Jade drew her blade with an instinctive motion that felt practiced, even though it wasn't. The sensation was strange, her body making use of magically imprinted habits that hadn't fully assimilated into muscle memory yet. But the class given weapon proficiency did its job, the gleaming dagger appearing in her hand as she closed with the nearest of the goblins.

"Betray your allies!" She commanded the rearmost goblin as she thundered forward, projecting enchanting magic into the words. The goblin stiffened, his hand trembling as he seized the club from his belt. Then he shook his head, eyes refocusing on her in a hateful glare.

"She's usin' magic!" He snarled in a shrill voice. "Beat 'em down!"

Jade cursed as the magic failed to take hold. She was growing accustomed to the sensation of the clash of wills her charm magic elicited, but this was the first time it had failed entirely. The magic imbued into the spell fizzled out, wasted as her opponent's mental fortitude proved too strong to overcome. The unexpected effect was disorienting and she stumbled, losing focus right as she reached the first of the goblins.

The creature snarled at her, baring its teeth and glaring up at her as it swung a crude metal club fashioned from the scrapyard junk. There was no time to dodge, the blow was going to catch her right in the stomach-!

Clang!

Suddenly Luis was standing in front of her, greatsword held in a two handed grip as he slammed the club aside with a swing so strong it sent the goblin staggering into a nearby wall.

"Chose the wrong group to mess with, matón." He said, levelling his sword at the group barring their way. "Want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

Jade didn't wait for them to respond. She drew again upon her magic, this time channeling it through her arm to coalesce in a shadowy orb that sputtered to life in the palm of her offhand.

"Noctis!" She spoke the incantation without concious thought, instinctively understanding how to use the spell despite having never cast it before.

 

• Clinging Darkness
  • D Level spell
  • Cost: Low mana
  • Duration: 10 seconds
  • Cooldown: 30 seconds
  • Effect: Afflict one nearby creature within close range with 'Blindness' for the duration.

 

The orb of darkness erupted from her hand, coalescing around the eyes of one of the goblins in front of her. She'd actually been aiming for the female goblin standing beside him, but had completely missed, hitting the other one by sheer luck. Jade felt the magic pumping through her body like blood, crackling with power. Every time she cast a spell she became more aware of its presence within her. It was abundantly clear that there was a lot more to controlling it than chanting incantations and pointing her hand, but learning anything more would have to wait.

Fortunately, unlike her attempt to cast Allure, the blindness effect of the spell took hold. The afflicted goblin screeched, swinging his club around wildly with both hands as the world around him plunged into darkness. Jade prepared to cast the spell again, she had enough mana, but ran out of time. A pair of goblins had reached them, one in front of Luis, the other coming straight for Jade.

Jade jumped back, avoiding a wild swing of the diminutive creature's metal club. She stepped forward and slashed at him with her dagger with one of the basic strikes imprinted in her mind from her class proficiency. She had to actively think about the knowledge to utilize it properly, which was more than a little distracting in the heat of combat. Her body just wasn't used to the motions involved in a knife fight. The goblin was quick, dancing out of the way of her strike before coming back in for another swing, this time aiming for her legs.

Jade dodged back, but wasn't as quick as her enemy. His club smashed into her knee, the small creature connecting with surprising force and sending her staggering backwards. She cried out, gritting her teeth and steadying herself just as he came at her again. Now she was mad. Without pausing to think about what she was doing, Jade lunged for the goblin and tackled him to the ground. She wasn't an especially large woman, but the goblin was small, easily knocked over by her surprise rush. He snarled, scrabbling and biting at her with tooth and claw, gouging bloody streaks in her arms. Jade rolled, still grappling the goblin, kneeing him in the chest. He wheezed, momentarily stunned. Before he could recover, she slammed her dagger into his throat, burying it to the hilt.

The goblin gave a gurgling cough, his eyes bulging. He grasped at the blade, trying to pull it free with motions that grew more feeble with each passing moment. Blood gushed from the wound, drenching both of them. Jade watched on in horror as the creature she'd just stabbed convulsed and died under her. She blinked, struck dumb, staring down at her bloody hands. Had she really… just done that?

