by Max Jager
Mendelen and Estellese watched as Kaden walked up to the snake once it collapsed and began petting its head. "Good snakey. Relax. Stop trying to eat us." He whispered to it in a soft tone, and the snake violently hissed back at him. "Bad!" Kaden snapped and swatted it on the nose. "You will not use such language! Bad snakey!"
Mendelen sighed and decided to ignore Kaden as he walked over to the snake's head. It had not regained enough of its vision to paralyze them yet so he needed to move quickly. As he approached Kaden held out his sword, handing it to Mendelen as he passed. "You'll need this." Kaden replied. "Since you lost both of yours."
"Thanks" Mendelen took the sword and stepped closer, before stabbing it into the snake's eye. He knew it would take more than just that, the thrown knives had not killed the snake earlier, but then again the thrown knives had not pierced that deeply into the basilisk's eye due to them being thrown. Mendelen shoved the sword in as deeply as it could reach, then he took a step back and kicked the hilt as hard as he could to force the blade in even deeper. The snake let out a loud screech of pain, then it's body went limp. It was finally dead, although the sword was now buried so deeply in the snake's eye that it could not be taken back out. Not that it mattered, they had spare swords.
Moments after the basilisk was killed the door opened again and a hatch could be heard opening in the ceiling above them. Suddenly a treasure chest just fell out of the ceiling and landed in the middle of the room.
Mendelen looked around, everyone was badly injured, this fight had almost been the end of all four of them. Zanath's legs were broken; several of Kaden's ribs were broken and his head was still bleeding very badly, he possibly had a cracked skull; Estellese also had several broken ribs and was off throwing up in the corner of the room again, Mendelen himself was also injured. He knew Kaden just threw away several of their potions and he wondered how many they had left now. He hoped Kaden didn't use them all on the snake, he had thrown several of them and they didn't have many to begin with. He turned to the chest and sighed softly, hoping that whatever was inside would be worth it. Although, inwardly he knew nothing that chest could offer would be worth all four of them almost dying.
"How many potions did Kaden take?" Mendelen asked.
"All of them" Estellese replied between coughing fits.
"Zanath, please tell me we still have some herbs left to make our own potions?" Mendelen asked.
"We do." Zanath replied. "But only enough for three. Not enough for everyone, and if we all use one there will be none left to save us from something bad happening later. And I'm sure I don't need to say, no matter what someone's going to get hurt again eventually. And we are in no condition to risk fighting the werewolves, we can't go back to the forest we got the herbs in."
"You guys drink the potions." Kaden spoke up. "I'm not taking one. We can hope to find more in the chest, or in that room we passed by on the way here." He said. "Surely the dungeon will give us some extra potions in that room before the boss. We didn't check it out, so we can go there now." He said as he walked over to the chest and opened it.
Zanath limped over to the others, having already mixed the herbs into the water bottles while the others were fighting. He handed one to Mendelen and Estellese, then sat down and drank the last one himself. Estellese drank hers and also sat down. Mendelen looked at his and hesitated, he wanted to save one for an emergency, but also knew that if he didn't drink it his wounds would slow him down and that could result in him being unable to protect his friends. Kaden also needed it more than he did, but at the same time Kaden was not as good of a fighter as he was. The team was safer if Mendelen was not injured. Plus Kaden had already stated his opinion, Mendelen knew the stubborn man wouldn't drink it unless forced to. After a moment of contemplation, he drank his and sat down and spoke to Kaden. "Next potion we find is yours. Stick close to me and Estellese for protection"
Although right as he said that Estellese began coughing heavily and nearly threw up again. "Scratch that, stay near me, both of you. If that illness is not cured by the potion." Mendelen corrected himself. "
"Uh, I'm not sure if you guys are gonna like this chest" Kaden interrupted.
"Why?" Mendelen questioned as he turned to Kaden.
Kaden took a deep breath, then sighed. "It's empty."
"Of course. Just our luck." Mendelen sighed, he lowered his head a little and looked almost defeated. If the game was this cruel, surviving would be even harder than they thought. "All that for nothing, this game is brutal."
Estellese shook her head. "Really? We almost died for that and it's empty. Are you freaking kidding me?!-"
"Yes, I am" Kaden interrupted.
Estellese continued "I mean, Why the hell would they put an empty-" She stopped as Kaden's words registered in her mind. "You're an asshole, you know that?"
"I am aware." Kaden chuckled. "But I'm a loveable asshole so that makes it okay." He added. Mendelen and Zanath remained quiet, but they both smirked a little and Mendelen briefly chuckled. They were both relieved, and slightly amused by the joke.
