In our haste to open the tunnel and right the water situation both of our teams set off our charges at nearly the same time. Hodak had been using metallic potassium and drops of water to start the fuses, which caused a mix of both laughter and skeptical surprise during the congratulatory conversation that broke out while we worked from both sides to clear the tunnel.

  “Potassium! Did you not think to bring a sparker or lamp to use?” Dunkan laughed.

  Hodak shrugged before picking up a jagged rock the size of a loaf of bread and waddled back out of the small opening. “It worked, didn’t it?”

  That drew more laughter from both sides of the tunnel, and Hodak's grin returned for a moment as he reminisced on the explosions he so clearly enjoyed.

  Kikkelin and I stood in the flowing water near the mouth of the new drift, rearranging the scree out of the path of the water. We wanted to make sure the way was clear and wouldn’t clog with debris, so we were arranging the sharp rocks into neat piles along the sides of the small chamber out of the way to form a channel.

  “He’s lucky he didn’t blow himself up!” someone shouted from the far side.

  “It looks like he did from what I can see.” Kona joked back. “You should see his face, he looks like he’s been roasted and toasted.

  “A right piece of lead, that one,” answered the voice, and caused most everyone to laugh again. Kikkelin even grinned and shook her head. I gave her a questioning look, not quite getting what was so funny.

  She shook her head again and slapped a couple of smaller stones into the neatly packed pile she was working on. “Dense and impressionable. Some might even say soft, but not in this case.”

  Hodak’s grin disappeared and he frowned at us before dropping the rock into the water and splashing everyone around. He said “Square and level,” in a tone I would use for the phrase ‘damn straight’, before smacking his hands together to knock the dust from them and flashing another steely grin. “No one else came forward, I did the job.”

  “Just hope the King's safety inspectors weren’t watching!”

  “Of course they’re watching, the King himself watches.” Jozoic answered, finally weighing in.

  The conversation fell apart as everyone considered his words, and we continued our work in silence for a while longer until Borek spouted off. “How long until ya think we get a maintenance call on this hack job?” which prompted some more laughter and the joking started back up.

  Kikkelin rolled her eyes, but I smiled. I wasn’t used to working in a group, but on the rare occasion I had, this kind of thing was my favorite part of it. The back and forth banter and joking, quoting movies and coming up with situational bullshit to pass the time. I didn’t quite feel like part of the in-group enough to join in on the fun, but listening to the others joking around did me some good.

  Without any further issues, Max’s time limit came and went. We had cleared a channel and moved over to the Hammerting side, heading back to the tar room to wait out the timer. Spirits were high and we moved in a casual line, laughter and almost floral smelling pheromones followed us through the dimly lit corridors and chambers.

  I found myself walking alongside Hodak, with Kikkelin following behind and a stoic Jozoic bringing up the rear while the more talkative dwarves slowly led the way. I caught Hodak’s attention with an elbow to his shoulder.

  “So, what do ya think?” I asked him

  He glanced over at me, his little grin still in place. “I think I want a nap, and a drink.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “I mean about the blasting, you looked like you were having fun with it.”

  “Mhmm” He cast a glance back at Kikkelin, then shrugged and looked back at me for a second before turning back to face the front, his words slow and deliberate. “It’s fast. Cheap. Effective. I like it, doubt any of the masters do though.”

  Kikkelin let out a single laugh behind us and drew my attention for a moment before I turned back to him. “I think you’d be surprised.”

  He harrumphed. “Maybe in your house, Duirtak is known for his… progressive thoughts. My own Matriarch Pulmar is newly chosen and… has a different situation.” He seemed like he might have more to say, but cast a glance up at the ceiling before meeting my eyes for a moment and quieting.

  I got what he meant, or at least thought I did. The first time I had met Patriarch Duirtak he had been chipping stone with a chisel, something I’d come to learn was borderline heresy to the more traditionally minded among the clan. Plus, we were being watched. I wouldn’t have wanted to spill family details to potential rivals either, even if we were all technically part of some greater group.

  These dwarves certainly had a messiness to their union, but that was nothing new to me. Despite the rivalries and friction, they still seemed more coherent than the councilors and oligarchs I was used to in my old broken home.

  I found myself lapsing into silence as my thoughts turned back to my homeland, which Hodak was all too happy to join. He was less talkative than even Rin, and held onto his words like a miser with his wallet. We splashed our way down the remaining sloping tunnel and listened to the others celebrate our collective victory, until my foot sunk into deeper water and snapped me out of my rumination.

