Cleared? Did Kimi defeat the boss in the Dungeon? That was insane. It’d only been five days since they first activated. Not to mention that name was different to the one who received the title for Dungeon 9. I guess they didn’t end up clearing the Dungeon. Did that mean… Did they die in the Dungeon? Ever since the disappearance of that man in the video, in the back of my mind it had always been a possibility. Dying in the Dungeons. Never seeing my parents again.

But there was that pull that made me want to step into the Gate anyway. Without it, would we still have such a dismissive attitude towards our own lives? I doubted it, but some people were carefree with everything they possessed, so some people would have still entered.

When the Gate had formed, it was instantaneous. Nothing, and then Gate.

“Well, that’s pretty serendipitous,” Jye said.

It was unnerving standing in front of one in real life. The videos and photos really hadn’t done them justice. The edges of the Gate blurred completely with reality, a distortion of our plane in whirling tendrils. In the centre it was not just black but a lack of existence. And something in my head was screaming at me to stick my hand right in.

“Are we ready to go in? Wren just joined our party. We haven’t practised with her yet.”

Axel shook his head. “We’re not prepared, but this might be our only chance to get titles.”

“I’m good to go,” Wren said, jutting her jaw forward.

Well, that made one of us. I was suddenly getting cold feet about this whole thing, even with my body slowly stepping towards the Gate despite my aversion. Jye made a considering sturgeon face and added, “I mean, what would go wrong?”

I stared at them. “There’s the obvious.”

The rest of the party gazed at me blankly.

Throwing my hands up, I elaborated, “We could all die?”

“Yeah, but what’s there really to live for?” Jye replied, laughing a little too much for comfort.

We really didn’t have the time to unpack that, but I left a mental memo to have a sit down with them later. It did make me reflect on how little I knew about Jye. In fact, I could probably list actual facts about them on one hand. Again, turning away from the Gate played in my mind. We could not go in. It was an option. And it was looking more and more like the preferred one. Especially with Wren to consider as well.

If the original Dungeon 9 title receiver had died in their Dungeon, what chance did a ten-year-old girl stand? No, that cinched it. We weren’t going in. This was a terrible idea. Maybe instead we could form some sort of shelter for those who were still resisting the effects of the Dungeon compulsion. We could make some sort of found community. Perhaps we could build a new world from the ashes of the old, and just forget the Gates altogether.

“You probably won’t forgive me for this,” Axel said.

Barely paying attention, I snorted. “There’s a lot I don’t forgive you for. What could possibly top the–”

Axel’s shoulder rammed into my stomach. It stole the rest of the words out of my mouth, and only an embarrassing heugh came out instead. As we hurtled to the floor, I took the brunt of his weight. We thudded to the ground. What little remaining breath I had in my lungs was squeezed out, me pinned under him. I gasped for air and breathed in a lungful of dust that our movements had kicked up.

It took a moment for me to process what had happened.

Axel had tackled me through the direct centre of the Gate.

We were in the Dungeon.

Unable to see anything from under Axel’s body, I floundered to get to my feet and pushed him off me. “What the fuck, Axel!”

~Gate 16 entered for the first time. Party Just Friends rewarded titles of Student~

As I glanced around, trying to take in my surroundings I realised Wren and Jye were here too, coughing into the kicked up dust. Had they stepped in after Axel’s attack? But how? It had literally just happened. And where was the dust coming from? Before coming through the Gate, we’d been standing on a cement driveway. Now it looked like we were… in some sort of ancient cabin? And our entire party had received the title. Student was the title for this Dungeon?

Oh, God.

We were in the Dungeon. We were all here. We could all die. Axel, Jye, Wren, Chrissie, Me.

Dead.

My throat began to close up, chest tight and collapsing into itself. Blood thrummed in my ears, through my veins. It was itchy, and hot, and I couldn’t… I couldn’t do this! Fuck, not now. Not now! I’d gone for a week.

The world started spinning. I struggled to fill my lungs with air.

Breathe, goddamnit!

I couldn’t. Air creaked through me. Too many things were happening at once.

Out of my control, my knees buckled, and I sank to the ground. The Warhead. It would help, I just had to… Hands shaking, I reached for my pocket, but as I wheezed to breathe, my jaw clenched and locked. I couldn’t focus, couldn’t see, couldn’t align my fingers to get inside it.

I was so fucking useless. Defeated, I let my hands fall to the ground.

This was the best I could do?

Blackness was beginning to form in my peripheral vision, vignetting my sight. God, a black out? It’d been a long time since I’d fainted from one of these attacks.

The dust began to clear to reveal a frowning Jye. “What’s wrong with Lee?”

“Fuck.”

I was vaguely aware of Axel fumbling for something in his own pocket. In a flash, he was by my side, and had dropped to his knees next to me. His movement awakened a new cloud of dust, swirling wildly about us.

“Here.”

His hand approached my face and I used the entirety of my willpower to look at it. Pinched between his forefinger and thumb was the familiar sight of a Warhead. I couldn’t take it, my body not listening to me, limbs weighed down and chest constricted, the world beginning to fade, Axel grabbed my chin with his other hand. He squeezed.

My jaw opened in reflex.

Then the sourness of the lolly exploded over my tongue, shocking me from the grips of the panic attack. As the tartness spread through my mouth, tendrils of control sprouted throughout my body, grounding my mind. It began to pull all my senses back to my head. The world began to regain saturation, the blackness retreating. The muscles in my torso loosened, my lungs fully expanding with air. Tasting only sour, I found I could breathe.

“Look, I know you hate the green ones. Green apples are already sour, so what’s the point in having them as a sour lolly. I know. But beggars can’t be choosers, all right?”

I barely registered Axel’s words, but his voice and the flavour of the Warhead centred me.

“You’re lucky I kept those on me, you know? I’m an amazing friend. The best kind.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, my body became my own again. I wiped away the wetness from my cheeks. God, I forgot how awful the panic attacks were. I’d gone for so long without them before the Gates that I thought I was “cured” of them. Guess I’d just managed to bury them away.

A few moments passed as my party sat in silence. My breathing evened out and my heartbeat returned to normal. Everything was… It was all right.

“Are you okay?” Wren asked, her eyes wide.

I mustered what smile I could and deposited the lolly into my left cheek. “I’ll live.”

“So, like, is that a normal thing for you?” Jye asked.

Sighing, I tested my balance for a moment, then stood and dusted off my clothes. “Kinda?”

“Noted.”