Kaden started pulling the items out of the chest, holding each one up for a moment so the others could see before placing them on the ground. Since the others were paralyzed by the healing potions and would be unable to check the chest themselves. He pulled out a bow, a quiver with 6 arrows in it, and a chainmail chestpiece that protected both the torso and arms of the wearer, although the metals used to make the chainmail seemed weak and flimsy. Kaden grabbed what looked like a necklace with a large diamond and gold pendant, however as he touched it he felt this bizarre sensation of energy emanating from it. The strange feeling made him gasp and drop it, as he yanked his hand back as if he had just grabbed something thorny. After seeing that the necklace did not do anything aside from give off that odd feeling, he reached in and picked it up again then promptly put the strange thing around his neck.
The others were giving Kaden an odd look, wondering why he had jumped. Although, knowing Kaden and knowing that any time he found something unknown he used it straight away, they assumed there was something abnormal about the necklace he was now wearing. "Kaden," Mendelen stated. "One of these days that curiosity of yours is going to be the death of you. be careful." He said simply.
"One of us was going to have to try it out and see what it did. Otherwise we'd never learn" Kaden replied just as simply. "But I appreciate the concern. However I can't tell what it does or why it gives off this funny feeling." He added as he pulled out the last few items. There was what looked like a bag of coins, and two marble sized diamonds along with one golfball sized ruby. He placed these miscellaneous things in that magic bag Mendelen had to save them some space. Then he laid down on his back to wait for the potions to work on the others. The second he laid down he hissed and cringed, the back of his head touched the ground and sent a sharp pain through him causing him to jump. He had forgotten about that injury, in the rush of adrenaline from the fight or flight reflex the pain from his wounds had almost been unnoticable. But now that he was unwinding, everything hurt. Especially his head and ribs.
Kaden rolled over and laid face-down on the ground. "How bad is my head?" He asked.
"Pretty bad." Mendelen answered. "Well, it looks pretty bad. But then again you're still conscious and able to function so I guess it can't be that bad. Otherwise you'd be knocked out or dead."
"Not necessarily" Zanath spoke up, "Some pretty bad brain injuries won't knock you out or kill you. But then again, without a doctor here to check it we wouldn't be able to tell. The bleeding seems to have stopped at least."
"True, true." Mendelen replied, "With just us the best we can do is judge by what it looks like. And it looks okay. Aside from all the blood." He looked back at Kaden, however Kaden was now gone. Mendelen looked around the room and couldn't see Kaden anywhere. "Where'd he go?"
"Dunno, wasn't watching him." Estellese replied. She was just lying on her back while the potion healed her injuries.
"I have
no idea." Zanath stated. "He could not have gone far. I didn't even hear him move."
"Who are we looking for?" Kaden asked.
"You" Mendelen replied. "Where are you?"
"Still laying where I was before." Kaden replied as he raised his hand to wave at the others. As soon as he raised his hand he suddenly appeared in the middle of the room, still lying exactly where he was.
"Kaden" Zanath started. "I think that necklace turns you invisible." He stated. The only explanation for that was that Kaden had been invisible, and logically the only thing that had changed about Kaden was the necklace he put on. "It must turn you invisible when you are still."
"Huh." Kaden mused. He put his hand down and just laid there, and sure enough he turned invisible after two seconds.
"Hey! It works." Mendelen laughed. "That could be useful."
"Very." Kaden replied with a bit of a smirk, although nobody could see it.
"A necklace that makes him invisible." Estellese mused. "Can we find a ring that makes him mute too? Combining both would be pretty awesome."
"Hey!" Kaden pouted, but then chuckled lightly along with everyone else.
They waited out the five minute duration of the potions, and once it was over everyone but Kaden had recovered from all of their injuries.
Mendelen looked over the items, assuming Kaden was going to take the necklace no matter what. "I don't think anyone has any arguments against giving the bow and arrows to Zanath, right?" He asked.
"I do not know how to use a bow" Zanath stated.
"Does anyone else know how?" Mendelen asked, and when there was no answer he turned back to Zanath. "Well, nobody does. You have the best aim, so it's best in your hands. And I think Estell should have the chainmail, since she's our front line." He added.
Zanath took the bow and arrows and began fiddling with them, testing them out and taking a few practice shots across the room.
"You are also our front line Mendelen." Estellese stated. "You take it, I will be fine without it." She still felt very numb and sick, the potion healed her wounds but it did not cure her of whatever illness she had.
"You sure?" Mendelen asked. And upon seeing her nod he took the armor and put it on himself, now he had both a helmet and a chestpiece."Let's go, we have one more room to check then we can get out of here."
Mendelen lead the way, and everyone followed after him. Kaden was limping and lagging behind a little bit due to his injuries but he was able to somewhat keep up with the others. And Estellese was still coughing and getting sick as they traveled back to the room they had passed up. It was empty, but had another room leading off to the west, That room was also free of monsters but contained one treasure chest. Mendelen opened this chest, fearing it may be a trap but it was not. Inside was three more small bags of coins, 4 marble-sized topaz gems, and an odd looking ring. Like the necklace the ring gave off this strange aura, like it was emitting energy. It was a plain golden ring and the top of it where a gem would normally be instead had a flat and blank surface. Since Estellese was the only one to not get an item from the previous chest, Mendelen passed her the ring, assuming it had some sort of magical properties to it. Kaden was both surprised and concerned that there had been no extra potions in the side room as he had hoped.
