Chapter 3: 3: Labyrinths Are Just as Annoying as Mirn is Cute

Once again, things fell into a routine, though this time fighting the hostile monsters was going more smoothly. Nameless was still getting hurt all the time, but less than before she evolved. And the battles were going more quickly, particularly with Mirn opportunistically chipping in with their halberd or various mimicked abilities they'd picked up. Right now they seemed to be mainly going with acid spittle they'd picked up from a nasty oozing thing and an odd ability to extend out arm-length shadowy claws, acquired from a shadowy big black cat. That last ability Mirn used only when things got dicey to the point where they ended up in the midst of the melee, something which happened more often than Nameless would like.

"That was really dangerous and I'm beginning to regret letting you fight," Nameless said.

Watching their wounds heal, Mirn said, "You said there's no safety in the labyrinth."

"Yeah." Nameless sighed. "Isn't there an ability you can copy to make yourself safer?"

"No." Mirn shook their head. "I'm already copying as much as I can. I'd have to get rid of something."

"Wait, what do you have?" Nameless asked.

Mirn bobbed their eyestalk as they counted, "Spit, claw, your healing. Three. That's all. I can have more if they're weak, but if they're weak they aren't good."

Nameless frowned. Honestly... there weren't really anything from that list she would want Mirn to ditch, unless she was willing to have them sit out of fights which would hamper their growth as a monster. The acid spit gave Mirn a ranged option for greater safety, the shadow claws were important for dealing with anyone who got too close, and the healing was pretty necessary; she couldn't think of any ability that could completely prevent Mirn from being injured.

Maybe if she ever picked up the ability to heal others, but even then she'd want Mirn to be able to take care of themselves in case she got taken out of action or something bad happened to her. And teaching Mirn how to use weapons would take too long compared to monsters' instincts for using their natural weapons.

A thought occurred to Nameless. "How do you feel about ditching the halberd now that you can just spit from a distance?"

"I like the halberd. Even got a boon to help use it." Mirn said in a pouty tone.

Nameless found it hard to say no to that. "There's one thing we can do to help you get stronger. I can initiate you into the mystery of Words, which will allow you to get your first Word and your first Sigil. There're good reasons for this, too. Tell me, how do we monsters get stronger?"

"Fighting, killing, eating, scaring, destroying." Mirn named off the methods that were instinctive knowledge to all monsters.

Nameless made an affirmative gesture. "Yes. Now, we'll be going to a city. And do you know what's hard to do in a civilized place without getting in trouble? Most of those things, there're all sorts of rules about them. Not to mention they aren't the nicest thing to do, usually. Unless you're protecting yourself or someone else."

Mirn quirked their face in a bemused manner. "Why would there be rules..." They paused for a moment of thought. "Oh wait. If people can just do those things, it'd be a mess."

Nameless nodded. "Exactly, that's why we have rules limiting how and when you can do those things. Besides, they aren't nice things to do so only do them to not so nice people! Wait, let me clarify that, they have to be really really not nice people, like if they're trying to harm or kill you or your loved ones! Oh, but most civilized folks will be weirded out if you eat something smart enough to talk, so maybe don't eat even awful people. There're places run by monsters where it's seen as respect for the dead, joining their strength to yours, but I'm pretty sure here isn't one of those. Oh, yeah, different places have different rules and customs."

"So confusing..." Mirn complained.

Nameless shrugged. "Just try to be good to people unless they're being not good okay? That's the most basic rule, really! Anyways, there're ways we monsters can do those things and have it be okay with most folks. For example, writing scary stories that people read for pleasure, doing combat sports, having a profession that involves destroying old busted stuff or taking down condemned buildings, working at slaughterhouses, and of course we can always buy and eat food though the best food for monsters is expensive because it's all strong hard to kill stuff. And, well, there's labyrinth running which is technically what we're doing right now and just in general killing dangerous creatures and folks."

"I think I get it," Mirn said then asked curiously, "You know a lot about monsters for someone who wasn't always one."

"I... hmm, maybe I had monster friends or something?" As Nameless said this, she felt the tugging of a memory that refused to surface. "Yeah, I think I did, but I can't remember exactly who."

Mirn frowned. "That's sad."

