Chapter 3 - Beyond

Matthew and Parker ended up sitting for almost three hours. Now, everyone was calmer—some sleeping to relieve stress and hunger, others just staring at the white marble roof of the cavern. Parker and Matthew talked a lot about their hometowns, families, and eventually, only about football.

"Bruh I don't know how to say this but your team has won the prem in twenty sad years." Parker mocked him after laughing for almost ten minutes 

"You think you're better than us with your lucky wins, just wait the table will change this week." he retorted grumpily 

Matthew needed this time to properly understand Parker before he began to fade into the background of events. He also listened to Thomas' conversation with his small group. They had three knives and a couple of cobbled-together slings for stones. Occasionally, he left to check up on Jesse and the others. The injured boy, whose name he learned was Jackson, wasn't doing too well.

Matthew listened as Asha described her time in the UK for school. She was a very talkative person, her brown eyes playful. Her short brown hair hung just above her shoulders, and she was dressed for rain—leather boots with her black jeans tucked into them, a blue shirt beneath her bright yellow raincoat.

She had studied forensic science, done a lot of spelunking with one of her uncles there, and knew a little about navigating caves. He appreciated her wide bank of knowledge and decided she would be very useful to Parker and their survival.

Asha mumbled continuously about toxicology. "The first treatise on toxicology was actually written in Sanskrit and was a study of… I think poisons from plants. Books on biology, chemistry, and even medicine. I always asked him, 'Why medicine? We deal with dead people.'"

He returned to the fountain and watched it. The jagged, obsidian-like structure was appalling—every shard looked prime to tear skin. The way the light reflected off it obscured its form, yet to Matthew, it was still clearly visible. The six spindly arms of the statue, the flowers at its feet, and its horrid crown.

Then he heard it—a suction noise.

It had been four hours since they arrived, and now the water seemed to flow from the six arms of the statue. Parker quickly sat up, opened the bottle and containers, and placed a cover in his pocket.

The water started as a trickle and then sped up. They hurried to fill their bottles and close them, tossing them into their backpacks. Around the fountain, others jolted up and tried to cup water with their hands, but they had to lean against the sharp black stone, which proved painful.

Then the crush of people came.

They frantically pushed past Matthew and Parker to get water, shoving and clawing. Matthew struggled against the weight of bodies, feeling small beads of blood running down his legs as he was pressed against the fountain, their voices were thunderous and unending.

Voices hissed in his ears.

"Move—pass one bottle—"

Hands pulled at him, tugging at his arms and his bag. Thankfully, his backpack was up front, keeping one hand free to push them off. Parker had no such worries—his large arms and wide back were hard to get around, and occasionally, he shoved people away, sending them stumbling back.

Matthew nearly buckled under the weight of the crowd, but he held steady. As the bowl of the fountain began to fill, people abandoned him, choosing instead to scoop water directly. Parker finished first, then turned to him, helping to push others off so he could use both hands.

Matthew made sure Asha's bottle was last before they left. He ignored the people asking him for water and went straight to her. He smiled, though he was exhausted and his legs felt like wax.

"Here you go," he said, handing her the bottle. "You should drink sparingly."

Asha's eyes widened at the red stains on his blue jeans. "Your legs—oh God, are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me," Matthew muttered. "Let's go over there before people start asking you for water."

They moved toward where Jackson was lying, looking terribly pale. Adalina stood and walked toward them briskly.

"Thank God," she sighed. "My throat is so dry."

"Good job, boys," Jesse acknowledged before pointing at Matthew's leg. "Sit down here."

She poured some of her water onto his wounds to clean them, then tore another piece from Jackson's shirt—poor lad was practically shirtless—to tie around it.

"Just leave it there for five minutes, then take it off," she instructed.

Matthew nodded, then frowned. "You could've used my water instead of yours."

Jesse shrugged. "I'll drink from yours."

They left it at that and drank in silence before sighing in relief. With Asha, their group had grown to seventeen. They expended a lot of water, so some guys went back to the fountain for refills now that things had calmed down. Jesse had Jackson's head in her lap, tilting it slightly forward as she gave him small sips of water.

