The Fabric of Reality by Silver Linings

Author:Silver Linings [Linings, Silver]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Published: 2023-07-24T23:00:00+00:00

“We need to get in there! That’s our friend!”

Derivan was listening to Vex yelling with a strangled sort of panic in his voice. Whatever had happened with Misa, she’d been disconnected from the telepathic network. So had the rest of the delve team, for that matter. The scrying screens had been taken over by a static interference, something that they hadn’t thought was possible before they’d discovered the Mana Feeder; now no one knew what was happening inside the challenge room, or if any of them were still alive.

We can’t get in even if we want to. Kestel’s response was clipped and through the telepathic network—he didn’t bother speaking. He paced, tense, even as he rapidly cast several diagnostic spells to try to restore the scrying magic. You know that. You should know that.

“There has to be a way,” Vex argued, but from the defeated look on his face, Derivan knew that the lizardkin didn’t know of one himself.

Derivan himself was distracted, because one of his stats had increased. He wouldn’t have checked, if a brief error message hadn’t popped up and obscured his view; it had happened right when Misa seemed to tense, staring at the screen.

And then when he’d checked his stats . . .

Shift: 2

He wondered. What was a Shift, exactly?

Vex had subsided, looking frustrated; he had no solutions. But Derivan’s mind was racing.

Dungeons became locked off after a team entered. There were other rules, too, governing what locked off a dungeon, but this was the single one that could not be circumvented.

Except. Maybe it could be? Misa had clearly circumvented it. Whatever means she’d used to circumvent it—likely her skill, knowing her—had to be in some way related to the stat gain she’d triggered for him. And there was the fact that he had started this life as a monster, too, and monsters were rarely prevented entry into dungeons. For them, it was the reverse.

The chatter on the telepathy network became about fixing the scry interference. Derivan shook his head; this was nothing he could help with. There was only one thing he could do, as far as he was concerned.

“I am going to try to enter the dungeon,” he said. Vex and Sev both looked up at him, startled. “My status might allow me access,” he added, and Sev’s expression cleared; Vex’s expression changed, looking briefly hopeful.

“Can you bring us all through?” the lizardkin asked.

“I do not know,” Derivan said. “But we can make the attempt, I think. It is better that we do. But if I cannot . . .”

He saw the worry in Vex’s eyes.

“I will still need your help,” he added, partially to try to ameliorate Vex’s concerns; the lizardkin looked troubled, but he seemed to try to focus as Derivan spoke. “I trust your knowledge of magic. And I suspect that will be needed for what we face here. But let us try to enter the dungeon first.”

“We’ll need to equip you all with the scrying anchors,” Kestel said out loud this time.

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