Echoes of a Dead World, Part II

(Help Us, Joe! You're Our Only Hope.)

Walter steps fully through the portal and straight into my backyard, brushing off the front of his pants. I don't know how exactly I recognized Walter immediately, given he's just a skeleton, though the last time I saw him he had been completely naked. Now? He was wearing a tattered, black suit. A dark leather bandolier is strapped across his body, covered in various vials and tinctures, each filled with a different colored liquid, faintly glowing within. He pulls a dusty old top hat from behind his back and places it gently atop his skull.

"Ah, there—that's better," he says.

When I examine the skeleton more closely, the System confirms Walter's identity. But it seems more than just his wardrobe changed since I last saw the skeleton accountant… Though, I guess that wasn't an apt descriptor anymore.

Identified: Walter, Skeleton, Level 24

Class: Administrative Summoner

Wait. Summoner?

"Walter," I say, blinking. "You changed your Class."

"Walter?" Liv squeals confusedly, trying her best to hide behind me.

Walter straightens his spine with a satisfying clack-clack-clack, bones settling like someone shaking dice in a cup. He breathes a satisfied sigh. "Right. That's better. Been a while since I've done that…" he mutters. "Interplanar travel. Really rattles the old bones."

He locks onto me with the two empty eye sockets.

"Yes," he says, voice crisp as a stapled audit report. "Our world approved a vertical Class restructure once the System returned. I am now once again able to summon minor manifestations of bureaucratic order across multiple subdomains. Me? Who'd have thought! Forgot about it all for a long while… Until…" He trails off.

Liv shrieks again. I turn around, raising my hands to her in a placating gesture. "Hey, hey… It's OK. I… Uh, know this guy," I loudly whisper.

"You what?" Liv hisses.

I shush her and then turn back to Walter.

"Er… Right," I say. "So, you're a summoner now?"

"With a focus on enforcement protocols, clerical constructs, and inter-spatial timesheet manipulation."

"…I hate how cool that sounds."

The skeleton gives me a raspy laugh. "As much as I delight in your envy, Joe, I didn't travel through dimensional rifts just to show off."

At that moment, the glowing portal behind him ripples and out steps two other figures.

The first, is Preston, the zombie goldfish cleric who'd cured me back at the skeleton-filled castle. He looks the same as I remember: a small, orange-and-white goldfish with dead, milky white-green eyed. But now he's inside a glowing green fishbowl that's embedded into the head of a walking diving suit. The suit looks ancient: bronze-rusted joints, tiny exhaust vents hissing.

I feel the familiar pulsing sensation in my mind and am greeted by an updated System-generated description.

Identified: Preston, Zombie Goldfish, Level 30

Class: Graveyard Cleric

The suit lumbers forward with a metallic hiss-clank, which makes me wonder what might lie beneath that suit. Preston rotates in the bowl to look directly at me. His jaw moves, and the fishbowl emits the whistly high-pitched voice dipped in a posh, English accent.

"…Joseph Sullivan… You look fatter than I remember."

"Nice to see you too," is all I can mutter back.

By this point, Jelly Boy has left his perch and bounced over to rest at my feet. He vibrates happily at the sight of the familiar faces.

Behind me, I hear a garbled, panic noise come from Liv.

It's probably because of the hulking figure that's standing behind Preston. Broad as a small shed, with sickly green skin stretched taut over muscle and stitches. Grush. He's in full World War I style gear. Olive drab military coat, helmet with a spike on top, and dark leather boots. A rusted bolt-action rifle is strapped across his chest, and grenades hang from his belt.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Grush raises one massive hand and gives me a curt wave, accompanied by a deep, rumbling groan.

Walter turns, polite as ever. "Grush has been practicing interpersonal warmth since our world's reawakening."

Grush grunts.

"I can see that," I say.

I examine Grush too.

Identified: Grush, Reanimated Hulk, Level 22

Class: Un-living Pain-eater

Liv is still hiding behind me. "Joe," she whispers. "What the actual fuck is happening?"

"Guys from a Gate I entered once," I mutter. "It's fine. Mostly… I think."

Preston does a morose swirl. "Nothing is fine."

Walter clears his throat. "Joe. As previously stated, we are here because of a complication. One which requires your… immediate attention."

Complication? I don't like the sound of that. Not one bit.

Walter gestures toward the portal, where the blue and white energy shimmers like TV static. "I would be delighted to define it," he says. "But it's easier to show you."

I stare at the trio of undead weirdos, the backyard portal, and the puddle of watermelon still dripping off my porch.

Jelly Boy gurgles excitedly.

Liv whispers, "Joe, there are monsters in our backyard!"

I sigh, adjusting my grip on my staff.

"I'm sorry guys, I'm going to need more details here…"

Walter adjusts his top hat, which is still somehow more shredded than intact.

"Sure thing," he says. "It's simple, really. Our world has a minor—well, possibly catastrophic—issue with our System World Seed."

"…The what now?"

"The System World Seed," he repeats, as if that clears anything up.

