Early the next morning, as the sun began to dawn on Primrose Acres, Alicia woke with a groan. She was extraordinarily uncomfortable and, as she came to, also felt strangely exposed. She thought back to last night, wondering what might have caused this, when she remembered her vampiric visitor.
“Katrina!” Alicia gasped, attempting to sit up.
Unfortunately, in her excitement, she failed to realize she had never rejoined her Heart Tree. She didn’t have the support she’d expected, and her sudden movement only served to shake her already tentative grasp on the branch underneath her. She shouted as she plummeted from the tree and, with a loud thud, hit the ground hard.
She groaned again, louder this time, as she stared up at the pink and green canopy above her.
Alicia, you idiot! The first visitor you have in years, the most beautiful girl in the world, and you scared her off with all your questions!
The pain from her fall almost felt right somehow, as if it was vindication for her crimes. She thought back to last night, remembered the feeling of someone playing with her flowers, then holding her hand and gently squeezing it. She could feel herself blushing at the memory.
She stayed on the ground much longer than intended, and had to shake loose a few roots that had sprouted when she got up. With a heavy sigh, she decided to jump back into her normal routine.
Her first stop, as usual, was the elaborate fungal network next door. She rearranged some of the dirt, added a bit more mulch, then paused. She gently ran her fingers over the cap of one of the bigger mushrooms, recalling the touch of Katrina’s skin on hers. “I met someone last night, did you know that? She was this tall, super pretty Vampire named Katrina!” The fungi, as usual, had no comment.
Across the street, as she checked the roots of the oak tree, she continued talking. “She had super bright, red eyes, and they were glowing! I bet she was just really hungry, ‘cuz I’ve heard there’s a blood shortage going on. But she was so graceful, even when she jumped out of my tree she looked like a model… Oh! And she can fly! Isn’t that cool?” The sapling, much like its neighbors, also stayed quiet.
In the next yard over, she cautiously made sure the rose bushes were staying on their property. “And she said she’s a Bard! She didn’t have her guitar with her, but I bet she’s amazing; I’ve always heard great things about Bard performances. I would’ve loved to hear her play, it’s been… oh wow, I think it’s been years since I’ve heard any music.” The rose bushes, as well, refrained from conversation. As Alicia prepared to leave the lot and make her daily trip to the river, she paused with a heavy sigh. The camaraderie she was used to feeling from her plant friends simply wasn’t there today.
Her walk to the river was slow, and an air of malaise hung over her head. She dipped her feet in the water, then laid down to stretch her arms out.
What could I have done differently? I really didn’t mean to scare her away, but I haven’t talked with anyone outside of work since… since the last time that dragon came back to clean out its house, and that was at least 3 years ago.
Oh.
Three years since I’ve had any human contact.
That might explain this feeling.
After shaking her roots free, Alicia grabbed her watering can and started walking home. The hundreds of flowers she’d planted since the Change were all in great shape. They got plenty of sun, all the water they needed, and lots of attention. They weren’t lonely at all, but they also never spent 20 years as a human before turning into a plant.
I don’t even remember my 21st birthday. Or my 22nd, or my 23rd… I’m not 24 yet, am I? I should really check that.
Arriving at home, she set her watering can down. She carefully dragged her feet through the indentation she’d made earlier, then glanced up at the branch she’d slept on last night. She could still picture Katrina there, cherry blossom petals floating around her, getting stuck in her beautiful black hair.
But no one was here now. She was, as always, alone. Separated from society by miles of abandoned suburbs.
Looking at the sun, Alicia realized it was time to get to work. She rejoined with her Heart Tree and floated up to her bedroom, then paused. She barely spent any time here, but in the first few months, she’d done her best to clean up the spots where the room met her heart tree. She made sure to leave room for her Tree to grow, but she also inspired some plants to fill in gaps in the woodwork. As it stood, her bedroom was perfectly functional, other than the notable lack of a bed.
What would I even do if she came back? Ask her to water plants with me? No, you’re not supposed to water at night…
She grumbled as she turned her computer on, the glare of its screen particularly frustrating today. Work went by slower than normal, and her clients weren’t even that irate today. One of them, an older woman that had just hired an Aasimar, was even somewhat pleasant. She found herself explaining somewhat simple terms, as the woman had never even heard of Aasimar before.
“All Aasimar have an innate Racial Feature referred to as a Wellspring. It will be tied to a specific emotion, something like pride or happiness, and that emotion is broadcast out of the Aasimar at all times. They can try to mute it, but it takes effort, and it can even be dangerous to mute its effects for too long. To be ORC compliant, I’d recommend training all your existing employees about the specific Wellspring they’ll be working with. If their Wellspring is tied to an emotion you feel would interfere with work, I recommend scheduling times and places where your employee can let it free safely.”If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“…”
“Well, not all Wellsprings are tied to happy, calming emotions. They might have something like rage, jealousy, or even lust. I’m sure you can imagine how those might make work difficult.”
“…”
“Yes, they can always take Status Breaks when the situation becomes dire, but they really should let their Wellspring flow as often as possible. Imagine if your bladder was full to bursting 8 hours a day, and you just had to hold it in.”
“…”
“Precisely, it wouldn’t be very fun, would it? Sometimes, workplaces will find ways to positively channel their Aasimar’s Wellspring, so I’d encourage you to talk at length with your employee to understand how it works.