  With a sharp inhale, I froze on the spot and watched the dwarves ahead of me sink into the depths of the Hammerting’s waterlock. Hodak kept pace behind them, turning back to grin at me for a moment before his mouth flipped into his more familiar frown.

  He gave me a look, both hard and questioning at the same time. Kikkelin stepped up next to me and laid a hand on my shoulder. “There should be no risk of a fight this time.”

  “We can pull you through.” Jozoic added, causing me to glance back at him. Instead of finding the stern or scornful scowl I expected, he looked concerned.

  “I can do it on my own.” My mouth answered automatically, despite being unable to make myself take a step forward. I couldn’t show myself to be incapable of a short swim. These waters might churn with the passage of my celebrating team, but lacked the floating bug parts and coagulated islands of goop and blood of the last flooded section.

  “No one questions your bravery, Nick,” Kikkelin said. Hodak had taken a few more steps forward and was already up to his knees in the dark water, but he stopped and turned around to face us.

  “Sixty seconds, we can have you through.” Jozoic said.

  I stared back at Kikkelin, unable to say anything. I’d known this would have to be done, but had been avoiding even thinking about it. My whole focus had been to blast the new tunnel, and now that was done and all there was to do was wait. I’d done everything necessary to pass this damn trial. I’d bled, fought, stressed, and nearly drowned once for them already. Now they asked this of me again?

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “Woah there partner.” Max appeared, standing next to Jozoic with one of those toy hobby horse stick things between his legs and his giant waggeling hat. The horsehead looked at me and whinnied with a shake of its mane. Max pulled on the reins and calmed it down. “Before you lose your cool again, I think I have a way to make this easier for you. Here…”

  He reached over and clapped a hand over my face, pushing me backwards. He kept pushing, but my feet remained in place. I felt the urge to wave my arms and balance myself as the sensation of movement warred with my sense of balance and being. Despite the urge and his shoving, my feet remained glued to the floor and a sudden spike of nausea and disorientation washed over me before quickly draining away.

  When he pulled his hand from my face and I could see again, he was still standing in front of me but now sort of floating in the air. He flashed me a big thumbs up and his eyebrows arched like he was smiling underneath his bandana, and then winked back out of existence.

  I looked around, or tried to. I could feel my head swing from side to side, but my view remained stationary. Only then did I realize I was no longer looking at Kikkelin, but seemed to be stuck to the ceiling and looking at a small group of people as Max’s numbing supplements coursed through my veins to keep my heart from blast-beating out of my chest.

  I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing, and flapped my mouth stupidly. “I, uh. What is…”

  “Hold your breath close and we’ll drag ya through,” Hodak said, and everything snapped into perspective.

  The group I was watching was my little team, and I was still standing in the middle of it. Tall enough to nearly scrape the ceiling, surrounded by friends, and looking like I’d been dragged behind a truck down a freshly asphalted road, I’d never seen myself quite like this. It was like I was having an out of body experience and viewing myself from a short distance. I floated freely as nothing but a bodiless viewing point near the ceiling and maybe 10 feet back from where I actually stood.

  Anger and fear warred within me. Anger at Max for pushing this onto me without even asking, and fear at this whole new experience and the unknown. Was this a permanent thing? Would it mess up the process of going back to my real body when this was all finally over? A million thoughts all tried to rush through my mind at once, and it was like they got stuck in the door. The icy cold numbness took over, and I pushed my hands out to balance myself.

  One found Kikkelin’s shoulder, while the other grabbed onto one of the straps across Jozoic’s chest. It was hard to see their faces from my shifted perspective, but they both reached out to steady me and Kikkelin spoke again with a soothing tone.

  “Trust us, we will carry you through this as you carried us to this point.”

  I felt my hands grip tighter, and I could feel the slight movement of my row members as they steadied me. “Max, put me back.” I thought.

  “Trust me, things will be easier this way.”

  “No, put me back. Now.”

  “C’mon, give it a chance! Most people's minds have to tear themselves apart to get this level of dissociation. It’s a natural defence you humans do, I’m just sort of emulating an extreme level of it for you. Nothings changed, you’ll be able to go back once we’re done, and this won't have any detrimental effect on you afterwards. Plus, you can see around corners and get closeups from funny angles, see!”

  Vertigo took over for a moment as my position quickly shifted, my view swinging around and down until it felt like I was stuck to the wall and sliding down. I had a brief view of the front of myself and saw how horrified I looked, my eyes were wide and terrified and my mouth hung open as if I were about to start screaming. My bodiless perspective slid further down, crawling along the wall and then zooming in slightly until Kikkelin’s ass filled most of my field of view.

