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The entire room was laden with the heavy scent of dust. It covered the walls and completely obscured the surface of the desk in a thin gray blanket.

And that was it.

"Seriously?" Claire muttered as Alex closed the door behind them with a squeak. "I think I found another difference between our worlds. What\'s the point of a desk if we don\'t get a chair? Am I supposed to sit on the air?"

"I\'d say this isn\'t the standard, but I don\'t know what things are like anymore," Alex replied, but his attention was only half there. He fiddled with the doorknob. Despite having closed, the door hadn\'t made a single noise when it had closed. Annoyance passed over his features and he jiggled the handle aggressively. It finally clicked shut, a mispositioned bolt sliding into place. He blew out a sigh and released the knob. He wiped his hand off on his pant leg and turned to look at the room again. "Man. That is rough."

"Another question. I don\'t suppose I got lucky and you don\'t know what a bug is?" Claire asked hopefully.

"Bug?" Alex tilted his head to the side and gave her a confused look.

Claire\'s eyes lit up like stars and she gave him a delighted smile. "Bleed me. That\'s fantastic. Finally, some damned good news. It\'s about bleeding time."

Ah, shit. I didn\'t think she\'d be so happy about it. Now I feel bad.

Alex cleared his throat. "I… was kind of joking. Sorry. There were the giant centipede things in the Mirrorlands, remember?"

The dhampir\'s expression crumpled and her shoulders slumped. "Ah. Right. I got excited. I hate bugs. Especially the ones that drink blood."

"Seriously?" Alex squinted at Claire. He couldn\'t tell if she was messing with him or not. "But… don\'t you—"

Claire\'s eyes narrowed. Alex wisely chose not to finish that particular sentence.

"That\'s exactly why I don\'t like them." Claire crossed her arms with a huff. "Imagine someone yanking the food out of your stomach after you ate it."

"Okay, I think I see where you\'re coming from." Alex lifted the corner of the mattress to check for bedbugs. A tiny cloud of dust rolled off it and he coughed, waving it away and dropping the mattress again. "Should be fine. Probably."

Claire carefully sat down on the edge of the bed, taking care not to kick up too much dust in the process. She pressed its surface with her palm. "It\'s better than the ground. I can\'t complain."

They were both silent for a moment. Then Claire glanced over to Alex.

"Can I ask more about your world? You got to pry me about mine, but it\'s yours that we\'re living in."

"Sure," Alex replied. "I\'m not the most educated on it, but I\'ll try."

"Who rules it? Ruled, I guess."

"Depends on what part of it. Most places are controlled by a group of people. There are a few with dictators, but we don\'t really have any kings or queens, if that\'s what you\'re asking."

Claire blinked in surprise. "Really? Weird. How do you choose the strongest, then?"

"I — hold on. You chose your ruler by who was the strongest?"

"Of course."

"That seems a bit… bull-headed."

"How so?" Claire tilted her head to the side. "It takes a lot of brains to win at Court. It is a very complex fight. You need to prove that you have competence, ability, and intelligence, not to mention self-control. Also, a fair bit of luck."

"Court… I think we might be using different definitions again," Alex said. "When I think court, I\'m thinking judging someone for their crimes. Are you talking about…"

"The King\'s Court," Claire said. "Or Queen, depending on who\'s in power. We needed a way to ensure our leader was competent enough to lead us. There were a lot of threats in my world. Even before the apocalypse. We\'d hold Court every year to determine if the current King was strong enough to remain or not."

"All of you?" Alex\'s eyes widened.

"Everyone over sixteen. It was a lot of fun," Claire said with an energetic nod. "Unless you were close to the top. Then you got stabbed a fair bit. Everyone else just used it as entertainment."

God. She\'s from a planet of speech & debate vampires.

"My turn to ask a question," Claire said. "Forget governments. What about people? How do you settle disputes? I don\'t want to tread on social cues. How are debts tracked?"

"I think that might have all gone tits up," Alex said. "It used to be you could get the police involved when things went sour… but now, just be, well, you. Were you good at Court?"

"Won my league a few times."

League? Is this Fantasy Football?

"What exactly does Court entail?" Alex asked.

"Everything that ruling requires. It\'s a simulation of life and death. I don\'t know if I can properly describe it with just words."

"Then you\'ll have to show me sometime," Alex said. "That sounds fascinating."