"Jade! Naomi! A little help?!"

Luis's voice snapped Jade out of her trance. She looked up, seeing the remaining pair of goblins bashing away at the large man with their clubs as he flailed about with his greatsword, wielding it more like a giant version of the clubs the goblins were using than as a sword. The third goblin that had come for him was lying stunned at the base of one of the junk piles. He rolled around clutching his head, obviously out of the fight. The other two, a male and a female goblin, were giving him a harder time. One of them bashed his chest with a vicious swing of its club, eliciting a grunt of pain from Luis. He continued fighting as best he could, fending off the pair of attackers with wide, sweeping strikes from his sword.

Naomi was still standing at the back of the group, shaking with fear. She clutched the guitar to her chest, eyes wide as she watched the carnage. Luis took another blow to the side, staggering back. He couldn't fight both off at once, and Naomi wasn't in any state to help. Cursing, Jade heaved herself to her feet. Her knee throbbed painfully, but it could take her weight. She took a tentative step, finding her leg still worked fine. She'd had worse injuries than this on the gym floor. Ignoring it, she instead focused on the female goblin assaulting Luis.

"Attack your friend!" She commanded, attempting to charm it again. "Obey me!"

Nothing happened. The magic didn't flow. Belatedly, Jade realized her Allure spell was still on cooldown. She could feel it in her mind, the magical pathways of that ability still too raw and energized from recent use to be invoked again. Just trying caused a burst of intense pain to lance through her head.

"Damnit!" She snarled, then focused her senses on the same goblin, drawing upon her magic in a different manner. Parts of her body flashed, glowing crimson. The throat, the heart, and the head.

 

• Talent: Vital Sight
  • Rating: D Level talent
  • Cost: Very low mana
  • Duration: 1 minute
  • Cooldown: 20 seconds
  • Effect: Weak points and vulnerabilities on a single creature you focus on within close range will glow, becoming visible to your eyes. Attacks that his these points will deal moderate bonus damage. You may only see vulnerabilities on one creature at a time. Using this talent again ends the effect on the first creature.

 

Jade dashed forward, disregarding her throbbing knee and slashed at the creature's glowing neck. The goblin noticed her approach, dodging to the side, but she still caught her in the shoulder with the attack. She screeched in pain, clutching her bleeding arm and backing away from Jade, eyes wide in either fear or rage, she couldn't tell which. Jade knew she should finish her off before she ran to get help from the others, but she hesitated. Blood poured from the wound she'd inflicted, spattering crimson upon the ground. Her dagger was slick with it. The sight made her sick.

"Escape!" The goblin croaked, turning to run. "The prisoners are-!"

Jade lunged, jamming the dagger through the back of the small humanoid's neck, right in the center of the mark her ability identified as a weak spot. The goblin died instantly, dropping to the sandy ground with a wet thud. She felt ill as she withdrew her weapon, falling to her knees. The smell of blood and viscera was overwhelming, and Jade's stomach churned with nausea.

There was another thud and a cry of pain as Luis, now on the offensive again with only one opponent to deal with, successfully bashed the final goblin with the flat side of his enormous sword. The man panted, breathing heavily as he came to check on Jade.

"You ok?"

Jade opened her mouth to say something, but bile rose in her throat as she did. She clamped it shut, bending over to press her forehead against the ground as sweat beaded her brow. She couldn't be sick now, they had to run. She had to get up and run before more came. With mechanical motions Jade rummaged in her backpack and withdrew another healing potion, nearly vomiting as she forced herself to gulp it down.

"You did what you had to." Luis said, crouching next to her. "Come on, we have to go!"

"Jade…?" Naomi had finally approached. The timid woman was looking down at the succubus with concern. The panic that had frozen her had passed. "Are you hurt?"

