She froze and turned her head to me. “Huh?”

  “It’s not the ring,” I insisted. “It’s this blue dodecahedron on the floor here with the gold numbers.”

  She abandoned the Godfeather, who squawked, and she crawled under the gunfire to get back to me. “How do you know?”

  “Because it was…” My eye twitched. “It was my mom’s. Dad got it for her a long time ago.”

  She grabbed it. “Are you sure? I can’t pinpoint the signal source specifically, but if you’re sure—”

  “I’m sure.” I wished I wasn’t. “I can’t explain it now, but it just makes sense.”

  Brando executed a sequence of acrobatic maneuvers that real-life Brando could never hope to perform, not without some serious lifestyle and dietary changes, anyway. He used them to cross the room and reach us.

  “Have you made any progress?” he asked.

  Sync nodded. “Yes! Sort of. We can’t talk about it here. We need a way out.”

  I stared at the row of windows ahead of me, and then at the Karjok pinned against the pillar between me and the window. “I’ve got a way out…”

  “Cold-flame it, Donnie!” Caleb shouted. “We can measure our wingspans later. We gotta take out Icarus first!”

  “Spoken like a true amateur gamer,” Donnie countered. “I’ll show you why the Godfeather named me the heir and not your scrawny asp!”

  The Godfeathers outside the room descended into chaos as the Players fought beak-and-talon against each other.

  Amid the confusion, Nate vaulted over the ruined desk and aimed his Tommy gun at us. “First, you two are done. Then I’m taking that WHIM.”

  Brando leaped and landed a 540 kick to the side of Nate’s owl head, which spun at least 270 degrees from the impact. He went down hard, landing clear of the desk and my intended trajectory.

  | Your Captured status has been cancelled. Enjoy your newfound freedom! |

  “Go!” Brando shouted. “Get out and shut this thing down!”

  “Nice, Brandible!” Silas crooned. “He’s my friend!”

  “Heck yeah, Brando.” I grinned. “That’s why you’re my body pod tech lead.”

  “It’s Brandon,” he said. “And… thanks?”

  “Get on the desk! Grab the Karjok as we pass by,” I yelled to Sync.

  She jumped onto the desk as I gathered my strength. I gripped my chains and charged forward, pulling the desk with me. It scraped and scratched along the carpet, moving easily.

  My legs, attuned to hauling heavy loads ever since I’d picked up that ridiculous old rickshaw, on the recommendation of a problematic space octopus, hardly strained at all. It was easy work, and we practically flew forward.

  “Whoa!” Sync cried as she surfed the top of the desk as I pulled it along.

  She got her balance just in time to snatch the net of Karjok as we passed. The load grew significantly heavier, but I could still handle it. We were almost there.

  Earlier in this game, I’d wanted to throw Sync off a building. We’d come so far since then, and I’d grown to truly appreciate Sync. She’d worked tirelessly to try to get me—us—out of here. Along with Silas, we’d become a team.

  So I found it incredibly ironic that now I had to throw her off a building just so we could survive. It was technically jumping, I guess, but close enough. And since we were a team now, we were gonna jump together.

  “Erik?” Sync called. “What are you—”

  Sync didn’t finish her sentence before I crashed through one of the floor-to-ceiling windows, taking the desk, her, and the Karjok with me.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  I really hope this works.

  We plummeted at a speed that made my stomach churn. Sync, the Karjok, and I all screamed, but I quickly manned up and summoned my rickshaw. It deployed, snapping the chains tethering me to the desk, and Sync landed in the cab with the sack of Karjok right next to her.

  Okay, one problem solved… But the ground still raced toward us.

  I selected the new Hang-Gliding skill I’d acquired at Level 10. The rickshaw cab sprouted a large triangle made of red canvas, and a harness materialized and strapped me to it as well. The rickshaw leveled out and soared between the high rises while the once-gorgeous desk fell to the pavement and smashed into splinters.

  All of us were stunned into silence as we glided through the city, leaving the sounds of battling birds and gunfire behind us. I carefully leaned to steer around buildings, and I had to admit, this felt pretty cool.

  Not as cool as flying around in the Ascendant Games private jet, but still pretty good overall.

  “Freeeedommmm!” Silas roared like William Wallace, and the rest of the Karjok joined in hooting and hollering, drawing the attention of many an NPC and Players alike on the streets below.

  Sync laughed with manic relief. “Not bad… not bad at all. Did you know this would work?”

  “Of course,” I answered.

  Complete lie. I was 98% sure we were all gonna die.

  We soared far away from the nightmare at the Bada Bing Hotel until I couldn’t keep us airborne any longer, and we drifted to the streets below. We landed on the outskirts of the downtown area and skidded to a stop.

  Sync untied the net of Karjok, releasing them. Silas crawled back onto my shoulder while the others tumbled onto the street like someone had spilled a massive tray of cephalopod-themed Jell-O Jigglers onto it.

  “I must say, I’m impressed,” Silas said. “And that doesn’t happen too often. Especially with you, mate.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered as I tucked the rickshaw back into my inventory.

