by J E Mueller
We looked over at her.
“Okay, so there’s a lot of venomous things in the house. Forget that part,” Mare corrected herself. “Which is why we came out here in the first place. Leta got bit by something venomous.”
“What did she get attacked by?” Ze asked and I realized I had never bothered to get the details either.
I hadn’t actually thought to ask when she abruptly woke me up and wondered how many people just went on these adventures without many details. It didn’t seem like the best idea, and yet, here I was.
“Polacoys.” Mare groaned loudly. “They’re cute, they’re stupid, and she got too close.”
“So… they sort of attack? Or just easy to outsmart and she didn’t?” Ze asked confused.
“They’re very easy to outsmart, but they are quick. If you don’t know what they are, you’ll likely run, and they will catch up to you. Then they’ll bite you because they want to drag you back to the water,” Mare explained motioning vaguely. “Anyway, just avoid the room with the random pond in it and you’ll avoid them. Actually, avoid that hall in general. There’s a death spirit there too. She’ll drag you into the water and drown you.”
Ze sighed. “Great, first I hear about an actually unique room and it’s instant death. Wonderful.”
I didn’t chime in at all. A vision came to mind, a younger me talking with someone in a room just like that. I clearly wasn’t in danger and wondered what it was about.
As we reached the end of the garden, Mare sighed. “How can we do this? I guess we can climb the wall again and hope for the best? I won’t be able to sense anything though since the wall is part of the garden area.”
Ze shrugged. “I guess I’ll just climb it then. Making everyone invisible is a lot of extra work.” He quickly scaled the wall and jumped back down. “Yeah, no.”
“Do I even want to know?” I sighed.
Mare shook her head. “I don’t think I want to know, but I want to go home, so tell it like it is, Ze man.”
“Whatever that thing was, the creature that now has plenty of death blow arrows in it, it brought friends and they’re wandering around the area, very close by. There’s three total. Or from what I saw. Forget getting back up there. Can they come into this area?” He looked more than just a little worried.
I could feel the fear slowly gripping not only my feet, but my lungs. It was hard to breath and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to move again. That thing, whatever it was, had an arrow in it’s freaking face. It had one in the back of it’s head! It even had one at the base of it’s throat and it was walking around like it was no big deal.
It was now walking around with friends!
If I could be done with this world, I would be. I covered my mouth and screamed into my hands startling Mare and Ze.
I was stuck here, there was no changing that, so I did my best to shake off the feeling of dread and looked over at Mare, the words struggled to leave my throat. “What do we do?”
“My good lady and gentleman, I have no idea.” Mare shook her head, her face paling. “Clove is the leader. I’m just the loud, obnoxious follower. I like my role. I don't have to come up with the game plan. We’re pretty fucked.”
Ze shook his head frantically. “Please don’t say that.”
“It’s true!” Mare argued.
“Fine, I’m the temporary leader,” I declared, willing myself to pace and shake off as much dread as physically possible. “Mare, what do you know about these things? I need every last detail.”
Mare jumped right in, more willing to take commands than to command. “They have a stupid high pain tolerance. It’s said they can’t feel pain but we all heard it shriek. That thing can feel it. They say to kill it you have to find its heart. No one knows where its heart is. If I had to guess, it’s in the normal spot. These creatures have a super thick skin. I bet it just takes too much to get to a heart anyway. You’d need like an extra sharp blade. I don’t think mine are meant for that. I’m more close combat, sneak attack deaths. Not carving eight layers of hide level thick.”
I nodded. “Okay, so our best bet is to sneak around these things. We can all climb this wall to get in and out right? Or will magic force us to use the entrance?” I asked carefully.
“Oh yeah, we can climb it,” Mare said. “I didn’t even think of that. I’ve slipped out that way once.”
“Perfect!” I nodded. “Ze how are you holding up?”
Ze sighed. “Am I the escape plan?”
“Pretty much. I’d ask you if you minded, but to be frank, we need you,” I admitted. “Let’s get to the wall that's closest to the house and use that as the starting point.”
“I’m a little tired.” Ze admitted. “I might be able to get us most of the way back to the house.”
“Most of the way we’ll have to accept,” I agreed. “We’ll just have to run like the wind.”
Mare nodded. “I am okay with running. I’m pretty good at it anymore.”
I laughed dryly. “I think I can see why.” Every adventure almost seemed to involve running. “What do you say Ze, sound good?”
“Well, it’s the best option we’ve got,” he said going over to the side wall closest to the house.
We followed behind him.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” I asked him as he readied himself to climb the wall.
“Yeah, just keep up as best as you can. The less I have to strain my magic the further we’ll get. Reaching out further takes more energy,” Ze explained.
Mare nodded. “Oh no worries, I can keep up just fine.”
“I don’t doubt that.” Ze laughed without humor.
I took the hint that I was the slowest in the group. No surprise. I didn’t normally spend my time jogging for my life. Sprinting from death. Running for the hills. This was the worst pre afterlife place to be stuck. Whatever. Here we were, so here we’d find a way.
“Guess it’s about time to run then?” I said as I attempted to pull myself up the wall.
