《Halloween (Original, Contemporary MC in supernatural setting, Magic, Afterlives, Souls)》


 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 1

    Fog settled around me as I looked around. It was so thick it was almost suffocating.


    What the-How the fuck did I get here?


    I looked around, bewildered. The last thing I remembered was dozing off, safely tucked away in my bed. Now, finding myself standing in an unknown place with no memory of getting there, dressed in street clothes again, was unsettling, to say the least.


    Turning around, I gave myself a couple of half-hearted slaps, like I was slapping on an aftershave, trying to discern anything other than the everpresent bright whiteness around me and the uneven dump earth beneath my feet.


    Did I sleepwalk here? It felt undoubtedly real.


    I slowly turned around several more times, but I couldn''t see anything at all. At that point, I wasn''t even sure I was looking in the same direction I''d started.


    "Hello?" I called out with a weak voice. "Anyone there?"


    Silence.


    After a while, when no answer came back, I started slowly creeping forward, too anxious to wait any longer, and soon after, I scrounged enough courage to yell louder for anyone who could hear me.


    My unwilling trip did not take long before I finally heard something breaking the oppressive silence. It was nothing much, just a faint wet squelch like someone''s boot met a muddy puddle.


    "Can you hear me?" I shouted in the direction of the sound.


    Quickening my pace, I raised a hand, hoping that would help whoever it was to notice me. "Over here!"


    The urgency pushed me to jog towards the sound a few steps at a time. It vexed me that the sound originated much further than I initially imagined.


    I didn''t know that sounds could carry so much further in the fog. Or maybe it was the total silence around me that made me misjudge the distance?


    The squelching gradually grew, morphing into something more akin to an entire body struggling to escape a mud pit. My mind conjured different pictures to explain what I was hearing.


    "Are you alright? Do you need help?" I shouted.


    The outline of tall, dark shapes started to come through the previously impenetrable fog, and I slowed to avoid running into what I was then beginning to recognize as trees.


    "Where are you? I can''t see!" The continued lack of response was grinding on me. I felt like I was talking to myself, that I was mistaken, and that no one was there after all.


    The trees swayed harder. For a moment seeing the whole mass of barely recognizable shapes move so fluidly and suddenly made me feel dizzy, and I missed a step.


    I stopped and planted both feet on the ground, crouching slightly to better balance myself, but the unnatural movement did not stop.


    The shapes approached me, even though I didn''t make a single additional step forward.


    I tried to swallow the thickness in my throat. The wet churning sounded nauseating, and I still couldn''t make heads or tails of what I saw. Then, finally, the shape came close enough that the fog couldn''t shield me from the sight anymore.


    I stared uncomprehendingly. Silent horror gripped my chest, barely a strangled wheeze escaping me.


    It was impossible. Nothing living should be that big.


    The only features that made it through the stupor were the enormous size and the mass of slick elongated shapes I mistook for trees reaching out of it¡ªshapes that were fluidly moving about, rapidly closing in on me.


    In my mind, a lesser man would have lost it right then and there from the mind-bending sight alone, so I should''ve taken pride in two things-I didn''t soil myself, and I didn''t freeze.


    Before I could consciously register it, my legs were carrying me away. I ran faster than ever before¡ªfaster than when I pushed myself to the limit at any friendly competition I had when I was younger, fitter, and full of vigor.


    Apparently, you really were not giving it your all unless there is something scarier than a rabid dog snapping at your heels, and the cost of failure is certain death.


    Motivation is key.


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    ***


    My mad dash through the fog lasted longer than I believed I could physically maintain. I fell, slipped, and rolled on the ground, but no matter the setback, I kept springing up, blindly scrambling away from the otherworldy horror at my back.


    Banged up and out of breath, I only stopped when I found myself falling into water.


    Disoriented, hacking, and spitting, I somehow came to my senses and stood up.


    The water was coming above my waist, and for a panicked moment, I considered the prospect of swimming¡ªto continue in the same direction I was going without stopping for anything. Fortunately, the cool water helped rational thought to seep back in.


    Taking deep breaths, I climbed back up the river bank. And it was a river I had found. The lateral flow of water was unhurried but still noticeable enough to draw that conclusion.


    As the thrum of my heartbeat receded, I stopped and listened. I couldn''t hear my pursuer anymore, but the gentle trickle of the water might inhibit my hearing until it was too late. I had to keep moving.


    Swimming would slow me down. But would the barn-sized monstrosity follow me through the river? I didn''t know the answer to that, but it did look aquatic, squid-like.


    I couldn''t see the distant shore, the river too wide for the thick fog. Furthermore, I didn''t want to risk the dangerous prospect of blindly navigating the moving waters.


    With my preferred direction barred in front of me, I turned left and continued alongside the river, going with its flow as it angled away from the danger at my back.


    Trying to conserve energy, I kept a brisk pace and a sharp ear, ready to bolt at a moment''s notice. My hair and clothes clung to me in a wet mess, but the cold didn''t bother me much as long as I kept moving. Or better yet, as long as I didn''t pay the discomfort any attention, too preoccupied with saving my skin.


    Even though I was on the move, the exhaustion from my long rush started to pass. I was unsure if I was more tired physically from my new record-breaking run or mentally from the bone-chilling sight I had been subjected to earlier.


    Where the fuck was I?


    I stumbled on a peculiarly shaped stone jutting from the damp ground. It was shaped like a bent rod, almost coming up to my knee.


    The grounds along the river were much rockier than I was used to, and some of the rocks were quite large.


    It was clear that I wasn''t even close to the city as Moeta had no rivers nearby. Everything about my situation was so god-damned strange.


    Belatedly, a dozen of steps later, I thought of something that should''ve been obvious from the start. When people get lost in the wild, they leave marks on trees and stones, so a rescue party has a chance of finding them. I should have done the same with anything with any sort of prominence in my surroundings¡ªanything that could be used as a landmark. The jutting rock was just big enough and shaped oddly enough to catch the eye.


    I decided I wasn''t returning for it. Instead, I would keep an eye out for something like it from then on. But after a dozen more steps, I stumbled over an exact replica of the bent rock.


    What was going on?


    I looked it over but couldn''t find anything different about it compared to the last one. It looked natural, not like something manufactured, so why were there copies of it scattered around? It couldn''t be the same one¡ªI didn''t leave the river''s bank, so there was no chance of me getting lost and looping around.


    Feeling creeped out, I left a jagged X on it and moved on, looking for more rocks to mark, anything that would draw the eye of my rescuers.


    A minute later, a same-shaped rock appeared.


    I bent down to mark it as well, only to stop and stare at my signature. It was already marked.


    Shivers run up my spine. I didn''t have time for this bullshit, there could be a giant monster on my tail, and I refused to acknowledge anything else that could throw me off my game.


    I hurried along, putting everything else out of my mind. I had to find help¡ªpeople¡ªeverything else could get lost for all I cared.


    Not long after that, the fog was finally thinning, but it wasn''t all good news¡ªmy trek must have taken more time than I had thought because it was already growing darker. It was hard to believe that a whole day had passed.


    Still, with better visibility, while the distant river shore remained hidden, I could continue the hike and keep more distance from the river without fear of losing sight of it.


    My clothes were still quite damp when I finally noticed movement. A dark shape near the water that I mistook for another rock just moved and released a human-like sigh.


    I stopped and crouched as low as possible, the wet pants refusing to move freely, slightly locking my legs. Then, thinking quickly, I quietly lifted a rock, held it in my right hand, and slowly circled the figure, not daring to lose sight of it.


    Step after step, I anxiously crept around, keeping my distance, freezing at any movement the figure made.


    It was just some guy silently sitting on the ground, facing the flowing water, absentmindedly making sharp throwing motions like he was flinging small stuff into the river.


    Once in a while, the man quietly mumbled a couple of words, but he didn''t appear dangerous. Were it a planned outdoor outing, I would even go as far as calling the sight mundane. But unfortunately, it was not, and my sense of danger was highly suspect after my latest encounter.


    My earlier lousy experience didn''t leave me with the confidence to call out to the stranger or to come any closer. And by the time I had seen enough to calm down, I had finished getting around him and was weighing my options.


    I could just continue my march with the river undetected. But that wouldn''t get me closer to understanding my situation, and the giant monster from earlier could still be on my trail. The stranger would not be ready for it.


    While I waited, undecided, the figure exhaled and stood up, stretching, likely coming to his own decision.


    He looked tall. At least a head taller than me and broader. That made me even less likely to approach.


    Before I could act one way or the other, he turned around, looked right at me, and squawked in surprise.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 2

    With a jolt at being so suddenly detected, I stepped back and hefted the rock in my hand.


    "Whoa! Where did you come from?" the stranger exclaimed, startled, stopping mid-step. His voice was higher than I expected.


    I kept my mouth shut, furiously thinking of my next course of action.


    Running was an option¡ªit was a great option.


    The man made a couple of steps closer, and I could see his face more clearly. He was young, probably a decade younger than me. Baby-faced, his eyebrows were raised in worry as he looked at me through his glasses.


    I almost felt bad for feeling so threatened by him before. But how could I have connected that imposing figure of his with a kid that probably wasn''t out of high school yet?


    "Did you just swim across?" He asked as he started to walk towards me.


    "That''s close enough," I snapped.


    He jumped a little at my command but thankfully listened.


    His hands were raised slightly. We looked at each other, silent for a couple of awkward seconds before he tried again.


    "Do you know what''s going on? Where we are?" He continued to needle for answers.


    "How did you get here?" I countered with my own question.


    That stopped him for a moment.


    "Well... I am not sure-" he trailed.


    "What''s the last thing you remember?" I pressed, not giving him time to finish.


    "I just went to sleep, and the next thing I know, I''m here." He thought for a moment. "I don''t really know how it happened," he finished, a little unsure.


    "It looks like we''re in the same boat, then," I concluded. "How long?"


    "What? Since I got here?" He asked. "Several hours tops."


    I scrutinized him, trying to think of anything else to ask. He looked genuine, so if it wasn''t an award-worthy performance, it was clear by this point that he wasn''t in on whatever it was.


    "Took me some time to stumble across this river, and then I just went up and downstream, a couple of times, trying to understand what the deal was," he added.


    "What deal?"


    "What, you didn''t notice?" He asked. "If you go downstream, the mist gets thinner, but it''s also darker there," he continued, waving in my direction. "And upstream, it''s super thick¡ªI can barely see a couple of steps in front of me, but it''s pretty bright. I tried finding the lights, but I couldn''t find anything."


    "Also-" He trailed off, looking unsure.


    "What else?" I asked, impatient, the urge to keep moving growing with every second I spent standing there uselessly.


    "You probably won''t believe me until you check it for yourself, but the distances, they umm, they just don''t add up."


    "What distances?"


    "Well... I left a pile of rocks just like this one here-" He gestured back to a small pile I overlooked, near where he was sitting. "-to help me get oriented in this mess. And then I went there and back trying to figure things out, and when I walked around, I noticed that going upstream takes a lot more time than coming back."


    He looked so unsure of himself¡ªlike he was expecting me to ridicule him.


    "You can even count steps," he hurried to add like he discovered some proof that would make him look less crazy. "I counted, like, a thousand steps upriver, but it took me less than half of that to return, and when I went even farther, the stones just disappeared. I couldn''t find them anywhere." He stopped, looking for some kind of reaction from me.


    Changing distanced, disappearing stuff. It was hard to believe, but I wasn''t going to test it now by going back.


    "Okay," I exhaled, trying to settle this new information somehow in my head.


    It was just too many things at once. I needed to solve the most immediate problem first, and everything else could wait.


    "Let''s put a pin on that. Right now, I''m going that way," I started decisively, holding a thumb over my shoulder. "You can come along or go your own way, but I wouldn''t recommend staying here. There was something in the mist," I took a moment to gather my thoughts. "It was big¡ªmassive¡ªand I''m going to try to make as much distance as possible between me and that thing."


    "Wha- What do you mean? Like an animal? A bear or-" he started asking.


    "More like a squid, but much bigger," I cut him off. "Now, I''m moving. You coming along or what? We can continue this discussion as we go."


    I swear I could hear him audibly gulp at the news.


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    "Yeah, I''m not staying here," he quickly agreed with my offer, nervously glancing back to the river. "Let''s go."


    We continued together, silent for some time. Each of us had a lot to think about.


    I dumped the stupid rock I was holding since the guy didn''t look that intimidating anymore, and I was getting tired from the whole experience.


    Walking along, he was the first to break the silence. "So, what''s your name? I''m Kenny, by the way."


    "Nate," I introduced myself. "You''re in school, Kenny?" I asked him.


    "Senior," He confirmed my guess.


    "What do you play? Football? Basketball?" I continued to prod. It was more to fill in the silence than to genuinely get to know this guy.


    "Ah, I get this a lot lately," Kenny moved his glasses self-consciously. "I''m not really a sports guy, just lost a lot of weight lately, wanted a fresh start at the uni."


    The guy looked less impressive with every moment we talked.


    "Did you swim across the river?" Kenny remembered his question from earlier.


    "No," I patted my damp jeans. "I fell into it after my squiddy encounter."


    "After?" Kenny asked uneasily. "Wasn''t it in the river?"


    "Nope. Met it on land," I tried to sound calm about it. "So keep your eyes and ears open in all directions."


    The rest of the way, Kenny looked even more worried and apprehensive.


    ***


    We kept walking, mostly in silence, watching for any trouble that may come our way.


    The mist steadily got thinner as we went, easing into a haze. However, when I looked back, it remained unchanged. It didn''t seem to be lifting¡ªwe just had the luck of finding a way out of it.


    Some kind of bioluminescent moss started to crop up near the water, and we could make out buildings in the distance.


    "Looks deserted," Kenny kept fiddling with his glasses as he tried to get a better look. "Not a single light."


    We parted from the river to come near the buildings. Moving away from it only pronounced the dead feeling around us. There were no sounds that didn''t come from either of us or the receding trickling sound.


    As we came closer, we started to inspect the buildings. They weren''t merely deserted¡ªthey were ancient. Some were no more than jutting remains of walls and piles of stone. Others retained most of their structure, but the stonework looked weathered, cracked in some places, and smoothed by time, the bricks nonuniform and dark in color.


    We wandered aimlessly among the rubble. Finally, the remaining haze was light enough to reveal the sky, slight pinpricks of starlight piercing the pollution in a greenish hue.


    "Did we just find an archeological site?" I wondered out loud.


    "There''s a wall up there," Kenny moved his glasses around. "Maybe there''s more behind it."


    The wall was higher than the houses, and there was no sign of its end on either side.


    "Nate, have you ever heard about anything that big?" Excitement seeped into his voice.


    "I don''t know much about archeology other than the Indiana Jones movies, but I''m pretty sure the pyramids are much bigger than some ruined houses," I answered.


    "Yeah, but look at the sheer scope of it," Kenny replied animately. "There must be hundreds of ancient structures, and we didn''t even see what''s behind the wall yet."


    "I don''t know why you''re so happy about it," I countered. "It just makes the situation even more impossible. How is it possible that we didn''t hear about something like this? Wouldn''t the news channels run with the story?"


    That dampened Kenny''s mood a little. "Yeah, but there must be people around. Someone must have excavated all of it. Even if it''s kept under wraps for some reason, someone must work here."


    Kenny kept fiddling with his glasses and glancing up. I could already see red marks forming on his nose from all the times he dragged them.


    We followed the wall, looking for a breach or a lowered section. It was hard to tell from below, but the wall was around three times my height, no way we could''ve climbed it. Unfortunately, we couldn''t find a house that came close enough to use as a stage to vault it, not that their measly one-story height would be enough or that I would risk climbing the crumbling homes.


    Our path initially took us back toward the river, but the slight curve of the wall eventually turned to run parallel to the flowing water.


    Finally, we found a wide opening in the wall, wide enough to have a road go through it. Gates must have been installed here originally, but now their rusted, shriveled remains rested to the sides of the opening.


    It was just our luck to find the gates at the closest part to the river, seeing as the wall started to curve away right after.


    Finally, we had our first look beyond the wall.


    We stood astonished for several seconds, taking in the sights.


    "No. Fucking. Way." Kenny finally unfroze, dropping every word with a weight of disbelief. It was the first time I heard him curse.


    The sight in front of us was even more bizarre than the uncountable ramshackle structures we passed.


    Right in front of us was a vast clear space, the center of it occupied by what was once a giant statue. Only the round raised podium survived, with two large legs protruding out of it. The surviving legs ended in ugly breaks, one around the shin, the other above its knee. The remains of the statue lay broken in pieces before it.


    The wide dirt road we were standing on continued around the statue and became the main street of an expansive ancient city, with two, sometimes three stories high stone buildings framing both sides of the road.


    The road continued uninterrupted in an almost perfectly straight line, the details disappearing in the distance. However, several of the closest intersections were still close enough to see that they had their own unique features.


    The path naturally directed the gaze to an enormous tower, its base undiscernible from the gates. The edifice appeared as a dark shape contrasted and shrouded by the white haze that permeated the city, with irregular green blotches of color visible along its length. It was impossible to tell where the tower''s dark shape ended, and the sky began, the minuscule lights of the greenish stars similar in size to the splashes of color the farther they went.


    The tower must be a central place for the city, and it seemed like the road led directly to it.


    "No. Way," Kenny repeated.


    He removed his glasses and just stared with wide-open eyes. The pure look of incredulity and awe made his already young visage look almost childlike.


    "That''s just not right," he finally said. "I thought it was the stuff in the air- Here, try them on," he offered me his glasses sideways.


    "Why?" I asked suspiciously." I don''t wear glasses."


    "Tell me if you see anything differently," He answered cryptically without taking his eyes off the top of the tower, gaping like a fish out of water.


    With the glasses on the tip of my nose, I looked through them and then lowered my head to look above them.


    What was he talking about? If he was talking about the city, I couldn''t find the odd thing out of the already plenty-odd surrounding.


    I tried comparing, looking farther at the tower, but everything looked unchanged.


    "Looks the same to me," I concluded.


    "Do you see the green specks?" Kenny asked. "That must be moss, the same we saw growing near the river."


    "Yeah, so?" I urged him. I still couldn''t understand where he was going with it.


    "Look, it just goes up with the pillar." Kenny pointed and followed the tower from its presumable base, through its length, and continued to point right above us. As they grew smaller, the transition from moss spots to greenish stars was indiscernable.


    "It''s all moss," He concluded. "There isn''t one white light in the sky. It''s all in the same greenish color."


    He waited for a second and finally dropped the bomb.


    "We are underground."

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 3

    I grabbed him bodily and dragged him outside the gates, behind the wall, as if hiding from the tower would change the situation somehow.


    "We are underground," I repeated.


    "We are underground," He agreed, looking directly into my eyes.


    I removed the spectacles and shoved them back into his hands, and started pacing back and forth, thinking.


    "That''s physically impossible, right?" The notion refused to settle in my mind. "It''s too much space, and there''s a whole city here."


    "I don''t know," Kenny mumbled. "Every single star in the sky is green¡ªthe exact same color as the glowing moss?"


    "No way some moss would make enough light for us to see streets ahead," I said.


    "No way we could see that much with just starlight," Kenny countered. "There isn''t even a sliver of a moon up there," He pointed. "It''s the mist¡ªit''s lighting up everything around."


    I looked back to where we came from, the brightness even more pronounced now that we were standing in a clearer area.


    My eyes followed the river as it passed by the city and continued further, its flow disappearing in a thickening fog that swallowed it back.


    "So why did you ask me to look through your glasses?" I asked.


    "I wasn''t sure when visibility was so low," Kenny said. "But those are prescription glasses," he pointed at them. "I need them. But now, I can see just as well without them. It''s like looking through clear glass. They didn''t blur your vision, did they?"


    "No," I massaged my eyes, thinking everything over. "So let''s recount to see that we are on the same page," I pulled myself together,


    "Someone kidnaped us in the middle of the night," I raised one finger. "Threw us into the world''s largest cavern, which somehow contains a whole lost city," another finger went up. "Released a huge mutated squid so things wouldn''t get too boring," a third. "Fixed your eyesight, replaced your glasses, and pumped the whole thing with spooky radioactive mist that glows and moves stuff around." I ended angrily in one breath, waving my hand meaninglessly.


    Kenny just nodded and kept quiet, looking to the side. Who knows what else he noticed and was thinking about in that big head of his?


    "What now?" Kenny asked, his voice smaller, defeated somehow. I shouldn''t have taken comfort in this, but knowing that I wasn''t the only one feeling overwhelmed by the strangeness was somehow heartening.


    We stood uncertain, mulling it over. I refused to give up, no matter how absurd the situation got.


    "We should follow the road, get to the center of this whole city, or get to the tower-pillar thing, whichever we''ll find first," I proposed.


    "Why?" Kenny asked.


    "What else can we do?" I started waving around, pointing to the edges of the visible river. "I''m not going back to meet my tentacled friend, and the river goes back into the fog later on. What else is there other than the city? Where would other people go? Either follow the main road or get to the Pillar, and that looks like the same thing from out here." I concluded.


    "You think there are other people around?" He asked.


    "We have to check," I shrugged. "And we have to act, either way, sitting here and waiting for someone to find us... it''s just not something I''m willing to do."


    ***


    Getting ready for the excursion didn''t take long, seeing as we didn''t have supplies to bring, a route to plan, or even food to pack. Evidently, when the only thing you have to bring is yourself, packing doesn''t take all that much time.


    The question of water was briefly brought up, but since we didn''t have anything to carry it in, we decided against going back to the river. We didn''t even know whether it was safe to drink, as Kenny noted, though I hoped it was, given that I got some of it in my mouth during the involuntary bath.


    Feeling silly, I found another rock to carry, and off we went.


    The atmosphere inside the city was slightly different from the ruins outside the walls. Even in its current neglected state, it had a sense of grandiosity. The buildings were taller and broader, placed in an orderly fashion. Coupled with the decorated street intersections, defunct water fountains, and straight cobbled streets, everything gave the city a sense of structure and planning.


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    We settled into a quick walk but tried to move quietly and remain alert.


    Everything went well for the first several blocks¡ªthere were no horrifying squids, and that''s always a benefit in my books. But as we were passing another intersection, I glanced into the branching street, inspecting the different buildings, and noticed a human figure.


    It didn''t register at first, as I was not expecting it, so I automatically made several more steps before I stopped.


    The still figure was standing atop the roof of a building some distance away. It could''ve been a statue if not for its strange placement.


    I urgently patted Kenny on the shoulder for his attention and motioned for him to step back, pointing toward the figure.


    It took him a moment to recognize it. "Hey, there''s-" He smiled and started with a slightly raised tone.


    I immediately shushed him, making huge eyes.


    "Quiet," I furiously whispered.


    The figure didn''t seem to notice the small commotion and kept its stoic vigil.


    Kenny looked askance. "But, we wanted to find people?" He whispered back.


    "Does it look normal to you?" I gestured to the figure.


    It had yet to make a change to its posture, but Kenny looked at the figure with questioningly raised shoulders and a cock to his head like he was unsure. Why was this small detail not bothering him as much as it did me?


    "I''m gonna sneak closer to check it out," I decided. "Don''t make a sound. Wait here."


    "I''ll come with," Kenny said.


    I looked at him, trying to think of the rationale.


    "I can''t stay here alone. This place is too creepy," he added.


    "You are going to see me the whole way, there and back," I couldn''t understand his problem.


    "I am not staying alone," he said stubbornly, nervousness coloring in his voice.


    It was taking too long, and I didn''t want to make more noise, even if it was only whispering, so I relented.


    I nodded to him. "Not a peep until my say so."


    Relaxing, he released a relieved breath and nodded with a serious expression, pressing his lips together as if to demonstrate his silence.


    I turned and tried to plan out our path. First, we had to get closer without being seen. But, the only alternative to making a considerable detour was to follow the line of buildings, sticking as close as possible to the walls. This way, it had the disadvantage of my target leaving my sight for most of the way, but I could poke my head as little as possible to get a peek when we got close enough.


    I set down my self-defense rock. So far, it was two-nill for it being useless, but I was confident it would come in handy, eventually.


    Confirming one last time that the figure remained motionless, I turned the corner to the line of buildings it occupied, practically hugging the building''s exterior, and crab-walked with Kenny right beside me.


    Unfortunately, the sidelines were more cluttered than the middle of the street, so every sidewise step had to be slow and methodical, clearing a little around each footfall.


    While Kenny tried to step directly in my footsteps, his weight and size made him a little louder. I cringed at his every stride, but he was doing reasonably okay. I was just too anxious and overly critical of him.


    With my hand on yet another wall, I was pointing at a rubble pile I had just stepped through, communicating to Kenny that it was not stable, when suddenly I felt the wall give under my hand. With a sinking feeling, I watched as it slowly caved in.


    If it made any sound, I didn''t hear it above the drum of blood in my ears. We held our breath for several seconds as dust flowed from its nook and crannies, and I was weighing in my mind the dangers of the unknown stranger versus the possibility of the building coming crashing on our heads, but it stopped and didn''t seem to fold any farther.


    With hands raised, hovering before the wall, counting my blessings, I slowly shuffled sideways. The pressure I put on the following walls was as light as I could manage.


    Halfway there, I judged it close enough. Turning around and facing the street, I first got on all fours, then started to slowly hand crawl, straightening myself, stretching out toward the middle of the road. Kenny could laugh at me later, I reasoned.


    Still slightly bent, the figure entered my view. I could only see its upper body, but that was enough to dismiss any notion of coming closer.


    Its back was hunched, and glistening fleshy skin covered the bared figure. But worst of all was the face or, should I say, the lack of it. The bald head seamlessly flowed as if molten wax was poured on its head, with no ears or eyes, not even the slightest raise for a nose. Instead, it was all covered with smooth, unbroken skin. The only exception was its mouth¡ªmaw more like¡ªit was permanently opened as long, thin teeth protruded from inside.


    The savage visage stood unnaturally still, only the slightest sway betraying it.


    Behind me, I heard a strangled sound. I carefully rolled to my side, finding Kenny lying beside me, copying my actions. His eyes, wide with horror, were glued to the monster, his hand covering his mouth.


    Don''t scream.


    Don''t you dare fucking scream.


    I stared at him intensely, slowly raising a finger to my lips, holding it there, not breaking eye contact.


    He managed to get a hold of himself. Then, ever so slowly, I dragged myself back to a standing position and helped Kenny up.


    Our way back was even longer, the horrifying sight stealing any impulse to risk the slightest disturbance. Slowly we retraced our path. My every step was deliberate and as light as I could manage. If I was as religious as most folks back home, I would have prayed to go unnoticed.


    Only after we were safely on the main street again, my trusted rocky companion in my hands, did we speak again.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 4

    We sat there, a corner next to the inhabited side street, caked in dust and dirt, shaking from the exertion and nerves.


    "That-That was not human," Kenny stated the obvious with a cracking voice. "What was it? What do we do now?"


    "Now we add this bullshit to the bullshit list and move on," I stated.


    "Move on? And what if there are more of them?" He asked.


    "It doesn''t change anything," I replied. "What if there are more of them outside the city?"


    Kenny was breathing rapidly, shaking. I wanted to freak out just as much as he did, but I didn''t have the luxury of losing my mind right now. It could very well be the last thing I do.


    "We don''t know anything," I added. "Stay safe and find out what''s going on¡ªthose are the only things we can do." I refused to be paralyzed by indecision.


    Kenny remained silent.


    When we regained our strength, I stood up, inclined my head toward the distant Pillar down the longest street of my life, and waited for Kenny. He took a moment to decide, but eventually, he nodded and stood up.


    We continued on our way, walking in the middle of the road, rushing the intersections when we deemed them deserted enough, keeping as far away from surrounding roofs and the dark openings of the windows and doors as possible.


    I had badly misjudged the distance to the Pillar. Maybe it was the ancient city''s sheer sprawl that threw me off. It had seemingly been hours since we embarked on our journey, and throughout it, the Pillar had continuously grown to the point that it was impossible to confuse it with a man-made structure anymore. In all of our history, mankind has never built anything as monumental as it.


    I jumped at a sudden scream that pierced the silence. A man was screaming, his terror and pain palpable.


    We stopped, terrified, and turned to look back. The wails were coming slightly to the side of our path. We must have passed a street or two away from the source of the screams not so long ago.


    More screams followed, cutting through the air like rusted nails being dragged on a chalkboard.


    We stood gripped with fear. Whoever it was, he was not having a good time.


    I hastily turned around, facing the Pillar again, and briskly passed Kenny.


    "Let''s go," I commanded.


    "Shouldn''t we help?" He hesitated.


    "No. Keep moving," I said, indicating it was not a discussion.


    "But, we wanted to find someone, we did, and now that someone needs our help," He argued.


    "Concentrate on helping yourself," I retorted tersely, without stopping or looking back.


    I''ve made my decision, and he could make his. We were looking for people to get answers, not to get eaten by some horror-show exhibit.


    True to my expectations, his footsteps joined mine after a slight delay.


    The screams came back, again and again, only the growing distance dampening them. It weighed on us, my conscience mollified by a single thought¡ª ''I could be the one screaming right now.''


    Subdued, we listened for it to go on for far too long. How was it possible for a person to be in so much pain for so long? If it was the creature from earlier attacking someone, why wouldn''t it have killed its victim sooner? It couldn''t be anything other than intentionally prolonger suffering.


    "We could''ve made it in time," Kenny mumbled when it finally stopped.


    "In time to take his place?" I retorted without heat.


    I tried to appear unaffected because there couldn''t be any doubt that I made the right decision, but on the inside, I was as filled with could-haves and should-haves as Kenny was.


    But he was a kid. He didn''t know any better, so the responsibility to steer us clear of danger fell on me.


    As if to spite our depressed mood, the city itself had become livelier. The apartments made way for spacious houses. They were in better repair and cleaner than anything we had seen up to this point. The water fountains, while still not operational, looked fancier. The arches were more ornate, or maybe less beaten by time, with finer detail remaining.


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    We were nearing our destination.


    This close to the Pillar, it felt like a looming mountain stretched to the skies. Its presence was oppressive.


    The curved arched walls of an arena welcomed us on our right, its elegant shape pulling the eye. The thing must have been bigger than even the Colosseum.


    The thought of exploring it passed my mind, but we were so close to our destination. The detour would wait, I reasoned.


    When I heard the noise, initially, I couldn''t place it. Its existence was so alien to the whole experience of this dead place.


    It was the noise of a crowd. Originally incomprehensible, an occasional voice penetrated the overall racket.


    I hadn''t noticed it at first, but the long hours of our trek, compounded with emotional exhaustion, had gradually deteriorated my walk into a meandering shuffle. But when I recognized the human voices, it perked me right the hell up, pushing me forward.


    We passed the arena, then the last line of sprawling villas and some more higher-rise structures, the cacophony growing stronger until, eventually, there was nothing left to obstruct our view.


    We have finally reached the center of the city.


    We have finally reached the base of the Pillar.


    And we have finally found people.


    Hundreds of them.


    ***


    We came upon an enormous plaza, the Pillar growing from its distant end, its prodigious width matching that of the whole city square.


    It appeared that we traveled the middle road to get here as two other roads, equally as broad as ours, spilled into the square at an angle, one from each side.


    I groaned at the realization that if they, too, led to openings in the city walls, we could have saved hours by finding another entrance had we parted from the river a little sooner and at a steeper angle towards the city. But as things stood, we only had our overworked legs to show for the unnecessary time spent in the slums.


    The square was framed by long corridor collonades that ended before two mirrored buildings flanking the Pillar. The twin buildings were remarkably tall and raised on three stairs, with elaborately crafted columns surrounding their exteriors reminiscent of the Lincoln Memorial.


    The air was clear and crisp, untouched by the pervasive mist in all of its incarnations. Fortunately, it didn''t lessen the brightness of the diffused light coming from farther away.


    Hundreds of people were present at the square. A veritable mix and mish-mash of men and women with no discernably expressed quality to indicate a link other than our shared presence here. Their ages varied from mid-adolescent teenagers to late sixties, clad in everything from work clothes to nightwear.


    Most clustered in groups, big and small, while others chose to hold themselves separately, milling about or sitting silently. The reactions to the situation varied from annoyance and worry to more extreme expressions such as anger.


    The worst offenders were almost frothing at the mouth, shouting demands for something to be done about the situation, like they were the sole victims of this injustice and everybody around them should bend over backward to make up for it.


    But no matter their attitude, they all looked as wrong-footed and unprepared as we did.


    The largest group was doing something in a seemingly organized manner at the Pillar. We watched as some people left and others joined, carrying something in their arms.


    Strangely, I didn''t see fear, the running-and-screaming kind of real fear like there were monsters just around a corner, ready to eat them alive.


    People didn''t pay us much attention as we came closer, some noticed my dirty attire, but no one stopped or questioned us. As if meeting a couple of dirty and weary strangers in the center of an unknown ancient city wasn''t a good enough reason to raise a brow.


    Another thing that irritated me was the noise. They were too loud. I didn''t know if the monsters reacted to sounds, with their lack of ears and all, but I couldn''t understand how everyone could be so carefree about it.


    I zeroed in on a harmless-looking young man. He was sitting by himself, watching the unrest with disinterest.


    "Hey, what''s going on around here?" I asked him.


    He looked at me, trying to process my appearance.


    "What, you new here?" the man asked. "Aren''t you with the cop?"


    "No, I just got here," I answered.


    "What''s with the rock then?" He looked at my hands, sounding confused.


    "My pet rock," I answered, irritated. "Can I get a quick explanation, or are we going to run this like a quiz show?"


    Kenny snorted behind me.


    "I don''t know. A bunch of us appeared around here in the middle of the night," he finally answered my question. "There was this white stuff in the air, but it cleared up. More people trickled in from around the city, but that had stopped for a while now."


    He shrugged as if it was anywhere near enough to describe what was happening. I didn''t get anything new besides confirming that we were all in the same boat.


    "And who''s this cop guy?" I asked.


    "He''s kinda taking care of stuff, organizing people and shit," The young man pointed towards the large group at the Pillar. "They''re piling rocks or some stuff now."


    "And where are we? How did we get here?" I prompted.


    "Nobody knows, man," His tone was the epitome of indifference. "We have been at it for the whole day. Talk to the officer."


    "So, what exactly are you waiting for?" I asked, genuinely confused.


    "I don''t know, for someone to do something," He waved a hand vaguely.


    It seemed that the mere existence of an authority figure was enough to make him complacent, or was it the illusion of safety in the massive crowd of people?


    Kenny looked at me askance.


    "Let''s meet the good officer," I turned to the Pillar.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 5

    The "organized workforce" I was expecting turned out to be about two dozen individuals mindlessly bringing and throwing rocks into a pile by the Pillar.


    They moved slowly, without any sense of urgency, and more people stood idly by around the growing pile, talking and watching the work without offering help.


    When I asked what they were doing, one man pointed to an opening higher up in the Pillar. Unfortunately, if there ever was a wooden door to the entrance or a ladder or stairs leading up there, they were long gone, lost to the ravages of time like so many other things around here.


    Checking the insides of the imposing Pillar was smart, though it looked like a shitty way to go about it. The pile was unstable, and every other addition to it just rolled off the top. It was growing sideways more than it was growing up. If it didn''t even look that stable at its inception, I could only imagine it becoming worse as it grew.


    It didn''t take long to find the officer, though it was for the wrong reasons. The man was embroiled in an argument, with bystanders surrounding him in an angry mob.


    I recognized him by the dark police uniform he wore and the embossed name tag that read "B. Douglas." The man looked aged and unwell. His balding scalp was sweaty, and his fat red cheeks and protruding belly completed the ensemble.


    It was not a man I would expect to lead or inspire.


    "Jorge, you need to cooperate here," The old officer said, somehow managing to butcher the Mexican name. "How will we get to the bottom of this if you refuse to talk?"


    A nervous man stood in front of him. He was a scrawny little guy with a short black mustache and brown skin. Not a person a Moeta police officer would be happy to see.


    "I am telling you, you don''t listen," Jorge answered, not for the first time by the sound of it. "I am from Moeta, like you. I come to work," He insisted.


