MAZE - The Endless Quest

"Ouch!" she cried.

"If you feel your hand, you got lucky," Hera said.

The explorer was sitting on a chair by Bonnie"s bed. She had her arms crossed and a stern expression on her face.

"What happened?" Bonnie asked.

"You got trigger-happy. You figured out how to do something with mana and overdid it. They checked the logs. Your trainer gave you a warning about what you were doing. Why didn"t you listened to it?" Hera scolded.

"I... thought I could do it."

"Since when did you not listen to warnings. Bonnie, you don"t even cross the street outside the crosswalk. Explain why you ignored the warning of a trainer while you were using magic."

"I... I just have to use magic," Bonnie mumbled.

"Why? Seriously, why? We just had to deal with Leo almost getting us killed because of something he had to do. At least he had an explanation, not that it changed the fact that he messed up. Please, give me one explanation, even if it is a c.r.a.ppy one."

"It was my mistake. It won"t happen again," Bonnie said, clutching the sheets.

Hera rolled her eyes. Her friend could have gotten seriously hurt just because she was too eager to do something, just like Leo. Hera understood better than anyone what it was like to be excited about something, but nothing good would happen if they end up hurting themselves.

"I hope it doesn"t. It was a stupid mistake, and you are not stupid, are you?"

Bonnie started to tremble, tears rushing down her face.

"Sorry, sorry. I"m sorry. Please don"t be mad, please don"t be mad, father," she wailed.

Hera looked at her friend, spooked with the reaction. She wanted to scold Bonnie, but not to make her feel that bad. She sat down on her bed, hugging the woman while she cried on her chest. They stayed like that for a few moments, Hera"s shirt was wet with the researcher"s tears. A few minutes later, Bonnie finally stopped sobbing.

"I"m sorry I went too far. I was just worried about you. This time I was near you, but what if I wasn"t? We were alone in that ATR. You could end up bleeding out there," Hera said, trying to justify herself.

"I know, sorry. It"s not your fault. I just... It was my mistake," Bonnie said.

"I"m not going to say it wasn"t, but I could have handled things differently. But I saw a friend falling into the ground by the second time in two days. It freaked me out a little," Hera explained.

"Really? What happened?" Bonnie asked.

Hera explained the whole situation with Leo, avoiding going too much into details about his uncle.

"Oh... sorry to make you go through that," Bonnie said.

"And I"m sorry for making you cry... but what happened?" Hera asked.

Bonnie looked away and let go of the hug. Understanding she needed some s.p.a.ce, Hera left the bed and went back to the chair.

"Look, if you don"t want to talk about it, it"s ok. But I need to know if I have to be worried about you," Hera said.

"I need money, a lot of money, and fast. I can"t hunt right now, but if I have magic, I can start going with you guys," Bonnie said.

"Why? You know we can cover for you for a while. Not only that, we already have enough to pay for this week"s lodging. Why such a rush," Hera asked.

"It"s because of my father... He always demanded that I would be the perfect daughter. If I got an A in cla.s.s, I was punished for not getting an ,"

"Oh, Bonnie, did he ever hit you?"

"No… well once, but that"s when my mom stepped in and left him. It was in the middle of my soph.o.m.ore year. I spent a week barely sleeping to get a good grade on my midterms. The school ranked the student"s grades, and I got the 15th place. The day the results came in, I was so tired, and I ended up sleeping in cla.s.s. They were very strict and suspended me for it. When my father heard about that, he scolded me and started to go through my things. It was my birthday, and one of my friends gave me a makeup kit, it was still in my bag. He saw that and got even angrier, saying awful things and calling me stupid. I tried to say it was a gift, and he slapped me,"

Bonnie took a deep breath. Her hands were shaking. Hera held her friend"s shoulder.

"You don"t need to talk about it if you don"t want to," Hera said

"No... I have to. My therapist said it helps. We left the house and went to live with my aunt. I thought that we were done whit him. But a couple of days ago he sent a lawyer, saying that since the investment he made in me was worthless we had to pay back all the money he spent or I had to go back and do my job as his daughter. That means not only working for him, but also living with him. In the contract, he showed us there was even a clause saying that I could be part of acquisitions via family ties. It basically meant that he could marry me off to some random guy just to make a quick buck. My mom refused him and said that we would pay it all back. But it is a lot of money. My mom started working double shifts and looking for another job, but she already did so much for me. I can"t let her get all that money by herself, especially if I can make that money here," Bonnie said.

"I get it, I mean, not really, but I understand. Just tell me this. If you end up dying because you were reckless, is that going to clear the debt?" Hera asked.

"No, it would go to my mom since she also had some benefits with my upbringing."

"Then don"t kill yourself for it. You need to be alive and well to help her," Hera said.

"I know, it"s just a lot of interest, even if the monthly payments won"t be that high initially."

"How much is it going to be?"

"Five thousand for the first month, then double that every next month until it reaches 40 000 gold per month. Then 100 000 when it reaches 1 year, and double that in another year, after that. I don"t even know."

"Oh, c.r.a.p. That is a lot," Hera exclaimed.

