Chapter 77: A little trouble

Chapter 77: A little trouble

Blake vaguely recalled entering an unconscious person’s mind.

He found himself standing in a strange, shadowy world, with blinking scenes of poorly lit structures.

People ran everywhere. Beasts howled in the dark, their footfalls and dragging claws scraping against concrete. None of it saw or bothered Blake.

He walked on and observed the people were young and in uniforms, almost like a high school. He followed them into the buildings—into long corridors filled with rooms that looked all the same.

Yes, he decided, a school. Yet everything seemed somehow...off. Too plastic. Too many missing details. Like a school plucked from a child’s memory.

But the dying seemed real. Giant snakes slithered through the halls. Huge worms with frightening maws ripped from the earth and devoured people whole. Packs of orcs dragged girls screaming into the dark.

The bloody stranger whose mind Blake was in ran through it all. She carried an emergency fire-axe dripping blood, limping as if hurt. Her nametag said ‘Annie’.

Then an orc stepped in her path and growled. She leapt through the air with a wild, almost feral scream, her little arms swinging the axe in a brutal, double-handed overhand chop. The orc first jerked in obvious surprise, then because there was a fire axe buried in his brain. Annie smashed him to the ground and practically roared--which was more like a girlish squeal. Then ripped the axe out and stared straight at Blake.

“Please. Help me. I don’t want to do this anymore!”

Blake felt a little like the surprised orc. He came back to himself and sighed, then tried to use Mental Influence to do...something. Instead the darkness shimmered and popped like a kernel of corn as he activated the power, and the girl’s eyes rolled back until she collapsed.

The darkness vanished.

Blake opened his eyes to find Seul-ki holding him on the ground.

[Hidden Psion Class Power Discovered: Dream Walk]

He sat up, pleased at the power but entirely unhappy at the loss of control. He stood with a groan and saw the girl was also fluttering awake, and lost the pleasant mood he’d had since the end of the dungeon.

“Set her down,” he commanded.

Calypsa glanced at him but made no move to obey.

“Your town is close. If you’re capable, we should continue a little ways further and you can see to...”

“Don’t mistake my charm for a lack of authority,” Blake barked, no longer wearing his pleasant mask. “Set her down. Now.”

The nymph reacted the same as most people when Blake lost his patience. Her eyes opened slightly in surprise, and she set the girl on her feet.

“You’re safe, Annie.” Blake noticed even the girl’s nametag was entirely coated in blood. “We’re taking you to a safe place now.”

Her hugely dilated pupils shot between his eyes. “You...you were in my mind. In my dream. How did you...”

He smiled apologetically. “Only to help. I can see you’ve been through quite an ordeal.”

She nodded and clearly fought a sob.

“Was that a tutorial I saw?”

“Yes,” she swallowed. “I just left it.”

Blake raised a brow and glanced at the others. “Just? Ours ended ages ago.”

“The headmaster...it said...it said I couldn’t go in until my eighteenth birthday.” The girl wiped at her face in some kind of nervous tick. “I was in a...strange place, a fake world. Most of the people weren’t really people...they were like robots. Then they said I was ready and gave me a class, and took me to the tutorial. There was a lot of us, and we were supposed to figure out how to get out of this old building, but we couldn’t. And then there were all these creatures. And they broke in and found us. And they started...killing everyone.”

Annie went pale and closed her eyes as she stopped speaking. Blake was too curious about her situation to remember to do the human things he should have.

But she was a player, he realized, not a civilian, so he flooded her mind with Mentally Influenced comfort and trust.

“How very interesting,” he said, looking at the canopy. “Have any of you others seen children in this new world?”

They all shook their heads.

“Yes, it’s fine...why are you asking if...”

“Mason ran into trouble in our little dungeon.” Blake let out a few hours worth of anxiety in a single breath as he sat at the table. “He’s him, so I didn’t expect anything else. But, it’s nice to know for sure.”

He saw the concern spreading across Haley’s face and sighed.

“I’m sorry to have asked you. I didn’t truly doubt him. Not for a second.”

“Nor I,” Haley said, and they exchanged a tight lipped smile.

“Well.” Blake stood and pushed out his chair. “Things to do. Settlements to run.” He paused and let out a little truth. “I haven’t told you...how pleased I am, that you’re with us.” The French Canadian smiled, and Blake certainly understood his brother’s attraction. “I know I’m...”

“Incorrigible?” Haley finished. “Annoying? Perpetually selfish?”

“I was going to say demanding.” Blake shot her a teasing glare. “But I feel like you’re part of the family already. That’s all I meant to say. That you can share some of our burdens.”

The usually stoic Haley actually teared up a little, and Blake decided it was time to leave. All that sentiment was a bit too much.

“Mason will be back soon, I have no doubt. But I expect Rebecca won’t wait very well. She may...end up loitering, near the gate, possibly, or...”

“I’ll check on her,” Haley said, the wetness gone from her eyes.

“Thank you,” Blake smiled one last time then opened the door, putting Mason’s women from his mind.

He’d left Garet in charge of the players, and his old friend Hank the fisherman in charge of the civilians. Hank he trusted with his life—he’d already saved it once—but Garet...well, he was the best option in a currently average pool of talent.

Though by all accounts old Phuong would be an excellent replacement, if the transition and relationships could be managed...

“Hank!” Blake waved when he saw his civilian master inspecting some craftsmen at work in the new section.

“The chief returns.” Hank grinned, then Blake went forward and shook the older man’s hand, genuinely happy to see him.

“How goes the town?”

Hank shrugged, but looked pleased. “We’ve figured out the blacksmith, some of the tannery tools. We’ve even made a few decent pairs of pants and gloves.”

He gestured to a table where a middle-aged Filipino woman worked at some leather.

“Cynthia here was a seamstress in Manila in the old world. She’s been teaching us all a thing or two.”

“Sir Hank is too kind,” said Cynthia. “But yes, I know how to sew some things.”

Blake gave her a winning smile. “You’re too modest. And for every piece of gear someone uses, you’ll earn points to use in the growing storage. So keep it up.”

“About that,” Hank said somewhat lower as they stepped away from the station. “We’re not running out of food by any means, but we are losing...diversity. Things like basic carbs—potatoes, wheat—they come back fast, along with some of the canned goods. But meat comes back slow. So do most of the more desirable ‘treats’. I’ve had to lock storage because folks try and hoard it. I think we need to start hunting and gathering.”

Blake sighed, thinking about the many predators they’d found in the woods.

“Alright. Good work. I’ll talk with the players, and we’ll figure out something.”

“I know you will, kid. There’s complaints and problems, no doubt, but overall things are good. The civilians love the new entertainment hall. Most spend all their evenings there.”

“Glad to hear it.” Blake smiled and turned towards his hall, eager to get to his chair and start looking for Mason and exploring more of the world and...checking the minds of all his players...

But he supposed he should talk to them first. See how things faired. After not taking any of them to the dungeon, he expected to find a far less enthusiastic welcome.

Oh hi there.

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