With Great Power: Culmination

The doors to the castle closed ominously behind the pair as they made their way inside, plunging the world into a darkness that was only somewhat broken by the torches burning on the walls. It took a moment for Taylor’s eyes to adjust, during which Glory Girl had walked ahead of her, stopping at a fork in the hallway just a ways away.

“Which way do you want to go?” Glory Girl asked as Taylor caught up with her. Taylor looked both ways, finding them almost identical down to the pattern of the scuffs on the stone floors.

“Does it really matter?” She asked, “If this is a simulation of a dungeon, then they probably both lead to the same place, right? It’s not like Uber and Leet are going to let us go anywhere that doesn’t lead to their big bad.”

“That’s true. I’m pretty sure if we took too long they’d just teleport us to the end or something.”

Glory Girl turned to the right and began walking with Taylor just a step behind her. As she fell into step beside the girl, Taylor glanced up at her - noting her displeased expression - and frowned.

“Are you really not at least a little excited? “ She asked, “Everyone wants to do a dungeon crawl at least once in their life!”

“I think you might be projecting.” Glory Girl gave her an annoyed glance, “I don't think you're gonna have that much fun here anyway though. It's always a huge hassle dealing with these two nerds when they're putting on a show. They love messing with people for donations or whatever.”

Almost immediately after the heroine finished her sentence, Glory Girl's foot caught on a rock that Taylor was positive wasn't there before. The Brute's strength was nothing in the face of this immovable stone, placed there at the beginning of time for this specific purpose, and she fell flat on her face without a single sound.

Taylor stopped walking, watching as Glory Girl heaved a frustrated sigh into the brick before slowly rising upwards on her power.

She threw a venomous look towards the ceiling, as if there was a camera hidden in the mossy brick that was capturing her misery, “See what I mean? It's just a big show for their viewers. We probably won’t even catch them when this is all over. There’s nothing saying that they have to be here to work whatever this thing is.”

“Well if that’s the case, then why don’t we enjoy it while it lasts?” Taylor suggested as they came up to an imposing stone door, “It’s not like we’re gonna get out of here any other way. Stop being a debbie downer and have some fun with the mess you dragged us into.”

Glory Girl had nothing to say to that, and though Taylor felt a bit bad for snapping at the girl, it needed to be said. 

Stepping past the girl, Taylor stared up at the imposing stone doors barring their path. They were covered in etchings and there didn't seem to be any sort of handle so after examining them for a moment, Taylor mentally shrugged and pushed them open on her own.

Despite their weight, the doors weren't actually that heavy. Taylor stumbled slightly, expecting more weight as the doors swung open with a woosh, slamming into the walls and revealing the room beyond. 

It was some sort of graveyard, though catacomb might be the better word for it. Gravestones covered the floors alongside piles of rubble and bone, mausoleums that had once stood tall now lying in ruin and revealing the dead buried within.

The room wasn't empty though. The digital spirits that might be hanging around weren't the only ones here.

They were some of the most emaciated creatures that Taylor had ever seen. Pale, shambling things that barely even resembled humans anymore. They had teeth like razor-blades, pointed ears and shrunken eyes with tiny pinpricks of glowing fog for pupils that turned in unison as the stone door slammed shut behind Taylor and Glory Girl. Ghouls.

While Taylor was excited by their appearance, Glory Girl was unimpressed

“Zombies, really? How basic can you get?”

“They're ghouls.” Taylor corrected as she pulled the daggers from their holsters. They felt heavy in her hands, solid even, but not quite real. “I’m not sure what the difference is, but I remember my dad was very insistent on that.”

“Ghouls then. I’m pretty sure they all die the same.” Glory Girl corrected as she hefted her sword, “I hope you know how to use those things.”

The ghouls hissed, a rasping growl that echoed through the catacomb. A group of them – five in total – charged at the heroines as if their very existence offended theirs, claws ready to tear skin and rend flesh.

“I guess we'll find out.” Taylor said, brandishing her unfamiliar weapons.

As the group reached them, Glory Girl stepped forward, swinging her blade with a bellow that was less of a battlecry and more of a spiritual declaration of frustration. The blade swept through the air, lopping off three heads and sending them rolling to the floor as the bodies left behind stumbled and then fell.

Taylor was somewhat relieved when a dark blue liquid flew through the air instead of actual blood. She knew this was all fantasy but she felt like having that level of realism would bring her out of it real quick.