  “Plus, the Karjok really came through. That was a riptide for sure, but we made it! We should invade more planets. I think we’ve got a knack for it.”

  His people collectively cheered.

  Will folded his front tentacles and sighed. “I’m glad we succeeded, but unfortunately, we lost our stockpile in that debacle. I’m afraid we’re back to square one with paying off our debt.”

  Chancellor Hachem sighed. “This is true, but it was a sacrifice for a worthy cause. Our dear lady bird here is safe, and her technology didn’t fall into the wrong wings. Besides, our hero Rickshaw Erik Shaw will undoubtedly figure out a way to make us whole.”

  | Objective Updated: Discover a Method to Clear the Karjoks’ Outstanding Debt |

  Not a chance, I didn’t say aloud.

  “Well, we’d best go grab the Younglings,” Chancellor Hachem said.

  “Who’s watching them?” Sync asked.

  “We left ’em in the care of Phillis and Lydia,” Will replied. “Only two adult Karjok with twelve young’uns? Dangerous proposition, if you ask me.”

  “No, it’s ‘Proposition Omicron,’” Silas corrected. “Honestly, how hard is it to keep these straight? There are only a couple dozen of them.”

  Chancellor Hachem adjusted his seaweed diadem and gave us the Karjok equivalent of a bow. “All the best, mighty heroes. We’ll see you soon.”

  I offered a lazy salute, and the Karjok slithered into the nearest sewer drain. All except Silas, whom I’d probably never be able to get rid of.

  Sync held the blue-and-gold resin dodecahedron in her hand and inspected it. “You were right. This is it. It’s the first fragment we need, and it holds the key to unlocking the others.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered. “I bet I’ll know the rest when I see them, too.”

  “Weird that it wasn’t the Godfeather’s ring. Everything indicated it should be.” Sync tossed the dodecahedron to me. “Why was it an extra-large gaming die, of all things? And why did the Godfeather have it on his desk along with his other stuff? That doesn’t make any sense.”

  I sighed, in part because the real tragedy was the loss of that scotch, but also because I didn’t want to talk about it. Still, she’d need to know what I knew if we wanted to find the rest of the Relics and escape the AllVerse.

  “Lucretia is modeled in appearance and voice after my mother,” I explained, “as a sort of… memorial.”

  She lifted her gaze from the oversized die in my hands to my eyes.

  “It… she always wanted to be a character in a story or game. It was Nate’s idea, and I figured, why not? It was the least we could do for her. I regret it now, but… whatever.”

  “Is that what all that verbal sparring with Nate was about?” Sync asked. “When you were trying to distract him, was that about… her?”

  My heart ached. Nate had been a thorn in my side for ages, but I’d pulled out the biggest guns I had against him. It had hurt me, too, dredging up the past to wield it as a weapon. It wasn’t fair, and I knew that, but… neither was being stuck in here forever.

  “I’m not ready to get into specifics just yet,” I finally said.

  Sync just stared at me. “Okay. And about your mom… I’m sorry.”

  I waved it away. After a moment, I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “Worry more about how you’ll repay me for my heroics.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I already did with a $5,500 AllCash loan to buy guns and supplies.”

  “That’s a good start, but let’s be clear: I really came through. I now rank among the sorts of legendary heroes in books, movies, and TV shows. You know, like that Carl guy and his ex-girlfriend’s cat.”

  “Don’t push your luck, mate,” Silas said.

  “Who needs luck when you look like this?” I motioned toward my own body and flexed as many muscles as I could at once.

  “There’s luck, and there are completely unattainable fantasies.” Sync turned and started walking away.

  My eyes widened. “Uh, wait… which one are you? Or are you talking about Carl and the cat?” I held up the Relic. “Or do you mean this thing?

  “Let’s get to a safe place, and we’ll find out,” she called back, and I thought I detected a flirtatious edge to her voice.

  I sighed. “Okay, but if I’ve gotta be stuck here, we need to get you to an Avatar Station. Like, right now.”

  “I’ve got it!” Silas declared. “Rickshaw Erik Shaw: Running away from problems, but professionally.”

  I scowled at him. “Now who’s pushing their luck?”

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  break--Royal Road. They call us the Critical Hitters.

  In the desolate desert of the North American Sector, the government harvests the Soul Energy of siblings Eos and Maxima in secret.

  When their powers attract the attention of a dangerous criminal organization, their routine lives are shattered. Eos and Maxima must search for freedom and the truth about their past as hostile forces close in.

  The answers they seek lie behind one word—!

  Occam's Favor

  A grizzled ex-mech pilot is drawn back into the Everwar, a decades-long conflict raging across Jupiter’s moonscape.

  This time he refuses to fight alone, bringing a crew of misfits and a mech powerful enough to rewrite the war itself.

  is a can't-miss power-scaling mech series. Read it now!

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  Dungeon Crawler Carl Audio Immersion Tunnel for Soundbooth Theater, and he's the lead writer for the Dungeon Crawler Carl Role Playing Game.