Rune Seeker

Hiral stood off to the side, Left and Right with him, as Seena stepped ahead of the group and looked at the Spearing Roots barricade set up in the doorway.

“Everybody ready?” she asked.

Hiral took a quick look at his buffs. The usual Nature’s Bulwarkwasin place, along with a new buff from Gourmand. It wasn’t terribly much—End increased by five percent—but considering it was from the dungeon rations they had tons of, it wasn’t bad. And it lasted a full eight hours.

Wonder if multiple food buffs stack?

Lonil slapped his new club into his free hand, snapping Hiral’s attention back to the real world, and the tank’s skin hardened into matching stone. The plan was for Seeyela’s group to go first in case there were any monsters waiting at the entrance, and the party readied themselves to rush out.

“Do it,” Seeyela instructed.

With a wave of Seena’s hand, the barricade vanished in a puff of slightly purple solar energy—the infernal trait?—and she stepped aside, Lonil and the others rushing past.

They gave them to the count of five, then Nivian led Seena’s party through the door, around the turn, and out the short tunnel to find Seeyela and her group waiting for them in the rain.

“Clear,” Fitch said as they arrived.

“You don’t say?” Vix asked, but all eyes continued to scan the darkness as multiple croaks echoed somewhere deeper in the forest.

“Sounds like there are still lizards out there,” Seena said. “Remember how we talked about dealing with them.”

“They’re in for a couple of nasty surprises if they try to get horny around me,” Yanily said.

“Horned lizards. Horned,” Vix repeated.

“Doesn’t change my stance on this,” Yanily shot back.

“Left, anything?” Hiral asked, blocking out the Growers and instead focusing his hearing on the sounds of the forest.

The rain, lighter than it’d been when they went into the dungeon, was a constant thrumming on the leaves and ground—easy enough to ignore—but other, more inconsistent sounds filtered through. The faint buzzing and clicking of insects. Birds’ wings flapping through the trees. The croaks of the giant lizards, of course, but also those of something smaller. Frogs?

“Nothing close, I think,” Left responded. “A lot more life in the forest, though. Natural creatures emerging after the worst of the storm has passed.”

“The rain is a lot better than before,” Wule said. “And these clothes, whatever they’re made of, are actually repelling most of the water. Do you think they’re magic?”

Hiral looked at the sleeve of his jacket, the material smooth and light, and concentrated.

Raincoat – E-Rank

“I don’t think it’s magic,” Hiral said. “Just a material we don’t have up on the islands.”

“Left, you sure you don’t want one?” Seena asked the double.

“It would prevent me from quickly using my tattoos. Thank you anyway,” Left replied, the rain pattering off his skin.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” Seena said before turning her attention to the party as a group. “Time to get moving. Like we planned, Seeyela’s party will take the lead, and we’ll hang a bit back. Dr. Benza talked about moving in groups of six so as not to attract the Enemy’s attention, and until we know for sure whether that Enemy is still around or not, we’re going to take that advice.”

“Do you want some Light Darts?” Picoli called over.

“Actually, no,” Seena said. “Let’s see if things are attracted to the light or kept away from it. Sis, we’ll follow about fifty feet back.”

“Sounds good,” Seeyela said. “Shout if you get jumped by anything.”

“I’m sure we’ll hear Yanily’s girlish screams,” Balyo said out of the side of her mouth, though it was loud enough for everybody to hear, but Seeyela physically pushed her ahead before the usual banter could delay them.

“Right, hold the rear back here with me,” Hiral said. “Left, you’re up with Nivian. We’re the lookouts.”

“It would be handy if you could get a rune on your left ear so I could have access to the Perfect Sense tattoo,” Left said.

“I’ll add it to my list,” Hiral said flatly, but Left nodded and jogged up to join Nivian at the front as the man started following after Seeyela’s party.

True to his word, Hiral and Right waited until the others had gone, then started after them, though Hiral glanced back at the archway leading into the dungeon.

Those are definitely runes. I wonder if I could get more insights by studying them at the next dungeon. I should’ve thought of that before we left.

A tap on his shoulder from Right, and Hiral was moving again, attention back on the forest around him.

Thick roots, about as wide around as his leg, ran on both sides of them away from the archway, glowing a faint orange, and always exactly six feet apart. Their path. Even without Dr. Benza mentioning the existence of a trail, it would’ve been impossible to miss and hard to ignore following it to see where it led. Not to mention the faint emission of solar energy that was like water to a thirsty man in all this darkness.

Huh. I wonder if the solar energy is the cause of the roots glowing, or a result of it?

“There are other glowing plants,” Right said, drawing Hiral’s attention from the ground. “Up there.”

Hiral followed Right’s gesture, and, yes, faint though they were, it was like a root system runningup the outside of the tree, also glowing a faint orange. And it wasn’t just one tree. Dozens of them, just within his line of sight, sported one form of glowing plant or another. While there was that root system he’d spotted first, there was also another like a vine wrapped around and around the tree, while another came in the form of softly glowing flowers dotting the trunk.

“So many different shapes. Different kinds?” Hiral asked Right.

“Gauto would’ve loved this,” Right said in reply, as if reading Hiral’s next thoughts.

“He would’ve.”

“Do you miss him? Them?” Right asked quietly.