Nameless made a nervous squeaking sound then cleared her throat. "...Um, anyways, now we'll talk about Words! The main benefit they give to monsters is a way to grow without having to do monster things. As long as you embody a Word, you can grow in its use. For example, my Relentless Word grows by me being relentless, whether in a fight or in finishing a task despite setbacks. Basically, if I don't give up, I get stronger! My Curses Word, on the other hand, well, I didn't exactly choose it as much as have it inflicted on me but it'll grow stronger from me messing around with curses in any way, whether it's changing them to something else or inflicting them on people or even removing them. And Words can do all kinds of things that aren't covered by your natural abilities!"

Mirn looked intently at Nameless. "You changed the subject. But I'm interested. How do I get those Words?"

Nameless made a shaking motion with her hand, shooing off the accusation. "I'll take care of that, but first, what kind of Word do you think you might want for your first one?"

"Strength," Mirn said without hesitation.

Nameless raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that's a start, but what kind of strength?"

Mirn looked Nameless directly in the eyes and said, "Whatever I need to win. If I need to be faster, I'll be faster. If I need stronger muscles, I'll have stronger muscles. If I need to be smarter, I'll be smarter. If I need better healing, I'll have better healing."

Huh. That... Nameless had the feeling that Mirn was going to grow up to be a terrifying opponent for whoever faced them. "Sounds like a Strength Word with Adaptable Sigil or vice versa, something like that. Alright, now I'll initiate you. To do so, I need to tell you a short story. Fair warning, it'll have quite an impact."

Mirn tilted their head curiously. "A story? Sure?"

"The World rose from a vast Sea that was both nothing and everything. Concept gave shape to it, made it more, in the process breaking into many Concepts. The very first People saw those Concepts and strained to Understand them." With each word, Nameless's voice echoed a strange sense of power beyond herself, certain words particularly resonating. "Most failed, for few can even fully perceive pure Concept. Those who understood became Wizards of great Power. But few, so few were there to share their Power with. Then one Wizard created a great Endeavor, putting all his Understanding into a form more easy for others to grasp. Seeing what he was doing, other Wizards joined in on this great Endeavor. And so they created Voice to guide the People into Understanding. And Voice created Words, each one both more and less Powerful than Concepts. For Words are Tools created for People, fitting and amplifying their Understanding while Concepts are greater but fleeting, easily escaping the grip of Understanding. And now that I have told you of Words and their origin, I involve Voice to endow you with Understanding of their mystery."

Mirn staggered back and fell over, only for Nameless to catch them. This wasn't a particularly uncommon reaction to the shock of the initiation after all. She gently held them as their body shook slightly, then set them down once they had settled down after several minutes. "You alright now?" she asked.

Mirn mumbled distractedly, "Moment, talking to Voice."

Nameless just nodded and sat down herself to wait for Mirn to finish up. Eventually Mirn seemed to rouse from their stupor. "How'd it go?" Nameless asked.

Mirn bobbed one eyestalk then the other. "I picked Adaptable with the Strength Sigil. Voice said the Strength word would make me more immediately strong but Adaptable would be easier for me to grow and that makes sense, I'm already adapting to many things."

Nameless grinned. "Sounds good! Want to test it out? Mostly by killing hostiles."

"Sure," Mirn said.

As it turned out, Mirn's new capability was useful. On some fights they would strike more mighty blows with their halberd, on others their acid would be more acidic, their movements quicker, their claws sharper, and in a memorably slow slog of a battle against a constantly regenerating frog-turtle their stamina higher. Whatever was good for the situation, essentially. At Mirn's current strength in their Word and Sigil the difference wasn't high, but it was enough to be helpful.

~~~

"Put this on," Nameless urged as she held out the slightly torn and bloodstained tunic she had looted from a relatively intact goblin corpse, one of the few clothes she found small enough to be a comfortable fit on Mirn.

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Mirn just shook their head.

"Come on, when we get out people'll think it weird if you're still naked." Nameless held out the shirt again.

"Don't care," Mirn said as they pushed away the tunic.

"Not wearing something could threaten our ability to stay together. The authorities might take you away from me, and at the very least public nudity is against the law," Nameless said as she suddenly burst into tears at the thought. Shitting emotional overreaction curse.

She felt a tug at her jeans and looked at Mirn to see that they had a worried look on their face. "That can happen?" they said.

"I don't know. I don't know exactly what'll happen if you refuse to wear clothes. It might be milder than that, you might just get fined," Nameless said.

Mirn looked deep in thought. "Okay. I'll wear it. But only when we get out. Also, clothes are stupid and I don't know why it's so important."

"It's... complicated," Nameless said, not sure how to explain millennia of customs and norms.

"Oh," Mirn said, then pointed down a hallway. "That way."