Jackson murmured weakly, "Dad… I'm sorry. I just can't go with you…"

They all watched him quietly. As they began to care for him, the group's focus shifted to ensuring his survival. If he pulled through, it could strengthen solidarity. If not…

Even his death could fuel the group's determination.

Parker was looking toward the exit with solemn eyes. "Joshua hasn't come back."

A somber atmosphere settled over them as they wondered what the guy had gotten himself into.

"Well he'll be alright," Parker said, though he wasn't sure. "What we need to talk about now is food. Asha and Matthew suggested we go out and forage for some insects or plants we can eat."

"Insects?" Adalina asked skeptically.

"The hunger will get to us before the taste, hopefully," Asha said casually. "Some bugs taste alright if we cook them well—kind of like shrimp."

Jesse narrowed her eyes. "I don't know if that's a good idea. What if we get poisoned or infected? There are a lot of things bugs eat that humans can't."

"Well, we can deprive them of food for twenty-four hours or feed them something to get their bowels moving," Asha replied.

You aren't presenting the idea right. Appealing to expertise won't reassure them.

Matthew coughed slightly. "I had to go camping a lot with my mum, so we roasted a few. Not at all recommendable, but we've got nothing else."

Jesse relaxed slightly, though she still frowned in displeasure.

Matthew continued, "What about moss?" He glanced at Asha, prompting her to continue.

She nodded. "We can eat those, but we'll need a lot of water to leech anything out. We also have to boil and grind them first. I know how to identify the ones we can eat."

She made sure to sanitize and speak of it in a way that isn't worrying. Quick learner. She's thorough.

Parker spoke softly. "The only problem is going out to get it."

They all turned to the entrance—the dark passage into the den of the beast. It promised horror, pain, and hidden death. Matthew gulped.

There's no easy way around this. If we don't challenge death, we'll die from starvation—or worse.

Parker turned back to the group. "We've got eleven guys here. We stay together, watch our backs. And—hope I'm not offending—but girls, I hope you can help us prepare anything we manage."

"Are we seriously going out there? I like being alive, and who knows what will change if we just wait a couple more hours?" a boy complained.

"The army could have already been deployed," a girl added. "This many people being kidnapped is a national crisis."

"How are we sure there's anything edible out there? Heck, we just got water. Our captors could be bringing food next."

"So we wait here for them?" another person snapped. "To do what they want with us? Hell no!"

"But it's better than certain death! We could fight people, but definitely not an ant the size of a truck!"

Adalina chimed in. "What if they control the monsters? How are we fighting then?"

Silence. Then someone muttered, "We have a higher chance of exploiting some human error than killing those things barehanded."

"Why are we even talking about fighting?" another voice interjected. "They're blind. We can just be quiet and escape."

"If you're willing to stake your life on that assumption, do it," someone shot back. "But I'm not."

Matthew had expected this opposition. Truthfully, he didn't want to be in the first group to leave. It was better to let Thomas take some guys out and come back with info—assuming that grpup stuck to their plan of slow, short-range scouting to find an exit. He would let hunger and desperation force the dissenters into agreeing, using them to scout ahead. He'd also have to find a way to stop Parker from trying to take the frontline.

It would also be better to split up. Staying together made it too easy for the creature to kill them all in one blow, and they'd be twice as fast. They couldn't avoid casualties, but they had to make optimal moves when the reward for bad decisions was death.

The people continued arguing. Those who weren't even sure of their positions became more adamant that they were right. Matthew let the discussion go on, hoping it would escalate to name-calling—then he'd get Parker to stop it before a fight broke out.

But they were interrupted by a raspy cough. Everyone shut up, turning toward Jackson, worried their arguments had disturbed his rest. But the boy was wide awake, and his formerly pale complexion had regained its color. His light brown skin even seemed to have its luster back.

Jesse shuffled over to him. "Are you alright? Is there a burning pain?"

Jackson looked up at her, then back to the empty space in front of him. "You can't see it?"

