"Open up!" Leo's deep voice rumbled from the other side of the door.

  It was shocking enough to knock Tandy out of her spiral.

  "Leo?" Tandy looked at me.

  Two more firm knocks came at the door. They sounded official, authoritative.

  Why was everyone looking at me?

  I stood and sauntered to the door.

  More heavy pounding.

  "We're locked in," I shouted at my sheep-brained friend. "If you want to talk to us, you either have to break it down or talk through the door."

  Silence.

  I stepped away from the door, expecting the hot-head to bust it down.

  "I doubt they're going to let him in," Tandy said, arms crossed as she sidled up next to me.

  A loud click, and the door creaked open. Leo stood, face flushed with mild embarrassment. The servant who'd been guarding our door waved for him to enter.

  After not seeing us for over a month, my tall, sculpted paladin of a friend went with: "Why are you idiots in my city? Could you not just let me be?"

  "Ha, figures." Tandy slapped my arm, turning away. "I'm going to see if Meredeath's done. I need a shower."

  Leo watched as Tandy gave him the cold shoulder.

  "What's wrong with her?" he asked, almost as though we were back in Woodsten, muddled up about something Tandy had taken exception to.

  I reached for the words and came up empty. Instead, I turned my back to the warrior, opting to throw a towel on one of the white upholstered chairs and take a seat.

  "What fools try to fight the lava wyrm as low-level [Adventurers]?" Leo tried again. This question was a little more reasonable, but I wasn't in the mood to be reasonable. I took a note out of Tandy's book and crossed my arms.

  Unfortunately, my cold-shoulder approach didn't consider Ash's natural chattiness.

  "Same answer for both, we had to save Tandy. She'd come under the Rock Slug's influence, and we all got infected with brain worms. Did you know that half of the under burrow of your city is infected?" Ash asked. It was a good question. It said something that I wondered if Leo was letting half the population of the city rot because they weren't the rich half of the population.

  Raising my eyes, I took stock of my friend.

  "They are? She was in danger?" His shoulders slumped as his eyebrows knitted together in confusion. Of course, he didn't know. This was Leo, was he ever aware of anything?

  All the pent-up anger I'd had about him becoming a Paladin of the Hunt and destroying my [Explorer's] questline, killing the Rock Mistress, abandoning us... lessened a smidge. He was like a bogquacker in a teahouse. Was it the bogquacker's fault when all the teacups shattered? Maybe. But no one would expect a different result from that scenario.

  "The real question you should ask is why Meredeath has a zombified [Mesmer] as a pet, and why Cole's wearing that ridiculous banana slug outfit. And how you, a [Paladin of the Hunt] are unaware of two boss-class, city-destroying threats that are literally shaking the foundations of your city." Ash lay back down on the bed, the line of questions exhausted.

  Leo looked at me, waiting for an explanation. He still had the trappings of a [Paladin] even without his breastplate, sporting shiny greaves and vambraces.

  "Was it worth it?" I asked quietly. When he didn't answer, I elaborated, "Becoming a [Paladin], leaving [Your Mom's Party]?" I almost said leaving us, but I didn't have the nerve to go that far.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "No," he said it simply, as though the truth were obvious. Leo leaned against the door, shifting down to the floor. Too shocked to respond, I just sat there numbly looking at my big friend. Eventually, he continued. "I've been miserable. Is that what you want me to say? That's not really true either. Sihd Twy has been very patient. I've learned a lot, earned my armor..."

  He trailed off.

  I didn't know what to say. It was both everything I had wished to hear, and yet hearing it... nothing I actually wished on Leo.

  "It's a path... that I've chosen," he stated, as though that explained it all. Maybe it did. As much as Tandy and I groused that he got tricked into joining a cult, he had chosen it. Unlike a certain slug that I'd been saddled with. "What's going on in Cersapil? I'd just gotten back from a Hunt when I got tapped as a legionnaire to go on a rescue mission. I didn't even know it involved the two of you until we walked through the portal."

  Meredeath picked that moment to rejoin the party. Her teal hair was wrapped in a towel, and she wore a large, fluffy bathrobe with equally fuzzy slippers. Her robe dipped tantalizingly low, and I forced myself to look away. Somehow defining the boundary of our relationship ending at friendship had made even looking feel wrong.

