Neither of us fell asleep. We continued like that, reminiscing, talking about the moments we’d missed in each other’s lives too, pressed together, until the rest of the party returned and made their presence known.

  Afterward, I still felt rested.

  And it turned out I’d needed that for what we were about to do.

  I’d given Wren the choice of joining us or sitting out.

  Wren’s response was very Wren.

  She’d said, “I can do it.”

  Such a little trooper.

  The task was messy. It was gory. And it was so utterly unrewarding that at one point or another, I wondered why I had even suggested it at all. We still didn’t know what we were doing with them. In fact, I still had one of Test Name’s corpses in my inventory from over a week ago. Adding that to all the extra stuff we’d included, the system was beginning to get cluttered.

  Was this just another stupid flaw of my morality that I would have to work through, like accepting that I could kill others? The gruelling, backbreaking work was beginning to lean me toward yes.

  Yet, when I cleared some red snow and found an adult curled protectively about a child, both their eyes clenched tight, frozen in fear, I laid my hands down and took them in. And I continued to do so, again and again.

  Maybe we were wasting time.

  Maybe it was pointless.

  In the grand scheme of things, should our wish be granted, this would all mean nothing.

  But we’d do it all the same.

  Given the state of carnage, we had previously agreed on taking only torsos and up, excluding any errant limbs. Once you got into the pattern of it, detaching yourself from the horrific truth, everything went by surprisingly quick. Actually, part way through, we discovered we didn’t need to touch them with our hands, and that any part of our body would suffice. It helped Axel stop complaining about being on his knees, to which Tam replied with a very inappropriate remark.

  Overall, it ended up taking more than three hours, but by the time we hit that mark, everyone was so mind numbingly dedicated to the repetitive task of tapping our toes to corpses and sucking them into our inventory before moving on to the next that we probably could’ve continued ad infinitum.

  Eventually, the area around the Gate was clear of larger body parts, though it was still crimson with frozen blood. I didn’t know how many corpses I had in my inventory at that point. I’d lost count sometime in the triple digits. Worn out from what had turned out to be an endurance exercise of both our minds and bodies, we all grouped back together just in front of the Gate, its rippling black otherworldliness pale in comparison to everything we’d witnessed. It might as well be just another doorway.

  I took in everyone’s expressions. There was a weariness there, but in their eyes I also noted the shimmer of a job well done. That took a load off my shoulders. I had convinced, well, guilted them into doing this mostly against their wills. Whilst I was sure they didn’t share the same values as me, it was nice to see they didn’t hate me for this either.

  “I guess that’s it,” I said, scanning the area around us one last time to ensure we’d gotten every body we could find.

  “Did fainting earlier knock part of your noggin out?” asked Tam.

  I turned my less-than-impressed gaze toward her. While Axel and I had been resting, the cutthroat had retrieved her ear at some point, and Wren had stitched it back on before healing it. With that and the body collection, the kid truly was made out of sterner stuff than I’d been at her age. Though I guess I hadn’t lived through an apocalypse and also become an amnesiac. Maybe that would’ve toughened me up a little bit.

  Tam’s hands went to her hips in consternation. “The reward for killing Adrien. ‘Pertinent information,’ right?”

  Okay, so maybe we weren’t good to go.

  Unable to believe I’d let such a thing slip from my mind, I focused on my inventory and selected the little envelope I’d received as reward for the request. Much like the gift we’d been given back in Nabu’s Dungeon, the icon did a happy little dance as it flipped open and unfolded to reveal the message within. Judging by everyone staring, it only appeared to me. I guess the note back in Dungeon 11 had been the same.

  There was one word from the sender accompanied with a marked map.

  Anon123 says: Apologies.

  That didn’t sound very reassuring. Though it wasn’t surprising that the Deity who requested us to kill Adrien was Anon123. He was the only one who’d seemed invested in our party. However, that he hadn’t bothered me with any sponsorship requests during the Dungeon was a little odd.

  Actually, thinking about it, since we’d entered, Absalom hadn’t sent a single one. He’d been so insistent during our time at base. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to distract me?