Matthew stood and walked over, now incredibly worried. "Is it a hallucination?"

"No, there's a screen in front of me saying I've received the Blood Bond trait," Jackson announced carefully. "I feel a bit better and… in the trait description, it says I can recuperate from blood loss faster and I don't bleed out easily."

Everyone stared at him incredulously. It sounded more like a joke than anything, yet Jackson was actively tapping the air in front of him. He stopped, his pupils shifting slightly up and to the right, then tapped again.

"It can be minimized. Thank God. Armaments… Wish coin… what the hell is this?"

Matthew turned to Jesse. "Poison?"

She looked just as confused—and more frantic. She gently checked the wound and frowned. "His wound isn't bleeding."

Matthew looked at it. The blood had seemingly stuck to itself on the wound, like a red window—a clearly liquid window. He looked back at Jackson, who was still fiddling with his imaginary screen. Then, an idea struck him. He looked up to the right—just at the corner of his vision, a green dot hovered.

His heartbeat quickened. When did that appear? He reached up, hesitant, and touched the point. It expanded.

Startled, he fell on his ass and gasped. Holy fucking shit, he wasn't joking.

Parker jumped to his feet. "Matthew, are you okay? Is there actually something?"

Matthew, staring through the partially transparent screen, nodded. "Look up to the right corner of your eyes. There's a green dot."

They all started looking, gasping in shock.

"Wait, I can't see the dot. How are you doing it?"

"It's there! Don't look up, keep your head straight and pretend you're peeking at it."

"There's nothing there."

"What do you mean? It's a fucking game screen with a level banner and some subcategories."

Matthew ignored the chaos and focused on the screen. It had his name and…

Name: Matthew

Level: 1

Health: 90/100

Stamina: 44/70

Mana: 10/10

Stat Cards

Armaments

Traits

Skills

It was startling, to say the least, but he had played enough MMORPGs to have a limited understanding of what was happening. He tapped on each section, pulling up additional information:

Stat Cards – They increase your abilities passively. Getting the same stat card twice combines them, increasing the modifying value. At level three, you can draw five stat cards for five spirit essences, and at each progressive level, draw one for two spirit essences.

Armaments – Tools tied to your soul that aid you on your adventure. They can be obtained by sacrificing Wish Coins at a deity's altar.

Traits – Mystical qualities gifted by gods to their followers. Each one is very hard to obtain and sometimes requires trials, but they are all valuable.

Skills – Special arts imparted on your four primary bodies by the Root. Gain levels using spirit essence and have a chance every five levels to choose a new one.

My head fucking hurts. This can't be real. Where the hell were they? And why was there a game screen talking about gods and skills? Is that why we're here? But how did we even get here in the first place? And why were they only seeing this now, after nearly five hours?

The cavern buzzed with noise as people discovered their screens—uncertainty, fear, and wonder spreading through the room. Parker, of all people, was grinning. "What is this, a game?"

Matthew grimaced. People had died outside before even knowing the rules. He wondered how the statistics were calculated. How much exercise would it take to increase his stamina bar? What type of balancing system ensured skills matched levels?

He asked offhandedly, "What's your stamina?"

Parker looked at him, surprised, before answering. "Uh… one hundred. Same as my health, but my mana's just ten."

"One hundred?! You have five times as much as me?" Adalina blurted out.

I have seventy, which is a bit lower than his, but our health and mana are the same. Most likely, it's scaled down to those numbers rather than quantified. Makes sense for health—but not mana. I'll have to wait and see.

I have nothing else—oh, wait. I have a trait.

Ariel's Web – You have been connected to the Root by the Goddess of Spiders. Though dead, her powers crawl through time.

It seemed useless, but from what he'd seen, most traits would be invaluable. Most likely, this 'Root' is the system creating the screens, and we've all been gifted this trait to connect us to it.

No armaments or skills yet. Stat Cards seemed very interesting—hopefully, he could level up quickly. But gaining spirit essence was probably not easy. Worst-case scenario, they'd have to fight those monsters.

No. The worst outcome would be being pitted against humans.