She currently possessed fourteen attributes to assign, Megan decided to increase her strength by seven. The other points went to dexterity with three and four to intelligence. She had twenty-eight skill points. Since she was going to be supporting the others in battle, she should get a skill to help them out.

Opening the skill store, Megan looked over the viable options she had. Two immediately jumped out as useful to her.

Deciding to get both, she now had three skill points left. Megan decided to upgrade One Hundred Strikes twice to get it to level three. At this time it was time for her to choose her new feat. Looking through her options she was a little overwhelmed by the choices.

While she was reviewing them, one of them caught her eye.

Megan thought for a minute and decided to take it. This may allow her to finally convince her mother to tell her the truth. When she took the feat, a strange feeling overcame her. It was like something was whispering in her blood, before the feeling went away.

Feeling like she was finished, she stood up and made her way to Jack's tent. Stepping inside, she found Jack was currently sitting looking blankly at the ground. He had changed into his usual attire. He looked up at her and asked "Do you know the difference between animals and monsters?"

"I'm not entirely certain."

"Monsters do not have souls. Most people don't realize this, but all living things have a soul or some version of it. It's a lot clearer to see with people. Some mistake having a soul is an indication of intelligence, but I assure you some of the scariest monsters in this world are smarter than you and I."

"What brought on this philosophical question?"

Jack sighed and said "I came close to death for the second time today. The thing at the bottom of that chasm wanted to kill me. I could feel it's hatred for me, when it caught me with its web I feared I was done for."

"Could you not leave your avatar?"

"I tried. When I did, I lost my clothes, but was not able to escape. I had to struggle to the top. I barely made it. Thank god the thing down there appears to be sealed from leaving. I do not think I could beat it."

"I have only heard legends about the Spider Queen. Not many have ventured into that gorge for obvious reasons."

"I am glad none of you were killed." Jack said.

"I think you need to get some sleep Jack, You look exhausted."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Make sure we are ready to go tomorrow. It looks like Lord Attomas wants to make it to the entrance of the Lost city tomorrow night and camp before we head down into its depths."

"Got it." Megan said, leaving Jack. As she exited the tent, she saw him laying down on his cot.

Sleep once again swallowed Jack. He found himself falling only to find that he was now sitting in a large room with a large group of people all facing towards a man standing in front of a large green board. He was writing on it with chalk, and Jack was making notes on paper.

Unlike his previous dreams, he found he was wearing glasses. Jack found he was listening intently when something hit his foot. Looking down he spotted a small pink object had rolled against it. Picking it up he looked over to his side and saw a woman that sent his heart pounding.

The Woman had straight black hair that went down to her shoulders. She had a remarkable set of eyes, a greenish blue that could only be found in the ocean. He found himself simply staring for a moment too long before he shook himself out of it and inquired the woman about something and she nodded.

When he handed the pink thing to her, she let out a smile that made him speechless. He found himself smiling back, and for the rest of the time in the room he only made the briefest of notes. He could simply not concentrate on what the man was speaking about.

When the man finished and people began to leave the room, Jack stopped the woman. They spoke for a little bit, and then they walked out together. They headed down a hallway, and outside. They continued speaking and soon they reached a store.

Going inside they bought some drinks and took them to a table where they spent a long time simply talking to each other. Jack did not understand what they were saying, but got the feeling they were having a deep discussion. When they had finished, the sun was going down.

The woman pulled out a device with a glass screen and asked Jack something. He replied with something that felt like numbers, and the woman grinned and Jack pulled out a similar device and inputted a series of numbers the woman said. She let out another smile that nearly broke him and walked away. As she did, Jack could feel overjoyed for some reason.

As he turned around, he found himself in a new place. It was a cozy looking room, table laid out with some remains of food and some candles lit. He was returning with a plate of what looked like some dessert. The woman was sitting at the table smiling at him. He placed the cake in front of her and said something.

As she agreed and picked up a fork, he could recognize several pictures of the two of them. As she was cutting off a piece of cake Jack pulled out a box and went down on one of her knees. Her eyes went wide, and she looked shocked and thrilled at the same time.

Jack asked her something, and she appeared to agree and embraced him in a hug. At this moment, Jack experienced the sensation that he was complete. He picked her up and carried her through a door, and found he was no longer holding her, but a large red cylinder.

An intense set of fear was flooding through his body. He took the cylinder and was slamming a thick pane of glass over and over again in a frenzy. There was an intense loud hum and through the window, Jack could see the woman looking terrified. Behind her was a sphere of rotating rings that was speeding up.

He was in a small room with two large doors. Each had a red light above them, and Jack got the sense he could not open them for some reason. A knocking sound occurred behind him, and Jack turned and saw a man's face with a scar smiling at him. He gave them a wave and left letting out a sickening laugh.

Rage flowed through Jack, and he returned to slamming the window. The hum was growing in intensity, and just as Jack managed to make a crack in the window, the red cylinder was ripped from his hands and slammed into the door. The woman placed her hand on the window and said something that tore Jack's heart open.

The machine in the room began to flash a brilliant blue and the woman looked at it. The room beyond the window began to look off as things began to look too far and too near at the same time. The blue light grew in strength. Not surrendering Jack began to slam against the window with his body.

The hum got to the point where it was almost impossible to stand and the woman looked back at Jack and stated something. At that point in time she began to walk towards the machine. Jack screamed and slammed into the window harder. As she reached towards the machine, there was a massive blast that threw Jack against the wall.

Standing up quickly he found the glass window shattered. Jack yelled, and he could tell he was yelling the woman's name. Jumping through the window, Jack fell to his knees when he saw the scene before him. Where the machine had been was now a gaping hole into the ground. The woman was nowhere to be seen.

Grief overwhelmed Jack, tearing a hole in his heart. As he wept into the ground, he found himself falling yet once more into the black void.

ElKriJa

Thank you for reading. Sorry for the delay in posting