  It was unusually considerate for a god, especially taking into account how the other ones in the Deity Commentary acted. Out of that handful of divine beings, Anon123 had been the most relatable. Would he actually be a good sponsor? I’d been rejecting his invites, but perhaps I’d been too quick to judge.

  “You gonna share with the rest of the class, dude?” Jye remarked, though they grimaced slightly from the notification sound. Right. We still hadn’t fixed that. I’d completely forgotten I’d wanted to find a way to help them. With their existential dread still fresh on my mind since Bia’s sponsorship, the glitch sounds would have to unfortunately remain a lower priority.

  That said, it didn’t look like it had done anything to shift Jye’s mood. When Axel and I had left our tent, we’d discovered the giant practically beaming, having returned from their jog. It was an absolute emotional flip from their attitude before. Jye was usually quite a laid back person who tried to find joy in small things, though.

  Perhaps they were looking for the silver lining. In any case, whatever had caused this shift, I wouldn’t be raining on their parade.

  They were still slathered in the purple mordexi blood from butchering the guardians, which made my eyes water as the redhead was to my left. Since Jye seemed happier than I’d seen them in a while I was more than content to let the stench go by without comment.

  Axel, as always, did not share my opinion nor my values in social etiquette.

  “You better start standing downwind from me, or we’re going to have a problem,” he said, nose crinkled at the bridge.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Jye went to respond, but I interrupted, “The reward’s a map.”

  “Is there an X?” Wren asked, eyes sparkling.

  “There is a marker.”

  “What region does the map display? One of your countries?” Gigi inquired.

  I studied it, trying to compare it mentally to the spinning globe that had existed permanently on Mrs. Brown's desk. It’d drawn my focus for most of my sessions with her, and I had it to thank for winning a handful of geography trivia quizzes in junior high school. Perhaps I should’ve been using the appointments to move on from Chrissie’s death, but at that point in time, the talks had felt useless.

  “No, no country on Earth is shaped like this.” Saying the words triggered an understanding of what the map depicted, some of the topographical markings seeming familiar. Nothing on Earth was right. “It’s this Dungeon.”

  “Could the marker be buried treasure?”

  I smiled at Wren’s excited expression. “I wouldn’t get my hopes up. It was attached to a message.”

  “Well, spit it out, sunshine. I don’t get anything out of you edging me.”

  Jye snorted out an agreeing laugh.

  Opting not to take offense, I explained, “It was an apology.”

  Their expressions all sobered.

  “What’s our heading, then?” Axel asked.

  There was something off about his smile, but I couldn’t place it. It was almost as if he was desperately trying to keep it from slipping. This could either be a result of almost losing him twice or his response to Anon123’s message. Well, an apology from a Deity couldn’t be a good thing. Even if it’d come from one that’d been a relatively decent being. Maybe Axel’s forced reaction was reasonable.

  I reached out to the map, wondering if I could zoom in like a touch screen. As I came into contact with the system window, it dissipated, fizzling into nothing, but not before the marker popped out into the physical realm. Stunned, I stepped back as the flashing green dot flew to my left, zipping about in figure eights.

  “You all are also seeing this too, right?”

  “Neat,” Wren remarked, smiling.

  Tentatively, I walked toward it, and the green dot floated forward too, staying about a meter ahead of me. It looked like we had a guide to whatever information Absalom wanted to reveal to us. Or Anon123. There was no confirmation they were the same person. I had just assumed they were based on the sequence of events that had unfolded. Regardless, I didn’t know what would prompt such words from either Absalom and or Anon123. In fact, I had no idea what a Deity might consider worthy of an apology.

  I turned back to the others to discuss our options.

  With the Dungeon empty of inhabitants apart from us and locked to any new players since we’d cleared it thanks to Bia, we all agreed it was relatively safe to follow our green guide back through the biome. The only thing we really had to worry about was the time it might take and the cold—in comparison to the temperature it’d been when we’d entered, the place was practically balmy at this point.

  None of us wanted to run, still weary in body and mind from the task we’d carried out, but we kept a decent pace.

  To our collective chagrin, the guide led us back to the tunnel network Adrien had drawn us into when we’d first fled the mordexi horde. Suddenly, the message’s apology seemed a lot more sinister. There could be nothing good inside these caverns. Whatever optimistic hope any of us still had about what Anon123 wanted to reveal to us withered away into grim apprehension.

