Cyn frowned at Scott’s assessment of the raid’s mental state. That’s... not good. Losing people to their own apathy, or darker emotions, would only create a further downward spiral for everyone else. Not to mention, they all needed to level up, especially in their classes. To do that, they would have to go out of their way to fight, not just survive the direct attacks on the fort.
“Theres a few of them that should be fine. Cirrus, Donovan, and Wolf,” That’s who was speaking to Scott a bit ago. Wolf. “Are all adept at fighting, and seem to understand what it’s going to take for us to get through this. They were already part of the groups that regularly left camp before we got here, so they should be a big help from here on out.” Cyn was not at all surprised by the mention of Cirrus, based on him already expressing the desire to go out and find trouble with her and Hex. Despite only having brief interactions with both Wolf and the archer Donovan, she was not too shocked by them also making the top of the list when it came to their new allies.
“Wolf’s whole group sounds like it just needs to do some catching up. They ‘got lazy’, as he put it, but losing one, nearly two, of their own should kick them into gear. Their home planet sounds pretty deadly, so they just aren’t as... traumatized as some of the others by this stuff.” Scott paused, the old man’s voice taking on a tone of wonder. “They got two suns, and rarely see full darkness. Part of their planet is a damn hellfire wasteland. You ever hear of something like that?”
Cyn felt her lips twitch at the Standard-Bearer’s awe, before she fully absorbed what he was saying. “Wait... they aren’t from Earth?”
Scott shook his head quickly, the old man’s eyes shining with excitement. “No. From the sounds of it, every party that joined up on this floor was from a different planet. Just the same dimension as us. I ain’t had the chance to ask for more details, since there’s more pressing matters, but isn’t that remarkable?”
Cyn couldn’t help but give her wholehearted agreement. It was remarkable. She had been able to accept the idea that their dimension was only one of many without too much difficulty, but had assumed that all Awakened would have stemmed from Humans on Earth. Or every dimension’s Earth equivalent. The idea that root Humans had existed on other planets in her dimension prior to the System’s arrival was mind blowing, and created far too many questions that she was unlikely to get answers to anytime soon. If ever.
If their planets are so different from Earth, shouldn’t they have evolved differently? I could accept looking similar, but we are all the same species as far as I can tell. We also had pretty conclusive evidence of how Humans came to be on Earth, the idea that the exact same thing happened repeatedly across countless planets just seems... impossible. Unless it was designed that way? But by who, or what? The System? Cyn said her goodbyes to Scott, since there was work to be done, and while ruminating over her unanswerable questions she made her way towards the trickle of people ferrying rocks from the river.
As Cyn approached the group, distracted by her thoughts, she suddenly found herself swept off her feet and lifted into a tight hug from behind. For a few fractions of a second, she panicked. Between lowering her awareness of the people around her, and being generally more inwardly focused, Cyn had not felt anyone approach her until it was too late to do anything. Thankfully, before she could produce a potentially violent knee-jerk reaction to being lifted off her feet, Cyn was able to mentally identify her assailant and relax as Fish laughed gleefully while spinning them both in a circle.
As Fish set her down, coming around to Cyn’s front to face her, Cyn felt her lips tug up into a smile to match the young woman’s infectious grin. Not wanting to bring down the mood, but needing to make sure Fish understood the kind of risk the woman had just taken, Cyn chided her gently. “You know, it’s dangerous to sneak up on people like that. I could have seriously hurt you.”
Fish’s glee didn’t falter at the chiding. If anything, she seemed even more happy. “Maybe, but you would have healed it right back!” Only if I didn’t kill you outright on accident. A quick Inspect confirmed the fire-happy mage was only level fourteen, so there would likely be a significant stat discrepancy between them. Especially if Fish’s class had not evolved. “Anyway, by the time Del told me that you are the one who saved my life, not him, you were already resting. I really wanted to wake you up to say thank you, but you also had worked so hard to fix Irrab, and then I heard about Geoff too... Wolf said I should let you rest. But you’re awake now, so...” Cyn found herself lifted into another tight, spinning hug. “Thank you. For saving me, and everyone else.”
Cyn returned the embrace until Fish set her back down on her feet. “Don’t mention it. I’m just glad we made it in time.” As nice as it might have been to have not been thrown head-first into a disaster, Cyn really was happy she had been able to save at least some of the dying raid party. Since there was work to be done, she gently guided Fish back to the trickle of people carrying rocks as the young woman started to chatter.
And oh boy, could Fish chatter. Cyn distinctly felt as though she was being talked at, not to, and could barely get a word in edgewise as Fish joined her for rock carrying. But she was able to learn a few interesting things over the next few hours, among what mostly felt like nonsense without reference.
Hex and Dana had fucked off almost immediately after Cyn activated Meditate, with the excuse of scouting the area. Never mind the fact that the raid already had a few rough maps of the dungeon. They had not come back in the few hours she had been resting, but Cyn was sure they would both be back before dark. A belief she had to reassure Fish of, as the young woman nervously voiced a half-joking concern that they had already been abandoned. Cyn was pretty sure they were just avoiding the more boring work she now found herself part of, but she did not voice that out loud.
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Cyn also learned why Fish’s whole party had strange names. They were monikers, or perhaps more accurately chosen names their people used around strangers. Despite the entire situation they had found themselves in with the arrival of the System to dimension 242, the party from planet Veert had held onto at least one tradition. Fish, Mountain, Wolf, and Elk - the final living member of their party, a guardian that Cyn had passed by while locating Fish during the attack - had all come from different groups or settlements on their planet, but shared the same belief. Their true names had power, and were not to be used around people you did not trust explicitly.
