Today is a Gift

"Get on the tree!" The party makes a dash for it. Behind them are rolls and rolls of smoke. The elf, the nimble, and the catfolk climb the tree easily. The plainfolk lifts the dwarf, and the three on the tree pull the dwarf up. The plainfolk climbs just in time for the dust to flow below them. 

"Dust deer." The herd, endless in sight, galloping below the tree, dust all eye can see. 

"We were greedy," the elf cries, her hands covering her face. "We never should have gotten this close to the worm." 

The catfolk pats the elf on her back. "It's not your fault, Basil (the elf). Who would have known we would be in this situation?" 

"We did..." The catfolk glares at the nimble, fists folded, ready to be thrown, eyes twitching as he continues. "We were skirmishing even after everyone else had left for the surface, exactly because of the boss monster." 

"Shut it, Robin (the nimble)." The catfolk tries to hush the nimble. 

"I was just saying..." The nimble is stunned by the catfolk, who draws a dagger at him. 

"Hey, stop fighting. There isn't enough space for fighting in the tree. The branches will break." The plainfolk gently grabs the catfolk's hand to have her dagger put away. "We've all made mistakes. What we need to focus on is the now. I think we should try to get to the surface as soon as the herd clears out. What do you all say?" 

Everyone nods. "First head count. One Basil (the elf), two Robin (the nimble), three Himalay (the dwarf), four Paddy (the catfolk), and me, five. We are all here," The Plainfolk says. "Now, let's pray for the goddess of passage to let the deer disperse quickly so we can leave early." 

"Forget about that," says the dwarf who has been staring at the horizon where the dust deer herd ends. Emerging from the dust is the giant worm, the size of a house, rising and devouring the deer when it drops. "Basil (the elf), we need a mass recall." 

"Mass recall? *crying* That spell is like what I make in two months! Before food! Why do you expect me to have that kind of money? Sobs." The shaken elf cuddles her staff, unwilling, stunned. 

Everyone searches their pockets. They gather together red and orange crystals. The nimble sighs as he mentions, "Is that all we got this run?" 

The dwarf asks the elf. "Is this enough?" 

The elf is still crying to open her eyes. 

The plainfolk holds her hand until she stops crying. "You remember? You are the best of the world. If anyone can get us out of here, it would be you." 

The elf opens her eyes and wipes her tears. She stares far at the worm at the horizon.

The elf closes her eyes and raises her ears to listen to the magic in the wind. 

Quiet.

 She waves her staff while the crystals float and disappear into the air as the spell consumes them. A ball of light transports them safely back to the community campsite. 

Everyone is tired. The nimble throws himself on the floor. "So, are we saying we didn't even get lunch this run?" 

Silence. 

"We should start heading for the surface before the guild seals the entrance, so we are not trapped in here with the worm." 

They look back to the west, where they last saw the worm. They see the worm leap and slam itself against the false sky ceiling of the bubble. 

"We've gotta go before the worm shuts us off from upper levels," says the runner. Everyone rushes to get their gear from the campsite and leaves for the dungeon entrance at the surface.

xxx

Skia looks at herself against the giant reflecting crystal shard extruding from the floor. "Not it." 

5'7", pale grey skin, long pale hair that gradients into pink and purple, tiny freckle-like gemstones on the cheek. 

"She needs a little more brown on her flesh if she wants to disguise herself as a human." 

She extends her arm to the side, her palm open. Her skill catalog opens up. She scrolls down to M. 

Mimic: Change your appearance to look like another object or creature. 

She taps and opens the skill tree. There is a fork. 

Exact copy: Make your disguise perfect, indistinguishable from an authentic one. 

Infused: Allows carryover skills from your main form, but also carries over characteristics from your main form. 

"Why? If only these weren't exclusive." 

She checks the carryover skills. 

Gem-infused skin (physical): Take greatly reduced physical, magic, and psychic damage. 

Giant monster (physical): Gain supernatural strength. 

Greater burrower (physical): Swim through rock and sand as if it were water and leave behind no tunnel. Move through hard rock at half your speed. Move through reinforced stone at a quarter of your speed. 

World eater (physical): Gain the ability to digest metal, rock, toxins, and other harmful substances. 

Gem screech (magic): 80% base chance to stun (10 seconds) all creatures within 120 feet of you that can hear you. Deals minor magic damage.

Seismic sense (psychic): Sense events through vibrations in rock and hard surfaces. 

<collapse personal skills>

Common language (psychic): Able to understand common language. Rated C. Note to self: Requirement at B+. 

<see more, synthetic skills and spells>

"Should she get a permanent illusion spell over?" 