    The crowd grew angrier for some reason.


    "You need to talk," the officer insisted. "If you don''t tell us everything, I can''t help you."


    The only thing he could help with was getting the poor man mobbed.


    The officer proceeded with his inane question about drugs, cartels, identity theft, and illegal immigration.


    Listening to him grasp at straw was riveting. He was ranting, trying to connect the ridiculous situation with some illegal immigrant''s imaginary infractions.


    According to him, cartels and other criminals were at fault here, and the man in front of him was tied into that in some way or another.


    How brain-dead do you need to be to find his argument compelling? But his insinuations and unarticulated conclusions were somehow enough to keep provoking the crowd.


    Kenny shifted nervously beside me¡ªclearly not a fan of whatever this was, looking uncertain but not moving in to intervene as the situation slowly heated up.


    Fortunately, we were spared from witnessing mob justice by the sound of screams from the entrance to the square.


    "Vic''s back," some guy popped up to inform the sheriff. "You have to see this."


    Whatever the reason for the commotion was, it was important enough to see almost everyone flock there. Cries of alarm resounded, and our local hero hastily made his way there.


    At least the poor Mexican guy was smart enough to use the situation to get lost in the commotion.


    People screamed, and I expected to see one of the monsters or something equally dangerous attracted by the noise.


    I was only half right. It was a humanoid monster, similar to the one we saw on the roof. But it wasn''t very threatening at the moment.


    A large burly man in dark industrial overalls carried the creature over his shoulder. His chest, neck, and shoulder were smeared with blood¡ªhis or the creature''s, I couldn''t tell.


    He stopped and dropped his burden before the officer when they met midway.


    "Here is your stinking proof," The man spat out. "Now, do your fucking job."


    The creature was mangled¡ªhead and chest were savagely crushed, repeatedly, with something blunt and heavy, one of its arms bent at an unnatural angle, and what looked like a burst eye stuck in the caved-in skull.


    I respectfully nodded at him. This man didn''t carry a rock with him for aesthetic reasons.


    Officer Douglas looked lost for words. "Did- Did you just commit murder?" He finally exclaimed, some of the unhealthy red in his cheeks receding to make him even more unhealthily pallid.


    "Murder! Does this thing look even remotely human to you?" The man, Vic, shouted, moving on the fat man threateningly. "Now you can consider yourself warned. Stop burying your head in the sand and do something useful."


    With his piece said, he unceremoniously shoved his way out of the crowd.


    Nobody tried to stop him.


    ***


    As Vic, the monster hunter, cut through the crowd, I hastily followed the man, with Kenny trailing behind. Only when he finally stopped and started stomping out caked blood from his work boots did I approach him.


    "Hey," I attracted his attention.


    "Oh, what do you want?" Vic turned around to face me, annoyed.


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    "I wanted to talk to you about the creature," I cut straight to the chase. "When we entered the city, we saw another one of those things."


    "Entered the city?" He repeated. "When did you get out?"


    "We didn''t," I answered. "We kinda started there."


    "Really?" He sounded surprised. "Everyone else either appeared right here or scattered around the city."


    "Yeah, we had a long way to go," I agreed.


    "How far away were you exactly?" He asked.


    "There''s a river running along the city," I waved toward the middle road exiting the plaza. "About twice as far as that," I supplied after some deliberation.


    "No wonder we didn''t see anyone else from outside," Vic released an impressed whistle.


    "So anyway, can you tell us anything about the creatures?" I tried to steer the conversation back on track.


    "I noticed it earlier, the ugly bastard," he replied with a frown, annoyance creeping back into his voice. "When I told officer fatty, he didn''t want to hear anything about it, said I was ''spreading panic.''"


    He stomped angrily again, and a small brown lump came off the boot.


    "So I went looking for it," he continued. "Didn''t take long, except when I found this one, it was already feasting on an unlucky fellow. Gnarly sight, that."


    Kenny and I exchanged uneasy glances.


    "The thing was vicious, let me tell you. I got it unaware, right in the head." Vic mimed the strike. "Didn''t think anyone could stand up after something like that. But it just kept coming at me," he showed long cuts on his chest and hand. "Didn''t stop moving until I completely pulped the fucker," he said with a vicious satisfied grin.


    This man was a doer. There was no mistake about that.


    "Why are you asking, anyway? Wanna take care of the other one?" He asked. "This little thing wouldn''t help you much. You''ll need a sledgehammer to do some real damage." He pointed at the rock I was carrying.


    I bristled. It was insulting to think I was lugging rocks all day, getting tired for nothing.


    "What about its eyes?" Kenny pipped. "The one we saw didn''t have them. It had some kind of skin fold instead."


    Kenny''s eye for detail never stopped to surprise.


    "Yeah, it had eyes," The man thought, remembering. "They weren''t right, though. White. Like some old folk."


    "Cataract?" Kenny offered.


    The man just shrugged.


    I contemplated telling him about the squid. With everything we knew so far, it seemed the right to do, even if the only thing I''d get out of it was some goodwill.


    "Did you see any other creatures?" I asked. "Some that looked different?"


    "Can''t say that I have," He answered, looking inquisitively at me. "Did you?"


    I let the question hang in the air for a second.


    "Yes," I confirmed, thinking about how to put it. "I''ve met one. It was deep in the fog, upriver."


    "What was it like?" He asked.


    "I didn''t get a good look at it, being in the fog and all, but it was enormous," I supplied. "Looked like a squid, wet skin, a hell of a lot of tentacles."


    "How big are we talking about?" He asked suspiciously.


    "Small building, big," I nodded at a low villa near the plaza. "Was moving on land too."


    The man''s face soured at the description.


    "I''m telling you this because I know you will take it seriously, unlike the fat guy," I said.


    "Officer Douglas-" He spat at the name "-is as useful as a torn condom."


    "Not overly competent," I agreed. "Almost had an angry mob going there when you came back. He was not handling it well."


    He snorted. "I''d be surprised if he can wipe his ass without help. The only good idea he had so far was to investigate the Pillar. But even that is not going great."


    "What do they expect to find?" I asked.


    "Since we are underground, as you may have noticed, and it goes all the way up, they think there will be a shaft to the surface in there. They say that''s how we got here." He answered. "I think it''s all bull crap."


    That sounded like a surprisingly good lead, but I wasn''t holding my breath.


    "So, what are you going to do now?" I asked, after racking my brain for anything else to ask of the man.


    "I''m starting to get an idea, but nothing concrete yet," he said, looking and sizing us up. He seemed especially pleased with Kenny. "You wanna team up?"


    I looked at my hands, holding that poor excuse for a weapon, thinking about the offer.


    "I''ll get back to you on that," I told him, shaking my head.


    Not that I thought he would pulp my head in the next opportunity he gets, but it sounded like a good idea to get to know the guy who could issue a scary amount of violence before joining him in anything. And it seemed that Kenny decided to stick by me for a little while longer as he remained silent for the exchange.


    "Ask around for Victor when you make up your mind," The man shrugged, unconcerned.


    ***


    By the time we finished our talk, the officer was coercing people to act as a lookout, placing them around the plaza and nearby areas.


    The problem was that as soon as the small groups were formed, it didn''t take them long to stop paying attention to their surroundings and start talking and passing the time without care.


    The pile workers also hit some snags. One of them started to angrily throw pebbles high into the opening. The others stopped working to watch his antics.


    "Do you think there''s a way up in there?" Kenny nodded at the Pillar.


    "Could be," I agreed, holding back my doubts to not dash his hopes. "Thinking about joining the effort?"


    The sheer number of unhelpful loitering people couldn''t have been less conducive to my team spirit, but maybe Kenny was more conscientious than me.


    "Maybe later," Kenny said. "I''m just so tired."


    I couldn''t agree more. The short time we rested at the square put the rest of the experience in contrast. No more running, walking for hours, sneaking around, or fearing for my life.


    Being at the square, filled with so many people, almost made it all seem safe. It was a lie, of course¡ªIf I was attacked right then and there, how many people would rush in to help? How many of those people were Victors, and how many were more like me?


    "We need to look for weapons," I said.


    "Why?" Kenny blinked at the non sequitur.


    "Didn''t you listen to Victor? This won''t be enough," I raised the rock.


    "But we don''t need to go into the city," he replied. "We can just stay here with everyone."


    "I''m not sure it would be much safer, and I''m not going to leave my safety in Douglas''s hands. He''s more likely to, miraculously, make matters worse."


    "We don''t know if there are even weapons to find," Kenny lamented. "Everything is so old here. Whatever we find would probably fall apart in our hands."


    "We''ll look for something that won''t," I stated.


    "Where would we even start?" Kenny asked in a surrendered voice.


    If I were a weapon, where would I be?


    I looked straight at the immense structure we passed on our way here. The Grand Arena looked otherworldly. The tall arched walls were gently enveloped in mist, bathed in the dim white light that permeated everything.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 6

    We headed to the arena.


    Some lady tried to talk us into joining something. Whatever it was, guard duty or Pillar work, I didn''t listen, and Kenny awkwardly shuffled behind, torn by his sense of propriety. Thankfully, the old proven method of ignoring the soliciting worked wonders in getting us out of it.


    As we got out of the plaza, I felt the tension returning. The sounds of the crowd receded, and with it, the feeling of safety deeply hardwired into our psyche to be associated with being part of a group.


    I knew that venturing out made getting help or assistance highly unlikely, but it was far from guaranteed even if we had stayed. So we had to do our best to keep out of trouble.


    We promptly fell back into our developed rhythm of moving through the city, keeping away from doors and windows, and staying alert.


    When we passed a large villa, I decided to explore it. It was the first building we had considered entering since the slums.


    We walked around the house to determine if there was anything dangerous inside.


    It was silent, and we didn''t catch any movement from the numerous gaping windows. But we knew from experience that the creatures could stay quiet and immobile for long periods of time.


    Other than the main one, there was a narrow side entrance, but it was so limited that I was afraid that if I needed to run away, I would have trouble turning around in time, so we decided to forgo it.


    "Ready?" I asked Kenny as we stood outside the estate.


    He gave me a short, determined nod in response.


    We progressed slowly. What greeted us was a short corridor followed by a roofed open space that could have been a miniature garden. It was decorated with small statues on pedestals and boasted an array of tiny rooms around it.


    I tried to step lightly, mindful of every scraping sound, as the floor''s contents were not limited to only dust and mud. Some rooms were littered with broken pieces of rock and pottery, but there wasn''t much of anything else.


    Several times, I could have sworn there was a scrape or a bump that didn''t come from either of us and every time, it sent spikes of adrenaline up my spine. But it was all in my head, my frayed nerves playing tricks on me and not anything more sinister, as I had to keep reminding myself.


    We finished with the miniature garden and its periphery spaces and passed to a larger room sandwiched by small corridors on both sides.


    This one was much more extensive than the ones we previously inspected, but we couldn''t find anything of interest there as well. Then again, we didn''t find any trouble, so I wasn''t too disappointed.


    The small corridors brought us into a large inner courtyard. The side entrance we noticed earlier was also leading there.


    A wide yet shallow pool of water stood in the center of the courtyard. Left dry and caked in dust by the passage of time.


    The inner courtyard appeared to be in the middle of the whole structure, connecting both the front and the back wings.


    Kenny looked relieved and a little disappointed, but with a gesture, I reminded him to remain quiet and alert. The exploration wasn''t done just yet.


    When we continued to the back wing, we discovered that it, too, didn''t contain much.


    For how desolate the place was, I was jumping in fright awfully many times, hearing the most minor scrapes from the disturbed piles of detritus we left in our wake.


    We found alcoves with some busts, most of them broken or disfigured, more empty rooms, and what was most likely a kitchen if the amount of broken pottery and the existence of a fireplace were to judge.


    I breathed a sigh of relief as we finished going through the house''s interior. It looked like I worried for nothing, and it took us way too long to clear it.


    A dozen rooms, all in all, an inside garden, and a courtyard. There wasn''t a time in history when that wouldn''t be considered filthy rich, even forgetting the proximity to the city center. But where were all the riches now? Nowhere we could find them, that''s for sure.


    "Did you see anything?" I asked Kenny. I didn''t intentionally look for stuff, leaving it for later when I was sure we were no longer in danger.


    "A lot of mud, rotten wood, and broken pottery," Kenny replied, dejected. "It did look like the kitchen had more things to go through."


    The kitchen was on our way out anyway, even if there wasn''t anything there.


    Moving broken pieces around and even some broken glass of the cheap cloudy variety, I couldn''t find a single whole jug to use to keep water. We will have to bring water from the river eventually, and we didn''t even have a cup to hold it in.


    Kenny lifted a heavily tarnished, thin metal tray.


    "Do you think it''s silver?" he asked, looking it over.


    "You''d have to scrub it up to know for certain," I said. I wasn''t sure how he could tell it apart from any other metal.


    It wasn''t suitable for bringing water and couldn''t be used as a weapon. Kenny could keep it for all I cared. Maybe he could barter it for something we could use.


    Sighing in defeat, Kenny moved to the exit while I gave one last once-over.


    I felt a pang of fear as Kenny made a sudden gasp.


    "There! There''s something there! Something moved!" Kenny exclaimed in a strained, hushed whisper.


    I whirled around to look in the same direction.


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    He pointed at the closest narrow corridor that led to the courtyard. It was our immediate way out. But I couldn''t see any movement nor hear anything past my heavy breaths.


    I tried to calm myself and take deeper, slower breaths.


    If we couldn''t take this corridor, we couldn''t take the second either, as they would bring us into the same courtyard. The courtyard was our only way to the side exit or the front part of the building with the main entrance. We were boxed in.


    "Move around to a room with a larger window?" I asked.


    "I don''t know. If there is something outside, we will be absolutely trapped at the back here," he said, sounding freaked out.


    Still, it was the only option I could think of on the spot. I started moving slowly away from the corridor, keeping an eye out, and that''s when I saw it.


    A figure wreathed in darkness, moving quicker than anything I''d seen.


    A fast-moving blur lunged at me. In a panicked jerky move, I managed to throw the rock I was carrying right at it as I fell to the side, trying to dodge it.


    I was somewhat successful. The figure contorted in midair, and the rock sailed harmlessly past it. Still, it was enough to scare it off as it used the sides of the corridor to change direction and retreat.


    I, on the other hand, rolled on the floor, banging my shoulder and knees, a sharp piece of pottery cracking and painfully digging into my arm as I came to a stop.


    "Run!" I screamed at Kenny. "To the back windows!"


    Kenny looked lost for a couple of precious moments before he listened and hurried there, comically, holding the dirty tray to his chest.


    I scrambled to my feet with a grunt of pain and followed.


    Just as we were nearing the window, I saw the monster from the corner of my eye. On instinct, I turned my head to get a better look and lost my footing, my foot sliding on some of the discarded filth on the floor. I continued to twist during the fall and got the air knocked out by the wall near the window.


    Kenny had one leg out when the hideous maw snapped right in front of my face. A hands length from salvation, I screamed and flailed my arms wildly in front of me, trying to push the monster away as soon as it was close enough to touch, my legs uselessly scraping the floor to find purchase. I didn''t try to look brave; I was too desperate to save myself for that.


    My screams and flailing must have distracted the monster. It pulled back and tried to find a better angle to attack me.


    I tried to stand, but it bound on me again, its maw larger than my head, closing in on me. That''s when Kenny went through the monster, kicking and screaming, waving his stupid tray like a bat. I saw his leg go through the monster''s head, but it didn''t react.


    I couldn''t believe he had returned for me.


    It backed up again, arching its back, making it look more menacing than it was, and let me tell you, it was god-damned menacing, as it were.


    "I can''t hit it!" Kenny cried in a panic.


    Back on my legs, I scooped a handful of muck and rotten garbage from the floor and flung it at the monster. It sprayed in ugly chunks, most of which fell short of the target.


    The beast managed to evade the rest in unnatural contortions and quick movements. I wouldn''t have stood a chance if it had moved as quickly when it had attacked me.


    Kenny backed up, keeping his position in front of me, holding the tray defensively as the monster moved to cut us off the escape route in a slow prowl.


    "Did it get you?" He asked.


    I tried to focus on myself. Everything hurt from falling and rolling and hitting my back. Yet, strangely enough, the monster hadn''t landed a single hit. Most of the damage came from my panicked actions. I was my own worst enemy. How unexpected.


    "Not a single scratch," I answered.


    That was impossible. Even an angry housecat would''ve left me with a plethora of painful cuts, yet this menacing freak of nature didn''t even manage to lay a single finger on me.


    I scooped more muck and flung it at the monster. It moved again, my eye unable to follow its limbs. It snapped at us but kept its distance.


    With Kenny in front of me, I had enough presence of mind to notice the inconsistencies, and it was enough to spur me to action.


    I sprayed the monstrosity with an unending stream of muck, mud, and rot.


    "Look!" I exclaimed. "It goes straight through."


    Kenny saw the same thing as me.


    "What is it? A ghost?" He asked, bewildered.


    "Dunno," I said, out of breath. The demonstration made my point, and I couldn''t think of anything else to add.


    Kenny braced himself and started screaming and waving the tray wildly, advancing on the monster. It evaded the first several blows, then retreated further into the house.


    "Let''s go," I cried to him. "Out! Out!"


    Kenny followed me through the window, and we ran right into the middle of the street right outside the haunted house.


    ***


    We were standing some distance away, looking at the house. It remained quiet, not a single movement betraying the malevolent presence within.


    "I couldn''t even land one good hit on it," Kenny finally said with amazement when he got enough air to talk again.


    "When I saw your leg going right through, I didn''t even realize something was wrong. I thought I didn''t see it right," I said. "Did you feel anything?"


    "Nothing," he replied. "Eyes closed, I could probably go right through it and not even know it."


    "Not even a slight resistance? A sense of cold, or static, anything?" I asked.


    "No. Maybe If things were calmer, but I didn''t notice a thing," he insisted. "Didn''t hear it make a sound either."


    "So, a ghost? Or an illusion?" I thought aloud. "Hell, it seems that anything is possible right now."


    "Can''t believe I''m seriously considering ghosts," Kenny mumbled. "Silver didn''t have any special effect on it, at least."


    "If this thing is even made of silver," I pointed out. "It wasn''t able to touch us or anything else, but it did avoid touching anything we threw at it."


    "You think it does anything to it?" Kenny asked, shaking the trey. "Maybe, we can go right back in, and it can''t touch us? It could be harmless."


    "I don''t know," I admitted. "Maybe it didn''t even know that it was safe from us. Or maybe it can materialize and attack, and we didn''t give it a chance, or touching us for longer would be bad for us. We don''t know anything¡ªwe were just lucky enough to keep it on its toes."


    "What now?" Kenny asked, slumping his shoulders. "It was a really long day. We can''t go on like this."


    What could we even do? This house was apparently haunted, and we didn''t know if we were safe from this kind of ghost. I didn''t want to test it on ourselves, but this information would likely come in handy later.


    Going further into the city to look for weapons will be dangerous, and we are both wiped out already.


    "Let''s go back to the plaza," I suggested. "We shouldn''t push too hard."


    That perked him right up. "Oh, I''d love to just drop for a while and relax," he said wistfully.


    "Yeah, I think we earned that much," I agreed.


    Playing everything time over time in my mind, I remembered something important.


    "Kenny," I called out to him. "I owe you big time. Thank you for coming back for me."


    "Uhh¡­" He trailed, "It couldn''t really touch you, so I don''t think we were in real danger."


    "No," I disagreed. "We didn''t know that then, and we don''t know it now. Not for sure. You risked your life for me. I won''t forget it."


    Kenny looked uncomfortable at the praise, but he nodded back.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 7

    Our second visit to the plaza was much quicker than our first arrival. We didn''t venture far enough to make the way back too long. And we already had a sense of familiarity with the scenery and didn''t dawdle.


    Surprisingly despite not being gone for long, there were some changes already. The lookouts that were present when we left were missing. And, the work at the Pillar had stopped.


    The atmosphere had taken a hit as well. People were quieter as a whole and looked scared, packed in tighter groups.


    We came closer to the nearest group.


    "What''s going on?" I asked.


    People looked at us with gloomy looks.


    "There was an attack," a young woman answered. Her eyes were red with tears. "A ghoul killed someone. There was so much blood," her voice cracked with the emotions. "And there was so much screaming."


    Kenny looked uneasily at me, the imagery of the creature and the horrendous screams of its victims popping out from recent memory as fast as it did for me, no doubt.


    "Oh, I''m sorry. Did you know them?" He asked in a gentle tone.


    "No, it was just so awful," she was starting to tear up again. "It just attacked, and more people got hurt, and all we could do was to run around screaming." Tears started to drop down her cheeks.


    "This ''ghoul,'' the same thing as the one Victor brought earlier?" I asked.


    "Probably, I don''t know," she answered. "It just started eating the poor guy on the spot. It ate him alive," she shuddered. "It was the worst thing I''ve ever seen. I can''t stop hearing it."


    "Nobody tried to help? The cop?" I asked.


    "People threw stuff at it, but nobody even came close," she said. "Officer Douglas is working on a solution."


    "What can he even do? Arrest it?" Another person gave off a humorless chuckle. "Now nobody wants to look out for those things, and nobody is building the ramp," he snarled. "Everyone is so afraid that they think there is another one in the Pillar¡ªthat it will jump them the moment they look away," he finished accusingly.


    "Why won''t you keep working at it?" I asked.


    "What, and do all the work by myself?" He snapped.


    I didn''t see him contribute earlier when things were calmer, but I chose not to comment on it. That would be hypocritical of me.


    We walked away, and I looked around, trying to find a good place to rest. There probably wasn''t any safer place around either way, and we were dead on our feet at that point. We could''ve been up for a whole day already, but it was impossible to tell without a clock or any view of the sky.


    We decided on the right colonnade that ran alongside the city square and placed ourselves smack in the middle of it, a reasonable distance away from the other groups while still inside their perimeter.


    "Oof," Kenny sighed as he dropped to the ground. "Finally."


    I sat there, head laid in my hands, eyes shut. The events of the day were playing out in my mind. So much was unclear, but what was important at that moment was to relax, catch my breath, and be ready for the next day.


    ***


    I sat there, contemplating my next move, making plans for tomorrow, and finally, I was relaxed enough to lay down and try to catch some sleep.


    Minutes passed by. I heard Kenny''s measured breaths and the quiet movements of more distant people, but I couldn''t fall asleep.


    Kenny started turning once in a while, more people talked and moved, and there was always some small thing that kept me awake. I couldn''t doze off even for a moment, just laying there fully awake with my eyes closed.


    At some point, Kenny got up and walked away. Was he waiting for me to fall asleep to go away?


    I kept trying to doze off, but with the day''s stress, it was unsurprising that I would fail to find peace.


    Eventually, Kenny returned.


    "Nate?" He called out.


    I thought for a moment about ignoring him, but I didn''t have much hope of falling asleep anytime soon.


    "Yeah," I answer, waiting for him.


    "I didn''t eat," Kenny said leadingly.


    "I don''t think anyone here did," I agreed.


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    "I didn''t drink either," he said.


    "We can go to the river tomorrow," I soothed him.


    Why was he complaining now?


    "No, I mean, I don''t even want to eat or drink," he said. "Do you?"


    Now that he mentioned it, I didn''t notice any sense of hunger or thirst. After all this time and all the activity we had to do today, I expected to be parched.


    Three days or so was the amount of time a person could survive without water, or at least that was what I knew from popular TV shows. I didn''t check it with some doctor or anything.


    "I swallowed some water accidentally earlier, but it shouldn''t be enough, I don''t think," I replied. "What do you reckon?"


    Kenny had an intense expression. The last time he looked like this was when he discovered we were underground. I was really hoping for a less unorthodox conclusion from him this time.


    "I didn''t eat or drink all day, and I didn''t even pee for a whole day. I don''t think you need a medical degree to know that''s not normal," he said. "And I can''t sleep. Nobody can, I asked around."


    "Nobody can sleep?" I asked. "From the stress?"


    "Not one person managed to fall asleep even once, even for a minute," he said.


    That was strange. Not as strange as being kidnapped and let loose in a haunted, lost ancient city underground, but still surprising. How do you make a whole population sleepless? Something in the air?


    "So, what are you thinking?" I asked him. I sure didn''t have an explanation for any of this.


    "People are saying an experiment by the government. Or aliens," Kenny said. "Some people said we are probably in a virtual world like the Matrix. Someone even suggested that we all died, and this is the afterlife," he listed off, every possibility sounding less sure as he went on.


    "Any of the options has with a way back home?" I asked, coming to a sitting position.


    He just shrugged.


    I took my time thinking things over. A situation this absurd could only be explained by something of roughly equally ridiculous bearing. That was my read on things, at least. The law of conservation of absurdity, if you will.


    "Whatever it is, we are not dead," I concluded.


    Kenny just looked at me questioningly.


    "We are not dead," I repeated," I don''t know about the aliens and the other stuff, but I am sure about this one."


    Kenny remained quiet.


    "Everything we do, every decision we make, we have to assume that we can survive," I added. "Without hope, we don''t stand a chance."


    We remained silent for a while. I tried to entertain the far-fetched possibilities Kenny presented, but ultimately they only held value for me if they provided some kind of advantage.


    Believing that we had already died held no advantage whatsoever.


    If we were part of a government experiment or, interchangeably, an alien experiment, we could be kept alive longer if we provided the necessary results. But what results were they seeking? The only objective I could think of was to test how long a random sample of people would survive. But how could I incentivize those theoretical scientists to intervene on my behalf? Seeing me live or die would satisfy them either way.


    What if aliens use this setup as an entertaining reality show? Would acting more appealing and exciting make them want to help us stay alive longer? That''s a real thing I could do to impact the situation.


    Or were we inside a computer simulation? Should we have access to the system, could we open a help ticket? Contact an administrator? Open a console? How would that work? A hand gesture or verbal command?


    I explained to Kenny that I intended to test his simulation theory so he won''t be alarmed. Instead of treating me like a madman, he supported the idea and joined me.


    "Escape, Logout, Logoff, Shutdown, Quit, Exit, Settings, Properties, Help, Command, Terminal, Console, System¡­" We tried every command we could remember, every gesture that could be used with a touchscreen or a VR headset.


    We went at it for a while, but eventually, we had to conclude that none of them worked.


    It was a long shot anyway, so back to the drawing board we went.


    Kenny perked up and started lifting his shirt, showing his back.


    "Hey Nate, do you see anything on my back?"


    I looked closely. "No, you have a red spot from leaning on the column, but nothing else jumps out."


    "I had a big birthmark there," Kenny proclaimed triumphantly. "I should''ve checked sooner when I realized my eyesight was fixed."


    I started checking myself, too, birthmarks, scars, and moles. Every imperfection or irregularity I could remember. I had a sinking feeling when I corroborated him. Some things remained the same; others disappeared entirely or were slightly different in a way I couldn''t pinpoint.


    Discovering that I was somehow changed against my will was a horrible feeling. I felt violated. My body was tweaked and twisted without me even noticing it.


    It didn''t have any rhyme or reason to it either. Sometimes the larger mole was removed, and sometimes the smaller scar. It wasn''t restricted to time either. Even a wisdom tooth that just started to come out disappeared entirely.


    "How long for this kind of dental work to completely heal?" I asked. "Several days? Weeks?"


    Kenny nodded uncertainly.


    "It just doesn''t make sense," I continued. "Can you imagine the number of surgeries and time needed for all of it? And for what? Just to mess with our heads?"


    We sat thinking. What else could we test? What other things that seemed impossible needed to be checked now? Something so obvious that we won''t question it, but it was somehow different now?


    "It''s the more visible things that remained," Kenny remarked. "For me, at least. I don''t think anything changed on my hands, but my back or anywhere I won''t usually notice is fair game."


    He was right. How could it help us? It didn''t narrow down the possibilities of our situation, and I couldn''t see how to take advantage of it.


    We were idle for hours, and while we couldn''t sleep, eventually, I felt rested enough, at least physically. Of course, we were still stressed and mentally exhausted from all the happenings, but if only physical activity was required, we could probably repeat today''s feats.


    Kenny went to look for someone to barter his silver tray, and I just stayed put, trying to come up with a plan. I wondered if we would start losing weight if we went without food or water for long enough or if we would be able to sleep eventually, even if it would be less frequent. Many of those things could be answered by surviving long enough, but I wasn''t sure I would like the answers.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 8

    <div>


    <div>


    People became more active and gathered at the building to the left of the Pillar. It didn''t look dangerous or too heated, so I joined them.


    A young woman was standing on the steps of what could''ve once been a temple. She was young and had straight black hair and plain, neutral features.


    She was standing on the steps, hands pressed together in prayer, her eyes closed, softly carrying a high note in an imitation of a choir, bathed in the pervasive supernatural white light of the place. It looked like a picturesque scene out of a fairy tale. But unfortunately, the illusion was broken by her attire. She didn''t wear footwear and was grabbed in a mishmash of gray sweatpants and a cashier''s blue vest. It was surreal.


    "What is she doing?" I asked an old lady standing nearby.


    "Hell, if I know," she spat. "People going crazier by the hour."


    I continued to watch with interest. Heck, I expected people to start praying to God and losing their minds much sooner than this. Where were all the hardcore Christian wackos Moeta was so famous for? Where were the cries to repent or face the rupture?


    Another girl came up from behind the singer. She was shorter and had red hair. She was carrying something smoldering in her hands, moving in nervous jerky moves, her face red with embarrassment.


    The crowd responded with chuckles and jeers.


    She made three circles around the singer, tripping slightly on the steps, then held her hands above the brunette''s head and let the smoke cascade on her in a waterfall.


    The singing girl let the melody slowly die out and then started to pace on the temple''s steps while her helper retreated inside.


    "We humbly thank the Goddess for the new day and ask her for the strength to bear the difficulties it will bring," she said in a clear preachy tone.


    I wasn''t the only one that looked around in confusion. What could indicate this new day? The surroundings were unchanged, nobody wore a watch, and there wasn''t the slightest sign of sunlight. If she was starting a cult, telling a bunch of confused people what day it was, and being the only authority on the matter was not a bad idea on her part. I could smell the brewing con from a mile away.


    I made a mental note to ask about this Goddess if I ever needed anything from her. Preachy people love to talk about their imaginary friends.


    On second thought, I should add divine intervention to the list of possible explanations for the situation.


    Meanwhile, the preacher transitioned from the impromptu ceremony right into a presentation.


    "At this point, everyone here is aware of the dangers posed to us by the ghouls," she presented. "Many must have noticed that we are no longer able to sleep and fully rest and restore our spiritual energy."


    The crowd''s response was muted. Everyone was waiting for her to continue.


    "Here At the Western Temple, we extend a warm welcome to all. We provide Healing and Restoration in exchange for the ghoul bodies."


    It looked like she was also calling the cardinal directions now and selling snake oil.


    This proclamation was met with incredulous cries from the assembled people.


    She waved in someone from the crowd. Then, several seconds later, she tried again more impatiently.


    The familiar hulking form of Victor grudgingly made his way towards her, stepping slower than necessary.


    He faced the crowd and cleared his throat, waiting for the noise to die.


    "Yeah, she fixed me up real good," he showed his hands and ruined clothes with what appeared to be unbroken skin, even patting it firmly several times to show that he was unhurt. "And I do feel rested like I had a good night''s sleep, so she ain''t lying about that."


    The crowd exploded at the impossible admission, demanding more proof or calling them liars. Victor''s words were enough for some as they shouted and appealed for her miraculous healing.


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    She lifted her chin smugly at his admission.


    "I''m assembling a group to hunt those things¡ªthose ghouls," Victor sounded the world in distaste. "If you wanna join, come find me, and we''ll discuss it," he finished resolutely and moved back down the steps.


    "As I was saying," she continued her spiel. "Taking care of the ghouls will help all of us, but I will need their bodies to treat you," she made a sad expression that rang false to me. "Without it, I won''t be able to help. As much as I would like to do that."


    Officer Douglas finally deigned to join the masses. A group of followers surrounded him.


    "No going on unauthorized hunts. I don''t wanna hear about it," he shouted. "We need to work together and keep building the ramp. If anyone is rearing for a fight, they can stand on guard duty and help everyone here."


    He angrily stomped to the girl, and they started arguing, their words inaudible over the ruckus of the crowd.


    ***


    I looked for Victor''s recognizable workwear through the crowd and caught up to him.


    "Hey Victor, wait up," I called.


    "Ah," he recognized me, trying to recall my name.


    "It''s Nate," I supplied, remembering I didn''t introduce myself.


    "What did ya think of the show, Nate?" He asked conversely.


    "Got me interested," I answered truthfully. "Did she really heal you?"


    "I think I''m gonna get that question a lot," he smirked. "Yeah, she did."


    He shimmied out of the upper half of his overalls and lowered it to his waist, tying the sleeves around himself in a makeshift belt. The white shirt that was visible now was dirty¡ªbrown in places where the blood dried up. He put a finger through the tears in the fabric and moved it around, demonstrating the harm. His skin, on the other hand, was unblemished. Not even a red mark or a scar remained.


    I could see Kenny coming up from the side, joining our conversation.


    Was he healed the same way my tooth was removed, Kenny''s eyesight, and our skin? I could barely believe it, even though it was staring me in the face. I had seen his wounds before, and they were real. And now I saw him healed¡ªand that was also real. Both facts could barely coexist at the same time in my mind.


    "How did it happen?" I asked in awe. "How did she do it?"


    It was real. This was it. The advantage I was looking for. Even if it doesn''t get me closer to understanding where we were or how we got here, she must have found something that enabled her to understand and use the rules this place was operating under.


    The cheat codes.


    "I don''t know," Victor shrugged his shoulders. "She just did."


    "But can you describe it?" I pressed. "In detail? What did she say or do? How long did it take?"


    "Well..." Victor delayed, "She said she was a witch."


    "A witch?" I repeated after him. I looked at Kenny. Was I hearing it right?


    "People wanted to lynch a guy because he was Mexican, and she''s openly calling herself a witch now?"


    "Yeah, well, I don''t care if she calls herself a leprechaun," Victor retorted. "As long as we can work together, and I need her, she can call herself whatever she wants."


    "That''s... brave of her," I hedged.


    I believe Kenny intuited by now my stance on this kind of bravery.


    "Yeah, so she told me that they took my ghoul, and she wanted to offer me her healing," he continued. "I thought she was a nurse or something. I didn''t think she meant thoughts and prayers," he joked.


    "I came with her to her temple, we talked for a bit, then she put her hands on me and prayed or cast a spell or something, and I was all healed up. Wasn''t even tired no more, like I never missed a night''s sleep."


    "What did you talk about?" Kenny piped in for the first time.


    "She asked me if I am willing to receive a blessing," he recounted. "Ahem. If I would ''receive a blessing to heal my body and mind,''" He sounded awkward as he recited it. "I wanted to go out right there, but she told me it was the only thing required of me, and we would be done in a minute," he defended.


    He looked even more embarrassed.


    "She spat on her hand and used it to draw on me." He pointed to his chest near the tears in his shirt. "It was this symbol, the one that looks like a cross. The Egyptian one, with the loop."


    "An Ankh?" Kenny supplied.


    "Yeah, sure, one of those," Victor agreed. "Then she leaned in, whispered to the symbol, and I couldn''t hear what she was saying," he thought for a moment. "It looked crazy, but it''s a good thing I didn''t bolt. Just like that, it worked," he snapped his fingers.


    "So, some magical spit, and a symbol, that''s it?" I asked.


    "It was in the temple, required consent, Ankh with spit and blood, then touch and some words," Kenny reiterated dutifully.


    He was much better than me accepting all of this mumbo jumbo, but if it works, I need it to work for me. So I needed to take everything seriously, even the ridiculous parts.


    I didn''t care how impossible it was; I was going to make use of whatever dream logic governed this place.


    "How long was it?" I asked.


    "She didn''t lie when she told me it would only take a minute. It really was that fast," Victor said.


    I shook my head in disbelief. It takes weeks for something like this to heal and months or years for the scars to fade. If they ever do. The impossibilities kept mounting.


