019 – Sensible Died Four Hours Ago

Time to Seal: 03:15

Back at the station I traced the scent of Ash through the building. Through his scent alone I could already make out that he was stressed and heavy at work. I found him in an interior room, which looked like a conference or class room, white board and all. But importantly, no windows. As I burst into the room, he was putting something on one of the tables, which were arranged in a U-shape. He turned, shrieked and stumbled over one of the chairs.

I had to really be more conscious of my appearance. I was covered in so much kobold blood that there was not a hint of gold left on my retriever shape.

I shifted back to my human self before he could use one of his random spells to defend against the monstrous intruder.

“It’s me, Eve. Sorry for the heart attack.”

Ash scrambled back on his feet. “Good lord. I thought I was dead. Again.”

“Demons can’t enter here.”

“Knowing is not the same as believing. And believe me, I know.”

I surveyed what he had put down here. There were rolls of duct tape, tarp, and fireman’s clothes. Even what looked like scuba tanks with rebreathers. Was he preparing this room for us?

“I found some very useful books for your, well, our, situation around the station. Even some really useful ones by FEMA and other alphabet soup agencies. I’ve determined this is the easiest to insulate room. I just hope your group isn’t more than thirty people. Or less than five. In that case, we would have been better off with one of the sleeping rooms.”

I was slightly stunned. “Around a dozen. What do you mean useful books? I was gone for less than half an hour.”

“My class. I don’t read. I absorb. Yes, we are in the Apocalypse and it is all very horrible—but it is also fucking amazing. I touch it, takes a second, and I can look things up. Anyway, better get to work, while I gather more things. Did you bring any large pieces of fabric? The best way to seal the vent would be to shove a big pile of fabric in there and seal it with a damp fabric around the edges and to the sides. When the cold hits, it’ll freeze shut and become nearly perfectly air-tight.”

Ash was right. His power was amazing. Why didn’t I have such a cool class? I began dumping everything I’d grabbed onto the other side of the table. His eyes went wide.

“Perfect. You can do a lot with that.” He ran off again. At this point I assumed he knew what he was doing and was gathering useful things. I pulled the cover off a pillow I’d brought, soaked it at the sink in the corner and shoved a desk under the ventilation duct. And then I saw the screws.

“Fuck.”

Among the various doodads Ash had laid out on the table there was a severe lack of the necessary tools to deal with hex screws. I started to understand the limitations of his class. Knowledge but no practical experience. Then I remembered the backpack Jamie had packed for me. I checked my inventory and there it was—a multitool. I pulled it out, but I should have expected that it wouldn’t have anything specifically for dealing with hex screws. I tried one of the knives, which worked, but way slower than I’d have liked.

Lucy appeared with a plop behind me and began climbing the desk I was standing on.

“Go and find the thing, I’ll work on this while you do.”

I handed them the tool and they actually began working on the screws. Being even smaller than me, they had to stretch to reach them at all. I wanted to ask them why they were helping me help others. With the fox shape I would survive this no matter what.

Which meant that whatever Hell’s other attack would be—on my own I’d die.

I ran off. There’d been a big toolbench in the truck bay. On the way I skimmed my Task Completions, turning in everything that didn’t reward items. I’d check what the specific rewards were later. There’d be an hour of doing exactly nothing but not-freezing-to-death. Plenty of time to needle Gabriel with the dozens of questions in my notepad and to examine all the skills I’d gotten.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The bugged Task had resolved itself.

[Replace a lost body part with a primordial part.

Reward: Minor Regeneration [Trait]]

I accepted it like the others. I’d reached level 7 and that was without the impala kill reward. I contemplated banking that one, in case the 20% experience was of the current level, which would make it stronger the longer I waited, but level 8 would reward me with another Perk, supposedly a big one. No point in delaying that to optimize for a future I might never see without it. I put my 4 attribute points in the Intellect stat, raising it to 13 (+1 from Well-Sated) total. My mind felt pretty much the same.

In the truck bay I found a cordless screwdriver along with a big set of bits. It all went into my inventory. If there was any justice in this world, Lucy could give me one of the screws, I’d put it in my inventory and my inventory would tell me exactly what size bit I’d need.

I also grabbed a yellow spray can that was just sitting there. This one didn’t go into my inventory, instead I used it to mark the way to the safe room from the truck bay. The others would be here any minute and this would save some seconds of disorientation they’d otherwise spend looking for the room.

On my way, I opened the Guide chat. This question was bothering me too much and I had to ask.

[“What’s a primordial?”]

“A flaw in the Blessing’s translation,” Gabriel answered immediately. “There isn’t a good word to use instead. The closest would be divine. Or god-like. But Lucifer is clearly neither a god nor divine.”

“But he’s primordial?”