ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 89: Hello Dungeon

Chapter 89

Hello Dungeon

Friday

Time Until Integration: 1 Month, 22 Days, 5 Hours…

The rest of the week went relatively smoothly, all things considered. Alexa took the time to not only catch up with her past missed assignments, but also managed to test ahead. In particular her understanding of Chemistry was demonstrated at a clearly Collegiate level, causing Ms. Tutlidge to agree that she would be fine with that subject. Similarly, her understanding of Math and Languages were also exemplary. In fact, Alexa was doing so well that she was almost ready to test ahead in her subjects.

As for the members of her pack, they too were doing better than expected. Many were taking to the new training program quite easily. After their nightly training sessions, everyone had made at least one green level run of the dungeon. Of the pack, Julie, Kylie, and Alecia had all passed the green level difficulty dungeon trials twice and were now ready to move onto the golden, or yellow, level difficulty unarmed combat trials.

In all everything was looking good for the pack. There were words of a field trip in place. Many countries were trying to quell their own mini incursions. Well mainly everyone was trying to kill and destroy any and all dragons who exited the dungeons on Halloween. The dragons in Columbia especially were seen as quite aggressive and active, though if they were incensed by the fact that both the Red Countess and the Red Demonio were neutralized was hard to tell.

News footage came in of recent efforts of supers trying to take out dragons. Unfortunately, dragons seemed to be particularly resistant to both Kinetic and biological attacks. While a few ordinance of thermite were fired at the creatures, most were able to shrug off the concentrated powder and flee the area. This allowed them to burrow deep within the subways and underground passageways of London, where the dragons healed up and came out even stronger and more resistant to thermite and regular ordinances.

There were also talks about orcs taking over some smaller settlements out west, while elves were being presented as beautiful movie stars in some countries.

With everything going on in the world, Alexa still wanting to improve herself decided to take the core group of her team on another dungeon excursion. This time it was seen as more of a couple’s retreat.

Luke and Julie were in the front seat, while Alexa and Gina were in the back.

“So Bottomless Gorge?” Julie asked from the front.

Alexa nodded.

“If all dungeons are meant to train us in one particular field, then what do you think we will learn in Bottomless Gorge?” Julie asked.

“I don’t know. That is one of the more interesting puzzle dungeons. So maybe something dealing with Analytics.” Alexa pondered.

“Also, you said that all dungeons were bound by dragons?” Gina asked, remembering the details that Alexa spoke about.

“I don’t know if that is the case here. It might be only the older dungeons, ones that first came here. Ones that spawned here like Bottomless Gorge, I don’t see how they could be bound to a dragon. I mean there was no clear way for the dragons to get here before now.” Alexa posed.

“What if they come every Halloween. Surely this wasn’t the first time that the veil between worlds was too thin?” Luke asked.

At that Alexa had to stop and think. He made a good point, that before this year the veil would have gotten weaker and weaker over time.

“Besides what about that celebrity couple from Hollywood. Didn’t they recently come out as being elves in disguise all this time?” Gina added.

Hearing that, there were a lot of things that were both explained by the veils being weakened on Halloween, and by the fact that so many people were coming out as being linked to key positions of power.

“I mean even Quake came out as being an Elf.” Julie said.

“So with all of them coming out of hiding suddenly, only seems to add more credence that the integration is going to happen, just as you said Alexa.” Gina said, once again circling back to get Alexa engaged in the conversation.

Alexa nodded, then seemed to reluctantly respond.

“I don’t quite know everything that is going on, but I do know that sometime just after New Year’s day the integration timer that I constantly see when I go to dungeons will be at zero. Also, I don’t know if there is a way to test this or not, but I believe the dungeons are becoming more substantial as time goes on.”

“More substantial?” Luke asked from the driver’s seat.

“Yes, they seem to be getting more solid in their construction.” Alexa said.

There was a pause as everyone waited for more, but then realized that was all Alexa was going to add to the subject.

“You know, I think I know what you mean. The dungeon on campus seems to be able to do a better job creating more realistic training rooms.” Julie added.

“Actually, this will be a good test case with us going back to Bottomless Gorge, as we can try to recall what it was like before. When were we last here? A year ago?” Gina asked.

“HAH! That was only last month, though I do agree we should probably take notes.” Julie said. Then turning to Luke, she asked. “What do you remember of Bottomless Gorge?”

At that Luke looked flustered as he ran his fingers through the back of his hair. “You know, about that. I never got a chance to run Bottomless Gorge.” Luke admitted.

“What?”

“Well, it was all just so quick you know. Alexa just got her crystals and was allowed to go to a Tier II dungeon, where she learned magic. So, I went into the Tier I dungeon and got my own invisibility psychic crystal.” Luke said, his voice cracking as he clearly didn’t believe the story he as telling.

Alexa watched him, then shook her head at the way he tried to pass off a lie as the truth. Of course, Alexa didn’t care enough to call him out on this, but Julie did.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense. You went into a dungeon and found an invisibility psychic crystal?” Julie asked pointedly, her face and eyes watching Luke for any signs of deception.

Under the scrutinizing gaze, Luke began to tremble and squirm like a blade of grass caught in the wind. “Yeah, I went in and then found the crystal within the Tier I dungeon.” Luke said, taking a moment to calm himself down before answering, but it was already too late as Julie could smell blood in the water. Or rather she could smell a lie from her boyfriend.

“Uh huh.” Was all Julie said, before turning to look back at Gina and Alexa. Alexa for her part had already begun staring out the window again. Gina seemed to have missed most of the tells as she was directly seated behind Luke. Meaning that Julie was the only one with a direct line of sight to Luke.