    "Was she holding anything?" I tried to rack my brain. "A wand?"


    "No, nothing I could see," he replied.


    "What about the Goddess?" Kenny asked. "Did she say anything about that?"


    "I don''t think so," Victor tried to remember. "I think she said there were three Goddesses, but I don''t remember her saying any names."


    Victor looked thoughtful.


    "She did just say that she needs the ghouls to do it, but I didn''t see her near the thing. It wasn''t anywhere I could see it." Victor said.


    "Thank you, Victor," I said sincerely, turning to walk away. "I''ll return the favor."


    He just waved it away, mumbling something about it not being of any good to me.


    We had to test it as soon as possible. How long could we go without sleep? Days, probably. While I didn''t feel hungry or physically weakened, I did feel the first signs of sleep deprivation. So I had to try taking care of it without going out, risking my life just for some make-believe witch to claim the spoils.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 9

    Kenny insisted on trying to reproduce the healing at the temple. But since we knew the ''Western Temple'' was already busy, we settled on its twin across the street. The Eastern Temple, as we jokingly called it.


    Thankfully it was vacant when we arrived. Many people were present at the square, of course. Most, in fact, never left it.


    Some worked near the Pillar, and others were hanging around doing nothing, but it didn''t seem that this particular building was of any interest to anyone at that moment.


    "So, how are you so accepting of all of it?" I asked Kenny. "It''s not that you believe any ridiculous claim you hear, but you think everything through. You never dismiss anything out of hand."


    Kenny nodded along with the question.


    "I guess I just came to terms with it," he said. "I don''t think you paid any mind to it, but when we were in the mist, outside the city, it came as a real shock to me," he gave a weak smile. "It was like a scene from a horror movie or a bad dream. Wandering alone in the mist, visiting places I was not supposed to reach yet," he shuddered.


    I didn''t know it affected him so much.


    "It''s worse than just the monsters or being stuck underground," Kenny continued. "If you squint hard enough, you can come up with an explanation for it," he looked up. "But being moved around like that, things disappearing on their own... that was impossible, and I guess the idea that everything here is somehow less than real stuck with me. I can''t shake it. Even if some Goddess is involved, or any other impossible explanation, if there is a pattern to it, if there are rules we need to know to understand what''s going on, we have to know them," he finished with a defeated sigh.


    I understood what he was talking about. Our world was shaken right under our feet. And for Kenny, it was even more literal. He was looking for something to grab onto, to regain-


    "You are looking for control," I concluded. "Even if it means you must disregard things you think you already know or accept explanations that would have made you look insane."


    He nodded at that.


    "I''m with you, Kenny," I said. "I''m all open mind right now. We are going to crack this healing business and anything else. So you can say anything that comes to mind, anything you suspect. I promise I will not make fun of you or dismiss you."


    He nodded again, looking relieved.


    Whatever it was¡ªwitchcraft or prayers this place was running on, we would find out. We were going to understand it and use it to our advantage.


    ***


    We started by going through everything we knew about Victor''s miraculous healing again.


    There were several things that we couldn''t precisely reproduce. Things we would try to approximate. We couldn''t use the Western Temple, and we didn''t have a witch on hand. The wording of the actual prayer or spell was unknown, and we still didn''t know if her claim to need a ghoul''s body had any truth to it.


    But some things we could follow to the letter. For example, we''ll ask for consent to receive "a blessing to heal the mind and body." And we could draw the Ankh symbol with spit and blood and place it either on the chest or near a wound. We would not forgo the slightest detail Victor was able to supply us.


    "Okay, let''s do it," I said, scratching at a scab on one of the many minor cuts my hands collected yesterday.


    I pressed around the wound so more drops of blood would squeeze through and held my hand out for Kenny to do his magic.


    "Do you accept this blessing to heal your body and mind?" Kenny asked awkwardly.


    "Yes," I kept a straight face, not willing to do anything to discourage him.


    Kenny took some spit and traced the blood into a small misshapen Ankh under the cut. I felt like we were kids playing a disgusting game that went too far.


    "Heal," he whispered, bowed over the wound.


    We waited for a minute, but nothing happened.


    "Try the other spells," I suggested.


    We knew it wouldn''t work on the first try.


    Kenny went through them one by one. The prayers, the spells, and the commands.


    "Heal, Heal, Heal," "In the name of the goddess, I command you to heal," "Goddess, I pray to you to close this wound," "Ankh," "Episkeu," "By the power of this temple, heal"...


    Nothing worked. There wasn''t the slightest change.


    "What''s with the Ankh, anyway?" I asked, trying to hold back the disappointment. "Everything here is Greek, and she uses an Egyptian symbol?"


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    Kenny thought it over.


    "Well, they are connected. I think Greece conquered Egypt for some time," he said. "Or maybe it was Rome," he sounded less sure.


    I understood the confusion. I couldn''t come up with one difference between the ancient countries with a gun to my head.


    "Okay, what about the symbol itself? What''s its story?" I asked. All I knew about it was that it was used as jewelry and may have some significance in new-age mumbo jumbo.


    "Ahem... I''m not sure. I think pharaohs had them, maybe as a talisman. Or maybe they were only illustrated with them as a symbol."


    "And it stands for... What? Healing?" I asked.


    "I think life in general," Kenny hedged uncertainly.


    "Okay, so a symbol that represents life, that fits at least," I said. "What about witches? What makes someone a witch?"


    "Maybe they need to be born to a witch?" Kenny asked. "Or to a person and a demon or something supernatural?"


    It was too late for me to be born as anything other than a common pleb, so I needed a different option.


    "What about making a deal with the Devil?" I asked. "That''s a thing, right? Some kind of Contract?"


    "Ahh... I am not sure I want to try that one," he said.


    "Yeah, we are not jumping into anything here, but we needed to go over every little thing we could think of."


    Kenny looked thoughtful.


    "In video games, you can just choose to be a mage or maybe do some quest to unlock it," he said.


    "What kind of quest?" I asked. I played several games, but I could only remember choosing a class at the start. What if those requirements that Kenny mentioned were based on real-life lore?


    "Defeat someone strong so the order or school accepts you," he started listing. "Or getting all the needed items to do some ritual like a book, a stuff, or something magical."


    "Signing your name in some book," I tried to recall a half-remembered story. "But that''s probably connected to the deal with the Devil stuff."


    Another dead end, it seemed.


    "What about the spells themselves? What do they require?" I asked. "I know you can use a spell repeatedly in some games, with only the cooldown stopping you from spamming it. And in some, you need mana. What''s the equivalent to mana in real life?" I asked.


    "I don''t think there is one," Kenny replied excitedly. "But, in some games, you can use stamina or health to cast, and we do have that."


    "What else? How do you use a ghoul in a spell?" I asked.


    "I don''t know anything about ghouls specifically," He said. "Maybe a sacrifice in a ritual, or like in tabletops, you have a material cost to some spells, but Victor said she didn''t use the ghoul."


    "He didn''t see her use it," I countered. "What if she used it before he came?"


    "We don''t have a ghoul anyway," Kenny reminded.


    Kenny stopped in thought.


    "A cost to the spell-" he mumbled. "Here, let me try again," He called louder.


    I extended my hand again.


    He didn''t ask me to receive a blessing or redraw the symbol again. Instead, he stared intently at the little cut and the sign, took a big breath, and forcefully whispered a command.


    "Close!"


    I jerked my hand away from him. It wasn''t painful, but I felt a strong tug at the skin surrounding the cut.


    I looked at my hand. The cut was still there. In fact, it didn''t look any different, but there was a palpable sensation. So he managed to do something, even if it wasn''t to heal me.


    ***


    "I felt it!" I exclaimed. "It didn''t heal, but I felt it! What did you do differently? It looked the same to me," I tried to hold my excitement down.


    Kenny breathed deeper and exhaled slowly, his shoulder slumping a little. It looked like the action tired him.


    "Two things," He replied with a happy smile. "I visualized the cut closing in as much detail as possible, the skin coming together, the blood vessels connecting. And I tried to use my stamina to do it," he thought how to better put it. "Like having my body exert itself to make it happen. Sacrifice some of my stamina for the spell to happen."


    I thought it over. "It felt like someone was physically tugging at my skin, trying to push it closed, but it didn''t actually heal."


    "I think I know why," Kenny said. "Let''s try again from the top."


    I considered holding him back, letting him catch his breath. But the breakthrough got me so excited that I went along.


    "We are on holy ground, inside the temple," he proclaimed to the empty air.


    Again, he took my hand.


    "Will you receive this blessing to heal your body and mind?" He asked.


    This time it didn''t strike me as childish or theatrical. It felt real.


    "Yes," I agreed without reservation.


    "This Ankh drawn with your blood and my saliva represents life," He announced, pointing at the symbol.


    I dumbly nodded.


    "I use my life to bless you," he continued. "Heal and be restored."


    He took a big breath and blew forcefully at the symbol and the cut.


    Immediately, I felt all my aches lifting. My tiredness from the missed night''s sleep, all the cuts and bruises I had on me, and everything that was not ideal for my sense of comfort just melted away.


    In a matter of seconds, I felt better than I did in recent memory. I was so overflowing with energy that I could take a run, just for fun, to feel the air on my face. The last time I felt so physically charged was when I ran away from the squid.


    "No way!" I cried out. "No fucking way it worked!"


    Kenny dropped to the ground, breathing hard.


    "We did it," he looked up, exhausted.


    "You did it," I beamed at him. "You''re a witch now, Kenny."

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 10

    It took Kenny several minutes to regain his strength, and he wasn''t exactly fresh afterward.


    "It''s not just exhaustion," he said. "It was so hard to concentrate, and I was seeing black spots for a while."


    "I''m going to heal you back," I said. "Don''t worry, you''ll feel like new."


    "No, No," he waved me down. "We have to be efficient about this. We have to plan it out."


    "You''re right," I said. "We need to know if we can heal only the body or even a single wound."


    "Not only that," he replied. "We made a lot of assumptions here. We need to get rid of all the unnecessary stuff," he pointed at the ground. "The first thing that needs to go is the temple. We didn''t even use the right one, and it will be a whole different game if we can Heal outside."


    We made our plans and went outside. I wasn''t a stranger to the scientific method. I went to school like every else, but planning experiments for something explicitly supernatural felt out of place. If it can be repeated at will, we''ll be able to depend on it. Hell, if it was impossible to sleep, we would have to rely on something like this.


    We slowly walked out of the plaza, noting the bustling activity near the growing ramp, and turned a corner behind one of the closest unattended buildings. When we ensured there were no people or ghouls in sight. We continued to experiment.


    It didn''t take us long, ten minutes at most. And yet, while I still felt reinvigorated physically, the clarity and freshness left me by this point. Whatever Kenny did, it was not the substitution to sleep the witch made it out to be.


    First, we had to try it without all the most likely noise. We were outside the temple and decided to try to recover only Kenny''s life force.


    It took him several tries to manage a nick on his skin, and I was quick to draw the Ankh on his hand. We already knew the placement of the symbol was insignificant since he used the one we drew on my hand to Heal everything.


    "Do you accept this blessing to recover your life force?" I asked him.


    "Yes," he accepted.


    "This Ankh was drawn with your blood and my saliva. It represents life," I said, touching the symbol.


    "I use some of my life to bless you," I proclaimed. "Be restored."


    I finished with a prolonged measured blow on his symbol. It was a hard feeling to describe, a mentally draining exercise that made me feel lessened for it.


    I stopped blowing when Kenny lifted a hand.


    "Did it work?" I asked. I felt the drain, but it did not guarantee success.


    "Yeah, It felt like getting slapped awake or chugging coffee," he answered. "Could be addictive. We should be careful with this."


    This was a huge win. We now gained the ability to Heal outside of the temple.


    I was in awe. Not only miracles or magic were possible. I had this miraculous ability¡ªme. It was unbelievable, and there was much more to come.


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    ***


    We continued our work, resting between each try, and still, we were both spent by the end.


    Kenny managed to Heal himself. Then I succeeded in treating separate wounds.


    The Ankh could be drawn using anything. We didn''t have to use bodily fluids for it. The symbol was not strictly necessary but made the spell easier. We could use a stone with the sign to Heal without drawing it on the body.


    The patient''s permission was only needed when casting on each other; without it, the effect was severely weakened. Same with touch.


    The most selective of all was the ending. The command to be healed could be whispered, which didn''t change the result. Willing the effect silently was strenuous and barely worked, but it was possible.


    After that, only the trigger remained. Blowing on the symbol or whispering to it worked like pouring water. It was seamless and gradual. However, using the command itself as a trigger, a snap of the fingers, or a clap, was worse. The effect was more abrupt, harder on the caster, and felt more wasteful.


    We were absolutely exhausted, but we had the framework for future spells.


    Consent from the target, a symbol of the effect, the intent to use life force, the command, touch, and the trigger.


    Out of all of them, only the use of life was missing on our very first try, we were so close, but it took us so much time to get to it. It was also the only thing essential for the spell. All of the others only made the magic more manageable and potent.


    "We must thank Victor," Kenny remarked. "His description was so good, we actually managed to repeat it."


    "I still can''t believe I can use magic," I said. "He only missed the life-force aspect, and he couldn''t have known it either way. And oh, how I wish we knew the spit wasn''t necessary. I feel so stupid for trying with it so many times," I chuckled.


    "I still don''t understand the Ankh," Kenny complained. "It represents life, so do we use it for any spell that uses our life? Or maybe only the spells that affect life?" he continued to ramble. "What even gives it the meaning of life? How many people need to recognize the symbol to give it meaning?"


    "Whoa, hold your horses there," I said. "I wouldn''t risk casting anymore without rest. You need to find a way to write down all your ideas, or your head will explode," I joked.


    I was very thankful to Kenny, but he needed to be more careful. It took some persuading to make him stop earlier. We didn''t know what would happen if we used too much of our life. We could die for all I knew.


    "I have just the idea for next time," Kenny said. "You''ll only have to heal a small cut up to three times at worst, and we will have another piece of the puzzle."


    "What piece exactly?" I asked.


    "I can tell you only after you do it. That''s part of it," he said.


    His enthusiasm was infectious, which made me curious, but I was serious when I decided to stop. So It''ll have to wait.


    We were walking beside the colonnade when I noticed his silver tray.


    "Didn''t you try to sell it?" I asked.


    "Nobody wanted it," he shrugged. "I just left it here when I saw you talk to Victor."


    I got an idea.


    "Let''s go talk to the witch," I proposed.


    He looked at me questioningly.


    "We won''t tell her we figured out her trick," I warned him. "But we need to get as much as we can from her. Anything she lets slip, we may be able to use."


    I picked up the tray. "This will be our gift to her. Who doesn''t like silver?"


    "We need to ask her about the Goddess," Kenny suggested. "And how she knows when it''s dawn."


    "We''ll ask her to teach us to heal," I said.


    "Why?" He asked. "We already know that."


    "Just to see what the price she puts on that information is," I said. "We''ll know her better for it."


    Kenny hummed thoughtfully.


    "Chin up. We''re going to make a new friend," I joked.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 11

    The Western Temple was an almost perfect replica of the previous one we visited. Tall wide columns surrounded an open space, with a small enclosed structure at one end and no statues or writings to indicate the gods worshiped here.


    One difference I noticed was that the structure had an intact stone door, which was closed at the moment. It must have been why the witch chose this temple over the other.


    We came up the steps and saw two people talking heatedly.


    "Look, I am trying to find common ground," A middle-aged woman said. "We need to work together, and for that, you must cooperate."


    "Mr. Douglas can come to me directly if he needs anything," the younger woman, the witch, answered. "I don''t see a reason to communicate via messenger."


    She was wearing a black robe now instead of the sweatpants and cashier vest I had seen her last. She held her head high and looked to the side as if to show that this conversation didn''t deserve her attention. Her young age didn''t prevent her from acting like she had the upper hand.


    I stopped some distance away, not hiding but still able to listen in. Standing in the open, demonstratively waiting for a meeting, would be hardly misconstrued as eavesdropping, but that was precisely my intention.


    "He didn''t come here because you already refused to assist him," the woman continued to pressure her. "I came to ask instead. As a neutral third party, if you will."


    "My answer wouldn''t change even if ten other people would come here to ask me for more," The witch replied. "I offer to heal those that bring me the offering. That is all."


    "But, people are tired, exhausted. They need your help. Why won''t you do anything if you can?" The woman continued her pleas.


    It seemed the fine woman didn''t understand a simple rule in negotiation. When you need something from someone, the way to get it is not to ask for it and keep repeating and explaining how much you want it. How much you need it. No. You must persuade the person and show them why they want to deal with you. Make it beneficial for the other party, which in this case was easy as the witch repeatedly stated what she wanted.


    "Bring me a ghoul, and I will help as many people as possible. But, until then, please don''t bother me or send any more beggars," the witch finished the discussion and turned away.


    "Well, Douglas also asked me to remind you that there are many angry people around, and they can react violently to your refusals-" the woman delivered the veiled threat in a malicious voice.


    "Thank you for the reminder. Now get out," The witch cut her off. She was unmoved by the threat in the slightest. If she could disregard it due to arrogance or ability remained to be seen.


    The supplicant huffed angrily and stormed out.


    "Don''t bother," she snapped at me as she passed. "She only looks out for herself."


    Wasn''t everybody?


    I didn''t respond and walked straight to the robed figure. The red head of her helper peeked from behind the door, but as soon as she saw us, she ducked back. What was she even doing there? There are literally zero reasons to stay indoors.


    "Hello," I started pleasantly. "It''s good to meet our resident healer finally."


    She looked impassively at me, not offering any greeting.


    "We have brought you a gift," I motioned for Kenny to present her the tray.


    She took it in her hands using only the tips of her finger like she was holding something dirty.


    "It''s silver," I continued. "If you polish it, maybe you will be able to use it for your magic if you need a mirror."


    "I don''t need it," she stressed the need. "I could just make one-" she stopped mid-sentence, regaining her composure. "Thank you for your gift. Unfortunately, I can only treat you if you bring me a ghoul''s body."


    "We didn''t come for that," I eased her worries. "Only to chat and get to know you."


    She looked healthy and vibrant. Everybody else was tired, but she didn''t have a hair out of place. Clearly, she had enough mojo to treat both Victor and herself.


    Unfortunately, the same couldn''t be said about me. When I shared energy with Kenny, the effect on our minds was fleeting. The grogginess and the brain fog gradually returned a short while after the casting, not to mention the negative effect it had on the caster.


    "Let''s say we find more precious metals out in the city. Would you be interested?" I proposed.


    "No," she dismissed it out of hand. "I don''t need anything else."


    "What about teaching others to heal?" I asked. "Is it something you could do?"


    She looked thoughtful of that.


    "Only to suitable people," She said. "But it would require them to go through initiation and join the coven."


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    "The coven?" I repeated after her. "How would I apply to join?"


    "It''s undecided," she replied. "When I have to, I''ll announce it after the morning ritual."


    I nodded at that.


    "How are you able to tell when it''s morning? With the constant dim lighting, it''s so easy to lose the sense of time," I complained.


    "I have a deep connection with the Goddess," she stated. "Through it, she guides and empowers me."


    It smelled like bullshit, but I didn''t have any way to check, did I?


    "And are people accepting of you worshiping a goddess you just discovered in an abandoned temple?" I asked. "Moeta is known for its strong Christian values. It''s hard to imagine being called a witch, and going against the flow would sit well with everyone."


    "Their opinions do not concern me," she claimed arrogantly. "And I did not just start to follow the Goddess. It is a practice that started years before coming here."


    She gave me a meaningful look.


    "We don''t need to bother with religion anymore," she said enigmatically. "We were brought here, to the Underworld, under the grace of the Triple Goddess," she went into full preach mode. "Look carefully around you," she continued, "There are no real followers of any god around here. Who will they follow? A meaningless story in some book they probably never opened? Or the real power of the Goddess?"


    She let that sink in.


    "Now, I have to attend to more important matters," she dismissed us and walked towards the stone door. Disappearing inside like it wasn''t a small dark room devoid of anything.


    ***


    "What do you think?" I asked Kenny.


    We were standing outside, watching the temple.


    "She''s... intense," Kenny chose to go with a less unflattering description than I would use.


    "She is crazy," I corrected him. "She is making a lot of enemies unnecessarily."


    "But she''s right," Kenny said. "She does have real power that everyone is going to depend on."


    "The power of bullshitting," I said. "We have the same magical ability, and it didn''t require initiation or whatever. So she either believes her own spiel, or she''s lying."


    Kenny nodded at that.


    "We did manage to glean something from it," I added. "Our lovely witch got her robe from somewhere, and she said she doesn''t need anything other than the ghoul bodies."


    "The ghouls, she probably uses to regain her energy or use them in spells," Kenny guessed. "But where did she get the robe from?"


    I had no idea. Not everything had to be explained with magic, but I couldn''t think of anything other than that.


    A fight broke out near the growing stone ramp. Fortunately, some of Douglas''s men broke it up. However, it was easy to see that people were becoming increasingly agitated and tired.


    So did we. I could feel the exhaustion of all the physical activity, lack of sleep, and magic practice weighing on me. I only felt better briefly when Kenny first restored me, but it was a fleeting restoration capable of improving my well-being for minutes before I returned to my regular tired self. Not to mention how it weighed on Kenny, and when I inevitably had to share my energy with him, it only served to bring us back to about the same as before the restorations, probably less. The witch had an external energy source, probably the ghoul''s body. I was hoping it was not the Goddess she was so passionate about.


    I notice the redhead exit the temple.


    "Finally. Ready for round two?" I asked Kenny.


    He just shrugged.


    "Hey," I called out to the short girl in a friendly tone.


    She jumped slightly at that.


    "Ohh, I''m sorry. I didn''t try to scare you," I apologized.


    "No, It''s okay. I wasn''t paying attention," she replied, stopping and looking at us.


    "I just wanted to say you did a great job at the ritual," I flattered her. "Added to the whole mysterious vibe. It wouldn''t look the same without you."


    I looked at Kenny, waiting for his input.


    "It looked very interesting," He agreed with a serious expression.


    "Ahhh, thanks," she said, looking up at him, fidgeting slightly.


    "Real brave, too," I continued. "With all those people watching, I''d probably just freeze and stare at them," I laughed. "Never was an audience person."


    "Yeah, me neither," she replied. "It was mortifying, but Claire said-" She stopped, looking guilty. "Ahh... I mean the High Priestess. She said we had to do a ritual every morning for the blessing of the Goddess, and she knows this stuff, so I had to go along."


    "Oh? Why do you call her that?" I asked. "The High Priestess?"


    "Umm... We should go by titles or craft names to protect our true names," she hesitated.


    "Oh? What name did you choose?" I played along.


    She glanced at Kenny.


    "I didn''t think of anything yet," she said uncertainly.


    "So if Claire is The High Priestess, you can be a priestess?" I asked. "She told us about the initiation into the coven, but she was only going to announce it at the morning ritual."


    "Ahh, I didn''t go through initiation yet," she hesitated. "So I don''t know if I should..."


    Damn, she wasn''t even worthy of a lower title in the same make-believe organization she helped start. Someone was pushed around one too many times at the playground.


    "Say, where did she get all this stuff from? When I first saw her, I thought she was a cashier. Now she is healing people and wearing this fancy new robe," I probed.


    "Ohh... She''s actually a student at the Uni. I just lent her my vest," she said. "When we arrived, we were so confused, and it was cold, and she wasn''t wearing much," she shook her head. "I thought I had to help her then. Now, it looks like she is the one that looks out for me."


    "She studies witchcraft as a major?" I joked.


    "No," the redhead smiled back. "They did an initiation when she joined her sorority, so she kinda was a witch all along... but didn''t know it."


    "And everyone who joins her coven now gets a free black robe as a welcome gift?" I laughed invitingly.


    "It''s a manifestation of my will," she parodied Clair''s arrogant tone. "She''ll probably make us make our own," she said, smiling.


    "Well, even without the sweet robes, I hope you''ll have an opening soon," I said. "We are considering joining."


    "I hope so, too," she gave Kenny a shy smile and waved as she walked away.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 12

    We walked the edges of the square, looking at the ramp''s heightened activity. It went much faster than the first day, mainly due to more people participating.


    "If we go by fake names, I call dibs on Brains," I joked. "You can take Brawn."


    "You think we should go by fake names?" Kenny asked. "Or was it more nonsense from the High Priestess?"


    "I have a sneaking suspicion that her knowledge comes from her fake sorority coven," I guessed. "Or from folklore. I don''t think she had any abilities before yesterday, so it must be all as new to her as it is for us."


    "But she could still be right?" Kenny asked.


    "Everything is possible," I shrugged. "Maybe a person that doesn''t use their true name becomes powerless after a month, or maybe if your fake name is shorter than eight characters, you get cancer."


    Kenny stared at me.


    "We don''t know anything for certain. We''ll have to check it for ourselves," I said. "Until then, let''s take precautions, but I''m not going to believe everything that comes out of her mouth."


    "We should teach everyone," Kenny suddenly stated. "About the healing spell. We shouldn''t hold it back when it can help so many people."


    I balked at that. Not only did it cost us a lot of effort, but it would erase any advantage we managed to gain over everyone else. So I had to dissuade him in a way he would understand the problem with his naive approach.


    "How do you think Claire would respond to it?" I asked.


    "Why does that matter?" He asked. "It''s the right thing to do."


    "So when she starts whispering and stabbing a creepy little doll that looks a little bit like you, you''ll be pleased with your decision?" I asked.


    "We don''t know if she can do that," he countered. "And I''m not going to be bullied into staying quiet if it means everyone suffers for it."


    "I don''t know if she can do it," I agreed. "But I am pretty sure she can do something."


    I thought over my arguments.


    "And if you are not afraid for yourself, think about this one," I pressured. "When everyone can heal, what do you think is going to happen? Who did you really help?" I asked rhetorically.


    He looked askance at me.


    "What''s going to happen is people will notice that healing comes from their own energy, and nobody wants to risk their life with the ghouls or wherever the witch gets her energy from. I wouldn''t." I was getting angry over the discussion, and my tone kept rising. "So someone less scrupulous than us is going to pressure others to heal them. That''s what''s going to happen. You will make it happen. The strong will be preying on the weak. Until they drop dead, probably. It''s a hell of a lot safer to beat someone up than it is to go out and get eaten by a ghoul. And you''ll keep telling stories about how much you don''t like bullying."


    Kenny looked hurt, and I cursed my short temper. The lack of sleep was getting to me.


    "I''m sorry. I know you mean well. I shouldn''t have said that. Not like that," I apologized.


    He stayed silent, looking deflated at the ground.


    "No, you''re right," Kenny replied, downcast. "I''m just sick of feeling so powerless. I want to help, I want to understand it all, and I want to get out of here, but there''s nothing I can do."


    I looked at the ramp. So far, it had been the only project that had any chance to help everyone. The mysterious monolith was at the center of everything. I didn''t believe we would find a way up to the surface from there. Our dealings with magic made it clear that there was more at play here than just being stuck underground, but we had to explore it to know for sure.


    "What do you say we help out with the ramp?" I proposed. "I don''t have any better ideas," I admitted.


    ***


    The effort was finally organized. Instead of bringing one rock at a time, a line of workers snaked its way around the Pillar to a ruined building.


    Kenny joined the people that looked for smaller rocks to salvage from the ruin while I found a good spot in the middle of the line. The work wasn''t too hard. It was monotonous and left a lot of time to think.


    We were making good progress, and I contemplated taking another break when we heard shouts from the group nearest to the pillar opening.


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    "I am telling you. This thing is chock full of them!" One man shouted, pointing at the opening.


    "Sir, calm down," Officer Douglas was talking to him.


    Douglas looked as disheveled and rumpled as everybody else. His hair was messy, and his uniform shirt was unbuttoned.


    "Just look, they are gonna rain down from there and attack everyone in their way!" He kept shouting. "Didn''t you see the thing?"


    I looked at the opening but couldn''t see anything in the dark, not even the slightest movement.


    The cop finally gestured for his hangers-on to take the guy away, but people nervously crowded around, talking and speculating whether he had just lost it or if ghouls were waiting in the dark.


    "Back to work, people," The officer commanded. "We are nearly done. Keep at it!"


    I didn''t see Douglas himself work, but I guess he counted his bossing as actual labor.


    I walked aside to find a place to rest and noticed another cluster at the far end of the plaza. People were surrounding a crying man. His clothes were sprayed with blood, but otherwise, he seemed unwounded.


    "I couldn''t do anything. I had to run," he was justifying himself. "It was so fast. It was on him in seconds. I had to run."


    "Where was it?" I asked. I had to know if a ghoul attacked the nearby guards or if this man went to look for trouble elsewhere.


    "He didn''t say," an older man answered. "They left hours ago, and he came back alone."


    I nodded in thanks.


    "It just started eating him," The man continued to wail. "It sucked on him like an overgrown leech. I could see the life going out of him. I couldn''t help."


    I didn''t want to hear more of that, so I left them.


    I gave up on returning to the stone line and leisured away, noting the comings and goings in the square. Several more groups left to look for ghouls. I didn''t like their chances, but they were desperate.


    ***


    Kenny found me lazing around. He carried with him several small stones.


    "Are you ready to continue testing?" he asked.


    "I am so tired. Why don''t you do it?" I asked.


    "Because I planned it," he answered. "I need you to do it blindly to know for sure."


    "How long will it take?" I sighed.


    "Couple of minutes," He reassured me. "You only need to heal yourself, and only for small scratches. Energy-wise, that''s the cheapest way to go about it."


    I relented, and we moved to a private location again.


    "Test number one," Kenny presented the first stone to me. "The ancient Egyptians lived thousands of years ago, and they numbered in the millions."


    I listened to him attentively.


    "But our modern¡ªWestern¡ªcivilization numbers hundreds of millions of people," He trailed the scratched lines on the stone. "Our recognized symbol for healing is the rod with two snakes coiling around it. You probably saw it on paramedics and hospitals."


    I looked over the stone. It had a simple design with one straight line and two coils around it, and it seemed vaguely familiar. When was the last time I noticed the details of this logo?


    My hands were full of new scratches from all the work I did. I held the stone in my hands and cast the spell on a single one.


    "About the same amount of energy as the Ankh," I measured roughly by feel.


    "Great," Kenny took out a second stone. "This is the Chinese symbol for life," Kenny explained its significance. "More than a billion Chinese people would immediately recognize it as connected to medicine. If I''d have to judge purely by numbers, more people would recognize this symbol than the first one with the rod."


    I didn''t recognize this one, so it was a good thing Keny was so knowledgeable about this stuff. I tried again with a different scratch, and it healed as effortlessly as it did with the first one.


    "Same thing," I reported.


    "The third stone," Kenny presented. "It''s similar to the first, but there is only one snake around the rod. It represents money or something unconnected to healing or life but is visually similar to the two-snake design."


    This time the spell took out of me much more, about as much as trying without the sign.


    "Okay," I said. "So now we know symbols from other cultures work, but a sign with a different meaning won''t work, even if it looks similar."


    Finally, we had at least one thing we knew about magic that Clair didn''t. That''s what I would call a win.


    "Ohhh, we can do so much more," he smiled. "Now listen to the real results."


    "What do you mean real results?" I asked. I just took part in his little experiment, so it''s not like I missed something that I did. "I healed, didn''t I? What else is there?"


    "You did more than that," Kenny said. "Sure, you thought that you cast a spell with a different sign that means health, life, or medicine. But at that point, we already knew that the symbol is used as a placeholder for meaning. We just didn''t know how the meaning is connected to it," he gestured excitedly.


    "So, what else is there?" I asked.


    "What about a symbol for fire? Or to fly? Or to create a black robe?" Kenny asked in rapid succession. "Where will we get those from?"


    "Well, the robe one, we could probably steal from Her Highness the High Priestess, as we did with the Ankh," I said mockingly. "The rest we''ll need to wrack our brains to remember if we ever saw something close to it. Maybe ask around if someone knows symbols we don''t, like your Chinese symbol."


    "We don''t need to anymore," Kenny said excitedly. "The Chinese symbol was a fake. You and I are the only two people who would look at that gibberish and recognize it as something that means life."


    "What do you mean?" I asked. "But it worked."


    "It worked because you thought it meant life," Kenny stressed. "That''s what gave it the meaning, your belief."


    I was speechless, trying to understand the consequences of this.


    "What''s more, the two symbols with the snakes," Kenny continued. "I swapped them around. The one with the two snakes has a different meaning, and the single snake stands for medicine. We talked about it in class. But their real meanings didn''t matter, only your perspective."

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 13

    Our third morning underground was marked with the sounds of singing. Claire, the self-proclaimed High Priestess, was again conducting her morning ritual from the steps of her temple. Again to the complete lack of sunlight.


    People slowly gathered around. Most moved slowly, shoulders slumped, and droopy eyes. Maybe she was right not to fear an angry crowd. By the time she needed to worry, everyone would be too exhausted to do anything to her. Some people refused to get up and remained motionless on the ground.


    I was feeling them. Despite Kenny''s discovery and the infinite possibilities it opened, we didn''t attempt to cast any more spells. We felt that our energy was low, as it were.


    Claire was vibrant as ever, her posture straight, head held high. Clean black robes contrasted the filthy modern wear of everyone else, emphasizing her special status. She vocalized in a clear voice conveying beauty and hope, emotions lacking in this cursed place.


    I couldn''t exactly put my finger on it, but she looked different. Maybe she found a way to conjure up cosmetics, or the atmosphere and her stance made her look better, but her features were more delicate, sharper, almost Elvish in appearance.


    Nobody was heckling her anymore. Instead, the mood was more subdued and quiet.


    "We humbly thank the-" She started the familiar words of the morning ritual, only to be unceremoniously interrupted.


    "Okay, That''s enough of that," Officer Douglas barged in on the gathering, surrounded by his followers. "We need to keep working. We can''t stop now."


    For the first time, I could see real emotions in Claire. Her face distorted into a furious scowl.


    "What do you think you are doing?" She hissed at him.


    Douglas, for his part, ignored her. "Come on, people! We are so close, but we have to keep at it!" He started pushing people in the direction of the Pillar, even raising the sitting people that were close enough.


    Some people grumbled, but others followed along, too tired to resist.


    "We are almost here. One last push, and we''ll find a way up," He continued to motivate while his people lightly pushed and shoved.


    The funny thing was that it was working. Many people were content with being herded around and told what to do.


    Claire angrily came down the stairs.


    "Stop it," she got in his face. "You can''t do this."


    "Watch me, girly," he replied. "You don''t wanna help? Fine! At least don''t be a thorn in my behind."


    Douglas was looking awful. It wouldn''t surprise me if spite were the only thing keeping him on his feet.


    She silently glared at him as his convoy left for the ramp. At least that answered whether she could kill with her sight. She couldn''t, and not for the lack of trying.


    Most of the people were still gathered at the temple stairs, but it wasn''t enough for her. She made a bee towards the inner part of the temple and confined herself there.


    ***


    On my insistence, we decided to sit this one out and wait for the others to finish the ramp construction for us. It wasn''t very nice of me, but we were so weak that I weighed it above the mere minutes we would save by pitching in.


    Kenny and I were spitballing idea after idea. We didn''t know what was possible, and of those things that were, what required a low enough amount of energy to be effective.


    Survival and safety. Those were the guiding principles of all our proposals.


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    Save more energy by Hibernating, as the motionless ghoul''s behavior suggested.


    Or maybe find a way to meditate and gather energy from the world, forgoing the need for conflict. That one was tested immediately. Wasted time for all the good it did. There wasn''t any free energy in the air or ground, just waiting for us to claim it.


    The idea of recharging our energy sounded like a critical possibility to entertain. So we settled on the most probable way of draining a killed ghoul of its energy. Most likely by doing the inverse of the already known restorations.


    But how were we to kill a ghoul? Or to protect against it? We had a plethora of options, from folklore to books, games, and movies. But we couldn''t know what would work until we tried. Unfortunately, every attempt would cost us dearly.