The belief wasn’t exactly contradicted by the arrival of the System, and having some normalcy probably gave them comfort, so Cyn could sort of understand why they would continue to hold onto the tradition. She still thought it was a bit strange, though. Mountain, who had overheard at least part of the conversation, tried to tease Cyn about having power over her now. Cyn could not help but laugh at the crestfallen look that came over the boy’s face when she informed him that she, and Hex, were also using monikers. Albeit for different reasons than the others.
Fish also talked about the planets the other parties were from, with members of said parties chiming in to correct her occasionally. The range of technology for each planet was mind blowing. Fish’s planet and the planet Del’s group was from were between the stone and iron age, and while both planets sounded deadly with a low Human population, they were complete opposites. Scott had already told Cyn about the hot, two-sunned planet that Fish’s party hailed from.
Del’s planet on the other hand sounded as though it was situated further from its sun than Earth was, or they were in some kind of ice age when the System arrived. It was unbearably cold, and nearly devoid of life above ground. In their party, only the archer Taesh had ever seen the sky before they arrived in the dungeon, because they all lived underground. A remarkable survival strategy made possible by immense, natural cave systems and the diverse flora and fauna native to their planet that had also evolved to live underground.
Geoff and Juls were the last surviving members of their own party, and their planet had been more like Earth’s medieval period. They did not seem eager to talk about their home, so Cyn was just making a guess based on the lack of technology and a few descriptions of what sounded like feudalistic serfdom.
Cirrus, a sole survivor before even arriving on this dungeon floor, came from a planet that sounded much closer to Earth, circa early twentieth century. He knew what electricity was, but mentioned it was only a luxury afforded to the wealthy and not widespread. The rogue was also not terribly interested in elaborating further or answering any questions.
“Last but not least, there is Donovan, Eli, and Gilbert, - Gilbert, not Burt. That’s the warrior I saw with Sam earlier. - their planet was nearly destroyed by nooo.... newl...”
Fish seemed to be struggling with the word, and thankfully Donovan was nearby to chime in, tone grim. “Nuclear weapons.” The archer caught the shock and recognition that flashed clearly over Cyn’s face, and continued before Fish could take over the conversation again, “You know what those are?” He sounded surprised, and since it appeared lower technology planets were more commonplace - at the very least based on her current sampling - Cyn couldn’t blame him for being surprised that she knew what he was talking about.
Bending to set down her rock among the others - one significantly heavier than she would have been able to lift, much less carry before the System - Cyn nodded her head. “Our planet, Earth, has those. They’ve even been used in war, a few times if I remember right. But not on a planet destroying scale. The threat of mutual destruction has kept conflicts from escalating that far.”
Donovan scowled. “You’re lucky, then. Or your leaders are smarter than our governments. Either way, some asshole halfway across the planet shot a nuke at a bordering country about a week before this dungeon took us away, and suddenly everyone else was shooting theirs too. From the safety of their bunkers, naturally.”
“Civvies always take the brunt of things, Donny. Look on the bright side, you could be back dying of radiation poisoning. Not a great way to go, take my word for it.” It was Eli who interjected, sounding upbeat but his tone was offset by the clearly empty smile paired with a haunted look in the young man’s brown eyes as he passed by them. ”Instead, we’re dying from Vampires and other people’s stupidity.”
“I would argue that the nukes were other people’s stupidity. I sure as fuck didn’t make them, or press the big red button to launch. Even if we make it out of here, we are just going to walk right back into the same deaths this dungeon saved us from.”
The anger and despair in Donovan’s voice as he spoke to Eli’s back was heartbreaking. Cyn couldn’t blame him for not wanting to return to a ruined planet, or struggling with the failures that had occurred before her party arrived on this floor. But she might be able to give him, and maybe some others, hope. With cold, hard logic. “In case you haven’t noticed, you are a lot harder to kill now. And magical healing is a thing.” Donovan rolled his eyes and started to turn away, but Cyn grabbed his arm to face him back towards her. “Any mage can regrow people limbs in a matter of hours, and you might even be able to do it without a mage. There is no reason to think that the radiation would still be a death sentence. I would suggest putting some free points into vitality if you aren’t already, so you have more health points to work with.” Radiation poisoning has to be a DOT, right? Definitely damage over time, I am sure of it. Taking a deep breath, she let go and instead used Pet while patting his arm and speaking softly. “Think of it as a chance to start fresh, and build a better world. It was a miracle you survived, and you should put that miracle to good use.”
Donovan still didn’t look happy, but he did visibly relax under her touch and shrugged. ”I don’t know about that. Even if the radiation doesn’t kill us, I am not sure I want to go back to a world ruled by people who think they can just play god with our lives.” Cyn let him pull away and sighed. Pretty sure people playing god with other people’s lives are an inevitability, no matter where you go. Her effort wasn’t a total success, but Cyn was just thankful that she was able to use the skill without getting caught, because there was a huge potential for backfire. But she was convinced it could be of use, and this encounter was a start to getting the most clearly depressed members of their raid party motivated to survive.
Turning back towards the river to get another rock, she locked gazes with Cirrus, who was staring at her with an intense, unreadable expression. He flicked his eyes to Donovan, a few steps ahead of her, before meeting her gaze again. Welp, so much for not getting caught, I guess. The rogue took one step towards her, before she was saved by Fish grabbing onto her arm and pulling her back towards the water.
“Well, I didn’t understand half of whatever you three were talking about, but every time they speak it makes me feel sad. Anyway, once this wall is built, can I hold your frog?”