"'m ok…" Jade managed, dropping the empty potion vial. She grasped Luis's hand and he hauled her to her feet. Beside them, the two goblins Luis had incapacitated were starting to stir. If they didn't leave now, they wouldn't get another chance.

"Time to go." She said, pulling herself together and checking her map again. "This way!"

The three of them took off at a run, all attempts at stealth abandoned. They broke out of an alley at the far end of the encampment, making for one of the large lanes in the junkyard that lead back towards the factory Jade had come from earlier. Shouts rose from behind them.

"They're following us!" Naomi shouted, bringing up the rear as they pounded around a bend in the road.

"Keep going!" Jade called back. "We're almost-!" She cut off as one of the large scrapyard automatons stepped out from behind a junk pile, its singular eye glowing an angry red in its telescopic head. It was practically on top of her.

Oh fuck!

The robot made a deep, angry rumbling noise and swung at her with a large metal arm. She ducked, narrowly avoiding getting clotheslined as its arm whooshed over head and smashed into the junk pile, sending bits of metal raining down into the lane. Jade staggered, nearly falling over as she tried to keep her feet. A falling metal part bounced off her shoulder, stinging horribly, but she managed to stay upright. Behind her, Luis grabbed Naomi by the arm and pulled her out of the way as an enormous piece of machinery crashed to the ground where she'd been a moment before. Another piece of junk fell on the robot, almost knocking it over. It made another rumbling noise, but before it could strike again Naomi and Luis were past it, catching up to Jade and passing her at a sprint.

"Left!" Jade called after them, following as fast as she could. The trio turned left at the next junction, running down the lane towards what looked like an enormous warehouse set with a large double door. Luis reached the door first, heaving it open and revealing the massive junk pile and lava pool room that Jade had passed through earlier. This time, fortunately, it was devoid of killer robots. Shouts and cries came from behind them as their goblin pursuers ran into the automaton, which didn't distinguish between the separate groups roaming its domain. It attacked, smashing its way through their number with single minded efficiency.

With the goblins thoroughly distracted, Jade was quickly able to lead Naomi and Luis back to the assembly line room. She pointed to the sanctuary door on the upper level, still glowing with a soft golden light.

"Up there!" She said, pointing. Naomi balked at the tall ladders and narrow, railing free catwalks, shaking her head and taking a hesitant step away.

"No time to argue. Climb." Jade urged, taking the lead and clambering up the ladder as quickly as she could. Luis took up the rear, encouraging Naomi to follow her. She reluctantly did, slinging her guitar over a shoulder as she began to ascend, albeit much more slowly than Jade.

The assembly line was still active, but without a venomhound chasing her the climb didn't feel that dangerous. The catwalks were safe enough from the machinery, and as long as one moved carefully, there was little risk of falling. In short order, Jade was opening the door to the Sanctuary and ushering the other two inside. There was no sign of their goblin pursuers, and Jade hoped that the robot had scared them away. Somehow, she doubted she was that lucky.

 

• Entering Sanctuary: Tranquil Forest

 

Another notification popped up, this one accompanied by a brief fanfare of triumphant music.

 

• Quest Complete: Prison Break
• Escape the goblin camp. Bonus objective complete: Escape with the other two prisoners. Quest reward increased for completing all bonus objectives
• Reward: Medium experience gain.
• Reward: You are no longer imprisoned! Next time, try harder to avoid capture in the first place.

 

The quest notification minimized to Jade's journal. Pulling it open, she saw that the heading that listed her Wayfarer Trial progress had increased. Her number of completed quests had risen from 1/100, to 2/100. There was also an indicator for the number of hidden quests she had completed, which was currently at 1/3. According to the notices, if she completed 3 of them, they would count as a completed regular quest for the purposes of concluding her trial.

Naomi and Luis had caught up to her, stepping inside the Sanctuary. Luis closed the door behind them and the noise from the factory abruptly cut off, which was as welcome as it was jarring. Jade was about to look at her other queued notifications when Naomi spoke.

"Will… we be safe in here?" She asked.