    A cheer at the ramp got my attention. The ramp''s highest point was still so far from the opening, but we could see a slight girl sitting up there, helping the following people climb up. Leave it for the cheerleader to save us all. The pile of rocks was just high enough for a human ladder of two to barely reach from the top of it to the base of the Pillars entrance.


    We came closer and waited for them.


    "It''s too dark in here," one man showed his face from within. "I can''t see shit."


    It was plain to see that all of them were huddled at the opening, venturing barely a few steps at a time only to return.


    Suddenly, one of the explorers barreled through the rest to jump out of there.


    "Ahh, fuck," he yelled. "A ghoul! There''s a ghoul here."


    He fell painfully on the rocks, but his fear was overpowering, and he scrambled off the ramp, wildly shoving and thrashing.


    The rest followed in a disorganized stampede, crushing and pushing each other into a jumbled heap at the Pillar''s base. Finally, no one obstructed our view, and we could glimpse the fearsome visage.


    It was not a ghoul. There was nothing human-like about it. Instead, it looked like an amalgamation of maws stitched together, widening and closing in a chaotic rhythm. It stood there for a moment and dissolved in the shadows with a slow glide backward.


    ***


    The officer managed to calm down the ensuing panic. As long as the maw monster didn''t try to leave the Pillar to attack us, some semblance of order remained.


    "Well, that was a bust," I concluded.


    "Do you think it was another ghost?" Kenny asked, referring to the creature in the haunted villa. "It didn''t catch anyone, and it''s not attacking."


    "Maybe, maybe," I mused. "But I''m not going to be the one to check it out. We couldn''t even put a scratch on one of those things," I remembered the last ghost we encountered.


    Kenny mulled it over.


    "About that," he dragged out. "I think I have a solution, but we''ll have to be the ones to test it."


    I sighed at that.


    "I''ll hear it out, but I''m not promising anything," I said.


    "The ghosts are probably less dangerous than the ghouls," Kenny said. "We never witnessed them do anything except move around."


    "Yeah, but we also couldn''t do anything back," I countered. "Everything just passes right through even when it should''ve connected."


    "But we didn''t use magic," Kenny pointed out. "We only threw stuff at it."


    "Kenny, I am so weak right now that I don''t think we have the option to try to create a new spell," I confessed.


    "We already have one," He countered. "The same thing we wanted to try on a dead ghoul. We can try draining the ghost of its energy with the life spell."


    I thought it over. It was not a bad idea, but the devil was, as always, hidden in the details.


    "When we restored each other''s energy, it required consent," I started listing. "And touch, and most importantly, it used up our own energy to do so."


    "It doesn''t require consent or touch," he argued back. "It just made the spell more efficient. So it can still be enough."


    He was right. It was a calculated risk. If we failed, we just wasted our time and effort, but if we succeeded, it meant that we found a safer source of energy that would help us survive.


    I relented, and in preparation for the attempt, we prepared two rune stones with amateurly scratched Ankh symbols.


    We tried the drain on each other, and it worked. Kind of. While the caster didn''t enjoy an influx of energy, the target most definitely felt the outflow, like an overwhelming pull that supped our power, and we hoped the ghost would feel it too. Too bad it was so damn tiring in our diminished state.


    We were leaving when we noticed the commotion in one of the buildings used by the guards around the plaza and decided to check it out on our way out.


    The sight inside was bone-chilling in a different way than I was expecting. It was a desiccated, drained body of an unfortunate victim. But that wasn''t the worst part.


    The body was covered in bite marks.


    Human bite marks.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 14

    We couldn''t get a single coherent answer out of anyone at the murder site. Was he guarding alone? Did anyone see anything? When was he found?


    Everyone was speaking over each other, freaking out.


    I motioned for Kenny to get going. We couldn''t waste time here. We had to think of the repercussions.


    "Why would they try to eat each other?" Kenny asked when we were far enough to not get overheard. "We don''t even feel hungry."


    "I could think of several reasons," I said. "Best case scenario, that was a ghoul with regular human teeth."


    "What''s the worst-case scenario?" Kenny asked suspiciously.


    "People can become ghouls," I said.


    Kenny gave me a skeptical look.


    "Come on, you''ve seen them. They look like us, with two arms and two legs. They look like mutated people," I argued.


    "So, someone was bitten by a ghoul and turned?" Kenny asked.


    "Or anyone can become a ghoul without even being bitten," I speculated. "We don''t eat for several days, then when the hunger strikes, BAM, we lose control and start attacking each other."


    "I think there''s even a worse option," Kenny shakily said.


    I waited for him to express it.


    "What if it was a person, but they didn''t turn into a ghoul," Kenny said. "The body looked sucked dry. What if it was drained? But not just blood. What if it was drained of life like we''re going to do to the ghost?"


    "And now, someone out there knows how to drain other people," I finished for him, "and is ready to kill."


    ***


    We stood in front of the haunted house, trying to summon courage by going over the plan again.


    Kenny looked as scared as I felt.


    "Don''t forget, we have to close in the distance," I said. "The spell works best when there''s touch."


    "We can do it," Kenny hopped in place, pumping himself up.


    "And, if there''s a ghoul there, we run," I repeated. "We''re only trying the Drain on a ghost, don''t get greedy."


    "Let''s do it." Kenny nodded after every sentence.


    We slowly crept through the front wing, inspecting the familiar chambers. Every one of them was empty, undisturbed since our last visit. We even paid particular attention to the ceilings and the upper corners, as we didn''t know where the attack would come from, yet none came.


    We took a breather in the inner courtyard, the side entrance calming my nerves with the promise of a fast retreat.


    Again, we readied ourselves and sneaked into the back wing, the handmade charms firmly extended before us.


    We entered from the left corridor and made the whole visiting round, room after room, until we returned to the right passage, not far away from our last attack.


    "It''s not here?" Kenny asked.


    "I''m just happy we didn''t find anything worse," I said. "Wanna make some noise?


    Kenny kicked a few pottery pieces on the floor, half-heartedly moving them around.


    "Last time, we didn''t find it either," Kenny pointed out. "We checked the whole house, but we still missed it then."


    I started picking up the pieces and throwing them at different walls.


    "Come out already," I whispered angrily, my hands busy with the litter on the ground.


    As if on purpose, it chose that moment to appear. The damn thing waited for me to lower my guard.


    I instinctively raised my hands to protect my face as the mass of claws and fangs shot right at me.


    "Aarghh," I screamed. "Kenny!"


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    Kenny didn''t disappoint.


    "Drain!" He shouted, thrusting his charm in the ghost''s direction, "Drain!"


    His attacks were comparable to punches. He tried to pull harder for small durations.


    The creature recoiled as if hit.


    I fumbled for my Ankh and pointed it at the creature.


    "Drain," I tried to will my energy into the spell as if betting my life against the creature''s resistance.


    Still, it was not enough. The ghost started breaking away from us. It was getting faster the farther it got, while we were getting weaker from the excretion.


    "Closer!" I cried and jumped straight on it, falling through the ethereal body and hitting my knees on the floor.


    I held my charm to its body and closed my eyes. I tried to put every ounce of strength I could muster into the spell, willing every hidden reserve I still had to make this spell work.


    After seconds of futile strain, I finally felt it. The dam broke. Like a burst balloon, the ghost''s energy spilled in a bountiful stream.


    I opened my eyes and saw Kenny kneeling near me, holding his charm above the dispersing shreds of an unidentified substance.


    The life force filled me up, suffusing my every part. It was different than the first Restoration I experienced. While I felt full of energy and growing fuller with each passing moment, my body didn''t automatically heal. The strains and pains didn''t disappear. But that was easy to fix, with all that energy at my fingertips.


    There was a more viscous undertone to it too. When Kenny healed me, it felt like a sip of an energy drink. Light and fleeting. Now, it felt like a hearty meal. Something that will see me stuffed for quite some time.


    "Whoo!" I screamed in exhilaration.


    I never felt more alive. It felt like a whole gallon of coffee went straight to the heart.


    We won.


    ***


    Kenny grinned ear to ear.


    "I couldn''t finish. I''m so full," he faux complained.


    I willed a quick healing over both of us and drained as much as possible from the surroundings.


    "Did you feel anything?" Kenny asked.


    "What do you mean?" I asked animatedly, still high from the rush. "I felt a whole lot of things. There were layers to it like the floaty stuff we use for spells is on top, but there was something heavier beneath it. Something more filling."


    "It was more than just energy," he tried to explain. "It had a distinct feeling to it."


    "I don''t know," I said. "Are you okay now?"


    "Yeah," He reassured me. "Never better. It was just... strange, so I couldn''t ignore it."


    "Good," I said. "Tell me if you notice anything else."


    I sat on the floor, enjoying every moment. Nothing hurt. I was rested and full of energy, both physically and mentally, and I wanted to savor every moment. Finally. All my worries and fears could take the back seat for a while.


    "Want me to give you your birthmark back?" I joked. "I''m in a good mood and already throwing all those healings around."


    "That''s a great idea," He replied. "Why didn''t I think about it?"


    I raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you serious?" I asked him.


    "No. Not just some birthmark," he corrected himself. "An Ankh-shaped birthmark."


    I tried to follow his reasoning.


    "You want a tattoo?" I asked.


    "Think about it. We were painting it on our bodies when we started out," he said. "This way, it will be permanently painted, and we could lose the stones," he brandished his charm.


    "But how?" I asked.


    "It''s just pigmentation," Kenny confidently stated. "We could probably get the same result with some tanning and sunscreen."


    Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his charm, concentrated, and touched a finger to his arm. A dark spot appeared as he lifted his finger. He covered the area again and erased it.


    "So easy," he said. "It costs about as much as healing a scratch, and we could have experimented with this instead of cutting like crazy people."


    I watched in amazement as he rolled his sleeve and traced the symbol on his shoulder. A loopy circle, followed by a vertical and a horizontal line. It must have been the quickest tattoo in history.


    "What do you think?" He asked me.


    "Will it work?" I asked.


    He put his charm to the side, drawing and removing dark lines on his arm.


    "Like a charm," he delivered the pun with a smile.


    "And if I heal you?" I asked. "Will it disappear?"


    He frowned at that.


    "It shouldn''t," he hesitated. "Other than the blemishes that were already missing, we didn''t lose any when we tried healing."


    I came closer with my charm and concentrated on casting a general healing.


    Kenny showed me his shoulder, still proudly bearing his handiwork.


    "Nice thinking," I congratulated him.


    I pulled up my shirt and slowly traced the same symbol above my heart, concentrating on the idea of changing the color of my skin and using my life energy to do so. It poured in a steady trickle, in step with the gliding of my finger. It took me more time than Kenny, but I managed.


    "You think that''s what Claire did?" I asked him.


    He looked questioningly at me.


    "She looked different this morning," I elaborated. "I thought it was makeup, but maybe she did something similar to change her face."


    "I didn''t notice anything." Kenny shrugged.


    "Who knows what she''s capable of by now," I pointed out.


    I got up on my feet and stretched. Ahhh, how I missed this sweet feeling. The last days felt like a steady decline into a permanent hunch.


    "Ready to continue our original plan?" I asked Kenny. "The arena awaits."

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 15

    The arena was just a block away. A short walk, considering I was rearing for action.


    Thankfully, the zest settled somewhat during the walk before I could do something reckless. The city was still largely unexplored, and we were surrounded by unseen dangers. Acting otherwise would spell a quick way to find myself killed and devoured.


    We entered the arena through a long arched hallway. The sight that greeted us was breathtaking. Tiers upon tiers of stone benches surrounded the central stage, enough to seat tens of thousands of people. Skyboxes and private chambers proudly extended from the less fortunate masses.


    The grounds themselves weren''t what I was expecting. Instead of a flat field covered with soft sands, we witnessed hard-packed dirt, pocked with collapsed areas.


    I gingerly stepped into the bowl, expecting a shift under my feet, but my steps felt stable. It didn''t feel like it was ready to collapse.


    "It must have been what they used to move gladiators," Kenny pointed at a collapsed section. "The tunnels collapsed in places that used wood."


    I did not want to enter the dark tunnels, but nothing of value jumped out to me as we walked the grounds.


    "How likely, that there''s an arsenal down there?" I asked.


    "Could be," Kenny answered uncertainly.


    I gave an exaggerated sigh and moved to a sloped section. We had a clear goal in coming here. Being armed would mean a lot for our safety.


    "Be ready to Drain anything that pops out," I instructed.


    A few steps into the tunnel put a stop to any plans I had of exploring them. The illumination around the city was dim at the best of times. It quickly dwindled to none in the confines of the long underground corridor. I couldn''t even see my outstretched hand.


    I thought my eyes would take some time to adjust, but there was no improvement, so I retreated.


    "Now we know how the pillar crew felt," I concluded. "It''s impossible to see anything."


    "We could try to create a new spell," Kenny suggested. "We were too tired to try anything new, but it''s hard to imagine a better time than now."


    "You are right," I agreed. "A simple spell that creates light?"


    "We need to go over our options first," he quickly stopped me.


    "Which are?" I asked.


    We discussed so many possibilities when there was nothing else to do that I had difficulty remembering them all. I was as enthusiastic about learning more magic as Kenny, but I also didn''t want it to take too much time.


    "We can try to create a light or a flame," Kenny listed. "This is the most straightforward approach, but the fire would have more utility to it."


    "It could also cost more than simple light," I agreed with his reasoning. "What else?"


    "Maybe, conjure oil or wood and light it on fire," he suggested. "If it''s possible, we would also learn to conjure different materials."


    "Two birds with one stone," I liked the idea. Of course, any suggestion to steal a page out of Clare''s book got bonus points from me. If it was easy enough, we could even conjure the weapons instead of looking for them.


    "And there''s also the possibility of enhancing our eyesight," Kenny added eagerly. "My eyesight was already fixed perfectly, but what if we could make it even better than that? Like an owl''s?"


    "I don''t know," I hesitated. "That sounds dangerous. I don''t wanna damage my eyes."


    "Maybe we could heal if we damage anything," he reassured quickly. "And after we''re done, we won''t need to use a spell every time we need to see something. It''s gonna be permanent."


    "What about the third eye?" I asked, remembering one of the big ideas we talked about.


    The third eye was an idea from Eastern folklore, so on some level, it was more appealing to me than anything from recent fiction¡ªit gave it the air of authenticity. The idea was to open a spiritual sight that could show us anything. The past or the future. Things that are hidden or far away. Show energies or even read minds. It would be invaluable if it could pull off even half of that.


    "You don''t wanna risk your eyes, but you would risk your mind?" Kenny asked. "We don''t know how you would react to more sensory input if it even works."


    "Look, we don''t try to resurrect anyone when we use the Ankh," I reasoned. "We tried it on small cuts. Same here. If I restrict it enough, it''ll be lighter on its energy usage and probably won''t fry my brains."


    "Probably?" Kenny deadpanned.


    "I think, in this case, the potential benefits outweigh the risks many times over," I explained. "It would also help with every future spell. We may be able to see how much energy is used and how it happens."


    Kenny looked undecided, but I didn''t require his approval.


    I sat on the ground and concentrated on the Ankh symbol to help me access my life energy for the spell. I drew a vertical ellipse in the middle of my forehead and put a dot in the middle. It was hard to imagine a sign closer in its meaning to a third eye than an actual drawing of a third eye.


    "Get ready to evade my brain splatter," I joked, trying to hide my apprehension.


    Kenny didn''t look reassured by that.


    I closed my eyes and concentrated on the effect. I didn''t need the future or the past. I only needed to see now. I didn''t need to see far away, only what was in front of me. Not even energies, emotions, or seeing in the dark. I would settle for my normal vision. Nothing special, just my normal vision. My normal vision, without the use of my eyes.


    I willed a small trickle of my energy in exchange for this effect. Such a small detail, but it was key to the whole endeavor.


    "Show me," I commanded.


    And the world showed.


    Kenny''s face appeared before me. It was furrowed in a worried expression. The vision was so sudden and indistinguishable from reality that I thought I had opened my eyes by mistake.


    My hand shot out to my eyelids, but they were scrunched shut.


    "What''s happening?" Kenny questioned anxiously.


    I looked farther behind him and then looked around to peek into the tunnels. Everything was the same as looking with my eyes. I even had depth perception.


    "I can see," I said.


    I willed my vision to pierce the darkness, and the ground and walls appeared. They were not illuminated or in a different spectrum. I could just see them there plainly without the need for light.


    "And I can see in the dark," I happily told Kenny.


    He looked relieved and brought up his hand in front of me.


    "Two fingers," I supplied without waiting for his question.


    The strain of maintaining the sight was so minuscule I could use it indefinitely.


    I opened my eyes and had to close them again. My vision doubled, tripled even, without any ability to bring anything into focus.


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    "Oof," I grunted, disoriented. "Only use this one with closed eyes."


    "What about a headache? Or pressure?" He asked.


    "Nothing," I told him. "It''s as easy as breathing."


    I was surprised. I expected to hit a dead-end like we did during our meditation attempts and to go through the alternatives, but I got the best option on my first try. We invented a new spell¡ªnot something someone else already did or told us about, or a twist on the already known Heal. Creating new magic was possible. I wanted to celebrate.


    "Do you see the energies?" Kenny asked curiously.


    I looked at Kenny and willed my vision to show his energy.


    I could see him gently glowing in golden light, the Ankh on his shoulder standing out in a slightly brighter glow through his clothes.


    "I think I can," I said. "If I''m not imagining it, I can also see your magical tattoo."


    "That''s not good," he replied. "That means anyone who knows how to look will know we use magic. We can''t hide it anymore."


    "Maybe we can hide it," I suggested. "A spell that hides energies."


    "Then, there could be a spell that sees through that spell," Kenny shook his head. "It''s gonna be a game of cat and mouse, and we''ll never be sure whether we managed to hide or not."


    "So we get rid of the tattoos and only draw the signs when we need them?" I asked.


    That would be a massive pain in the ass. It would even make things more dangerous, as my fumbling with the charm during the battle showed.


    "Could you see the difference between a regular tired person and us when we are full of energy? Like we are right now?" Kenny asked.


    "I didn''t see them with this vision yet," I stalled. "But I can see fluctuations in your energy even while we talk. So I think it would be unmistakable."


    The fluctuations were subtle, but I could tell when he was alerted when I mentioned the tattoo. I could guess that a tired person would seem a lot dimmer.


    "The cat is out of the bag," I concluded. "We would stand out either way to anyone with a similar Sight."


    Kenny looked resigned at that.


    "You wanna try this third eye thing before we enter?" I asked, nodding at the corridor.


    "I want to try something else first," he replied.


    He used a single stroke to draw a circle on his palm. Then in quick succession, he added radiating lines, tracing a familiar sketch of the sun that hinted at his intentions.


    I watched in astonishment as his hidden Ankh symbol flashed faintly every time he added a line.


    "I''ve got just the right trigger words for this one," Kenny proudly remarked. "Let there be light!"


    I saw his Ankh light up, followed by the sun symbol, and then the sun flared in harsh white light.


    "Ahh, too strong," Kenny complained.


    I could feel my closed eyes water.


    "You need to start with a trickle, then build it up," I admonished him. "Every spell you cast is like a punch."


    "Ahh, sorry, sorry," he apologized lightly. "But how cool was that?".


    I could see his energy taking on a more steady shine, and the light stabilized on a more gentle glow. We steadily improved at controlling our energy without using the crutches we used initially.


    He pointed his hand toward the passage and lit it up.


    ***


    We explored the passages for hours, me with my new Sight and Kenny lighting up the way.


    I was hoping to spot trouble ahead of time. Along with being assured by our ability to Drain the life out of the attacker, it was the most secure I had felt since the moment I got here. Luckily the strategy went untested as the tunnels were deserted.


    A whole bunch of dirt, rotten wood, and collapsed sections later, we found what we were looking for.


    The arsenal was filled with unidentifiable forms of rotted wood, ruined leather, and rusted iron. The corrosion was so severe that the metal puffed out in ugly dark clouds. The shapes of the weapons were barely recognizable.


    In the corner, we found a single green shape. I knocked on it, and it produced a rich metallic sound.


    "At least something survived," I cheered, lifting it.


    It was a round shield. Unfortunately, the leather handles were so dry and brittle that hooking my finger through the loop and pulling was all it took to tear one up.


    "A glorified frisbee," I concluded. "Kinda heavy too. I''m thinking if we should even bring it back with us."


    I handed it to Kenny.


    "Bronze, I think," he said, looking it over.


    He tried holding it in front of him, gripping it by the edges, but I could see he struggled with the unwieldy weight.


    "I''ll try to make something of it," Kenny decided.


    I disapproved. We were fortunate to have our two latest spells work outright. Every failed attempt would mean wasted energy that we weren''t guaranteed to replenish. But Kenny was his own man, and it was his energy to spend. So he could decide for himself if it was acceptable or not.


    We found our way back to the surface or, more appropriately, to the arena grounds.


    Kenny settled the shield on the ground and got to work. He drew a triangle on the back of his hand, parted into four equal parts using a smaller turned triangle. I noticed his sun symbol retained some of its residual energy even when inactive.


    "What''s that supposed to mean?" I asked him.


    "It''s like a small shape with other objects growing out of it," he explained. "Pretty intuitive to hold the meaning of shaping I''m gonna use."


    It wasn''t intuitive for me, but we already determined the symbol only had to hold meaning for the caster.


    He put his hand on the shield and concentrated.


    "Sword," he commanded.


    His Ankh flared, followed by the shaping symbol, and lastly, the shield lit up. The light had the same golden hue that only my Sight spell showed me, so I knew the process wasn''t visible to the naked eye.


    I looked with bated breath as the energy slowly left the shield. But nothing happened.


    Kenny touched the shield. It was as solid as before.


    "Reshape! Reform! Change!" He tried unsuccessfully. Each time the magic flared stronger than the last.


    His last spell left him exhausted, taking in labored breaths. He must have used more power than in his first foray into magic when he accidentally managed to restore me completely.


    The energy slowly seeped out of the shield while it remained unchanged.


    "Try draining it," I suggested.


    Kenny listened and was successful in getting some of it back.


    "What am I doing wrong?" he groaned.


    I watched as his energy slowly replenished itself. It took several minutes until it stopped visibly changing. However, while it stopped filling up, it didn''t quite manage to reach its previous potency.


    That was good news as it meant we could use a lot of energy in our castings and rest to replenish most of it, but the initial intensity could only be restored by Draining something with the more viscous type.


    I thought over everything I witnessed.


    "The spell triggers," I said. "I could see the energy clinging to the shield."


    Kenny listened with half an ear, tapping at the shield.


    "I could also see the energy holding on for some time after the spell," I added. "And when you hit it with the spells in quick succession, it kept building up."


    "So, I should try hammering away at it?" He asked. "Just throwing spell after spell until it manages to break through?"


    "What are you trying to do?" I asked.


    "Turn this shield into a sword," Kenny answered like it was self-evident.


    "It''s too much," I concluded. "Maybe it''s possible, but you''re gonna need a whole lot more energy than you got right now."


    Kenny tapped the shield with an unsatisfied expression.


    "What about something smaller?" I asked.


    I scooped a small rock and presented it to him.


    "Make this rock flat," I said.


    Kenny held it in his hand and gathered more energy than was necessary.


    "Flat!" He commanded.


    The rock snapped into its new squished shape like an unseen force clapped on it with inhuman power. It didn''t crack. It just looked like it always held this shape.


    "Nice!" Kenny cheered. "I can do it in chunks."


    He used his shaping skill to break a part out of the shield. It took him several more minutes to pace himself and construct the knife, the handle followed by the blade, and the last spell sharpened it up.


    His creation looked surprisingly straight and symmetrical. I expected it to come out wonky.


    "That''s a heavy knife," he said as he waved it about.


    "Can you polish it?" I asked.


    The knife looked tarnished in some places but not in others. I was curious about how easy it was to clean a piece of metal. Could Claire polish up the silver we gifted her in seconds?


    He cast the spell again, and it was all it took for the knife to shine in a perfect polish.


    "Sun of a bitch! She must''ve laughed at us when we left her the silver," I groaned.


    Kenny looked undisturbed by that, happily admiring his work.


    I followed his example and fashioned myself a knife. The handle was hollowed in an attempt to make it lighter. I vowed to think of a better sign but used his in the meanwhile.


    Now, if only we could bring the remaining chunk of bronze back with us.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 16

    My greed eventually won, and we moved back to the plaza with a total of six knives and two plain ankle bracelets. Manacles, for all the discomfort they caused me.


    Before we left, I redrew the third eye just above the hairline. Kenny was happy to inform me it was the right decision, as the previous placement made it look like a target on my forehead.


    Just as we were coming in, a group of three was leaving the plaza.


    "Whoa, where did ya get the weapons?" The leader asked.


    They looked exhausted, barely standing on their feet. I forgot how bad things were for me just half a day ago.


    "We cleared out the arena," I said, the half-truth pointing to the gargantuan structure at my back.


    "Anything left?" He asked hopefully.


    "Don''t think so," I replied.


    "Damn it!" he cursed. "How are we supposed to get the fuckers? With our bare hands?"


    "You''re going to hunt ghouls?" Kenny asked in an innocent voice.


    "What else?" The leader snapped. "Everyone who can move his ass moved out to look for them. Even Douglas, and he hates the bitch."


    "Douglas gave in?" I asked, surprised. "I thought he was hellbent on exploring the Pillar, finding a way up."


    "There is no way up," he spat. "The witch trapped the monster, and we went all over the place. It''s just one big cave."


    "How?" I asked, stupefied.


    "She gave us torches," he answered.


    Where did she get the torches? My money was on the same place she got her robe, magic.


    "No, how did she trap it?" I asked.


    "Hell, if I know," he replied angrily. "Put a fancy little bottle, and the fucker was sucked right the hell in. Told us it was the only way to deal with the shade. Now, if we want her Healing, we need to play errand boys for her."


    A shade, huh? That''s one way to describe the ghostly apparitions.


    "We can give you some knives," Kenny offered generously.


    That caught me off guard.


    "What my partner means to say," I said, trying to save the situation. "Is we could trade you some of our knives."


    "What do you want?" The leader asked. "We don''t have nothing."


    "When you bring in the ghoul, we would like to get a part of it," I proposed.


    The trio looked at each other.


    "You gonna eat it?" One of them asked.


    "What? Why would I eat it?" I asked.


    "People doing all kinds of crazy shit nowadays. We have cannibals now, didn''t ya hear?" The leader replied.


    "Do you want a knife or not?" I asked, losing patience.


    "How do you propose that?" The leader asked.


    "One knife for a third of a ghoul," I answered after a brief pause.


    "Just one?" He asked furiously. "We''ll need more, and what if the witch refuses to heal for a butchered ghoul."


    "You''re haggling with me right now," I rebutted. "You can haggle with her for what''s left."


    "And if she won''t have it?" He asked. "I don''t see anyone else doing what she can do."


    "I don''t see anyone else offering their weapons for a promise," I argued. "Maybe you''ll get a ghoul, or maybe I''ll have to go out looking for you."


    I didn''t mention the possibility of the ghoul getting them.


    "Do we have a deal?" I asked.


    Frankly, I would have been okay to miss out on this one. But there was the ugly possibility of them fighting us for our weapons, so I had to suggest something that wouldn''t leave me at a loss. They were exhausted and slow, but anything could happen in a fight, and I would rather avoid it.


    "Two knives," the leader tried.


    "For half of the ghoul," I agreed.


    They looked thoughtful at that.


    "And if she refuses to heal you for the other half, I know someone who would," I sweetened the deal.


    "Who?" He asked suspiciously.


    "We''ll talk it over if we''ll have to," I said. "But I doubt it''ll come to that."


    They started hushing it among themselves.


    "Deal," He answered. "You''ll get half."


    I came closer and extended the goods, handles first.


    "Who do I write the receipt to?" I asked.


    "Thomas," he answered, waiting for something.


    "Don''t make me come looking for my payment, Thomas," I suggested moving past them.


    ***


    "You didn''t have to be so hostile," Kenny complained. "I just wanted to help them."


    "They were ready to jump you," I warned.


    "No, they were not," he replied.


    "I don''t think you understand what desperate people are willing to do," I noted. "They were going to take on a ghoul unarmed, and then we came along."


    I looked at him.


    "Who''s scarier¡ªus or a ghoul?" I asked.


    Kenny wavered.


    The plaza looked empty. Less than half the people remained on the grounds. Most were lethargic, sitting or lying silently to the sides. The Sight showed me they were dimmer and less substantial than Kenny or me, but they still possessed enough energy to be targeted for whatever they had left.


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    "What do you think about the shade deal?" Kenny asked.


    "If it was anything like the ghost, Claire must have found a way to contain it," I said. "Keep it for later. As a snack."


    "We barely managed to take one down together," he pointed out. "And she handled it alone?"


    "We made ourselves some weapons. Nothing stopping her from making some of her own," I reasoned. "The difference between a professional and an amateur is that a professional has the appropriate tools for the job and knows how to use them."


    "Then, shouldn''t we be making our own tools?" Kenny asked.


    "I''d love to have a magic wand to solve all my problems," I agreed. "But we''ll need a lot more energy to figure it all out."


    The rules of magic were still largely opaque, and I wasn''t going to spend any energy or mana, whatever it was, to figure all of this stuff out on my own. Not only was every miscast spell an irreversible loss of energy if we didn''t have a steady supply of shades to Drain, but the accompanying feeling of weakness was also a determinant. The closest analogy I could come up with was comparing it to losing a unit of blood. Not detrimental on its own, but bad enough to make me want to avoid it. At most, I would try the spells with the highest probability of working. The low-hanging fruit.


    We came up to the Pillar. A rope made of dirty clothes was dangling invitingly from the entrance.


    "Let''s see if they missed anything," I proposed.


    We climbed to a spacious lobby. More people sat there, barely illuminated by the entrance, dirty, with some missing pieces of clothing. An air of despair hung above them.


    Those were the people who worked so hard, day after day, to get to their only hope of finding the way above ground, to return home. Their hope was squashed, they didn''t find what they were looking for, and now they gave up. They didn''t have anything left in them to try something new, to look for another way.


    I picked up a discarded piece of wood from the ground. It was a used-up torch. The wood was new, untouched by time.


    I showed it to Kenny.


    "No way she found it lying around," he confirmed my thoughts.


    We continued through a hallway to an enormous great hall. A long raised dais at the far side of the room was topped with a large stone throne. The craftsmanship was extraordinary, horrifying forms of owl beaks open in a silent screech, and serpents adorned it.


    I looked around, using the Sight. The ceiling was very high, but it was there. I couldn''t find a trace of anything magical or hidden, no hidden doors or shafts. Instead, it was an abandoned throne room carved into the side of the monumental Pillar. It was impressive, but it wasn''t much more than that.


    We explored dozens of the smaller rooms in the structure but found nothing else. I understood the desperation now. Their hard-won salvation was snatched away from under their noses.


    Kenny left me after some time, weighed down by the futility of it all. I sat on the throne and tried to imagine this place in better times. When this throne served its function in its heyday, the city''s ruler commanded hundreds of thousands of its inhabitants from this very seat of power.


    My curiosity was strong enough to try to force the third eye to show me the past. Giddy with the possibility of developing a new ability, I tried different concepts, from wishing to see it with the magical Sight like I did with energy to connecting to some experimental ideas I''d taken away from brainstorming with Kenny. But it was either impossible, or the small amounts of energy I was willing to risk for it was evidently insufficient.


    With the way home missing, I was left with the only thing I could do to survive. I had to better myself. Improve my weapons, my understanding of magic, and my skills.


    Next, I tried to wrack my brain, trying to understand how Claire could get all those new items, but I couldn''t think of anything remotely plausible. She might have used something similar to our Shaping spell to build it up from the remaining garbage, but she didn''t venture to gather the raw materials, nor did she ask for them from others. She rarely left the temple, if ever.


    I assumed her ability to tell time was a scam, and the fear of using true names could be superstitious for all I could tell. I wasn''t aware of her using them in her magic, only hiding her own, and I was going to do the same.


    The only other thing I could learn from her is the construction of a bottle to trap shades. I could try to Shape pottery pieces or a stone into a bottle shape and draw the appropriate magical symbols on it if needed.


    And that was all. For all Her Highness''s mysterious and superior nature, those were the only abilities I lacked compared to her. The distance between us wasn''t as considerable as it looked at first.


    I gathered up the used torches and, part by part, Shaped them into an approximation of a fused spear. Anything that would help me keep my distance when a ghoul attacked was an effort well spent.


    A knife went for the tip, and a bracelet was Shaped for the butt of the spear. I was left with a fearsome weapon. Better than a knife or sword too. I could whack things with the heavy butt or pierce them in a straightforward move. It required little skill and had a much farther reach.


    It was mind-bending to watch the Shaping of the wood. Metals were expected to bend and stretch, but wood wasn''t supposed to behave that way.


    I went back to the entrance to try to salvage the clothes. The Shaping spell could stitch and clean them up into a robe or a bag. But someone beat me to the punch. The makeshift rope was missing. Too bad for the contributors, as I could see some of them still missing their pieces.


    I looked for Kenny. The entrance to the Pillar was the best vantage point to see the plaza, but I couldn''t see him anywhere, so I returned to the throne room.


    Filled with energy, this was the best time to develop new magic. I knew my vitality would only go down from here until my next outing. I needed something strong and versatile. I whirled the heavy spear around, getting used to its weight and momentum. It was a lot heavier than I expected. I didn''t notice when I was carrying it around, but wielding it and making sudden moves was very taxing. Changing its trajectory was nearly impossible once it got going.


    This weapon and my Drain spell were my only methods to defend myself. The spear might be enough against a ghoul if I''m lucky. But the last shade showed me that my Drain was insufficient to bring it down, not on its own.


    It was unfair, really. That the only spell we had with the ability to harm our opponent was not enough. When we came up with it, we didn''t plan to Drain a ghoul to defeat it. We wanted to kill it the conventional way and then Drain its body for energy. But shades were immune to anything physical.


    I watched the spear''s tip closely as I willed it to fill with energy the same way the shield filled up when Kenny worked his Shaping on it. The Ankh on my chest lit up, channeling my life, and the spear started to intensify its glow, the bronze head basking in golden light.


    It was all about energy and intent, so I concentrated on my will for the light to cling to the weapon, not dissipate as it did after unsuccessful Shapings. Then I focused on my intention for the energy to harm. I wanted it to hurt anything, even if it had no material body.


    The infused spear didn''t show any change, but as long as I was concentrating, it wasn''t losing its light either.


    I tried to imagine a shade in a lunge towards me, its maws snapping just inches away from my face. I raised my spear to defend myself and stabbed it forward to pierce the retreating enemy. But, unfortunately, my movements were so slow and uncoordinated that it left no doubt in my mind that my strike wouldn''t even come close.


    I tried several more times, but I only tired myself and slowed further. Finally, after a couple of minutes of training, I was barely waving the thing.


    If things were normal, it would take me months of training and good nutrition to get in good enough shape for this kind of action. But nothing was normal about this. I was now thinking about defending against shades and ghouls, and I wasn''t even eating, so I didn''t even know if I could develop the needed muscles.


    I made another visit to the entrance, but Kenny was still missing.


    It was time to develop another spell, and I knew what I was missing.


    I drew a simple design of a circle, with two smaller satellite dots orbiting it in curved lines, concentrating on its meaning¡ªthe meaning of force and movement, like the inevitable force of a planet pulling with incredible power its orbiting moons.


    I found a small pebble and held it, and willing the necessary energy.


    "Up," I commanded.


    And up it went, shooting straight to the high ceiling.


    I cringed at the sound of impact, remembering the listless people just two rooms away. But they were so indifferent that nobody came to investigate the noise.


    I repeatedly tried to recast the spell with different amounts of power from different distances, but I didn''t like the results.


    It was the same as it was with Healing. Touching the target was all good and dandy, but the moment there was some distance between us, the energy dispersed too much, quickly becoming inefficient.


    I tried again with a pebble, but instead of flinging it away, I used a constant trickle of energy to remain in control.