Being short didn’t help but I got up quickly enough. Ze and Mare were quickly behind me.
I could see the three creatures roaming about. They didn’t seem to have any real direction, and wandered aimlessly around. If I didn’t know better I’d say they were lost. Since I could easily see the one I struck with arrows—the other two had their hoods up—I knew they had to be looking for us. Vengeance was likely on their mind. Or this was their normal time to meander about. From Mare’s reaction my first guess was more likely correct.
“Let’s go,” Ze whispered, dropping to the ground on the other side.
We felt Ze’s magic on us, giving Mare the signal to drop gracefully to the ground while I tried to lower myself without falling. As soon as my feet hit the ground, Ze was ready to go. Without a warning he started sprinting. Mare was instantly by his side, but I really wasn’t expecting an instant dash to the door so I ended up several steps behind.
Our running made noise. We hadn’t thought that part through but the confusion of invisible noise had the monsters at a standstill for several moments before they carefully followed. I really wished we had done that thing again and made our steps not noticeable but Ze was probably too tired for that. At least they weren’t full on running after us.
Still, they were slowly gaining on us and we had a few yards to go.
The closer we got to home, the closer they got to catching up to us. It was going to be a tight finish. Who would reach their goal first?
Then I remembered the door. We’d have to open the damn thing to get in. Why? Why couldn’t the barrier be sooner? Maybe it was. I prayed it was the patio, but I knew not to hold on to that hope. It wouldn’t do me any good. They’d catch up before we reached the door, and there was no way for us to kill them.
I summoned my bow. The other two couldn’t see me. They had no idea what my plan was. As terrible as it was, I needed them to get through that doorway. At least Ze had some flowers too. Thankfully they all should
n’t be needed. One was probably more than necessary
Reading myself for my plan, I shot an arrow behind me hoping the noise would distract them.
It didn’t. My second idea was needed after all. Cringing I watched how close we were getting to the back door and waited for the right moment.
We had just hit the patio. They weren’t stopping, and I needed to stop them.
I slowed my pace so I could take aim and shot my good buddy ‘idiot who just won’t die’ in the chest. He stopped and let out an ear shattering screech. The other two faltered in their running as the spell dropped. I turned to see that Ze and Mare had made it to the door.
Giving it all I could, I ran to catch up. They had the door open, were just inside and looking back terrified. That’s when I felt it. The pain was terrible. Unbearable heat shot through me and I looked down to see something had struck through me. Oh. I looked up at my friends. Their faces said it all. Right. This wasn’t good.
Something else struck me hard in the side. Whatever it was that was through me was all that was keeping me up. I couldn’t stand. My world was slowly going black. Why wouldn’t it fade quicker? I could taste iron as I coughed up something vile.
Oh. That’d be blood.
It very much looked like I was going to die. Another thing stabbed through me. It didn’t even seem like that should be necessary. I couldn’t really see much of anything. I guess there was some light, but it was mostly black dots.
Why wouldn’t this just end? I didn’t want to go, but there was no coming back from this.
Finally, it went black.
10
A harsh cold wind blew across my face waking me. Slowly opening my eyes, I took in the fact I was once more waking up on the kitchen floor. Every fiber of my being hurt and I didn’t want to move, but I could. I could move, I could feel, and I was very much alive.
Bless that Dreamer status.
Carefully, I pushed myself up so I was sitting and took stock of my body. There were no visible injuries but I noted the bracelet was now gone. They did say it vanished when someone died, so we’d have to start that adventure over again and hope it was in a similar place.
Did that mean I couldn’t connect with that Creator anymore? Maybe it would be more difficult if they were further away. I waited, listening intensely for that voice and nothing came. I wasn’t surprised, but really was hoping I didn’t lose that connection.
Closing my eyes, I tried to figure out the time. About three in the morning came to mind and I knew it would be best to find my way to the safe zone and see what was going on. I stood on shaky legs and was relieved I could hold myself upright. Summoning my bow took a bit more concentration, but I managed it, and started to shuffle my way back.
Several twists and wrong turns later, I found it. Stepping through the painting felt even more unpleasant than normal, the jelly-like substance pushed against every part that hurt in a way that felt like landing wrong when jumping into water.
As I entered, I saw a very tired Mare talking with Ze and Clove. Everyone turned as Mare gaped at me in surprise.
“You survived?” Mare screeched as she ran and hugged me.
I groaned in pain but didn’t push away. It had been several hours that I was gone. “I’m pretty sure I died. I just came back. Somehow.”
As Mare pulled away I saw Ze and Clove had come over to stand just behind her.
“It looks like the Dreamer thing is still going strong.” Clove nodded approvingly. “You got lucky. You shouldn’t just sacrifice yourself like that.”
I was taken aback by how upset she sounded. “It was either I chance it or we all would have died and they wouldn’t have come back.” I motioned to Ze and Mare.
Clove sighed tiredly. “Fine. That’s probably true, but you need to be more careful.”
“We’ll plan way better next time,” Mare agreed.
“Next time we adventure outside it’ll be with a bigger group too,” Ze agreed.
