by J P Carver
“That’s… that’s a drieger, right?” Geo asked as he took a step back.
“That’s a drieger.”
“Great, why can't we run again?”
Peyton shook her head. “You saw her move. She’d run us down.”
“How do you know it’s a her?”
“It moans like a woman? I know you’ve been a shut-in for the last eight years, but you had porn, didn’t you?”
“Okay, let’s drop that discussion and focus on how we’re getting out of this,” Geo said and took another step back. The black tendrils were spreading along the floor like some kind of vine.
“Well, I say we give her you since she hasn’t stopped staring at you,” Peyton said. Geo had noticed too, but was trying to ignore it. The top head was staring holes through him and he felt like he was being sized up for something he was not prepared for. A mouth appeared, and a panting sound reached them. It was disturbing and Geo wished he could cover his ears.
“An idea, but let’s try to come up with something else,” he said and sliced through a tendril that was getting too close.
“I have nothing else. She wants you so I say we give her what she wants,” she said and smirked at him.
“You’re insane, you are not handing me over to her, Peyton,” he said and swore as a hand appeared from the darkness. He dashed back a few feet, and the hand grasped at air before retreating.
“Fine, then just distract her,” Peyton said as she too had to cut through a few tendrils, but they weren’t trying nearly as hard.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know! Do a dance or take off your clothes while I attack her.”
“I’m not stripping for some monster,” Geo said and fended off two more tendrils that had wrapped around his legs. “New plan, charge it and stab it until it dies.”
He rushed forward, sword readied and shield in front of him. He made it ten steps before a large hand swatted him back. He tumbled six times before he came to a stop next to Peyton. She stared down at him, concerned. “So, how’d hitting it until it dies work out for you?”
He groaned as she helped him back to his feet. “Grand. I think it’s best if we attack together.”
“Oh? Sounds like you have an idea.”
“I do, but I don’t know if it’s enough to kill it,” he said and looked at the creature as it shivered and another low moan escaped it. “That’s so damn unnerving.”
“Agreed. Let’s hear the idea.”
“I tank and you stab it this time. The shield will stop her attacks and grabs and you can find the best way to end it.”
“And if you’re grabbed?”
“To plan B,” he said, “stab it more.”
Peyton nodded, grinning. “That I can do. I’ll follow your lead. But keep in mind, we have a lot of experience on the line here. We can’t lose it.”
“I remember,” he said and then jogged off toward the creature. He cut his way through the black tendrils that reached for him the moment he neared. The hand came again, this time aiming to grab him. He dodged forward and then slipped under the arm. Peyton appeared beside him and shoved her spear into the arm as it passed.
The drieger screamed for the first time and reared back enough that it could stare down at them. Black teeth showed in a smile and the tendrils around Geo all shot into the air before slamming into the ground. Geo blocked the few that were on target for them and grabbed Peyton, spun her around so that she was under the shield with him. After a few seconds the tendrils retreated and Geo stood and faced Peyton.
“Go for the head,” he said and held out his shield.
“Why?”
“It kills most things, I’ll give you a boost.” He hit his shield with the pommel of his sword and she nodded. She took a few steps back and then ran forward, her last step hitting the shield. Geo shoved upward and watched as Peyton flipped over and drove her spear directly into the creature’s head before using her
The creature screamed and thrashed about, but was still alive by the time Peyton landed on the ground. Black blood ran down from the creature and started to bleed out onto the stone.
“Stabbing isn’t working,” Peyton said while she caught her breath. “Any other ideas?”
Geo didn’t answer as he was still watching the blood. He attention was drawn to how it actually adjusted its flow to go around the lantern that was laying a few yards from them. It was almost as if it was afraid of the light.
“Or the fire,” he said slowly. Peyton grabbed him and pulled him from a tendril.
“What are you talking about?”
“The blood, it’s avoiding the fire. Cover me,” he called and ran through the muck of black blood, dodging past things that made grabs for him as he went and Peyton attacked whatever she could reach.
He slid to a stop and gathered up the lantern and wished he had taken that fire spell back when he had the chance, but he’d have to make do. He patted his pockets for the matches left over from the fire the night before and found them in a pouch. After laying them in the bottom of the glass lantern, he closed the door and waited from them to catch.
They flared and the entire lantern was a contained fire. He swung the lantern in his hand and took a few steps toward the creature. It didn’t take notice as it focused on Peyton who was being more annoying than a fly.
With a quick prayer to whatever thing may be listening, he flung the lantern at the creature as hard as he could.
“Peyton, get back!” he yelled just as the lantern shattered on the creature’s head. It felt like a bomb had gone off. The blast sent Peyton flying from the creature as it was engulfed in flames.
She was tossed into the air like a fly-ball. Geo swore and rushed toward where she was going to land. He caught her snd was slammed into the wall from her momentum.
