Drip-Fed
Trauma Monster Epilogue – Flower of New Dawn

“You might have surpassed my own combat meditation.”

Apexus’ comment caused the freshly healed Rogue to raise an eyebrow. “Nah,” she denied outright, waving her hand repeatedly. “That’s impossible. I was all agitated and smirky. You’re always calm and collected.”

“To be collected is in my nature,” Apexus responded. “To draw it forth and channel it is simple. Your flow state was truly remarkable. To have control over such passion must be difficult.”

“Well, I do guess it was kinda hard…” Reysha scratched her chin shyly, then jumped to her feet. “Enough about me – I finally managed to come to peace with this trauma I’ve been lugging around.”

“Like, gotten over it?” Korith asked.

“No, more like… internalized what I need to learn from it fully without carrying the guilty around everywhere.”

“I am pleased that your soul is no longer besieged by the parasites of the mind.” Apexus put an arm around his favourite redhead, pulling her a little closer for a half-hug. After the experience she had reported to have had and her contribution to their victory, she more than deserved to cuddle as they walked.

“Seriously, let’s stop talking about me!” Reysha demanded. “Let’s get what we came for. I’m glad this place forced me to confront my literal demons, but fuck this place.”

“I believe that ‘proverbial’ would be correct,” Aclysia pointed out.

“Are ya seriously doing that right now, bubble butt?”

“Linguistics are a matter that must be taken seriously, lest our verbiage and clarity of intent degrades through slurs and lack of precision.”

“I just heard a whole lot of ‘Please, bully me, Reysha!’.”

“Four ears and yet no thought or comprehension between them.”

“HAH!” The redhead laughed loudly at the verbal jab. Banter continued to fly back and forth while they advanced through the corridor that had opened up where the boss had been. Down a short flight of stairs was what they had come to the Dungeon for.

It sat on a patch of dirt that had been prepared for it alone. Brown and gold grains mingled within a round frame of stones set into the ground. All of it was grey, making the colours that surrounded the flower stand out all the more.

Green leaves surrounded the base of the stalk like a miniaturized fern.  Green was the lightly bent stalk of the plant, on top of which the silver petals sat closed tightly. A soft glow emanated from the soil and a stronger light came from the bud.

“Uhhhhh, guys.” Korith squatted in front of the flower. “Is it supposed to be closed?”

“We genuinely do not know,” Aclysia answered and took position next to Korith. Apexus and Reysha followed, all for of them lowered to the ground, the object of their Quest an arm’s reach away. “The guide merely informed us that there is a flower that is supposed to be a panacea.”

“Technically the Quest said flowers,” Apexus remembered.

“A panicked noble is allowed to make a mistake between singular and plural on a matter a Leaf away,” Aclysia posited. Very carefully, she reached out to the flower, brushed its green leaves. The bud at the top quivered lightly, appearing to open slightly before closing back up again. “Fascinating. What shall we do now?”

“What do ya mean?” Reysha gave the angel a confused side-eye. “We take the flower and get back to Drowse.”

“Its appearance makes me consider that it is not yet ready to act as the panacea. Would it not be immoral to pluck a cure-all before its time? Our urgency may cost someone else their life.”

“Yeah, okay, but we do not know that – at all,” retorted the redhead.

“I’m not leaving here empty-handed! I will, uhm, make the executive decision?” Korith extended her hand, giving ample opportunity to stop her. Which, as soon as her claws touched the stalk of the flower, Apexus did.

“Halt.”

“Halt?” Reysha burst out laughing. “What are you, a city guard?”

“It is an efficient word.”

“Sure, just surprised me, is all.”

“I’m sure you heard that one a lot in your life,” Korith remarked. “But, uhm, what am I stopping for?”

“We want this flower to last, so do not just snap it off at the stem.”

“Oh, okay.”

Korith pulled her hand away and let Apexus dig up the floor. A careful excavation of the outer layer began, the humanoid chimera using his senses to feel out where the root network started. The more of the original soil they could take along, the longer they would be able to keep this plant alive, he considered.

“Right, I was hanging onto my teeth for that part: any Growth?” Reysha asked.

“No. The boss left nothing edible behind,” Apexus revealed. “Its body turned into water and its core just shattered into stone.”

“…Not to say this carelessly, but doesn’t that sort of sound like you?” The kobold looked back up the staircase. “Not that we know, or hopefully will ever know, what happens to your core when it’s shattered.”

“While I acknowledge the presence of parallels, it is the norm that fluids animated by magic to turn into water with various elements mixed in upon disconnection from the controlling and mana-supplying factor,” Aclysia gave her opinion. “I have researched this extensively in the pursuit of finding darling’s true nature.”

“Mhm…”

“Anyway, this Dungeon sucks!” Reysha got comfortable against a nearby wall. “First you walk for days through a psychological torture session, then you fight a psychological torture slime and then we do not get any Loot or Growths for it?”

“A cure-all would be considered worthwhile Loot by most people,” Apexus pointed out.

“Korith isn’t most people.”

“Yeah! Where’s the money?!”

Korith’s eyes locked onto the ceiling in some vein hope that a god would listen and just throw coins at her for the humour of it. No such luck, just raw, grey stone while Apexus removed more of the dirt.

