BT - Book 1 - Chapter 64 (Patreon)

“This is supposed to be a level twenty five dungeon,” Trevor shook his head as the Luoca’s wing slashed through a large bear zombie, shearing off a massive chunk of rotting flesh.  “Micah, you could at least pretend that this is some sort of challenge.”

A trio of skeletons launched arrows made of bone from massive longbows.  Micah didn’t even look as they shattered against his wind shield.  The panther landed on one of them, seemingly materializing from the shadow.

In a blur of motion, it demolished the skeletal archers before any of them could loose another arrow.  At the same time, the stag lunged forward, its antlers narrowly missing the embalmed corpse in front of it.

The zombie hissed at the deer, stumbling backward to avoid a hoof.  The undead creature’s hands crackled with dark energy as the warlock tried to fend off the buck long enough to finish a spell.

A ball of metal and dark magic flew just past Micah.  With a slight frown and a shift of his body to prevent the flail from striking him on its return trip, he glanced at the revenant knight, clad in dark metal that was supposed to be Trevor’s responsibility.  Apparently, his brother was struggling to contain the monster.

Micah’s spear darted into the abomination’s leg.  It stumbled slightly as the weapon punched through its armor, lodging into the revenant’s bone.  Micah triggered the spear’s enchantment, gripping tightly as its head sawed deeper into the limb.

He jumped backward, easily avoiding its backhand, his spear still lodged in the revenants log.  Micah’s hands curved, forming the seals to haste as he muttered the words to the spell under his breath.

Trevor took advantage of the zombie’s limited mobility to strike it twice.  Both blows left streamers of green energy as Trevor’s martial arts agitated the air mana of the dungeon to speed his strikes.

Neither of them punctured the revenant’s armor, but the force of the blows knocked it off balance enough that Trevor was able to follow through with a sweep from his spear and knock it to the floor of the dungeon.

Micah finished casting haste and let the spell wash over his brother.  Trevor’s spear moved faster, battering the revenant’s armor.  Clumsily, it tried to push Trevor off of him, but the spearman slipped under its gauntlet and planted another stab of his weapon into the crease of the armor’s armpit.

The spear slipped through the weakened armor, planting itself deep in the undead’s decaying flesh.  It thrashed in an attempt to dislodge Trevor, rocking its armored body as it swung wildly.

Micah nodded in approval as his brother activated a defensive ability from his martial art and flowed around the knight’s blows.  He knew from experience that it was like trying to punch a butterfly.  You could hit Trevor if you were fast and precise enough, but the pressure waves from anything but the sharpest blows tended to push him aside.

It was a powerful skill.  One that Trevor had access to in the previous timelines, but that he rarely used due to mana concerns.  Even with his new class, Trevor wasn’t overflowing with points in spirit, but at least now he could fully utilize the abilities he had.

Then, Trevor’s spear slipped under the chin of the knight’s helmet.  The dull red lights of the monster’s eyes faded as the weapon punched through its skull.  Its body twitched one and went still.

Trevor hopped off of its body, sweat glistening on his face as he moved with the slightly too quick reflexes of the haste spell.  The two of them glanced around the chamber.

The panther and the stag were finishing off their opponents, and the Luoca was laying in the corner, the bear long since dismembered and destroyed.

“You’re getting stronger Trevor,” Micah smiled at his brother as he unleashed a flurry of air knives to create openings for the two animals.  “Between us and the Lancers, all of that training is starting to pay off.”

“Andmaybeifyoudidn’tconstantlyleavemeinthedarkitwouldn’thavebeenlikepullingteeth,” Trevor practically buzzed in response as he rolled his eyes.

“Slow. Down.” Micah responded with a laugh.  The panther had finished off the last of the skeletal archers and launched a sneak attack on the warlock.  With the deer holding it in place, the large cat's paws made quick work of the struggling undead spellcaster.