The drieger burned like kindling and made the hall an oven. Geo didn’t pay it much attention once it dropped to the ground, his attention was on the fox woman in his arms that still hadn’t opened her eyes. He checked her health bar, which was at half and her only status was knocked-out. The problem was that it had been so long that he was starting worry. He wiped damp hair from her forehead just as she started to stir.
“Ow, ow, ow…” she said and sucked air through her teeth. “What happened?”
“You became a bird for a few seconds but didn’t stick the landing,” Geo said and smiled down at her.
“Never was much good at being a bird. Did we—did we kill it?”
He pointed toward the flaming pile of black muck. “I’d say so. No experience though.”
“At least we don’t have to listen to it anymore,” she said and sat up. “You nearly killed me, by the way.”
“Nearly isn’t the same as did. I feel no remorse, Miss We-should-give-her-what-she-wants.”
Peyton cracked a smile. “Fair enough. She drop anything?”
Geo nodded again. He had area looted everything and got a similar item from before. He opened his inventory and turned the window to face her.
Mania Cube: Lust
#-#-#-#-#-#-#
She studied the window for a few minutes and then finally turned her gaze to him.“Why do you have two of these things?”
“Found one on the first drieger we killed,” he said and was surprised that she looked annoyed.
“And you didn’t think I should know?”
Geo met her glare. “I didn’t know what it was, I thought it was some kind of glitch. But this is a second one, so it’s gotta mean something.”
She grabbed the front of his armor and pulled him to her so that their noses were less than an inch from each other. “You don’t keep things from me, got it?”
He swiped her hands from him. “No, I don’t got it. I’m showing you now so that’s good enough.”
She sneered and stood. In the faint glow of the fire she started to pace.
“I think we should let Audra see them. Maybe she’ll have an idea,” Geo said.
“What if they’re dangerous?”
“I’ve had one since the first day we arrived here and nothing happened.”
She paused and looked down at his inventory screen again. “It called the drieger to us, I bet.”
“Then what do you want to do? I’ll let you make the call,” Geo said tiredly as he got to his feet. “We should be heading back, anyway. You okay to walk?”
“I’m fine,” she said coldly and started off into the darkness. Geo watched her go and looked back one last time at the smoldering muck and was glad to say, no new fetishes were awakened.
A Little Bit Closer
At the safe room both Peyton and Geo leveled up three levels. Geo checked his stat sheet after the levels took effect. He was sitting at the table and Peyton had brought the tiny Kaeru and now the toad was glaring at him.
Name: Geo Wilson
Level: 7
Health 750/750
Mental Status: Anguish(-2), Determination(+4) Despair(-12)
Body: 7
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 6
Stamina: 200/200
Psyche: 90/100
Affinity: 9
Experience: 0
You can select one skill, open your journal window to choose, Cotora said in a bored voice. Geo followed her instructions and found two new skills to choose from.
Shield Wall
Those who have faced pain build the strongest of defenses for others as they understand the hurt and wish to protect others from it.
Creates a shield wall ten feet on either side of the user, absorbing 700 damage. Scales with Body to a max of 2500 damage absorption. Projectiles from party members will still go through. Only protects in front of the user.
Cooldown: 3 minutes
Charges: 3
Fire Swath
When the world is darkest, embers glow the brightest. If you find an ember, care for it and one day it may be the flame that spreads across the world.
When activated each swing of the sword will cause a small cone of fire to rush forward, doing 100-150 fire damage. Does not cause burning damage to creatures or items. Skill lasts for 45 seconds.
Cooldown: 2 minutes
He considered his options while doing his best to ignore the toad and Audra and Peyton chatting. The fire would be nice since the drieger were weak to it, but he couldn’t base his skill choices around one enemy, could he? It didn’t help that it specifically stated that it didn’t cause burning which meant that he couldn’t just set things on fire and move onto the next.
The shield wall would be useful as Peyton could only dodge and didn’t have a great way to defend herself. It also sounded like he could change the direction of the skill after using it. Protection would make the most sense to take considering he didn’t know what they would run into.
He debated for ten minutes before choosing
Peyton had left Audra and now stood with a stat window open in front of her. She was working through her own level up and seemed to have trouble choosing. She took notice of him watching and with a faint smile walked over and turned the window to face him.
“Not sure what direction I should build,” she said and sat on the table, her feet on a chair. “I know you’re going the brute strength route, no surprise there—”
“What’s that’s supposed to mean, exactly?”
“That you have little finesse?” She smiled, fangs poking against her bottom lip. “But that’s not really a bad thing. I’m just not sure how to compliment that with my own skill set. If I build more strength, I’ll do more damage with my spear and can then carry a shield should we find one. But with a higher dex I can dodge easier and up my damage even more. But with these drieger, I’m not sure if dodging is the best option. What do you think?”
He regarded her for a moment and then leaned back in the chair. “This more of your therapy bullshit?”
She canted her head. “What do you mean?”
