Recovery was a grueling process. Despite the influx of mana from all those people willing to help, stopping the inner Chernobyl that was his body from degenerating into mush and cancer soup made Luke long for sweet release. Having come this far, there was no way he'd take that step, of course. After this, what could make him lose heart? Nothing, that's what.

  There were things to do, a lot of things, but first, they needed to get the hell out.

  Dungeon closing in 18 minutes.

  "We have to go, Luke," Hannah said. "How are you doing?"

  Body gone and returned to him, then gone and regenerated again and again, but in that moment, he felt a pang of pain from losing the beloved robe.

  "I'm fine. Hold on."

  "Fine? How can you be fine?"

  Digging through his inventory, Luke found the Archfiend corpse and peeked inside, like a container within a container. Just as he'd hoped, another robe waited for him. This one was a little different.

  Unwavering Robe of The Fiend: Your presence is obscured from all but the most perceptive. This garment instills fear in the undead.

  Putting it on, it was even more comfortable than the previous robe. He ignored the gasps from the crowd that'd formed around him and stood to address them. "Thank you for providing me with the mana I needed to come back to the land of the living."

  Murmurs rose among the people. One person stepped forward.

  "Sir Godolfin," Luke said. "So you're still with us."

  "Aye. I failed to reach the land of the dead. The prince is unable to leave the keep, as I'm sure you understand, but he has asked me to give you this as a show of gratitude for all you have done for us."

  Luke accepted the sheath. "A sword?"

  "If you wish it," Sir Godolfin said. "This creation will take whatever shape you decide."

  Mutable Blade of The Lilineese: This weapon takes whatever shape the user wills. Imbued with the strength of the Lilineese.

  Dungeon closing in 18 minutes.

  "Luke," Hannah urged.

  Luke nodded. "We have to go."

  Sir Godolfin took another step forward, a frown on his face. "So soon? No, you must stay and join in the celebration!"

  "Can't, I'm afraid," Luke said, clasping the knight's hand before pulling away. "Stay safe, Godolfin."

  He waved to the crowd. Allowing Hannah to pull him away, Luke glanced up into the sky. Naxaramus was gone. As were the other dragons. The keep rose in the distance. No signs of monster movement at all. They were all dead. If only there’d been time to go loot them all.

  The portal wasn't far, but Luke kept them going at a quick pace, needing to get the hell out of the dungeon. There was also one final task related to this place that he needed to take care of, but that was also not in the dungeon itself. Looking around, he shook his head, something just now dawning on him.

  "How is this whole place not a radiation wasteland?"

  "The barrier," Hannah said, with a somewhat concerned smile on her face. "Not the mages', but Naxaramus cast one as well, just before the whole thing went boom."

  "Right... I think I remember that."

  The moments leading up to the detonation and what had happened after were hazy at best.

  "The dragon's barrier surrounded it completely, and it didn't just keep things out. It kept things in as well. Don't get me wrong, that spell couldn't contain the whole thing, but it helped. I'm no expert on radiation, but the mages seemed to think they could deal with it."

  Luke breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. They showed us images and videos from radioactive fallout in school once, as part of a class detailing the worst ways to die."

  "Yeah..." Hannah began, glancing Luke's way, blinking and focusing to keep her eyes on him to combat the robe's effect. "How are you doing? I mean, really? It looked gruesome. Still can't believe you survived that."

  Luke lowered the hood to disable the effect. "Me neither, if I'm being honest. Thought I would be able to create some distance before it went off, but the barrier forced me to stay right next to it. Saw light and darkness, mostly." He swallowed hard. "I don't want to think about it."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "And the radiation?"

  Luke used Weaver's Perception to look inward. "It's not all gone, but I'll get it once I've regenerated more mana.."

  Hannah nodded to herself and pointed forward, to the portal in the distance. "Almost there."

  "Wouldn't mind a shower," Luke murmured.

  "You mentioned school again."

  "Yeah?" Luke said.

  "Why did you quit, if you don't mind my asking? Seems like it would be right up your alley."

  They walked in silence for a little while.

  "You don't have to answer."

  "No, it's fine," Luke said. "Just thinking about it."

  After another couple of deep breaths, he'd found the words he wanted to use. "My parents needed help with money, so I had to get a job and move back home to keep the lights on, since my sister couldn't work."

  "Oh."

  Luke shook his head. "But that wasn't it. Not really. I mean, that's part of it, but it's more like the excuse I used to make it sound more... I don't know, noble?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Truth is, I didn't like it."

  "Medicine?" Hannah asked.

  "No, I liked the medicine aspect of it well enough, but in some ways, I'm like Curtis."

  Hannah narrowed her eyes. "I wouldn't say you're similar to that grouch."

