The Dungeon's First Level

The space we were in had only one entrance, and it led directly into a corner. When we reached it, we found it was essentially a U-turn. Did those exist even in fantasy worlds? More confusing was the fact that it led to a three-way intersection. I stared at the intersection and meowed plaintively at my Master. This made no sense.

“How does that work?” Nero asked. Well done, Master, for being in synch with me as usual!

Lainie laughed nervously. “We really don’t know. This stuff happens in dungeons, and it’s kind of best not to think too hard about it. Hey, Fay, which way do we go here?”

“Right.”

It was the most impossible direction. It should have run directly into the path we’d just walked down a moment ago. I was distinctly unsettled to learn that dungeons operated on non-Euclidean geometry or something.

Those considerations were brushed aside, because the moment we turned the corner, we were ambushed by three Hellhounds. “Earth Slash,” Michael commanded Dragon. Earth attacks tended to raise or lower defense, depending on the target.

Blessing!

Light ate away at part of one Hellhound's head while Dragon slammed her wings into another. Nero jumped in and stabbed the magic core for the one I'd attacked, then spun and drove his daggers into the uninjured Hellhound. I pounced onto the Hellhound and dug my claws into its eyes. Dragon finished up against her Hellhound, and the three of us ganged up on the last one.

As we caught our breath, I eyed my Inventory, feeling the weight of the decision Nero’d placed on my shoulders. He had a gut feeling, huh? The last time I’d had one of those was more than a decade ago. My gut had spent a lot of time telling me that my ex-husband wasn’t trustworthy, but on paper, he was perfect. I’d have been crazy to listen to my gut over the very real, logical, and concrete reasons I should ignore it. He told me he loved me, and he showed me his vulnerable side, and he made me feel pretty. He was handsome and intelligent. He was rich, extroverted, and interested in the same things I was. So I ignored those feelings until I stopped getting them altogether.

My therapist, before I’d died, spent a lot of time making faces when we spoke about my early relationship with him. Those faces said, ‘Wow, you really should have listened to your gut, like, ever,’ even if she was nice enough not to say it out loud.

I didn’t want Nero to end up like me, incapable of even feeling the instincts that put together subliminal clues into a feeling of trust or distrust. I wanted to trust his feelings the way I hadn’t trusted mine. So if he didn’t trust Crimson Rain, even though they’d saved us, then I wouldn’t. Still, evolving might make the difference between life and death here. The two thoughts warred within my mind as we made our way through the first floor of the dungeon. Finally, I resolved to save it for if we ran into trouble. We might be underleveled for the dungeon, but we were skilled enough that by now we could bring down monsters a few levels above us without too much difficulty. It might be fine to wait.

We made our way down the corridors, relying on Fay's directions whenever we came across a fork in the path. In addition to Hellhounds, we encountered Melting Lillies, Stone Golems, and Fire Elementals. It was our first time fighting against the latter two, but we'd done our research before coming south, so we knew how to fight them. Melting Lilies were easy. We called Justice forward, and he burned them to cinders, since they were extremely weak to fire. Stone Golems were weak to magic in general, so Justice and I could easily defeat them, too. The hardest monsters for us to fight were Fire Elementals, since they were resistant to magic and too hot to get close to, but Dragon’s earth magic could contain and suffocate their flames.

Additionally, despite the fact that they almost entirely relied on their summons normally, the members of Crimson Rain were capable of fighting. With all of us working hard and cooperating, everything was going well.

Then Fay spasmed and fell off Heather while we were mid-battle. "Keep going!" Michael ordered as he bent down to pick her up. She was unresponsive. "Damn it," he hissed under his breath. "Not again."

Again? I didn't have time to pay more attention to them, though. Monsters were attacking from either side of us. We were managing, but we couldn't afford to get distracted. Once we'd defeated the monsters around us, Michael lashed Fay to Heather and sighed heavily. "We'll have to keep going."

“What happened to her?” Alicia asked, bewildered.

