Dungeon Sniper

The night had grown colder, a definite change. The worm that had hoarded all life energy of Level Four was no more, and nature was finally functioning as it should.

The long summer was over, and autumn was approaching fast.

Instead of returning back to Rafaqa's cave home, we set up a camp right next to the burned-down Dragon Tree. Rafaqa seemed revitalized enough to walk back to the cave but insisted that he enjoyed the view longer, all night in fact.

"And then I go back home right at dawn. The real home. Level One," beamed the old Orc, lying down cozily next to the campfire, fueled by none other than the remains of his fifty-year-long enemy.

"I hear a stream nearby," said Elysia, getting up with a tired grunt.

"What stream?" I asked dumbly.

Elysia silently pointed at the dark yonder and began to walk in the direction.

"Must be the life coming back to the land. It could be a hot spring, for all I know," commented Rafaqa knowledgeably.

"Elysia, wait up. I'll join you."

I ran after and caught up to Elysia.

"Just so you know, I'm really tired at the moment, and if you're thinking whether you could have some fun while we're there—"

"Ellie, I'm dog tired too," I said earnestly."

Elysia blinked with a slight blush.

"Oh... Well... Good. So, just washing and relaxing."

"Yes. Just that."

"Do not bother asking me to join you two—"

Rafaqa hollered from our backs.

"—Because Orcs do not take baths!"

Right. We knew that already.

"He could've just said that he's missing an arm and might over bleed to death once inside water," said Elysia.

"Or just that he doesn't like taking baths."

I shrugged and looked back at Rafaqa, lying on the ground and waving cheerfully at us with his sane arm.

.

.

.

Refreshed and spotlessly clean, Elysia and I came back from the hot spring, one of the many that had begun to deluge the basins around the area. Rafaqa had fallen asleep during our absence, and we let him sleep through his injury.

"... Mind telling me what's going on?" Elysia asked casually, drying her hair by the campfire.

"What gave it away?" I asked back, forcing a smile.

"You're uncharacteristically silent... and austere."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you haven't made a single inappropriate joke since the battle, and you just passed up an opportunity where we were both n.a.k.e.d under hot, steamy water—"

"You're the one who said you were not in the mood."

"I'm not... I'm almost always not," blushed Elysia.

"Sure."

"Just tell me what's on your head. You look like you have a toothache with all that silent brooding and frowning," snapped the fl.u.s.tered, lovely Elfina.

I looked between Elysia and the sound asleep old Orc, hesitating where to begin or end.

"... It's about Alpha," I said quietly, but not quietly enough as Rafaqa sprang and sat up straight at the name.

"Where? Where's the damn bastard!"

Rafaqa looked around wildly, his face furious... and also wistful.

"He's not here," I said meekly.

"... Thought for a moment that he came back to celebrate with us our victory," muttered the old Orc sheepishly.

"Do you miss him? Alpha?" I asked, hoping for a negative.

"Miss him? More like mince him with my sword when I see him again."

Rafaqa scoffed, but no one, himself included, bought his words.

"... During the battle, Alpha spoke to me. Through the Omega rifle. We talked for some time while you two and everything else froze in time. Twice, actually."

Neither Elysia nor Rafaqa acted surprised. Instead, they stared at me curiously, waiting for me to go on.

"Alpha... helped me. And not just this instance. He also said some kind of rule, a test... but that's just between him and me."

"Allow me to surmise, child. He was not a noble character you had expected him to be," smiled Rafaqa knowingly.

"He was a jerk. He sounded like one, at least."

And megalomaniac at that.

Rafaqa sighed and scratched over the bandage on his right shoulder absentmindedly.

"Many viewed him as kindhearted and thoughtful, but those closer to him knew that was just a facade. A public image, per se."

I nodded, remembering Alstair's description of Alpha. As erudite and wise the Scholar Scout had been in his life, he was never Alpha's friend.

Friend.

It was obvious Rafaqa deemed Alpha as his friend regardless of his tough talk of retribution and reckoning for the runaway hero.

Hero.

Alpha was long past playing hero of the Dungeon. He had another, loftier, goal in his mind, and it seemed likely that he would accomplish it someday.

I did not give a damn whether he really became the God of this world.

It did, however, feel like crap being left in the dark, continuously oblivious, being moved around and picked up like a pawn on a chessboard.

I was very much tempted to disclose to my companions before me every detail of my conversation with Alpha, especially the most obscure part where Alpha snapped irritably, the one about my 'role' in a 'test.'

But I decided against it. I stared at Rafaqa and his old, scarred face again.

He had lived a long life and spent his prime years with Alpha as a comrade, a colleague, a friend. Even after fifty years of being betrayed by the wayward Human hero, he still showed flashes of nostalgia when his name came up.

I could not ruin the old Orc's memory of his dear friend, even though Alpha did not share the sentiment.

