to, but he tried not to think about the afterlife. His job was killing minions of the Dark One, minions who didn’t seem like they had any control of their own actions. It was a murky gray area that made him extremely uncomfortable when he thought about it.
Suzuki took a deep breath. “I try not to think about it. I try not to think about a lot of this shit. If I think about it too much, I will go crazy. I hope there is something after death. At least for orcs and goblins. At least for people who don’t have control of their lives. I hope they have something after death.”
Beth rested their hand on Suzuki’s shoulder. “You know they’re trying to kill us, right?”
“Yeah, I know. And they don’t have a choice.”
Chip stood up and walked over to Suzuki. She embraced him and squeezed him tight. Suzuki was caught off guard and didn’t know what to do, so he hugged Chip back. And he felt something deep within him trying to get out, something he had been pushing back for longer than he could remember. He tried to continue to squash it, to bury it as far in his gut as he could, but it came screaming out of him as his body sagged, and he started to cry.
Chip held Suzuki tightly as he wept. “No, we didn’t have a choice,” Chip whispered in Suzuki’s ear.
They both stood there, crying and holding each other.
Beth came and put her arms around both of them.
Diana came over next.
Finally, Stew folded them into his arms.
For a while, they stood there in silence, the only sounds Chip’s and Suzuki’s muffled sobs.
This was Middang3ard, the brutal reality of their childhood games and books. This was a realm where entire races were enslaved, brought in to enact horrors they had no control over. A place where friends were turned against each other regularly. A place where heroes died. A place of pain, suffering, beauty, and friendship.
It was a place for MERCs.
A place for family.
When the tears stopped, the MERCs silently broke apart, giving each other space to breathe. They did not hide their eyes from each other. Whatever had been felt, experienced, it was important for them all. There were no words for such things. They were not just a party. They were kin. It had not been spoken aloud, but the Horsemen no longer existed. They were all Mundanes now. It could be seen in Chip’s and Diana’s eyes. It was as if that were an unspoken part of José’s visit. A closure of sorts.
The Mundanes walked farther into the jungle, each of them in their own heads, but in a different way than before. Suzuki watched his party as they stalked through the hot, humid jungle. He was proud of them. And he loved them. Both things he felt weren’t necessary to be said often, but it was true. They had all come through the worst the Dark One had thrown at them. Nothing had broken them. Nothing would break them.
As they walked through the jungle, bending to avoid trees and vines, Chip came up to Suzuki’s side. “Thanks for all that.”
Suzuki pushed a vine out of the way with his axe as he ducked to avoid it slapping him in the face. “Don’t worry about it,” he replied.
“No, really. Not to shine you on too much, but that shite back there was intense. And necessary. You got a good handle on these types of things. Not much seen in the likes of MERCs. It’s appreciated.”
“Thanks. That’s really good to hear.”
“José would be damn proud of the kind of leader you’re shaping up to be. Damn proud. Thank you.”
Chip took Suzuki’s hand and squeezed it before walking ahead and slapping Beth on the back of the neck. “Come on, padawan,” she shouted. “Senpai says it’s time to get in them trees.”
The two of them went running off ahead of the rest of the Mundanes. Chip leapt into the trees first, landing effortlessly. Beth flew up next. She didn’t land as gracefully, but she sprinted to catch up with Chip, springing from branch to branch almost as effortlessly.
On the ground, the Mundanes continued their pace, Stew, Diana, and Suzuki walking side by side. Stew coughed loudly as if he were warming himself up to say something but remained silent. They continued on in this way for some time.
The jungle thinned out over the course of their journey. It was as if the trees tucked themselves away to hide from what was ahead. The air had changed as well. It had grown hot and difficult to breathe. The air smelled like sulfur and felt thick in the lungs. Still, they pushed on until the jungle was left behind and they stood in a clearing, standing before the leviathan volcano as it spewed columns of black smoke.
Chip and Beth jumped from the trees and landed next to the rest of the Mundanes. “Oh, that there is a flaming one, ain’t it?” Chip asked.
Suzuki stared at the volcano. The smoke coming from its top was disconcerting. The sky above was dark and ominous as if an omen of things to come. If Suzuki had ever seen a sign, this was it but he was not certain what it was a sign of. It didn’t matter though. Whatever José had wrangled them into was going to be difficult. That was just the way things were.