“Sorry,” Trevor frowned from the effort to regulate his speech.  “I was just saying that I wouldn’t have been so reluctant to go along with your plans if you would have just sat down and explained everything to me.”

“I tried a couple of times but you were too busy chasing girls,” Micah shrugged as he walked up to each of the downed monsters, destroying their heads with the butt of his spear.  Undead weren’t the strongest foes on Karell, but they were unpleasantly tenacious.  The last thing they wanted was for a monster they ‘destroyed’ to regenerate and surprise them on their way back out of the cave.

After a couple seconds without a response, Micah glanced back to Trevor.  It wasn’t like his brother to ignore a jibe like that.  He frowned.  Trevor wasn’t even moving.  Instead, he was gripping his spear tightly enough to make the wood creak and hyperventilating.

“Trevor,” Micah began hesitantly.  “Are you alright?  Is there some leftover poison or corpse rot?  I have enough mana to heal you if there’s a problem.”

“Claire,” Trevor shuddered, his eyes closed.  “Imetwithher-”

“Slow down man,” Micah frowned as he walked over to his brother.  “Let it all out, but you’re going to have to talk slower until the spell’s over.  I can barely understand what you’re saying.”

“I met with Claire’s family,” Trevor’s Adam’s Apple bobbed as he tried to keep his trembling voice under control.  “They were nice, but it didn’t go well from the start.  Her dad kept asking me questions and he wasn’t happy that I was an adventurer.”

“He-” Trevor stopped speaking to exhale in an attempt to steady himself.  “Over dinner he said to everyone that there was no future in it.  I think his words were ‘that’s all well and good right now, but how are you going to provide for my little girl when you’re too old or gods forbid you die in some blighted hole in the ground.’  I didn’t even know what to say.”

“That’s awful,” Micah frowned, patting his brother on the shoulder as he tried to find a way to comfort the young man.  “What did Claire say?  Did she at least apologize for him being rude over dinner?”

Trevor walked over to the panther and plopped down next to it.  Sensing his distress the big cat laid its head in his lap, its green eyes staring up at him with concern.

“Do you remember how I mentioned that Claire was really close with her family?” Trevor asked forlornly as he pet the huge animal.

“Oh no,” Micah winced.  “I’m so sorry Trevor.”

“When I tried to talk to her about it she kept talking about how I was late coming back last weekend,” Trevor chuckled bleakly.  “She wouldn’t even let me get a word in edgewise about how her dad hadn’t been fair to me.  Instead she wouldn’t stop talking about how I had promised her that I would be home early on Saturday from us clearing the grove.”

“I tried to tell her that I hadn’t promised her anything of the sort,” Trevor was almost rambling now, but Micah let him continue uninterrupted.  It was clear that his brother just needed to let it all out.

“She didn’t care,” Trevor stared up at Micah with tear-filled eyes, his hands full of panther.  “Claire just went on and on about how her dad was right and how I was putting my job before her.  I didn’t know what to say, so I panicked.”

“What did you do?” Micah asked his brother as he crouched down next to him.  “You didn’t let her know what we’re doing right?  I’ve told you that we need to keep everything secret until we’re established enough to hold out against the Royal Knights.  I mean, we aren’t going to be able to beat them in a fair fight, but I want it to be more trouble than its worth to try and slap a sack over my head and drag me off into the night.”

“No,” his brother smiled at him wanly.  It was clear that his heart wasn’t in it.  “I’d never do that.  All she knows is that I’m in the middle of some top secret training out in the forest.”

“Then what happened?” Micah frowned as he began petting the panther as well.  The big cat stretched out between them before rolling on its side and giving Micah access to its soft underbelly.

“I explained how the same thing had happened the weekend before,”  Trevor focused his attention back on the giant purring panther.  “One of the other clerks went home sick and she needed to work late.  We missed a reservation at The Estuary because she couldn’t get off on time.  I didn’t even bring it up at the time because I knew she was as disappointed as I was.”

