Descend- Coming Together

by David Burke

  “Well at least one more person so we have a full party of five for the second dungeon floor,” Jay said.

  “The good news is that everyone who went with us today is eligible for the second floor now that they have cleared the first and they all got the 1000 credits so that is a positive,” Jay said.

  Meikiyo mumbled something and Jay looked at her. “What’d you say? Sorry I didn’t hear you, sweetie?”

  The petite girl’s light skin blossomed a bright-red blush when he said that and both the other girls looked at her. Jay looked around, confused. “What’s the matter? Did I say something wrong?”

  “You just called her sweetie in front of all of us. Don’t think I’ve ever heard you use a term of endearment or pet name for any of us and certainly not in front of the rest of us,” Amelia said. Then as Jay continued to stare on unsure what to say she added, “Go on, kiss the girl. Let her know it wasn’t a fluke or slip of the tongue.”

  Jay didn’t need to be told twice. He might not know much about girls but if Meikiyo needed reassuring, he could do that. He pulled her into him and planted a tender kiss on her lips. She wasn’t having any of that though and a couple seconds into what he had meant to be a light display of public affection, he found her kissing him with gusto.

  It was all that he could do to end the kiss when through the rushing of blood in his ears he heard Huong say, “He’s never called me sweetie.”

  Jay smiled at Meikiyo who was positively beaming. Her eyes which he had lost himself in so many times already were alight with her happiness. Her heart must have been racing from the way that her breasts were rising and falling. As much as Jay wanted to be able to focus on her he turned to the other two.

  “I’m an awful lecher, but don’t for one second think that I feel any differently about both of you. I couldn’t imagine going on without all of you.”

  “Oh we know it, but she was the first to get a pet name. Now you are gonna have to come up with ones for us, but you are gonna have to make it seem natural not forced,” Amelia said.

  “Yeah, and I wanna be kissed like that,” Huong said.

  At that Amelia snapped, “You insatiable slut. If he starts kissing us all like that we aren’t gonna get anything productive done.”

  “Whoa, maybe let's just all suggest someone for the fifth spot on the team,” Jay said, trying to get them back on track.

  “Okay, but I want us to add a core member and at least three alternates. I would like to spend some time seeing if I can craft more items like your spear. Nothing from the store yet is quite as good and I think working with some of the others that we might be able to make even better stuff,” Huong said.

  “Okay, well if no one else wants to go first, then I will make my recommendation. The girls with me were good for the most part but none of them have what I think we need for the fifth slot. Some of them would be good alternates. Actually all of them could be, but we can’t add to the team too quickly. So I think we should add Jessie, because we need another close-range fighter, Amelia said.

  Jay said, “That is exactly what I was thinking, but didn’t know how you all would feel about it after the way she jumped me the other night.”

  “Look, I’m not saying what you have to do but if she is gonna be a core member, it is pretty clear that you are going to be sleeping with her and probably sooner rather than later. I just hope she is the adventurous type because I had too much fun in our little group last night,” Amelia responded.

  “Can’t we at least consider someone else?” Huong asked.

  “I agree with them. All three of the girls who were in my group have some skills that could work well, but none of them are close-up fighters. Right now Jay is really the only one of those. Amelia can sneak and I can use my flame sword but neither of us can take a punch so to speak. You saw how Jessie wasn’t afraid to go at it with those creatures last night and she said she passed the first threshold this morning so she will be even stronger.”

  “But Jasmine deserves a spot on the team. She can help us so much. She will make sure the rest of the cluster does what Jay needs them to do,” Huong protested.

  “That bitch is still controlling you. I don’t blame you. I hate myself for it but when I’m around her everything she says just seems to make so much sense. You need to clear your head when you aren’t around her though,” Amelia said.

  “I got a new skill that is allowing me to resist her sometimes. It isn’t as consistent as Jay’s Iron Will but it’s called Flames of Devotion. When I feel that someone I care about is being hurt in some way a fire rises up in me and seems to burn away everything else so I can think clearly. It happened when she was trying to control us and get us to invite her to Team Jay. I got so mad, not at what she was doing to me, but how she was doing it to both of you.” As Meikiyo spoke she looked at Amelia and Huong. “That was when I knew that you two were sisters to me.”

  “That is super cool, Meikiyo, and makes me feel better about you all being around Jasmine,” Jay said.

  “Come on, Jay, I have seen the way you look at her,” Huong said.

  “I’m not gonna lie. I think she is hot,” Jay began.

  Amelia said, “You’d have to be blind not to, but that doesn’t change that she is a manipulative bitch.”

  “This is just gonna devolve into an argument, so let’s take a vote. I vote that the fifth slot goes to Jessie,” Jay said.

  Meikiyo and Amelia quickly agreed and Huong sighed and said, “Fine, but we still need alternates.”

