Chapter Seven

Dantenar's POV:

We returned to town to sell what we had in our inventories and to get healed by Dreya. Zarathel still hadn't given up on convincing Dreya to come into the Dungeon with us.

"If you come with us and heal us whenever we need it, I'll keep you safe," Zara promised. "Please? With sugar and whipped topping and sprinkles and a cherry on top? I'll even add chocolate sauce..."

"Hello!" Dreya said as I approached. "I am a healer by trade. Will you allow me to soothe your wounds?" That's all she ever said. It was probably programmed into the game. Because none of the other characters ever said anything other than what they always said, except for Del Arnes, who alternated between "What can I do for ya?" and "Don't be wasting my time."

Kile sold the weapons he'd gotten and came over. "Go to Torvus and get your reward, Dantenar," He told me.

I went. Torvus gave me a large amount of money (12,000 GP((gold pieces))) and a whole bunch of fame, along with a "Holy Heavy Ring of Dexterity" which I sold. It required to much magic to use.

Jaron was kneeling next to Juute, who was looking bored. Juute started purring as Jaron absentmindedly stroked him. Suddenly, he stood and walked over to the dock, sitting down on the edge and fishing. He jerked up his line and fed the very fake looking fish to Juute, who turned into a Gargoyle.

"Come on, we're going back down," Kile told me as we started towards the town portal. Jaron was waiting for us there. We linked arms, just in case one of us was slower than the rest, and stepped through.

We got to level twenty-five, which was almost the halfway mark. I was excited. "Halfway there, Zara, halfway there!" I whispered. Kile and Jaron were having a conversation in front of us, with serious looks and much gesturing. "I wonder what's going on?" I added.

Zara shrugged. "I don't know. Trouble, go find out, okay?" Her dog looked up at her in exasperation, but went willingly enough. A couple minutes later, he returned. "He couldn't understand what they were talking about," Zara said in a disappointed tone. "Darn! I was hoping to find out."

I patted her arm in a comforting way. "It's all right, Zarathel. I'm sure they'll tell us soon enough."

My assumption was correct. After a few more minutes of talking, the boys (well, actually young men) came over.

"Dantenar, Zarathel, we have to tell you something," Kile said. He never got around to actually saying it, however, because at that very moment, a whole crowd of Cursed Swords chose to attack. I groaned.

Not again, I thought to myself. Last time I fought these, I died. Luckily there's no sword with a red glow. That was comforting. Swords with red glows are very hard to defeat, you see. The last one had killed me with one swing.

I ended up back to back with with the others as the Cursed Swords surrounded us. I gave it my all, lunging and poking and prodding at those stupid Swords until there were none left. We had all finished off quite a few, as there had been least ten of the confounded things.

I drank a health potion at once as soon as we'd finished off the last one. Then I picked up the studded buckler that one of the things had dropped. It wasn't identified. I identified it, found out that it was a "Studded Bucker of Life" and sent it to Fiddlestix's inventory.

"Come on, we have to get to our respective levels as fast as possible," Kile said, and we were on our way. He led us down one passage after another, letting us finish off the monsters and level up. After all, as he put it, "I have been trapped here for years and leveled up plenty of times. You need to level up all you can so you have no trouble with Kuhz'rod the Emperor Abomination."

He had a point, so we - meaning Zarathel and I - leveled up as many times as was possible on each level as we descended. Quests were fulfilled, level ups gained and better weapons and armor acquired. By the time we got to level thirty, I had gotten an Eyeslicer's Piercing Helm of Wealth, which caused enemies to drop 26 more gold, a chain shirt, chain gloves, chain boots and a chain belt. I'd decided to keep my spears, as I liked them very much and they did a fairly good amount of damage.

I was very proud of myself. I was well protected against enemies, had rings with special powers (13 Stamina bonus, 40 Chance of finding magical items) and could fight pretty well. Kile had taught us the basics, but said that everyone had their own fighting style. I'd found mine and was getting very good at it.

Zara had very good armor. She'd bought plate armor, which gave her extremely good protection against enemies and her Cludrip and Crystal Mace did a large amount of damage. She looked very dangerous in her armor. I personally preferred my own, because I had a better range of movement, but her health bar stayed higher than mine, so hers seemed to be better.

On level thirty-one, I got killed again. At this point, I decided that next time I leveled up, I'd increase my Dexterity a lot.

A/N: Dexterity helps you to dodge in battle, keeping you from getting hit as often.

Luckily for me, I leveled up as soon as I killed two Voltaic Gels. I increased my Dexterity by four points and my strength by one on the first page of the little book and my Spear Skill by two on the second.

Kile's POV:

I watched my sisters talking, smiling a little as Dantenar stabbed a Tunnel Rat in the middle of her sentence, not even appearing to notice what she'd done. Jaron stood next to me as I stopped, letting the girls catch up.

"You have wonderful sisters, Kile," he told me with a grin. "I wish I'd had siblings. I was an only child, you know. After having me, Mom couldn't have any more kids. I remember begging for a little brother or sister when I was younger. Mom and dad wouldn't say why I couldn't have one, which drove me crazy. When I was older, I requested an adopted younger brother. My parents said yes, but died in a car accident on the way to the orphanage. I was sent to the very home they were going to visit."

That was the longest Jaron had over spoken at one time. His eyes were cast down, looking at the floor as he said all this, only looking up occasionally to dodge an urn or crate.

Dantenar had joined us at this point, Zarathel not far behind her. Now her eyes grew large and sympathetic. "You're an orphan, too?" She asked. Jaron nodded, not looking at her. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye, most likely wondering when I'd mention our earlier conversation.

I'd decided I'd wait a while. The girls seemed to be adapting to this life well, which was good. I raised my swords as we came into a large room. There were only some Nocturne Fungi and one Naga in there, though, so I let the girls take them on.

Jaron came to stand by me again, but this time he got straight to the point. "When are you going to tell them?" he asked. "You have to, sooner or later. It's not fair to the girls," he added, glancing at the females in question. Zarathel had just finished off the Naga, and was high-fiving Dantenar.

I shrugged. "Soon, I promise. I don't want to upset them, and I'm not sure, exactly."

However, Zara heard this and led Dantenar over. "Upset us? How so?" Her eyes glinted as she looked at me suspiciously. "You're keeping something from us, aren't you?"

A twinge of guilt hit me. "Yes," I admitted, "I am keeping something from you. I didn't want to alarm you two needlessly, because I'm not entirely sure, but since you've brought it up, I may as well tell you." I stopped here.

Dantenar stepped forward, standing next to her twin. It was amazing how much they looked alike, even underneath layers of grime and the difference in their characters features. "Tell us, Kile," She said quietly.

Jaron nodded. "They deserve to know. If you won't tell them, I will." The look in his eyes, the quiet seriousness of his voice convinced me that he would.

"All right, I suppose I have to, now." I took a deep breath, trying to break the news to them gently. "I'm not positive about this, but I think the game zaps you into the game as a test dummy. I'd read something about virtual gaming before I started playing, but I'd ignored it. The article I read said something about some games putting you in your characters shoes, having you fight against the monsters yourselves instead of just moving your character around the screen with a keyboard, or mouse." Again, I paused. "If that's what happened, there's a good chance you won't get out of the game, that we're all stuck here forever."

A/N: Dun, dun, dun! Now what happens? I'm trying to give the boys a bigger part, so they're going to get little sections in their point of view now, too. Read and review! Also, maybe suggest some ideas for future chapters because I'm out of inspiration.