TEAMWORK

The sun was getting low, and it was time to set up camp again. They built their fire in one of the dead-end corridors off the main path where they had just disabled the Golem.

“Man, I think this has gotta be the most walking I’ve ever done in my entire life,” Joel complained.

They were settling in and getting comfortable in the space despite the hard ground beneath them. There was less vegetation in this portion of the maze–the greenery seemed to ebb and flow in this place–so kindling was sparse and forageable plants even more so.

“Americans are so pampered,” Chinatsu scoffed. “I bet you drive a car everywhere.”

“A cahrr? What’s that?” Masha asked. She was prepping their dinner–a stew of pemmican and hard tack that also included a bit of cattails she had packed with her from the pond.

“It’s like a type’a machine you drive,” Joel said. He pulled out his phone and showed her a picture of himself standing next to a flashy red sports car.

“That’s incredible! It’s really you!!” Masha looked back and forth between the picture and Joel. She seemed more impressed with the photo than the car itself.

“I bet that’s not even yours,” Chinatsu teased.

“It totally is! I have proof,” he insisted. Joel started flicking through his photo gallery when the phone abruptly shut off.

Joel pressed the power button, and the phone presented a dead battery screen before turning off again. Chinatsu cackled while Joel panicked.

“Would you two keep it down?” Miyabi muttered. Peony had been able to heal her injuries quickly, and now she had her nose in a book, focused on studying. “Why do you even care if your phone dies? You can’t use it here anyway.”

“I’ll have you know I had a 90-day streak going on Candy Commander,” Joel groaned.

How old was this guy? He really acted like a kid sometimes. But Chinatsu was also the type who hated being bored.

Chinatsu started searching his bag. He and Miyabi had traded bags that morning since it made more sense for them to carry their own things. He pulled out a manga he had stashed in there for times like these.

“You can read this if you’re bored,” Chinatsu said, handing the book to Joel.

Joel took the book and looked over the cover. He opened it up and flipped through the pages.

“Kid, I can’t read this,” he said, handing the book back to Chinatsu.

“Ahahaha! You’re a grown man and you can’t read!?” Chinatsu was beside himself. He thought this guy was dumb, but he didn’t think he was that dumb.

“No! I’m saying I can’t understand it. It’s all in Japanese!”

Chinatsu stopped laughing.

“Wait…But haven’t you been speaking Japanese to me this whole time?”

Joel stared at Chinatsu. Then he looked from Miyabi to Peony to Masha, who all stared back. Then he turned back to Chinatsu.

“You mean you haven’t been speaking English!?”

“Huh!?” Chinatsu felt like his brain was breaking. How is this possible? They all understand each other perfectly!

Chinatsu remembered Peony’s map. That completely foreign text on it. He had meant to ask about it, and just completely forgot with everything else that happened.

“Could it be that this place has some kind of power that allows us all to understand each other?” Miyabi posited. “Peony, you said that you’ve helped other people before. Did you ever have trouble understanding them?”

“Not at all. But I also just assumed they all spoke the same language,” the Elf explained. “In my world, there are many different races–Elf, Human, Dwarf, to name a few. However, there’s a thing we call ‘the common tongue,’ which is a language spoken and understood by most. I just always assumed that was universal.”

A world that drew in those close to death, who held regret in their hearts. One that forced those who took the challenge it posed to survive. A lingua franca that enabled survivors to communicate. It almost felt like they were meant to cooperate, so why could only one of them leave at a time? It just didn’t seem fair. What was the point of it?

“This place is certainly a mystery,” Chinatsu sighed.

As it finally got dark, Masha doled out portions of the stew to everyone. Between the five of them, they had to split it between Miyabi’s empty bento box, components of the military mess kit, and a wooden bowl that Masha produced from her rucksack.

“Um…What kind of meat is this?” Joel asked Masha. He sniffed the stew.

“It’s rabbit! Rabbit is my favorite,” she said, wagging her tail.

“Of course it is,” Joel sighed.

Chinatsu looked around. They all looked reluctant to eat it, even though Masha was happily slurping it down.

But it smelled so good, and Chinatsu was so hungry. The stew was thick–more solid than soup-like. He scooped some of the mixture with his fingers and ate it.

“It’s good!” Chinatsu began shoveling it into his mouth.

It was as if everyone else collectively exhaled over Chinatsu’s verdict. They all began to eat with the same enthusiasm as Masha and Chinatsu after trying it.

