The cheering did not last. It never does. Once the first wave of relief passed, the people who had lost someone started to fold in on themselves. Some stayed kneeling by the ones who would not get up. Some stared at their hands like they were still holding the weight of a friend. Healers kept working quietly, sleeves rolled and faces set. The music was gone, but the echoes had not finished with us.

  We slipped out before anyone could pull us into another round of hugs. Siva led us to the fire door and we started down the emergency stairwell. The concrete was cooler than the air in the mall. Every landing felt like one step closer to getting the fuck out of here.

  By the third flight, my legs were burning. I took the next steps slower and my breath came rough. The spells and abilities had made me feel invincible out there, but they were inactive now and I was back to being what I am. I am forty-five. I am a heavy smoker with a soft middle and a back that complains when I sneeze wrong. The last few weeks of running and fighting had started to change me a little. Things were less tight across my lungs. I could go longer before the stitch came. But I am not a fit man. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

  Siva glanced up from the step below. “You good?”

  “I’ll live,” I said, one hand on the rail. “Just not gracefully.”

  “You want me to look you over?” Jess asked, smiling up at me.

  Before I could answer, Shawn piped up. “Ask him to drop his pants and cough.”

  “Fuck you, Shawn,” I said, and everyone gave a tired laugh.

  We reached the truck without anyone stopping us. The drive back to base passed in a tired trance. No one felt like talking. I drove and let the engine noise fill the spaces where our words should have been.

  We parked by the block and climbed the stairs to crash. I did not remember lying down. Only the weight leaving my shoulders, and then nothing.

  I woke to Siva standing over me.

  “Lunch?” he asked, grinning.

  I groaned and sat up. Oh to be sixteen again. “Where’s the rest?” I asked, heading for the bathroom. Through the window I spotted Shawn smoking outside the unit.

  “Shawn’s there,” Siva said. “And Jess is getting ready.”

  “Okay. Give me thirty minutes.” I worked the knots in my back and stepped into the shower.

  Forty-five minutes later, we were back at the hawker center, fresh food and coffee on the table. We decided to open our loot boxes while we ate.

  We had earned enough XP to level multiple times. I hit level 10. Siva did too. Shawn sat highest at level 11 and already halfway to 12. Jess jumped two levels to 7.

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  I still had not received my class-bonus pet. Fucking Eva. I made a note to ask the next time I visited a 7-Eleven.

  Between us, we pulled tens of thousands in gold. The healing and mana potions were fewer than I expected.

  We took turns opening the rest.

  Siva drew an upgrade and an item. He got the [Ambidextrous] skill and a wakizashi, the shorter katana. He could dual-wield effectively now. With his shield belt, he just became a much more dangerous fighter.

  Jess received another string of tattoos, this time over her left arm. A swirling pattern, like a tribal piece made of wind motifs. The ink gave her [Wind Blade], a spell that fired invisible gusts capable of cutting through a neck. She winced and cursed nonstop for several minutes as it embedded itself. She grumbled that a spellbook would have been nicer. That worried me. It felt like the system was messing with her, knowing how much she hated tattoos. She also gained [Triage], the ability to scan a person, read their current condition, and identify active debuffs and possible cures.

  Shawn was tense before opening his box, then let out a breath when he pulled the item. A necklace of black chains with a black, diamond-shaped crystal pendant. He slipped it on and pressed it to his chest, eyes closed. Purple wisps bled out of him and into the gem. He shuddered and went a shade paler.

  “Shawn…” I said, leaning in.

  “He’s okay,” Jess said, watching her HUD. “It is stabilizing. He reads Chaotic Neutral now.”

  I nodded and looked back at him. “Talk to us. What is happening to you?”

  He opened his eyes. “When I use any necromancy, I can feel it trying to smother me,” he said. “It is not just the spell draining me. It pushes back and wants a place inside me. I could feel myself getting darker. Angrier. Holy healing hurts me instead.”

  He held up the gem between his fingers. “This is a [Soul Gem]. It holds the souls for me, and I can access it if I choose to cast necromancy. But there is a warning not to overload it.”

  “What happens if it overloads?” Siva asked.

  Shawn mimed an explosion with his hands.

  Great. He is wearing a time bomb around his neck.

  He went on. “The spell on the beach, and yesterday, was [Bone Shaker III]. I can puppet anything with bones, or just the bones themselves. It is gross and cool at the same time, but it drains me.”

  I thought of Azim and the way the air had felt around him. I thought of the white ripple from the clerics and how Shawn had flinched.

  “We will manage it,” I said, not feeling as confident as I sounded. We would not be alive if Shawn had not used his necromancy. From the look in his eyes, he knew it too.

  What were we going to lose before this ended? I shuddered at the thought.

  I took a drink and dived into my loot box.

  A compound bow materialized in my hands, matte black and humming faintly, like something built by a Formula One team.

  I read the accompanying enchantment.

  [Blowback: When activated, each successful hit from an arrow fired by this bow will push the target back five feet with a ten percent chance to knock it prone.]

  That was good. This would help me carve space in close combat. I slotted it onto my hotlist, shuffling things so I now had two bows ready.

  With the loot session done, I asked the important question. “Central or West?”

  “West,” Shawn and Jess answered at the same time.

  “I have family there,” Jess said.

  “Me too,” Shawn added.

  I knew he did not mean blood. He did not know I had seen the day his family died. Shen had shown us what he thought we wanted, but the roots were real. Jess did lose her mother. I did lose my wife. Shawn did lose his family.

  Siva rubbed his neck and nodded. “West it is.”

  I reached over and squeezed his shoulder. We were all thinking about someone.

  We left the hawker center and climbed into the Grave Digger. I opened the shared map on my HUD and activated [Pathfinder], willing it to find the gate to the west. The blue line drew itself across the grid and settled on a point on the highway heading to Jurong East, a popular spot in the west of Singapore.

  I gunned the engine and drove into the never-ending night as Shawn started singing “Go West” by the Pet Shop Boys from the passenger seat.