Volume 1, Chapter 18: Inventory Management Saves Lives (Patreon)

Looking around, I quickly determined that no unexpected enemy had appeared anywhere obvious, waiting to take my head in revenge for what had happened to the orc lying on the ground in front of me.

My gaze settled on the tent that had burned completely to the ground, now little more than a pile of ash with several steel rods lying across it. Out of the corner of my eye, while continuing to scan the area, I spotted a ball of fire moving behind the naturally formed stalagmite-and-stalactite columns inside the cave, darting first one way and then the other.

“Brigid,” I said, raising my voice only slightly and cupping my mouth with my hands.

With admiration and relief, I watched the strange magical phenomenon flatten vertically into something resembling a single tongue of flame, slip through the gap between the columns, and fly toward me with a smile.

“Lex!” she shouted, and from the way she was flying, it looked as though she had no intention of stopping before crashing into me out of sheer joy.

Forced by the unfortunate non-flame-retardant state of my body, I raised one hand in a gesture that made it perfectly clear that any further “step” in my direction would result in permanent injuries on my part.

“Goodness, um, gracious! Where were you?!” she shouted, once again ignoring the fact that I was trying to keep relatively quiet. “When I woke up, you, um, weren’t here at all! I looked everywhere, you know!?” The orange vanished from her body from the core outward until she burned almost entirely crimson. Her hair rose in rigid spikes, and black smoke streamed from their tips.

“Your good friend Molbob decided to give in to the requests of one of the Earths and send me off for a little interview they wanted from me. So, as you can see”—I raised both hands and made a small theatrical turn, ending with my hands lowering to indicate my humble self—“I’ve got a new outfit, a backpack, and patched-up wounds.” I pulled the backpack from my shoulders, held it in front of me for a moment, then lowered it to the ground beside the body of the orc with the crushed skull.

“Oh! Um, I didn’t know that was, well, an option. Do you think I’ll be able to, you know, give an interview like that later too?” Her colors settled and returned almost completely to normal, except for her raised eyebrows, from which smoke continued to billow.

I took a waterskin from the backpack I had been given, opened it, smelled the water inside, then stepped a short distance away while still watching Bri talk and poured all of it into the still-burning campfire, enjoying the sounds of hissing steam.

“I think so, considering they worship you as the daughter of their goddess. Are you the daughter of a goddess, Bri?” I asked, shaking the waterskin to make sure I had emptied every last drop.

“I have, um, no idea.” She pouted and, still holding her eyebrows raised in surprise, floated a little closer to me. “What are you doing? Why did you, you know, pour out the water?”

“I have a strong feeling it might have been poisoned. I’m not planning to test that theory on myself, even if you can heal me. I’ll get some fresh water from the blue grass.” I started to speak, then realized there was another danger that came with being on a different version of Earth. “Fuck!”

“What happened?”

“I remember stories about how Europeans arrived in America and most of the Native Americans died because of the germs they brought with them, since they had no immunity to them. And I just spent some time on a planet I’d never been to before. More than that, I’m constantly spending time on planets I’ve never been to before, and a few hours ago I fought an orc until we were both bleeding and some of us very much dead! A creature that doesn’t even exist on my Earth. Fuck!” I cursed, grabbing my head with one hand.

“Are you scared?”

“A little? I hate being sick, but on the other hand, if all the Chosen start lying around, groaning and dying because of germs in their noses and rashes on their skin, that wouldn’t make for a very spectacular Event—at least, I hope not. So I’m counting on the organizers having taken that into account, and on not ending up among the lucky few who get to say goodbye to life under such miserable circumstances.” As I spoke, I stared into the dark distance, hoping the hatred mixed with hope in my gaze would be obvious to whoever was watching me. “Bri. I’m sorry I let myself get caught.” I changed the subject, gesturing with my shoulder toward the cage I had burned my way out of. “I promise I’ll be more careful.”

“It’s okay. Judging by the state of, um, that orc, as you call him, he still ended up worse off.”

“Do you remember what happened?”

“He grabbed me, and even though I didn’t want to burn him, I kind of hoped I would when he was dragging me through the air and squeezing me. It, um, hurt. Does that make me a bad person?” she asked, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t actually a human person. As she spoke, Bri's gaze settled on the dead orc. Her flames dimmed, and for a moment she seemed smaller than before.

“You were fighting for your life, Bri, and he was deliberately hurting you. You didn’t do anything wrong. I’ll admit, you scared me when I pulled you out of the water and you were nothing but a flameless ember. I threw you into the flames you had created yourself, hoping some of them would return to you. I’m glad it worked.”

As I spoke, I looked at her so she would know I truly meant it, while at the same time transferring the hammer that was still in the bag into the backpack. I pulled the screwdriver from the orc’s midsection. Then I reached for the keys on a chain, and crowbar—picking them up from the ground and began arranging everything inside the surprisingly roomy pack so it wouldn’t take up too much space. That was when I noticed the backpack also contained the ties that had been taken from the pockets of my old pants, rolled up into three small bundles, as well as the device the Egyptian woman had mentioned—the stringpen.

For the time being, I left it exactly where it was, hoping it wouldn’t explode and blow a hole through my back. The ties, on the other hand, I took out and slipped into my pockets.

“You’re probably, um, right, but I still feel bad about it,” she replied as I crouched beside the orc and began feeling through the compartments hidden behind his belt.

In one of them, he kept the horn I had used earlier. Without hesitation, I took it and tossed it into the bag. In another, however, I found something much better.

I pulled it free by the handle sticking out from behind his belt and held it up toward the light Brigid provided. The blade was fairly straight and made from some kind of sharpened jawbone, judging by the pointed teeth protruding from the other, unsharpened side. The handle was made from good-quality wood and wrapped in thick but comfortable cord.