  “So, how do you want to decide on alternates? Just let each of us pick one?” Amelia asked.

  “Is that what you all want or do you prefer to have a say in everyone on the team?” Jay asked in response.

  “It sorta depends if the alternates are full team members or probationary,” Meikiyo said.

  Jay shrugged and said, “Why does this have to be so complicated?”

  “Men aren’t good at this sort of thing, but you have us here to help,” Amelia said.

  “I don’t deserve you.”

  “Nope you don’t but you are stuck with us all the same,” Amelia said and gave him one of her few warm smiles.

  “So Kenzie would probably be a good addition as another healer but I don’t completely trust her. Mia is someone I really want to help out. I have a feeling that her powers are going to be amazing but she isn’t able to use them very much yet,” Jay said.

  Then when no one responded he added, “Look, why don’t we just table this for now and get Jessie then we can do the dungeon floor. Maybe things will feel clearer tonight.”

  They all looked at him, Huong seemed very reluctant but eventually they agreed. So he went off to find Jessie saying that he would bring her back here.

  Chapter 15 - Off to the Races

  It had been a bit awkward once he got back with Jessie. She was sorta like the new dog being introduced and they all had to sniff one another. Of course, even Jay was smart enough to realize he could never let them know that he had made that comparison in his head.

  Things got easier once they went to the terminal at the base of ziggurat for quests related to the second floor. It was simple, in that there was only one quest for this floor.

  Quest 2.1 Race to the Finish

  You may attempt this quest any number of times but can only pass this floor if you can complete it within 1 hour of beginning it. You must find and reach a red and silver pole which is 5 feet high. All members of your team must complete it. Death or failure of any member to touch the pole within the hour time limit results in an incomplete quest.

  Reward: Access to 3rd floor of the dungeon and 2,000 credits per team member.

  Reward: Access to Terminal 2.1

  They were all kinda hyped up about the idea of a race rather than a purely combat-oriented mission. The monsters from the other night clearly would still pose a threat but they hoped that it would be more about figuring out the best way to get to the finish line than dealing with those giant be
etle things.

  The trip down to the second door was uneventful and once they opened it they had the same experience of stepping through the doorway into a larger space. Instead of a dungeon though this seemed to be a desert wasteland. As far as the eye could see it was nothing but dunes of sand broken by patches of rocky outcroppings. The wind gusted and blew the sand through the air thickly enough that it got in their noses and mouths.

  Jay signaled for them all to leave so they walked back out into the ziggurat.

  “What’s wrong, the timer started as soon as we accepted the quest or didn’t you notice that?”

  “No I saw it just fine, but it doesn't really matter if we beat the quest but then die of thirst stuck in the desert,” Jay replied. “Wait right here, I will run and get a few supplies that we will need.”

  Without another word Jay burst out of there at a full sprint to save as much time as possible. While running, he went through the list of things that he thought they might need in order to survive. Their skills would take care of many of the items but what they definitely needed was face covers and more water. At his level of strength he could afford to carry another backpack filled with canteens.

  It took him all of two minutes to buy the items but another ten to fill all the canteens from the little spring. From there he raced as fast as possible back and so when they entered the dungeon with light clothing covering as much of their skin and three times as much water, Jay felt much better prepared.

  “Can anyone see any indicators of what direction we need to go?” Huong asked. “I can’t feel much vegetation in here, so I may be somewhat limited.”

  “I can’t see that far in the blowing sand and there is so much heat rising from the sand that my infra-vision isn’t going to be very effective either,” Meikiyo said.

  “I can’t see anything, and Life Sense is not showing me much. There is life here but a lot of it must be hiding from the sun now,” Jay said.

  Amelia and Jessie were both focused. The former had an absent look as though she was looking at her status screen. Jessie was walking around like she was trying to catch the scent of something.

  Seeing them diligently searching, Jay said, “I’m gonna try combining Life Sense and Precognition to determine which way to go. Use whatever skills you have and see if you can get any clues.”

  With that they all sat down and were in their own little worlds working their skills while Jessie walked around them using various animals' sensory functions as they came to her.

  Eventually, Amelia said, “I can’t tell for sure but I think we need to head that way.” She pointed towards the direction that the sun was starting to set in. “I used Eagle Eye to see as far as I could and then used my Clairvoyant Sense to search the areas I could see in more detail.”

  Jessie said, “The scent of those creatures from last night is everywhere here. I worry that they hide in the sand, so we will have to be careful.”

  “I feel so helpless. My Residue Reading might work if there had been other people through here, but as far as I can tell we are the first sapient beings to be in this area ever,” Huong said.

  Jay looked at Amelia before asking, “Do you trust me?”

  She stared at him and all the others looked at her to see how she reacted. “You know that I do, but what sort of boneheaded idea has gotten into your head now?”