    The pebble orbited around me several times, and then I flung it away. I cursed. It was about as weak as launching it from the same distance without the fancy maneuvering.


    Healing was most efficient when touching the target, only second to targeting oneself. The worst was Healing at a distance, but we stopped practicing it after we noticed the stiff upsurge in required power.


    Could it get better with practice? I didn''t know.


    I applied the Force sign to myself, willing all my movements to have more oomph.


    Jumping forward and swinging my spear, I could hear the rush of wind in my ears. I laughed in elation. I was much faster now, and the spear weighed no more than a twig.


    Unfortunately, this tired me much faster, and I had to take a break.


    I came back to it again and again. It was the most fun I had felt since I discovered magic. The feeling of speed and power was intoxicating. Sometimes I applied Force to my whole body and enjoyed it fully, sometimes only to the spear, making lightning-fast stabs. Every time I had to rest, I impatiently planned the next attempt.


    For the last experiment, I tried to lift myself off the ground. It was more demanding than my other trials.


    I concentrated on the effect and slowly increased the flow of energy. The signs of Life and Force thrumming with energy.


    The change I was waiting for came just as I was about to give up.


    The feeling of doing the impossible with my own power was inexpressible.


    I felt my feet, ever so slowly, lose touch with the ground.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 17

    I sat at the entrance, my feet dangling above the ramp, waiting for Kenny and contemplating the unfairness of it all. Just several days ago, when we all arrived here, fresh and lively, we all had the energy to get up to the Pillar''s entrance.


    The knowledge and skills to do so were missing, but the ability was there. We could have saved so much time and effort if someone knew how to do it then.


    Instead, dozens or, more likely, hundreds of people worked for days to construct this ramp under my feet, only to discover empty rooms. Days in which everyone''s energy waned and dwindled.


    The sheer inefficiency was staggering. The same result of bringing a person¡ªmyself¡ªup here would cost me seconds of highly intense magic use if I chose to magically hover here or days of hard back labor for hundreds of people to build the stupid ramp.


    I was getting worried. Kenny was missing for a long time. It was hard to imagine him venturing outside by himself, and he shouldn''t be targeted by a wannabe cannibal since there were easier targets all around the place. But then again, people often made irrational decisions, and Kenny didn''t exactly hide his fancy daggers. So I was hoping nobody decided to rob him.


    I had just four symbols to my name, three of which I had gained the same day, but I felt much more powerful and dangerous.


    Life, Sight, Shape, and Force. Each of them was versatile and powerful in its own right.


    If I were to offer my Healing for the ghouls and become real competition for Claire, I could enjoy an unlimited amount of energy brought right to my doorstep by my clients. The only downside to this would be a confrontation with our local witch, but the potential was inspiring. What amazing things could be possible? If only I had enough energy.


    Before I could consider it further, I noticed Victor and a couple of others dragging themselves to the square.


    I held my spear safely in front of me and jumped down to meet them, the Force sign easing me to a more gentle landing under my direction.


    "Not now," Victor barked as he moved towards Claire''s temple, barely sparing a glance at my weapon.


    He was dragging the beaten form of a ghoul, leaving bloody streaks on the ground. His companions were moving behind him. Both were of as large of a frame as he was.


    One of them was not as lucky to return unharmed. His stomach looked savaged beyond recognition, missing chunks, the shirt and innards mixed into a grotesque slurry.


    A stocky gal with a determined scowl dragged the injured, her braided sun-bleached hair soaked in his blood.


    The wounded looked unconscious, and when I risked a glance with the Sight, his energy was dimmer than anyone I''d seen.


    The ghoul, on the other hand, was overflowing with it. The excess was most likely leached from the wounded man, but the underlying energy that felt innate to the ghoul had a strange vibe to it. I couldn''t put my finger on it, and it didn''t look any different in the magical Sight, but there was something different there.


    I watched Victor enter the Western Temple and prepared for a long wait, but fortunately for me, he came out almost immediately and tiredly sat on the stairs.


    "Is he gonna be okay?" I asked Victor, referring to his wounded companion.


    "We''ll have to wait and see," he answered.


    "What happened?" I asked. "Found another one feeding? Managed to save the guy this time?"


    Other than the heavily wounded man, Victor and the gal weren''t visually hurt in any way.


    "Nah," he replied. "That''s my crew. We went out there together."


    He took a deep breath.


    "Three big strong fellows. I thought it wouldn''t be a problem. Like putting down a rabid dog," he trailed. "Well, it was something like a dog, alright. It refuses to let go. Once it got its teeth in Benjy, we kept beating down on it, but it kept sucking the life out of him like an overgrown bug. It was disgusting."


    I let the silence linger. That was crucial information. We could use that if the ghouls don''t attack anyone while feeding. Maybe take a piece of another ghoul and pump it chuck full of energy to use it as bait. Of course, we didn''t know yet if ghouls would attack each other or if they would go for something other than a living person, but if it worked, it would make my life much easier.


    "You know how to use your new toy?" He asked, nodding at my new spear.


    I silently demonstrated several lightning-fast sweeping motions augmented with Force.


    "Damn," he whistled. "If the team wasn''t at full capacity already, I''d ask you to join. Too bad."


    "What do you mean, full?" I asked.


    "Didn''t you hear?" He asked, surprised. "The witch only does three Restorations for a ghoul carcass. That''s the going rate now."


    I thought back to Thomas, questions buzzing in my head. His group also numbered only three members. Did she restrict her services to run a profit? Or was it something more insidious and calculated on her part? Did she understand that her restriction on Restorations would implicitly limit group sizes? Was it her attempt to divide us?


    Before I could reply, his companion called him back inside.


    I sat on the stairs and watched people slowly trickle back into the plaza. Some came back in groups, while others returned in pairs or alone. Most were empty-handed but unhurt.


    Kenny was still missing. A big guy like him, full of vigor and armed, I hoped he found a good group to join.


    What started as a brawl with a victorious returning group carrying their prize became a vicious free-for-all. More people joined the fray, and some tried to pull the ghoul away without fighting.


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    It looked horrifying. I could see head stomping and some helpless girl pulled around by her hair and used as a shield.


    I didn''t come near the action, watching impassively across the square.


    A group of people came near me, and I didn''t pay them any mind, assuming they were going to the temple.


    "Where did you get it?" The man in the lead asked me angrily.


    It took me a second to realize he was talking to me.


    "Arena," I answered shortly.


    "Give it here," he demanded, reaching for the spear.


    I used Force to swat his hand away with the shaft without raising its end off the ground.


    "Get your own," I responded.


    He looked furious at that, standing tall above me. His goons crowded behind him.


    "What are you, slow? It''s gonna be a lot better for you if you give it to me," he tried to sound menacing as he got in my face.


    I sighed and stood up. I looked at them and saw them for the bunch of weak, scared people that they were.


    I turned to the side and tried to walk away, but the idiot lunged at my shoulder.


    With a thought, the spear''s butt rammed backward into his midsection with a loud crunch. I turned to see him wheezing on the ground, unable to breathe or sit up from his hunched position.


    "Next one gets the other end," I stated, enjoying the reaction on their faces.


    There was an awkward silence only broken by the whizzing from the ground. Nobody said anything.


    Basking in their fear, I walked away. Fortunately, nobody tried to accost me this time.


    I was surprised by the strength of the strike. All I wanted was a quick jab. But, instead, I effortlessly broke his ribs. It was hard to say how bad it was going to be for him without medical attention, but I knew that my actions may have killed him in the long run, leaving him unable to hunt or at least defend himself. That was one hell of a sobering thought.


    ***


    Victor finally exited the temple as another morning ritual rolled around.


    Benjy, Victor''s heavily wounded companion, followed. Only his torn shirt served as a reminder of the horrifying wound he had suffered.


    This ritual was by far the least attended of all the previous ones. Many people were still missing, hunting ghouls presumably. I also heard talk of exploring more of the city or leaving it altogether.


    Four figures backed the high priestess. However, unlike Claire, they wore white robes of worse quality than her black-silked regal attire.


    Her first assistant, the redhead, was among them, and it didn''t look like she enjoyed any higher status than the newer additions.


    I tuned out the regular drivel, the thanks to the Triple Goddess, the blessing of being brought here to the Undercity. Then, finally, she reiterated her standing offer of three full Restorations for a defeated ghoul, making it sound like she was doing us a favor, accepting this pittance for her indispensable skill.


    What caught my eye was the brightly burning pentacle under her robes. The hidden necklace was so tightly packed with energy that its golden shine was almost painful to my Sight. It was hard to tell precisely how much essence it held, but it was more than the whole of the latest ghoul.


    When Kenny and I split the shade''s energy and its essence, it was far lesser than what the pentacle contained, and we still couldn''t consume any more of it. Her inner light looked slightly brighter than mine, closer to what I had when I first developed the Sight, but it was different compared to the implement she carried.


    None of her underlings carried anything similar, and I couldn''t see other magical symbols on her.


    Someone''s hand rested on my shoulder, and I was ready to drive the spear right through the offender when I recognized Kenny.


    "Oh, I thought the ghouls took you," I greeted him.


    Kenny shifted, refusing to look at my face.


    "No," Kenny trailed. "I''m safe."


    I waited for him to elaborate while he moved around indecisively.


    "Can we talk?" He finally asked.


    We moved to the other end of the plaza, near the three roads, Kenny leading the way. He finally found the courage to speak when we were out of earshot.


    "One of Thomas''s friends was here," he started. "Looking for help."


    I motioned for him to continue.


    "Well, Thomas was badly hurt, but they finished off the ghoul. One of the guys holed up with him, and the other ran here," he told me. "But Claire didn''t want to leave the temple to help them. She told him they had to bring him and the ghoul here."


    I started to suspect I knew where this was going.


    "So you went to help," I finished for him.


    He nodded.


    "Why didn''t you call me?" I asked.


    He didn''t answer, but it was probably because he knew I would dissuade him.


    "So what happened?" I asked, fearing the worst.


    "I told them," he confessed.


    "You told them what?" I slowly asked, feeling my grip tightening.


    "How to Heal," Kenny answered in a small voice. "And how to Drain the ghoul."


    I cursed, cracking the butt of the spear on the ground, then I took a deep breath to calm down and loudly smacked it again.


    "Shit," I restrained myself.


    There is no way that''s all they got from him. We made all our discoveries with less. In the best-case scenario, they don''t know the limitations we found yet, and that life force can enact other effects.


    "It''s just not right," he tried to defend himself. "The ghoul had three times as much essence as it took to Heal and Restore them fully. So why should Claire get all of it for their hard work?"


    "What are you going to do when they Drain this idiot instead of risking their lives?" I asked, pointing back to one of the motionless people strewn around the square. They didn''t have much energy, but they gradually regenerated the slow outflow, their own essence barely diminishing in the process, and they were much safer than hunting a feral ghoul.


    The dual nature of energy was apparent to me now after looking at living people and myself with the Sight for long enough. The more viscous essence was slowly converted to the more fleeting form of energy, the mana used to cast spells and naturally spent during activity.


    One was the long-term energy storage, like fat for a living person, and the other was the energy that had to be naturally used to stay alive and active or awake, whatever its effect was.


    The problem was that while the mana could regenerate fully in a matter of minutes when we rested, it burned the essence to do so. And the only way to regain essence, as far as I knew, was to Drain it out of a ghoul or a shade.


    Or another person.


    "They wouldn''t," he defended. "They are good people. They didn''t try to attack me and even stayed with what''s left of the ghoul to save it for us. They keep their word even now when they no longer need us."


    I was still fuming.


    "They are so good that they''ll teach the others?" I asked. "We already had a cannibal before he knew how to Drain his victim," I pointed out.


    "We''ll ask them to keep it quiet," Kenny naively answered.


    I couldn''t argue with his optimistic worldview. Not when he refused to see the dangers that were so apparent to me.


    A disappointed sigh escaped me.


    "Lead the way," I relented. "Let''s see if they keep their word when you''re not around."

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 18

    Surprisingly enough, we found Thomas''s crew where Kenny had left them. The apartment complex wouldn''t look any different from the surrounding ones if not for a dark blood trail leading to the entrance.


    Their happy conversation and animated body language differed significantly from their former subdued selves.


    I barged in on them, enjoying the startled yelps.


    "You''re not very good at keeping a lookout, are you?" I asked.


    They gawked at me.


    "Ya, tryin'' to scare us?" Thomas finally asked.


    His shirt was drenched in dried blood near his neck, but he lacked the wounds. Instead, they all shone in a golden inner light, filled to the gills. Thomas had more of it, and he shone slightly brighter, but it was minor, and it looked like a natural difference between people.


    "Just saying hello," I replied. "Is this my cut?" I asked, pointing to the fallen figure of the ghoul.


    ''My cut,'' I was already talking like some second-rate drug dealer.


    Its essence was diminished compared to Victor''s haul, but it was still much better than the shade.


    I still couldn''t shake the feeling of wrongness, like it was somehow tainted. I looked closer at Thomas using the Sight and barely perceived something similar in him.


    "Mostly, yes," Thomas agreed. "But it still got more in the tank than we agreed."


    Of course, Kenny told them that.


    "By all means," I agreed. "You are free to take what''s yours."


    The trio shared conspiring looks. I was almost starting to worry when he made his counteroffer.


    "I was thinking," Thomas said. "You can have what''s left, but we get another one of your fancy knives."


    I thought it over. We had extra, but it was a lower price than we agreed, and it wasn''t like he could take any more of the ghoul''s essence anyway.


    "That''s not how it works," I negotiated. "You got two knives for half of it. So the difference of what you''re offering for the third is about half price."


    "Come off of it," he laughed. "We both know now how precious every drop of it is. I need a third weapon, so we''re all loaded. I''m overpaying if you ask me."


    Kenny stayed silent for the exchange, but I could see he agreed with Thomas''s words.


    "I''ll take you on the offer," I decided to show my most significant concern. "On the condition that you tell no one about what Kenny taught you."


    "Sure thing," Thomas quickly agreed with a light hand wave.


    Was it because he had already considered it and decided against it? Or was it an easy promise to make now and break out of sight later? I had no leverage over him on this.


    I scrutinized him looking him in the eyes, but he was not backing down, so I grudgingly handed him my last knife.


    "A pleasure," Thomas smiled as he threw it back to one of his colleagues.


    I waited for them to leave, but they took their sweet time.


    "We can work together, ya know?" He offered. "It''s safer together, and we don''t need the witch no more. No reason not to."


    Kenny looked hopeful at that.


    "I''m not a team person," I declined.


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    He looked at Kenny, waiting for his decision. But he just inclined his head towards me, not saying a word.


    "Suit yourselves," he said goodheartedly, prancing out of the building. The trio was unmistakably high on the energy influx.


    Kenny waited for their footsteps to recede and turned to me.


    "It would be safer," he said, agreeing with Thomas''s statement.


    "From an outside threat," I agreed. "But not from a well-timed backstab."


    Kenny looked up and shook his head but didn''t deny it. He must have felt similarly. Otherwise, he would have joined them himself.


    ***


    I sat by the ghoul, Looking at it intently, trying to discern the blend in its life force.


    "Did you feel anything strange from it?" I asked. "Like you did with the shade?"


    "I don''t know, I didn''t Drain it yet," Kenny sounded surprised. "Do you?"


    I nodded.


    "Thomas''s crew had it, too," I added. "It was subtle, but it still felt foreign to them, like it tainted their energy."


    Kenny sat near me and moved his hands slowly above the ghoul, using a different method to sense, only the thrum of his tattoo betraying the magical nature of his actions.


    "There is something there," he finally concluded, unsure how to proceed.


    "Not gonna try to Drain it?" I asked.


    "I don''t think it''s safe," Kenny shook his head. "Feels persistent like it''s gonna sit inside forever."


    I thought it over. If both the ghouls and the shades had the same poison inside of them, we didn''t have any way to get it cleanly.


    "I saw Claire use another symbol," I remembered. "A necklace with a five-pointed star in a circle. Looked like she used it to store the essence. Didn''t feel any of that from her or her new jewelry, but I wasn''t close enough to tell for sure."


    "You think it somehow cleans it?" Kenny asked.


    "We have to find out," I replied helplessly.


    We discussed our possibilities, and I got to it.


    I drew a pentacle under my Ankh and concentrated on the intended effect. I didn''t know what was right, but I wanted to use the Life symbol to guide only the pure essence away from the ghoul and into the Storage symbol, and I willed the Storage sign to only hold on to it and lose any contamination.


    I put my hand on the gored body, its skin smooth and dry under my touch. A shiver of revolution ran through me.


    "Drain," I used the trigger word to ease the spell.


    I first noticed how hard it was to maintain the three signs. I used Sight to closely monitor the flow in addition to Life and Storage.


    I burned my energy to guide the ghoul''s essence. Thankfully, a lot more of it flowed in than I forfeited.


    It was a mistake to think of it as clean fuel and poison. It was how it felt when I looked at Thomas and his gang, yet in the ghoul, they were not separate but the same. The poison was a quality of the essence, not distinct contamination. Still, it was a quality I was trying to reject.


    The Ankh glowed steadily as I found my pace of using roughly as much energy as I naturally regenerated. The pentacle, on the other hand, was filling up nicely, the golden light in it gaining in depth and brightness.


    Minutes passed, and I noticed that it was taking me increasingly more effort to Store the energy. Like stacking up boxes, only to lift the stack by the bottom box to stock it on the following box. I was doing something wrong, but it was good enough for now.


    Another snag was the otherness in the ghoul. It was gaining in concentration the more I took.


    Finally, I stopped with enough left over for Kenny and explained everything I did.


    "Did it work?" I asked him.


    He moved his hands around me and above the pentacle.


    "I think it did," he cheered. "I was expecting to at least catch some contamination from the shade, but I can''t find even that."


    "I hope it''s because I got rid of it naturally by now and not because we are so bad at sensing the stuff," I replied with a frown.


    I consumed some of the sealed power to Restore myself. The pentacle sapped for about a fifth of its stores. The weight of the last day lifted from my shoulders, the Force training and the absence of sleep wholly negated in a matter of minutes after the hearty meal.


    "Oh, I can get used to that," I said, enjoying myself.


    Kenny started to Drain the ghoul in a similar fashion, containing the energy in a separate Shaped stone he had prepared beforehand. I looked in interest as the ghoul''s appearance shrank and dried out. I felt that he was faster and less efficient than me, but everybody had their own style, I guess.


    "The genie is out of the bottle," I said when he finished. "It''s only a matter of time before they blabber. We must get the most out of it as quickly as possible."


    Kenny didn''t try to disagree.


    "We also need to warn them about the poison. They didn''t know about it when they left," he added, as always looking out for others.


    But first¡ªI remembered my talk with Victor¡ªwe had to prepare our bait.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 19

    At the plaza, Kenny hurried to talk to Thomas, carrying the grave warning to be careful with the tainted energy and the instructions to deal with it.


    I, on the other hand, had a much more important mission.


    Parading with the desiccated head of a ghoul impaled on the spear, I was attracting alarmed stares. The shaft rested comfortably on my shoulder as I weighed my arm on its other end, balancing the load behind me like a grotesque trophy.


    Several days ago, such a sight would attract a crowd and unwanted questions from our resident police officer. But nowadays, it was met with apathy or fear.


    It took us some effort and finesse to guide most of the remaining heavily tainted essence to concentrate in the ghoul''s head. Finally, one chop later, I had the required bait for my next hunt.


    Waste not, want not.


    I didn''t have to display it in such a blatant way, but I was enjoying the attention a bit too much.


    "Hey, Victor," I called out to my target. "I have an offer you can''t refuse."


    Victor was hanging with his pals. Despite their dirtied and tattered looks, they were the lucky representatives of a very small number of people that felt relaxed and rested at this time.


    He eyed me critically.


    "Came here to be congratulated?" He asked.


    "No," I answered. "This one here is a gift from my friends over there," I bobbed the bait head to Thomas''s gang across the plaza.


    Thomas was dancing some jig, entertaining Kenny. Either his high was a lot more persistent, or it was just his personality.


    "You see," I collected myself. "We taught them how to use the ghouls to regain their strength and heal. We don''t need the witch''s services anymore."


    Victor was unimpressed.


    "We already heard all about it," he replied. "Even had a long talk about it with the Priestess this morning."


    "Really?" I asked, a little discouraged. "And she was so open to educating you?"


    "Not much to it," Victor waved away. "We heard about people eating the ghouls, and she told us about the dangers of it."


    "That''s news to me," I replied. "And what are these dangers?"


    "Corruption," He answered succinctly. "She explained it with a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo, but whatever it is, it''s not good for you."


    I was taken aback by this.


    "She didn''t want to talk about it during the ritual," Benjy, from Victor''s crew, added. "Said it will only make more people try it."


    "Good to know," I replied. "But that''s not what I was offering. I know the legit way, the same one she uses to do it safely."


    "Bull," Victor cried out. "I tried the same thing, and it didn''t work."


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    "Then you didn''t do it right," I refuted. "It works for me and four others now," I pointed at Kenny.


    Victor squinted his eyes at me.


    "Show me a cut or a bruise if you want proof," I offered.


    Victor showed me a small scratch on his pinky.


    "Not exactly a life-threatening injury," the broad girl near Benjy said.


    "It either works, or it doesn''t," I replied. "I''m not pulling your leg. Do you want me to heal it or not? I''m not asking for anything in return," I addressed Victor directly.


    He nodded and extended his hand.


    His buddies looked expectantly, and I decided to spice it up.


    "Done," I exclaimed as I slapped his hand away.


    He already gave me his consent to be healed, and all I needed was the brief contact and the will to burn my energy to heal him, aided by the Life symbol hidden on my chest.


    "What the" Victor started to get aggravated but then noticed his skin. "It''s gone?" He asked, dumbfounded.


    "Child''s play," I confirmed. "Do you want in on it or what?"


    "What do you want in return?" He asked.


    "The two of us join you three on a hunt. And we get half," I offered.


    "That''s too much," Victor declined. "I''m not against smashing some heads, but I can''t risk them getting injured. We won''t have enough to heal if we get injured."


    I was disheartened at his fast refusal, but the reason made me laugh. I laughed and couldn''t stop myself. Some of it must have been from all the stress I had been under for so long.


    They looked uneasily at me, like I had become unhinged.


    "Ohh... Not enough," I chuckled. "I forgot to tell you the best part."


    "Which is?" Victor asked suspiciously.


    "Our esteemed High Priestess is skimming off the top," I told them, again with the criminal speech. "Wanna guess how much?"


    "I know she''s not running a charity," Victory said. "Using some of the mojo for herself."


    "So, how much do you think she''s taking?" I asked. "How much would be fair?"


    Everybody loved things, to be fair. I sure did.


    They looked at me, waiting for the twist while I smiled my best infuriating smile.


    "Let''s say you''re like these guys," I referred to the exhausted-looking people milling about. "They missed what? Three nights'' worth of sleep?"


    "Thereabouts," Victor agreed.


    "Well, if a group of these suckers came with their hard-won game, begging for her help, it would only take her about a third of the ghoul''s power to patch them all up," I looked into their eyes. "Not only do you have to depend on her and can''t heal in the field right now, but she''s also making more than you without the risk."


    "That''s-" Victor was at a loss for words.


    "Robbery," I finished for him. "If you give me half of it, the remaining half would still be better for you than taking all of it to her. Do the math. Even if I had asked for half of all your future hunts, it would have been better for you than having any business with her."


    "Too good," Victor mumbled.


    "I''m offering to teach you how to triple your gain and get independence all at the same time," I finished my pitch.


    "That''s too good," Victor shook his head. "If it''s so good, why would you give it away?"


    I considered presenting it as an altruistic gesture but decided against it. Self-interest is understandable enough, and we are all benefiting from it anyway.


    "This knowledge will leak eventually anyway," I admitted. "In a day or a week, it doesn''t matter. It''s only a matter of time."


    Victor watched me closely.


    "So, I''m not asking for much. I''m making it profitable for you from the first ghoul," I said. "All you need to do is help me on our joint outing, be my safety net."


    Victor thought it through. I noticed he didn''t consult with his pals.


    "Problem is, we don''t need it right now," He confessed. "it''s going to be a waste. Just got treated."


    "Here''s the bonus," I said, sealing the deal. "I''ll teach you how to save it for later. So you won''t need to carry the stinking carcasses ever again."

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 20

    The five of us chose to go north around the Pillar. According to Victor, most ventured south as it was the most explored area, with the notable exception of Douglas, the police officer, who took two dozen of his men in the same direction we went in one big group.


    I could think of two reasons to hunt with such large groups when each ghoul could only be bartered for three Restorations with Claire. One was the intention to hunt several ghouls, so the whole group benefitted, and the other was to do it the primitive way. Cut the ghoul to pieces and feed it directly to your buddies. And unfortunately for Douglas, it appears that Claire had banned him and his pals from her services after the last time he broke up her ceremony.


    I had another reason in mind for the unpopularity of this part of the Undercity¡ªthe mist. Except for the clear plaza, it was ever present everywhere you looked. Some places, mostly those closer to the Pillar, were clearer, while others were more heavily obstructed. North of the Pillar, as it happens to be, it became denser with every block we passed.


    "How are you doing this?" The sole girl among us asked, unable to contain her curiosity.


    An interesting side effect of the Sight was the ability to disperse the mist. It took slightly more power out of me to look through, but every time I did, it caused the whiteness to clear. It would appear as if the mist was intentionally parting in front of me.


    An entertaining sight right out of a fairytale, to be sure, the smallest member of the party carrying a monster head on a staff, leading the more imposing figures by arcane means.


    "One of many secrets we will be happy to share," I replied, giving my best mysterious smile. "For a small fee."


    The girl snorted and went to Kenny to pester him for details.


    We already discussed the information we put out for sale, and I was less worried that he would let anything slip this time.


    "No names!" I ordered back as I heard Edith introduce herself and Kenny starting to reply.


    That brought awkward silence, that is, awkward for everyone else. I was satisfied by the reprieve and the ability to concentrate more on my surroundings. They were too quick to forget how dangerous this trip was.


    "Why not?" She finally asked, baffled by my demand.


    "We had a talk with the witch''s helper, and she told us they are not using names," Kenny took over for me. "Supposed to protect them."


    "Maggie told you that?" She asked. "You sure she didn''t try to blow you guys off?"


    Kenny looked to me for help.


    I was amused at the ease with which she sold Maggie out moments after learning the importance of true names.


    "Yes," I answered, not intending to elaborate on a subject I knew nothing about.


    She looked irritated by my short reply.


    "Maybe it''s a cult thing," Benjy guessed. "I watched a docu where a cult made them wear the same clothes and get the same haircuts. Something about undermining their sense of identity. So maybe it''s more of the same?"


    "No," I disagreed. "I''m assuming it has real magical significance, and to protect yourselves, I''m suggesting you do the same."


    I looked meaningfully at Victor, one of the few people who knew my name.


    "How''s that supposed to protect anyone?" Edith asked, annoyed.


    I shrugged, refusing to talk more on the matter.


    "So, how are we going to go about this?" I asked Victor, the most experienced man around, when I became too weary listening to Edith grumbling about how her former classmate was now privy to all sorts of mysteries thanks to the self-appointed witch and how she didn''t want to share any of it.


    "Last one jumped us from a third-story window," he replied. "We didn''t see or hear movement until it was too late. I reckon they ambush their prey, so we will have to cover a lot of ground and pay special attention to windows and roofs."


    This tracked with my own experience. The very first ghoul I witnessed stood still on a rooftop.


    "It didn''t even try to run away after the attack or defend against the others," Benjy added with furrowed brows. "It had all its attention on me, but it didn''t hurry to eat like it was starving. It dug in. Made it more painful like it was enjoying it."


    Benjy looked horrified as he retold his account, the mental trauma persisting long after his body healed.


    "What kind of creature does that?" He asked quietly.


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    Surprisingly, Benjy, the victim of said ambush, was also the brightest presence out of the three. I was expecting it to be Victor.


    It was unclear what influenced a person''s natural energy level. I suspected age was a major factor from people-watching at the plaza. But I didn''t have much else to go on. When an older guy got Restored at the temple, his energy levels were still noticeably diminished compared to his younger companions.


    We kept to Victor''s strategy for several more blocks, but I was dissatisfied with the progress. Walking around and hoping to notice the ghoul before it notices us didn''t sit well with me. And the more time passed, the more it rankled me.


    "The easiest ones to find would be those on a roof," I said out loud.


    "We are watching the roofs," Victor agreed with me.


    I had the Sight to look through the mist and the ability to notice the energy standing out among the ancient surroundings. However, my abilities were not used to their fullest.


    "I''m gonna try something," I informed them.


    I entered a three-story high apartment building and carefully made my way to the top floor. There was no access to the roof, so I held my spear in one hand and swung to it using a one-arm pull-up using the other from the topmost window.


    An impressive display of athleticism that the half-assed use of the Force sign made a breeze.


    I stood tall and concentrated on my task, looking as far as possible through the mist and uncovering any hidden energy.


    Ramping up the supply of energy to the third eye, my field of view pushed farther until I was satisfied with it. Then, slowly turning, I scanned around until I found what I was looking for.


    About five blocks away, I saw a golden light, shaped in a silhouette, spilling out of a high window. Some glow even dimly went through the wall portion around the opening.


    I hopped down to alarmed exclamations, landing lightly on my feet.


    "Found one."


    ***


    "I still can''t see it," Victor said.


    We were standing half a block away from the ghoul''s hiding place. I pointed out the right window, but looking in from the side was impossible.


    "It''s there," I repeated. "Follow the plan."


    I took the time to scrutinize everyone present, assessing their readiness. They looked wound up, ready for action. But I didn''t see fear, not even from Kenny, who was doing it for the first time, the same as me.


    They looked more put together than I felt.


    It assuaged my worries. They were only the backup in case something failed, but having them with me, being all professional, gave me the confidence to act.


    Plucking the head from the blade of my spear, I crept towards my quarry.


    The ghoul''s aura, dimmed significantly by the wall, was enough to gauge its position. It hadn''t moved one inch since I laid my eyes on it.


    I stopped a reasonable distance away, just enough to have a Force reinforced throw deliver my disgusting burden to its intended destination.


    I threw the head with as much accuracy as I could manage, intending for it to fly along the wall, passing just out of reach of the window. But, instead, I cringed as it bumped into the wall and bounced, spinning wildly in a gory mess.


    Thankfully it was enough to serve its purpose, the alien form of the ghoul bound from the window after the bait, gaining on it in giant strides. It took seconds for its slack energy to flare in action. Its sudden appearance sent my heart into fast reverberations.


    I moved closer to the hunched form, hearing the repulsive sucking sounds it made.


    Just as expected, it paid me no mind, entirely devoted to its meal. Its short atrophied hands held the bait clumsily, pressing it to its maw. Despite its physically diminished looks, its energy glow was about as intense as the previous dead specimen I had witnessed. However, the energy was more structured, packed tighter, and controlled.


    Too easy.


    I didn''t have to play it so safe.


    I hurried to close the distance, and in one quick motion, I swung the spear in a deadly arc aimed at its thick neck.


    The ghoul reacted immediately to my proximity. It leaped right at me, turning in the air. Because of its actions, instead of severing its head neatly and finishing the fight in one move, the spear impacted its neck with the shaft. The enhanced power behind the strike was enough to violently bend the wood and deform the attacker''s neck like a bag of wet sand, sending the beast crashing to the side.


    But it did not stay down. Instead, as soon as its legs found purchase, it leaped back at me, its neck bent at an angle.


    My training session did not go in vain. I stabbed right at it, faster than ever. The blade pierced the chest, breaking ribs and pulverizing any organ it met along the way, coming out on the other side.


    But even that was not enough. It used a strong jerking motion to impale itself farther up the shaft, coming closer to me, its maw scraping at my shirt right above the pentacle, its claws digging into my arms.


    In a desperate move to protect myself, I twisted, managing to move my left arm between us but losing grip on the spear in the process.


    Its teeth sunk into my elbow in a sickening crunch, and I watched in horror as its energy used the contact to dig into my flesh.


    What followed was the most horrible pain I had ever felt. One continuous wave of agony assaulted me, almost blacking my vision.


    A stream of energy radiated out of me. Fear and pain manifested.


    It was more than I used in any attempt at magic, more than I could intentionally will out of me.


    The ghoul sucked on it greedily, my arm dimming at an alarming rate taking the rest of the glow with it.


    I was about to blast the ghoul with Force when Kenny barreled into it from the side, sweeping it away from me.


    The others were not far behind, Benjy throwing all his weight on the spear, leveraging its length to pin the creature down, and Edith kept shanking it repeatedly with one of Kenny''s knives.


    The pin was the most successful strategy, clearing Victor to drop a large rock on the creature''s head.


    I could sense the exact moment it died. All structure and inner pressure in the creature''s essence broke. Then, like a burst heart, it all spilled out in an unorganized mess.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 21

    I was relieved to find out that the ghoul was unable to cause me any lasting damage during the short struggle.


    Flesh wounds were easily mended, and my energy reserves didn''t take a real hit, as even at greatly enhanced intensity, there was only so much the ghoul could devour in a few seconds. It took some time to naturally stabilize and stop regenerating, though my energy levels were slightly lower than before the fight.


    We gathered near the window inside the ghoul''s apartment. There were no clutches of eggs, smaller ghouls, or anything to indicate it lived there, only undisturbed dust that ended right at the window. The brutalized form of our prey was lying by a wall.


    "So every time we use magic, we have to draw the symbol?" Edith asked, touching a small cut on her hand and healing it with a command.


    Kenny finished his lesson, only touching on the Ankh, the symbol of life, and the three of them were sporting it on their palms. The most important thing was the cost of the spell, the willingness to sacrifice some of your inner light to create the effect. Not that they were aware that other effects were possible or how to achieve them.


    "You can have it ready beforehand," Kenny replied. "On a piece of clothing or a stone," or permanently branded on the skin, left unsaid.


    "What about the corruption?" Victor asked. "I find it hard to believe that thinking about sifting it would be enough. It''s too feely. Can''t it be more tangible?" He waved his fingers.


    "You don''t think about it," I corrected him. "You will it. Everything your energy does happens because you commanded it. You are in control."


    After a moment to let them digest it, I added another offer. "We could also teach you to sense the energies in a better way."


    "But that would cost us. Wouldn''t it?" Victor finished for me.


    "It would also help you," I shrugged. "It didn''t take me long to find a ghoul when I used it."


    "I''m not averse to some hard work," Victor replied.


    He looked unconvinced.


    "Okay," Kenny clapped his hands with a smile. "You are almost ready to start."


    He took out a bunch of small stones from his pocket. On a closer look, they were all flattened and stamped with a pentacle design. He came prepared.


    "This is the symbol to contain the essence," He showed it to them. "Guide it to it, and you''ll be able to save it for later."


    "Looks like the pentagram the Priestess was waving when you were out," Edith told Benjy.


    I kept my mouth shut.


    Edith was the first to take it and crouch near the ghoul. She cleared her throat self-consciously.


    "Don''t forget to stay in contact," Kenny instructed.


    She rested a hand on the body and closed her eyes in concentration.


    A stronger than necessary flare of golden light signified her attempt. Not the most efficient way of doing it, but it was effective. The small pentacle was fast to fill with the alien essence, and I couldn''t detect any corruption inside it. The drain was quick enough to make the change to the ghoul''s appearance visible. It churned and dried noticeably in seconds.


    "Damn," Benjy whistled. "Remind me never to ask you to heal me," he joked.


    Edith was out of breath, but she looked proudly at the tiny stone.


    "It doesn''t look any different," she noticed. "I can only feel that there is something there when I try to Drain a little from it."


    "Let''s get to it," Victor commanded, and they started to work on it together, the small pile of stones next to them being filled one by one.


    Only once, I had to stop Benjy and remind him to concentrate on taking out the corruption.


    "A pleasure," I said, taking the four professed stones and splitting them immediately with Kenny.


    Victor was holding the rest like his last paycheck, finally putting all of them in his pocket.


