ALEXiThymiA: Epilogue III

Epilogue III

Gina Rojas

It had been a little over thirty hours since Gina last saw Alexa. Thirty hours of near panic. There was the call that had somehow gone live, the one where Alexa appeared before the dungeon, only to then have her call get recorded for training purposes. Hearing the sounds of that call that were made public, Gina concluded with 86% accuracy that the watch phone in question had been thrown before it was subsequently destroyed. While she was 86% certain, that still left 14% of her to worry.

Fortunately, that fear had been short lived, as tales of survivors that had managed to escape some tunnels began popping up. Then there were dozens of accounts of how Aru’ka had appeared and managed to slay dozens of vampires, all in order to free them.

Then there was the time when she met up with Ryelifa, the look of shock on the elf’s face showed a greater than 82% chance that she had expected Alexa to be dead. Then the conversation that Alexa had with her told Gina that there was a greater than 93% chance that Alexa was misleading the information. These were all subtle actions, one that only Gina who had taken time to fully study Alexa would know.

There was also the look of malicious nature form the elf, one that spoke of mischief at near 90% probability. All of this only caused Gina to become glued to the live feed. Over time Julie and a few other pack members coaxed her into joining the live stream downstairs, but Gina could only watch with others in horror. Tightly clasping Mr. Bear tightly for comfort as she watched her best friend and more go off into the darkness. Fortunately, the camera operator did their best to follow the pair as they left. Even catching the glow of what Gina concluded had to be a dueling dome. Having only ever seen one before her probability was low, at only 65%, but she figured that is what the glow had to be.

Then it only took less than an hour from the time the two left, to the bright glow, to the time when the dragon began to stir and shake apart the giant tower. The flashing lights showed that Alexa had survived the fall, but then everything went quiet.

Logically there was a less than one percent chance that she would win, the entire thing was just too much. The odds of falling five stories, crashing and then being able to handle a battle with a dragon in an enclosed space where there was seemingly no room to run it would have been impossible, yet there she was coming out of the rubble. Well it wasn’t officially her, it was just a human sized silhouette that appeared to climb their way free of the rubble. There off in the distance, Gina’s mind did quick calculations on height width and distance to confirm that the person that appeared had to be well over six feet tall, and the muscles Gina would tell anywhere. Seeing her a slight “yip.” Escaped her as she looked on, her analytical mind seeing the data and then processing everything.

“Is that her? Is that Alexa.”

Blurry.

The screen was suddenly blurry for some reason, only a minute later did Gina realize it was because her body was shedding tears. Soft warm tears that were flowing down her face and making it hard for her to make out any new details, but her mind processed everything and gave her the answer she so desperately needed.

Chance of silhouette being Alexa Thyme 73%.

Chance of anyone other than Alexa Thyme surviving such an outcome 0%.

That was it, that was enough for her to sit back and relax.

“That’s her.” Gina said, excitedly as she wiped tears away from her eyes.

“WOOHOOO!” A chorus of cheers erupted at that, Julie and Luke embraced passionately, while others acted similarly. Everyone but Gina had someone to celebrate with, Gina for her part rested assured knowing the only person she wanted to celebrate with would be on her way to her shortly.

***

Kelvin Mackie

Kelvin hid on a hill overlooking what appeared to be a large ocean. His clothes were soaked, as the entry point to the zone had been in the large ocean before him, an ocean that seemingly went on as far as the eyes could see. He had almost been drowned, clubbed to death, and suffocated and that was all from his interactions with the monsters of the ocean.

Fear gripped him as he looked out over the water, trying to understand what it was that this dungeon was trying to teach.

Rumble.

To make matter’s worse, Kelvin was starving, his last meal being the one he shared with the beautiful warrior, the one who swore she would be back for him. Part of him wished she would come already, while another part of him wondered exactly how she would be able to help with such an odd zone.

Off in the distance, on the surface of the water, Kelvin could see where two massive fleets of ships constantly at battle with one another. Every so often the ships that were engaged in combat would seemingly stop and battle against ocean monsters. The entire thing was crazy, as it was Kelvin himself could not swim, that much was apparent from his near drowning attempt he had when he madly scrambled to this peak. Halfway through his retreat, he could have sworn that gentle hands had grabbed him and all but thrown him onto shore, but that would have been crazy right? I mean, what type of monster would effectively spit him back?

Then again, he figured that he should call himself lucky that he survived at all, though he knew that if held didn’t arrive soon he would surely perish. As it was, he had a hard time maintaining a grip on the small ledge he had found. There was no food, no fresh water, and the wind coming off of the crisp ocean water sent cold chills down his spine. In a word he was doomed, without help. Worse, he knew that even if his savior did come, the odds of her being able to find him were astronomically small that he almost gave up hope.

Still all he could do was wait and hope, it wasn’t like he had any other options at this point. Then he held onto one thought to keep his focus, to make sure he held on, even during his sleep. If she comes, then it proves that deep down she really does care for me.

***

Lashintax The Death Dragon

Lashintax awoke with a start, a strange cold chill piercing her spine, making it so she was incapable of relaxing. It was as if the devils themselves had marked her as a failure. This of course was not supposed to have happened, at least not yet. She and her brood had been given time, this was a pre-integrated planet and she and her twin sister Mashintrax had both conquered part of the world, but done so brazenly. They set up their roosts in the center of major cities and all but dared the best and brightest the world and other pre-integrated races had to offer and devoured them.

Just as their masters said, they conquered the two nexus nodes of power, the ones that the nasty elves had built up as their own. Not only had they conquered the enemy, but they now made their homes in the former strongholds of their greatest enemies, such actions were the talk of legends. With their two conquered nodes of power being so close, creating a forced interdimensional rift to the lands of the masters would be easy, especially if they could do so before the dungeons drained away all the natural energy of the planet. That was why they had come, why they both went through such lengths to destroy possible breeding grounds for new dungeons. While it would be nearly impossible for two dragons to destroy all dungeons, the number of dungeons available were dropping significantly thanks to her and her sister’s efforts. Yet, this strange icy chill would not leave her alone.

Finally, the chill went away, that or Lashintax was finally able to get used to the sensation. Regardless, she was able to relax slightly, though sleep felt like it would be hard to come by. Then just as she was dozing off, with her eyes closing almost on their own, she heard it. A threat that sent chills down her spine. Words that were spoken with such calmness that they would almost be seen as a general statement about the weather, but Lashintax knew these words were anything but. Worse she knew the words were both in her native draconian tongue, and spoken by a human, which only caused her mind to have a slightly hard time translating the words, as they were in a higher form of her own language than she was used to, a more archaic version, but one that was still translatable all the same.

“I am coming for you.”

Translating the words, Lashintax felt the chill fill her body once more, this time the chill would not dissipate over time.