“The group size wasn’t the problem.” I shook my head at them. “We were up against something we didn’t know how to beat. We need more information. Isn’t there anything we can find to tell us how to kill those things?”
Clove looked hesitant as she glanced at Ze and Mare but shook it off when she looked back at me. “You don’t remember things from when you were dreaming when you were younger. There were plenty of books on how to slay things and find things. You knew exactly what all the artifacts were and even where the most common places to find them were. Past you said you read about it.”
I nodded slowly, “But present me doesn’t remember any of this.”
“Exactly.” Clove sighed. “I have tried to search several times for these things, but I don’t even know where to begin. I don’t know the titles, which library they are from, or even if they were in a library. If a Creator had hold of them, they are gone now.”
Something in my gut told me they weren’t just gone. “They are probably just really well hidden. Maybe not even in an actual library.”
Clove gave a slow nod. “There are hundreds of rooms around here. Some do have books.” After a moment of consideration she shook her head. “I don’t want you running all over looking though. You aren’t strong enough to fight everything, and you’ll probably be a weakened mess for a few days.”
I gave a small laugh. “I’m glad you care, but honestly, I bet I’ll be fine after a good night's sleep. I want to help, so let me or I will venture out on my own.” It was true, not that they could actually keep me in the safe zone forever. Eventually it would just teleport me out itself.
Clove shared a look with Mare and sighed. “Fine. Then you stay with a group if you’re going anywhere aside from the first floor. You need to learn all the creatures and how to kill them on your own. Even with a group, you never know what will happen.”
Perfect. “Gladly. Now, as great as this has been, I really do feel as bad as I probably look and would like some sleep.”
“Yeah, you need it.” Mare snickered. “Go on.” She motioned for me to head off and followed close behind.
I glanced over my shoulder at her as soon as I hit the room I had been using. “Are you following me for a reason?”
Mare gave me a huge hug again. “Plenty of reasons.” She pulled away and stared at me for a long moment before sighing. “We thought you were gone for good. Dead dead. I’m glad you’ve survived, but please don’t do that again.”
I sat down on my bed and shook my head. “I make no promises. Even if there is a chance I’ll die for real, I won’t sacrifice everyone. There’s a lot we need to accomplish now, and I think I have a clear goal of what I want to do next.”
Mare stared at me surprised. “Okay, what do you want to do next then?”
“We need to find the Creators and bring them back,” I stated simply.
Mare raised an eyebrow. “And how do you propose we do that?”
I hesitated. “I actually have an idea, but I can’t have you telling everyone. Or even anyone. It’s on that level with the bracelet, which is of course missing again.”
Mare glanced down at my wrists before meeting my eyes. “Okay, I don’t doubt what you’re saying, but why?”
“I think Benz and Clove know more than they’re letting on, but can’t actually tell us.”
Mare stared at me for another long moment before nodding slowly. “There are things neither side is physically capable of telling. I can believe you on this.”
“Exactly what I’m saying. Good. Where do you stand as far as things with the Creators go?” I knew if there was any way of getting back home, I needed the Creators back here. With them here things would also be stabilized for the people stuck here. It would be a win win.
There was something about that fog too… something sinister that they could likely help with. I didn’t like that the fog could just find where my home was. Where my sister was lying wearily, trying to recover.
Mare shook her head and paced the room a bit. “Ove
rall, I liked them. I got along with most of them well enough. Though I don’t really agree this is the best solution for wandering souls.”
“That’s fair. I’m not too sure about that last part either.” Having souls trapped in murder world to try and help them accomplish things so they would cross over seemed a bit extreme. I wondered if things all started that way or just grew into this mess.
“You know something, don’t you?” Mare asked curiously.
I heard Clove and Ze talking as they came down the hallway. “We can talk about it later. That bracelet was a bit more than we were expecting it to be.”
Mare tilted her head at me but heard the sound from down the hall as well. “Until later then.” With a nod, she headed out, leaving me to finally get the sleep I needed.
Instead of weird fog dreams, I only heard a series of voices declaring I was taking too long. They declared motivation would be coming. That she would have to come. This strange occurrence was registered as just another dream to me. At least I didn’t have to see the fog.
When I finally awoke it was just after eight in the morning. I pulled myself up and found Clove sitting in a corner of the sparsely filled common room. She had a pad of papers in hand and seemed to be slowly flipping through them.
“What’s going on?” I asked casually as I sat down across from her.
Her eyes met mine for a moment before looking back at the papers. “I’m not sure how to explain it, but Cane believes she has figured out a pattern to where things disappear to, such as the artifacts.”
I nodded slowly. “Things all seem to have a set schedule or pattern here. That would make sense.”
“Indeed,” Clove agreed as she looked over at me for a moment. “The pattern isn’t very favorable though.”
“Does it involve going outside again?” I asked, almost dreading the answer.
“And the basement.” Clove nodded. “It takes a certain hardiness to get through any basement exploration. Outside you already know is a battle royale of the odd, the ugly, and the invincible.”
“Okay, what’s in the basement?” It seemed people said it with more dread than the outside.