Those cave lights continued to pound his eyes. He’d slept a few hours, but no more. Hands rested on his chest. Fingers flexed up and down while twiddling his thumbs to make a shape like a spider.

  The old man in the hempen robe joined them uninvited a while ago, but had hopeful words at the very least. Ya know, sometimes that’s all yah needed, a hopeful word. The sage looking fella, as Alfredo thought, sat in deep meditation over there.

  Loud snoring from Ebony annoyed him. She slept on her back over the flat stone floor, out more soundly than the rock she was laying on. His thick hand pushed on the cool stone as he got up. He looked for a watch, dug for his phone. Circe had dropped hers again. It still laid nearby but Alfredo didn’t want to be bothered with it. The devices were dead weight here. The base of his palm pressed his temple. A quick look around showed that the cave was emptied out. The ‘Honorary Demonians’ were mostly gone.

  How much time had passed? It was so hard to keep track of time in this crazy place. How much time was left until they could use the portals? Circe had used a portal, or had she? It was kind of hard to tell with everything happening so fast and all.

  Maybe by the time Ebony woke up, they could get going. Darn, his head hurt so bad. His heart hurt. He glanced at Circe’s phone and wiped his eyes.

  He turned to the meditating old man. If the guy was going to be sitting right near them, then he might as well talk to them. Maybe he knew something? Maybe.

  “Hey, old fella. Why yuh hangin’ out wit us? We’re a couple of nobodies. The doctor can’t even stay awake, an I only got one thing that seems kinda basic. Not gonna lie. Our odds ain’t good.”

  Kunchen maintained his stance, “I’m here to help your friend survive, the one who threatened Mogg itself.”

  Alfredo stood up, “Well let’s go then if that’s what yuh want. It’s pretty much what I want too! I doubt she’s gonna last too long on her own.”

  Thick calloused fingers ran through his jet-black hair. Kunchen refused to budge in that fancy yoga stance of his. The eye on Kunchen’s forehead remained open. What did they call it, a half-moon mark. Looked more like an eye to him, not really like a moon. But what did he know, he was an idiot.

  It burned all purply like. Kunchen paid it no mind. Old guy was tough as nails and Alfredo kind of liked that. The others who got that mark wouldn’t stop crying or kicking around like babies. Right now, they looked okay. But they weren’t all glowy like either. And by that he meant nobody screamed and cried their head off.

  “Ain’t yuh gonna say nothin’?”

  Kunchen didn’t budge. His stance remained calm and his breathing deliberately controlled. Alfredo picked up Circe’s broken phone.

  “If yuh ain’t even gonna say nothin’, then what are yuh good for?”

  The meditative stance broke as Kunchen swiped his finger in the air. Once the screen displayed, he willed it to face Alfredo.

  Kunchen

  Sage

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

  Alfredo took a moment to look over the skill set and the statistics as he rubbed the lines over his neck. He didn’t look long enough to read everything. The details were skimmed over until he lost interest, then he shrugged.

  “So, you’re some big shot. I supposed to be impressed wit yuh are somethin’? You’re not really any big deal unless yuh can get us out of this stupid cave and help her.”

  Snoring continued as Alfredo waited for an answer and received nothing further. He stepped away but the old man grunted.

  “They’ll let us know when we can pass. Most likely you’ll be able to go ahead before me. You should go back to sleep, conserve your energy. Tiring yourself out with worry won’t save her.”

  “Can you ummm, stay wit tuh doctor if she don’t wake up?”

  “I can do so, are you considering heading out after her alone?”

  “Yeah.”

  Hands went in his pockets as he stared at the bones near the stage. The ends had been nibbled all like someone chewed them with a pencil. He remembered this girl he liked back in high school, kind of cute and skinny like Circe. She had a bad habit of chewing her pencils like that. None of them had erasers after her first day with them.

  Eyelids squinted at the sight of a blood stain being explored by a red roach and a yellow roach. Just how many roaches had she colorized?

  The Azoria tour guides stood attentively at the far end of the cave. Whatever number took him to Circe’s location was unknown. The large party with the cop had asked the tour guide something. They were going for Circe from what he’d heard. They probably asked what portal to use. It was a mission after all. Too bad he hadn’t been paying more attention.

  Dead though. He didn’t want to believe it. He’d been about to go berserk when that old man came and talked him down. Told him Circe was still alive. That this was all some big fake news that Azoria was putting out there as part of the game. If Circe was dead, why put the bounty on her? There hadn’t been a bounty put on anyone else who got a death listing. And Circe’s name and stuff hadn’t been grayed out.

  A finger swiped through the air as he pulled up Kunchen’s information. The guy had stats stacked against the wall and a range of powers, but he couldn’t hurt nobody or nothing. How was he going to fight if he couldn’t hurt nothing? That curse took all this old man’s skills and threw them in the garbage like last weeks chili-dog. Between himself, Ebony, and Kunchen could he even come up with a plan to save Circe?

  Nobody here told him what to do. How was he supposed to function if nobody told him what to do!? Sit and wait, that’s what he would do. But not here! His leg bent as he reached to heft Ebony onto his back and give her a lift.

  “Don’t mind me. I’m gonna wait by tuh exits. Shouldn’t be long before our turn to leave gets called. And I want to be on my way as soon as they call it.”

  Kunchen opened an eye, “I thought you said you’d leave the doctor with me.”

  “Oh, yeah, I did say somethin’ like that didn’t I?”

  The sleeping woman gently slid off his back and he made sure to lay her head down carefully, so she wouldn’t get hurt in her sleep.

  “Don’t let anything happen to her, she’s a nice lady. Doesn’t deserve tuh be in a place like this, that’s for sure.”

  “I’ll make sure she’s unharmed while she sleeps, though I doubt this cave has any real dangers now that most of the people have left.”

  A hand waved the old man off as he walked away toward the portal exits. A few interesting characters were lined up at the various doors waiting for the announcement that they could leave. Since he couldn’t see not one of them ‘Honorary Demonian’ anywhere, Alfredo figured that soon their numbers would be called.

  A girl with long black hair wore a pink dress that looked weathered and burnt. She kinda looked like this girl from that creepy horror movie that scared him half witless a year or two ago. What was that movie called again

  Oh right, Well Child. Why’d the cave have to be so full of freaks, psychos, and weirdos?

  Why couldn’t there be more normal people like him, ya know?