Aiden and Jax sat, staring ahead with a strange look that could only be described as still asleep mixed with a copious amount of hangover.
"Hey, Jax," Aiden said, voice rough, "blackout drunk is normally your schtick. What happened?"
He blinked slowly.
"And better yet, where in the hells are we?"
Despite the blistering headache, Jax found himself fortunate that, for whatever reason, the pain did not count toward his pain magnification.
He closed his eyes and tried to think back.
Instead of a coherent memory, flashes shot through his mind.
There was them arriving at Bear Reach.
Then splitting up with the others to grab dinner.
Then meeting one of the other teams also in the tournament.
Two members of that team joining Aiden and Jax in a drinking contest.
A shot count somewhere in the seventies.
And then here.
"Kraven better not have forgotten to turn off his aura thing again," a voice groaned.
Aiden and Jax turned.
A towering albino lizard sat up nearby. Old markings from what must have been past fights covered parts of his body. He seemed more lizardfolk than beastkin, though considering he had been let into town, and the bracelet on his wrist marked him as someone with a system, he must have been awakened like Beatris.
Jax's head pulsed.
The obsession seemed to take this opportunity to rampage a bit now that Beatris was not there to help keep it in check.
It was enraged.
Enraged that he could not see her.
Enraged that he could not know she was safe.
Enraged that someone else might realize how pretty she was.
How beautiful.
How precious.
Jax shook himself off, both throwing away bits of trash that had accumulated on his body from where they had apparently all fallen asleep in a trash heap, and trying to chase away the thoughts the obsession kept placing in his head.
A small crash came from nearby.
Jax turned back.
Falling from the lizardman's chest was a beastkin who seemed to be a lightblood bat with a strange purple skin complexion. A set of scarlet wings protruded from his back as he rolled down the pile before coming to a stop.
He looked up at the lizardman.
"Rex, buddy," the bat said in a queasy, hungover voice, "please don't throw me. Especially when I'm hun—hurp!"
He turned and vomited into the trash pile.
Aiden stumbled over and started patting him on the back, making sure he did not throw up on himself.
Jax walked over to the lizardman, who seemed to be called Rex.
"Okay," Jax said. "I vaguely remember meeting you all earlier, but no names or anything. So who are you, and do you remember where we are?"
Rex turned to him.
Then he looked around and scratched the back of his head.
"Okay," Rex said. "Well, I'm Rex, and the one puking his guts out is Cassius."
"It's nice to meet you aga—HUUUUUURL."
Cassius tried to say it before going right back to puking.
"As for where we are," Rex continued, "judging from the smell, the dump."
He looked up.
"Though I'm not sure what dump has a ceiling. Much less walls."
Jax looked to Aiden.
Aiden was scrolling through his system screens, squinting in irritation at the sudden light in the dim room. After a moment, he turned back to them while helping Cassius to his feet as the bat's stomach finally seemed to settle.
"Okay," Aiden said. "Good news and bad news. Which do we want first?"
Jax glanced at Rex.
Rex shrugged.
Jax turned back, having to take a moment to force himself calm as the obsession screamed.
Games, Hallowcreek.
Our precious Beatris is away from us, and you wish to speak in games?
"Uh," Jax said, "let's go with good news."
"Okay," Aiden said. "The good news is that I both know where we are and how long it's been since we passed out."
Rex seemed to relax a bit.
"Then what's the bad news?"
Aiden took a moment.
"The bad news is that we are currently inside a C-rank linger dungeon that, while empty, is still rather large."
He glanced at Rex and Cassius.
"And from what I remember about what you all said regarding your first round of the tournament happening at eleven, we have about forty minutes to figure out how to get out of here and find our groups."
There was a long stretch of silence.
Jax looked at Rex and Cassius.
Both of them now had worried looks on their faces and were soaked in a nervous sweat.
Then a memory came back.
Jax turned.
"Hey, Aiden," he asked, "weren't we one of the other teams taking part in the preliminary match with a different group?"
Aiden glanced back down at his system screen.
Probably at the timestamp from when they entered the dungeon.
Then it was Jax and Aiden's turn to break out in a cold sweat.
Despite being strangers until the night before, the magical bonds of cheap booze, blacking out, and waking up in a trash pile in the middle of a dungeon had apparently bound the four of them together with the strength of brotherhood.
In perfect sync, all four said, "Aw, fuck."
As if hearing a starting gun, they all began sliding down the side of the trash pile.
The room illuminated with torchlight.
The system announced the enemies of the room as they began to form.
But the enemies were behind them.
Ahead of them, if they were late, waited four very pissed-off girls who may or may not turn Jax into a fine coat.
They charged through the first doorway they saw along the wall.
As they ran, they screamed all manner of curses.
There was a level of panic in it that probably confused the monsters, because the creatures seemed to hesitate as the four of them sprinted past.
They rounded a corner and saw a massive pit ahead.
Jax glanced at his system screen.
They all began slowing down.
"THIRTY MINUTES LEFT!" Jax cried.
Panic leaked into his voice in a way that made him sound like he was almost crying.
With a united cry of "Shit!" they all sped up.
Jax jumped onto Aiden's back.
Cassius's red wings expanded as he grabbed Rex's arms.
Aiden threw his spear.
The string from its ability bound to his arm as they swung across the chasm and landed on the other side.
Rex and Cassius landed beside them.
Jax jumped off.
Then they continued racing through the dungeon.
At one point, they jumped over and slid between the legs of a massive trash monster that a group of three adventurers were fighting.
The adventurers stared in bewilderment.
Though that probably had more to do with Aiden yelling, "Sosorrywecan'thelpwearesolateandtheyaregoingtokillusifwemissthisup!"
They continued around the corner.
Ahead, they heard what sounded like the bellow of a man.
"Get into positions," the voice called. "I hear a group of them charging, and they seem pretty fast for garbage slimes."
"HUMAN!" Cassius yelled as they ran. "HUMAN! VERY LATE HUMAN, BUT HUMAN!"
They rounded the corner and found what seemed to be a full group of dwarven adventurers staring at them in bewilderment.
The others kept running.
Jax slid to a stop.
He was sure he looked like hell.
Covered in trash.
Probably smelling of alcohol, filth, and gods knew what else.
They had also been running and screaming for twenty minutes.
But Jax turned to the dwarf who had shouted earlier and spoke in a raspy, panting voice.
"Door," Jax gasped. "Huff. Where?"
The dwarf slowly raised one hand, as if unsure of what else to do.
"Uh," he said, "down the hall. Take a left, then a right. Look for the marked walls, and you can't miss it."
Jax nodded.
He tossed a small mouthful of gold toward the dwarf, then ran after the others as they turned right.
"WRONG WAY!" Jax yelled. "LEFT, THEN RIGHT!"
He went the correct way and heard the sound of the others sliding to a stop before turning around.
He could imagine it now.
The dungeon was probably an area closed off to most ordinary people, but allowing visitors to witness it. A thriving point of economy and XP for those willing to brave its gates.
Then the moment shattered as four hungover, terrible-smelling, filth-covered figures rushed out, breathless and soaked in sweat.
The largest of them, who resembled a lizardman monster but still wore the tags of one with a system, went stomping over to the nearest person on the street.
"Colosseum," Rex gasped. "Plate Games. Wheeze. Where?"
The person pointed in a direction.
Then one of the four, the one who seemed fully human, looked down at his system screen and yelled, "EIGHT MINUTES!"
The group all let out a cacophony of curses.
Then they charged down the street in the direction they had been pointed.