The Path of Ascension 3: A LitRPG Adventure

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Liz turned her head, looking for her parents, and when she turned back, Hedon was gone. She was back in the hallway. She moved down to the next door before she paused. She could barely grip the handle with how hard her hands were shaking. But she pressed on.

She opened the final door, only to find herself standing on the battlement and fighting off hordes of attackers. There were endless crowds in the queendom’s colors of purple and silver. She whipped out a line of blood and cut half a dozen people in half.

She fought until her mana ran dry, and she resorted to her spear. When her spear broke, she clawed at them with her fingernails. When her fingers were worn away, she bit and tore chunks away from them.

Everything turned fuzzy as she watched Matt and Aster succumb to the horde of enemies. She watched as they were dragged under, to never rise up again.

Still, she fought the horde, even as they screamed at her how she was the real monster for how she brutally killed them. It was a mantra repeated each and every time she vanquished another foe.

Finally, she stood alone on a balcony, and an archer stood across from her. With a mental effort, she tried to gather the blood around and on her, but with no mana to back it up, the blood didn’t respond to her call. The arrow split a dozen times while in its flight toward her.

She had no fear, as she knew her parents would save her.

The arrow came closer.

Liz tried to turn away. She could save herself. She could save her friends. She could…

The arrow slammed into her.

Liz died.

Matt was on his back, gripping a giant mouth that tried to descend and eat him.

With a start, he jumped up into the descending mouth, causing him to nearly hit his head into the bunk above as he jerked awake.

He slipped out of bed to be eye level with Liz as she tossed and turned. She was sweating through her clothes, and the expression on her face was enough for Matt to reach up and shake her awake.

She startled up with a quiet gasp. Aster, who was on the bed with her, jerked up at the sound. Liz popped up, and Matt didn’t miss how her shirt clung to her from the sweat. Even her hair was wild and clinging to her face, as if in a parody of blood.

“Sorry, bad dream.”

“Yeah, me, too. I heard you and thought I should wake you up.”

Liz pulled the confused fox into a brief hug as Matt heard her say, “Okay? Scared, sad, bad?”

He nuzzled her head from behind as Liz held her and projected, “It’s okay. Just a bad dream. It’s all better.”

Liz plucked at the shirt that clung to her flesh. “I need a shower.” She sniffed at herself and recoiled, “And I f*****g reek. Ugh.”

Matt checked himself and decided it would be a good idea to do the same. He was drenched, too.

The three of them quietly moved out of the room and into the shower rooms, where they washed the night terrors away. Aster stayed outside of the dreaded hot water, but pushed encouraging thoughts Matt’s way and yipped a few times at Liz.

When they were done cleaning off, they moved to a lounge area, where the bright lights chased away any lingering thoughts of monsters that tried to manifest in the stitching of the couches.

Matt sat and patted the couch next to him, and Liz sat close, with Aster taking her position on their laps. His bond spun twice before she settled down in a ball, with her tail blocking out most of the light.

Liz petted the circular ball of fox, and they all sat quietly.

She looked like she wanted to say something but, in the end, she refrained. Matt spoke up instead. “I might have been a little too cavalier about my death. From the nightmares, it hit a bit harder than I expected. I was fighting endless opponents. It’s getting fuzzy now, but I needed to go somewhere. I just couldn’t get there.”

Before either of them could say more, an older woman came into their room with a steaming teapot and cookies.

That would have been weird enough, but she was in full healer’s robes. As she dropped off the tray, she offered, “If anyone needs to talk to a therapist, we’re always open to listen. You can find us in the relaxation room or send a message to the hospital AI. We know this can be hard to process.”

With that, she was gone, and the three of them sat there quietly. Matt leaned forward and started to pour the tea and passed the little cups around. He didn’t know what type of tea it was, but as he drank, the hot liquid had a soothing effect. Soon, he found himself relaxing into the couch. He idly wondered if the tea had been spiked, but he felt fine. Just calm.

Matt looked to Liz, who had seemingly had the hardest night.

She shook her head after sipping from her own cup.

“It was mostly memories. But twisted into weird patterns. Things I’d rather not think about too much honestly.”

She paused for a long minute as she dunked the small biscuit into the tea before asking, “What about you?”

“My dream was fuzzier. Something about not being able to move. I’m not sure. There might have been a voice. It’s all fading.”

Matt rubbed her back while he took control of the room’s wall screen and started playing an old comedy show. It was mindless background noise, but it was enough to get a few chuckles from them.

Liz stood on a couch back with a hand holding Matt’s to stabilize her. She probably didn’t need it, but he felt better offering it. They were back in a neutral meeting hall, gathered early at Liz’s request to plan their approach for dealing with the various sides’ negotiations.

“I got a message for a private meeting before the larger general meeting. I’m sure they’ll try to offer us a pittance for our hardships. If everyone argues for the maximum amount, they’ll know that we aren’t leaving until we’ve had our pound of flesh.”

There was a murmur from the hundred or so gathered Pathers from both sides.

Liz nodded at what she heard. “They aren’t dumb, and they’re moving quickly to try and stop us from doing exactly what we’re trying to do. If we stick together, and argue as a group in the larger meeting, we can get much more. Just don’t give into the short term rewards at the cost of long term ones.”

“But they gave us our points back!” Someone said from the general crowd.

Liz nearly spat at them, “They gave us half of our lost points to counter their f**k up. No. We shouldn’t be content with shitty handouts disguised as rewards. Rewards should be prizes in and of themselves.”

Liz looked as if she was about to say more, when Matt received a message that their meeting slot was up.

As she dropped down, Liz reminded everyone, “Don’t accept their scraps. Argue that you want more, and that we’ll only negotiate as a group.”

The six of them were pulled into a meeting room with Juni, who sat there and smiled tightly at them as they entered. He stood and shook each of their hands as they passed each other, and took a seat on the opposite side of the long table.

Matt tapped it as they sat. The table’s wood gave a strong, sturdy feeling that he wasn’t sure of, but after examining it with his spirit, he guessed that the material was at least Tier 10.

Expensive for a meeting room. Or a statement.

“Sorry about everything. We just wanted to speak with the individual teams before the larger meeting and see how we can make things right. This is your chance to air your grievances.”

Matt and the others all let Liz take the lead as she leaned forward and said, “I’m not sure you can. We’re out twenty thousand points and two weeks’ time, which could mean far more points than we’ve already lost. It’s a significant blow to our point generation.”