Insomniac Player

Damien stayed on the bench long after Anthony disappeared.

The park kept emptying around him, kids gone home, joggers thinning out one by one, until only the distant hum of aerial trains and the rustle of leaves remained.

He leaned back and looked up at the stars. "...Should get moving." No point sitting here all night when there was still so much to sort out.

Equipment, first. He had exactly one weapon to his name, the First Blood Dagger, and nothing else. He pulled up his wallet.

➤[Wallet]

➤[Gold Coins: 96.72]

The .72 meant silver. He scratched his cheek.

"...Poorer than I thought." A hundred gold a month sounded like a lot until you actually tried living on it. He sighed. "Spend carefully, then."

◇◇◇

Half an hour later, he walked into the district built entirely for Players, every storefront specializing in something: weapons, potions, armor, artifacts, scrolls. The prices made his chest hurt just reading them. A simple rare dagger ran 2,800 gold. A pair of enchanted boots, 650. Even basic healing potions cost several gold a piece.

"...How’s anyone supposed to afford this?"

The shopkeeper overheard and laughed. "Most don’t. They join guilds."

He filed that away without a word. It explained a lot about why guilds ran everything.

A few stores later, he found one built for beginners. The owner looked him over and smiled. "First raid?"

"...That obvious?"

"You’ve got the face for it."

He laughed, a little sheepish, and settled on a black combat outfit, plain, reinforced, nothing flashy.

➤[Raid Suit]

➤[Rank: Common]

➤[Defense: +10]

➤[Description: A durable combat suit suitable for beginner dungeon/gate exploration.]

"...Good enough." He added a pair of sturdy boots, soles reinforced with monster leather, built for rough ground and long walks. His wallet looked considerably thinner by the time he left. Still, catching his reflection in the shop mirror, he almost looked like an actual player for once. "Much better."

◇◇◇

Anthony’s words kept circling back as he walked. The Verdant Labyrinth. An epic dungeon, hidden, undiscovered, and he wasn’t nearly strong enough for it yet. Not that strength alone would matter much; apparently, a maze with a riddle-asking boss wasn’t the kind of place brute force could carry him through.

Another window opened on its own.

➤[Dungeon Information]

➤[Name: The Verdant Labyrinth]

➤[Difficulty: Epic]

➤[Recorded Attempts: 21]

➤[Recorded Deaths: 182]

He stared at the numbers. "Twenty-one attempts. A hundred eighty-two deaths." Almost nine deaths per expedition. Whatever waited inside, it wasn’t handing anyone mercy.

Nothing else loaded past that. Deeper intel apparently required payment or guild access. "...Figures." He closed the window.

The entrance sat roughly ninety-one kilometers outside Viremont, somewhere along the corridor between here and Aetherfall, the city that used to be Philadelphia. He’d always meant to see it. The aerial line ran that route anyway, so he headed for the station.

◇◇◇

The transfer felt familiar this time, the weightless lift, the blue light underfoot, the sky platform opening up around him with its holographic arrival boards. He took a seat and pulled the dungeon information back up, reading it over again like a new detail might surface on the fourth pass.

It didn’t. Only twenty-one attempts meant almost nobody had gone in, and yet the death count sat brutally high anyway. "An undiscovered puzzle dungeon. Just like he said."

➤[Next arrival. Line Seventeen. Destination: Aetherfall.]

A sleek silver train slid onto the platform without a sound. He boarded an almost empty car and took a window seat, watching Viremont shrink away beneath him as the train climbed, the city folding smoothly into forest that ran clear to the mountains.

He rested his head against the glass. "...Peaceful." A world away from Ironfall.

"...Sleepless?"

He looked up. "...Madam Marvel?"

She stood a few rows down, out of her battle robes for once, cream trousers, a dark coat, a white blouse, hair tied back simply instead of styled for combat. No staff in sight. She could have passed for an office worker, if office workers turned heads the way she still did without trying.

"I didn’t expect to run into you here." She looked genuinely surprised.

"Likewise."

She hesitated, then crossed over. "May I?"

He gestured at the empty seat. "Please."

She sat across from him, and for a few seconds neither of them said anything.

He broke it first. "...You look different."

"Good. I don’t enjoy being recognized."

"...Fair enough."

Her eyes dropped to his outfit. "You bought equipment."

He glanced down at himself. "The raid suit. Couldn’t afford anything better yet."

She studied him a moment. "...You’ll upgrade soon enough."

"Hope so."

Another quiet stretch, then, unexpectedly, "How’s your shoulder?"

He blinked. "My shoulder?"

"The Commander nearly cut you in half."

"Oh." He laughed. "Fine, actually. You?"

"Recovered. Mana took longer to come back."

He nodded, then smiled. "...Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"Trusting a stranger."

She went quiet for a moment. "...Doctor made that call."

"You still followed it."

She held his eyes a beat, then answered honestly. "I was against you joining, originally."

"I know."

"I thought you’d be dead weight."

"...Fair guess."

Something almost like a smile crossed her face. "But I was wrong. You did what none of us could."

He scratched his cheek. "I mostly ran."

"You reached the Lord. Killed him. Got yourself out alive." Her eyes stayed level with his. "That’s not running."

"Say it like that and it almost sounds impressive."

A small, genuine smile broke through, brief and elegant.

He blinked. "...You can smile."

She went straight back to composed. "...I always could."

"Wasn’t sure."

She rolled her eyes. "You’re surprisingly annoying."

"Thank you."

"Not a compliment."

"I’ll take it as one anyway."

A quiet laugh slipped out of her before she could stop it, barely more than a breath. She looked almost startled by her own reaction. "...You’re strange."

"So I’ve heard."

She turned back to the window. "...Doctor was right, then."

"About what?"

"Keeping you around."

He turned something over in his head for a second, then asked, "Where are you headed, anyway?"

She answered after a small pause. "My mother’s grave. In Aetherfall. I visit after every quest."

Something in his chest went quiet at that. "...At least you have a grave to visit. Some people never even learn their parents’ names."

She looked at him, something in her expression shifting she couldn’t quite place herself. He felt oddly familiar to her, in a way she had no explanation for.

He cleared his throat, breaking the moment before it could sit too long. "Would you want to come with me, actually? There’s a dungeon out that way. I could use the company."

Her eyebrows went up. "A dungeon. Alone?"

"Not if you’re there."

"Tell me the details first."

He gave her all of it, minus Anthony’s part in it, and she agreed before he’d even finished making the case.

"My name’s Daria Levedeva," she said, properly this time.

"Damien." It came out easy, without thinking.

She frowned slightly. "I think I’ve heard that name somewhere. Can’t place it."

His stomach dropped. Why did he give her his real name? He kept his expression steady and let it go without another word.

The train kept gliding through the dark, and neither of them tracked how much time passed until the announcement broke through the quiet.

➤[Next station. Station No. 21. Please prepare to disembark.]

The train slowed. Viremont’s skyline had vanished entirely behind them, nothing outside now but dense forest stretching in every direction and a single isolated platform waiting under the midnight sky.

Daria stood. "...So you’re really doing this."

"So are you."

Their eyes met. She gave a small nod. "...I know this is basically suicide."

"I’ll do my best."

The doors opened, cold mountain air rolling in, and the two of them stepped out onto the empty platform together, with no idea yet how much more than their strength this dungeon was about to test.