With hesitancy, we approached the Deity, shuffling over, eyes averted (really, where were we meant to look?), until we were standing single file before them. Their gaze, heavy and appraising, roamed over us. Recalling Nabu’s suffocating golden stare caused a subconscious trembling in my legs and a cold sweat to bead over the back of my neck.

  Would this Deity be similar?

  “You will call me Bia,” she announced. Her voice was deep, husky; like she’d been smoking the better part of her life, though with her timeless face, I didn’t know what that would mean. Actually, thinking about it, she sounded similar to the singer of Bad Reputation… Who was that again, Joan Jett?

  The goddess then stood, towering over us, more than a head taller than our local giant, and my irrelevant thoughts scattered to the wind. Even at this proximity, the sheer oppressive ambience she gave off was a pressure on my lungs, and I struggled to draw breath.

  The presence she had… I was rendered speechless; words were impossible to form, the air too thin, as though we were standing at an incredibly high altitude. Nabu had only granted me a glimpse of his true strength, but Bia wore it like a casual outfit. Power was who she was, and she was not afraid to demonstrate it.

  Should she deem it, she could swat us like flies.

  For once everyone was on the same page, and we waited, jittery and restrained, as she crossed the distance between us, her movements languid but purposeful.

  “You,” she started, flicking a perfectly manicured finger to Jye, her notable muscles bunching with the movement, “have impressed me.”

  What?

  Tension had strung us so taut that Bia’s words snapped our anxieties, and we nearly toppled over from shock. Jye’s green eyes grew wide, a ripple of worry crossing their features. They stood there, body ramrod stiff, confusion etched into the furrow of their pronounced brow.

  Pointing hesitantly to their chest, seemingly unaffected by Bia’s show of strength, Jye asked, “Are you sure you got the right dude?”

  The Deity nodded curtly, strolling toward them, and subconsciously, the rest of us edged back, her power like a cloud we parted in front of. Bia began to circle Jye, eyes trailing over the redhead from head to toe, her forefinger and thumb pursed under her chin. It was the same way one might assess chattel. She nodded once again, as if confirming something with herself.

  “Your built body and calloused hands speak of hard work, and your subjugation of my pets was imperative to your party’s success.” She paused, letting the words sink in, though Jye appeared to be staring blankly, unable to process them.

  Her pets? The mordexi were akin to domestic animal companions? Though, with the eminence of her demeanor, the image didn’t even seem impossible as it otherwise would. In fact, I could picture Bia playing fetch with the scout rather easily; its toy stick likely a pike, the creature annihilating forests and houses as it romped around.

  Her next sentence was both understandable and completely unexpected.

  “I will sponsor you, Jye.”

  Even Tam seemed shocked by this announcement. I was less surprised, having gotten the inkling this is where the goddess was leading with her opening words, but still… What a bolt out of the blue. That wasn’t to say it wasn’t deserved. Jye’s contributions to the party had been essential.

  The redhead swallowed, their cheeks a touch pink. Were they embarrassed by the goddess’s words? I guess it was true that no one had ever acknowledged the giant for everything they’d done. In fact, if I looked at it objectively, the person who had it the hardest out of our party was Jye. They were forced to remain as a LVL 1, struggled to put credits into their attributes, and suffered from the awful glitches of notifications. In spite of that, they had still thrown themself headfirst into archery training with Gigi and had never once complained, taking it on the chest silently. Thinking back, I’d never voiced my recognition either, too wrapped up in my own concerns.

  I found myself grateful for her appreciation of the gym junkie. In fact, maybe her sponsorship would help with the issues Jye had been having about loneliness. An angel on their shoulder to keep their spirits up.

  Maybe this Bia would be good for them.

  Jye cleared their throat, folding their arms defensively. “And there’s no bad mojo if I say no?”

  “No such thing,” Bia said, though a confused tone buzzed in her response.

  I don’t think anyone would’ve ever thought to turn her down.

  How did one say no to her?

  The goddess’s jaw jutted forward, waiting for Jye’s response.

  Panicking, the giant turned their pleading gaze to me. Honestly, I didn’t see any issue with her sponsorship. In fact, had I not been fighting to simply breathe, the pressure of Bia’s aura so intense all air stuck in my throat, I might’ve suggested she be my sponsor.