Stew was pacing, looking at the volcano. “How do you tell if it’s going to pop?” Stew asked. “I mean, have you seen footage of volcanos going off? That’s like apocalyptic shit, dude. And if it's smoking, that means it’ll pop soon. Right?”
“Actually, volcanos smoke all the time without blowing. Besides, we’re already here. If it went off, it wouldn’t matter where we were on the island. We’d be dead. But since we are here, let’s check it out. There’s got to be a reason José was trying to get us to come here.”
The Mundanes went toward the volcano. There was a sudden rumbling. The ground trembled as the earth quaked. “Fuck, dudes, it’s happening,” Stew shouted as he turned to run.
Nothing came from the volcano. The ground shook again. Suzuki figured out it wasn’t the volcano quickly enough. That didn’t answer the question of what was shaking the ground, though. “Sandy, can you…oh, yeah.” Suzuki sighed as he realized Sandy couldn’t help them out. It would be nice to get a better view of what was going on around them. Instead, he turned to Diana, feeling extremely uncomfortable ordering her to do something. “Hey, uh, Diana, could you do me a favor?”
Diana was staring in the distance, no doubt trying to figure out what the source of the earthquake was. “Yeah, what do you need?” she asked.
“To see what’s going on. Could you?”
Diana nodded as she levitated into the air. “Oh, shit,” she gasped.
“What is it?”
“Get fucking ready, guys!”
Diana whipped out her wand as the rest of the Mundanes drew their weapons. The quaking of the earth grew stronger. It had gone from a slight rumble to shaking so much Suzuki was hardly able to stay on his feet. He was about to ask what Diana was talking about when he realized there was no need. He saw the source of the commotion coming over the hills in the East.
A herd of brontosauruses was coming over the crest of the green hills. They were majestic and terrifying. The Mundanes went silent in awe as the creatures stampeded over the hill. Suzuki was beside himself. He couldn’t express how badly he was freaking out. Dinosaurs. The child in him could not help but shriek as the massive lizards ran past the Mundanes—which begged the question, what were they running from?
The answer came swiftly.
Once the brontosauruses had run into the jungle, destroying the trees in their path, the predators came.
Seven tyrannosauruses came up over the hill, roaring loudly, towering at least fourteen feet in the air. Their massive jaws were lined with razor-sharp teeth, and their heavy bodies were moving at a speed that seemed unnatural.
They were a mile behind the brontosauruses, but their beady eyes had keyed on other prey.
Stew pulled the axe from his back and stepped to the front of the Mundanes’ formation. “I know we were being all emotional and sensitive earlier, but there’s T-rexes. Everyone ready for this?”
Suzuki didn’t need to be asked.
This was still Middang3ard and shit was going to keep getting real. And the Mundanes were going to rise to every occasion. Orc, troll, whatever—it didn’t matter. They were coming for the Dark One, and they were going to cut down whatever stood in their way.
Beth pulled out her short bow and stood next to Stew. She nocked an arrow and aimed at one of the T-rexes. “What’s the game plan, Suzy?” she asked.
Suzuki laughed to himself. Game plan? Against dinosaurs? It wasn’t something he had ever run scenarios of. “They’re fucking dinosaurs,” Suzuki finally said. “I don’t think we’re going to need a master plan to be able to figure this out. Hit them fast and hit them hard. For honor!”
“For glory!”
“For XP!”
The Mundanes charged at the stampeding T-rexes. Suzuki was certain this was something they would easily be able to handle. They had fought of trolls, orcs, and dragons before. What were a couple of flightless reptiles compared to that?
Stew leapt, his axe raised high above his head, toward the closest T-rex. He screamed, his eyes wide with the bloodlust as his body bulked up, entering into his berserker mode.
As Stew brought down his axe, the T-rex stepped to the side and a rex behind the first stepped forward and head-butted Stew hard enough to break every bone in his body. When Stew fell, the other rex brought its foot down on Stew’s entire body. Instead of taking a bite, it kicked Stew to the side and turned to the other T-rexes. It chuckled, a sound Suzuki wasn’t aware dinosaurs were capable of making. That didn’t prepare him for what happened next.