  Dotting a trail of small items along the way so we’d be able to make it back to the entrance, we followed the guide into the cave system. It didn’t take us to the same dead end we’d slept in, rather we travelled deeper inside until the tunnels were so narrow we had to turn to our sides to edge further in. I wasn’t claustrophobic, but with how tight the walls were, even I was feeling oppressed.

  To my relief, it eventually opened up to a domed cavern, icicle stalagmites and stalactites jutting from the floors and ceilings. Lessening unease was evident on everyone’s faces as we entered, and I was certain I heard an exhale of held breath from Wren. Of course; her time in Nabu's Dungeon challenge… Jye's hand came to rest gently on her shoulder to reassure her.

  It was good the giant cared for her like this. Though it had been a double edged sword for me.

  Our guide stopped in the center of the wide cavern, just in front of what looked like four lumps of ice.

  It was very anticlimactic, to be honest.

  The green dot flickered there for a moment before glowing brighter, illuminating the entire cave in its sickly glow. The color should’ve elicited the feeling of nature, of grass and tree leaves, but instead I couldn’t help but feel it was a portent of misfortune.

  Frowning, I approached the ice blocks, wondering what could be so important about them, what would warrant an apology. If this was just some silly prank from the Deity, then I’d be so irritated with—

  My heart stopped in my chest.

  “Lee?” Wren asked, concerned.

  No.

  It couldn’t be.

  My legs buckled beneath me, knees hitting the ground hard, the world blurring, spinning. Struggling to inhale, to comprehend, I stared, unable to speak.

  No, no, no, no.

  But I couldn’t deny what I was seeing.

  “Dude, you all right?” Jye walked closer and looked about to offer some help, but they finally registered what was in front of us. The redhead froze, eyes wide. At that same moment, the others seemed to recognise the shapes too.

  I should’ve known.

  They wouldn’t have been able to fight the compulsion.

  I laid a shaking hand onto the frozen bodies.

  Arms wrapped lovingly around each other, my parents looked serene in their death.

  Next to them were Axel’s too, all laying together, as if they were having a nap.

  My family.

  I couldn’t even remember the last thing I’d said to any of them.

  A blackness willowed in from my peripheral, closing in.

  An ache, down to the very bone, a bruising throughout my soul, consumed me.

  Mum and dad were dead.

  It was an eviscerating weight, shredding me apart.

  A tonne of steel constricting my chest, squashing the air from me, my vision blackening, careening. Air wouldn’t enter my mouth, hadn’t squeezed its way into my throat, and everything blurred, hazing my surroundings together. This was nothing like the spiking pain of Tam’s stitching. It was all encompassing, soul destroying. My eyes stung, an inexplicable sound tearing itself from me beyond my control.

  Arms came down around my shoulders, and it was only then I realised I was sobbing, my entire body shaking, my throat raw. Seeking the comfort, anything to distract from the pain, I curled toward the arms, knowing whose they were by touch alone, just the dimmest and numbest bit aware that this was unfair, that he’d lost his parents too, yet I couldn’t do anything else, the inescapable loss wracking every cell of my body, clawing into it, any and all autonomy slipping away from me as the shock stole my thoughts.

  The cave spun, fading into nothing but the darkness of Axel’s shirt as I dug my burning and wet face into the fabric, letting it suffocate my sobs, choking on the gasps of air that failed to inflate my lungs, the breaths in sputters, in half wails of unfairness, of injustice.

  I think it was “See you soon.”

  Anguish, anger, and pain pooled in my stomach, clawing up my diaphragm, robbing me of breath, and then lashed out of my throat as a scream, my lips caught on Axel’s top, the sound silent because there was not enough air for it.

  They didn’t deserve this.

  They shouldn’t be dead.

  They didn’t know how much I loved them.

  I never told them enough.

  It hurt.

  I cried until my tears were spent and there was nothing left, and then I threw up until I was empty, of feelings, of everything, of even bile and stomach acid, void of caring, of thinking that life was worth living, of wanting to win this Event.

  Axel never left my side.