“The Estuary?” Micah quirked an eyebrow.  “Isn’t that the newer fancy restaurant that serves both ocean and freshwater seafood?  I heard that place is really pricey.”

“It is,” Trevor groaned.  “I forfeited a half point of Sun attunement as a deposit almost a month and a half ago.  I lost our place in line and the attunement.”

“Shit,” Micah replied.  “What ended up happening?  I’m assuming she didn’t take kindly to your calling her a hypocrite if you’re still this broken up over it.”

“We’re on break,” Trevor sighed.  “Apparently Claire’s dad made her see me in a new light, and my comments weren’t appreciated.  She needs to talk with her family and some of her best friends to ‘reevaluate’ where we’re going as a couple.”

For a couple of seconds neither of them spoke, both brothers simply content to pet the huge cat in silence.

“Now this is one area where my experience from other timelines isn’t the most useful,” Micah began awkwardly.  “I’ve only really dated one girl-”

“Wait,” Trevor blinked at him in confusion.  “In all of your reboots you’ve only dated one person? What in the name of the Sixteen were you doing with your time?  I’ve heard some of your stories about how awful things have gotten.  If I were you, I probably would have spent one loop not even focusing on this apocalypse of whatever.  Just relax and try to date as hot of girls as possible.”

“Thank you for reminding me that you’re as easy as level one dungeon dweller,” Micah rolled his eyes as Trevor stuck out his tongue at him.  It wasn’t much, but even that interaction was a relief.  He was prepared for many eventualities in this timeline, but reassuring a love sick older brother wasn’t one of them.

“Anyway,” Micah smiled slightly.  “Before I was so rudely interrupted, I was trying to tell you that this isn’t an area of expertise for me, but at the same time I couldn’t just sit here watching you mope and not say anything.”

“I wasn’t moping!” Trevor protested.  From across the room, the deer snorted in disbelief.

“Look,” Micah had to hide his face with a hand as he tried to stay serious for Trevor.  “It’s a bad sign if you aren’t allowed to disagree with her.  She’s listening to her dad over you, that happens, but when she won’t even let you get in a word edgewise?”

“That’s a bad sign,” Micah bit his lip behind his hand.  “If you can’t communicate with her, you don’t have a partnership.  You have a relationship where things only run smoothly if you do whatever she says.  It might not be a major problem today or tomorrow, but that’s a big problem long term.”

“I guess,” Trevor’s face scrunched up into a half frown.

“I got dumped in my first timeline for something similar,” Micah stood up and offered Trevor his hand.  “I was just lucky because Jo saw what was happening and put a stop to it before things could get bad.  I wasn’t able to stand up for myself.  I didn’t even try to voice my opinion. I did what she wanted and didn’t ask any questions, but deep down I was starting to resent her.  She saw it happening and broke up with me.  It hurt like hell at the time, but in the long run it was worth it.”

“Are you saying I should dump her before she can dump me,” Trevor’s forehead furrowed as he took Micah’s hand.  “I’m upset with how she reacted, but I don’t think I’m ready to go that far.”

“It’s up to you,” Micah shrugged.  “I’m just saying that you need to stand up for yourself.  If you don’t, the relationship might continue on for a couple months, but it’ll be as much of a zombie as that knight you just killed.”

“I’ll think about it,” Trevor nodded slowly as he leaned down to pick up his spear.  “Now, how about we actually fight this dungeon’s boss.  I know we got started late so that we wouldn’t run into anyone else, but I’m starting to get tired.”

“Sounds good,” Micah breathed more easily now that the immediate concerns had been resolved.  “I mean, I can always cheer you up the same way you tried to cheer me up after Jo broke up with me.”

“How did I do that?” Trevor asked, poking the panther with his foot to try and dislodge it from the dungeon floor.

“After I spent about three hours moping,” Micah grinned evilly.  “You offered to take me to the Rose Petal house to ‘get over it.’”

“Oh!” Trevor perked up, a smile on his face.  “That sounds like fun.  You’re paying.”