“I agree, this Dungeon sucks.”

“It must be by design. If this had regular Loot and a panacea that could be claimed by lucky adventurers in intervals, this Dungeon would perhaps be too popular.”

All watched as Apexus very carefully lifted the flower out of the soil. The motion was slow, mindful of any roots at the bottom that could have snapped if he exerted too much pressure. Telekinesis supported large hands in keeping the dirt clump mostly together.

As the flower was raised from the soil, its bud opened. Tightly pressed petals unfurled into a layered, gorgeous display of a shimmering lotus, spreading a pleasantly subtle fragrance, sweet as honey, through the air.

“So, we had to pick it up to make it open up? That’s confusing,” Reysha remarked.

Aclysia made note of the fact to commit it to her journal later. “On the matter of money, I am certain the Guild will pay a pretty sum for the intel gathered during this trip.”

“Plus the Loot from that First Clear we got.”

“…You know, I did get a lot out of this,” Korith remarked and looked at her chest plate. The enchantment on it had assured she had not needed any healing during or after the fight. “I might actually have to be careful not to get too used to this armour. Its effect will not keep up with our level forever.”

“That is why you rely on your body alone,” Apexus stated.

“Not all of us have absurd bodies like yours,” Korith shot back.

“You tell him!”

Apexus put the flower back into the soil for a moment. It remained open while he opened the door to the mobile estate. They repurposed one of the containers for food as a flower pot and dumped as much of the gold-speckled soil in there as they felt was appropriate, before planting the flower in it. The petals very slowly pulled back together into a hardened bud after Reysha pat the earth down.

They closed the Mobile Estate after and then looked around.

“There is no quick way back to the surface, is there?” Korith groaned.

“No-pe,” Reysha answered, popping the second syllable with her lips.

“We have to walk up that entire, boring corridor again, don’t we?”

“Ye-p.”

“Uuuuurgh.”

“Urgh, indeed,” Apexus agreed.

____________________________________________________________________________

Making it out of the Dungeon was a lot easier than making it in. The spires continued to emanate that nerve-wracking noise, but between them having exposed to it already and them waltzing off into the opposite direction as quick as their feet would take them, they did not suffer from it too much.

They made it out into the open plain, then continued to march on. The further they got away, the weaker the noise became, until their adjusted ears could barely pick it up any more.

“Can’t we sleep in the Mobile Estate now?” Korith wondered.

“You would lose your adjustment overnight. Personally, I would rather deal with the minor comparable discomforts of our tent,” Aclysia answered.

“There’s fire.”

Reysha’s word immediately pulled everyone’s attention away from the one they had begun to start and towards the one she reported seeing. It took the sun to set a little lower, before Aclysia and Korith could spot what Apexus and Reysha saw clearly: the flicker of a distant campfire.

“Think that’s them?” the redhead asked.

“The likelihood is high,” Aclysia remarked. “Shall we check on them?”

There was a small bit of distrust inside Apexus that made him hesitate on the answer. Atlas had been broadly a good man, but he was not an honourable man and the Monk was not entirely certain if they would be above attempting to take the flower off them. He was certain enough to dispense with such a notion after contemplating the matter. “We can be there in an hour, I think.”

An estimation off by an inconsequential amount of time. After walking through the setting dark, they approached the campfire cautiously.

Even knowing that the area was free of monsters, no adventurer worth their salt would have failed to put up any guard whatsoever, especially before settling for bed. Yet, the Atlas Party were all settled around the campfire, eyes staring blankly into the flames.

Apexus loudly clapped his hands, causing the entire group to jump in their seats. Confused, they looked around, eyes widening when they fell upon the Inevitable. “There is no use in you torturing yourself further. We have succeeded,” the humanoid chimera informed them.

“How the heck are you fine…?” Alabasta, the elf ranger of the group, muttered. The usually haughty elf had not slept properly in days and it showed on her face. The rest of the party did not fare any better.

“We weren’t, we acclimated,” Aclysia answered, her tone worried. “You should all sleep.”

“How could anyone acclimate to this?” Atlas giggled nervously and glanced at something only he could see. Phantoms in the shadows, the thousand little doubts accumulated from living for profit. It was worse for the others in the group. Even Kumlin, who looked the best, was attached to a pipe, puffing smoke for relaxation. “Wait… you said you got it…?”

“Indeed,” Apexus responded and stepped forwards. “Don’t.”

Atlas was halfway up, picking up his armaments as he went. The earlier worry Apexus had felt returned. A reasonable Atlas Party might not have tried, but a party at the edge of exhaustion and sanity could be overcome by negative emotions by stress alone.

The same factors made what came next barely an inconvenience. Without any of their usual teamwork, the Atlas Party threw themselves at their group. Atlas charged on ahead on his own, only for Apexus to dispatch of him with a concussing palm strike to the temple. While their leader crumpled like a used paper, Alabasta’s arrow and Rahesia’s hastily woven spells shattered against Korith’s defences. Flora barely rose from her seat, slower than the others, while Kumlin was secured in a chokehold by Reysha.

“You disappoint me,” Apexus stated and led his party back into the night.