"We should be. Shari said that no one can hurt you in a sanctuary, remember?"

"You two were in a sanctuary too?" Jade asked, closing her menu and looking over at them. "Was it different than this one?"

"Sure was." Luis nodded. "That's where we met, right outside of it. I'd just been wandering around empty hallways wondering where the hell I was. Then I found a glowing doorway, and Naomi standing outside of it staring at it."

"I was a little scared to open it…" She admitted. "I didn't know what was happening, or where I was. Or how I'd gotten there. I thought I might be dreaming"

Jade nodded. She'd thought much the same when she'd first appeared in the Labyrinth too.

"Anyway." Luis continued, looking around. "We were in some sort of fancy manor, with a nice dining room and crazy high ceilings. It wasn't anything like this. Did you meet Shari too?"

"Who's Shari?" Jade asked, shaking her head. "I met Damos here, said he was the sanctuary attendant." She looked around too, but didn't see any sign of him. "I was hoping he'd be here."

"Shari said she was a sanctuary attendant too." Naomi said. "She helped us pick our classes, and tried to explain what was happening. She… didn't do a very good job at that."

"Is there a good way to explain magic, alternate dimensions, and rampaging monsters?" Luis asked.

"There has to be a better way than grabbing my hand and teleporting me across the room." She shook her head. "I thought I was losing my mind."

"We need to get away from here." Jade said, sitting down heavily against a tree. "But first, we should get some rest."

"Thank you, Jade. For helping us. We owe you." Luis said quietly. He sighed, the tension easing out of his body with the breath. Naomi nodded her agreement, turning her gaze onto Jade. There was a wariness to her as she again took in Jade's demonic appearance, but she didn't speak on it.

"I don't want to think about what would have happened to us back there without you."

"It was nothing…" Jade said, looking away. She had never felt comfortable receiving thanks, and felt embarassed. "I had to get myself out too, remember?"

"But you still made sure to help us." Luis said. "Not very demonic of you, but I won't complain." He grinned at her.

Jade found herself grinning back.

"Well, I'm new to the whole demon thing. I've learned how to do this, though."

Jade concentrated on her body, transforming back into her human appearance. Her wings, tail, and horns all retracted, leaving no evidence that they'd ever been there. Naomi's eyes went wide, but Luis just laughed.

"Damn, that's awesome." He said. "I knew I should've picked a different race."

"Did that… hurt?" Naomi asked Jade, sounding equal parts impressed and concerned.

She shook her head. "Not really. Just feels a little weird."

Jade took a deep breath of the refreshing forest air, then looked down at the shifting blue mark on the back of her hand.

"Anyway." She said, changing the subject. "Damos, that's the sanctuary attendant I met here, he said that I won't be able to leave the Labyrinth until I complete enough quests. Did that Shari person tell you the same thing? Do you have these marks too?"

She held up her hand to show them the wayfarer mark, and Naomi and Luis did the same. All of them had the maze-like tattoos on the back of the right hands. Naomi nodded.

"She said something like that." She confirmed. "But said that we could go home, too, if we could find an exit. Just, that we wouldn't be able to stay home until we were done with the trial."

"I wonder how that works." Jade said.

"Probably the same way I got here. One moment, I was takin' a break and watching the game." Luis said, shaking his head. "The next second and bam! Flash of light, and my chair is in a weird, dark tunnel."

"That's pretty much what happened to me." Jade said, sitting down next to Luis and glancing at the portal they entered through. They were supposed to be safe in here, but she wasn't going to let her guard down quite yet.

"I still can't believe any of this…" Naomi said, sinking to her knees in the grass in front of them. "I was supposed to have an audition today…"

"I was supposed to go see my brother in the hospital…" Jade said.

"I'm sorry…" Naomi looked embarassed. "That must make my problems seem small, to you."

"Amiga, we all just got thrown into the video game dimension." Luis interjected. "Torn from our homes and family. We're all in the same boat here. You've got nothing to be sorry about."