  “Well, if you got higher, then you could see further correct?”

  Amelia nodded in response to his question.

  “And then if you can see an area, you can use your clairvoyant sense to search it in more detail, right?”

  “Yes, as long as I have either been to an area or I have seen it recently, I can scan it, but it isn’t like there is a tree for me to climb here.”

  “Oh wow, I just thought of something. Before I tell you my brilliant idea, which you are just gonna love, can you see what is happening back at the base camp?” Jay gave Amelia his best foppish smile.

  “I already thought of that, but I can’t see to either when we are in the dungeon or here, but if I were to step back through the door, then I would be able to easily.”

  “Okay, I guess that would have been too easy. So, what I want to do is throw you up into the air and then slow you enough with my Kinetic Dampening for me to catch you.”

  Huong and Meikiyo snickered as they watched Amelia biting back her initial response. Jessie just watched everyone’s faces trying to figure out the dynamics while having her usual cheery smile. “Fine but you better catch me.”

  “As if I’d ever let go of you.” Jay’s response must have pleased her because her frown shifted to a smile.

  Just as he was picking her up, he got a premonition of danger followed almost instantly by a blip on his Life Sense from under the sand. “Everyone behind me, now!” Jay yelled as he enhanced his physical stats and grabbed the spear off his back.

  No sooner was the spear in his hands than one of the giant beetle-like creatures exploded up out of the sand. Jay maximized his precognition too and the path of his spear was almost highlighted for him. Spear and carapace met with a sharp bone-cracking impact but the weapon crafted by his girls proved to be the stronger of the two.

  As the spear skewered the monster from underneath, Jay lifted it up so that those deadly barbed claws couldn’t reach him. It must have weighed 400 lbs but with his new levels of strength felt like little more than an inconvenience. It thrashed about making it harder to hold still, so he said, “You can finish it any day.”

  Lances of shadow and fire streaked out at it. The shadow lance did that thing which Jay found to be so cool and partially phased through the armored carapace before ripping apart the squishy insides. The beam of fire took a second to cut through the hide but Meikiyo had learned her lesson from the previous night and concentrated her flame into a more intense attack rather than covering a wider area. The smell of cooked bug was not pleasant.

  When it stopped moving, Jay flung it off his spear so that it landed a ways from the group. Brief cheers and even high fives were shared within the group as they were all pleased with how easily the monster had been taken down. Then Jessie asked, “Holy crap, how strong are you? You threw that thing like twenty feet like it was nothing.”

  Jay smiled and said, “My base Durability is at 23 now and Enhanced Strength is 12. By my calculations I think that when I boost strength a full four times that I’m as strong as approximately 200 men of my size.”

  “So you can still only boost four times after the second threshold?” Huong asked in her scientist voice.

  “Yeah, no change on that front. This threshold seemed to be more about changing my physical form. Maybe it is helping me adapt for future upgrades.”

  “Well none of us are complaining about the new tanned look or the size increase, although if you keep growing bigger, it could become a problem at some point,” Meikiyo said.

  When Amelia and Huong giggled, she blushed and said, “I mean because I’m so short and if he is like eight feet tall, it will be really awkward.”

  “Sure, sure that’s the size you were talking about,” Amelia said as she chuckled.

  “I just passed the first threshold this morning. Why didn’t anyone tell me that you could now magnify skills four times?” Jessie asked.

  Jay said, “Sorry, now that you are on the team we will try to remember to share everything with you, but you also have to always be pushing and trying to get better.”

  Again Amelia snickered and said, “Jay will be sure to share everything with you.” The way she drew out the word everything left no doubt as to her meaning.

  Ignoring Amelia, Jay said, “Maybe now would be a good time for you to show us your Status sheet so that we can all have a better idea of what you can do. We all know some of it.”

  Jessie simply reached out her hand and put it on his shoulder as she said, “Share Status.”

  F49383

  Level: 6

  Awareness: 9

  Bestial Control: 5 - 18%


  Durability: 4

  Toughness: 3 - 69%

  Kinesis: 3

  Ossein Kinesis: 1 - 0%

  Metabolism: 6

  Primal Adaptation: 5 - 7%

  Regeneration: 1 - 4%

  Formation: 3

  Stat Enhanced Constructs: 1 - 0%

  PSI Pts: 150 Stamina: 100

  Shop Credits: 380

  This led to everyone sharing their Status with each other just to see the changes. Finally though Jay realized that their limited time was running out and even if they didn’t expect to beat the quest, the first time they should still see how long it would take them. “Okay, minds on the task. The clock is still running. Are you ready to go flying?” Jay asked Amelia.

  “Well now that I saw how far you threw that, whatever we are calling it, I’m a little worried about how far up you are gonna throw me.”