    "Not interested in a magical Sight, perchance?" I asked, angling for the remaining pentacles.


    He silently measured me with a glance.


    "I reckon I already have an inkling," he replied.


    He whispered a word and winced. When he regained his composure, his eyes started darting all over me, settling on the general area of the pentacle.


    I was surprised and closed my eyes to watch him. Instead of using Kenny''s method with his hands, which I wasn''t familiar with, or mine with the third eye, he simply used his own eyes.


    His glowing eyes made contact with the symbol above my forehead.


    Of course, why use a drawing of an eye to symbolize sight when you have perfectly good eyes at the ready? I was so focused on inventing symbols for every action that I didn''t think to try it myself.


    After all, the words we spoke to help us activate a spell and the symbols we used were not the only things that could hold meaning. Apparently, body parts did the job, and who knows what else? Those same words could be written and still mean the same thing, yet we didn''t think of that and instead immediately moved on with symbols since we already had one that worked.


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    I watched as the invested energy depleted and his eyes returned to normal.


    "Interesting," he intoned. "What do the other ones do?"


    I made the universal sign to pay me, but he shook his head.


    "That was a productive day," he proclaimed. "I''m glad we went with you on this one."


    "What now?" Benjy asked.


    I was hoping the answer to that didn''t include backstabbing.


    "Back to the plaza," Victor replied. "We can finally have more people join now that I have the means to pay," he patted his pocket.


    "I can lead some new guys," Edith immediately offered. "I have some experience managing new workers."


    "You joining my crew?" Victor asked us, ignoring his companion''s eager suggestions. "We''ll have more guys hunting, better organized, not getting fleeced anymore. There''s a lot of work to be done. We could really build something if enough folks work together."


    I didn''t see a reason for it. I could make more by hunting with Kenny, not having to split with them. And any sense of safety would be ruined by a constant worry about betrayal. I refused to let go of the thought that I was merely a bag of fuel for someone desperate enough.


    "No, I''m not a team kind of guy," I replied.


    "I think it''s the right thing to do," Kenny said. "We should help each other. Keep it safe for everyone."


    I don''t know why that caught me by surprise. It wasn''t the first time he voiced it.


    "You didn''t see the fight at the plaza. They were fighting each other for scraps, brutally," I remembered. "Then, some goons tried to take my spear," I added. "Those that can care for themselves don''t need you, and the others will bring you down."


    Victor watched the by-play without getting involved, except raising his brow incredulously at my reasoning. He was clearly not cautious enough for my tastes if he didn''t get the simple idea that people were dangerous.


    Kenny wasn''t too cautious, either. If he had his way from the start, we would both be ghoul chow by the first one we''d seen.


    "That''s not true," Kenny argued. "There''re plenty of people that need a little help. Maybe if we share our knowledge with them-"


    "Don''t go sharing it too freely," I cut him off, shaking my head. "Or at least don''t expect to get much in return."


    That silenced Kenny for a second.


    "I can''t say anything to change your mind, can I?" He asked, downcast.


    "No," I replied calmly. "I was honest about it from the start."


    Kenny moved towards Victor making his decision.


    "Maybe, you''ll give it a second thought eventually," Kenny said hopefully.


    I really won''t, but I made a vague motion in return.


    "See you guys around. I hope you''ll prove me wrong," I finished on an optimistic note and turned to leave.


    Kenny was sad, and Victor looked disappointed at my decision.


    "Don''t you want to at least walk back with us?" Victor asked.


    "Nah," I declined. "Hard to get lost around here, with the Pillar to show the way and all."


    ***


    Several days after the amiable separation with Kenny, I was resting on a roof, watching the green lights on the distant rocky ceiling.


    A nice long walk always helped me put things into perspective, and this one wasn''t an exception. The weariness in my legs was worth the information I gathered, and the experience of enjoying the vistas and studying the defunct fountains and the surviving statues was a little bonus to the deal.


    I had just finished the round trip around the city center, the Pillar always at a distance to the left of me, and the results of the impromptu survey were discouraging.


    Time after time, I had stopped to scan for ghouls, pushing my Sight as far as I was comfortable with.


    Several times, I noticed groups of people that I steered clear of. An easy thing to do when they didn''t have the same abilities as I did, though I didn''t know how long that would last.


    And ever so rarely had I detected something other than people¡ªshades and ghouls.


    The area I covered was sizable enough to judge the whole city by it, and I didn''t like my findings. There were too few of them.


    I still held hope that I missed some, hidden behind the walls, or that other areas farther from the center were less depleted. But even with those assumptions, if I was correct, the Undercity held no more than a hundred more ghouls at most.


    Ironic. Days ago, I would have been happy to discover they were going extinct, but not now. Not when they were crucial to our survival.


    After understanding the issue, I decided to engage in a little personal project that could help me solve it.


    Spying.


    Hours I spent observing the latest ghoul I found, hoping to glean some understanding of its behavior. I would have been happy to discover they have lairs or tunnels to hide and reproduce in, but the reality was stranger.


    Not a single movement.


    The ghoul''s energy remained in the relaxed state I was familiar with, and it didn''t move at all. I wasn''t even sure if it was breathing.


    Previously, I was troubled with the prospect of joining a team because of my lack of trust, but I had an even better reason to remain independent now. If the ghouls'' population was so limited, it was not enough to go around. Not for long.


    Fortunately, I wasn''t like Kenny. I didn''t look for safety in numbers.


    I sat back up to analyze the single ghoul I detected again. There was no change, but it wasn''t what I was looking for. The otherness in the ghoul''s energy, the corruption as Victor called it, was more apparent now. How could it not be when I was the source of something similar to it not so long ago?


    During the attack, the unimaginable pain I felt¡ªthe agony brought by the ghoul caused me to spill a lot of energy. It wasn''t an exact match, but the energy I generated was closer to the ghoul''s life force than it was to me in my usual state. It was hard to believe that the energy I produced, even if only for a little while, was made to resemble so much the monster''s.


    That was the reason they took so much time to kill. They were doing to us the same thing we were doing to them. We filtered their essence when we Drained them, and they caused the energy we generated to change to something more palatable to them when they fed.


    What did it mean? Were they subsisting on pain and suffering? Or was it something more than that?


    I cleared my mind of the more philosophical questions to concentrate on the immediate.


    Two failings on my part made the last hunt an almost failure. The spear didn''t have the necessary stopping force to hold the enemy at a distance, and I lacked the ability to hide my presence.


    I wasn''t going to repeat my mistakes, so I needed to create something to help me.


    Luckily, I still had just enough metal to work with. The modifications to my spear would be the easiest part.


    Hiding, on the other hand... I would have to devise a new spell for that. One that was totally new and not inspired by something somebody else already proved possible. And for that spell, I had just the object in mind to symbolize the concealment it would produce.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 22

    Days passed, and everything looked unchanged at the plaza, including human nature.


    I have seen people robbed of clothing, dignity, weapons, and ghoul bodies. Later it was the little pentacle coins Kenny was churning for everybody''s use, popularizing the knowledge of Draining and Healing spells. Sometimes they even fought for no reason at all. Sometimes they died.


    People were always looking for an opportunity to be assholes to one another. And they were being assholes now if my Sight was to be believed.


    A robbery was taking place brazenly in front of everyone present.


    It was nothing new. But what made this occasion different was the target of the robbery. It was Kenny, or the Handyman, as he came to be known.


    In the days following our split, he set up something of a shop at the temple to the east of the Pillar. The same one we used to discover our first spell.


    Turns out, it was possible to Reshape a bunch of rotten wood into pristine handles and shafts. At the same time, stones were an acceptable material for ax heads, hammers, and blades. That gave rise to the creation of the various proudly displayed weapons in his shop.


    He even managed to transform the heavily rusted iron into premium products for those who wanted to evolve from the stone age. But that was not something that most people were ready to fork out for. Not when stone weapons were good enough for the job.


    The only guys sporting iron weapons were Victor''s crew and, unsurprisingly, Claire''s white robes that ventured into the city. Though their weapons didn''t come from my friend.


    Both groups grew with more followers for the same reasons. Equipment and safety in numbers.


    "Don''t fucking touch me!" A red-faced man yelled in Kenny''s face, spittle flying from his mouth.


    He swiped at Kenny''s hand, trying to go around him, but Kenny stood his ground and pushed him again, his considerable strength moving the man a few steps into the hands of his two cronies.


    A shove. That was the most violent behavior I had ever seen from my bulky pal. Directed at another person, at least.


    "You know it''s Victor''s shop," Kenny tried to reason. "He won''t like it."


    "Don''t you worry," The man spat with vitriol. "I''d like to see him try to find me."


    Ahh, so that was the reason for his bravery. He was one of the idiots that rarely set foot at the plaza.


    There were a few reasons to come back here. The company was one, as it was the most populated part of the city, or maybe for the services of the shop or the coven. But this man decided that putting his grubby hands on some free weapons would be worth the exchange of never coming back.


    The man kept shoving and even tried to punch Kenny a few times. It wasn''t easy punching up like this. Good thing his two friends didn''t take part in the assault.


    I looked around for Victor''s people but couldn''t see any of them. It was one of the rare occasions that the whole crew was out hunting. Bad organization on their part.


    The man was dim and weak in more than one way, so I decided to come out to play.


    I concentrated as much power as I could churn out into the mask I had been wearing for the last couple of days. The only thing I focused on was the simple command to hide. To output a wave of mana with the indescribable feeling of the need to avert one''s eyes, to ignore something because it was too uncomfortable or scary to face head-on. And could there be a better way to hold the meaning of concealment than the bronze mask I fashioned to hide my face?


    I glided through the crowd, feeling the strain on the spell. Everything was working against me, there were too many people present that could see me, and I was moving, getting too close to them. There were better ways to use the spell. But it was enough to keep me hidden for a few seconds, and that was all I needed.


    As always, the spell wasn''t accompanied by a feeling of playful hiding or accomplishment but an anxious or even scared feeling of fear of being found out. The mindset required of me was one of terrified prey, even now when I was more of a predator in my situation. I needed to feel it to make other people feel the same, even if only on some unconscious level, so they wouldn''t notice the external influence.


    Nevertheless, I persevered and pulled through, acting however I wanted instead of succumbing to the unpleasant sensations. I appeared out of thin air right in front of the man, trapping his neck between the shaft of the spear and one of the large dull horns I added to it.


    My sudden assault and the weight behind it drove him to his ass.


    "AAArrrgggghh-" The man started the shout in a voice so high it could go above my hearing range, but the weight on his neck turned it into a strangled whisper.


    "Am I interrupting?" I asked, bringing the scary mask I wore to an inch of his face.


    I could see his wide eyes darting between the two pairs of empty eye sockets the mask depicted.


    "Am I?" I repeated, looking up at his friends.


    They took a few steps back in fright, and I could barely restrain myself from drawing in the delicious waves of fear they manifested, guiding them instead to the mask with the intent to scare others.


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    Pain was not the only thing that caused people to unintentionally spill the vital energy that was so important for their continued existence. Though it did come out changed, corrupted in some barely perceived way.


    "No...no..." The man under me mouthed, shaking his head frantically.


    His face was turning purple from the struggle.


    "Good," I relented, releasing him graciously, watching as they quickly scurried away.


    Kenny was the only one around that felt relieved after the initial scare.


    "Thank you," he said, relaxing.


    I acknowledged him and followed into the shop, away from prying eyes.


    "It''s not Victor''s shop, you know? It''s yours," I chided him.


    "People know him," Kenny replied. "And we work together. He looks out for me."


    "And where was his protection just now?" I asked, genuinely curious. "That''s the first time I see the whole crew missing."


    Kenny didn''t look surprised at the question.


    "Yeah... Victor had to change the whole schedule. Everyone got reorganized." he replied. "They were followed around, attacked even. For now, they are going out in two large teams. That''s more than anyone would risk picking a fight with."


    "Who''s stupid enough to pick a fight with him?" I asked. "He has more people than almost anyone else. Better equipped too."


    Kenny shrugged, and we settled into a comfortable silence.


    It wasn''t the first time I dropped by to talk to him in the last few days since we parted.


    I walked along the wall looking at his craft until something caught my eye.


    "Are those playing cards?" I asked, turning the slim slips in my hands.


    The design was simpler and less colorful, but the small cards were easily recognizable.


    "Yeah, and we have another deck for the crew," Kenny boasted. "You should come to play with us sometimes."


    "I thought you only made weapons," I said. "And the pentacles, of course."


    "People buy all kinds of stuff," he shook his head. "Music instruments, playing dice," he started to list off.


    "That''s because your prices are too low," I guessed. "Kind of a waste, isn''t it?"


    He looked indignant at my opinion.


    "We have to do more than survive," he argued. "The moment I opened doors, I got a crazy amount of commissions, things I didn''t even think about making."


    I raised my hands in surrender. After all, everyone was entitled to waste their time however they wished.


    "Can you lose the mask?" Kenny asked. "It''s giving me the creeps."


    "That''s just the residual," I defended my creation. "You know it keeps at it after a spell. Lately, it''s doing it more than expected, though," I explained, lifting it to rest on my head and opening my eyes for the first time.


    "No, it was creepy from the first time I saw it," he complained. "Why did you have to make it so scary?"


    "I didn''t try to make it scary," I laughed. "It just came out wonky with the eyes and all," I moved my fingers through the double sockets. "I''m not a handyman like you, and I like it either way."


    "Of course you do," he snorted.


    I looked questioningly at him.


    "You know," he said. "With you appearing all over the place, scaring people," referring to my games over the last few days.


    "I was testing the limits of the spell," I explained. "It''s different from everything else we tried."


    There were several peculiarities to the spell that I felt compelled to study. And if I''m being honest with myself, scaring the shit out of the unlucky people that broke it only to be greeted with my best performance of a jump scare was highly satisfying. I liked being the one to frighten others, for once, and not the one constantly fearing for his life.


    "But, did it have to be startling?" He asked.


    "It was more fun that way," I shrugged.


    He looked at me, slowly raising his eyebrows as if he had proved some point.


    "Anyway, bad news," I decided to share the reason I came back to the plaza. "The ghoul I was stalking was butchered."


    "What? Why?" Kenny asked.


    "For the usual reasons," I snorted. "Either way, it never moved, never met other ghouls, I got nothing."


    Kenny hummed thoughtfully.


    "There are very good chances that we''re not getting any more of them," I hypothesized.


    "They had to have come from somewhere," Kenny argued halfheartedly.


    "Maybe they appeared here like we did," I guessed. "Maybe the next time a bunch of them appears is a month from now or a year. Who knows? Maybe never."


    I crouched down to a small stack of dice and rolled them around.


    "There was something strange about it," I added. "It was Douglas''s man that found it."


    I looked up at Kenny to see his reaction.


    "And they took the body with them. To the same building on the other side of the Pillar they are using as a base."


    "What''s so strange about it?" Kenny asked. "They have close to thirty people. They hunt ghouls all the time."


    "But nobody else is taking the bodies anymore," I reminded him. "Everyone knows how to Drain the ghouls themselves by now. Most even use your pentacles."


    "I don''t know," Kenny looked unsure. "Maybe they are experimenting with them. I had a guy come in with a bone asking to make a flute out of it."


    I sighed. They were still taking the bodies because they probably kept eating ghoul meat. Sure, they started eating it because they were banned from Claire''s Temple when she was the only one who knew how to render the ghouls'' essence. But why keep at it when everybody knows how to do it now, thanks to Kenny?


    "Did you?" I asked.


    "Ahh, I got it to whistle," Kenny hedged. "I could probably pull it off, but I didn''t want to put it in my mouth to test it all the time."


    I laughed at that.


    "That''s the Handymans kind of problem," I said good-naturedly to Kenny''s chagrin.


    I enjoyed those rare occasions when we could relax and talk about unimportant stuff. Pretend that some semblance of normalcy was still present in our lives.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 23

    I retreated outside the shop the moment the six people of Victor''s B team returned to the shop¡ªthe presence of so many people made me feel trapped.


    The plaza was half deserted. Other than the missing people who went out on a hunt or relocated somewhere like Officer Douglas''s crew, there were the sick.


    By now, around two hundred people were suffering from the same ailment. Exhaustion. It was physical, mental, and emotional. The most afflicted would respond to nothing, not even pain. They would sit motionless on the ground, profoundly uninterested in anything around them.


    Their numbers stopped growing since the mass drive to hunt and Drain the ghouls began. So it was safe to assume that most of the sick hadn''t been fortunate to enjoy a boost in energy since their arrival.


    They were moved to the colonnades to make the place a little less bleak. Concentrated and barely hidden from view, their passive presence had less of an impact on morale.


    If I didn''t intend to join their ranks, I''d have to get back to hunting sooner rather than later. And this time I''ll have to go alone.


    I returned to my exercises, weaving between the remaining people training my ability to hide in plain sight. I tried to get familiar with the sensation of resistance and feedback while being observed. Lowering the power when I could and bringing it back up when I noticed a higher drain.


    Always having it active would be a smart move, even if only on its lowest power output, just to know if I am being watched. Sometimes I misjudged the required minimum or didn''t react in time to a new observer, and the spell failed only for me to flare it stronger and vanish after appearing for a single glance.


    With the number of scares I gave people, if they thought of a nickname for me, it wouldn''t be something to repeat in polite company. The nicest reference I heard about me was the freak in the Halloween mask.


    Deciding on a course of action wasn''t easy, especially with so many pieces of the puzzle missing. Whenever I discovered something new about this place, it raised more questions.


    I walked next to the line of the sick, noticing how little effect they had on the mask''s performance.


    I lowered the power further, standing close by, right in the face of one of them, his droopy eyes open in an apathetic look, looking through me.


    Unexpectedly, the spell failed, but the man didn''t flinch. He didn''t even focus on me.


    "H-Hey!" A young feminine voice called out. "Step back from him."


    I turned around and noticed Claire''s helper, the short, redheaded girl approaching me. Her white robes marked her belonging to the coven.


    ''Maggie''¡ª I remembered her name. A metal dagger glinted in her hand as she brought it halfway up, as if unsure what to do with it.


    "Red," I greeted her conversely, turning to face her fully.


    She flinched at my movement, or was it the terror my mask still hadn''t stopped exuding?


    I lifted the mask to my head and feigned an unconcerned smile. "What''s with the aggression?" I asked, glancing at the dagger. "If you don''t like the nickname, you can just ask me to call you something else. No need to poke extra holes. I was born just with the right amount."


    A look of recognition passed her face, and she returned the blade to her belt.


    "It''s not that," she flushed, but she didn''t remain flustered by my tongue-in-cheek comment for long. "What are you doing with them?" She asked in an accusatory tone.


    I looked at the lethargic man next to me and back at her.


    "Looking, trying to understand what''s going on," I stated the obvious. "Why? What are you doing with them?"


    She huffed.


    "I''m protecting them."


    I looked again, not noticing any apparent danger.


    "What are you protecting them from?"


    "They''ve been going missing," She explained. "I''m standing watch so nobody mistreats them."


    I gave her a once-over. But, unfortunately, the meek demeanor and amateurish handling of the dagger didn''t instill a lot of confidence in me.


    She noticed my doubtful look and crossed her arms protectively.


    "That''s a good initiative on your coven''s part, but shouldn''t you have some backup?" I asked. "Or even better, leave it for the cop to handle?"


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    "I''m doing it on my own," she said. "And I don''t trust Douglas or his men. He''s not looking to keep order anymore. Not since they started hunting. And when I asked around, it was his people that were messing with them," she waved at the line of impassive people.


    "Messing how?" I asked.


    She looked around, checking for eavesdroppers.


    "They carried a couple of people off to their base," Maggie said in a lower voice. "And nobody had seen them since."


    I stepped closer.


    "Did you see it happen?" I asked in a whisper.


    "I have a source." she shook her head.


    A source? What is she, a detective now?


    "Who?" I urged.


    "They asked to not be brought into this," the redhead replied.


    "Did they see it happen, or do they also have a source?" I asked.


    She frowned at me.


    "You don''t believe me." She stated.


    "I can believe in anything right now." I raised my hand placatingly.


    If a new danger snatched people, I had to know about it. And the same reasoning held for Douglas and his men. I had to know if the largest faction here was up to something.


    But maybe the real reason for my interest was that if I didn''t have anything to do here anymore, I would have to go out to hunt, and I had been putting that off for several days now.


    "Say you caught a kidnapping. What would you do?" I asked. "Do you know some crazy magic that would help?"


    Maggie shook her head.


    "I''d scream for help," She stated proudly. "That would be enough to make them stop."


    "What about magic?" I fished again.


    "I wasn''t taught anything yet," she admitted. "I only know the Sight and the Life spells that everyone else knows."


    Those spells didn''t come from Claire. Kenny and his big mouth made it available for everyone for free. How long will it take her to grow disillusioned with the coven?


    "I''m going to look into it," I promised Maggie. "But I don''t want to do it for free."


    "But I don''t have anything to pay you with," the redhead argued. "We don''t have any use for pentacles at the coven. The high priestess Blesses us every morning."


    "A favor then," I allowed. "Something we''ll both agree to," I allowed, conveniently ignoring the fact that Maggie didn''t even intend to ask me for help in the first place.


    ***


    Some things never change.


    I sat in the middle of one row of the feeble and faint and observed the others across the plaza.


    It was so easy to stay hidden among them it barely took any effort.


    My fellow row mates didn''t react to anything, and the wakeful people going about their day at the city square abstained from looking in their direction whenever they could.


    I imagined they felt similar when going by a bunch of homeless people. A mix of guilt and fear to find themselves in the same situation.


    Stalking the sick was very much like stalking a ghoul. Uncountable hours of zero movements on both my and my targets'' part and a battle with my inner desire to do something, else I''d give myself away.


    I settled into the rhythm of making intentional breaths and keeping a diffused focus on my surroundings. Time crawled by, and the only noticeable change was Maggie leaving her post for the temple.


    The difference in the energy levels of my wards was very noticeable from the start. When the ghoul didn''t move, it was hibernating. Its power relaxed and sleeping, but still very much there. The sick, on the other hand, felt extinguished, like they burned out and didn''t have enough to move even if they wanted. By the looks of it, they didn''t even have enough to think or want.


    A flash of power garnered my attention.


    Two men near the tail of the colonnade just used Victor''s variation of the Sight spell. It wasn''t saying much on its own as it was the most widely used one, but it still could be important.


    Their eyes glowed in golden light as they looked over the listless people.


    That rang an alarm bell in my mind.


    They walked along their part of the row several times, looking around, then casually walked up, picked one up under the arms, and walked away.


    If I had missed the snatching, I would think they were supporting a wounded friend.


    I trailed them, closing the distance across the plaza.


    Both were topped off and as bright as folk could get without the use of additional storage seals. They were also armed with long bone spikes, so I decided to keep watch and gather any information I could.


    Another oddity was the state of the captive. Out of the available targets, he was on the higher end of brightness. Still, his inner light was just below the minimum requirement I intuited to remain coherent and active. A recent addition, then.


    I followed them out of the plaza, and instead of going farther into the city, they turned around and circled the Pillar, going on a slight jog when they assumed they were out of sight.


    The jog ended on the other side of the Pillar. We passed the ruined building that was used as a source of the building material for the ramp on our first days, and I found myself in front of a large, guarded building¡ªDouglas''s base.


    It was too late to act now. Other than the guards outside, I could sense close to two dozen bright signatures inside, their glow strong enough to partially seep through the walls.


    I looked for a way inside, but all the windows had people nearby. Although I didn''t think they were intentionally guarding the windows, the diffused glow of the mists was the only source of light when not using a spell, so people tended to congregate in the better-lit places.


    After staying for more time, I had only noted the comings and goings of the crew. It was apparent that I wasn''t going to discover anything like this.


    Without any more options, I decided to return and discuss my findings with Maggie.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 24

    Unsurprisingly, the temple was guarded. An attestation to the sad state of affairs that we had come to.


    The temple guards wore white robes and were armed with metal glinting spears held firmly in their hands.


    Making the weapons entirely out of metal struck me as foolish, as each of those spears could be used to make several spear tips if the shaft was made of wood. But the Temple somehow didn''t have the same problem with materials as the rest of us.


    The guards and, indeed, any coven member were more presentable than anyone else in the plaza. Their clean robes and weapons stood out like a sore thumb among the dirty, worn-out modern ware.


    The only shortcoming they had was their lack of combat experience. Put them next to Victor''s hunters, and they would look like a pack of mall cops.


    The temple''s open nature and the guards'' inattentiveness served as an invitation for me to sneak right in.


    There were no supplicants inside. There rarely were since everyone mastered the basic spells. Parishioners generally existed, but their number wasn''t as high as before.


    I settled behind a column with a clear view of the door to the inner room, two auras permeating from inside.


    Flashes of spells only served to pique my curiosity, but I had no way to tell their purpose.


    Eventually, the door opened, and I got my first glimpse of the hidden interior. Billowing banks of thick fog rolled behind the two exiting figures. It was as dense as I experienced on my arrival to the place far away from the city. The fog rolled into an invisible line and stopped, unable to spill further.


    One of them, Maggie, carried several new weapons in her hands. The other was none other than Claire, the Head Priestess of the Temple.


    Her eyes glowed in a golden light, and all it took her was a sweeping glance to pierce my concealment.


    I flared the energy into the mask, but I was too late. Claire''s eyes shone intensely and zeroed in on me.


    "Don''t move," she commanded in a tone that brokered no argument.


    I felt like a fly stuck in molasses. I couldn''t move, not even my eyelids, despite having my face covered from her Sight.


    My best efforts didn''t yield a result, her gaze was unbroken, and she started to come closer.


    The intensity of her spell was so high that the concentrated golden light of her magic overflowed, and wisps of it evaporated from the sides of her eyes.


    With the failure of my trump card, I panicked and instinctively threw myself into the other effect of the mask. My fear was conducive to this particular spell, and my energy''s heightened intensity only added to the manifestation.


    Fear me.


    Maggie''s eyes bugged out, and she screamed in terror, dropping the weapons she carried to the floor. Claire, on the other hand, was less affected, but she still flinched away and blinked, and that was enough for the constricting compulsion to be lifted off of me. I slunk behind one of the temple pillars for cover.


    "Now, is it the way to treat friends?" I asked in a light tone, trying to calm my heart and de-escalate the situation.


    "A friend?" Claire asked in a sure voice. "Why would a friend be trespassing in my home? Come out!" She commanded.


    I almost automatically made to step from behind the cover but managed to stop myself in time.


    The two guards from outside ran in on the commotion, and I could hear Maggie picking herself up.


    "How could I be trespassing when I was invited here?" I asked. "Red! Would you mind backing me up and clearing this misunderstanding?"


    "Uhhh-" Maggie tried to get her thoughts in order.


    "Come out, Now!" The witch commanded again. This time she was putting a lot more power behind her words.


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    The golden light homed in, cloying around me.


    I poured myself into the mask, hoping it would hide me from the magic itself.


    It worked, and the effect passed without having much of a pull on me.


    "I would suggest we try to talk it out," I called. "I''m a pacifist at heart, but another attack and I will defend myself. Violently."


    I would not. What I would do is run away as fast as I possibly can the moment an opening presents itself. She didn''t have to know that, though. The veiled threat affected her as the faint traces of fear in the air showed.


    The priestess stopped, and we had several moments of awkward silence.


    "Feel free to offer your input, Red," I suggested, putting some urgency behind the words.


    "I uhh... We talked about the missing people," Maggie squeaked out. "And he promised to help."


    "I promised to check it out," I corrected her. "And discuss it with you."


    I waited for a reply, but none came.


    "Here is me. Discussing it. With you." I ground.


    Claire released an annoyed sigh.


    "The coven will not intervene," she stated. "I made the decision. There is nothing more to say on the matter."


    "Okay," I agreed. "Good call. You can hear me out, or I can go as it is. I don''t care either way."


    "No! Wait!" Maggie called to Claire''s indignant huff. "I''d like to hear it," she added in a smaller voice.


    There was some shuffling I could only guess at, and finally, a decision was made.


    "You may come out," Claire stated with an air of benevolence. "You will remain safe as long as you behave."


    I weighed my options.


    There were a couple of things I could do to defend against her abilities, but she could catch me off guard with something new.


    "I won''t harm you," Claire assured me again when I took my sweet time weighing it in my mind.


    I stepped out, holding my hands up to my shoulders level, palms up. My spear rested horizontally on my open hand, rotating slightly with my movement. I will use Force to chuck it at her if she paralyzes me again. While it remained in contact with my skin, it wouldn''t be too gentle.


    Claire''s hands were crossed on her chest, and she held her chin up.


    I was mesmerized by her contour. Her features changed much further from the last time I saw her.


    There was not a single wrinkle or blemish on her skin. Instead, her high cheekbones stood out on her thin, porcelain white skin. Even her ears had a slight pointed fold, making her look more exotic¡ªalmost elvish in appearance. And the centerpiece of her appearance¡ªher most captivating feature was her bright green, emerald eyes.


    She looked so perfect and flawless.


    Too perfect.


    Considering that her appearance resulted from time-consuming, scrupulous work and that every change in her features was conscious and premeditated, I saw it for what it really was.


    An artificial mask.


    A mark of her vanity.


    "You may put your hands down," she graciously allowed.


    I followed without comment.


    "Well? Make your report," she demanded, her brilliant eyes roaming my mask.


    "I''ve witnessed two of Douglas''s men kidnap someone," I stated. "I followed them to their base."


    I let the news hang there for a moment.


    "It wasn''t a random person either," I added. "They chose the one with the most energy remaining."


    "A den of beasts," the witch cursed. "This does not surprise me in the slightest. Their corruption runs too deep. They must have fed from the ghouls'' flesh for too long." She turned to look into Maggie''s eyes. "I warned them."


    "What are they doing with- with the people they take?" Maggie asked, alarmed.


    "Your guess is as good as mine," I shrugged. "There was no way into the building."


    "What are we going to do?" The redhead asked.


    "Nothing," Claire barked. "I offered them Cleansing, and they refused."


    "And the sick?" Maggie inquired. "We''ll just let them be preyed on?"


    "They will suffer, and they will dwindle until the Goddess takes them away," the priestess replied with finality. By the sound of it, it wasn''t the first time she had recited those words.


    Maggie looked discontent with the decision but didn''t offer any resistance.


    The black-robed priestess looked at me again.


    "You, I can help," she offered. "I can rid you of the corruption that eats at you."


    I stared at her uncomprehendingly.


    "Good to know even the great High Priestess can make a mistake," I joked. "I can assure you I have never tried to eat the monster meat."


    "Maybe." She frowned. "It does, somehow, feel different about you, but it is there."


    I smirked.


    Was it the concealment or the terror vibes the mask was giving off? Something about me managed to confuse her senses.


    "I''ll keep your offer in mind," I inclined my head. "It was a pleasure."


    I made my way to the exit to the silence of the Head Priestess.


    The guards didn''t think to move without her command.


    With that out of the way, I didn''t have any more excuses to hold me back from hunting, and I was already playing in my head how I would request Maggie''s favor to be repaid when she was away from Claire.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 25

    Third time''s the charm.


    I crept into the haunted residence with the infused spear at the ready.


    My Sight was good enough to sense the dispersed presence of the shade, and my mask kept me hidden.


    Instead of triggering it, I came close enough for a charge and reaffirmed the intent in the infused spear.


    Harm.


    The only intent behind the energy trapped in the spear''s tip was harm, pure and simple.


    With quick, broad strokes, I started to slash at the thickest of the presence. The shade reacted immediately by trying to reform into a more compact form and retreating, but I was on it, and the target didn''t survive the following scores.


    The inky blot shuddered one last time and poured to the floor.


    With a tired sigh, I sat down and concentrated on Draining the remaining essence.


    This¡ªthe third shade hunt¡ªwas by far the most straightforward from the last few days.


    I didn''t let the shade form and attack me, nor had I let it run around in unnecessary pursuit¡ªthose were the mistakes I made in my first two solo hunts.


    It was a surprise to me that the immaterial creature could have an effect on me. The first shade I hunted alone had made a few lunges with terrifying speed and a mass of teeth and claws. And this time, my Sight and attunement were good enough to notice it.


    Every time I was scared, there was a leak of energy from my person, and the beast was hungrily devouring it faster than I could react.


    Even knowing that it couldn''t physically hurt me was not enough to not flinch and retreat when it attacked.


    The second shade went better. I had used an unrelenting attack but made the mistake of showing myself to it too early.


    I thought it needed to coalesce into a smaller form to take damage, and all it got for me was more running and chasing.


    This one, the third, was like a balm to my bruised ego. Finally, doing everything right, like a well-oiled machine executing the plan and reaping the reward.


    Compared to people, it was even simpler to affect the shades with my obscuring spell as the influence was carried by my mana along with fear. And could there be a better option to feed the shades than mana and fear? They were built to subside on the stuff, consuming it greedily and accepting my imploration to ignore me with every drop.


    Only one thing left a sour taste in my mouth.


    It took me several days and methodically combing through half of the city''s streets to find those three.


    The sheer amount of walking I had to perform was soul-crashing, an ultramarathon in walking for a weak and untrained guy like me.


    Flight was infeasible for how power-hungry, taxing, and slow it was, and any attempt at devising a teleportation spell was met with failure. Even my attempts to teleport a minuscule pebble on the palm of my hand weren''t successful, so what could be said about moving my whole body over great distances?


    I found more ghouls, of course. But why would I attack them when I had a safer target in mind?


    I easily stayed out of their reach and the notice of the parties hunting them during my travels.


    Enough, I decided, standing up.


    It was as good a time as any to relax and socialize with other people. I''ve got what I set out to get, and it wouldn''t do me any good to get too greedy.


    ***


    Expectations are a funny thing.


    Sometimes you expect something good to happen only to be disappointed. Other times you could be too pessimistic and wait for the other shoe to drop, only for things to turn out to be better than expected.


    But really, most expectations are not about something special happening, good or bad. Instead, most expectations are the daily experiences of finding things the same way you have left them.


    Things were not the same way I left them.


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    The plaza was flowing with blood. Dozens of people were running around fighting, savagely beating each other with stone weapons and bone spikes, stabbing one another in cruel thrusts.


    In a pique of madness, several attackers were using their teeth, ripping out pieces of flash from the sick.


    Most people were like me, watching the happenings at a distance in indecision and fear.


    I stood still, surprised at the grisly sight. My pulse quickened, and I could feel my mouth dry, even from witnessing it all happen from a safe spot. Most of the fighting was closer to the Pillar, and I hoped Kenny wasn''t somehow mixed up in all of it.


    Even with my ability to hide, I didn''t make a move to come closer or get involved. The witch had proven to me that there was nothing unbeatable about that ability.


    I shuddered as I saw a man''s rib cage repeatedly crushed with a stone hammer. Someone else was running away with a spike running through his abdomen and coming out of their back.


    It was horrifying to see how much punishment the human body could take and still cling to life.


    Eventually, the fighting stopped, the attackers retreating around the Pillar with still struggling victims in their clutches. One that was easy to notice was wearing the white robes of the Temple, now stained with blood and mud.


    I slowly moved through the carnage, wading to the shop. The lines of the sick were hit the hardest, but even that didn''t explain the losses I was seeing.


    There were no more than twenty attackers, and they took several people in addition to the ones they butchered on the spot, but it didn''t explain the missing numbers. At least a quarter of the sick has been missing since I last saw them. So that''s around fifty people. And something was telling me it wasn''t because someone charitably fed them and nursed them back to health, even if it was possible.


    What the hell was going on?


    ***


    "The fuck happened here?" Victor bellowed.


    The plaza was buzzing with activity. There was only one item on the agenda, but there was no end to discussing it.


    Thanks to the universal ability to Heal, the attack survivors were whole again, with only the new tears and blood on their clothing to remind them of the horrors they had just lived through.


    Teams of hunters returned only to be regaled with the same story, speculations on further attacks, and plans of retaliation or relocation.


    Victor was widely respected, and he commanded the largest crew that was still based at the plaza. His word could turn the whole discussion into one eventuality or the other.