Jade nodded in agreement. "All that matters is getting home. I want to find one of those exits that are supposed to be around." She paused, feeling a little uncomfortable. Jade had never liked asking for help, but she was in over her head. She couldn't do this alone. "Want to team up?" She asked, a little tentatively.

Naomi nodded vigorously. "Yes. Oh my God, yes. I do not want to be alone in here."

"Of course we're sticking together!" Luis nodded his agreement. "Did you see us back there? We make a badass team."

"You two did." Naomi flushed, bowing her head. "I was useless. I'm sorry…"

"Don't beat yourself up." Luis consoled her, leaning forward and patting her arm. "This is new to all of us. We'll learn. I was scared as all hell, myself, and I bet Jade was, too."

"I was." Jade said. She didn't like to admit it, but it was probably what Naomi needed to hear. Naomi may have frozen up when they'd gotten into the fight with the goblins, but she'd kept up with them on their desperate run for freedom. Moreover, Jade had seen how quickly she'd dodged through that raining debris when they'd gotten past the construct. She was probably doing better than many other people would have in the same circumstances. She seemed earnest enough and, once she got over the initial shock, Jade suspected that she'd be a good person to have at her back.

"So, what now?" Naomi said, looking around the calm Sanctuary. "I guess an attendant isn't meeting us…"

"Let's wait a while longer. Eat and rest." Jade said. "Maybe one of them will show up."

"We should compare our stats and abilities." Luis suggested. "Come up with some plans for defending ourselves and working together."

"Do you think we'll be fighting a lot…?" Naomi asked, clearly not thrilled with the idea. "I'm not an 'action hero' kind of girl…"

"From what I've seen of this place, I'd put my money on 'yes'." Jade said. "It's like you said, Luis, feels like we got thrown into a video game."

Like a game, but much more real. Jade suddenly remembered the light going out of the dying goblin's eyes as she'd stabbed him in the neck. Dark red goblin blood still stained her hands and shirt. She shuddered, closing her eyes, shying away from the memory. She wasn't ready to deal with that yet.

"Speaking of games, I just checked my notifications." Luis said. "Damn, I levelled up to 3 already."

"Oh, I made it to 2." Naomi said, her eyes unfocusing as she gazed at her private status window. "Though I don't really feel like I did anything…"

"We all have a lot to get used to." Said Jade, pulling up her own status window. "We made it through. Next time, you'll do better."

Naomi nodded, her expression glum. The plain disappointment she felt in herself was enough to quell the part of Jade that was frustrated with how little help she'd been in the battle. She'd seen that look on her teammates before. If she was right, then Naomi was the sort of person who took failure seriously, and would be driven to overcome it. Naomi and Luis were looking through their own notifications and Jade followed suit, pulling up her message queue.

 

• Level Up!
• You have reached Level 3.
• Reward: +2 stat points.

 

Apparently this level didn't come with any additional features, just stat points. Jade's spells were still eating uncomfortably large portions of her mana reserves, so she opted to increase both her intelligence and her willpower by 1 point each. Intelligence raised her maximum mana, and willpower the rate at which it regenerated. Since her succubus form penalized her willpower she wasn't sure how valuable it was to put points into the stat, but she had a feeling it would still be useful. If nothing else, she wouldn't always be in that form. After the point allocation, her new base stat scores were:

 

Strength: 6

Agility: 10

Fortitude: 8

Intelligence: 7

Willpower: 7

 

Jade didn't feel any different as the ability points ticked up. Her mana bar was already at the maximum value, and remained there. Hopefully it would help.

Naomi and Luis had both been level 1, so it was their first time encountering the level up process. Jade did her best to walk them through it, explaining what she knew of the different stats and showing them how to find the tooltips. Naomi put a point into intelligence and one into fortitude. Luis also increased his intelligence, but opted to put his other point into strength. Both of them also received a racial benefit at level 2 just as Jade had, except their options were for humans rather than succubus. The choices were:

 

Human Versatility: Learn a general talent. You must have an available talent slot to pick this option.