"Tell me about it. He says the total debt is around 10 million. The MAZE is the only shot I have at paying it. I know that," Bonnie said.

"Good thing we can already make the first payment in a bit over a week."

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"We managed to get a deal with a merchant. We can get around 1 200 gold every two days if we hunt for eight hours. That"s just me, Blue, Leo and Alex. If we add a mage to the mix, and another one butchering the frogs we can make even more,"

Hera explained the deal and what they were doing to Bonnie. She talked about Mondy and how much they got from the guild, as well as the frogs they faced.

"You got a c.r.a.ppy deal. Do you know that? The profit margin is too broad of a term. He can give you absurd fees for the drone and the tax, and you can"t do much about it," Bonnie said.

"Maybe, but it"s not like we have other choices. No one else made an offer. Not that we searched for a better one, and it"s not a binding deal. I can just stop using his drones and leave it at that. Leo is doing his quests, and he needs to get in that group," Hera explained.

"I guess you are right and Hera... Thanks. I"m sorry for worrying you."

"Don"t be, just don"t do it again. We are already in a place filled with monsters and things that can kill us. I don"t want to add yourself to the mix," Hera said.

The two waited for a while before the Ca.s.sandra discharged Bonnie. She had to do a few tests and gave a stern lecture about the dangers of using magic. The damage to her hand was worse than the rest, because of that she should come back in the next day so Ca.s.sandra could improve the healing time. With everything done, they left the guild.

It was already evening, and just a few stores were still open.

"How long was I out?" Bonnie asked.

"A few hours, it"s almost 10. We are stopping by a restaurant to get some takeout," Hera replied.

Hera looked at her tablet. There was a text from Helena saying that Blue was an attractive candidate for the order, but the order might not give what the controller wants. She also sent a file with some information about the mana affinity that she already had. It wasn"t much, but it might help Hera.

Grabbing dinner for all her friends, Hera and Bonnie went back to the hotel. The explorer had asked them all to meet her in her room.

The group gathered and talked about their day. Leo had completed four quests, two of them this afternoon. It was mostly some low paying side gigs, but the group he wanted to join had no restriction on what quests you completed. Blue and Alex spent most of the day nursing their hangover and watching TV in their room. They still had the same channels and options they would have outside. Hera told them about the legends and the place she thought the last one could be in the woods. She also talked about what happened to Bonnie, who said she was in debt, and that was why she needed to rush.

"Guys, we know what Leo wants to do. But I think we need to talk about our plans. Bonnie and Leo got a time-sensitive problem that leads them to make a mistake. I believe that if we talk about what we want and what we need, we can figure out a way to help everybody," Hera said.

"That is a good point. If someone has a goal that will make them mess up as I did, it can be a problem," Leo agreed.

"It makes sense, and since you brought it up. You should start Hera," Blue said.

They all stared at the explorer. Fidgeting a bit, Hera cleaned her throat and took a large gulp of her drink.

"I have no idea what I want. My only goal was to become an explorer now... Well, I"m a bit lost,"

Bonnie stared at her before speaking, "Well, I can relate before I was aware of the debt I just wanted to use magic. I never considered what comes next,"

"Really? You didn"t have a plan?" Blue snickered.

"No, I did not."

The two started a staring contest, making the whole room tense.

"Anyway, you know my goal. Hera and Bonnie told us theirs. What about you two?" Leo asked.

"Well, I want to help my mom. We have a comfortable life, but there are many bad diseases that run in my family. My grandmother had Alzheimer"s and even went blind and deaf before dying. She also had diabetes and a bunch of other stuff. My mom is fine for now, but I"m worried about the future. I want to make enough money to support her and to be able to heal anything she might get. My goal is a long-term one, so I don"t need to rush," Alex explained.

"Aw man, now I feel kind of bad. The three of you have some real goals, and even if Hera is still figuring it out, she just got her dream. Mine sounds silly now,"

Blue said.

"C"mon Blue, we all talked about what we want," Alex said.

"Exactly, or are you afraid of sating or case? I imagine it must be something stupid, like eating the biggest pie in the MAZE," Bonnie taunted.

"Bite me, bookworm," Blue barked.

"Settle down, you two. Bonnie, be nice," Hera said, looking towards the researcher, "Now Blue, you can tell us. We are your friends."

Blue crossed her arms and slumped in the chair, "Fine... I want to be the fourth Hero,"

There was a moment of silence before Bonnie bursting into laugher.

"That is too good," she said while laughing.

"Bonnie, stop that," Leo said, trying to hide a smile.

"You guys suck," Blue said.

"Sorry," Hera said, starting to laugh, "But it"s hard to picture you as a hero when you have ketchup all over your face."

Blue pouted and cleaned up her face.

"Oh, sorry, Blue. I just wasn"t expecting you to be so pure. If you want to be a Hero, I"ll do my best to help you," Hera said.

"Sure, I"ll pray for a catastrophe for you to fix too," Bonnie said.

"I"ll help you with what I can. I mean, being in the Hero"s party can give me some leverage," Leo said.

"And it"s a great way to make money," Alex chimed in.

"Thanks, but you all still suck," Blue said.