Test Summoning: Apocalypse

It took me around two hours to compose myself enough to go down the tunnel to where Lia's gloves were. My brain was in a haze from releasing my built-up pain and I had to purify some water to deal with the mild dehydration. The mannows we dispatched along the way helped me some. Lia was more open to asking me to kill a few mannows with my bow to limit their exposure to the threat. Then we arrived at the fenisnort's lair.

I was hesitant to offer advice on the fenisnort and whispered to Void if it was overstepping to bring it up. She said it was no different than looking at the guide on the back of the Guild ID.

"Lia? I know this is going to be a little scary, but let the fenisnort ram into you," I said.

Lia's eyes darted to look at Void. Void smiled. "You can trust him." Lia's eyes returned to look at me.

"Your Stalwart ability will kick in. You can try to put your sword in its way, but if you let it slam into you, it will be like it hit a brick wall," I explained. "If you don't want to do this, we can find another way."

Lia took a few deep breaths. "I'll try."

After Tizek indicated he wanted the first kill, Lia waded forward. I suggested the other two remain back to get the fenisnort's attention solidly on Lia since it would go for other targets.

The fenisnort didn't take long to notice Lia's approach. The disgusting skinless creature flattened out and submerged. Lia prepared to brace her sword on the stone floor and looked around for movement.

"Coming from behind!" I shouted when I noticed the tiny wake begin. Lia spun and attempted to put the sword in the way. She was a little slow with it and the fenisnort slammed into her hard. It flopped out of the water, its wet skin slapping Lia in the face. She was in the process of stabbing her sword downward and ended up piercing the monster, pinning it to the ground.

Tizek went splashing over to the fenisnort thrashing on its makeshift skewer while letting out squeals of anguish. Lia had the wherewithal to keep her grip on her sword and hold the fenisnort in place. One mace bash and a buckler punch later, the fenisnort expired. Tizek had to dig the mana core out to dislodge Lia's blade from the body.

"Good job!" I announced, trying to raise my spirits after my emotional breakthrough. I thought I saw Lia crack a brief smile, but she turned away toward the chest before I could get a good look.

"This is what we were after?" Void said as she stepped up onto the dry platform and tapped the chest.

"It is. You're up," I said.

She didn't comment about this being odd since she used to be a Guard and got to work. She easily found the spring trap in the coral and seashell chest and looked at me. "Did you know this was trapped?"

"I did, but after our little conversation, you know," I said and left the sentence intentionally vague. Void gave me a gentle smile and a knowing nod of approval.

Void moved aside, looked at me and then gestured at the chest. "You do the honors."

I stepped up to the chest and gripped the lid. "Lia? I know the dungeon has been an unpleasant experience, but I think you'll be happy once you see what's inside."

I slowly lifted the chest and whistled the chest opening tune while doing so. I reached in, felt the expected cloth and lifted. Then, I presented to Lia…a simple bra. The bra was made out of coarse linen and it was huge. By huge I mean comically oversized. Imagine those ridiculous mobile game ads or "adult only" games and their female characters. Now add two additional Z's to the bra size and that's what I was holding in my hand. Void wore a B cup while Lia was a D.

"I liked a giant bra?" Lia said with a start. It was the most emotion I'd seen out of her on this loop so far.

"Uh," I started. I then stared upward and shook the fabric at the ceiling. "Very funny, Grand Creator. Is this your sign to lighten up? Or are you saying we need to make the world's most erotic sailboat?"

"We could make a big sling shot out of it," I heard Lia say softly.

I turned to look at Lia. "Did you just make a joke?"

She turned her head down. "Sorry."

I smiled. "No, keep doing that. I enjoy that part of you."

The other two were struggling to hold in their laughter. Void was choking to keep it from coming out while Tizek's frills were dancing rapidly along the side of his head. I sighed. "Well, that was a bust, no pun intended. Do you three want to keep fighting in here? The other dungeons on the island are wide open and we can go to one of them instead."

I got no objections to the idea and two very emphatic agreements from Void and, of all people, Tizek. He would wade into the pits of Hell to join me, but it wasn't like he enjoyed it. I asked them where they wanted to go and we settled on Floral Cove. It was an outdoor dungeon along the coast known for being beautiful and the monsters were immobile carnivorous plants. Needless to say, with it being that easy, the dungeon didn't have anything valuable beyond mana cores.

It was late afternoon when we returned to Orvis. Few people were in the town since it was still early in the season. A gentle breeze was blowing in from the sea which kicked up some sand from the beach. A little of it got in my eye and I had to turn to let it clear. When the tears stopped, I spied a little tea shop selling small cakes on one side of the road and had an idea.

"Lia? I'd like some time for a private talk," I said.

Lia turned to me and then looked to Void. Void noticed where I was looking and nodded. "You should. Tizek and I will be at the Guild Annex selling the mana cores."