"That still means absolutely nothing to me."

A bubble pops in Preston's glowing fishbowl. The goldfish does a slow loop, then stares at me through undead, unblinking eyes.

"If I may," he says. "Our Realm's World Seed—think of it as the metaphysical anchor for iteration of the System—is, unfortunately, buggered."

"Buggered," I repeat.

"Quite."

Walter nods, then chimes in. "And fixing it requires the direct intervention of a current Participant in the Divine Contest. Which our Realm is fresh out of!"

Grush groans.

"Exactly," says Walter. "But then we remembered you. Joseph Sullivan. An adventurer from a different Realm… A current Participant in the Contest."

Preston nods sagely in his bowl. "We attempted to solve the issue ourselves and well… Were prevented from doing so. Things have only gotten more dire since."

There's a beat of silence.

Then Walter says, "Also, you owe me."

My brow furrows. "Owe you? For what?"

"We cured your status condition when you first arrived in our world."

Oh. I guess I forgot about that. "Sorry, that was… Weeks ago? Months?"

"It was over two years ago in our Realm," says Preston.

Walter points a bony finger directly at me. "System time is relative. Debt is eternal."

And then I feel it. A weight settles in my core, like I just swallowed a metaphysical anvil. It yanked on my soul, pulling it down, threatening to tear me apart from within. Debt is eternal.

"Of course," Walter continues, voice softening slightly. "I can't force you. That would be unethical. But I do hope you're a man of your word."

Low blow, skeleton man. Low blow.

I rub my face. "What does helping you even entail?"

Preston chimes in. "There's a location," Walter says. "The Hollowroot Bastion. Deep in the foundation of our world. Where the World Seed emanates its power."

"And apparently, restricted access," says Walter. "Participants only."

"And you want me to walk in there and… what?"

"Destroy whatever part of it has recently re-awakened.," says the skeleton.

I squint. "How the hell did you even get here?"

Walter beams. "Portal magic. Extremely difficult. Incredibly risky. Very impressive, if you ask me." He gestures to the swirling mass of doom behind him. "My handiwork. Not bad, eh?"

"And if I agree, how will I get back? People around here don't just let portals hang around unnoticed, and this isn't the best place for a portal to just be… hanging out!"

"This is a temporary tunnel between our worlds," says Walter. "Once you step in, it will vanish and you should receive a Quest from the System. Once that Quest is completed, you should get a Return Ticket back to this Realm."

"Precisely. A Return Ticket, registered to your soul's home world," says Preston.

Jelly Boy jiggles happily beside me, vibrating like an overcaffeinated Jell-O mold. He's practically bouncing at the idea of interdimensional travel. He's probably missed it after spending the last couple of weeks doing nothing but being a professional couch potato.

I sigh. "Okay. Fine. I'll do it."

Walter claps his bony hands. "Right! Then follow me, kid."

He turns and steps back toward the glowing portal, the heat of the magic crackling in the air. I move to follow, staff in one hand, Jelly Boy plorp-plopping at my heels—

"Joe, wait!"

I freeze. Liv takes a step toward me and the portal, her face pale and her aura flickering like static. My [Aura Sense] reaches out and I can sense her anxiety, her fear, through the energy surrounding her body.

"You can't be serious. You're just gonna go through a portal with those… those monsters?" she asks.

"That's rude," mutters Walter.

I shrug. "I've done weirder things. And I guess they're technically monsters… But so is Jelly Boy."

Liv glances down and the blue slime hits her with the biggest puppy dog eyes.

"Joe." She steps in front of me. "You don't know what's on the other side. It could be dangerous. And it's not like this is a Guild-organized dive. You're seriously thinking about jumping in, unprepared? No planning. No supplies? No party at your back?"

The fear radiating off my sister is practically palpable now, and it's tinged with anger. That's odd, I think. I'm surprised by the level of fear from someone with such a powerful aura. Then, I remember that she didn't gain her strength by diving into other Realms. She built it through repetition and practice here in our world.

"It'll be OK. I've done this before," I say.

She stares at me. "That doesn't mean you're not being stupid."

I laugh. "Yeah, well. That's kind of my brand."

I turn again, stepping toward the portal—

"No."

She grabs my arm.

"I'm going with you," she says.

"What? No. Absolutely not. You're not even—"

"Not even what?" she says, narrowing her eyes. "I'm a certified healer, Joe. You said it yourself—you're a one-trick pony. If you're taking on a Quest in some strange Gate, the very least you could do is have a party with you... Even if it's just as ill-prepared as you…"

"I've got Jelly Boy."

Jelly Boy blows a bubble before buzzing impatiently.

Liv raises an eyebrow.

"Okay, fine. And you, I guess."

"Damn right," she says. "Joe, you idiot. This better not get us killed!"

Walter peers back through the portal, voice dry. "We do have a schedule, people. And death isn't all that bad. Once you get used it."

I look between her, Jelly Boy, the undead trio, and the swirling madness of the portal.

Then I grin.

"Let's go."

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