Glory Girl's swing left her open for the rest of the ghouls who moved to claw at her armor. Thinking quickly, Taylor stuck one with a web and pulled him in front of the others, making them tumble into a pile of emaciated limbs. Glory Girl lifted one armored boot and stomped on the closest one with a grunt, before cutting the other in half as it tried to get up.

As the group of undead corpses fell to the ground, their skin seemed to ripple and flicker like static before they faded out of existence. Even the fake blood on Glory Girl seemed to soak into her armor, absorbing itself into the metal until it was gone as well. 

“That… was very satisfying.” Glory Girl seemed pleasantly surprised and Taylor felt a flush of satisfaction as she walked up to the girl.

“We aren't done yet. Here come more of them.”

As the size of the doors attested to, the room was pretty massive, with far walls and a high ceiling. More ghouls were looming around in groups of five to ten all around the room and it seemed that their fight caught the attention of one such group.

Glory Girl took in the approaching group before something across the room caught her eye. She pointed with her sword  motioning to the large doors on the far wall, “I think that's where we're supposed to be going. We just have to get through all these guys first.”

“Wanna make it a challenge?” Taylor grinned as the group neared, “I bet I can take down more of them than you can.”

Glory Girl smirked and Taylor was glad to see her usual pep return to her expression, “You're on. No kill stealing.”

“I was about to tell you the same thing!” Taylor ran forward, leaving Glory Girl behind as she held her daggers tightly in her hands, “I call this group so you'll have to just find your own!”

The ghouls hissed as Taylor reached their ranks and the heroine wasted no time in cutting a swath through them as Glory Girl disappeared to another part of the room.

Though Taylor had never used any kind of weapon to actually fight, the daggers felt right at home in her hands as she danced her way through the horde of undead. His danger sense guided her, keeping her safe as she looked off heads and limbs like it was nothing. She sidestepped a claw and tripped the Ghoul responsible, throwing a dagger into its back and killing it before it even hit the ground.

She ripped the weapon out with a web in time to duck underneath another claw. She stepped past the Ghoul responsible, swiping her dagger through its thin waist and killing it as well.

She straightened as it fell  glancing down at the blue blood covering her weapons and gauntlet, “Sticky.” 

Taylor's danger sense had her moving before she registered the threat. She turned, swiping a dagger through the air and slicing clearly through the arrow that had been heading towards her back. She followed its trajectory and tilted her head as she saw her new enemies: three bony skeletons in tattered armors and rotten bows.

“Skeleton archers?” Taylor said aloud, tilting her body to dodge another arrow, “Now that's a cliche.”

Sheathing her daggers, Taylor zipped up to the ceiling and planted her feet on the cold stone. Bending her legs, she launched herself off like a bullet, twisting to slip past an arrow that aimed to skewer her. She landed hard on top of one of the skeletons, slamming a fist into its armor hard enough to crumble the already brittle metal. The undead creature flew backwards, slamming against the wall and breaking into pieces, never to rise again.

She stood and grabbed the bleached skull of the one next to her. Pulling it off in one smooth motion – and giggling at how awesome the action was in her head – she threw it at the third and final skeleton, sending it to the ground in a heap.

“Strike!” She cheered as she watched the skeleton fall, “Someone come reset my pins.”

“You're falling behind, Spidey!” 

Taylor turned, only to have her accomplishments sour in her mouth at the sight of Glory Girl, coated in brightly colored gore and wading through the bodies of the undead. Every time she swung her sword, she killed three more ghouls and thanks to her shield and armor, she didn't even have to worry about defending herself!

“Unfair…” Taylor whined as she pulled her blades out, searching for another group. She already knew she was going to lose, but there was no way she was going to let it be a complete blowout!

Less than half an hour later, the two eager heroines had completely cleared the room, sending the virtual corpses back to wherever they came from. The catacomb, once ironically alive with the sounds of unlife, was eerily silent with its absence.

As Taylor sheathed her daggers, Glory Girl floated down, a mile-wide grin splitting her lips as she rested her weapon on a heavy pauldron, “So how many did you get?”

Taylor grumbled, crossing her arms as the viscera coating her disappeared, “Twenty-four. Fifteen ghouls and nine skeletons. You don't have to say anything; I know you won.”