It was only seasoned with salt and herbs, but it was still so delicious. The meat was, well, meaty, and warmed Chinatsu up. The cattail shoots and roots made it even more hearty. This meal would certainly keep them going another day.

“How old are you kids anyway?” Joel asked.

Sixteen and seventeen, Chinatsu and Miyabi answered respectively.

“Why?” Miyabi asked.

“Just thinkin’ that maybe I should be in charge since I’m the oldest one here, seein’ as I’m almost thirty,” Joel said, looking very smug.

“Ah, no. That would be Peony,” Chinatsu retorted with a mouth full of food. “Peony is, like, eighty.”

“Seriously!?” Joel was beside himself.

“Hm. Yeah, something like that,” Peony said, slurping up soup.

Joel turned to Masha. “Don’t tell me you’re also old enough to be my mother.”

“Me? I just turned twenty,” she said, playfully pushing his shoulder.

They all laughed and joked as everyone ate their fill. The moon had fully risen in the sky, and everyone started to feel a little more comfortable with each other.

“Do you think it would be a good idea to come up with a strategy for dangers within this maze?” Miyabi asked as everyone was starting to wind down for the night.

“Yes. I think that would be the best course of action for a group of this size,” Peony said.

“In a TTRPG, it helps to have the group balanced by different skills. For example, Peony is our healer. So as long as we protect our healer, we can get through anything,” Chinatsu explained. “Miyabi has the sword, which is perfect for both offense and defense in a combat situation.”

“What does that even mean?” she asked.

“It means you’re front-line, soldier,” Joel chuckled.

“So, just keep doing what I’ve already been doing. Got it,” Miyabi sighed.

“Masha has been doing pretty well fighting with her knife, so she can provide support to anyone in combat,” Chinatsu continued.

“Just tell me what to do and I’ll take care of it!” she said, giving her chest a little pound with her fist.

“And Joel can…” Chinatsu trailed off. “Anyway, Masha gave me her slingshot, so I’ll be bringing up the rear!”

“Hey! What about me?” Joel complained. “What the hell am I supposta do!?”

“He does have a knife. He could also be our support,” Miyabi suggested.

“We can’t have three short-range weapon wielders! That would be too unbalanced,” Chinatsu lamented.

“Does it actually matter?” Miyabi questioned.

“It does! This is basic meta-gaming type stuff!” Chinatsu insisted. “Couldn’t you have kept that gun?”

“It didn’t have any bullets!” Joel moaned.

In the end, it was decided that Joel should just be secondary support.

At the end of the corridor, where the dead-end opened up to the main path, Peony had set up a barrier. They had done the same for the entrance to the pond garden, and it had worked out for the group once already. Trusting in this barrier, the group went to sleep without establishing a watch.

Come morning, Chinatsu found himself first to rise again at the break of dawn. The stew’s aroma still lingered from the night before, and it made his mouth water. He sat up and wiped the sleep from his eyes.

Strange… The fire had reduced to embers, but he still heard a faint hissing and popping sound.

He turned his head and looked toward the source of the sound. Chinatsu’s blood ran cold. There was a herd of them.

Small, bipedal creatures crouched on the ground, scraping their front claws against the stone pathway. While they were fleshy–hairless on their extremities but their bodies had patchy, bristly hairs. The creatures bore fangs on their elongated snouts and had spines that ran down their backs to their tails.

“K-kobolds…?” Chinatsu whispered.

They had large, rabbit-like ears that twitched and pivoted towards any sounds they picked up. One of them turned toward the sound of his voice. It stared with solid red eyes, not unlike those of an albino rodent, but didn’t act.

The barrier!

Chinatsu began quietly waking the others up. First Peony, who immediately understood the danger. Then he woke up Masha, who began to wake Joel. And finally Miyabi, who, in Chinatsu’s body, was like waking the dead.

“CH-CHU-CHUPACABRAS!!” Joel yelled.

More of the kobolds' attention was drawn to them. The barrier seemed to create some kind of invisible wall.

“Be quiet, I’m trying to sleep,” Miyabi grumbled.

“The wee beastie I killed before–it was one of those!” Masha pointed excitedly.

Chinatsu desperately tried to shush them. The more they talked, the more the kobolds became aware of their presence.

“Wha–! What the hell are those!?” Miyabi shouted. She jumped to her feet at the sight of them.

Now the kobolds were fully focused on the group, and they all closed in.