    While Edith was bringing him up to date, I noticed someone wearing a white robe running into the temple. She was agitated, more angry than sad. It could be Maggie, but the figure disappeared faster than I could recognize them.


    Apparently, several hours prior, someone from the coven noticed a kidnapping attempt. The resulting uproar was enough to send the assailants packing, and Douglas was contacted to stop this from happening again.


    "Douglas wasn''t here," Edith repeated. "But all of the raiders were his people."


    "How many were there?" Victor asked.


    "Around twenty," Edith replied. "But we know he has more than that."


    Victor looked over the heads of the people that surrounded him. Kenny was among them, unhurt.


    "Where''s Benjy?" He asked.


    Edith shook her head.


    "Dead," Edith sadly supplied. "And Drained on the spot."


    Another oddity of this place I have come to discover in the wake of the attack was that fully Drained bodies vanished. The same thing was true for the sick¡ªthey disappeared when the body''s energy was low enough, and the sight of them was lost.


    The most delusional hoped they were returned home in the same fantastical way we were brought here, but realistically they were most likely just dead.


    Claire called it "taken by the goddess"¡ªeverything had a religious explanation with that one.


    "We''re not going to let it stand," Victor growled. "He''s gonna pay."


    He looked around, visibly restraining himself.


    "Someone''s gotta show him he got too big for his breaches. We''re gonna march there and make them all pay for it!" He cried.


    His outcry garnered him mixed responses, even from his crew. As it turns out to be, not many people were eager to risk their lives.


    "How they gonna pay for it?" Some older lady called out. "We gonna start killing each other like rabid animals now?"


    "I don''t wanna kill anyone," someone else cried out over the ensuing uproar.


    People suddenly understood what revenge would entail on their part, and they were not keeping their displeasure quiet.


    "We''re not gonna kill anyone-" Victor tried to calm everyone.


    But the commotion continued to shift into a higher gear.


    "Silence!"


    Claire''s interruption could not come at a more opportune time.


    She was standing at the top of the temple stairs, not making a move to close the distance with everyone else. It was only three steps, but it granted her grandeur on an instinctual level.


    The wall of white robes backing her up wasn''t too bad, either. I was glad to see Maggie safe and sound among them.


    Her voice carried over the distance without any stress.


    "You''ve rejected the Goddess''s Blessing. Instead, you chose to feed on the corrupted flesh, and now you are reaping the consequences."


    Yay. A sermon.


    "I didn''t," someone yelled.


    "It''s just essence," someone else shouted. "It was cleaned."


    The crowd naturally started to gravitate toward her, as it was straining to shout when her words carried so easily.


    "You think your inept fumbling could rival the Goddess?" she asked back. "No. The only right way is to receive it as a divine blessing."


    She looked over the crowd like a teacher chiding her young pupils.


    I could almost forget the fact that she discovered magic just a couple of days before me, her speech¡ªan annoying religious drivel born from her delusions or intentional malicious grifting.


    I could hear cries for her advice and help from her followers, mainly those that were not good enough to join the Temple officially but went there as parishioners instead.


    Not everyone shared my skepticism.


    "The coven will not take part in any infighting," she trudged on through the building buzz. "All we can offer is Cleansing for those who are afflicted with the corruption. Don''t let that hunger grow inside of you. Don''t lie to yourself. You know that you can feel it taking root in your soul." She took a dramatic pause. "I can see you."


    The high priestess gave off a piercing stare into specific spots in the crowd.


    I don''t know if she could see the corruption that way, but her performance was outstanding. It was the best sales pitch this place has ever seen¡ªoffering services without getting in on the hostilities.


    "That''s mighty nice of you," Victor cried out. "But what about Douglas? We gonna let him attack us like this? An awful lot of folk died right here."


    "The coven will not be involved," The witch stated with finality.


    "You''re already involved. At least one white robe, an initiate-" I corrected myself. "-was carried away. Alive."


    Claire''s face soured at that.


    "It''s too late for him," She replied.


    I didn''t know if she meant she didn''t plan to help or if she legitimately had some way of knowing his well-being.


    "I''m sure he''ll be glad to know you were so fast to give up on him," Edith sneered.


    "Careful now," Victor warned Claire. "You wouldn''t want your choir boys to think you''d abandon them at the drop of a hat like that."


    Claire glanced back, stopping on Maggie, and turned back to glare at Victor.


    "I would suggest you talk with respect," Claire bit back. "As to my students, they are free to make their own choices. I don''t presume to restrict their freedom."


    With parting words, she turned around and returned to her temple.


    The last of the resistance gone, Victor got into convincing and organization.


    He had a war to plan.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 26

    Eventually, the preparations were over, the militia was set, and the plan was made.


    The reason for joining was different for everyone involved. For some, it was revenge or a vague notion of justice. For others, the desire to feel secure against future attacks or to curry favor with Victor. And some joined just to be paid. Be it the pentacle coins that stored ghoul essence or Kenny''s weapons.


    You would think a life-risking endeavor would take more persuasion, that it would be tough to coax a civilized person to bear arms and march on their neighbor with a promise of violence, but the negotiations weren''t the main reason for the long wait.


    It was sobering to learn just how many people turned to the Temple for the mysterious Cleansing offered there and the sinking suspicion about those that required it but didn''t.


    Unlike Claire, or at least her claims, I could not see the corruption in people, not even when comparing them after their visit to the temple.


    Sure, I noticed the diminished amount and intensity of the spiritual energy in the petitioners, but I couldn''t see the difference in its nature. For something so nuanced, I''d have to come into closer contact and inspect them with greater care than viewing them from afar.


    Throwing the errant thought out of my mind, I concentrated on the coming operation.


    Douglas''s base was besieged. There was no other way to describe it. Almost everyone was there.


    In our force''s core were the fighters¡ªthose that came to exact violence if the need arose.


    Farther at their backs were the rest. More than a hundred people came to act as intimidation, to make the raiders subject themself peacefully to our hands. I suspected that some of them only came to enjoy the entertainment and wouldn''t interfere no matter which way it went.


    But what would a peaceful resolution even look like? We didn''t have courts or jails. Would we hold the assailants captive in some abandoned building and feed them ghoul essence to keep them alive? We weren''t doing that for the innocents at the plaza. The only punishment they could realistically get was the death penalty, be it more violently immediate or by prolonged captivity that would deteriorate them to the same state as their victims in a matter of days.


    Needless to say, I was in neither group. Instead, I chose to watch the affair from a higher vantage point, unnoticed by the parties. Not that I didn''t understand that this was a problem that had to be resolved, but I believed it would be worked out with or without my presence and unnecessary personal risk.


    The guards at the entrance quickly noticed the coming mob and took cover inside the building.


    Our procession stopped a stone''s throw away. Literally, as the thrown projectiles proved it to be.


    I could see faces in the window openings, but no one tried to talk it out.


    "Douglas!" Victor''s booming voice resounded with an unpleasant echo. "Come out!"


    After several more attempts to garner a reaction, he got what he wished for, to some extent.


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    A figure stepped out of the entrance. A man.


    At first, I thought it was one of the hostages. The white robe showed him to be a part of the coven, maybe even the same one I saw being dragged away. But I couldn''t be more wrong.


    The robe was dirtied with blood, not only from the initial attack but intentionally bloodied with artistic flair. Thin and thick lines filled the improvised canvas, connecting in intricate designs.


    The more I looked at the figure, the more alien it seemed. I noticed his hands coming lower than they should, almost touching his knees, the fingers ending in pointed claws.


    I couldn''t quite put my finger on it, but there was something wrong with his face.


    The cherry on top was his energy intensity. It was more intense than anyone I''d seen so far.


    Well, perhaps not intense, but it was more directed. But the illusion of greater intensity was due to the fact that more of it was aimed in the same direction. It was more fully bound by a singular purpose. What that purpose was, or how that was accomplished, was anyone''s guess, though I would wager it wasn''t anything good.


    "I''m afraid Douglas is indisposed right now," The twisted man said in a cheerful tone that was somewhat garbled. "You can leave your message with me."


    "Michaelson," Victor acknowledged him. "I want to see him. Now. Go inside and make him disposed," Victor commanded, not noticing the strangeness.


    "That won''t be possible," the man replied. If anything, Victor''s command made him more cheerful. Notes of anticipation crept in.


    "And why is that?" Victor took the bait.


    "There was a change in management-"


    "New management being you?" Victor gruffly replied. "Well enough. Release the prisoners and stand the fuck down."


    "You see," The man continued as if uninterrupted, "we had a slight disagreement-" he paused for dramatic effect. "-on culinary grounds." Michaelson grinned, jaws coming apart further than humanly possible, making sure everyone saw the changes in his body. He was trying to cow his opponent by his mere appearance.


    I finally realized the oddity that was his face. His mouth and nose extended slightly further than expected, appearing more like an animal''s snout than a human''s mouth. Dark red smears were visible around his teeth, which were sharpened so much that there were gaps between them. Something told me it wasn''t his blood.


    Unlike his followers, Victor took the man''s appearance and insinuations in stride, only taking a few seconds to compose himself.


    "I won''t repeat myself a third time," he stated. "Release the prisoners right this moment. We''ll discuss the rest after this much is achieved."


    "You can have what''s left of them," The man promised, stepping back into the building.


    A moment later, a round object was flung from the entrance. It impacted the ground and bounced toward the group. One of them had to stop it with their foot.


    It was a head. That much was clear. Though, whose head it was, was impossible to tell. The eyes, nose, and cheeks were missing, as were the scalp and its contents.


    The inhabitants of the building, visible in the windows, hooped and hollered like this was some grand joke they all enjoyed.


    Victor looked furious. He turned around to talk things through with his followers and the larger group that followed along.


    If anything, the garish display made everyone more hostile toward the cannibals. Before, it was still being determined if actual fighting would have to break out or who would participate in it other than the core participants. Now, almost everyone was rearing for a fight.


    I couldn''t hear Victor''s exact words, but from what I heard when he raised his voice, it was evident that they couldn''t suffer the cannibals to live next to them when it was apparent that more attacks would follow.


    No one was safe as things stood. Retaliation was imminent.


    To Victor''s credit, I''d note that he was the first one through the door. Heavy metal hammer in hands, he barged in, and the rest followed him one after the other.


    Shouts and sounds of combat resounded from within, and a lot more cussing than I expected to hear from a distance.


    All of the combat group was swallowed by the building, and for some time, I could almost follow the battle as the source of the clamor moved inside through the inner rooms and corridors.


    Then when the combat was concentrated on the third floor in the upper part of the structure, the defenders started jumping through the windows facing the remaining force in an unexpected turn of events.


    There were several windows all around, but they chose to exit from the ones that brought them face-to-face with the rest of the militia.


    I noted that other than the leader, there weren''t other strongly expressed changes in the other raiders, nothing that popped out, at least.


    They were around twenty people strong, bounding on more than a hundred. But they didn''t let the numbers disadvantage stop them. Instead, in a fit of berserker''s rage and mad battle cries, they went through the oppositions like a hot knife through butter.


    Our support forces broke apart almost immediately, dispersing in fright. The attack was not less savage than it had been in the plaza. On the contrary, it was even more concentrated than before.


    In their short time, they tried to kidnap more people, but Victor''s group was fast on their trail, running in a dead sprint back from the same building the savages had just left.


    With a few parting slashes and blows, the cannibals disengaged and retreated further into the city.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 27

    Unfortunately, I wasn''t able to tail the retreating party. They were too fast. By the time I made the decision, I had to get down and cut through all of our forces to pursue them, which was impossible if I had my mind set on staying hidden.


    That left me stuck with facing the outcome of the attack.


    Despite my fears, we didn''t suffer any fatalities. Apparently, it is pretty difficult to kill someone in such a short time when only armed with melee weapons, and doubly so when unarmed, as some of the raiders were.


    Don''t get me wrong¡ªthere were a lot of people that suffered significant wounds. Some of them were even life-threatening in the longer run. But when the miraculous ability to Heal is just seconds away and can be used by the victims themselves or a friendly hand, anything that doesn''t outright kill you isn''t going to leave much of a mark.


    I took stock of the people present.


    Kenny was unharmed, deep in the support group. It was a surprising choice since he was from Victor''s crew, but it made sense not to put their Handyman in too much danger.


    Another surprising discovery was the total lack of participation from the coven. Claire made this big speech about the freedom to choose their actions, but at the end of the day, not one initiate from her ranks joined the effort. Not even Maggie, who was the most vocal about the dangers the cannibals posed, and as I learned, she was the one who actively intervened to stop the last kidnapping before the all-out assault they had on the plaza.


    Douglas''s base, or should I say the cannibal''s base was a horrifying place. Others with the same bright idea to explore it regretted it almost as fast as I did.


    The place had an all-pervasive feeling of filth, almost intentionally so. But It wasn''t just mud or dust that gave it this unclean feeling. Oh no. It was the discarded bloodied patches of clothing and bones, ghoul and human, with human teeth marks on them.


    It was a charnel house.


    I don''t believe even animals would desecrate their lairs that way, not that I was some expert on that. Common sense would prohibit anyone sane from living like that. It was surprising they didn''t catch something nasty from the state of their abode.


    Then again, I didn''t know if we could get sick anymore, with the lack of sleep and eating and all. Still, I wouldn''t like to live like this, not one bit. I could barely stand being there for a brief inspection, as it were.


    The ornamental row of skulls in one of the rooms made me question if it served some religious purpose. It was the only room that felt like it held some significance.


    One of the skulls caught my attention. It had a familiar metal name tag placed below it.


    "B. DOUGLAS"


    The only representative of the law the Undercity had, for however brief of a time it lasted.


    "I didn''t even know his first name," I mumbled to no one in particular in the highly surveyed room.


    "Baron," Edith supplied.


    I turned to look at her. She looked green around the gills, but she was holding it together, unlike others who quickly retreated from the house.


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    "Say what you will about dear old Baron, but he was keeping these guys under control," she added a little forlornly. "He''s dead for less than a day, and we already have an all-out war. I can''t see them getting any better under Michaelson''s command."


    I shook my head. I didn''t see it that way, but sometimes it''s better to hold such opinions to yourself.


    It was his people, after all, that killed and ate him. He let them get to this point, so it was his fault things ended badly and not his merit that things didn''t go tits up beforehand.


    "They are not going to stop," I said.


    I looked at the skulls and tried to imagine their numbers a week or a month from now.


    "No," Edith agreed with me. "The worst part about this is that the number of ghouls is decreasing. Fast. If things go on like that, they''ll not be the only cannibals. They''re just going to be the first."


    So I wasn''t the only one that noticed.


    "What are you going to do about this?" I asked. It was the first time someone else brought this up with me, and I was interested to hear if there was a solution in the works.


    She shrugged her shoulders.


    "Going to go out hunting." She replied. "Not waiting until we are low on essence before we go out again. Stocking up for whatever comes next. Not that different from getting a farm ready for winter if you think about it."


    It was not enough.


    Time was running out, and it was definitely not enough. Stock up all you want, but even if you had all the remaining ghouls just for yourself, they would run out eventually. I didn''t see any new ones joining the party.


    Not that I had a better suggestion.


    And if I didn''t have a better idea to follow, I had to go with the bad one.


    ***


    It took me several more days to finish the sweep of the city.


    The catch wasn''t all that incredible, but I was stepping back into the plaza two whole shades richer than when I left.


    That is, it would be that much if not for the constant energy leak just to sustain myself and the rare uses of spells during my travels. It made the return on my efforts somewhat diminished. Not by much, but enough to hurt.


    At least it was safe and easy, if a little labor-intensive. I liked the safety of hunting shades, but my action had seen to their extinction, and the next prey on the menu would have to be ghouls. Eventually, that is.


    The place was more somber and tense than I remembered.


    Almost no one went about their day alone. Everyone was armed and treated their surroundings with apprehension and heightened awareness.


    And yet, people were not built to live out their days in fear. So no matter how different or bleak things get, give us a couple of days to grow accustomed to the new normal, and that''s exactly what we will do. We''re going to get used to it.


    I passed a group of people to the side, who were playing some kind of game using stone cups and dice, their excitable exclamations and whoops attracting some attention but not as appealing as other gatherings around the plaza.


    In another group, people were busy lamenting the hardships and struggles of finding the blasted ghouls. For some of them, it took four days of non-stop venturing into the city to find their latest game. However, others were less than sympathetic to their plight claiming the only way to go about it was covering as much ground as possible, and if it took them this much, they were either unlucky or lazy.


    The larger gathering centered around a sole performer and what a performance it was.


    I stood transfixed, listening to the first sounds of music I had heard since I got here.


    A middle-aged woman was playing a simple wooden flute, the sounds were not perfect by any means, but the music could have brought a tear to my eye.


    You really don''t know how much you''ll miss something until you lose it.


    Several people joined her in dance, swaying to the soothing tones. Others hummed or tapped along.


    A rare display of unity.


    I stayed there more than intended, listening up to the very last notes, letting the sounds wash the feelings of stress from my body.


    My only regret was missing the start of the gig, but even in my emotional state in the heat of the moment, I couldn''t challenge the fact that my outings were important enough to miss even rare spectacles such as these.


    Applause marked the show''s end, and rare gifts of infused pentacle coins were added to a previously unnoticed piece of clothing, folded into something resembling a baggie.


    Despite the internal conflict, I decided to join them.


    What the heck? Every drop of essence could be crucial to surviving a little longer, but people like her made my continued survival worth the struggle.


    I brought out an empty pentacle coin from my pocket, its precious charge long since joined the rest in the larger sign on my body, and channeled essence into it, making a contribution similar to a near standard of the coins I have just witnessed.


    The sudden power spike and the lack of a distraction that kept all eyes away from me were enough to break my concealment.


    People started and cried out at my sudden appearance, but I didn''t take any joy in the fright.


    "Oh, it''s just Halloween," someone said under their nose.


    Fortunately, I was familiar enough, and my calm and measured approach to make my contribution did not aggravate anyone further.


    With that out of the way, I moved towards the shop.


    They, too, had their own party going by the sounds of it, and with my spirits lifted, I was less inclined to avoid it outright.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 28

    By the looks of it, half the squad was present at the temple that was transformed into the shop and headquarters of Victor''s crew.


    The shop''s produce moved closer to the edges of the refurbished temple to make space for a wooden table and several chairs in the middle.


    There were other changes to the shop as well. A wooden door was added to the inner chamber, and many cracks and missing stones were mended and replaced.


    The place was getting homier as time passed, and what could make it homier than a good poker night?


    They were gambling.


    I couldn''t sense anything from the chips they used, but by the intense atmosphere and the fact that most of the chips were concentrated in Edith''s hands, it was going on for a while.


    I planted myself next to Kenny, who was in a position of an observer like most of the crew and several outsiders.


    "What''s the prize?" I asked in a low voice.


    Kenny acknowledged me with a glance and turned back to observe the game.


    "The title of poker champion and the medal," he nodded at one of the players at the table, who was wearing an ornamental metal disk with the four suits embossed on it. "I made it," he added, satisfied.


    The game continued for quite some time. The chips changed hands several times, but the transactions failed to make a meaningful dent in Edith''s pile. Eventually, the game came to a close.


    "Read ''em and weep," Edith exclaimed after the last round of all-ins.


    Three of a kind.


    I grinned. The sly gal didn''t raise once, only matching when pressed for it, letting her opponents do all the work. The game couldn''t end in a better way.


    "Give it here," Edith extended her hand to the previous title holder. "It ain''t a beauty pageant."


    He attempted to awkwardly put the medal around her neck, but she unceremoniously snatched it out of his hands and lifted it up.


    The small crowd hollered with renewed vigor at the display.


    When things calmed down and most people left the building, I could finally get to business.


    "Well, we were definitely right about the ghouls going extinct," I started without a preamble. "There''s a lot less of them now."


    "Don''t we all know it," Victor sighed wearily. "Only the whites are bagging them like clockwork. The rest of us are taking longer and longer every time we go out."


    "What about the sick?" I asked. "Were there more raids? They''re almost completely gone."


    I couldn''t miss the much-reduced number of them. When there were a couple hundred at the peak, there were now fewer than two dozen.


    I didn''t want to voice my other suspicion of them being used as fuel by the same people who previously defended them.


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    "They vanished," Kenny replied, shaking his head. "Once it started, it was like a dam broke. The remaining ones have a day left in them, two tops."


    He sounded genuinely regretful.


    "The only raids going on are against the smaller groups outside of the plaza," Edith added, chest puffed in high spirits from the game. "I''m leading my own group now. Nobody''s fool enough to go out on their lonesome anymore." She gave me a meaningful look, playing with the shiny medal around her neck.


    "Congratulations," I offered, unperturbed. "I''m sorry to sour this moment for you, but I have more bad news."


    "What''s it this time?" Victor groaned. "Why is it nobody comes here with some good news for a change?"


    "I went outside the city walls-" I said.


    "Alone?" Kenny interrupted me with an unreadable expression.


    "-Made the whole loop around the city," I continued. "And things are getting worse."


    "Worse? Worse, how?" Victor asked.


    "The fog is getting thicker. It''s practically touching the far most buildings," I explained. "You remember how it was when we came to the city. We could see it from quite a distance," I reminded Kenny." Well, no more. It''s right at our doorstep now."


    That brought everyone to a stop.


    "Fuuuck..." Edith trailed eventually. "What does that even mean?"


    They looked at Kenny for some reason.


    "Can''t know for sure," Kenny hedged without confidence. "We know things disappear in the mist and even distances distort," he started to go through his thought process. "And we know that some things had an effect on it¡ªusing the Sight on it and maybe just looking at it? Or having more people around? On the day we arrived, it lifted around the city, or at least the city center," He looked at Victor for confirmation.


    Victor nodded along.


    "And nobody knew of the Sight back then," Kenny added. "So I''m assuming it''s either the act of observing, being near it, or having active magic go through it that keeps it at bay."


    "The vanishings," Viktor said, and when we turned to look at him, he elaborated. "The folks that vanish are down on their life force, and it only happens when nobody''s looking."


    "So what? If the fog gets to us, we''ll all vanish too?" Edith asked in a raised tone. Her eyes were wide, and all the cheer she had at the start of the discussion evaporated.


    "It already got to us," I replied. "I walked through it for hours, and I''m still kicking."


    "Maybe we weren''t deep enough," Kenny disagreed. "Or maybe it takes more time, and we got out before it could take us."


    "Just great," Victor groused. "Ghouls are running out, we have cannibal raiders on our hands, and now this fog that can erase us from existence is rolling over. And the only thing we know that can stop it is having more people¡ªobserving it or just being near it. And just as luck would have it, the same exact people we need to fight it that are too busy killing each other and starving to death."


    Every one of the problems made the other ones worse. When it rains, it pours.


    "We may have a solution, at least a temporary one, for the ghoul problem," Kenny said, looking at me.


    "Oh?" I asked.


    "Shades, ghouls," Kenny listed, "and people. They are the only sources of energy and essence we have-"


    "We are not eating people," I cut him off.


    "No, not that," Kenny replied. "I''m not saying to use people. I''m saying there is one more source we didn''t try."


    The three of them looked at me.


    "Are you gonna fill me in, or are we gonna make doe eyes at each other?" I asked.


    "You should take this mask of yours off sometimes," Edith sighed. "It would make this whole communication bit a lot simpler."


    "I''ll sooner take off my underwear," I replied to her chagrin. "What''s the other source?"


    "The Squid," he stated simply.


    I... didn''t exactly forget about it, but I failed to consider it a solution to our sustenance problem.


    When I first encountered it, I didn''t know about magic or that we had to gain essence from somewhere to survive; it was all before those discoveries. So it completely flew under my radar now when it was relevant.


    "The squid?" Edith asked. "What squid? We''ve already sent people to look at the water. Days ago. There was nothing there."


    "Riiiight," Viktor said, nodding, looking between Kenny and me. "You did say something about that, didn''t ya? Could it replace the ghouls?"


    I was at a loss for words.


    Not because of the slip of my mind but because even considering it, it felt insurmountable.


    "Victor, I-" I tried to find the right words. "You don''t fight a fucking building. Did you think I was exaggerating?" I hefted my spear in the air giving it a couple of shakes. "Do you think this thing will do anything to a creature the size of a barn? It wouldn''t even feel the prick."


    I shuddered, remembering its appearance and the wet sounds it produced. I would do anything to not find myself next to this thing ever again.


    "We have magic," Kenny stated excitedly. "We could think of some spell that would do the trick. People hunt whales and elephants all the time. We can start working on it right now. We could-"


    "No," Victor interrupted him. "It''s good to have the option for the day ghouls run dry," he placated Kenny. "But there is an ''opportunity cost'' to the whole deal," he continued. "The white robes are bringing in ghouls faster than anyone else. Double our speed. We can''t go waylaid now. Nobody will steal the Squid from under our noses. It can wait."


    Kenny looked like he was about to argue, but one look from Victor made him wilt in defeat.


    That was a great example of why I wouldn''t like to accept someone else being put in charge of me. You should make your own decisions, for better or worse, especially in things that directly impact your life and survival.


    But hey, that was me. Ultimately, people get to live their lives the way they set things up to be.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 29

    With Victor''s crew out grinding ghouls again, I was left with one more thing to do in the plaza.


    Now, I''m not a lazy guy. It just so happens this thing required some waiting and lazing about. It was another stakeout, of course. If I had a signature move, it would be this¡ªpatiently waiting for something to happen.


    My watch of the temple ended with the appearance of the long-awaited figure¡ªMaggie. She exchanged a couple of phrases with the guards, and I was briefly concerned this was the reason for her emergence, but thankfully she eventually moved out into the plaza.


    Even with all her basic needs accounted for, guaranteed safety and sustenance, she still got out occasionally.


    That''s just the way people are, I guess. Sometimes we need a change of scenery, social contact, or a new activity. We need to tickle that part of our brain that''s afraid of stagnation and being left out.


    Boredom. Such a powerful emotion. It dictates our behavior on par with the rest of them, yet it remains underestimated.


    What does it say about Claire that she had never felt the same need to go out?


    Instead of going to the shop, playing a game of dice, or doing anything resembling fun, Maggie joined a group of people whose best way to describe their pastime was gossip.


    There were no ideas about the cause of our arrival or the nature of this place. No plans for the future or discussions on findings in or outside the city. Only useless chatter about people behind their backs, stories about how intimate relations could transfer energy between the participants, and even more useless anecdotes from their lives before their arrival.


    I had no reservations about cutting into her fun time the way I did. I was doing her a favor, really.


    "Red," I greeted her mildly, ignoring the distress my appearance caused.


    "Ahh, what?" she asked, surprised.


    "A word," I prodded her to follow me for a private chat.


    She didn''t take much convincing, and we moved to find ourselves some privacy.


    "Didn''t see you at the counterattack at the raiders'' base," I noted. "Thought you were all for it?"


    "I am-was," she replied defensively. "I''m not much of a fighter anyway," she finished dejected, her shoulders slumping in defeat.


    "There was a whole group just to look tough," I reminded. "You didn''t have to come to wave your arms around."


    "Yeah, well, I didn''t feel it would be appreciated." It wouldn''t be appreciated by Claire, left unsaid.


    "I thought the Temple supports- What was it?" I tried to remember the speech. "Free will? Or free choices? Whatever she said back then." I gauged her response. "Did she change her mind?"


    She shook her head.


    "Didn''t say nothing," she denied. "But I know what she expects of us. She dropped enough hints that I can leave if I''m not satisfied with how things are run by her."


    Trouble in paradise, it seems.


    "Look, I''m sorry I didn''t come there when I was the one that started the whole thing, but I have to return to my duties." Maggie turned to leave.


    "Wait up. I wanted to ask you something," I stopped the fidgety redhead.


    She silently waited for me to go on.


    "I have to know this. How do you create the weapons?" I asked.


    She looked at me, surprised.


    "Do you think she tells us that?" She asked. "Do you think anyone in the coven knows anything that didn''t become widely known outside of it?"


    "Come on, there must be something."


    "Not for a year," Maggie shook her head. "A whole year as an initiate of the coven before we get to learn anything. She suggested we shouldn''t even use the Sight, which, again, she didn''t teach us, but I don''t think that''s gonna happen."


    "What about what happens in that closed room of yours?" I asked. "I saw you exiting it hand in hand. Brand new weapons right outta the oven."


    "I can''t talk about that," Maggie hissed at me. "You should forget anything you saw back there."


    Oh. Good. The weapons were created back there and not just stored as I feared.


    "No, can do," I sensed blood in the water. "That''s exactly what I''m interested in. So what was going on back there?"


    "I can''t talk about it. I can''t." Maggie backstepped. "She specifically ordered me to never talk about it."


    "You owe me one," I reminded her. "I did you a favor back then, and all I''m asking in return is some information. You won''t exactly feel it missing, won''t you?"


    It was a lousy excuse to get it out of her, but it might just work with the right amount of pressure.


    "But if I tell you this, and it comes back-"


    "I already saw the fog behind you," I continued to soften her up.


    "But- But then, what more do you want to hear? You already know as much as I do." She asked.


    "Everything. Give me the details. I know some things, but I''m missing others. I need to see the whole picture." I urged.


    "And if Clai- Um, the High priestess asks me about it?" Maggie asked. "She can tell when people are lying to her. What am I going to say then?"


    "Jesus, listen to yourself for one fucking second," I snapped. "It''s not a coven. It''s a goddamned cult. So stop calling her pretentious made-up names. Her name is Claire."


    I looked her right in the eyes, and while she couldn''t see my eyes because of the mask, she must have felt it because she looked back at my face.


    "You are being kept on a leash so tight you don''t even notice how you are suffocating," I berated her. "You have zero experience, you didn''t learn anything, and you don''t have a single pentacle to your name," I listed. "Of course, you are terrified to make a wrong move. You are totally dependent on her goodwill."


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    "And you are not? Afraid?" She attacked me. "Last I heard, that was the reason you didn''t join anyone. Scared much?"


    "Pff," I scoffed. "I''m being cautious of the dangers here. You can call it whatever you want if it makes you feel better, but remember this, I''m surviving on my own skill and merit, not as a glorified pet."


    Maggie stared at me angrily.


    "A pet, huh? There is a saying about biting the hand that feeds you," she spat. "A great reason not to tell you anything."


    Ohh boy. She wasn''t going to forget this little insult anytime soon.


    "I''m giving you a reason," I said in a calmer tone. "A way out."


    She continued to stare a hole into me, daring me to continue. If we weren''t in Lalaland, where anything was possible, I wouldn''t be so worried that the hole would be quite literal.


    "Are you satisfied?" I asked. "With how things are?"


    She continued to stare.


    "Well? It''s not a rhetorical question. Are you satisfied?" I repeated.


    "No," she said tersely.


    "And yet you don''t leave, do you?" I asked.


    She was about to angrily reply again.


    "You won''t because you can''t," I quickly added. "You don''t have the means to go on your own, and that''s exactly what I''m offering you."


    I brought out an empty pentacle and showed it to her.


    "You''re fairly filled up," I noted. "I''ll put enough essence into it for a full restoration. That''s enough for three, maybe four more days. Use that time to learn a new skill. I don''t know, shoot fire out of those pretty eyes of yours, or join a hunter team and become your own person. Don''t ever step back into that viper pit again."


    "I can''t just disappear," she complained. "Claire will send someone to get me. She can find people using their names or a piece of hair. That''s how she knew Mason was already dead when the cannibals got him."


    That was a major piece of information.


    "Then talk to her first," I suggested. "Tell her you are walking out. You don''t want to be a part of the coven anymore and refuse to talk or answer any questions."


    She was mulling over it but wasn''t convinced enough to take the bait.


    "Or stay," I offered. "If you''re so opposed to the idea of leaving, stay. But you will have a stash for the inevitable rainy day when you''ll have a falling out and have to leave anyway."


    This kind of falling out could easily have worse consequences than getting fired by an irate cult leader, but she had to work it out herself.


    I could see that was sealing the deal.


    Maggie was making her decision to take me up on my offer and still hold on to the safety the Temple granted her.


    She was trying to have the cake and eat it too. I didn''t have high hopes for that working out for her, but who knew?


    I hoped Claire never asked her whether she sold her secrets. If she could magically tell the truth from lies, it wouldn''t end well for Maggie.


    "Three full restorations," Maggie demanded. "I''m taking a huge risk here, and I''ll tell you everything I know."


    "Tut-tut, hold your horses," I said, annoyed. "You said it yourself; you don''t know anything. So you get one-" I lifted my hand to stop her from interjecting, "-and if your account holds something valuable that will help me in any way, you will get a second one."


    "And who will judge if it''s valuable enough?" She asked. "You?"


    "My integrity is not in question here," I ranted. "The Handyman. Victor. Thomas," I listed, lifting a finger for every name. "That''s a leader of a small hunters group," I clarified for the last one. "I had fair dealings with all of ''em and overpaid on every opportunity."


    Maggie thought it over again, staring at me, but she didn''t hurry off to corroborate my claims.


    "Fine," she sighed. "I don''t understand any of it, but I will tell you all I know."


    I waited patiently.


    The tension slowly bled away from her shoulders.


    "It was after C- Claire healed Victor," Maggie finally started her tale, her demeanor changing to the more reserved one I was familiar with as she relieved her first days in the Undercity. "I mean, even before that, she knew how to do some magic. She asked to train with me on her healing abilities."


    A small chuckle escaped her lips.


    "With me..." Maggie repeated, shaking her head. Red strands of hair swayed in sync with her movements. "I was always just the help, but it didn''t feel that way at the start."


    She braced herself, putting a stop to the ramblings.


    "Anyway, after she helped herself to the ghoul Victor brought in earlier and Healed him, she said that it was all child''s play, that the real magic requires a ritual." She looked straight at me again. "It took her some time to plan it all out and to rehearse it with me, and we did everything exactly as planned, but she wasn''t satisfied."


    Maggie furrowed her brows while retelling it like she was still trying to piece the puzzle and, this time, finally understand everything that was going on.


    "The Morning Ritual, she called it," Maggie smiled. "It felt more like a school play, but at least we were doing something other than worrying and stressing about everything all the time. I felt good about it, even if it didn''t work as she expected."


    I listened in rapt attention, feeling that every small detail may be the missing key I was looking for.


    "What was it supposed to do?" I asked.


    But Maggie just shrugged, showing her own incomprehension.


    "Then we went to the back room in the temple and tried another ritual," Maggie said thoughtfully. "She didn''t say what this one was called or what it was supposed to do, but she had to have a sacred ground and a barrier against the world''s energies."


    "That''s why you chose to do it inside the temple?" I asked. "On sacred grounds?"


    Maggie shook her head.


    "That''s not what I got from it," she denied. "She traced a circle in the ground and prayed inside of it. I think she meant the ground inside it would be consecrated."


    She took a moment to think things through again.


    "It was always prayers at the start. Claire prayed when she healed, she prayed when she thinned the first ghoul out, and in the Morning Ritual," Maggie said. "So she prayed inside the circle, and at first nothing happened, but then, slowly, this white mist that''s everywhere in the city started to appear inside it."


    Her eyes rounded as she told this part of the story, and her voice lowered even more.


    "But she didn''t notice it at all, eyes closed and praying without a stop," Maggie''s face now looked riddled with worry. "The mist didn''t stop either. It became thicker and thicker, and I couldn''t see her anymore. It pressed against the circle''s edges, but it didn''t cross."


    She looked unfocused into the space between us, like it was happening in front of her.


    "I didn''t notice it at first, but after she disappeared from view, I couldn''t hear her either. So I called her. But she didn''t answer," Maggie held her right hand in her left. "The circle wasn''t that big, I thought, so I tried to grab her from outside. But there was nothing there." Maggie looked down. "So I thought she sat down or maybe fainted. I tried again closer to the ground. Nothing."


    I listened carefully.


    "Worse than nothing," her eyes looked hollow when she touched on that particular part. "I tried patting down the floor, but there wasn''t even a floor. My hand just went through, and I almost fell inside."


    "I was horrified, thinking something bad had happened to her, bawling my eyes out. But she just steps out of there, smiling, laughing, excited like all her wildest dreams come true all at once," Maggie sniffed her tears away. "She didn''t even get why I was crying. Like I was the one being irrational there."