  It was an easy thing to admit that as a Deity, she was impressive. Her Dungeon had been meticulously crafted. It was beautiful and horrific. And if I’d been one of the Deities watching, it would’ve been quite the show. She clearly knew how to play the game and game the players. Gigi had mentioned she’d been involved in xir Event and her sponsored player made it quite far. I sincerely believed xem. Having her sponsor Jye and on our side really seemed like an all-round advantage. (I was ignoring my own personal loathing for the concept of Deities, in general.)

  If we were discounting her less than positive attributes, such as her Dungeon being a complete death trap, and her having killed all those people via mordexi proxy, nothing about Bia suggested she’d be a bad sponsor. It was in complete contrast to Nabu, who’s very speech really should've been ringing warning bells the moment we heard him. Maybe relying on Nabu as the standard was a poor idea overall. Still, this wasn’t my choice.

  Like it should’ve been with Wren, it was a whole party decision.

  Everyone had to be okay with it.

  I shrugged in response to their seeking eyes, not wanting to color Jye’s opinion. Personally, I would’ve encouraged it, but I didn’t want the pressure of my thoughts on them. As Jye met everyone else’s gazes one by one, the others expressed their silent sentiments, their voices also compressed by the invisible but dominating atmosphere Bia gave off; Gigi simply crossed xir arms, and Tam didn’t react at all, still frozen, gawking, a redness creeping across her face.

  I didn’t comment, well, I couldn’t, but I snidely noted down her reaction for the future. It looked like the cutthroat turned into a stunned mullet around others she found attractive. Certainly, that would be something I’d bring up later to mock her with, to get her back for the amount of times she’d ribbed me about Axel.

  Only Wren nodded enthusiastically, fixed on the idea that any Deity early was better than no Deity at all. My previous words hadn’t made much impact on her, but I guess they must’ve faded into the following exchange about her reasons for accepting her sponsorship and her subsequent breakdown. Still, I really needed to smack Makris upside his chin for reinforcing that concept in her head. It was a theory that barely had legs.

  Axel, finding some semblance of rebellion within himself against Bia’s spirit, opened his mouth to say something, but I squeezed his hand to quiet him. It was not the time or place for his sassiness.

  Having sought our opinions and come up neutral, Jye frowned, a few dozen thoughts clouding their features. No doubt their system glitch was keeping them from accepting immediately. Perhaps they didn’t want to reveal to a Deity this weakness of theirs. Had I been able to speak, I would’ve assured them of their own choice, but the air was choked in my lungs, my voice box locked.

  Jye breathed in, and a grin split their face.

  “Fuck it, why the hell not.”

  Bia smiled, all calm assurance. She reached out her large hand to Jye who, after pausing, took it.

  Just as it had happened with Wren, above their clasped hands, golden light burst into existence, this time glinting brightly in the shape of criss-crossed chains. The sigil shimmered in the air for a moment, sparkles dancing, the chains clinking sweetly, and then dissipated in a mist of radiant motes. Jye’s focus shifted to about half a meter in front of them, probably checking the title they’d received. Almost imperceptibly, their face fell.

  Oh.

  That did not bode well.

  “You are not finished in my Dungeon,” Bia said as a fact, casting a look at my two remaining fingers. “I have locked the Gate. You may remain within until you are ready to leave.”

  Wren raised a trembling hand. Her voice squeaked out. “Can we… Can I ask you some questions?”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “No.”

  With that, and a sweep of her hand, the vacation world smeared away, and we were unceremoniously deposited exactly where we’d been snatched from, my hand now empty of Axel’s who was still standing closer to the dead scout mordexi. The chill in the air bit at my exposed skin, the sweat of my clothes from the pool party immediately cooling, and I sighed.

  Okay, so Bia was a little rude. There were worse personality traits.

  Still… we’d survived. Not only that, but as I cast a cursory look at the party menu, I realised I’d been wrong about our progression. The total amount of XP we’d gathered, 2,550 (inclusive of the clear and Adrien’s elimination), had catapulted me past LVL 5 and the rest of the party too, barring Jye and Gigi! Altogether, it was less than I wanted, considering the difficulty versus Dungeon 16, but I guess I shouldn’t be complaining.

  [|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||_______________]

  49% completion toward next level

  We were getting closer to our goal! Plus, I had zero doubt that our battles would’ve been entertaining to watch. Whichever Deities were watching had to be at the very edge of their proverbial seats while witnessing our betrayal of Adrien and subsequent escape from the clutches of death and failure.