With that, the dungeon was fully explored. Or at least they did not know of any other rooms remaining so they assumed that was it. The four Alphas backtracked through the tunnels, looking over the destruction that was left behind from all of their previous battles. Now, they return to the surface armed and at least not completely defenseless anymore. Although, with Kaden and Estellese's conditions taken into consideration, Mendelen wondered if they were better off or worse off than when they entered, They were armed, but half of their group was also unable to fight effectively due to injury or illness.
They exited through the massive spiked doors that started their dungeon run, passing by the goblin corpses, and began making their way up the stairs, back to the subway entrance. "Estellese, what symptoms are you experiencing? From your illness?" Mendelen asked. He figured that since there was a lull in the combat, now was a good time to figure out what was going on.
"Well, throwing up constantly for one. My stomach and throat are burning like hell from that." Estellese replied. "I felt numbness in my right arm, which has spread through most of my body now. There are times where I can not breathe, like, I can't inhale or exhale, my lungs just won't work." Estellese started
"That is very concerning." Mendelen thought out loud.
"And now I feel a very sharp pain in my arm, where the numbness started. That too seems to be spreading." Estellese finished.
"Where?" Zanath asked. "I mean, where on your arm."
"Here." Estellese said as she pulled back her sleeve. Revealing that a spot on her arm was turning a dark shade of purple, while the area around the purple was a very dark red and all swollen. "Oh shit!" She gasped. "I didn't think it was that bad. What the hell is going on?"
"Estellese." Zanath started. "Were you at any time bitten by a snake? Or the snake end of any of those hybrid creatures?"
"Yes." Estellese replied. Then her eyes widened as she realized what he was implying. "Wait! Were those things poisonous? I used my healing spell, and a potion, does that not cure poison?"
"Yes, those were poisonous snakes. And I would assume a normal healing potion won't remove poison. Going by video game logic, we would need an antidote potion." Zanath answered. "And we need to find an antidote fast, that poison has been in you for a while now. Judging by the symptoms you described I think the poison is causing your lungs to periodically fail. We need to cure this before your lungs permanently fail or you experience heart failure."
Estellese's eyes widened in fear, but only for a moment before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she reopened her eyes she was calm and collected, on the outside at least. On the inside she was afraid that she would die here, she knew the chances of them finding an antidote in this overrun and looted city was near impossible. "Where do we go? A pharmacy?"
Mendelen spoke up as they reached the top of the stairs and stepped out of the subway. "The first potions we found earlier were in a pharmacy section of a grocery store. So a real pharmacy may be our best bet."
As soon as they all stepped out of the subway suddenly a massive earthquake shook the city. Birds shot up into the sky, the dragon who was on the other side of town was startled awake and flew high into the air trying to figure out what happened, and a girl who got startled by the sudden earthquake fell off a nearby rooftop.
Kaden looked behind him at the source of the earthquake, only to see the stairs in the subway vanish, and he felt as if something massive underground suddenly tunneled off to the east. Did the dungeon just tunnel away?
The other three spotted the young girl falling from the roof. The girl flipped herself up-right in mid-air and landed on her feet in a surprising show of agility. She was short, had incredibly pale skin, very long, straight blue hair, carried a bow and arrows on her back, and she wore what looked like blue and white colored clothing that looked like it belonged to some royal medieval family. Her sharp blue eyes locked on the four Alpha testers, and when she noticed that they had seen her she cussed, grabbed her bow and an arrow and immediately notched the arrow and prepared to fire.
Mendelen and Estellese quickly stepped closer to the subway, preparing to use it for cover just incase they needed to evade fire. But she did not fire straight away. Zanath also grabbed his bow and an arrow, but was not nearly as fast as the girl was. He aimed back at her but also did not fire.
"Lower your weapon!" Mendelen called out. "We are not here to fight! We're actually really happy we found another human. Please lower your weapon, we are peaceful."
"You know…" Kaden started. "Saying 'we are peaceful' while we are covered in the blood and guts of a bunch of different monsters doesn't really look honest."
"Kaden. Not now." Mendelen stated sternly.
&n
bsp; "Another human…?" The girl murmured, pausing for a moment to think. "Human…?" She murmured again before giving them a confused and distrusting look. Then she suddenly bolted off in a west-ward direction.
As soon as she started to run Zanath fired an arrow at her, aiming for her leg with the intent to stop her from escaping. He didn't really want to hurt the girl, but she was another person in this world, they had to find out what she knew and if she knew how to get out of this game. Or, if possible, where the other humans were so they could try to survive within a city or something. They could always heal her later when they found some potions. However as soon as the girl saw his arrow coming at her she stopped running and spun to face them, in an instant she took aim and shot his arrow out of the air with her own., and a split second after that she had notched a second arrow and fired it straight at Zanath.