Water, Water, and More Water

At some point I switched out with Mat after he had taken a good rest. The color in his cheeks looked better as well. My rest was a dreamless expanse of darkness.

"Kai, it's wakey wakey time!"

Callie's attempts at waking me reminded me of a small child, but I could never openly admit that without making her angry with me. She seemed a little sensitive to the fact that she looked like a child.

I think they called her type a lolita or loli. If it were up to me, she could just own it. It isn't like before the fall. People were more free with their preferences, especially the powerful hunters.

There was even talk of forcing the entire population to enter the towers and only having hunters from now on. Those discussions sent shivers down my spine as I remembered the horrible treatment I had received from the government that had done just that in the name of public safety.

However, this time around, at least in Silver City, no such experiments were carried out. It was a good thing for me, who was only a weak hunter at the time, but if someone truly did gain enormous strength, there was always the risk of them enacting revenge.

It was at least satisfying to see those cold scientists receive their just desserts for their cruelty in the beginning, even though there was nothing I could do to protect myself. We were just lab rats to them. They did not care if we lived or died.

I rubbed my arms to distract myself from my memories.

"Kai, are you cold?"

"No, I just had a bad dream."

"Bad dreams, bad dreams, go away!"

I patted her golden curls on top of her head and smiled down at her. She puffed out her cheeks in annoyance, but it felt like the bad memories really did float away with her cuteness.

"Callie, thank you."

The puffiness of her cheeks deflated as a blindingly bright smile greeted me. I would definitely have to make sure no creeps decided to start stalking this little beauty.

Mat was looking away, so I guess he was safe. I needed to avoid him for a different reason. He was not making it easy, either. At every turn he was making his intentions with me clear. A younger me might have been swayed.

I would be well into my thirties by now if you counted up all the years before and after I came back. I would like to think I had grown from an ignorant girl. Still, some parts of me wanted to lean on Mat more than a party member should.

"Are we all ready to continue? We should probably take more breaks when we come across shallow areas. I don't know how much longer we will need to walk to find the exit."

"I want a bath when we exit this place."

"You want to be in even more water?"

"No, I just want to be clean."

I laughed at Callie and Mat's bickering. They must have rested well enough to relieve some of the stress of this situation. Though I really felt like I was the only one who should be complaining. It was their fault that we ended up here after all.

We trekked through the wetlands more until we came across some land that only mildly squished under our feet. We must have landed on a particularly wet part of this floor.

The towers that had popped up all across the country did not look to be this wide from the outside. They were large and very tall, but there was no way that it was so expansive as to fit all of this scenery in it.

Recently, scientists tried to break through the outer walls of the towers. Some of the towers looked like sandstone after all. However, even with the improved tools that had been made using monster parts, they could not even scratch the surface of the outside.

It made me wonder if there was some kind of impenetrable force field around them. Why were the entrances to the dungeons towers? In games they were usually underground, and the openings were like caves. It was these thoughts that kept me sane as we walked on and on.

"Have you ever thought about why the towers are here?"

My thoughts led me to want to know what the others thought.

"Who knows." I expected this answer from Mat.

"Maybe aliens made them!" A slightly strange answer from Callie.

"So, you think that some alien race, who is way more advanced than us, put them there?"

"Yeah, didn't we just wake up and there they were?"

I wanted to smack my forehead.

"They came from the ground though. I was there when they appeared."

"Oh, really?" Callie asked.

"That must have been traumatic." Mat commented.

"Not really. I think I lost all reason, because I just walked in like it was not strange. That is how I became a hunter."

This was my cover story if anyone should ask.

"Oh, I became a hunter because all of my friends were going into the tower."

"What happened to your friends?"

"They never came out."

A rare frown appeared on Callie's face. I suddenly felt sorry I asked. I should have known that would have been the outcome.

"Is that why you were all alone when I met you at the association?"

"Well… Kind of. The association wanted me to go into the dungeon with some musty old men and they gave me a bad vibe so when I saw a pretty girl hunter I kind of threw myself at you."