  "That didn't work out for you, huh?" Leo whispered. "Your engagement to the mummy get in the way?" He winked as I shot him a dark look.

  "We were in the tunnels under Cersapil. Meredeath, Ash, and I had just gotten to Cersapil and were looking for Tandy. For some reason Pops had sent her down there. We got tangled up with the Rock Slug, found Tandy, and then suddenly you and your friends were rescuing us."

  I'm not sure I'd call Raif a slug anymore. He's a [Corrupted Guardian] just like that Everbear monstrosity we fought outside of the [Trial Dungeon]. I never thought I'd see the day.

  All eyes were on Richard.

  "The legendary Rock Eater's name is Raif?" Leo was incredulous. "That's a badass name."

  "Alright, slug, spill the beans on your relationship with Raif. And include Tandy in the voice chat... she's going to want to know too." Tandy had regained her [Party] functionality now that she was out of the dream and we were all back together. Meredeath sat across from me, leaning her elbow on a coffee table. Her mix of mint and patchouli filled the air. I exhaled, trying to clear my lungs and feelings of her.

  I'm assuming you've all had a basic education in [Corruption]?

  "Right, Ash and I have a perfect understanding of Akyrima history, we're practically natives." Meredeath's words dripped with sarcasm.

  Cole, Richard whined.

  "We've talked about this some. Magic users of the last age accidentally let loose [Corruption] which ran wild through the Eastern cities. It infected wildlife and humans, causing normal individuals to turn into man-eating monsters. It raced like a plague through the East. The powers of the last age banded together fighting a war to hold back [Corruption] until the night of the Cataclysm where they broke the world to establish a boundary for the [Corrupt] territory and the Ursine Wall as a barrier to keep [Corruption] out." It wasn't a perfect explanation, but it was the best I could do on short notice. A lot of knowledge was lost during the Cataclysm, and Woodsten wasn't an epicenter of learning. However, we were on the border of the Ursine Wall. Those in Woodsten could attest to the Everbear's [Guardians] who wore the warning bells. [Corruption] was very real in the eastern frontier in a way that the western metropolises had forgotten.

  Well, that wasn't exactly right, but it's close enough for our purposes. Richard had rolled over and sat at the edge of the bed, propping himself up on the footrest as though he were holding court. What the stories get wrong is that [Corruption] was held just in the East. There were pockets that made it into the West as well. [Corrupt] heroes or beings that were popping up behind the trenches we'd dug between us and them. Cersapil was home to one of those pockets.

  I hadn't heard that version of the story, and unwittingly leaned in.

  "So Raif was a [Corrupt] being from the last war?" Ash asked.

  No, he was the [Guardian] meant to make sure the prison that'd been erected kept the [Corruption] locked up.

  "You mean the Ascension Range is just another prison for [Corruption]?" I'd pieced it together.

  Yes, but unfortunately the people of Cersapil have gotten too greedy over the years. They've forgotten their history lessons.

  "They dug too greedily and too deep." Ash spoke as though he were quoting someone. "You know what they awoke in the darkness? Ash and flame."

  He looked at Meredeath expectantly. She just rolled her eyes at him.

  I don't know about ash and flame, but they woke the Fire Wyrm. It seems like he's gotten to Raif as well.

  "So two ancient [Immortals] from before the Cataclysm? Should be as easy as shearing a sheep." A faint, nervous chuckle escaped me. By the Everbear, couldn't we catch a break?

  This isn't a battle you can win. Richard lifted a tentacle and stuck out his tongue to lick it. His words were calm, cold. They settled on me like wet wool.

  "Then when are we leaving?" Meredeath's blunt question cut through the tension in the room.

  "As soon as possible," said Ash.

  At the same time Leo muttered under his breath, "I can't."

  Stumbling Up will be stubbing book 1 the week of March 1st (Chapter 1-71)

  For the latest slug-related updates - follow me on:

  Facebook -

  Instagram -

  Patreon - - free tiers grant access to the discord

  Beyond Quests with Reck (A Litrpg Podcast) -

  Podcast where a boomer and a millennial heckle each other about books (Every other Tuesday) -

  Thanks for reading!