I couldn’t exactly keep up my acrobatic nonsense with these other two around, so we made our way to the middle ring the old fashioned way- some underground passageways that the two had weaseled out of an NPC smuggler earlier. Puffs of ash followed us in our wake, as we skulked down grubby brick alleyways, occasionally hiding from passing groups of guards in alcoves and behind conveniently placed barrels, crates, and carts. 

When we finally hit the dividing wall between the outer ring- the Soot Quarter, according to Jase- and the octants of the nobility, Cyrus pulled out a dingy square of fabric, with a symbol written in chalk. It was pretty simple, just a square with a pair of horizontal lines passing through it, and Cyrus started looking around on the wall.

“A-hah!”

He tossed the fabric aside (and Jase hastily dove to catch it), before lifting up his cane and shoving the tip between a pair of bricks. With a click and a pop, part of the wall swung open, and I noticed that same symbol carved into one of the bricks on the “door”.

Cyrus stepped aside, bowing deeply as he removed his hat, “Ladies and those who know better first.”

That got a giggle out of me- holy shit that was weird to hear coming from my own throat- which I quickly squashed as I headed in. The other two were quick to follow, and the vials of Light on our belts lit up the tiny, cramped tunnel.

It was probably harder on Cyrus and Jase than me- Jase in particular was kind of all limbs- but I didn’t exactly have it easy. This was not a place people lingered, and nobody was exactly doing janitorial services here. Dust and cobwebs hung low on the already short ceiling, and I pulled up the simple cloth scarf around my neck to cover my mouth and nose.

“This place is rank,” Jase complained, “You’d think a thieves’ guild could hire someone to sweep up.”

“Fun fact about that,” Cyrus spoke up, as he took the lead, “It’s less of a unified guild in this city and more of a loose collection of rival gangs who just so happen to hate the authorities more than each other. Solidarity amongst thieves is at a bare minimum, it seems.”

“Well, that makes things complicated.”

I mean, as much as I’d probably need to get other players on my side for my whole “revolution” scheme, really my biggest ideas on a plan hinged on getting NPC support. A unified thieves’s guild would have made that a single target for that- but now I not only have to deal with politics, but thief politics too?

This was gonna be hard.

“Grand plans then, Ash?” Cyrus asked, and I simply shrugged.

“More of a directional goal.”

“Vague and mysterious! I like it, you really are nailing the dark, brooding rogue role.”

If we weren’t walking, I’d probably have given him a sarcastic bow or something, but instead I just rolled my eyes.

“What about you, huh? Just in it for the whole “Robin Hood meets Uncle Pennybags” schtick?”

Cyrus let out a loud cough, clutching his chest, “The MONOPOLY man?! You wound me, madame!”

God, these two were actually pretty fun to hang out with- we’d barely known each other for an hour, but damn Cyrus was funny. Even Jase let out a barking laugh at that, echoing down the tunnels.

“Going for the fucking kneecaps there, now I’m sorry I ever doubted letting you in on this! About time someone was able to beat Cy at his own game.”

“Capitalist attacks on my character HARDLY constitute as “beating me at my own game”, Jasey!” Cyrus sniffed, before his mustache twitched with a grin, “I’m more of a Fortnite man, myself.”

“Holy shit you are old,” I said, earning another hacking cough and grimace from the old man. Too easy, ya fuckin’ millenial.

We continued onward. Walking the tunnel was taking… honestly a lot longer than I expected.

“Shouldn’t we be on the other side of the wall by now?”

“Definitely,” Jase nodded, “Though, from what I gather the octants are much more heavily watched by the mandate- less patrolling guards, but a lot more bureaucracy secret police type shit. Gotta be a lot more careful with where you exit there.”

“Don’t want to get disappeared by the mandate, that’s for sure,” Cyrus said with a nod, “God only knows what sort of heinous shit they do with dissenters.”

I opened my mouth to respond to that, before a distant sound stopped me. 

“Hang on, does anyone else hear that clicking?”

“Clicking?” Cyrus turned to me, confused- before Jase suddenly sprang to tackle him to the ground as something blurred through the small halo of light our vials gave off.

I jumped back, reaching out with a tether in that general direction- but it felt like the normally magnetic end was repelled! There was a growl from the dark, and suddenly two more blurring tendrils whipped into the light and I ducked to roll under- a pair of ball bearings taken from my hip pouch as I pushed them forward with all my might.

There was a sickening squelch, and a distinctly canine yelp but it sounded… off. Like a dog with its mouth stuffed with something trying to vocalize around it. As I got close enough that my vials lit the creature up, I nearly gagged.

Dog was… vaguely accurate. The beast was almost skin and bones, with a whip-like tail and a pair of similar protrusions growing from the cheeks like tentacles. Metal plating was bolted directly into the joints at the shoulders, capping the paws in rusty iron, and covering its eyes in what one could maybe generously describe as a helmet- if you put a helmet on by hammering nails into your forehead and eyes.

The thing growled again, its face tendrils quivering warningly like a rattlesnake, the drool dripping from its mouth pink and smelling of iron. It lunged- I flipped over it, and Jase was immediately behind me with their shortsword, flickering through one of the tendrils with ease as the now separated appendage flopped to the floor and wriggled.

Jesus fuck, don’t puke. Don’t puke, don’t puke not during a fight, it’s just a game, pull your head together! I tried to tether to the ball bearings I had shot into the creature, but it slipped off again, like trying to grab a flat piece of paper off a smooth table. So much for conserving ammo- I shot another bearing forward, trying to nail it in the back of the skull where the armor didn’t cover it. 

The remaining tendril smacked the shot out of the air as it lunged towards Jase- my hand flew to the dagger at my side, ready to switch things up and help them flank, before the creature shuddered in mid-air, dropping and howling in excruciating pain.

