Chapter 24 (UPDATED)

“You killed all of these,” Tyler said, eyes sweeping over the ruined battlefield around them. “By yourself?”

Caleb nodded and glanced backward at Tyler. The boy was being carried by Caleb’s spirit arms, wrapped back to actually form a surprisingly comfortable seat. Like the world’s greatest piggy-back ride. Caleb barely even felt him there – his strength stat was so high that Tyler might as well have weighed as much as a feather.

Tyler let out a long whistle. “I knew you were strong, but… damn.”

“Stop it, Tyler.” Chloe glanced over from a nearby luminary husk that she was inspecting and grinned. “If his head gets any bigger it might pop. Then how will you get around? You know I’m not carrying you.”

Tyler chuckled. “At this point, I think his head can get as big as he wants it to. We’re alive because of him.”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Caleb grunted. He’d never been good at receiving praise. It always made him feel so awkward. That was one of the reasons he’d preferred to be alone.

The dark purple portal still swirled at the center of the mountain plateau, eliciting a low humming sound. Power wafted off it like heat off of pavement, distorting the air immediately around it.

“We’re supposed to go through that?” Tyler asked from Caleb’s back. “It looks… dangerous.”

Caleb had to admit that it didn’t look entirely safe. But it’d be pretty ridiculous for the System to reward them with a portal that was going to hurt them as the way out of the Dungeon.

“That’s our way out.” Caleb nodded his head.

Chloe walked up alongside them and tapped the butt of her spear into the ground. “You think it leads back to earth?”

“Where else would it lead?” Tyler asked, a hint of worry creeping into his tone. He apparently hadn’t considered that possibility.

Chloe shrugged. “I don’t know. It probably does. I’m just asking.”

Tyler swallowed and nodded.

“Only one way to find out.” Chloe started striding toward the portal.

Caleb reached out and caught her arm. “Hold on,” he said. “Two things. Firstly, when I entered this Dungeon, it was by falling through a portal in the middle of a massive canyon. We don’t know where we’ll end up and need to be prepared for anything. Secondly,” he held his chest of rewards cradled under one arm and set it down, opening it and pulling out the Faction Emblem. “I want to try and use this first. Just in case you have to activate it inside a Dungeon.”

“You’re ready to create a faction?” Chloe crossed her arms.

Caleb just shrugged. “Ready as I’ll ever be. There isn’t really a point in waiting around, is there?”

“Fair point. Activate away.”

Caleb stuck a finger into the fold of paper and swiped it through the wax seal, cutting it cleanly in half. A swirl of aether blew out from the parchment, swirling around in the air as another screen appeared.

Faction Emblem Activated.
Would you like to claim this Dungeon’s territory for your Faction?
Yes / No

Unlike a status screen, which was invisible to all but its owner, this screen was visible to everyone. But Chloe’s words had no effect on the screen. It didn’t react when she said yes. Only Caleb could make the decision, likely since he’d been the one to break the seal and activate it.

“Yes,” Caleb said.

The ‘yes’ button clicked with a soft ding, and the screen shifted.

No Faction Detected for: Caleb Wade
Would you like to create a Faction and claim this territory for it?
Yes / No

“Yes.”

The screen shifted once more.

Creating Faction…
Please choose the name for your Faction.

Caleb glanced around at everyone. “Uh… what do ya’ll think?” He’d never been the most creative with names.

“Don’t look at me,” Chloe said. “I’m terrible at naming things. I defer to your mighty wisdom, oh glorious leader.”

“What are you doing? Don’t do that. You just told Tyler to stop complimenting me – something about my head getting too big.”

Chloe smirked. “Yeah, but that was before I knew that it bothered you.”

Caleb scowled. Maybe he was wrong about this whole not being entirely alone thing. “Whatever. You have any ideas, Tyler?”

“Cool Climbers?” Tyler shrugged. “You know, since we were all climbers.”

“Sounds good to me,” Caleb said. He started reaching toward the screen.

“Does not sound good to me!” Chloe stepped in front of the System screen before Caleb could input the name. She looked disgusted. “Cool Climbers? What are we, twelve?”

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Caleb and Tyler shared a look, then looked back at Chloe. They both shrugged.

Chloe groaned and wiped a hand down her face. “You guys are useless,” she moaned. Then she pointed at Caleb. “You need to take this seriously. Factions are obviously important since the System is talking about claiming territory. They’re probably how people are going to see us within the System. Do you really think anyone is going to want to join or ally with a group called the Cool Climbers?”

“Then what do you suggest?” Caleb asked.

She threw her arms into the air. “I don’t know. I already said that I wasn’t good at naming things. Just something that doesn’t make people cringe when they say it.”

“Like?” Caleb pressed.

“What about The Three Peaks,” Tyler offered. “Because there’s three of us.”