“…”
“Of course, the pleasure is all mine. You have a great day.”
Alicia hung her headset back on its stand and sighed. Another long day of work over, but at least this one ended on a high note. The woman had seemed genuinely curious about her new employee, and had reached out to ORC of her own accord to try and be as accommodating as possible.
Calls like that were in the minority, however. The most common calls came from the hundreds, if not thousands of people that still complained about sex work being legalized. They didn’t care that certain Races physically needed sex to survive, and they seemed determined to cause problems because of it. It was actually fairly common for ORC employees to be called as witnesses in various court cases and depositions, and a vast majority of those cases tended to involve employers discriminating against sex workers. Alicia had never been called, but she assumed it was only a matter of time.
She sent a goodbye email to her boss and happily signed off from her work account. When she went to turn her computer off, however, she hesitated. Memories of her past flooded her mind, of all the time she used to spend online. Watching TV, playing music, talking with friends, she’d been a relatively social person. In the chaos of the Change, all that had been lost.
Another wave of loneliness washed over her, and she decided to recover all her passwords from her old social media accounts. Over the next hour or so, she let herself catch up on the lives of all her old friends. Many of them had changed Races, and quite a few were now working as Delvers.
She got lost in all their feeds, and realized she knew next to nothing about delving. She knew the basics, of course; Dungeons had popped up all over the world during the Change, and they were filled with monsters and perils. Delvers made it their job to explore these Dungeons, both for personal gain and to make sure the monsters didn’t wander out and attack civilians.
As Alicia kept looking, she learned just how hard Chicago had been hit after the Change. Apparently, when the main Chicago Dungeon appeared, thousands of monsters had poured out and overrun the city. For the first two years, the streets of Chicago had basically become an active war zone, with Delvers doing everything they could to push back the monsters. During that period, the city government had been paralyzed, which meant many of the Delving Guilds had essentially called the shots. They did their best to organize the reclamation effort, and even allowed significant portions of the population to freely utilize Class and Racial abilities.
Once order had been restored, the Guilds and the City tightened some restrictions, and now only certified Delvers could freely engage monsters, both inside the dungeon and out.
In time, she grew tired of reading about Dungeons and delving, and returned to her social media sites. Some of her old friends were incredibly active, for good reason, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that her news feeds seemed to be missing names. She opened up her old messenger apps, memories returning in waves as she read through the list of all her old friends. She began clicking through their profiles, trying to see what her non-Delver friends were up to, when she realized the sobering truth.
Many of her old friends hadn’t survived the Change.
Alicia was intimately familiar with the statistics, she worked for the government after all. She knew, on some level, that roughly a third of humanity had perished in the first years of the Change, but she’d never experienced that loss personally before. She found dozens of profiles that now served as digital gravestones, filled with posts of those in mourning. She read through every single post, identified every single friend that hadn’t survived, and paid her own silent respects for each of them.
Eventually, the glare of her computer screen started to hurt Alicia’s eyes, and she shut everything down. She walked back outside, and when she saw the sun, realized just how much time she’d spent reading up on Chicago’s recent history. Still, there was plenty of time to get back to the biggest problem at hand.
She started off towards the Dungeon.
In all her research, even everything she’d read today, she still couldn’t find the answers she was looking for. There were no records of new Dungeons appearing out of nowhere, other than during the Change. It also seemed quite difficult to know how big or dangerous a Dungeon was until it got explored.
Alicia had no interest in trying to solo this random new Dungeon, but thankfully she had other options. Today, her goal was to try and block off the entrance to this Dungeon, and hopefully that would be the end of her problems.
As she approached the destroyed ruins of the Dragon’s old manor, she swallowed nervously. With a quick check of her Status, she confirmed that her health and stamina were maxed out, so she could afford to take a few hits. So long as the monster stayed as weak as the zombie from yesterday, of course.
The house was still, and Alicia held her breath as she crept towards the basement stairs. Each step made her more tense, but as she descended, she didn’t hear anything.
That’s a good sign, right?
Peeking around the corner, she once again saw the eerie tunnel that had replaced the far wall. The entrance, and the entire basement, seemed to be empty, and Alicia sighed in relief. It was time to get to work.
Back up the stairs, she started collecting pieces of rubble and debris from the collapsed house. Each time she found a suitable piece, she would place it in the basement stairwell and summon a series of vines to hold it in place. It took a few hours, but by the end of the day, she’d blocked off the entire passage with a cobbled together mess of brick, stone, and lumber.
Alicia was incredibly pleased with her efforts. As far as she knew, this would prevent monsters from escaping, and because the Dungeon was hidden under the house, she doubted any Delvers would be able to find it. She dusted off her hands and happily started walking back home.
I wonder if Katrina is a Delver. I hear Bards are great support classes, and with her looks, I can’t imagine there would be many people that don’t want her around. I should ask if she ever comes back.
Her last thought made her pause.
Of course… she might never come back. Why would she? All I did was pester her…
As her train of thought soured, her steps grew heavier. Was this her life now? Sitting around and hoping that interesting people wandered out to say hello? As she reunited with her Heart Tree, her thoughts lingered on the strange Vampire that had appeared out of nowhere last night. She drifted off to sleep, a mess of conflicting emotions, wondering if it was time to make a change.
A few hours later, she woke unexpectedly to the peaceful sounds of a guitar drifting through her canopy.