Cyrus was standing again, one hand outstretched and the other pressing fingers to his temple, teeth grit.

“I can only flare its fear for so long, stab it!”

Right, no need to tell me twice. Jase and I leapt forward as one- I drove my dagger through the back of its skull, while Jase went low and slashed its throat.

The howling was replaced with a dry gurgling, as the tiniest trickle of nearly black blood dripped from the wounds, and I could taste iron and a bit of ozone in the air. The thing crumpled, and I panted as I yanked my blade out of it.

Congratulations! You are now level 2!

“FUCK- hell! Jesus!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the notification- holy shit, work on the TIMING, game devs! The adrenaline coursing through me felt like needles prickling from the inside of my skin, and I dismissed the dagger with a directed thought, since I didn’t trust how shaky my hands were.

I slid, bonelessly to the ground as I took in a breath. It’s not like I hadn’t been in virtual fights before- but holy shit, that thing was so fucked up looking. 

“The hell was that!?” Jase voiced my thoughts perfectly, and Cyrus quickly joined me, leaning against a wall and panting a little.

“Haven’t a rat’s shit of a clue there, Jasey.”

“How come my tethers couldn’t grab onto it?” I asked, looking over at Jase as they sheathed their shortsword to the scabbard at their hip. They took a breath.

“I actually know this one- the devs talked about it during one of their cryptic little AMA streams. One of the limitations for telekinetic Ashbinding is that it can’t grab onto thinking entities, or anything piercing the flesh of a thinking entity- something to prevent some cheese with late game power scaling and encounters, probably.”

“Well, at least I don’t have to worry about an NPC Ashbound ripping out my earring,” Cyrus mumbled, raising a hand to his right ear with a small shudder. The piercing in question was a tiny loop of brass that sparkled under our combined light.

“I’d be more worried about the scarf, that’s practically begging for an unwanted yoinking.”

“Some sacrifices must be made in the name of aesthetics, Jase.”

That got a mumble of “Oh my god” from Jase, and I decided to take advantage of the lull in the conversation to check out my level up. 

Pulling up the menu, the level up screen flashed two pools of points- 2 for Skills, and 5 for Attributes. I immediately dumped three points into HP and two into Toughness- at least round those out, I wasn’t exactly looking to remain squishy. That encounter made it clear that this was far from a friendly place.

The skill points gave me a bit more pause. I wanted to shore up my Power to make up for my lack of mass, but… I really wanted to know what Bond did. 

“Hey, have either of you leveled up yet?” I asked, looking over to the other pair, earning a couple nods.

“So, I get what Power and Finesse do for Ashbinding, but do either of you know what Bond does?”

“Fat load of nothing, far as I can tell,” Jase said, shrugging as they pushed off the wall they were leaning against. Cyrus nodded along.

“Power-gamer here decided to check the forums before spending their first level up, most folks seem to agree that it doesn’t do much of anything. Probably something the developers meant to patch out- hell, I’m surprised it’s actually on your screen, the option disappeared for me by the time we hit level four.”

… Now that just made it sound like a mystery. I mean, worst comes to worst, I could send in a ticket and get the points refunded, right?

Eh, screw it. I decided to split it 50/50 between Bond and Power. I did feel my internal stores of Light surge when I spent the point of Power- still decently full, too, what with hoofing it through the streets instead of flying around. 

“Makes sense how you’re so efficient with burning Light, now that I’ve seen your stats,” Jase said, motioning us to follow as we continued down the tunnel. I couldn’t help but narrow my eyes a little at the last part of that comment- I was more than just a set of fancy game math, it felt weirdly exposing.

Though, I had to admit I didn’t quite follow why it made sense to them.

“And that’s because…?”

“Stamina effects burn rate,” They looked back over their shoulder at me, waving a hand as they explained, “Honestly, I’m starting to wish I had put a little more meat on these digital bones. Oracular Ashbinding drains Light so damn quickly- well, at least the precog stuff. The psychometry stuff is a bit slower, probably because it doesn’t offer an immediately obvious combat buff.”

“So that’s what they meant by past and future,” I mumbled. Burn rate aside, Jase’s combat style was pretty cool- did the AI actors controlling enemies have to predict their moves in advance to simulate foresight for such powers? The guards and that messed up dog both pointed towards some truly impressive combat intelligence that seemed highly reactive- the group coordination of powers vs being able to handle being flanked by two physical attackers- and that last fight would have been SO much harder without Cyrus.

“Hey, before I forget,” I looked over at the man in question, tucking a stray bit of hair back behind my ear, “I think that makes this the second time tonight that you’ve saved my ass. That emotional Ashbinding is pretty clutch, old man.”

“I’ll ignore that last bit and simply take the compliment,” Cyrus preened at the attention, adjusting his hat- oh no, wait he was tipping it, “You were quite adept at harrying the beast and dodging its attacks- any IRL skills transferring there?”

I shrugged, “Not really, don’t have the most strenuous job or anything.”

I entertained picking up free-running as a hobby once, but sports clothes always bugged me. They were too tight around my already skinny chest, and nobody looked good in baggy gym shorts, especially with legs that could probably double as a carpet in a pinch. It was a shame, because the game letting me be this acrobatic made it seem even more fun, but even if I had picked it up I’m still too tall and gangly IRL to really do the kind of gymnastic stuff that seemed programmed to be second nature in here.

“All the more impressive then, honestly,” Cyrus said with a nod, before gesturing ahead, “At any rate, we should be near the exit, right outside Bentham Keep’s walls.”

He looked at me again, brows furrowed in a serious expression.

“Are you ready to commit some jolly larceny?”