"Be safe, my lord," Tizek offered. I waved him off with a mirthful smile. No one was going to attack me in a beach resort.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

After Void and Tizek left, I gestured toward an open table outside the little café. The café was built out of a large seashell with a coral array twisting around the exterior structure. The seats and tables were carved from tan sandstone and set inside a small courtyard paved with white marble. The courtyard was set apart from the crushed shell walkway of the town by a marble planter with an array of blue and red flowers. The fragrance of the flowers hung gently on the air near the seats.

Lia took a seat at a two-person table and I sat opposite her. It didn't take long for a server, a young raccoon-clan woman, to come take our order. She slipped a pair of menu slates on our table absentmindedly. "Welcome to Café Green Rock, how can I…" her eyes lifted to meet mine. "Oh! A hero! This is unexpected. Where are the other two in your party? I can come back when they arrive."

I gave her a smile. "They're taking care of a few things. It'll just be us two today."

"Great. What can I get you two?" she asked.

"Give us a few minutes to read the menu," I replied. After she left, I pushed the menu to the side of the table.

Lia was staring at the menu since she couldn't read. There weren't many pictures available to give her a good idea of what was available to order. I'd have to read the options to her after we had our talk.

I sighed and pulled my coin bag out from under my armor. I looked at the contents. 12 gold, 87 silver and 58 copper coins were clinking around inside. I picked up 10 of the gold Sovereigns and stacked them in 2 columns of 5 coins before sliding them in front of Lia.

Lia stared at the coins for a few moments. "Is that how expensive it is here?"

I shook my head. "No. Those are for you."

"I…why?" Lia stammered. It was a veritable fortune for a kid from the slums. She could live modestly for a long time on the sum. Or three years, four months living in the extra room and enjoying high quality meals every evening at The Gnashing Teeth.

I drummed my fingers on the table. This entire talk was impromptu and only based on minor thinking on the walk back from Mermaid Falls. I usually liked novel situations. This one? Not so much. "I noticed you've been hesitant around me. It's made me sad to see you like this. On all of our previous loops, we built a brother-sister dynamic. I still think of you as my little sister. Sometimes, a big brother has to do things to make sure his little sister is happy. That's what the coins are for."

She continued to stare at the coins. "I still don't understand."

I pointed to the coins on the table. "Those coins? They're your freedom. You can use that to live a modest life. You also have a sharp mind and can invest in yourself. Find an apprenticeship somewhere and become independent. I don't want you thinking you're tied to me for your survival."

"What about the fight with the cult? I won't know how to get there if I'm not with you," Lia said. I could see a growing disbelief on her face.

"Be at the abandoned shopping center in the slums on 27th of Jaulis at 913Af. If you want to join the fight, you can do it then," I said.

Lia picked up a coin and ran a finger across the reeding. She watched as it glowed with a blue light which spread to the other nine.She regarded the coins arrayed before her and I held back my emotions to avoid influencing her decision with my body language. I didn't want her to notice I was hoping she declined the offer.

Instead of pushing the coins back to me or picking them up, she started to cry. I had no idea what was going on and was preparing to panic. I didn't want passers-by to see me, the weird summoned hero, sitting here with a weeping teen. "Whatever I said, I didn't mean to make you upset."

Lia shook her head. "No. I made you sad. You were trying to give me a family and I was mean to you."

I set my hand on one of hers. "No. I'm the one who has to apologize. I was pushy and kept talking about what we were going to do. I never thought of it from your perspective. You were enslaved in the castle and were given to a stranger. Then I started telling you what we were going to do. It sounded like an order to you and you were scared of disobeying. Am I right?"

Lia nodded. I squeezed her hand at her affirmation and continued. "Then we just had a miscommunication. We made our apologies and I think it's time to start over."

"Have you had time to…what happened?" The waitress had returned to take our order. I was at a loss what to tell her. I had a teen crying at the table with me.

"The wind blew sand in my eye," Lia replied.

"It is a windy day. I can bring out a screen if you want," the waitress offered.

Lia shook her head. "I'll be fine. I was just unlucky."

"If you want it, just ask. Are you ready to order?"

I smiled at the waitress. "I'm going to be honest. Neither of us can read and all I know are numbers and the symbols for the coins. I'm not sure what we were thinking coming here without the others. What do you recommend?" We didn't have the opportunity for me to read to Lia the items and I didn't want to waste the waitress' time.

"It's a shame you can't read," the waitress said. "Our specialty is the Sunset Cake. It's a white cake with a filling of cream and velliberries. It pairs well with the guri tea. Two servings will run 30 copper." She was eyeing the pile of gold coins on the table.

I "absentmindedly" flicked through the tablet. Luckily, the Sunset Cake had a photo. "Is this the one?"

The waitress nodded. "Yes, it's very popular."

