ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 21: Grounded Forever (From Spelunking)

Chapter 21

Grounded Forever (From Spelunking)

Alexa arrived on the surface, in a relatively clean state, all things considered. As she kept her final few days in the house that had already been cleared, she was able to get fresh water from the sink. Alexa almost wanted to ask where the water came from, but then thought better of it. The water itself was free and clear of magic, which was Alexa’s only real concern. As she figured her Regeneration would be more than capable of healing any bacterium left in the water itself.

All in all, she had to think the dungeon was more than accommodating. Going so far as to restock the shower units with water. While she did have to take cold showers, they were still showers. And with the running toilet in the bathroom, the toilet paper she brought along was perfect. She even managed to wash and dry her clothes once before her return day.

That was why when she returned the surface on Sunday night, she looked mostly fine. Well better than fine actually. She had an ethereal glow to her that made her stand out. This of course was due to her having stolen and assimilated all powers of the Elves, part of the Longevity meant that her skin would now radiate this youthful sheen often. Also, the three magic schools only seemed to enhance this glow that now radiated from her.

She had been strikingly pretty before, not beautiful. Not on the levels of the Dathneys of the world, but she had been pretty, very pretty to be exact. Her high Attributes and toned physique, only helped to enhance her overall appeal to the opposite sex, in a way that classical beauty couldn’t.

All of this is to say, that when she exited the newly evolving Tier II Dungeon Bottomless Gorge, no one noticed her. Instead, what they saw was what had to be an Elf, an ethereal creature from the Trials of Ascension walking out.

Though there was some confusion.

This elf had dark hair, unlike the pure blonds that the elves seem to cultivate. Though it should be noted that this one did have an odd circle of blond hair at the top of their head.

Everyone, from the guards to Jim and Judy Thyme, to the TSI agents who were on assigned to watch the exit portal all began reaching for their weapons.

They didn’t know how, nor why, but everyone knew that if an Elf or Orc managed to make it through the protective barriers of dungeons, then they had to be powerful indeed.

In fact, the only reason a battle didn’t break out right then and there was one word that was spoken.

“Alexa?” Luke Thyme, Alexa’s twin brother asked, as he began walking forward.

With the tone, the elf paused, turned their head, and stared at Luke like he was a moron. “Obviously.”

“Hahahaha.” Luke laughed as he ran forward and hugged his sister.

Alexa just stood there the way she always did during hugs. Then after counting to three in her head, she reached her right arm around her brother’s back, where she gave two quick taps. The tap out, as Alexa liked to think of it.

At this point the guards, Jim and Judy, and the TSI agents all began putting away their various weapons as they looked on.

“You look clean for being down there a week. Also, what is with your skin? Did you find a spa?” Luke asked, as usual his mouth moved on autopilot while he tried to take in everything.

Alexa looked at Luke for a second, then when it was clear he was waiting for an answer Alexa answered his questions. “I washed it, and no.”

With that Luke just paused and was about to look angry, then a bright smile filled his lips. “Oh, thank the gods, it is you.”

“Yeah, that is our Alexa. No el…one could fake that lack of emotion.” Judy Thyme said, as she too went over to hug her Alexa.

“I am just so happy that you are back alive and well that we will speak about your being grounded tomorrow.” Judy Thyme said, rubbing Alexa’s back.

“Grounded?” Alexa asked.

“Shh, that will be tomorrow. Today, let’s focus on the good things.” Judy said.

The TSI agents on duty all seemed to be nervously awaiting their turn to talk to Alexa. Seeing them, Alexa broke free of her mother’s vice like grip and went over to them.

“Before it becomes a thing. I have a few new Powers to Register.” Alexa told the TSI agent, the one she remembered seeing in the lobby.

The agent first looked flustered as he looked from Alexa to her parents, then back.

“What is this?” Judy asked, following the path her daughter took to get to this man.

“While in the dungeon I unlocked three categories of Magic.” Alexa admitted.

“Magic?” Jim, her father asked.

“Yes, Healing, Nature, and Wind.”

Everyone froze as they looked at Alexa.

“You still don’t have a class, right?” Her mother asked, concern clearly written on her face.

“I just have my slotted class. Though I have not put any experience towards it.”

“Experience?” Luke asked.

“Shh!” Judy said, waving a hand to get Luke to stop. Judy had long ago worked it out, that it was a lot easier to work with Luke than it was with Alexa. That was why they had this signal in place. Judy would flash it, meaning Luke would stop his questions, while Jim and Judy would ask what they thought was more relevant information. The only caveat was that they would go back later and answer all of Luke’s questions personally. It wasn’t a perfect situation, but it was the best they could come up with.