"We\'d need a few more people, but I\'d love to. I think I\'ll miss Court the most from Ayrin. Well, that and the people… but I\'d rather not think about that right now." Claire averted her gaze.

They both fell silent.

A minute ground by.

"How about you meditate first?" Alex suggested, scratching at the back of his neck. "We\'ve been waiting to do it for a while."

"You\'ll keep watch?"

Alex nodded.

And once you\'re done, I can head off. It didn\'t feel like anyone in the area was going to try to attack us in our sleep, but you never know. Better safe than sorry.

"Thanks," Claire said. "I\'ll try not to take too long. You\'re leaving once I\'m done, I take it?"

Alex froze. He wiped the guilty expression off his face a moment later, but it was a little too late. "Am I really that obvious?"

How good is she at reading people? I didn\'t think I was this bad at misdirection.

"Ever since we saw the dungeon," Claire said dryly. "It does help that I think I\'ve got a pretty good grasp of how you think. Are you sure you don\'t want help?"

"Just think about the reward I\'ll get for clearing it alone. I know there\'s risk to it, but those monsters were nothing compared to the ones in the Mirrorlands. Maybe you should come with me and try to clear it on your own once I\'m done. Actually, is that even possible? What happens after someone clears a dungeon?"

"I don\'t know enough to answer your question, but we never found an empty dungeon. I assume the System does something to keep them full. But there\'s absolutely no way I\'m going to solo that dungeon." Claire let out a snort and shook her head. "Not yet, at least. I\'m not strong enough. You\'re right on challenge being important… but I don\'t think this is doable for me. Not at my current stage. That isn\'t the case for you."

"I appreciate the confidence. I\'m glad you believe so strongly in my skills."

"It\'s not your skills as much as the fact that you\'ve got backup. Glint lets you check rooms and gang up on monsters, and even if he dies, you can still fight afterward. Having two bodies is an enormous advantage. I\'ll stick to challenges I think I can get through — so if you want to clear the dungeon again tomorrow morning, count me in."

"Noted," Alex said.

"Assuming you\'re still alive," Claire added, a small grin on her lips but a flicker of concern in her expression. She grabbed her sword and turned it around, holding it hilt-first toward Alex. "Here."

He blinked in surprise. "You want me to take your sword?"

"I\'ve got other ways to defend myself. From what I know, summoner classes really don\'t get much of those."

I wonder… I already have a way to do that by killing my own monsters. My class seems unique enough that there\'s a chance I get some more combat abilities soon. I\'ll find out once I clear the dungeon.

"Well, if you\'re sure, I won\'t say no," Alex said. "Thank you."

"Just try to bring it back if you can. I like that sword."

Alex grinned. "We\'ll see what I can do. Go ahead and meditate. I\'ll keep watch until you\'re done."

Claire nodded. She scooted back onto the bed and crossed her legs, her eyes closing in concentration as she slipped into meditation.

***

A little under three hours later, Alex set off. He left nearly immediately after Claire finished her work. There wasn\'t a second to waste. Even if he had a chance of clearing the dungeon alone, he had no delusions about how long it would take.

Chances were that Glint would die at least once and that meant a delay of an hour. If there were more deaths, the time it would take to clear the dungeon would grow even larger — and the trip alone took an hour itself.

There wasn\'t time to meditate and also clear the dungeon, but Alex was fine with that. The monsters on Earth were weaker than those in the Mirrorlands, and when the apocalypse was this early on, squeezing extra challenge out of the opponents he had to work with could be the difference that set him apart.

As soon as there are some really powerful monsters to fight, I can\'t intentionally hold myself back anymore. That would just slow me down. But when things are this early on, every small advantage is worth grabbing.

There were still a few people in the apartment lobby when he left, but none of them paid him any attention.

Moonlight bore down from a cloudless, starry sky. Alex paused at the base of the apartment as he craned his neck back and stared up in a moment of mute awe.

He\'d never seen a night like this. There weren\'t just a few stars. There weren\'t hundreds. There were thousands. A blanket of black, awash with shimmering eyes. Some of the stars were so large that they were getting close to challenging the moon in size.

It was beautiful. A breeze rolled by, caressing him with its icy fingers, and Alex shivered. The temperature had lowered again. Goosebumps prickled across his arms and neck before curling down his back.

He drew in a deep breath, taking a moment to enjoy the air. It was, for lack of a better word, crisp. Breathing almost felt like biting into a juicy apple. A small smile crossed his face.