 

Determination: Gain an additional 2 stat points.

 

Since none of them knew what a 'general talent' was, or how useful they would be, both Naomi and Luis opted for the additional stat points. Luis had levelled up twice bringing him up to 3, which meant he had an additional 2 points to allocate as well. After they were finished distributing them, the three wayfarers ventured over to the cluster of tents in search of food. As they crossed the clearing, Jade focused on Luis and brought up his status window for the first time.

 

• Luis Espanoza
• Level: 3 (Mark of the Wayfarer)
• Race: Human
• Class: Spell Guardian
• Origin: Earth

 

She was still getting used to being able to do that. The system didn't provide much information when it came to people or creatures, but Jade resolved to get in the habit of checking status windows more often. If nothing else, it would be helpful to know the level of what she was facing. She examined Naomi next. Her window was much the same as Luis's, except she was level 2 and her class was 'idol'.

As in, the people in those k-pop groups? Or is it something religious?

Judging from the guitar she was carrying, Jade was guessing it was more the former than the latter. It didn't sound like the sort of class that would lend itself to many helpful abilities in their current situation, but she didn't know enough about any of this to say for sure. She decided to reserve judgement.

"Why did you choose those classes?" Jade asked as she showed them where the food was stored in the middle tent. It was mostly just canned goods and other non-perishables, but it wasn't bad.

"I always play the tank in every game I've ever played." Luis said, sitting down on a stool and cracking open a can of beef. "But I also wanted to use magic. When I told that to Shari, she said Spell Guardian was the best fit for that combo. Lots of defensive spells. I liked the sound of that. Want to keep people safe."

That seemed like a pretty good focus to Jade, and complemented her own emerging skill set of damage and debuffs. She turned to Naomi, who shrugged.

"I just picked the top suggested choice. It's called 'idol', the system says it's a bard class."

"So it's music themed?" Jade asked, sitting down with them and grabbing some food for herself.

"Yeah. I've performed for most of my life. Small time stuff, mostly, but I was supposed to be auditioning for a role in a pop group today."

"Oh, which one?" Luis asked, leaning in. "Anything I've heard of."

"Maybe? It's a girl group, N-visible. I don't know how big they are outside of the Philippines. That's where I'm from, by the way."

Jade had never heard of the group, but Luis nodded. "Think I've heard of them… They're the ones with those special reflective suits right? That can look see through? I always wondered how those worked"

Naomi brightened. "Yeah! Isn't it really cool? I love unique fashion, and I've followed them for a long time." Her shoulders slumped, the excitement draining from her as quickly as it had come. "Guess I won't get the chance now, though."

"When we get out of here, we'll probably be famous." Luis said. "I mean, we're in a whole other world now. Maybe they'll give you another shot."

"I hope so…"

"If not, you'll probably have enough magic powers to make them regret it." Jade pointed out, which prompted a snort from Luis and a wan smile from Naomi.

The conversation lapsed as the three of them ate, considering their situation. Outside the tent, faint birdsong filtered in from the woodland treetops. Jade wondered where the birds had come from. Did they live their whole lives here in this Sanctuary? How large was it, anyway? If she just started walking away through the forest, where would she end up? She had so many questions, and once more wished Damos would return so she could ask them.

"We should share what we can do. I think I can use these class powers to help keep us safe." Naomi eventually said, breaking into Jade's thoughts. "I… I won't freeze up again, I promise."

"Good. This isn't a place where we can afford to make mistakes." Jade said. "We're all scared and out of our depth here, but the monsters won't care about that. If anything, they'll use it."

"I know…" Naomi said, bowing her head. She looked on the verge of tears. Jade suddenly felt guilty. She awkwardly reached out and patted her back. The gesture wasn't natural to her, but it felt like the right thing to do.

"Hey…" She said. "We're learning. We'll be a good team in no time."

"Damn straight we will." Luis said, clapping his hands together and rising to his feet. He swung up his massive sword leaning it against his shoulder. "Now let's talk some strategy."