  "It's the people, the patients," Luke began, gathering fleeting thoughts and motivations that he'd pushed away for so long he'd almost convinced himself the helping-his-parents excuse was the real reason. "This sounds stupid, but I couldn't deal with the patients."

  "That they're assholes?"

  He chuckled. "Yes and no, not only that."

  They passed the first row of houses in the village.

  "A lot of them are terrible, and yeah, I couldn't stand that part, but that alone wasn't enough to, you know, drive me away."

  She looked at him questioningly.

  "Modern medicine can do so much, but it's never enough. The realization of how little we know and how many things can go wrong. Things we can't cure, the things we don't know. The more I learned, the more helpless I felt. Felt like I was drowning. Couldn't breathe. In the end, I quit because I couldn't deal. My parents would have figured something out. They're not helpless, but I leapt at the chance to get away."

  Another deep breath in. It felt good to get this out. A confession, almost. When Dot explained her reasoning, it'd been like an arrow struck him in the chest. They were similar, at least in this. Once he'd started thinking of her, it was difficult to stop.

  "I couldn't deal with feeling so powerless."

  Hannah pursed her lips. "You're not powerless now."

  "No," Luke said, a smile creeping onto his face. "I'm not."

  They stopped in front of the portal. It was silent. Empty.

  "Thank you for telling me," Hannah said.

  "No, thank you for listening."

  "Any time, bud," She said, glancing at the portal. "Just a few minutes remaining. You ready?"

  "I'm not your bud, pal," Luke whispered, chuckling to himself. That made him miss Ray, the bastard. He'd sent a message just before everything happened. While much of the event was a confusing daze, Luke remembered that. "Damn, I need a shower," he said, sighing. "And a lot of time to make sure my insides don't rot from radiation. Maybe you shouldn't stand so close to me."

  Hannah grinned. "I gained six levels when Naxaramus died, and I barely did anything. I think my Vitality is high enough to withstand a little radiation. If not, I'll just have you heal me. What about you? How many levels did you get?" She gave him a look and Luke realized she inspected him as her eyes widened a little. "Whoa."

  "I'll take a look later. There are a thousand messages from the system and as many from people," Luke said, shaking his head. "It'll take forever to get through, and there's something I have to do before I get to that."

  "What?" She wrinkled her nose. "That shower you mentioned?"

  He laughed. "That too, but no. Don't worry about it. Just need to take out the trash."

  That earned him a strange look. "Uh, OK." Turning to the portal again, she continued, "It'll be chaos out there. Ready?"

  Luke raised the hood of his robe to activate its effect again.

  "Ready."

  The silence turned into a roar of voices, sirens, engines rumbling, and even helicopters above. It was night on this side, but it was difficult to tell how much time had passed. The silence from the crowd told Luke they'd seen the two of them exit the portal. Perhaps putting the hoods up wasn't such a great idea, but with so many cameras pointed their way, there was no way he'd pull it back down and reveal his face.

  "See you." Hannah disappeared into her own shadow, leaving Luke alone facing the crowd as it erupted in shouts and orders. Spellweaves formed everywhere, and many Integrated held weapons pointed his way.

  Luke ran. Three quick steps and then a jump over the heads of the first line of people. Weavestep carried him past a line of soldiers and then another jump, and another. Putting them all behind him, Luke ran. Some took up pursuit, many faster than himself, but the dark of night and the effect from the cloak allowed him to take a side street and make his way up a building.

  Johanson: "Luke? Was that you? The portal just closed."

  Luke: "It was me. You can call off the hounds."

  Johanson: "You have some explaining to do. The Geiger counter we brought indicated radioactive activity when you exited."

  Luke: "Uh oh. How much?"

  Johanson: "3.6 roentgen."

  Luke: "So not great, but not terrible?"

  Johanson: "This is serious, Luke. Did something happen to the warhead in that dungeon? This goes against every part of the deal."

  Luke: "What was the deal exactly?"

  Johanson: "I am not at liberty to say. You need to come in so we can debrief you before this turns into an incident. The FBI is calling. I'm sure your guildmaster will have a few choice words for you as well."

  Luke: "First thing tomorrow. I have something I have to do that can't wait."

  A couple of messages more, and Johanson was at least somewhat mollified, though anger and irritation still oozed through. While Luke had thought it would be a great thing, no longer carrying the weapon, they didn't seem to think so. Well, whatever, he was sure it would turn out well in the end. Healing himself to combat cell death from the radiation and eliminating the sources one by one, Luke made his way toward the center of Chicago.

  Through Weaver's Perception, he felt Dot's location. She was at or near the guild headquarters. In that moment, he wanted to go straight to her, but this was not the time. Before he could do anything else, there was another presence he needed to deal with once and for all.