Apocalypse: Generic System by Macronomicon (shoe dog free ebook TXT) 📕

serpent furnace, they’ll wonder who I was.

Brett let out a sigh, his arms wrapped around Amanda, whose face was buried in his shirt. “Jeb. We’re going to go process this. Let us know if something important comes up.”

Jeb gave them a halfhearted wave as the couple disappeared into the forest.

“I’m gonna…check on Jess.” Ron said.

“Try not to die,” Jeb said, waving him off, leaving Jeb sitting alone on the log.

Well, almost alone.

A hand clasped his shoulder, Casey peering over his shoulder, holding her child against her chest.

“For what it’s worth, I think Jess doesn’t mean that. She’s just scared. You saved my life, and I don’t think anyone could’ve done a better job than you.” Casey said gently.

That washed a little of the hollow feeling out of Jeb’s limbs, and forced an almost involuntary chuckle out of him.

“It’s worth a lot.” He fixed Smartass with his gaze, a tiny fire in his chest carrying him through.

He had more questions for the Fairy.

Chapter 21: In Through The Out Hole

A leader is a dealer in hope.

-          Napoleon Bonaparte

The sun was going down, Brett and Amanda had come back, but Jess and the ginger necromancer were still AWOL. The shadows were getting deep in the thick of the forest, and it was only a matter of time before they would have to start moving again, try to find somewhere safe from the Tortoise.

Jeb was still pestering the fairy.

“Is there a way to survive the wipe?”

“Nope.”

“A way to avoid it?”

“Nope.”

“Hide from it?”

“Nope.”

“Not be here when it happens?”

“…No!” Smartass said with exasperation, throwing her hands up with an exaggerated sigh. “I already told you, nothing comes in, nothing goes out!”

“I’m just trying to ask every way I can, to make sure there’s nothing you’ve been prevented from telling us.”

Smartass snorted, her wings fluttering like she wanted to leave, arms crossed. She was frustrated, but able to stick it out for her greed. Jeb had promised her one pound of candy per month for the rest of his life if her assistance led to them surviving the Impossible tutorial.

She originally demanded chocolate, but Jeb explained that chocolate might be impossible to source if the world had ended. Sugar, not so much. There was plenty of that crap lying around.

Nothing comes in, nothing goes out.

The treasure chests come in, don’t they?

Jeb frowned, thinking back to the bloody chest with nicks on it that they’d received in the titan’s heart chamber. Nobody in their right mind would 3D print a box with wear and tear and blood. And the noise. Like someone shouting.

“What about the treasure chests?” Jeb asked. “Where do they come from?”

Smartass shrugged. “Idunno.”

“The treasure chest sphincter. Do you know of any way they could be held open?”

Smartass’s wings perked up and she burst into cackling laughter. “Jeb, are you thinking of going in through the out hole?”

“Is it possible?” Jeb asked.

“I don’t know. Nobody’s ever tried it.”

“Never?”

She shrugged. “Not that I’ve heard.”

That made a certain amount of sense. The sphincters showed up, dropped their goods, then faded into nothing. Most people couldn’t see them, and people were far more interested in whatever the chests held inside.

Was it possible?

…did it matter?

Nothing was more devastating to morale than hopelessness. The team needed something to do, even if that something was pointless, or a suicide mission. As long as they didn’t believe that, they had a chance at getting by. Because the alternative was sitting around waiting for death, and that would cause problems. Serious problems.

So when Jeb finished talking with Smartass, he presented his plan as more of a sure thing than he honestly believed.

“Find Ron and Jess. Tell them I’ve got a way out.” Jeb said, standing from his log, puffing out his chest and looking every inch the confident military man.

“You do?” Brett asked.

“I do,” Jeb said with a nod, keeping a lid on his anxiety and hopelessness. “But we’re going to need everyone.”

Damn good odds this doesn’t work and we all die, Jeb thought, but seeing the light return to Casey’s eyes was almost worth misleading them.

Oh god, how am I gonna pull this off?

Jeb ran through his list of assets.

Most of his ingredients, including the raw lenses he’d been saving up, had exploded across the mountainside, leaving him with just what he’d been carrying.

He was carrying the Beautiful Revenge, his guerilla fireball wand, the BSF,  the remains of his void lens, a fancy pen…

While he waited for Brett and Amanda to get back, he inspected the ebony and gold pen.

Xen’s Scrivener

Created by the ancient sindio Xen as a convenient tool for magical inlays, this pen removes matter from existence at a configurable depth and width. If a mistake is made, the user may turn the pen around and backfill the empty area with what was there previously.

-          A collectable item bearing none of its creator’s evil, owning it is not illegal, but somewhat frowned upon by the church of Kolos

Hmmm….

Jeb held the pen in a writing grasp and felt a strong tug as Myst was pulled out of him at a rate that put the lantern to shame.

Curious, Jeb tested the pen on a nearby log.

Beneath its tip, the pen carved a perfect line, about an eighth of an inch wide and twice as deep.

Frowning, Jeb turned it over and rubbed the opposite side across the carved line.

The removed wood was back where it had been previously, without a single break in the grain to show it had even been gone, seamlessly reintegrated back into the whole.

Fancy doodad.

Jeb tried a couple things, gently pushing more Myst in, then restricting it, making it go in at odd angles.