“Do any of you believe that?” Julie asked.

Silence.

Gina squirmed and fidgeted, clearly not wanting to get caught up in this type of interrogation. Seeing Gina like this, Alexa spoke out. “You might as well tell her the truth. She is already suspicious, any denial on your part will only cause more of a divide between you two.”

Luke paused, then turned his head to look in the backseat at Alexa who was still looking out the window.

Thump, thump, thump.

“Hey the road.” Julie said, yelling at Luke to get his attention back on the road as they had veered off and were hitting the rumble strip of road that let truckers know they were falling asleep at the wheel.

“Right.” Luke said, as he veered back, nearly over corrected. Then corrected back and finally after a few tense seconds, he smoothed out his drive.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Alexa once again pressed. “So are you going to tell her, or should I?”

Luke paused and looked out the windshield for a long moment. Then finally taking a long breath, he let out a sigh and answered. “I got the Invisibility crystal from Captain Johnston, she wanted me to keep an eye on Alexa in the new school. At the time she was the only one who could cure Lykanthropy, and with a serial converter on the loose it made sense to keep tabs on her. This was of course before she began her Trials of Ascension, and became a magical genius as well.” Luke said, as he looked visibly deflated after that admission.

“And?” Julie pressed.

“And what? That was it, I was hired to be a narc for my sister and that is the only reason I was allowed to attend Dawning Light academy. I am clearly a fraud and I don’t deserve to be there.” Luke said.

At that there was a moment of silence, before Gina cut in.

“You think you are a fraud because you were given a power? How do you think I feel. I was given enough physical and mental crystals to kill a stallion. My Telepathy is no standard Telepathy, it is something called Telepathy V, where I can not only read people’s minds, but insert thoughts into their heads. And just in case you were wondering, there is only one place where Telepathy V and higher crystals drop, and that is in Tier VII dungeons. There is no way I could pretend to even hide the origin of my powers. But my parents being who they are, or rather who they were. I got in. That was part of why I was shipped off to a no name academy in the states. This built-up international relations, while also making it somewhat easier to hide the fact that I have a power there is no way I could have legitimately gotten on my own.”

There was a pause, before Luke asked, “wait, you can influence people’s thoughts?”

“Out of everything I just said, that is what you actually paid attention to. The answer is yes, I can, though I hate it. My parents wanted me to eventually get so good at manipulating people’s thoughts that I would add to their dominance. Of course, having such a powerful crystal in my body cost me physically. While it was never stated directly some of the doctors treating me thought that my heart condition was a direct result of having too much power thrust upon me from a young age. That is part of my fear, that even with Alexa’s help, I will eventually revert back to having a bad heart before I gain a class and can level that way.” Gina said.

There was a pause as everyone mulled over that bombshell.

Finally, after a few moments of silence Alexa spoke, “don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? How can I not. I have no parents to fall back on, I have a power that literally eats me away from the inside. Then we have this invasion, or Integration thingy… There are dragons and elves asserting dominance over areas of our planet and we are literally powerless to stop it.” Gina said, the more she spoke the quicker and more frantic she seemed to get.

Then she felt something warm on her normally cold hands.

Looking down she saw that Alexa had reached out and grabbed her hand. Looking at her, Gina was impressed that Alexa had turned away from the window and was now looking Gina in the eyes. Well sort of, her vision was still slightly off center, but Gina knowing Alexa realized this was a lot for her. That’s when Alexa said the seven words that would change her life.

“That’s right. Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

As she spoke Alexa made sure to shift her gaze fully onto Gina’s where she felt a deep connection that seemed to transcend that moment of two friends in the backseat of a car. In that gaze, Gina saw unwavering determination. In that moment, Gina knew Alexa was right, she didn’t need to worry. At least she didn’t need to worry about the little things that seemed so massive a moment ago. In that one moment, she felt free. Then realizing she needed to respond, she answered the only way she knew how.

“Okay.”

With that, the two just stared at each other for a few more moments. The people in the front seats began to talk to themselves, but all of that was so distant for Gina who realized her entire life had changed drastically in the course of a week, and that was okay.

After a point, Alexa turned her gaze back out the window, but let her massive hand rest in Gina’s smaller hands. Gina too found herself shifting away but making sure to never let go. In that moment Alexa’s hand was an anchor holding her fast even while waves of force swelled and surged around her. In that moment, she was safe, so long as she held fast.

Vrrow.

The car parked, and only after a few seconds did Gina realize that they had made it to their destination. The ride from campus to here was less than thirty minutes, and during that time the drive seemed both impossibly long and all too short.

Alexa was the one who paid their entrance fee for all four of them.

Seeing this sudden change Luke was shocked. He even commented on it, after she got back. “You used your precious crystals on others?”

“You all are worth it.” Alexa said, then amended her statement. “Well, they are, we will need to whip you into shape first before you can be of any real use to us.”

“Hey!”

“She’s not lying.” Gina added, walking passed the stunned Luke.

Luke feeling a bit indignant turned to Julie, pleading with his eyes for an assist.

“You know it is the fact that you have to turn to others for self-validation that proves she is right, don’t you?” Julie replied to the unspoken request for help.

“Ouch, you too?” He asked, but soon found himself going forward to catch up to the trio who were already entering the dungeon.

The minute he joined them, he found the entryway of the dungeon letting them know they had all entered. Then looking forward he saw Alexa give her odd greeting.

“Hello Dungeon. It has been a while…”