“Yeah, but I'm still gonna say it anyway!” Glory Girl grinned, floated up and lounging in the air, “I got twenty-seven ghouls and fourteen skellies. Almost double what you got.”

Taylor pointed at her, “That’s because you have that giant sword and you don’t have to dodge! I have to put in twice the work just to do what you do. My points should count as double!”

“Don’t be a sore loser, Spidey. You’re the one who put this challenge up in the first place.” Glory Girl chided, making Taylor pout, “Anyway, how’d you even know those were ghouls?”

“My dad used to play this game sometimes with a few of his buddies when I was a kid.” Taylor explained as they made their way out of the room and into the barren hallway that lay just outside its doors, “My friend and I used to watch them play for hours and we even made my own characters. I was a tiefling, these little devil guys with horns and sharp teeth. My friend was an elf princess.”

Taylor smiled at the memory, “I think we played one actual game before we got bored with the pencil and paper and just went and played outside for real.”

“I’ve never even gotten that far.” Glory Girl said thoughtfully, “DnD never really stuck out to me.”

“It’s not for everyone.” Taylor nodded understandingly, “Half the time my dad played it, at least one argument broke out about hit dice or whatever. Though I think the beer might have had something to do with that. Apparently old guys can’t play that game without emptying enough cans to re-tin a roof.”

Glory Girl laughed, “Oh I know what that’s like. When my family has–or well, had barbeques, dad and uncle Neil always had to try and out drink each other. They’re both pretty big guys too so by the time they were done, the boxes were more useful to keep the fire pit going than the logs we brought with us.”

There was a wistfulness in her eyes that Taylor somehow understood without even mentioning it, a nostalgia for a time that simply couldn’t exist anymore. She smiled in spite of the heaviness in her own heart, “I’m glad that you’re feeling better about all this. I’m gonna be honest, you were kinda being a downer there for a little bit.”

“I guess hitting something really made a difference.” Glory Girl said sheepishly, “Sorry for being so grumpy earlier. I guess I was just annoyed that I’m the one who got us into this mess in the first place. I should have listened to you.”

Taylor waved her off, “No apology needed. I’ve dealt with a lot worse than a bit of grump before.” She said, thinking of the numerous times that she’d annoyed Emma over the years.

The two of them came up to another set of large doors, these ones somehow seeming even more dilapidated than the last. Taylor moved to open them but Glory Girl put a hand on her shoulder, holding her back, “Allow me, my lady.” She said in a knightly accent.

Taylor giggled before bowing graciously, “Thank you, dear knight. It’s all yours.”

Glory Girl swaggered up to the door, full of medieval poise and grandeur as she reached up and put a gauntleted hand on either door, throwing them open with one powerful shove. Dust billowed outwards, making both of the girls squint and cover their eyes as they adjusted to the room beyond.