  Our performance had to contribute to the desire to continue the Event, and stopping tutorial termination. Or at least, I was praying that was the case.

  I met Jye’s gaze and raised an eyebrow, concerned about the results of their sponsorship. They shook their head. Another “I’m good, dude,” in the form of a gesture. Their prior expression belied their okayness, but I wasn’t going to push now, not as the glow of what we’d achieved finally settled over me.

  The rest of the present party, unfortunately, due to our less than elucidative meeting with Bia, everyone had weary and confused expressions on their faces. Even with them masking their feelings, I could tell Jye’s was a mix between dread and bafflement. Well, I better do my job.

  A helper was nothing, if not a hype man.

  “We fucking did it!” I said, my voice breaking from the pride I felt welling in my chest.

  Granted, our only opponents had been a singular man and a lot of very large white feral dogs. Pets, as Bia had called them. That was still wild to think about.

  But we’d cleared the Dungeon, levelled up, and Jye had been sponsored!

  My words seemed to shake the others from their dazed reveries, their eyes widening in dawning belief, and then an excited cheer shot out from the team, their lips curling into grins. Whether authentic or not, Jye swallowed back their prior reaction entirely, and a smile emerged on their face. I’d definitely be checking in with them later. It was obvious to me they either couldn’t read Bia’s title, or, worse, their glitch had warped it somehow, like the awful notification noises they heard. I sincerely hoped it was the former.

  In a beat, the energy and vibe of our party shifted from disoriented exhaustion into elated exuberance. Even Tam seemed to have a bounce in her step, her momentary infatuation forgotten (though I wouldn’t be letting that slip). Morale markedly improved, I was content to let the excitement of the others fill the air.

  Since we’d been taken back to the same spot, we still needed to fetch Gigi, who I’d left at the mordexi nest. Loosely, I guided the direction of our party’s travel, but I could barely remember the vaguest path markers back to xem, so intent on simply chasing down Adrien. I hoped xe’d figure out a way to signal their location.

  As we made our way forward, each step eliciting a pained groan from at least one of us, I mentioned that we might all need to Load lighten as we got closer. Adrien’s bear traps could still be in effect, after all. This announcement was met with understanding and unquestioning nods from everyone. They hadn't even bothered to ask for an explanation.

  Yeah, they’d definitely seen some shit in their battle.

  Unprompted, to fill the empty air, Wren began to give me an animated play-by-play of what she, Axel, and Jye had done. She added sound effects and flung her arms about, imitating Jye and Axel separately by standing like a Hulk or preening, stepping this way and that to show each person’s movement. I was laughing more often than not.

  “So, a huge blinding block of light appeared under the marker you attracted the horde to, and then it disappeared?” I repeated, summarizing the beginning of her explanation. It lent further credence to the idea that Adrien’s illusion ability could only be applied to his own skills and himself.

  She nodded eagerly.

  “And because all the monsters were on top of it, whoosh—” here, her hand dipped down “—they all fell into the pit that was beneath it. Inside the pit was—”

  “Bear traps?” I asked.

  Jye frowned. “Dude, it’s rude to interrupt.”

  “My bad.” Miming zipping my lips, I waved her on.

  “There were a lot of bear traps. The hole was maybe the size of two swimming pools and three times as deep as the deep end. When the monsters landed on the traps, you could hear this echoing of them snap shut.” She made a clam shell with her hands, clapping it closed with the following words: “Clack, clack, clack, clack! That's when Adrien told us to attack.”

  It was pretty much as I’d figured. A combination of all Adrien’s best abilities to capture and injure the horde. He’d hidden the first light block with illusion, had waited until Axel and the others had gotten them onto position above it, and then dismissed it. The hole they'd fallen into, he'd dug well in advance. It was why the man had been so confident in his clear. He’d been planning it for a while. All the bear traps he’d spent the night preparing had locked them in the pit, making them easier targets to kill.

  The rest was simple enough to guess. With Wren’s [Volley] supporting Jye, the two of them would’ve done most of the damage (probably what had made such an impression on Bia along with the giant’s overall beefy bod), while Axel would dive in for the kills during Wren’s cooldown and mana regen. Adding to their efforts Wren’s buffs as well, and it would’ve been a clean cut eradication of the mordexi horde. I wish I had seen it myself.