I must have been silent for a while as Rafaqa cleared his throat and gingerly spoke up.

"When you spoke with Alpha, has he, um, left any message for me? Anything?"

'Rafaqa who?' Alpha had said.

"... He wished you a happy return home... and said he was impressed and disappointed that you finally took down the worm after fifty years. Mostly disappointed, but he did laud you, condescendingly."

I tried my best to come up with a lie that would match Alpha's unpleasant personality.

Rafaqa blinked slowly.

"... That does sound like Alpha."

Whew.

"Not the first part, but everything else. Are you sure he was not laughing at me for losing an arm to the worm?"

Alpha hardly cared about Rafaqa, as if the old Orc's existence meant nothing to him anymore.

"Right. He called you a sucker for that one."

"Damn him! I swear I will kill him when he shows up his face!"

Not when. If. If ever.

It saddened me to see Rafaqa smile so broadly, so expectantly so I looked away from the beaming Orc only to lock eyes with Elysia.

Elysia was staring at me thoughtfully, and I knew she had seen through my awkward lies. But Elysia was too prudent to ask me why or press on the matter officiously.

Guilty and uncomfortable, I tried to change the subject and blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Hey, Rafaqa, what do you know about Dragon Perks?"

"Dragon Perks? Ah, you refer to the Perk you received upon destroying the worm's core."

I was relieved that I finally got Rafaqa's attention away from discussing Alpha.

"Exactly. The problem is, I don't know what it does. Usually, I see—have a sense of what a Skill or a Perk does through its name. There's no name, just question marks this time."

"I have never gotten a Dragon Perk. I usually went for the heads, you see. Perks can be enc.u.mbering at some points. You cannot really control them, and I hate losing control."

"Word. But the question marks, have you ever had any experience like that? Any of your Skills show up like that?"

"Show up?"

Right. I forgot that the interface window popped up just for me.

"I meant to ask, do you know the names for all of your Skills?"

"The ones I use frequently, I do. The others I have forgotten about them, some hundreds of them actually..."

Rafaqa blanked out for a moment.

"Rafaqa?"

"I forget a lot, being old does that to you," said Rafaqa, his eyes flashing excitedly.

"That's a sad statement to say. Why do you look so happy?"

"Because I just remembered something. Stay here, I will be right back."

Rafaqa jumped on his feet and leaped high into the air with triumphant laughter. For an Orc missing an arm and lots of blood just hours ago, he still flew like a giant tank that shot out of a missile pad.

Elysia and I, too dumbfounded to reach right away, watched Rafaqa disappear into the night sky in the direction of his old cave home.

"What just happened—"

The bewildered Elysia opened her mouth only to close it right away as Rafaqa came flying back.

A small flask was held in the Orc's hand.

"A celebratory drink. The last one I had brought from home."

"A drink? You mean like alcohol?" Elysia responded quickly, looking abashed as she realized that she had sounded too ecstatic just now.

"I know it is too scant to be shared between the three of us," said Rafaqa apologetically.

I was about to tell Rafaqa that I did not drink, thanks to a certain trauma involving a glass of champagne, and Elysia had never looked happier knowing that her boyfriend was a non-drinker. She tried her best not to show it, but I could tell.

"I always pictured sharing this with Alpha. The best thing about that is Alpha hates alcohol and I would have the drink all to myself."

No shit.

Another harmless similarity.

Another unwanted connection.

"... Alpha doesn't drink?"

"Avoids it like a Goblin before cooked meat."

"Beta too. He doesn't—"

Elysia was about to reveal my abstinence innocently, but I cut her off in time.

"I'll drink first. I don't trust you two to leave me any if I go last."

I took the flask from Rafaqa's hand and opened the lid. Rafaqa nodded approvingly and gestured me to take the first sip.

Elysia stared at me worriedly... and probably a little angrily now that her share of the drink just got smaller. Just a little.

"Beta, what are you doing?"

"... Overcoming."

Sure, not being a fan of alcoholic beverages was not exactly a weakness.

But being tied to a past was. I could not imagine how my traumatic experience was ever going to be used against me, but I was not going to leave any chance.

I was certain that I would have to face Alpha one day. Not as a toy, but as an enemy.

I needed to be ready. Better. Stronger.

"I'm not like Alpha."

With that, I took a daring sip. The liquid smelled like a fruity cider with a definite hint of alcohol.

And that was enough for me to send me down a trip back in memory lane. The flavorful smell of the champagne I had had at my apartment at Brooklyn came swerving up, along with the sparkly sensation on the tongue, followed by the furry texture of the carpet pressed against my cheek... and finally the cold sneer from someone I thought was a friend, but was not.

It all felt so far away, so long ago. The distance and time away from the incident gave me the perspective to see it as a bygone past and also as a reminder to be ever careful in the future, to distinguish friends from foes, have a clear focus ahead instead of—

I spat out the alcohol from my mouth.