Lainie and Richie’s expressions were downcast as Michael explained, “Storm died.”

What? I stared at Fay’s unconscious form.

“Will she recover?” Alicia demanded immediately.

Lainie smiled bitterly and answered, “Maybe. There’s a cure, but it’s hard to obtain.”

“This is what happens when the bond between Master and summon is severed,” Michael said. “It injures the person’s soul. Without treatment, some people never recover, and those who do are never the same. With the cure, though, she’ll at least get back to normal. We just have to clear this dungeon first.”

“Got it.” Alicia’s expression was determined. “We’ll get through this dungeon, and then we’ll do whatever it takes to get the cure for her.”

Richie scoffed but said nothing.

Fay had been making a map, so we weren’t immediately lost. That was the one bright point. We had a map that would guide us through the first four floors of this dungeon.

It was taking its toll on us, though. We'd started long before sunrise, and the chronometer told us that it was far past sunset when we at last reached a set of stairs leading down. Everyone was exhausted. Our movements had grown sloppy, and I was spending more time casting Blessing on our party than fighting.

At last, though, we could stop. According to Crimson Rain, dungeons had few ‘safe’ zones. Monsters wouldn’t approach those zones for whatever reason. The safest of these, though also the least comfortable, were the stairs between levels. “Even if you have every monster on the floor chasing you, if you make it onto the stairs, they’ll turn around and head back,” Michael said as he made a small fire and warmed up food from Richie’s Inventory. “We’ll still keep watch, since we are in a dungeon, but we should be safe here.”

That night, Nero held me tightly in his arms as he trembled even in his sleep.

I opened my Status.

--Evolution Available--
YES                             NO

I stared at the words. I was about to say 'yes' when Fyth spoke up. Are you sure about that? He spoke with the irritatingly wheedling tone of someone who knew something you didn’t and wanted you to know it.

Why?

Fyth chuckled in my mind. Sometimes it's helpful to have an ace up your sleeve.

I hesitated. This was a self-proclaimed demon lord, so it wasn't as though I felt like he was trustworthy. He didn’t even have to have a reason; he could be lying just to lie. That sounded like a very demon-esque thing to do. But what if he was honestly trying to help me? I was his agent, after all, whatever that meant. I didn’t think he wanted me to die. What would have been the point of sending me here then?

Would you like some advice? Activate Stealth and go check on your lookouts.

Fyth's presence disappeared again, a sensation I was slowly beginning to be able to identify. After a moment, I followed his instructions. Stealth. I crept out of Nero and Alicia's tent and closer to where Lainie and Michael sat on watch.

Lainie sighed and stroked Fay's hair gently. She had the other woman resting against her, snugly wrapped in blankets. "I'd hoped to do it during its evolution. I’ve heard that makes the transfer easier.”

"Yeah. This is really unfortunate timing," Michael said with a sigh. "But I’m not willing to leave her like this for longer than necessary. It'll be fine. We’ll wait till we’re out of here, then do it while they’re still weak.” He paused, then sent Lainie a small smirk. “You know her skills match up better with the horse, right?”

"Yeah, I know. She didn’t even want it, though. She wanted the cat."

“She can have both,” Michael said with a laugh. “How about that?”

“No way! If she gets the horse, I want the cat.”

"Greedy."

Lainie glared at Michael. "Like you're one to talk. If you hadn't been so jealous of Chris over Marie, none of this would ever have happened."

"You were more than happy to go along with it," Michael said, apparently unbothered. "All of you were. We all agreed he didn’t deserve her."

"And look where it got us. Fay was right. We're cursed."

"This is nothing more than a coincidence," Michael said. "We got checked, remember? The church said there was nothing wrong with us."

Lainie looked away, and when neither of them said anything more, I snuck back into the tent. Fyth broke into uproarious laughter within my mind. Do you see? I’m only looking out for your best interests, he said in gasps between peals of laughter. This entire situation is your fault, you know. If you’d obeyed me sooner, you and your Master would be safe.

I left the evolution option alone.