"It says here it's 8 copper for one cake. Why is the tea so expensive?" I asked. I recognized she was trying to scam us since I had a whole lot of money out in public view. Plus, I made the mistake of saying I can't read.

She swallowed and put on a strained smile. "Silly me, I must have confused it for another item. It's 20 copper for two servings."

"Sounds good," I pulled the 20 copper, exactly, because no tip for being sleazy, and handed it to her. "We'll take them. Lia? You need to stow those coins. It's not a good idea to show them outside like this."

After the server left to get our order, Lia slid the coins back to me. "I don't want them."

"Are you sure? I think it'll make you more comfortable knowing you aren't bound to us," I said.

Lia nodded. "I'd rather have a family than money."

I took the coins, scooped them back into my bag and hid it under my armor. Another thought came to mind. Family shared last names and Lia didn't have one. I'd never done this before and figured, since I knew this would be permanent, it was a good time. "Then that's what you'll have. Welcome, officially, to the family, Lia Stewart. Of course, you can't go around using the family name in public. We don't want you getting executed for impersonating the peerage."

Lia's tears continued to flow as she wiped them away. I could tell she was overwhelmed. "How are you feeling?"

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "I went from being scared of you to being in a family in a few hours. It's a lot."

"Then let's enjoy the tea and rest for the night. Would you like to spend tomorrow at the beach?" I asked.

Lia folded her furry hands together and tapped her thumbs. "What about the dungeon?"

"It's the day after tomorrow. We were too late to secure an earlier reservation," I said.

"How did you know I wanted to go to the beach?" Lia asked.

I mildly panicked. "Sorry, I used a little knowledge from past you. The three of you were disappointed when we had to rush back. I'll try to not do that."

Lia gave me the first true smile on this loop. "No, I'm fine if you're doing it because it makes me happy. Void told me she doesn't like it, though."

I returned the smile even though I felt a pang of sadness well up again. "It's hard. I have to pretend like I don't know you even though I do."

"I don't mind. As long as you're doing it because you want to, not because you're trying to get us to do things," Lia responded. That was something I could get behind.

It wasn't instant bonding, obviously. Lia had only a few minutes ago thought I had an ulterior motive with her. There was also the awkwardness of the miscommunication hanging over us. It should, in time, smooth out since we both know where we stood.

The cake was pretty good. The server looked embarrassed she tried to scam us and wasn't too talkative when delivering the food. The velliberries were interesting. I hadn't tried them before. They were burnt orange, like a deep sunset, and tasted like strawberries. The guri tea reminded me of a light green tea steeped with rose hips. It was quite the pairing. I did leave five copper coins for a tip for the solid recommendation.

We took a slow stroll to the Guild Annex along the main road down the coastline. Lia, now that she wasn't paranoid about my intentions, showed some life when we passed shops. She stopped to browse a store with breezy seaside dresses in the window and another selling sand art. Lia, showing her orphan upbringing, didn't ask to go inside to see the wares. Lia showed some interest in a street vendor selling corn dogs, but I had to tell her we couldn't get one. I told her I'd suggest we splurge on a decent dinner before finding an inn for the night.

We arrived at the Guild Annex to find a very excited Jemia and Deena. The pair were giddy when I arrived and took time to sign their posters and answer a lot of questions. Deena didn't seem as excited to meet me as she did in the excuse to hang out with Jemia. Poor Jemia was so clueless he didn't see her interest in him. He was too busy asking about the snake tattoo on my left arm and if that was a natural marking in my world. The people here, considering they were covered in fur or scales, didn't have the concept of tattoos.

Jemia gave us a recommendation for a nice cottage with two bedrooms and four beds to rent for tonight and tomorrow. He also pointed us to a good seafood café where they served a local meal similar to shrimp and grits back home.

I was mostly quiet the entire time. I had a rough day and, as you can imagine, I didn't bounce back instantly after dealing with what Void said. She was right that I hadn't dealt with my emotions losing them over and over again. She was also right that I jabbered on way too much. I needed to control my manic talking streak and stop overwhelming everyone. Just because I know them well doesn't mean they know me.

I'll work on that in the morning.

The cottage we arrived at was a nice beachside unit constructed from a giant clamshell like the other buildings. The furnishings were pleasant, though the beds still didn't have a sleep crystal. Those things were so expensive not even the high-end hotels I stayed at during my loops had them. Only the king and a few of the high-ranking nobles owned any.

As for tomorrow, I was looking forward to it. The others readily agreed to take the day off and enjoy the town. Even though we were only in the dungeon for half the day, the accumulated rush of the last couple weeks was wearing on everyone. It was a good break time.

Even better, dear audience who doesn't exist? We're getting the obligatory beach episode. My mood mildly improved when I imagined Void in a nice two-piece lounging under an umbrella on the sand. I went to sleep with expectations high the day would be a pleasant rest.