“But you managed to get Healing, Nature, and Windmagic unlocked?” Jim asked.

“Yes.” Alexa confirmed, she had the look of didn’t I already answer this. Still, she answered, as she knew sometimes people had to ask the same question multiple times, before it sank in.

“Does that mean you saw them?” Judy asked, a gasp in her voice. This was a Tier II dungeon. She had never heard of anyone going therefrom a Tier II dungeon. Let alone on their first time through.

“Those pretty little witches, yes.” Alexa admitted. She was socially aware enough that her parents seemed like they were purposefully not using the word Elf, so she tried to do the same.

“You survived their betrayal?” Judy asked with a gasped astonishment.

Alexa just looked at her mother with confusion for a moment, then before she could answer with, “no I killed them and stole their powers with my slotted class.” Her mother just ran up and hugged her.

“I am so glad you survived. Glad and proud. Gods, to think you did all that on your first-Tier II run.” Judy said, pulling herself away from her daughter.

“Now you said, you unlocked these Magic schools. At what level did you get them to?” The TSI agent asked.

“Max.”

Everyone blinked. Well, everyone but Luke, and one or two of the guards on staff. They were clearly not quite powerful enough to unlock the Trials of Ascension.

“Did you just say Max?” The TSI agent asked.

“Yes.”

“What level is that?” They asked the same question a different way.

“It is the tenth level, but once you get there, it changes to the word Max.” Alexa said, her voice devoid of emotion, making it sound like she was speaking to a particularly slow child.

At this, the TSI agent looked mildly annoyed, but wrote down more information into their communications pad. They even took a moment to confirm with their partner, then after a minute, they both looked back at Alexa.

“Okay, I am to ask, which of the Magic classes did you get to Max?” They said. They pointed to the earpiece they were wearing, but Alexa could hear the faint commands going to his ear without the notice.

“All of them.”

“All of them?”

“Yes.” This time Alexa let out a breath. It was draining having to answer the same questions over and over.

“Can you do a demonstration to prove this?” The TSI agent asked.

“Fine.” Alexa said, then was about to begin when the TSI agent once again cut her off.

“I will warn you that this is being recorded and sent to my commander.”

Alexa nodded her consent.

The TSI agents already had their bright lights on from their glasses, letting Alexa know that a recording of some kind was already in order.

Not really knowing what else to do. Alexa looked to the open courtyard, then she held out her hand. The gesture wasn’t necessary, but she figured these people probably would ask her a million more variants of the same question if she didn’t at least look like she was directing her mana outward through her hand.

“This is Nature magic.”

With that, she turned from the TSI agent then focused on the field. In a second she found multiple seeds that were already in the ground. This would be a lot easier than she had expected, as she just focused on those seeds and caused them to grow.

Whoosh.

Within seconds, three trees grew up from the ground and began to expand until they were well over thirty feet tall.

“This is Wind magic.”

A light pause, as Alexa then conjured dozens of tiny wind blades, so far, her maximum she could call upon at one time was ten. But she could fire ten and summon ten at nearly a non-stop rate.

Crackle, thud.

As the wind blades encountered the thick foot long branches of the trees, they all snapped off and fell to the ground. One second there were three very healthy trees. The next second, there were on giant toothpicks sticking out of the ground.

“This is Healing magic.”

Then with this last one she focused on the three trees and pushed energy into them, helping them fill out their lost limbs in seconds. This was something that could not be reproduced with Nature magic, as Nature magic could only stabilize the tree once it suffered such trauma. Only Healing magic would be able to fully regrow a limb, be it on a tree, or on a person.

Finally, once she was done going through all three classes of magic, she lowered her hand. Then turning to look at the TSI agents who were still recording everything, she asked.

“Any questions?”

Everyone was speechless. Well, everyone but Luke who had no clue what Magic was, nor how tough it was to do. Nor the way that Alexa had seemingly broke every law of known magic by wordlessly casting magic. Not just magic, but she was able to split her attention to generate multiple variants of the same spell all at once. Such processes should be impossible. By all known standards this was impossible, until one managed to reach far into the realms of master level class holders. Even then people spent their entire lives devoted to understanding the magic that was unlocked with their class, not magic that was somehow gained from doing something everyone once thought was impossible, namely getting those crazy backstabbing elves to teach all their magic schools. Let alone teach them to someone like Alexa. Though thinking about it, this shouldn’t have been too surprising of a development, as Alexa had always been the one who could solve problems in a new and unique way.