~~~

Naturally, it only took five rooms (empty of monsters) before the pair ran into a group of people obviously dressed as labyrinth runners with miscellaneous armor (mostly leather, reinforced clothing, with a few metal plates and the new flexible armor vest making the rounds lately) and weapons. Mirn and Nameless stared at the prettily handsome fair-skinned pointy-eared forest human, hyena-like white-furred arctic gnoll, short stout bearded gray-skinned stone human, and two identical looking dark-skinned grassland humans, and the group stared back. Then the gnoll spoke up, "Why is the child naked?"

"...Give me the clothing," Mirn said, holding out their hands.

Seeing a potentially disastrous misunderstanding about to happen, Nameless quickly explained as she handed over the tunic, "I've had a hard time getting them to wear something."

The forest human snorted in laughter. "Reminds me of my one-year-old! She can be so stubborn about that. Always running away every time I try to get her to put her clothes on and I have to catch her to put them on her."

"Yeah, we just had an argument about clothes a short while back. Ah, they're freshly evolved so don't have a full understanding of society," Nameless said as she reached over to help with the tunic as Mirn struggled to put their arms through the wrong holes.

The stone human nodded, "Those new to intelligence can have a difficult time adapting, particularly to society's expectations."

"My thoughts are weird and clothes are weird," Mirn complained as with Nameless's help they finally got their head and arms through the right holes.

"You'll get used to it, '' the stone human said kindly, "And you'll find out there're so many different kinds of clothes that can be pretty. Or handsome looking if you prefer that. Ah, have you decided on a gender if any?"

Mirn looked deep in thought as if digesting the concept, most likely listening to Evolver explaining it. Then they said with face screwed up in disgust, "Gender is weird."

"That settles it then." The stone human smiled amicably.

At this point, one of the identical grassland humans spoke up. "As cute as they are, and we certainly wouldn't mind talking more and maybe even playing a little, we do have a timetable."

The other grassland human gave her twin? a disappointed look but adjusted the straps on her backpack, looking ready to go.

"Alright, alright," the stone human said, "Need anything before we continue on?"

"Directions to the exit," Nameless said, thinking about how sick she was of this place.

The forest human pointed. "Nearest one is thereabout that way. Can't give exact directions because things shift around a little, but as long as you keep going the right direction you should get there sooner or later."

Nameless breathed out. Good. After getting out she should be able to find and destroy the bastard that had cursed her. But she would have to either figure out what to do with Mirn, or bring them to the destruction party.

As the two groups parted with friendly farewells, Mirn tugged on Nameless's sleeve. "Do I need a gender too?"

Nameless blinked. "Eh? Not really. Clothes are more important, though."

"There better be pretty ones," Mirn said.

Nameless grinned. "There are, yeah? You could be wearing denim like me, even!"

"No." Mirn shook their head decisively.

"But it's the best--ah, I managed to get a better curse!" Nameless said excitedly as her efforts to change her Curse of Doom bore fruit, then she frowned as she examined it. To put it simply: instead of her being doomed, now her dignity was doomed. With a sigh, she decided it would do, as much as it rankled her for some reason. Lacking dignity would not stop her from destroying that bastard who cursed her.

~~~

Forty-five rooms and eighteen monsters later, Nameless knew they were near the exit just by the way the smell changed. And also the faint daylight ahead. Excited, she broke into a run, Mirn speeding up to keep up, and emerged into sunlight.

"Freedom!" she shouted with delight.

Bird crap fell on her head.

The small group of obvious entrance guards wearing standardized uniforms and armor looked at her sympathetically as she tried to clean off her hair while swearing at the curse that had taken away her dignity.

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