  “There, just watch her and hang on for the ride. You know I don’t condone this kind of thing normally so enjoy it while you can, meatbag.”

  “What the actual fu—” I cut myself off as I realized I was talking outloud. A laugh burst from my lips before I could think of what else to say. This whole thing was just so absurd. Is this how little Max thought of me? His poor little human was frightened, so he could just distract the dumb beast with drugs and booty.

  It was dumb, but it did break me out of my spiraling thoughts and frozen panic. I’d never admit it, but maybe he had a point. Still, no way was I going to spend the trip like this. Kikkelin was my friend and this was wrong. With an effort of will, like flexing a muscle I’d never had before, I spun my view around until I was looking back over my shoulder. I didn’t bother to form any thoughts back at Max. If I even let my mind look in that direction I was sure I would say something to piss him off and only invite more meddling from the crazy bastard.

  I took a deep breath and forced the words out. “Fine. Drag me through.”

  “We got ya, don’t worry,” Kikkelin said, completely unaware of what had just happened.

  I closed my eyes, which did nothing to change my vision from this altered perspective, and took manual control of my breathing to haul in deep steadying breaths as I let my friends lead me forward. I ignored the external chill of the water and found myself grabbing tightly onto the strapping on each of their shoulders. Hodak walked backwards ahead of us as Jozoic and Kikkelin half carried and half dragged me into the water.

  I moved forward with them like I was in a dream, and tilted my head upwards for one last sweet breath of stale cavern air before the icy depths closed over my head and I was submerged entirely. I struggled with them for a moment, but forced myself to go limp as I felt them pick up the pace and just drifted along.

  While I fought off the panic, my mind finally turned back to Max. Entirely forgetting about diplomacy or trying to be civil and calm with the bastard, I tossed all decorum out of the window and vented my anger at him with a never ending stream of every insult I had ever heard. “You twisted douchenozzle. You’re an entitled, unthinking, naive little parasite with a lame sense of humor. You’ve never even touched grass, and have zero understanding of everyone around you that you constantly disappoint and manipulate because you’re a fucking asshole. If I…”

  On and on I went, while Max popped back into his little streamer cam and howled with laughter. I held my breath and let whatever would happen, happen. My only focus on pouring my terror out as increasingly ridiculous insults at my AI companion and my white-knuckled grip on my friends as they dragged me through the water. I let my weird third-person perspective vision drift around, bumping along the walls like it was a physical thing that couldn’t clip through the mesh of the tunnel wall. I watched as the two pulled me through the water.

  Before I knew it, and as I was in the middle of expounding on Max’s creepy new mix of facial features, I felt the water roll off of me and the slight change in temperature as I went from submerged to drying in the slightly warmer air surrounding the tar pit.

  Like someone had grabbed me by the back of my head and pushed me forward, my view slammed into the back of my skull and I was back in my body. I opened my mouth and gasped a sweet breath, hauling them in desperately despite my slow heart rate and lack of reflexive urge to do so.

  “Never again!” I yelled, starling everyone else in the cave before my voice rang through again, echoing back two or three more times before fading away.

  The other team of dwarves I didn’t know as well looked back from where they were gathered around the entrance to the next chamber, some of them shaking their heads and continuing on without us.

  Hodak gave me a big frumpy frown, before it cracked back into a grin. “No chance the diving teams take you anyway. Too tall, too whiny.”

  “I don’t mean to return to the water either.” Jozoic added, shaking his head and shedding droplets of water from his short hair.

  Kikkelin adjusted her strapping, tugging the rags back into place where I had pulled them loose with my frantic clutching. “No one will ask you to do that again, it’s rare we have call to submerge like that in day to day life.”

  “We are done, victory is ours,” Jozoic said, somehow sounding defeated. “The fight is over.”

  “I’m gonna get that nap,” Hodak stated, and then began tromping after the others.

  I looked between Jozoic and Kikkelin, finally noticing I was still holding tightly onto their clothing and causing Kikkelin’s cheeks to start changing to a light pink that clashed with her dark hair. “You made it, we did it.” She smiled despite her blush, and I released my grip on them.

  “Never again… but… thank you.” I shook the water from my own hair and scraped a gauntlet along my forehead, uncaring at the scratches it left in its wake. Then I stomped forward, following the trail of wet footprints from the others and returning to my stream of curses and insults against Max.

  He didn’t seem to mind, and continued laughing up in his little corner window as more messages and emojis scrolled by.