Rather than one of the TSI agents, or the guards, or even her parents. The person who next spoke and broke apart the awkward tension that had been building was her brother.

“That was so awesome. Do you think you can teach it?”

Alexa shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It’s not really that hard.”

At this everyone looked on in amazement at Alexa. The TSI agent she had been speaking too particularly looked like he wanted to ask her for pointers. At least he had been preparing to ask for pointers, until she said her next part. “You just have to unlock the ability to wield Magic first, then I can teach you.”

At that, everyone’s face dropped. Everyone except for Judy Thyme who must looked at her daughter with a questioning glance.

Judy then looked at the guards, the TSI agents, and finally her children. There was a lot that needed to be talked about. New ground rules for Tier II dungeons, and most importantly on what is an acceptable time limit away from the family. But right now, she just wanted her family home.

“Come on, you two have a busy day tomorrow. Going to Dawning Light High School and all.” Judy said, gesturing for Luke and Alexa to start heading towards the parking lot.

At that, Alexa turned to Luke and gave a questioning glance.

“Yeah, I uh, I found a Psychic Crystal while delving in the same Tier I dungeon you went on Saturday. I took it, and now am going to be in school with you, as a pre-awakened.” Luke said, nervousness filling his voice.

Alexa of course took this to be the same fear she initially had as well. “Don’t worry.”

“What?” Luke asked, wondering if she had caught on to the fact that he could not lie to his sister to save his life. The story of finding the Psychic Crystal was so lame that he barely could accept it as a cover. That was why when she said, don’t worry, he thought she had clearly seen through this story that he and the TSI Captain Johnston came up with.

“I feel that I am now more than powerful enough to protect myself from most hazing. Also, as a healer, I should be considered near untouchable. So long as I let everyone know you are under my protection, you should also be left alone.” Alexa said.

“Right, using my little sister to protect me from bullying.” Luke said, going with that over the fact that he had almost been clearly caught lying to his human lie detector of a sister.

Of course, there were ways around lie detection. Such as the process that Captain Johnston came up with. In that, he was handed a sack of augmentation crystals, one being the crystal with his new Psychic power. Then he entered the dungeon. Upon entering the dungeon, he took out the bag, poured the contents on the ground, then found the psychic crystal on the floor. Just as he had said. This of course was why his sister had not detected any falsehoods in his statements, everything he said was factual, even if it was said in a misleading manner.

The fact that his sister gave him an out, he took it. Then only after she said such a thing, did Luke realize how badly he might have messed up to make sure he was not overshadowed by his twin sister. For now, that she said it, he did remember some of the horror stories of the students who had attended the High School for years, wielding their powers to bully, haze, and generally harass one another. That was how Jim and Judy bonded, they had to work together to avoid most of the bigger bullies. At least until their classes awoke, then they were allowed to do one of the following, go onto college, or get a job as an awakened being.

They both decided to get jobs together, and further avoid being subject to hazing by the awakened who were truly powerful.

“Well come on. Lots to talk about and discuss, as we prepare you all for your first day at your new school.” Judy said, putting on a cheerful voice that was clearly an act, as she guided her two children to the family car.

Then, just as quickly as they had come, they were gone. The only sign that Alexa had even returned were the three now thirty-foot-tall trees in the yard, and the multiple broken branches that seemed to be exact clones of the branches that still hung from the trunks of the great trees.

The first TSI agent left, early to go take care of some paperwork. This meat that only one of the TSI agents was still on sight documenting everything. The agent on sight, was of course the agent that Alexa had recognized and felt comfortable speaking to.

This last TSI agent was about to leave as well, when he was stopped by the guards.

“Where do you think you are going?” The Guard said to the TSI agent.

“What do you mean? I am going to my car.”

At that the guard just shook his head. “Not with that mess you left.” He said, pointing to the three trees and the thirty odd large branches on the ground.

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“Clean it up.”

“Shouldn’t you have gotten the girl to do that?”

“And piss off the only true healer I know, are you crazy? Besides, she only did so under your orders. As such, you need to clean it up.”

That was how Travis, the sole remaining TSI agent from the team who had been sent to monitor for Alexa’s return, found himself hauling branches out of the dungeon entrance at 22:00 on a Sunday night, when he should have been in bed.