No. Not because of the trauma. I felt pretty sure that I got over it.

"Are you all right, Beta?"

Okay. I might sound petty by saying this, but Elysia seemed just as worried about the spilled alcohol as she was worried about me.

"... The wine, or whatever it is, it's gone sour."

How bad was it? The poisonous champagne I had drunk might have tasted better. Seriously.

"No, that is impossible!"

Rafaqa took the flask, drank it, and spat it out instantly.

"... You are right. It has gone bad."

"Well, at least I've gotten over my trauma, so that's good, right?"

I turned to Elysia and beamed cheerily.

"You know what that means? We can drink together from now. No more lonely nights of drinking for you, Ellie!"

Elysia never smiled back at me that night.

.

.

.

Precisely at dawn, Rafaqa was ready.

Even I could feel the life energy surging around us, restoring the world back to what it once was.

Rafaqa only borrowed some of its power to create a Gate and a Key. The Mimic Skill worked to perfection, if not in a bit humbled state. The Gate was smaller and plainer than any of the previous Transcendent Gates I had seen. The gold key of D-Bug in the shape of a fragile dragonfly seemed ostensibly less lively and articulate.

"Are you sure you do not want to come home with me? Both of you."

Rafaqa eyed Elysia and me compassionately as he prepared to make a second set of Transcendent Gate and Key.

Elysia and I locked eyes and shook our heads in unison.

Rafaqa nodded with a sigh and went to create an equally simple Gate and a small D-Bug... shaped like a 'firefly' with gold lights intensifying at its end.

"Is there a meaning behind the shape of a D-Bug?" I asked Rafaqa curiously.

"I think it is just random. I, for one, never really think about the details," answered Rafaqa flatly as he handed me the firefly-shaped D-Bug.

"Well, this is when I say goodbye then."

Rafaqa extended his large hand, and Elysia and I each shook it firmly. He then turned and faced the Gate to Level One, the perfect size for him to barely pass through without squaring his shoulders.

"I sincerely hope to see you again, children, when your journey is finally over and you are safe and ready to come home," said Rafaqa heartily.

I felt glad that Rafaqa did not ask me why I was venturing forth to higher Levels. Sure, I could answer him more adequately than I had attempted to explain to my friends back at Level Four.

To meet Alpha, see him in person, and settle all the mysteries and secrets withheld from me.

Elysia and I watched silently as Rafaqa disappeared beyond the Gate. The Gate quickly disintegrated as soon as it had fulfilled its function.

"Shall we?"

I turned to Elysia and asked for her hand. She held mine promptly, and we stood in front of the small Gate.

"I know I keep asking you this question..."

I faltered a little as I grabbed Elysia's hand hard and looked her in the eye.

"Whether you want to go back home—"

"You're right. It's getting old, so shut up, Beta."

Elysia, smiling, placed her delicate finger over my lips.

"... Thank you," I mumbled, pressing her finger over my lips with the raised hand and kissing it lightly.

"I know," said Elysia, not retreating from the touch.

"... Thank you for liking me, who's too insecure to ask you the question after your chance to go home has expired. I was too scared to ask you and hear you say 'yes' as you went after Rafaqa... and disappeared from my life."

"I know that too."

Elysia, looking away coyly, snatched the dormant D-Bug from my fingers and pretended to examine it thoroughly.

"We could, you know, spend another day here, just the two of us. There's the hot spring, which was pretty nice, I could use another bath, I don't know," said Elysia demurely.

"And don't forget the bats. I only got to eat like fifty of them and who knows how many more I can catch."

"Never mind. Let's get out of this place as soon as possible."

I was about to laugh, but Elysia let out a surprised cry followed by the gold firefly key darting out of her hand and landing fast on the Gate.

"Was it something that I said?" gasped Elysia shakily.

The D-Bug turned on its own and opened the Gate—revealing a starry night sky, no, a breathtaking view of the outer space on the other side.

"Looks like the hot spring date has to wait," I said, holding Elysia's hand one more time.

"... Your loss," said Elysia petulantly.

We walked toward the Gate, just big enough for us to enter side-by-side.

"Why did you make the choice to come with me in the first place?" I asked, with my foot already over on the other side.

Elysia halted briefly, only to smile back at me with a c.o.c.ked head.

"You're wrong. I didn't make a choice to come with you. Think again."

"... Right now? My body is half-way on the other side of the Level—"

"Well, think as you pass through then."

She shoved me on the back, disappearing from my vision. At the moment, Elysia and I were standing on two different Levels.

Her hand still held mine, however, and it felt warm, caring, and loving.

It also felt dangerously fleeting, and I realized just now how painful it was not to see her before me, have her beside me, for even just a second.

I quickly pulled the hand in and hugged Elysia tight, swearing never to let her go.

Nothing could part me away from her. Not even death.

Not even Alpha.