QSFer Lazarus James has a new queer LitRPG book out (ace, bi, gay, lesbian, non-binary): Dungeon Hunter: Act I.
Is it aliens? Demons? Alternate dimensions?
Black holes are rippling into existence around the globe, and Lee Castillo’s panic attacks are back.
Just this morning, he’d been practicing how to tell his ex-best friend and flatmate Axel that he was potentially thinking about maybe moving out sometime soon or something.
And then the world as everyone knew it ended.
~System Loaded. Dungeons Active~
Now, Axel’s personality has flipped on its head, all comms are down, and there’s a foreign desire compelling Lee to enter the Dungeons despite his overwhelmingly lacklustre system stats.
As he delves into the secrets of the Dungeons alongside his growing party, Lee must confront both his past and future to divine what he truly wants.
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Excerpt
“Well, this isn’t what I expected,” Jye said.
Leave it to the giant to make such a grand understatement.
Axel had opened the door to reveal endless dunes of golden sand, the heavy rays of sun momentarily blinding me as it filled my gaze. Immediately, the scorching heat of the desert stretching out in front of us caused sweat to begin beading on my skin. It had to be at least forty degrees outside the cabin. On the plus side, it was a dry heat. Mugginess was something that was barely tolerable at the best of times, but at such high temperatures, it could actually boil you alive. At least that’s what one documentary I’d watched one time had said.
“We’re… in a desert?” Wren asked, her voice small and full of wonder.
“Looks like it.”
The door clicked shut behind us. I glanced back at the cabin and then at the desert in front. Neither of the two locations seemed linked. It was almost like someone had plucked a model of a haunted cabin from the Unity marketplace and placed it half-heartedly into a desert biome. Hell, the lighting inside and out didn’t even match. Truly not a masterful creation. Whatever or whoever had designed this Dungeon did not have much of an imagination.
Jye threw their hands up in the air. “Where the fuck are we meant to go?”
It was a good question. As far as the eye could see, there wasn’t anything on the horizon. Only countless dunes and endless sand. Nothing stood out. In fact, the longer I looked, the more it all blended into one seamless smear of golden yellow. Yikes.
“Maybe the cabin was the destination?” I said.
Even I wasn’t fully convinced by the words coming out of my mouth. But since it looked like the only thing in the whole map, it seemed like the only reasonable thought. What else was there?
Request received.
Jye swore, their hands slapping around their ears. “Shit, I hate it when it does that.”
A new screen popped up, this time not the normal blue but an off-white. Perhaps it was the colour for Dungeon-based notifications.
Spend five nights in the desert without returning to the cabin.
Reward: 1,000 XP
Failure: Death
Accept | Reject
“A thousand?!” I exclaimed.
That’d shoot me past LVL 1, maybe even LVL 2. It’d answer my further questions about what happens when we level up. However, the failure penalty was extreme. I assumed it meant we’d all die. Surely spending five nights in the desert was possible? I’d seen my fair share of Naked and Afraid. It wouldn’t be a fantastic experience, but we’d be able to do it.
“Reject it,” Axel said.
I frowned. “Hey, wait a second, let’s talk this out.”
Letting out an exasperated groan, Jye pleaded, “Please, for the love of God, someone explain what’s happening. What was the notification?” I told them, and they snorted. “Accept it, of course. I used to go extreme camping with my family. Surviving off the wilderness and all that. I can carry you all easily. Hell, we could do ten days if we needed.”
“Could Wren?” I asked.
Letting a kid stay in the desert for five nights sounded like the beginnings of a call to child protection services. I glanced over to check Wren’s expression. As much as I didn’t want Wren to feel like she was keeping our party back, I also wanted her to be aware of her personal limits. She seemed to be deep in thought. That was probably the best kind of reaction I could hope for.
Jye scoffed. “Of course Wren too.”
“Even if Wren could take five nights in the desert, we’re still rejecting it,” Axel commented.
“Five nights does sound kind of doable,” I reasoned.
With Jye’s skill in survival camping, perhaps we could do it. That’s if they weren’t lying. I don’t think Jye had ever lied yet, so that was promising.
“I think I should be fine,” Wren added.
“Reject it,” Axel said.
I frowned. “Hey, wait a second, let’s talk this out.”
Letting out an exasperated groan, Jye pleaded, “Please, for the love of God, someone explain what’s happening. What was the notification?” I told them, and they snorted. “Accept it, of course. I used to go extreme camping with my family. Surviving off the wilderness and all that. I can carry you all easily. Hell, we could do ten days if we needed.”
“Could Wren?” I asked.
Letting a kid stay in the desert for five nights sounded like the beginnings of a call to child protection services. I glanced over to check Wren’s expression. As much as I didn’t want Wren to feel like she was keeping our party back, I also wanted her to be aware of her personal limits. She seemed to be deep in thought. That was probably the best kind of reaction I could hope for.
Jye scoffed. “Of course Wren too.”
“Even if Wren could take five nights in the desert, we’re still rejecting it,” Axel commented.
“Five nights does sound kind of doable,” I reasoned.
With Jye’s skill in survival camping, perhaps we could do it. That’s if they weren’t lying. I don’t think Jye had ever lied yet, so that was promising.
“I think I should be fine,” Wren added.
“Reject it,” Axel said.
“Why do you keep saying that?”
Axel crossed his arms. “Just think about it, just for a second. This whole thing is shifty. The notification wasn’t the normal notification, it was something else. And a thousand experience points is a ridiculous amount. We got five from a failed fight that almost killed me.”
“To be fair, we were fighting a cat,” Jye interjected. “And it fled. And it was Lee who hurt you.”
Ignoring them, Axel continued, “And it’s the first time we’ve been given a ‘request.’ Nothing else has ever been asked of us. Us entering this Dungeon was a planted urge, but it was never a request. Whatever that notification is, I don’t think it’s from the base system or has anything to do with clearing it. This is something else.”
The worst thing about what Axel was saying was that it made sense. How awful.
He raised his eyebrows. “Besides, compare the worst thing that happens if we reject it and the worst thing that happens if we accept it and fail.”
Axel would be insufferable in ghost form if he turned out to be right. I just know he’d haunt me, even if I died with him. Not to mention, avoiding potential death when possible was almost always the better option.
“He’s got a point,” I groaned.
Author Bio
Lazarus James is a BIPOC, nonbinary, and ace-spec creative with a love for everything fantasy, most recently manhwa with those blue screens and dungeons.
One day, they asked themself, “Why are the main characters always straight men? And why do the two who are obviously in love never end up together?”
The story Laz has written is their own self-indulgent answer to these questions.
They also want you to know that they have two lovely cats affectionately called Lady and Young Man, though their government names are Darjeeling and Earl Grey, respectively.
| Author Website | https://lazarusjamescreate.wordpress.com/ |
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| Author Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571497792264 |