Solo Dungeon Runner-Chapter 31: [ Presence ]

Those tormented dreams weren’t ’just’ dreams.

Like murmurs, whispers under one’s breath right behind his ears.

It was hot, too hot. He was burning, yet couldn’t see any flame around. It felt as if he was in a void endlessly floating, yet something communicated with him.

Something pulled him in that sea of nothingness, it was so distant. He could feel it, the presence coiled in his soul.

He tried listening closer, but the heat was becoming unbearable. So much so that he started shaking.

It was gentle at first, but grew in intensity, his shoulder and chest shaken until his eyes opened to the masked face hovering over his.

He gently laid his hand on her head while trying his best to smile, but as he tried to move he tensed, his gaze going down to his chest.

He slowly got up, and tossed his robe and hat on the bed.

Underneath his shirt he could see it bright as day.

That pain he felt through his dreams, it was Sunder’s mark glowing dark-red, as if it was about to catch on fire.

His gaze went to Fae, who had gotten off the bed as well, watching him take a closer look at the rune.

"Don’t worry," he said. "I’m fine."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He tried his best to clear his mind, and find a certain peace.

But he was unable to.

Jake trying to attack Fae was a scene he replayed mentally. Then, the way he was treated like he had been out of line for protecting her.

It was anger, and resentment.

Each time those thoughts returned, he could feel the pain from the rune.

He opened his eyes, then turned to Fae.

He kneeled down and gently took her leg in his hand, tracing the seam where synthetic met skin.

"Hmm."

He ran his hand all the way down, then frowned, and took her shoes off.

"Starting now, when we get into bed, we’ll take your shoes off," he said.

She nodded as she always did, Alexander unsure if she actually understood.

He then looked at her legs once more while grabbing his chin in thought.

"Is it safe to have those underwater?" he asked, looking up to her.

She nodded.

He stood up, his gaze still on the amazing prosthetics she had.

They didn’t look like wood, simply touching them was enough to reveal that much.

They weren’t metal either, and they didn’t seem to have anything electric about them. There was no power source, and the amount of time they spent in his path would’ve ran those batteries out by now.

Who knew how long she remained on the altar, and it was already clear months had passed, caused by the room they had found the mask in.

Magic was allowing those legs and arms to work.

Alexander nodded to himself, and walked over to the bathroom, spooked as he glanced back to find himself face-to-face with Fae.

"You don’t need to follow me this closely," he said.

He turned back toward the bathtub, happy to find it relatively clean.

He grabbed cleaning products from under the sink, and quickly got the months of accumulating dust out of the tub.

He then got up, and turned the shower on.

It took a few minutes, but he could feel as the water slowly turned hot, steam hovering below the ceiling of the room.

"Alright, you go first. Just use the soap here, and the shampoo there."

Fae took a few steps forward, tossing the curtain aside while putting her foot in before being caught by Alexander pulling her away.

"Not with your clothes on," he sighed. "There’s machines in the building designed to wash clothes, no need to bring them with you in the shower."

She nodded and started undressing, Alexander promptly turning around as she let her robe fall onto the floor.

He left the room as she entered the shower, closing the door behind him.

He then heard several heavy steps.

He barely had time to turn around before the door hit his back, knocking him down.

"What..."

Water dripped beside him, he looked up.

Fae stood in the doorway soaked and naked, steam curling around her.

It was the first time he had seen her this way. Her body was strange. Perfectly human in places, while unnervingly artificial in others.

From her shoulders all the way to her thighs she was as real as flesh should be. Her soft collarbones, her breasts, and even the bellybutton—it didn’t look artificial.

Yet he remembered how he couldn’t feel a pulse when he found her.

He turned around, feeling the heat in his cheeks rising up.

"What are you doing?!"

He could feel her gaze on the back of his head, but since he was looking away he couldn’t tell whatever she was trying to convey.

He glanced back, as she still stood in the door way with a considerable puddle forming under her.

"Okay! I’ll leave the door opened, just go back and shower."

He could still feel her gaze, quickly adding, "I won’t leave your sight."

He finally heard her walk back toward the shower, her light steps making little splashing sounds as she went back under the water.

Alexander sat on the floor beyond the doorway, shaking his mind off everything he saw by getting his new phone issued by the Adventurer’s Guild out.

He sifted through the apps quickly, realizing he had two messages already.

"Silver?" he said to himself.

He opened his messaging app to messages from both Silver and Sunder. He added them to his contact list.

[ Sender: Silver

Hope you’re doing good. I joined a guild called ’Havoc’, I think I could convince them to recruit you as well. What happened during the tests wasn’t your fault, wish I would’ve stood up for you, Sorry. ]

Alexander closed the messaging app, hearing Fae stepping out of the shower once more.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep relaxing breath, as he heard even more water dripping on the floor as she simply walked out of the bathroom.