This is it. This is what life was meant to be. It\'s just missing one thing.

Alex strode off. It wasn\'t long before he left the town behind. He broke into a jog to keep warm and cut down travel time as much as possible. The rustle of the wind and crunch of grass beneath his feet were his only companions through the night.

When he finally arrived at the dungeon, he took a moment to glance around and make sure that he was alone. He doubted that Diego would have returned. It felt like the monstrous man liked killing people more than monsters, and Alex doubted there was anyone else in the dungeon at this hour.

Alex drew up to the swirling green portal at the dungeon\'s entrance. His skin prickled with energy as he stood before it, staring into its murky, electric depths. Then his smile grew.

This is what the night was missing. A little excitement.

He stepped into the portal.

***

Alex\'s foot hit grass at the same time that the smell of the forest hit his nose. Sweet and pungent, just as it had been in the room where he and Claire had fought Diego.

Razor Forest (Novice)

He\'d arrived in another flower room. It wasn\'t the same one — the flowers here were considerably shorter and smaller than they had been in the previous room. Vines rose up from the ground and twisted gently as if caught in the sway of an invisible ocean.

More noticeably, those vines were covered with thorns. Alex\'s eyes narrowed. He summoned Glint. The Shardwalker appeared in a rain of tinkling glass, stepping out beside him and waiting expectantly for his commands.

"Cut that vine, then run back to me," Alex ordered, pointing to a vine beside a yellow-petaled flower. "Be aware for anything that comes up from the ground and tries to trip you. Also, the flowers themselves. They\'re probably monsters."

It was a long command, but Glint seemed to understand. He ran over to the vine, his claws flicking out. They ripped through the green foliage — and blood came spilling out. A hiss of pain filled the room.

Glint hopped back as roots erupted all around the flower nearest to the vine he\'d just cut. They rose up from the ground like the legs of a spider and dirt sloughed away as the flower lifted into the air.

Alex\'s eyes widened in surprise. The flower wasn\'t the monster at all. It was just part of it. A creaking moan of pain filled the air as his true foe made itself known. The monster\'s body was made out of craggy earth and formed into the shape of a massive spider. Its eyes were eight glistening black gemstones. Vines hung from its mouth — not just plants, but some sort of odd tongues. Alex was just about as tall as it was so long as he didn\'t count the flower.

Florachnid (Novice 2)

The flower in question bobbed on its head like a fishing lure. It lurched toward Glint and swept at him with a sharp root-leg. Glint leapt into the air, clearing the attack, and raked his razor-sharp claws down the monster\'s face.

The Florachnid screamed in pain. Thorn covered vines shot out to grab Glint, only to be carved apart as his spikes shredded the plant matter like nothing. A laugh slipped from Alex\'s mouth unbidden as he dashed forward and brought the sword down for a root leg.

He\'d never swung a sword before, but Claire had kept her weapon sharp. It carved straight through the limb with a snik. The root thudded to the ground and the Florachnid cried out in pain. Glint didn\'t give the monster a chance to collect itself.

The Shardwalker ripped and tore at the Florachnid\'s wooden face as it desperately attempted to shake him off. It barely even remembered Alex\'s presence — right up until the crunch of wood split the air as Alex drove his sword straight into the side of its neck.

He yanked down on the blade, pulling it free with a grunt, and staggered several steps back. With one final shudder, the Florachnid crashed to the ground. Cool energy poured into Alex\'s body and mixed with the adrenaline thrumming in his veins. A greenish-brown fire flickered to life above the monster\'s body. If Alex\'s estimate was correct, it was a low-mid grade flame based on its size.

That confirms it. The System doesn\'t reveal things that are hidden until I spot them. Good to know.

Nothing else in the room moved. Perhaps the monsters saw what had happened to the large spider. Perhaps they were lying in wait, or perhaps it had been the only monster in the room. It didn\'t matter.

He drew in a deep breath, letting the sweet scent of the dungeon fill his lungs, and smiled as he exhaled. "Come on, Glint. Let\'s root out anything hiding from us."

The Shardwalker looked at Alex. He looked back at it.

"Right. No more puns," Alex muttered, more than aware Glint had only failed to respond because he hadn\'t actually given a proper order. He scooped the Florachnid\'s energy flame off the ground and deposited it in his Spatial Mirror. Then he pointed a finger ahead. "I\'ll make it simpler. Help me kill everything in our path."