“I thought you said you were me?” Hiral joked. “Shouldn’t you know the answer?”

“I do, but a lot’s happened. Thought you might want to talk about it,” Right said, surprisingly seriously. “And with somebody who actually understands what you went through.”

Hiral looked around the woods as they walked, as much to make sure they weren’t going to get jumped by Troblins or lizards as to consider how to reply.

“I miss them,” he admitted. “Gauto and Nat the most, but also Dad, Milly, and Loan. Even Arty and his nonsense. Do you think Nat is mad at me for not coming back?”

“Yes,” Right said immediately, and Hiral couldn’t stop the wince. “You aren’t just her big brother, but also her role model, more than anybody else in the family.”

“How could the Everfail be her role model?” Hiral asked, practically hissing at the hated nickname. “Shouldn’t it be Mom or Dad? They’re Artists like her, but even they don’t have her skill. She’s going to be the most talented Artist Fallen Reach has seen in hundreds of years. What could she possibly learn from me?”

“How to not give up. How to work for what she wants,” Right said simply. “You know how easy it would’ve been for her to coast on her skill alone. She would’ve been as good as your… our… parents without trying. But she saw you striving for what you wanted, no matter what the obstacle was, and that taught her something.”

“Yeah, taught her that her big brother was a failure,” Hiral said.

“Do you really consider yourself a failure?”

“Of course I do!” Hiral practically shouted, only to look ahead as the others glanced back at the sudden sound. “Sorry, we’re fine,” he said with a wave of his hand. When they finally turned back to their own conversations, Hiral pulled the hood of his jacket further over his head. “You know how I feel.”

“And, after everything we’ve learned, don’t you think it’s time to start reconsidering that?” Right asked. “You couldn’t be a Shaper. You’re not a Maker. Maybe it’s time to stop beating yourself up over that?

“You’ve got a class now. A class nobody on Fallen Reach has ever seen. Not to mention Left and me. Isn’t that something to be proud of?”

Hiral looked again at the glowing roots, trying to put his feelings into words. Right had a point. Several, in fact. But it wasn’t that simple. He couldn’t merely throw aside all the emotions and hurt from the last ten years. And, sure, he had a class now… but… but…

“I didn’t earn the class,” he finally said, teeth clenching. “It was just… an accident. How can I be proud of that? Just like my place with them.” He gestured toward the party ahead of him. “They might only want me to come with them because they can’t get into the dungeons without me. Fallen’s balls, when we came down, they expected me to die, and they were okay with that—before they needed me.

“But me? I’m so desperate to be needed, finally—by anybody—that I ignore it. I know I’m doing it, but I can’t stop, and I kind of hate myself for it.”

“It’s okay to want to be needed,” Right said quietly. “We all do. Why do you think they’re a party? Because they need each other, and in turn want to be needed. So what if they need you to get into the dungeons? Wule is the only healer, right? Do you think he holds it against the others when they need him because they’re injured?

“Or Nivian? Does he think less of himself because Vix and Yanily need him to keep a monster’s attention so they can do their thing? Hand in hand with that, it’s not like Nivian and Wule could’ve cleared that last dungeon by themselves. You’re all needed, even if it’s for different reasons. So, don’t begrudge other people—or yourself—for why they need you.

“And, Hiral, seriously, just because you got your role here a bit differently than you expected, don’t think you didn’t earn it with everything you’ve done up to this point. All the choices you’ve made, the work you’ve put in, the not giving up despite whatever everybody else thought—those are the things that brought you here. Sure, part of it was luck—everything is—but you worked to put yourself in a position for that luck to pay off.”

“By jumping off an island?” Hiral asked to force a smile and take his attention off the pressure in his chest. Is it really okay for me get my class like this? To become part of their party like this?

“Part of it was by recklessly jumping off an island, yes,” Right admitted. “And then by making friends with people who kind of hated you.”

“Because I needed them to get me to… the dungeon…” Hiral said slowly, the whole conversation coming full circle.

“Give and take—that’s what every relationship is,” Right said. “With Nat, with Gauto, with Seena and the others. Nobody is selfless in it, so stop worrying about why they need you. In fact, if you let that go for just a minute, you might even realize some of them want you to be here with them.”

“You really think they consider me a friend?”

“Well, not Fitch. Pretty sure he’d use your chest as a sword sheath if he thought he could get away with it,” Right said, chuckling. “The others, though? Seena’s party especially, yeah, I think they do.”

“How do you know this if I don’t?” Hiral asked, eyes looking over the backs of the party in the softly glowing light from the roots on both sides of the trail.

“You do know it; you’re just not letting yourself admit it. Me? I can be objective because I’m on the outside. That’s all.”

Hiral nodded but didn’t try to speak right away. Too many thoughts were spiraling through his head, and his chest was a mess of emotions. He actually liked most of the Growers—they seemed like good people—so why was it so difficult for him to accept they might like him too?

Because I’ve spent so long being hated and ridiculed by almost everybody.

They hadn’t done that, though. Fitch doesn’t count.

“Thanks, Right,” Hiral finally said. “I think I needed to hear that.”

“You did,” Right agreed. “Now, back to the topic of Nat. You’re going to need to find her one hell of a souvenir from down here if you don’t want her to tattoo something obscene on your face in your sleep after you get back.”

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