I raised my eyes at Callie's explanation. Musty old men? Did she mean the doctor at the clinic? Did I really not need to worry about this one?

"Don't look at me like that, Kai! How can I be seen with a bunch of old men like that? Momma always told me to be suspicious of old men."

"Right, right."

Callie huffed at my noncommittal agreement.

"What about you, Mat?"

"My size made it difficult to work a regular job so I decided to see if I could succeed as a hunter."

His explanation seemed more like a normal one. It was so normal in fact that Callie and I's explanations seemed outlandish or maybe even childish. I coughed briefly to distract myself.

"Well, I guess everyone is different. Wait, is that the exit?"

As if to save me from facing reality, the exit appeared over the horizon. I pointed at it and both Mat and Callie picked up their speed.

"Finally! We can leave this place!"

Callie danced around us. I wanted to scold her for letting her guard down, but I decided that she needed to let out some stress.

Mat seemed to relax, but he pulled the shield off his back just in case we were attacked while trying to exit. I kept a grip on my short sword at my waist as well. It would not do to become lax until we stepped through the barrier.

Our worst fears did not come to pass though and we managed to step through the barrier and into one of the small rooms that were found in these types of dungeons.

A new teleportation circle formed to our left and Callie went to run to it, but I grabbed her collar.

"That is the circle for the next floor. See its red color? You want to go into the adjourning room for the circle to exit."

"Oh, right. Silly me."

Again, I felt the need to protect such an airheaded child. Cough, I mean small person. Was the earlier caution about old men just a fluke?

"Red means next level. Blue means exit. If you see a yellow circle that usually means it will take you to the last floor. Some dungeons do not have blue circles."

"Ok, blue and yellow means go back home and red means let's fight some more."

"Sure, if that makes it easier for you to remember."

I swear I just saw Mat giggle out of the corner of my eye. Do we look like a comedy routine to you? I ignored him and headed to the small doorway to the right. I was glad we wouldn't have to traverse the first floor again.

After teleporting back to the white room we quickly exited out through the Crystal City Tower. A few hunters in line balked at our wet, miserable appearance, but I did not care about them.

"Let's meet back here after a day of rest. It will probably take that long for our gear to dry out anyway."

"Ok, bye!"

Callie waved us off and ran in the opposite direction. It seemed she was in a hurry to wash off the grime from the dungeon. Mat and I looked at each other and laughed.

"I am going to stop at Dyno's place and beg him to repair this again. What about you?"

"I need him to look at my shield. Want to go together?"

"Sure."

We walked side by side to the crafter's building where Dyno's workshop was. Mat had a slight blush on his face and then it hit me. Callie wasn't here and for all intents and purposes we looked like we were on a date. Unbelievable. How do I keep getting into these situations with him?

Also, why is he acting like the girl in this situation? I am not dense enough to not notice his feelings for me. However, I have no reason to act on them. My focus was the dungeon and nothing more. Ugh, why do I feel the need to explain myself to myself?

Dyno took our equipment with a dissatisfied frown. I could tell he wanted to yell about how we had already damaged his equipment. I felt really bad for him. It seemed every time I entered the dungeon I was breaking my gear.

"Do you have any materials for me?"

I nodded and we exchanged for what he wanted. Mat stayed with me the entire time. I was not sure what he was expecting, but it was my job as the party leader to handle our transactions. Besides, I was the only one who could pull the materials out of storage.

"I see, this is why they got so damaged."

Dyno looked over Mat's shield and my armor, now laid out on one of his workshop's tables. He picked up the claws that had dropped from the alligator monsters.

"Leave your weapons as well. I will probably see the girly tomorrow. Once I know what I am using for everything, I'll finalize the sale."

Mat and I quickly thanked him and left his shop in the clothes we brought to change into. Mat asked if I wanted to get food, but I politely declined and made my way to my home. I also wanted to get the grime from the dungeon off of me.