Chapter Twenty-Six

Gareth leaned in and threw an arm over Harmony's shoulder. "Look, it's not that bad. In some way, it is the greatest con ever. Increased difficulty and prizes? The Ascendant Games have never been played. We have no metrics or numbers to compare what is coming, and I know numbers. This is just a bit of drama and theatrics after the first round to give those who have doubts a way out. If it weren't your action, it would have been someone else's. A person could turn over the wrong rock and boom, a cryptic message."

The message and bleeding obelisk had everyone a little spooked. "Do you really think that?"

"Bad debts, if I know? But, I do have a lot of experience talking to folks after betting on sure things that happen to lose them a lot of money. You get good at telling them things that make them feel better. Being a bookie is a little like being a therapist with a metal bar for breaking kneecaps."

Harmony chuckled a little at that. It wasn't that scary, anyone with a seal could still break them and be booted after a hundred seconds even after refusing the offer.

The majority of the camp carried on business as usual. Loap doubled her attention on the obelisk, vibrating in place while she was doing it. "Do you think if we unlock the pillar enough we can have maximum rewards and difficulty?"

"Hold your bouncing. We have enough unknowns to deal with. Maybe we should give future competitors the option to make messes that need to be cleaned up?" Harmony responded exasperatedly. Maybe with a little scrubbing, she could get the words off the pillar. That edible root also doubled as a soap replacement. With her luck, that would only cause another announcement.

Laop stilled her bouncing. The timing wasn't right for it to be in response to Harmony's comment. "Tyler is awake."

Harmony joined her in rushing to his side. It was a little worrying that he'd taken the potion after Kenny and he was first to wake up. Would that boy live?

Tyler was still wiping off the goop left behind when the pair arrived at his lodging. It smelt of woodsmoke and earthy mud. Shorts crafted from the spider bodies were his only clothes. Whatever tubbiness he had carried with him from his evolution was now gone leaving a solid, well-muscled large frame fit for a fighter more than the shut-in he had been months ago. A shocking change to see for someone who'd helped him with his experiences.

"Harm? Loap, what's this notification about?"

"It's nothing, primal keeper, greater rewards! Have you hopped up to greater heights?"

"I don't feel any stronger."

"You look stronger." Harmony blurted out.

A flash of color sparked in Tyler in a spiritual sense, she'd gotten used to Jessica interacting inside of the man enough that it wasn't usually noticeable except this time, instead of a fiery orange, it was a cool blue. That small spiritual flame appeared over Tyler's shoulder. "Oh, this is new." It spoke with Jessica's voice.

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"I thought you said that took too much out of you?" Tyler asked.

"Oh, no, this is good. I think I might have stolen most of the benefits from that little drink. Let me try something." The fire stepped off of Tyler's shoulder and slowly morphed into a flaming blue translucent and very naked version of Jessica. She had mass, enough to leave footprints in the dirt, and with no heat coming off her she batted Loaps ears with a grin. "Now you have two naked women following you around, Tyler. Aren't you special?"

Tyler shoved his face into the palm of his hands. "Jessica, please."

The thing that Harmony found interesting was that fire form wasn't a spirit in a sense that she'd seen in the Deadwoods or anywhere else. That, the bits of container, skills, and soul were still firmly fused into Tyler. It was purely a projection coming from the spirit Tyler had bonded.

"Fine," Jessica muttered and disappeared.

"I was hoping the potion would help in a way that evolution didn't." Tyler groaned.

Could she extract the spirit from Tyler? No one should exist permanently fused to the man. Where would you start with such a project?

"Sometimes, Tyler, you have to accept the responsibility placed upon you. Who knows what the future will bring. How far have you come since I was the maid asking to join you in Old Bones?"

"Ha. Not as far as you. How's Kenny doing?"

"The boy still hasn't come out of his half-step process," Harmony admitted.

Tyler frowned. The flashes around his head signaled Jessica was talking, and turned that look into a more contemplative one. "There is something I want to try." He threw on his spider armor.

Together the group made their way to where Kenny sat encased in sticky energy under the influence of the potion they'd forced down his throat. Tribe mates were taking turns watching over him, though Eric wasn't among them. "Tyler's up?" Owlsley blurted out with a hint of surprise and disappointment. It was the Alpat competitor's turn to watch over the wounded boy.

Max knelt down and Jessica's new blue flame appeared on his shoulder and floated off to land on Kenny The projection flickered and vibrated "I can feel it. Before I got overshadowed by the new girl and slipped deeper into my flaws I was a star of Coodly Manor. Bates has a particular eye for talent. Having adapted to the lunar energy I can.." she sank halfway into the energy shell. "Watch this." The blue projection started to glow brighter. The intensity spread through the coating until it was all too bright to look at.

The effect blinked out to a coughing and wheezing Kenny, as steam rose from him rather than the goop Tyler had to deal with. The young man's armor had been half obliterated from the attack that nearly killed him. A glowing blue scar zigzagged from his hip halfway to the far side of his chest. "Uh, why do I have a notification saying the games will be getting more dangerous?" He groaned.

Harmony hid her flinch of embarrassment at that mistake as it was explained, and then they moved on to tell him how he was saved.

"Mom is going to be so upset. Dungeon-granted half-steps are usually better than homemade, but she had plans."

Harmony resisted shaking her head at how some people let others plan their lives out. It's not like Kenny's family was opposed to some risk having sent him here. She wouldn't blame him if he took the offer to bail out. "What happened with Felix?" Harmony asked.

"The swordsman? All I did was compliment one of his swords. Then he attacked me claiming I was trying to seduce one of his girls." Kenny let his hand go to his scar.

"What was he wearing?"

"Those purple lizard skins," Kenny answered.

Len's group. Someone needs to deal with that kind of behavior. This is where a lack of leaders became an issue. With no one to go to, Harmony knew what she had to do. "I'll talk to Mr. Campbell when he shows up."

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