“You know this game as well as I do, probably better because you remember some things about the other AI. Why the hell are you asking me?”
She shrugged and looked toward the door. “Because we’re a team and you’re the leader. As the leader I’ll do as you want to help you.”
“Do whatever you want,” he said and stood, but Peyton caught his arm.
“No, you need to start making your own decisions about how things should go. You can’t just sit around waiting for everyone else to do it for you.”
He tried to remove his arm from her, but she tightened her grip and he could feel her nails through the fabric of his sleeve. “I do make my own decisions.”
She shook her head. “No, you wait so long until there is only one option, no matter whether or not that option is good. You don’t decide, you just hope for the best.”
“Nothing wrong with that, it’s worked well enough for me so far,” he turned to her. “Let go.”
“Make me, Geo” she said, and he tried to pry her hand off, but couldn’t even budge a finger. “It hasn’t worked out well for you so far, otherwise you’d be happy. Stop letting the world decide for you and take a goddamn stand for what you want.”
“What I want?” he asked, eyes narrowed. “I want out of this goddamn game.”
“Then make the decisions that will get you there. Decide what stats I should pick to help you reach your goal.” She released him and he stumbled.
He shook out his arm and then pointed at her. “I could say the same thing about you. Why follow me? What makes me the guy that has to decide?”
“Because you follow as it’s easier, but you’re depriving the world of what you could be if you led for once in your life.”
“Bullshit,” he said with a swipe of his hand through the air. “Sounds like a bunch of bullshit.”
“Pick.”
He went to say something else, but it was lost in his fatigue. The last thing he wanted to do was argue with her or anyone after the dungeon. He sighed and walked to her stat sheet and tapped through her skills.
Name: Peyton Ania
Level: 4
Health: 615/615
Mental Status: AI Complex (0)
Body: 7
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 8
Stamina: 180/180
Psyche: 100/100
Affinity: 6
Experience: 4500
Skills
A Thousand Needles
The battle is lost not in the big blows, but in the many tiny hits one takes every day. A catastrophe provides direction. A heavy rain storm blurs together and the damage is only found after.
Attacks target with 100 hits that do a maximum of 3 damage a hit. Scales with Dexterity and level to a max of a 1000 hits and 5 damage.
Spells
Comfort
To turn away the touch of comfort is to turn away the touch of hope.
Restores 35% of health over six seconds. Scales with Affinity to 65% of health.
Affinity req: 6
Charges: 3
“Put one into affinity, strength and dexterity,” he said and started to turn, but her foot caught him in the hip and stopped him.
“Why?”
She was starting to annoy him. “If we find a small shield, then you can probably use it with four strength since stats matter now for equipment. The other two are because you skills and spells scale with each. Affinity will give you a plus three percent to health restored. Dexterity will add fifty more hits to your skill and add a few points of damage to normal attacks.”
She grinned and he didn’t like the shiver it gave him. “Good, you saw what I knew you would. I’ll do some thinking on the new skills since I have an idea of what you want from me. It wasn’t that hard, was it?”
“Yes,” he said and went to a bunk and dropped into it. “Wake me up when Audra has a way out of here.” He closed his eyes and he thought he would fall asleep in only a few seconds, until
he felt the bed shift and opened his eyes to see Peyton laying in front of him wearing little more than a long shirt. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping,” she said and closed her eyes. She let out a little breath and shifted. “Why?”
“There are twenty other beds here.”
“You counted? Seems a strange thing to do.”
“It’s not—that’s not my point,” he said and shook her.
She shoved his hand off, “I wish you would get to your point, I’m tired too.”
“Go sleep in one of those beds,” he said and pointed toward the other wall, “and leave me alone.”
“You sure?” she asked, her smile dimpling her cheeks. “It would be nice to be close to someone when sleeping, wouldn’t it?”
“What do you want from me?”
An eye opened a little. “What do you want from me?”
“Don’t turn my questions around—”
“Then don’t ask others what you can’t even answer for yourself,” she closed her eyes again, tightly. “I’m here to help you heal and if you can’t be honest about anything, then I can’t do my job.”
“You’re here to get me out of this stupid game and get control back from Amber. Don’t pretend I’m anything more than a means—” A finger pressed against his lips so hard that he thought she might push through his teeth.
“I’m not pretending. AI aren’t good at such things.”
“Then you’re programmed to think you care about the person in the game.”
“Wrong again, buddy,” she said and dropped her hand from him and placed it under her head. “The games are hard programmed, and I’ve been given directives. None of those directives push me to become an NPC to help the player. I chose to do so… to help both of us.”
“Spin it however you like,” he said and pushed himself away until his back was against the wall. Even then, there was little space between him and he couldn’t help but watch her parted lips move with each breath she took. He knew she was a machine, a fake… yet he could feel warmth from her and he couldn’t deny the desire to touch those lips, just to see if they felt real.