“See?” Taylor pointed into the room, giving her friend a grin, “Those are zombies.”

~~~

The bowl in Emma’s hands clinked as she sat it on her marble countertop, careful not to rattle it too much lest the contents come pouring out. Said contents, a colorful cereal that was probably more sugar than starch, slurped up the cool milk hungrily as she poured the rest of the half-gallon into the bowl before setting it aside to throw away later.

It was the middle of the day which some people – her mom especially – would say wasn’t the time for breakfast foods, but Emma didn’t subscribe to the belief that certain foods could only be eaten at certain times. If she wanted a burger at two in the morning or cereal at four pm, then she was going to have it. The stomach wants what it wants and all that.

Gripping a spoon in one hand, Emma carefully placed a little lid on the bowl to keep it from spilling, before placing it on her lap and wheeling away from the counter. She’d gotten better at moving around the house, though climbing stairs was still a bitch and a half. Her family couldn’t splurge for the wheelchair lift, so she had to do it all manually with the help of the railing. One flight and six minutes later, she was on her way back to her room, albeit much sweatier than when she left.

Sitting on her bed, Emma threw the lid off of her cereal and dug in with one hand while the other grabbed her nearby laptop and pulled it close. Since she was here alone today and Taylor was out doing her thing, she’d spent the whole day scrolling random sites, looking for something to keep her busy until her friend got back. She’d had no luck so far, but as she picked up where she left off, refreshing the page on PHO to see if anything new or mildly interesting had appeared, a brightly colored link popped up in her vision.

Uber and Leet’s Dark Descent, Featuring Glory Girl and Spider Girl!

The name of the stream filled her with surprise and exasperation. Surprise because the link was still up even an hour after being posted, and exasperation because she knew that her best friend had gotten herself into something stupid. She clicked on the link and was redirected to the cringiest streaming site that she’d ever laid eyes on in her life, bordered by little cartoon characters that probably belonged to some property or another that she couldn’t be bothered to remember. Most of the streams were archives and while there were a lot of them, she only had eyes for the one that was playing right at that moment.

“What did you get yourself into this time, Taylor.” Emma muttered to herself as she clicked on the stream. 

As it filled her screen, it took a moment to identify the characters within. Taylor and Glory Girl weren’t wearing their usual costumes, instead they were kitted out in armor that probably would have won them first prize at a fantasy fair, with real weapons to boot. They were surrounded by shambling zombies but neither of the heroines seemed concerned in the slightest. As a matter of fact, they both seemed to be having the time of their lives.

“I’m surprised she hasn’t cut her hands off yet.” Emma muttered through a mouthful of cereal as she watched Taylor dance through the crowd, daggers flashing. Despite her words, Emma was captured by the spectacle, excited to finally see her best friend in action for the first time since that awful day.

She watched, completely enraptured as Taylor and Glory Girl cut their way through the dungeon like heroes from that board game or whatever that Taylor’s dad used to play all the time. They made their way from room to room, facing stronger and stronger foes. Zombies, giant green men with tusks and scary looking weapons, and an even bigger half-bull, half-man thing that towered over them ten times over. She watched as Taylor jumped and flipped like a professional acrobat, becoming nothing but smoke in the wind for all that her enemies could actually land a solid hit on her. She looked like a real bonafide hero, and Emma felt a strange semblance of pride as she watched her friend work.

As Emma’s eyes slipped past the screen and caught on her own emaciated thighs however, that pride and happiness curdled in her stomach like week-old milk. She looked away from the stream, searching for a distraction and finding it in the chat zooming across the side of the screen.

Uber and Leet always live streamed their exploits, and while normally people regarded them with the same amount of respect you’d give a pickpocket on the subway, most people could admit they were usually entertaining at least. Emma didn’t really care for it, finding most of their stuff childish at best and annoying at worst, but she knew Taylor loved it so she tried to at least keep up to date with the most popular ones, which this one was quickly turning out to be.

The chat was moving a mile a minute, blurring across the screen so fast that Emma knew without a doubt that Uber and Leet weren’t even reading it anymore, if they even were before. It seemed as if the entire city was tuned into the stream, watching Taylor’s exploits and giving her the recognition that she definitely deserved.

“Good for her.” Emma said sincerely, but a tone of bitterness leaked into her voice as she turned away from the screen. She wanted more cereal.

Emma shuffled out from underneath her covers, placing the lid back on her bowl and moving to get in her wheelchair but as she rolled out of bed, her fingers failed to catch on the armrest so that she could pull it closer and – left unbalanced without the expected support – she fell.

Emma’s bowl tumbled to the ground beside her as her wheelchair rolled across the floor, coming to a stop completely out of reach a few feet away from her.

Laying in a heap on the floor, legs splayed out behind her in an embarrassing mockery of some fucked up yoga pose, Emma stared blankly at her chair, trying to come to terms with what had just happened. The sounds of Taylor and Glory Girl fighting on her laptop rang in her ears as starkly as the numb tingling rang in her legs, and the beginnings of an ugly, wretched, and horribly familiar emotion began to stir in her chest.

Panicked, she tried to get up and crawl back into the bed, but she was in such an awkward position and her arms were still tired from climbing the stairs that she couldn't actually push herself off of the ground more than a few inches before falling back down.

“No… Come on, please…” She begged to the empty air, gathering her meager strength once again.

As she kept trying to rise, the panic in her chest turned to fear and anger. Weeks worth of bitterness and frustration came to a head, boiling over into her mind as she realized that she was stuck and would have to wait for someone to get home to help her up.

Her eyes welled with tears that began to flow freely down her face as she tried to get up again, begging her body to listen, to not fail her just this once. It didn't work, and soon enough she was right back where she started, staring at the only device that allowed her to get around as the sounds of her best friend having the time of her life played above her.

Helpless. She was completely helpless

Destination… 

Agreement