The knife was light and small, making it easy to use and a much better, more familiar weapon for me than the axe. I didn’t know how to fight with an axe, and its weight made it sit awkwardly in my hand.

“What is it?”

“I think it’s a skinning knife,” I replied.

I tossed the knife into the air and caught it neatly as it came down after two and a half rotations, pinching the blade between my fingers. Then, holding it firmly with my hand turned sideways, I made a quick throwing motion and sent it toward a bucket of water standing nearby, aiming at its rim.

It flew faster than I expected and buried itself exactly where I had aimed.

“Wow!” Bri shouted at my little display. “You’re, um, good at that… you know, throwing!”

I detached the sheath from the orc’s belt where the knife had previously been stored, walked over to the bucket, pulled the blade free with one smooth motion, and sheathed it. Then I slipped the secured weapon into the pocket of my pants.

I needed to think about getting a belt of my own, but I had no intention of taking the orc’s. I still had some scraps of dignity left, and this time they outweighed my practical approach to the situation.

“I had a mentor in my life who trained me to be a thief from a very young age. One part of that training—a very important part—was developing manual dexterity. In all sorts of ways. Card tricks and coin tricks, picking locks, working with ropes, tying and untying knots, throwing different objects, and close-quarters knife fighting. That’s why I’m not taking that axe with me, even if it might look like the better weapon. For me, this knife is infinitely more handy. Pun intended.” I told her a little about myself while, somewhere in the back of my mind, noticing information being passed by my Daimon directly into my thoughts.

[An inspired item found: Blade from the jaw of a cave Viperdile. Classification: Work. Known properties: A weapon crafted by orc shamans for orcs spending extended periods away from their pack. Using the Authority of the Viperdile for solitary hunting, it calms the wielder’s thoughts in dangerous situations once it tastes blood, doubling their mental reaction speed for as long as the blood of a still-living victim remains on the blade. After the target whose blood was taken is killed, one of the teeth falls out. Once all of them have degraded, the weapon loses its properties.]

Surprised by what my crystalline guide had told me, I eased the blade from its sheath and examined the back edge as I counted the sharp, conical teeth there.

I counted thirteen of them, along with five empty sockets where others had already been used up, blackened, and fallen out. I gently ran my fingers over them, gaining a new appreciation for a weapon that possessed actual magical properties.

“Why are you, um, staring at that knife like that?”

“My Daimon just let me know that it’s a magical weapon. I didn’t expect us to come across something like that and now I’m left wondering whether there’s some way to tell ordinary objects apart from ones that contain Authority of their own,” I replied, sliding the weapon back into its sheath and returning the whole thing to my pocket.

Then I took the waterskin out of the backpack, slung the packed bag over my shoulders, and tightened the straps until everything sat securely and comfortably against my back. With that done, I headed toward the cliff at a steady pace.

“Mhm. I guess we’ll, um, learn everything in time. You want to go down?” Bri asked, keeping pace with me.

“Yes. If Toad Spring is somewhere down there in that darkness, it would suggest that Frogflower might be there too. It’s the best lead we have.”

“The only one,” Bri added, floating right up to the edge and looking down.

“No. We also have that feeling pushing us in the right direction, sent by the Daimon, and subconsciously I feel like it’s somewhere down there.”

I turned on my heel and, waterskin in hand, walked toward the wall covered in blue grass. Moving along it, I pressed the waterskin against one patch and then another, collecting the water trickling down into the container I held.

“When I started fighting, you were exploring the tunnels. Did you find any you think might lead us down?”

“Yes!” Bri practically shot out in front of me, circled around me and forced me to turn in place to keep her in sight, then stopped for a moment with a smile, before racing toward one of the tunnels. “I’ve got exactly what you’re looking for. I just, um, don’t know how deep this tunnel goes.”

I followed her at a slow pace, focusing on my foot. It still hurt whenever I stepped on it, but no longer badly enough for me to instinctively protect it by limping. I was curious about what the wound looked like now, but not inquisitive enough to stop and remove the bandages I had been wrapped in.

As I walked, I found myself thinking with interest about all the unwritten rules governing this Event, while remaining aware that, unlike me—and, I assumed, at least most people from my Earth—some participants had arrived in this World prepared to the teeth with all kinds of weapons, supplies, food, and water.

It was entirely possible that if my encounters with representatives of other Earths took place in an atmosphere far removed from cooperation, I would end up admiring a cemetery from underneath. And because I very much would like to avoid that, it meant I had to be especially careful with every contact and work twice as hard as I had so far to gain any kind of advantage. I was good enough at cheating and the prospect of fooling those who thought they had everything figured out brough me a great deal of joy.

“It’s here,” Bri said, stopping in front of an opening in the rock about half my height and roughly twice as wide. The ground here was covered with the soft-to-the-touch hide of some animal—most likely a mammal—and dancing firelight spilled from somewhere inside, flickering across the walls.

Without waiting for me, Bri slipped inside and flew farther ahead, so since I was already crouching at the entrance to examine the hide, I dropped into a squat and went in after her, bracing one hand against the ceiling of the passage.

Only a few seconds later, we reached a bend that led to what, for lack of a better term, looked like a well dropping straight down in a vertical shaft.

Above it stood a structure made from steel rods, supporting a rope ladder lowered into the depths and two gas lanterns illuminating the opening—each of them removable from its hook so it could be taken down with us.

“So, um, pretty great, right? This is what we're looking for, isn't it?” Bri darted between the wall and the shaft, looking from the opening to me as though waiting for permission to celebrate.

“Yes, Bri. I’m just wondering how you’re going to climb down a rope ladder.”