  But Wren’s reenactment was much more enjoyable.

  When she finally finished, huffing a little from her over-the-top account, she said, “And then after we heard your garbled message from in our heads, we had no idea what to do. But Axel pointed at some black smoke in the horizon. Before we could ask him anything, he was gone! Jye figured out the smoke was Tam, so they picked me up and started running because I was too tired.” She paused and cast a sheepish look at Jye. “Sorry.”

  Poor mood entirely melted by Wren’s expression, the redhead patted her on the head. “No apology necessary, dude. You’re pretty much as light as the bird you’re named after.”

  Wren laughed, pushing off their hand. “I’m not that light!”

  They nodded pensively. “You’re right. With Load, you weighed nothing at all.”

  Jye reached down, and I heard the hiss of abilities. They plucked Wren off the ground and plopped her up on their shoulder. She squealed in delight. As they walked, they jostled her a little bit, and she let out a peal of giggles. My dad had used to do the same with Chrissie too. She’d loved it.

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the ride Wren was having. Something had stuck out to me about her story: the fact that Axel had been the one to see the side effect of Tam’s transformation. I was sure that I’d told them to find Tam after Axel had said he was running off. Maybe Wren was misremembering the events. Was Makris messing things up in her head even now?

  That reminded me that we still had to deal with him.

  Well, there was something I’d been thinking about for a little while.

  I glanced up at Wren on Jye’s shoulder. “Could you buy one of Adrien’s abilities? The telepathic one.”

  No one seemed to mind. I doubted Axel or Tam would want to be heckled with being asked to link a mental six-way phone call all the time. Jye or Gigi might’ve been interested, but the giant didn’t voice it, and, well, I guess the Linnikian would just miss out this time. There were several other abilities Adrien had. Xe could have first pick out of those. Besides, this one wasn't really appropriate for their class.

  Tilting her head in curiosity, Wren nodded.

  I held up my right hand to her. “Can you link us?”

  She placed her gloved hand over mine, her ability hissed, and she shivered. “Feels like a balloon that makes your hair stick up. Oh. Yeah, like static.” No doubt the man in her head had corrected her.

  Tentatively, I asked, Makris?

  Well, well, well. Here’s the killer, on my fucking home ground.

  Oh, it worked.

  Nice talking to you too. I didn’t even try to temper my sarcasm.

  Wren’s face was white with shock. She asked, “You can talk to him?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  I heard that, you bastard, Makris growled.

  Ah, right, because you eavesdrop on every little thing Wren does, don’t you?

  I’m watching out for her! You damn well know that.

  I scowled. We all only know what you tell us. The emphasis I put on “all” was deliberate and very judgemental. I deplored what he'd done to Wren's memories, not telling her about it being the worst crime of all.

  It’s okay, Lee. He’s nice, really. He just sounds mean.

  Pinching the bridge of my nose, I repressed a sigh, and said, “Can you drop our connection, please?”

  In resigned acceptance, I felt her close the mental link with a snap. At least, we had a way of getting more answers. Somehow I knew it would be like pulling teeth. The man absolutely hated me. But now Wren had the ability, I did too.

  It would feel wrong, but I needed to talk to him while Wren was absent. Maybe when she was asleep. He really made nothing easy. In fact, that he’d rightly called me a killer was also quite depressing.

  I was genuinely a murderer now.

  It made me feel a little guiltier but not a lot. Was I justifying Adrien’s death as necessary to save Axel? A little bit, yes. But I also accepted what I’d done.

  I’d killed him. And I’d carry the weight of his last thoughts for the rest of my life. If it meant Axel was still here, holding my hand, I was okay with that accountability, with the squeezing guilt in the pit of my stomach.

  Still, we’d be bringing him back eventually anyway.

  I’d meant it when I’d said everyone.

  As we walked, I spent some time figuring out how to word a really quite awful suggestion to the party. It was incredibly gross, but we’d done something similar before… I was sure I could convince them, though it might take some reasoning.

  Once I figured out what approach to take, praying it would be persuasive, a discussion began about what our actual plans going forward were. We came to the conclusion that we’d take a short break once we found Gigi. We all needed a little RnR anyway. And given that the Gate was frozen, we didn’t have to worry about anyone else entering the Dungeon.

  Perhaps, Bia was granting us a brief vacation from our worries.

  But we couldn’t stay too long.