Skia scrolls to the illusion spell list. "Eek, why is this so expensive? The cheap ones need her to get a spellcasting class, which she doesn't have." She closes the skill panel. "When she is on the surface, she won't have so much to recharge. She should build to reflect that scarcity." 

She sits on a slab, looks up at the false sky, and raises her arm. 

The adventurers talk about the surface, the real sky, so far, so high, endless space, fields, mountains. 

A monster, and a burrower no less, yearning for the sky. Isn't that ridiculous? She thought alone. 

"But she is not ready yet."

When will she be? 

The ability tab opens again. She gazes at a skill. 

Synthetic skill: Leap. 

Footsteps on the hard stone floor. Shouts. "Hurry up! We need to get to the entrance before the guild closes it, so we aren't trapped in here with the worm!" 

What? Did they say the entrance is going to be shut? 

Skia quickly puts on clothes and a full but worn bag, formerly belonging to an adventurer. 

xxx

"Basil (the elf) and Robin (the nimble) in the middle!" The plainfolk, the dwarf, and the catfolk surround the squishy members for protection. The team is surrounded by giant spiders that ambushed them while they were rushing to the surface and being loud. 

While the runner, the dwarf, and the sliteye are holding off a giant spider each, one more appears from the dark and quickly breaches the frontline to reach the elf and the nimble. 

Out of nowhere, a gray-skinned human appears and asserts herself between the fourth spider and the would-have-been victims. 

The giant spider bites down on the frail-looking gray person, who tanks the bite without a flinch, wrestles it, and flips it on the ground, which allows the elf and the nimble to rain down arrows on its vitals. 

The other three spiders go down quickly as well, covered in arrows like a reverse porcupine. 

The caves fall silent again before the next wave. Skia feels the vibrations on the cave walls. "Run!" she warns the team. 

A swarm of bats appears, a big enough swarm that they shake the cave.  

The party tries to outrun them, but realizes that is not possible. The elf begins to cast a yellow transparent dome barrier. They call Skia to hide under the dome until they get an idea to deal with the bats. 

Skia shakes her head in refusal. Understanding she would do something dangerous, the elf closes the barrier dome quickly. 

Once the elf's dome is complete, Skia lets out a screeching scream. The scream is not heard under the dome, but all the bats shatter their eardrums and fall to their demise. 

Well, most of them. One bat is left in the cave, much larger than the individuals in the swarm, flying high enough that melee weapons can't reach it. 

The team's ranged members start throwing volleys of projectiles at it. Some very good hits flinch the elite bat, which is starting to get irritated, flying around and dodging around the waves of magical and mundane projectiles. 

The team turns to Skia to assure her that they will handle this one just to watch her fall on her back, dissolve into the solid rocky floor, and disappear. 

Synthetic skill, a skill custom-made by combining multiple spells and abilities. 

Leap; adding Jump spell (increases the user's jump distance by 300%) and launch spell (accelerates living or non-living things) to the speed gained by swimming through the roughened gravel allows the burrowing creature to leap very high distances. 

While the giant bat is distracted, maneuvering around the team's attacks, Skia leaps and appears behind it, clings to its back, biting down on its wing. 

Disoriented, the bat soon falls to the floor unconscious, multiple arrows sticking out of its body. 

The party would take their time to get the crystal hearts of each of these creatures, but today, they are in quite a hurry. 

The elf looks Skia in the eye and says, "Thank you. Now, we need to hurry to the top. Just hold my hand."

Everyone else makes a small nod at Skia to acknowledge her contribution. 

The entrance finally arrives. It is not closed yet. The commissioner seems to have been waiting for this team in particular. 

The team presents their identity tokens for passage. 

"And hers?" The commissioner asks for Skia's non-existent token. 

"Brother, she is a dark-touch. Who knows how long she's been down there?" The dwarf tries to convince the commissioner. "This lady helped us fight four giant spiders and a wave of bats. I can guarantee her humanity." 

Skia nods. 

The commissioner rolls his eyes and sighs. 

"Your name?" 

"Skia. Human." 

He squints at her for a moment but quickly produces a temporary token. 

Skia steps out, looking up at the surface world for the first time, all the great things she has heard of it. The team follows her as an item of interest. 

"When was the last time you gazed at it?" The plainfolk asks curiously.

A dark-touch, the category the team decided on for her, is the kind where a human lives underground and feeds on monsters for a long time, allowing monster physiology to appear on their body, and also gain monster abilities. 

Skia is a dungeon boss that escaped containment as the tall wooden doors to the entrance shut behind her with the purpose of jailing her in, having failed unknowingly to everyone. 

The sky, the real one. She gazes at the clouds, and the team follows where she looks. 

They invite her for a talk. Not having planned so far ahead, Skia agrees to follow the team.