    "Anyway, ever since then, she disappears inside. For hours on end most of the time. Sometimes she brings outside new robes or weapons. Sometimes, she just jumps inside quickly for a couple of minutes to bring stuff out. But I can''t see or hear anything from inside, so I don''t know how she does it."


    Maggie played with the sleeve of her robe, likely remembering it coming out of the circle when she got it.


    "What do the others in the coven think?" I asked. "You must''ve talked about it."


    "Nobody''s even allowed into the room," Maggie shrugged. "And I can only stand near it, but if I step inside, it''s all over. I would be forever lost," she stressed the last words like a direct quote. "I don''t think anyone else in the coven ever saw it."


    I stayed silent, waiting for more, but Maggie looked like she had nothing else to add to the matter.


    "Come on," I coaxed her. "A little bit more. Did you notice anything else? Anything at all that Claire said about the circle or whatever''s going on inside? Anything at all, even the smallest and most obvious thing."


    Maggie concentrated, it didn''t look like she was holding anything back intentionally, but she could leave something out if she didn''t think it important enough. And at this point, everything was crucial.


    "She never prays anymore," Maggie finally added. "Nobody prays anymore, and that''s so strange. Moeta is a religious city, but everyone that got here isn''t," she noted. "At the start, she prayed for every piece of magic, but after the circle, if she had to heal someone, for example, she would just touch them, and that''s that."


    I waited for her to continue.


    "The way she refers to the circle also changed," Maggie remembered. "First time, she called it a doorway to the inner plane, then when more people joined us, it was just the circle."


    "What''s an inner plane?" I asked.


    "Don''t know," she replied. "It was always so cryptic with her. Manifest my will. The law of attraction. Doorway to the inner plane. Scared circles. She never explained any of that, and now we are not getting even those tidbits. Not ready for that yet, according to her," some of the annoyance came back into her voice. "But how are we not ready when we learned to use the Sight and to channel the inner light in the same exact way that everyone else did?" She asked rhetorically.


    The law of attraction. I was familiar with the concept. There was even a movie about that one. What was it called?


    It was just one more clue to my mounting suspicion that Claire tried some occult things she knew about, some of which incidentally worked for her.


    Still, it was vital information to have. I knew now that Claire''s intent was ''to protect against the world energies'' when she accidentally created the fog and that staying inside wasn''t fatal though it transported somewhere where you could potentially get lost. According to her, that is. She wasn''t lost when she disappeared there unprepared.


    How difficult would it be to find a way back if Claire managed it without concrete knowledge?


    Now that I think about it, I also did it from the very moment of my arrival. I was at the thickest of the fog and found my way to the city, despite space moving around me or whatever it did.


    Creating the fog was probably an unintended side effect. The same way that clearing it with the Sight was unintended but somehow was an emergent quality of the fog''s yet unknown nature.


    The knowledge that the fog was kept in place using the same circle that created it was fantastic news, even without considering everything else. If we couldn''t stop it from drowning us from outside the city, we could draw enough circles around some areas to preserve them for us. Though the question of the energy needed to sustain the spell remained.


    I thanked Maggie and paid her the agreed-upon price, the pentacle coins in my hand slowly building in charge as I filled it.


    Not only did I find the information important enough, but it was worth it, in my opinion, to cultivate this relationship and get even more out of her down the road.


    "I''d suggest finding a way to hide it," I told my precious source of information when I handed her the coin.


    Maggie''s eyes lit up briefly when she confirmed the amount.


    "It''s going to be safe in a friend''s hands," Maggie nodded.


    I hoped she didn''t misplace her trust, but it was her property to risk. Her rainy day could become much rainier if she didn''t have anything to her name when she needed it the most.


    I said my goodbyes quickly, my head filled with ideas to try and spells to reinvent.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 30

    I analyzed everything I heard from Maggie.


    Claire stumbled on something that could change everything. She was sitting on it for too long, keeping it all for herself.


    The ability to create or contain the fog and create stuff, or at least bring it from somewhere, had enormous implications for my continued survival and life in this mysterious place. Maybe even a way to travel to another, whatever that inner plane was.


    If it had its own supply of ghouls, or better yet, the weaker shades, I would have a solution to all my problems.


    Safety and resources¡ªgifted to me on a silver platter.


    I shouldn''t forget that everything Claire did was based on guesses and fictitious ideas about the occult.


    It worked for her, but some of it was probably superfluous, even if she didn''t know it. Similar to everything I did when I tried to reverse-engineer her ability to heal. Sure, the spell would work in the temple if you draw strange symbols in spit and blood and say your prayer to the Goddess. But it was all redundant. Unneeded.


    And I knew exactly the things that were not¡ªintent and power.


    Hand gestures, words, or symbols helped focus my intent, including the intent to cast in the first place or how much energy to channel. During the first experiments with Kenny, I had to trigger a spell with a snap of my fingers, a clap, or a command, and measurely breathing out helped draw power into the magic. These practices were helpful, some only at the beginning, and some were still used, but ultimately they were unnecessary.


    Items like my mask were another example of something I used in spellcasting. It served as a purchase¡ªan external support for the spell, but I didn''t know if it was a hard requirement. It wasn''t anything more than fancy scaffolding for the magical effect to hold on to.


    Distance was another factor. It weakened spells, and nothing could beat having direct contact. Though Claire did use a direct line of sight to bridge the gap somehow, I added mentally to my growing knowledge of the fundamental rules behind it all.


    And some effects were more accessible than others¡ªSight and Force, for example. Comparing the power needed to use the Sight or to Force my body to barely float was like comparing Heaven and Earth.


    But the bare bones of magic were the effect I was trying to impose and the power to do so.


    For the last few days, maybe closer to a week, I was constantly charged to my maximum, lugging around the excess essence I didn''t need just yet in the large pentacle on my person. And yet I didn''t learn or do anything new or groundbreaking, not since the creation of the mask, my trump card.


    Not since I gained the abilities needed to safely hunt the shades, which were now extinct, thanks to my efforts.


    Hell, I didn''t even do the one thing that had become common to everybody else¡ªI didn''t hunt ghouls. I was armed, and I had more abilities than almost anyone else, and still, I hesitated to face off the stronger enemy on my own. No, instead, I restricted myself to the safer shades because I lacked confidence in my ability to win unscathed.


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    Maggie was right¡ªI let fear dictate my decisions for me.


    There was a fine line between being cautious and afraid, and I crossed that line.


    Intent and power, I repeated in my head.


    I had all the power I could use in the short run, yet I was not thriving, which could only mean one thing¡ªA failure of imagination.


    I didn''t try to discover new things that could change my survival strategy. So many doors were just waiting for me to open, and they remained closed.


    Well, that was about to change, and I was going to start with the fog circle.


    I crouched in an abandoned apartment further into the city, tracing a continuous line into the dusty floors with a jagged stone I casually Shaped into a sharp edge.


    First, I concentrated on the idea of protection.


    The idea was too broad, and I didn''t like it, but it was a good first step to take.


    I sat inside the circle, hands touching the line from within, and channeled my energy into it.


    As I gradually increased the power, the circle''s glow intensified in its usual ethereal golden light. But even after a while in peak excretion, nothing visibly changed, so I stopped to rest and plan ahead.


    The second attempt showed better results. I followed Maggie''s words more closely and concentrated on a more narrow idea of protection against the world''s energy¡ªany energy from outside the circle.


    When the mists started to appear inside the circle, I removed my mask and, for once, used regular sight instead of the magical one. The rate at which the mists manifested drastically improved, and I stopped before I was forcibly moved to a part of the tests I wouldn''t be ready for soon.


    And so it went, test after test.


    Powering the circle from outside made a slight improvement.


    Closing my eyes and deactivating the Sight entirely during the test improved it even further.


    The smaller the circle was, the less energy it took to fill it with the magical mist, though the intensity required of me was unchanged.


    And during all that time, one thought kept bugging me¡ªThe mist was just a side effect.


    I didn''t create a spell to create the mist or concentrate on the right idea when powering the circle. Instead, I focused on protection. The mist appeared on its own when the conditions were right.


    So I had to ask myself, what were the conditions?


    After all of the tests, the answer was simple¡ªI removed myself and my energy from the circle, empowered it with the intent of shielding it from external power, and stopped observing it.


    But I could do it better, couldn''t I?


    The idea behind my mask was one I was comfortably familiar with by this point. Hiding, Concealing, Obscuring, denying the ability to Observe.


    Nothing stopped me from applying the same intent to the circle, so I tried it.


    Partially shielding from external energies and partly hiding the circle. Not just from any random observer but from the world itself as much as my understanding of it allowed me.


    This was my best attempt yet.


    I had to repeat it from inside, as the concealment was so strong that even I, its creator, was affected. Even while in direct contact with the circle itself.


    This gave me the opportunity to test my defenses against the fog.


    I never let it become too thick, but while I was inside, I found that the best defense was the trusty Sight and infusing the space around me with my energy with the intent of having it touch, permeate, and feel, for lack of better words, the space it occupied.


    It was like having a continuation of my body made of the lightest invisible pillow that followed my every step and movement. Similar to a shade''s appearance when it was in its diffused form.


    After training with it for some time, a better word came to mind.


    Presence.


    I was infusing my Presence into the world around me, and it was enough to completely eliminate any strand of mist that came near me.


    Observing the mist and remembering everything I knew about it pushed me to understand it better.


    Reality was like a helpful hand that held things down, contending with an invisible breeze that was eager to vanish anything that was not held tightly enough and move twist space.


    It was like the default state of everything around me was being malleable, and reality was doing something extra by fighting that malleability by making everything more permanent.


    Outside the circle, there may be some contention between the two forces, with reality winning the fight, but inside, it was solely up to my Presence to hold my surrounding down. To impose immutability on my surroundings.


    Creating and defending against the mist was easy enough at that point. Still, I was not ready to travel to the inner plane on my own, if it even existed, so I decided to move to the next ability I wanted to develop, but that required me to relocate to a more suitable place.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 31

    The ability I was training next was Hibernation¡ªthe strange state ghouls employed when they were inactive. And the best place to train this ability was the plaza.


    If some mad, barely sentient beast could do it, so could I.


    And true to my expectations, this state was easy to achieve. I wouldn''t even call it a spell as those required energy to create some effect on the world around me or on myself.


    Hibernation, in contrast, brought my ''metabolism'' down, not filling my energy stores like I hoped meditation would but at least significantly lowering their expenditure. And while I remained barely aware of my surroundings, any attempt to move or empower a spell brought me out of it in a snap.


    It was peculiar to see people move in a fast-forward fashion to meet in different groups and break up again, all in the span of minutes, subjectively.


    Several morning rituals went by, and I noticed Maggie still present among the Temple''s white robes. Too bad for her, but she was a big girl, and she could make her own mistakes without my input on the matter.


    While I couldn''t use any spells during my Hibernation, I had found a workaround for that. My mask''s residual powers grew to the point that it was creating a weak concealment effect even when I wasn''t actively empowering it. So I would pump it full of energy, and while it slowly decreased, I could stay both hibernating and in hiding at the same time.


    The other side of the coin was a disappointment. While I could relax my energy and slow it down to Hibernate, doing the opposite didn''t make me any faster.


    It made me twitchy, and I lost energy twice, maybe three times, the usual rate, but nothing I tried could speed up my perception of time. I tried different approaches, and every one of them failed, so eventually, I decided to leave this idea on the wishlist for a better time.


    I contemplated my next move, whether it was going on a solo hunt for a ghoul or sharing information about another plane that could be reached through the fog with Kenny. Unfortunately, exploring this new plane was an undertaking I wouldn''t be willing to take without some company I trusted, and I was in low supply for that at the moment.


    Too bad my attempts at gaining superhuman speed failed. I would have become an unstoppable force and wouldn''t think twice about confronting the ghouls for easy gains.


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    As it turns out, events had a tendency to move on their own without respect for my plans.


    First, I noticed the dirtied, bloodied form of one of the newer people in Victor''s crew run inside the shop. Their crew was split into four smaller groups by this point, about five people each. The high numbers were due to the aggressions from the raiders rather than because of any difficulty taking out the ghouls with smaller teams.


    Several hours later, the main group led by Victor came back, and I got the distinct feel of a brewing storm from the ensuing activity.


    The rest of the groups returned in a matter of a day. Edith led one, but I was unfamiliar with the man leading the last. And while the grunts were released to prowl the plaza, the team leaders stayed inside.


    It was so easy and relaxing to gather information while hiding in Hibernation that it took me noticing Kenny stepping outside the shop several times for me to realize that he was probably looking for me.


    Too bad I was never in his line of sight, hiding in the cozy shadows of the Pillar''s entrance.


    The place was abandoned since its first exploration and didn''t have a ready way to scale. But thanks to my Force symbol, I didn''t have the same problem getting into higher places as everybody else. So instead, I welcomed the abandoned site with a clear view of the city''s center.


    Eventually, curiosity won, and I slipped off my perch and sneaked into the shop.


    "Looking for me?" I asked as soon as I was inside.


    Everyone reacted with varying degrees of alarm, but Victor decided I barely qualified to receive a most laconic response.


    "No," his voice was angry and a little raw like he was yelling.


    Kenny, on the other hand, perked up and waved me over.


    "We can start working on a plan right away," Kenny said at a fast pace, his words flowing like an unending torrent. "We now have the means to harm the Squid, and with his help-" he pointed to me "-we can find it. We send for the compass, and all that''s left is to organize, get equipment, and power-"


    "No," Victor repeated his earlier reply, forcibly interrupting him. "We are going to take care of the raider problem. Today. I let it go on for far too long. And I''ve paid for it. Enough!" He slammed his hand on the wooden table that was once used for card play.


    "But we can''t put off the Squid," Kenny tried again, passionately animating his speech with erratic hand movements. "Most are coming back empty-handed already. Only the Temple gets by, and that''s only because of the compass. The fewer ghouls remain, the less mana we can raise. It will only diminish the longer it takes."


    Victor held a heavy glare but let him finish this time.


    After Kenny was done, he silently stood up and moved to the closed room at the back of the shop.


    He came back holding a small sack filled with pentacle coins. Their combined shine mixed into a blob of golden light in my magical Sight.


    "Go to the temple and get the compass." He put the sack in Edith''s hands. "Then, ready all our men, we are going after Michaelson. The beast-looking motherfucker. He wants to look like a dog? He would die like one."


    "Why won''t we organize like last time? It''ll be safer with more-" Edith started.


    "Safer?" Victor cut in. "We have twice his men. We''ll stomp him like the little vermin he is. He butchered my men when we were divided. Let''s see how he likes it when I bring all of us on his head. Every one of my guys has to know that we stand united. We have each other''s back. Always!" Victor exhaled angrily out of his nose. "Go! Karl, help her."


    Edith looked troubled by the decision, but the other guy that stayed silent all that time followed without saying a word.


    Kenny looked horrified, like something beyond repair had just happened before his eyes.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 32

    Not much input was expected of me during the meeting, and I wasn''t even asked about the upcoming attack.


    Not that I would''ve joined, anyway, though I was curious about the compass they kept referring to.


    From what I could gather, it could be used to find the cannibals, and it would indeed be used for that purpose in the upcoming confrontation, but it could also be used for more.


    From how Kenny presented it, they needed me to find the Squid¡ªonly after I got there did he suggest getting the compass, and he was fast to point out that I would be the one to help them find it. And let''s not forget the fact that the Temple''s hunters were somehow using it to outhunt the rest of them.


    A two-part process, perhaps?


    Maggie claimed that people could be found using their names. Could that be connected?


    I just didn''t know enough to draw a conclusion.


    But I had an easy way to rectify it. I had become quite accustomed to acquiring new knowledge through the noble art of spying.


    I trailed Victor and his merry bunch through the deserted streets. Other than Kenny, they got the whole lot in on the operation, some grumbled and complained out of the command''s earshot, but nobody objected directly or tried to avoid it.


    Most were eager for the fight, rearing to avenge the others, laughing in anticipation of easily returning the favor when they were the ones, for a change, to have the drop on the enemy.


    It was hard to tell if this was more of revenge for them or a necessary peacemaking operation to defend against future attacks. Each of them could think of an explanation, but the truth of the matter was they got out looking for a fight because Victor commanded it.


    The small metal and glass device in Victor''s hands drew my attention. It was the size of his palm, and he stopped to examine it every two or three city blocks. Every time he did so, the device''s substantial residual glow would flare, but I couldn''t detect any external effect. It seemed to be operated in a similar fashion to my mask.


    Where once there were many, now I couldn''t detect a single ghoul or shade throughout the expedition. An omen to the inevitability of the coming changes.


    We would have to find new sources of essence soon. That or move to another place that wasn''t as hunted to extinction as the Undercity was quickly becoming.


    Or die. Death was always an option when you weren''t fast enough to change with the times.


    We only had to stop a dozen times until my Sight detected a bunch of people. It was a scary thing to bear witness to. The city was vast and still largely unexplored, but with the help of the supernatural device, it only took them about half an hour to sniff out their hidden opposition.


    The cannibals believed themselves to be safe, lost in this ancient labyrinth of dusty ruins, and this was all it took to prove them wrong.


    It made me reconsider if obscurity was a valid defense. It was, after all, one I heavily relied on.


    Victor''s group must have noticed them at about the same time as I did. I watched Victor twirl his hammer in an excuse of a warm-up, his energy infusing his body, enhancing his strength in a not-so-dissimilar way to my own use of Force. Some of his followers mirrored the action with their respective weapons of choice and augmenting spells.


    It was not surprising that we found different ways to achieve the same primary effect, though my version still felt superior.


    The strategy of the attack was the time-tested way of rushing the enemy before he noticed your approach. No flanking or any sort of subterfuge was required.


    Not that I could blame them¡ªthe raiders'' abilities to sense their surroundings were most likely in the same ballpark as ours.


    I managed to remain unseen right up to the moment of the initial impact.


    True to Victor''s expectations, he had a healthy numbers advantage, but what should have been a quick and decisive victory became a dangerous fight for their lives.


    While the cannibalistic raiders were outnumbered and surprised, they fought viciously with intensity and enthusiasm for battle that the militia couldn''t match.


    No, instead, it was Victor''s people that fought to subdue, hesitant to use outright fatal blows.


    The street was filled with sounds of battle, fearful and eager cries of the combatants, and the sickening blows of weapons and flesh.


    The feral form of the head cannibal blurred through the battle, heavily wounding one and outright beheading another.


    The beast-like leader''s metamorphosis didn''t stop from the last time I saw him. His reedy frame stretched further. Even in its hunched state, it was higher than anyone close enough to compare. His snout lengthened further, and the fingers ended in claw-like protrusions made of glistening bone¡ªclaws that I had just witnessed being used to cut through the unlucky man''s neck like it wasn''t even there.


    What was visible of his skin had a gray tint to it, while the white robes he once wore with a savage flare were now in ugly putrid brown of old unwashed blood and gunk.


    "Dinner in bed?" The beast bellowed in a barely intelligible approximation of human speech. "You shouldn''t have-"


    The only man brave enough to meet him both physically and in fervor was Victor.


    One decisive smack of his hammer shut his opponent before I could notice the start of his movement. But the blow that could pulverize a rock didn''t even manage to split the beast''s skin.


    Michaelson, the cannibal leader, shook his head, got his bearing, and lunged toward Victor.


    Several people tried to help, but the enraged monster left deep gashes in fast, effortless slashes, once even piercing his whole arm into the abdomen of an attacker, and didn''t seem fazed by anything in return.


    That was all it took for them to inexplicably find themselves busy with an easier opponent. And just like that, Victor was left alone against the most dangerous fighter with no help in sight.


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    It took mere seconds for the fiend to leave horrifying wounds on Victor''s torso and drop him on his rear.


    And for those several seconds, while my heart hammered in my chest, my mind felt as clear as it ever was.


    Was I going to let that happen?


    Was I going to remain ruled by fear?


    Or rather, should I even be more fearful of this fight than of the inevitable starvation that would follow when the most likely candidate to unite us for the upcoming hunt is slain right before my eyes?


    Someone would have to lead the hunt on the Squid, and if it wasn''t Victor, I didn''t know who will.


    I realized I had made the decision when I was halfway there, my legs pumping for all their worth and Force pushing me forward even harder.


    The Harm-infused spear impacted right in the middle of the beast''s back, piercing the flesh fully when others failed to leave the smallest cut. My momentum was strong enough to lift my prey from the ground and vault above Victor''s downed form.


    With practiced ease, I concentrated for all I was worth on the idea of Harm, pumping the spear''s tip full of mana with the highest intensity I could manage. If it were my regular prey, I would try my hardest to destroy it as fast as I could.


    But the move I perfected on shades was not enough to bring this monster down.


    He howled in pain, and while his legs shook and slipped, he still bucked violently, trying to dislodge me. With mounting terror, I realized I was alone, facing the enraged beast. I held with all my might and hoped that my actions would be enough to end him.


    No such luck.


    When he realized his failing, he tried to slash at me in awkward back movements. His claws came in dangerous proximity to my face and neck and left agonizing grooves on my arms and chest.


    I cried in anguish and felt a sudden snap when the shaft broke in the middle.


    Left in pain, one hand holding to the part of the spear sticking out of the frenzied beast and the other grasping a fragment of the broken shaft, I was out of options.


    But the pain was good. Pain was just the thing that was going to get me out of this alive.


    Savoring every aspect of the agony that assaulted me, I mentally shoved it right into the overgrown splinter I was holding and thrust it higher, right into the animal''s neck.


    It somehow made things worse for both of us.


    The action seemed to exacerbate my wounds as they flashed in searing pain, almost blacking me out from the torment.


    But I held on. This was the only thing that could prolong my untimely demise.


    The head raider wasn''t doing so well either, struggling to stand up on all fours. Struggling to breathe.


    It was a battle of attrition at this point, but with the creeping darkness in my vision, I felt I was the one destined to lose it.


    Fortunately, Victor limped towards us, carrying his hammer on his shoulder.


    He leaned forward, using the movement to heft his hammer and speak down to the vanquished foe. Thoroughly enjoying the reversal of roles.


    "This is for my me-"


    But before he could act, the creature''s long gray hand shot out, long boney claws digging deep around Victor''s face, and with one strained motion, burst it into a macabre explosion of blood and gray matter.


    This was it for me.


    I didn''t know when I made my mistake.


    Was it when I didn''t openly join in the first place, fighting at full strength, shoulder to shoulder, from the very start? Or was it when I decided to jump into this sinking ship?


    Either way, I was going to die.


    Hanging lifelessly, holding with the last ounces of strength to the parts of the spear lodged into my would-be murderer, bleary, I noticed someone else''s strong hands picking up the dropped hammer and smashing my enemy''s head into a pulp.


    Whatever power defended it from previous blows was weakened by my unrelenting assault. The first blow caved the skull in, and the next did a great job flattening it completely, and it didn''t stop there.


    I missed it with Victor, but this time I could sense another human being die. When this man died, all the energy used or infused into his body spilled out like a liquid bereft of a container. But unlike shades or ghouls who released energy and essence from the destruction of some hidden structure, everything already out was unleashed, and a pittance of essence that was woven throughout his body remained, but nothing else followed from deeper within. Like whatever energy source we all had, whatever feasted on essence in us humans and granted us our energy had just vanished without so much as giving off another drop.


    Finally, I could just stop. Exhausted, I released my hold and rolled to my back.


    When I shakily managed to sit up, I saw Edith holding the hammer. Her eyes were wet with tears as she looked down at Victor''s eternally still body.


    Hell, I also had tears in my eyes from the pain, fear, and relief of surviving against all odds.


    I looked around and saw a berth of clear space around us. The battle was over, and we had six surviving cannibals apprehended on the ground while the rest of our forces fearfully gazed at the unnaturally gray body next to me. To my surprise, some of those fearful looks were reserved for me.


    I started to laugh with my too-dry throat, hacking away.


    Edith was the only one out of all of them brave enough to come to my rescue. To their own rescue, really. The others didn''t want to take a step closer even now when the danger was gone.


    "Cowards," I croaked, still laughing like a madman.


    I could see that they were creeped out by me, flinching at the admonishment, but I couldn''t stop myself. The nervous energy from the encounter was looking for a way out.


    "What are you waiting for? End them." Edith ignored me in favor of commanding the execution.


    Of course. This was the natural way of things. We don''t have jails or a way to guarantee our safety from them. The only way to get rid of danger in this place is to kill it.


    This was the thing that scared Kenny. He didn''t want his friends to die, but he didn''t wish for them to become murderers either. Nor was he ready to become one himself.


    Ironically, it seemed that the rest of the crew weren''t in on this particular detail either. They exchange uneasy hesitant looks.


    Tired of the dawdle, Edith took the hammer and started methodically going between the prisoners bashing their heads.


    One after the other.


    Her movements were jerky, almost robotic, and her face was blank. Most of the time, she managed in one blow, even with the renewed struggle from the captives. Eventually, she finished the grizzly work, doing in all of the prisoners herself. No one lifted a finger to follow her lead.


    Not one.


    I found it even more hysterical. Boy, what a victory that was.


    The one man that had the following and could get us to hunt the Squid was down in the dirt, but we sure did show those nasty cannibals who was the boss.


    I hoped the thought would keep them satisfied when we all starve to death.


    We had won in the worst way possible.


    ***


    I did not return to the shop with the victorious party, nor did I go on with my day like nothing had happened. Instead, I walked in a random direction for some time, sequestered myself in one of the abandoned apartments that weren''t any different from any others, and stared at a wall for an undetermined amount of time.


    It wasn''t the most efficient use of my time, but it felt like the only thing I was capable of doing after everything I went through.


    Sitting and staring at the wall, not thinking about cannibals, murderers, or the mortal danger I had just experienced.


    Not thinking of the impending lack of ghouls and what would follow.


    Not thinking about anything, really.


    I can''t say I enjoyed the staring. The wall didn''t have anything interesting about it. No cracks in humorous shapes and no signs of vandalism to give it personality.


    Just a blank slate.


    Kind of like my mind was. But the funny thing about minds is they are resilient.


    I didn''t process things, didn''t even consciously rationalize them, or come to some pacifying conclusions.


    No. I just stared at a wall until the events lost their rawness and receded to some dark corner of my mind to never be brought up again.


    Coming out of the stupor, I patted the wall on the way outside. It was a good talk.


    Surviving is a full-time job. I had to keep moving, and I had to remain on top of my game.


    Always.


    I welded both parts of my spear into one whole again with an effortless application of the Shape symbol, noting that I hadn''t let the pieces leave my grip even at my worst.


    Then came the turn of my wounds to be treated. Meticulously I found every cut and scrape and healed them to the best of my ability until only clean, untouched skin remained in their stead. And to top it all off, I released a potent healing spell all over my body to heal anything I missed. But no matter how hard I tried, how concentrated my spells were, or how much energy I poured into them, the pain refused to leave me.


    It lessened with time since the battle ended, but it never stopped.


    Was it because of the use of pain in my attempt to harm Michaelson? I harvested it with abandon, and the contaminated energy it produced was poured into my spell. Could that have caused the pain to linger? Did it cause some spiritual harm I was too ignorant to notice?


    But using fear energies never had any influence on me. I used them many times over for the scaring and the obscuring effects through my mask, and I didn''t suffer for it. So what did make pain different?


    I didn''t have an answer to either of those questions, and I refused to remain idle for much longer. It didn''t take me long to decide on my next course of action as I wasn''t exactly overflowing with options. It was either working on my skills, hunting, or checking in on Kenny and our botched plan for the Squid hunt.


    If the latest fight proved anything, it was my overqualification in hunting ghouls. After the big bad wolf, fearing any weaker opponent sounded laughable. The spell of timidity I had going on was broken, and I was rearing for action.


    With the Pillar to my left, I started touring the city''s dusty streets, making another counterclockwise revolution around its center.


    Hours passed, and every time I stopped for a full scan from a higher vantage point, I faced the grim reality I refused to accept.


    There were no more ghouls to hunt. Very few others kept looking for them either.


    I knew there were no more shades since I was the one to hunt them into extinction, and their numbers were a lot lower from the get-go unless I missed some. But I always felt that there were ghouls. Even when their numbers dwindled, I felt there was enough, at least for several more days.


    I was wrong.


    Late to the party, but early to my wake.


    I hurried to the shop without finishing my rounds.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 33

    The futile search for the ghouls had taken me days, and by the time I was back at the plaza, the shop in my sight, the inconsistencies started to mount and register in my mind as something unusual.


    The plaza was packed.


    Not in the same way as it was on my first arrival to the plaza, but undeniably fuller than it has been lately when many more people were away seeking the creatures that were their only means of survival.


    Folks were still friendly enough if the sounds of chatter and animated discussions were to be believed. They still congregated in large groups, talking, laughing, telling stories, and playing some games with die and stones. But a hanging overtone of anxiety, worry, and concern accompanied it.


    What''s more, I saw a lot more white than I was used to. Previously, at least half of the coven''s initiates were always away, and those present spent some of their time in the temple proper. Now they were out in force. If it wasn''t all of them, it was pretty damn close. There wasn''t anything nefarious about it¡ªthey were mingling and taking part in the social life available to us, but seeing so many of them out at once was odd.


    When I got to the shop, it was bare of produce. The only things left in the spacious place were the wooden table and a couple of chairs.


    I approached the new door between the main space and the smaller adjacent chamber. There was the blurry impression of an aura coming through the wood, so for lack of a better option to get the resident''s attention, I knocked.


    "Ack!" Kenny''s voice resounded with surprise, dropping something in the process.


    What was it with people startle so easily around me?


    After a couple of moments, he hurriedly walked out, affixing a rag-covered tool on his belt, leaving only the shaft visible.


    "How''s business?" I tried to make conversation.


    "Nate?" Kenny asked, befuddled. "You came back?"


    "Back?" I asked. "I never left. Just had to take some time to cool off by myself."


    "Ohh¡­ Oh, that''s great news," he exclaimed, regaining his proverbial footing. "Wait here. I have to call Edith for this," He proceeded to step outside and make a few calls.


    We waited silently for a beat, but I was the first to lose patience.


    "Why the surprise?" I asked. "I came to visit plenty of times. Now you''re acting like I left for cigarettes and milk."


    Kenny looked sheepish at my implication.


    "After your heroics with the raiders, everyone thought you''ve gone on to claim the Squid for yourself," Kenny said, but he quickly defended himself. "I didn''t. I told them that you wouldn''t hoard it like that."


    What heroics?


    I was barely holding to dear life, pouring as much as I could of myself into the attack. If it weren''t for Edith, who ended it, I would''ve become the insane cannibal''s next victim the moment I would''ve let go.


    "The reason I didn''t set off to hunt the Squid myself is not due to some sort of sense of camaraderie," I harshly told him. "It''s because the thing is insanely massive and dangerous," I stated the obvious. "What makes you think I can even leave a mark on the damned thing?"


    The only reason I considered the joint hunt, even with all the manpower and any help I could get, was because it was seemingly the only source of essence left.


    Didn''t he understand this?


    "The guys told me everything about the fight," he gushed. "Nobody could even break Michaelson''s skin. Not until you appeared out of nowhere and pinned him in one move." Kenny was gesticulating wildly. "What was this special attack you used? You burned like the sun, and he just withered under you. Nobody could even look at you¡ªit was hurting their eyes. Edith was so furious for what he did to Victor that when she came closer to hit him, she had to swing at him blindly with how painful it was to look at you."


    Mutely, I listened to the recounting of events.


    It was insane how different it looked from the side. While not lying deliberately, it was somehow misconstructing the situation. From my encounter with a ghoul, I knew that using pain would greatly intensify my power output, and I used that, but I didn''t realize it would have that spillover effect that could be felt by simply watching.


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    "A special attack?" I asked, somewhat speechless.


    "Yeah, I knew you''d think of something new to take care of the Squid," he proclaimed. "I wasn''t sitting on my ass either-" he struggled with his belt to release the contraption. "-Behold, the Boomstick!"


    I didn''t get the reference, so I moved closer to inspect it.


    The sight was mesmerizing.


    A short wooden handle ended in a claw shape containing a smoothed stone orb. The stone wasn''t anything special by itself, but it was riddled with a myriad of small fork-shaped symbols throughout its surface.


    "What does it do?" I asked.


    Not all of the signs were empowered, but those that were, had an intensity to them comparable to the most strenuous spell I could manage when not in a pain frenzy.


    "I got the idea from the way the mist erases stuff¡ªthat''s why the symbols look like sand rakes," he said, self-satisfied. "After that, it was only a matter of finding a way to maximize the power output and the delivery-"


    "You really are back," Edith interrupted him, stepping into the shop.


    She moved slowly, almost circling me at a distance, facing me at all times. Signs of stress and apprehension marred her youthful features.


    Was she afraid of me?


    "As I already explained, I never left," I said mildly.


    Edith nodded. "Did you bring him in on the plan?" She asked Kenny without looking away from me.


    "Ahh... no, I was just getting to it," Kenny said, clearly unhappy from being derailed from the gushing about his new creation. "But first, what can you tell us about the Squid?"


    "What is there to tell?" I asked. "It''s huge, looks like a squid, and it moves on land."


    "How huge?" Edith asked.


    "I don''t know, it was kinda flattened, being out of the water," I felt uncomfortable even remembering the creepy sight. "Thirty feet? Maybe forty if it could stand straight? It was hard to tell with the fog and all, and I ran away after barely a glance at the thing."


    Edith whistled. "You sure you''re not exaggerating?"


    "Why would I?" I shrugged. "You are going to see it for yourself soon enough."


    "What did it look like? How did it move?" Kenny asked, intrigued by the imagery.


    "It was wet, kinda slimy, with lots of wriggly tentacles," I recounted. "It moved funny like, some tentacles pushed it towards me, the rest felt ahead of it or were raised up."


    "So, it used what? Four arms to walk and the other four to attack?" Kenny asked.


    "Four?" I asked. "It had like twenty of them waving about. I didn''t exactly stop to count them."


    "Twenty?" Kenny exclaimed. "That''s impossible, they have-"


    "We''re dab middle in impossible territory for some time now. So get used to it," Edit stated. "How fast was it moving?"


    "Not faster than my best running speed," I answered grimly.


    "Clearly," Edith scoffed. "What else?"


    I shrugged. There really wasn''t that much I could tell about it from our brief encounter.


    "How long are the arms?" Kenny finally asked. "Reach wise."


    "''Bout as big as the rest of it, I''d say," I guessed. "So about thirty, maybe forty feet."


    "Forty feet," Kenny mumbled. "Should be doable."


    We mulled it over for a while more, but I didn''t have any more pertinent information.


    "What''s the plan?" I asked, fed up with the silence. "Find it with the compass and kill it with the boomstick?"


    It sure was nice to have all those gizmos making life more comfortable.


    "The, ahem-" Edith cleared her throat. She was clearly uncomfortable with the naming of the artifact. "-The boomstick shoots out lasers that can cut through anything. But they are very thin, so we may not be able to outright kill something that big-"


    "It doesn''t shoot lasers. The Erasing effect is something the reality around us enforces. I''m only calling on that effect and directing it," Kenny butted in. "Living matter is a lot harder to affect. It''s not going to be a quick swish to be done with it."


    Living matter? How did they test this one? And what was it about calling on some power?


    "So if that doesn''t work, we''ll have to get a lot of rope and use hooks to catch the limbs and cut them off. If it''s similar to the ghouls, the energy concentration should be about the same throughout the body," Edith continued with the plan.


    That was a good plan. If we had enough people pulling on the tentacles and we managed to cut one off and get away with it, it may just be enough to sustain us for some time.


    The hit-and-run tactics appealed to me on a deeper level.


    "That''s a good plan," I said. "Now we just need to double your numbers and get the rope, and we can have the party started."


    Kenny winced, looking at Edith.


    "No, we can not have the party started," Edith exploded. "Karl, that backstabbing son of a bitch went after it and took the compass with him. Half the guys followed, and some teams from the plaza joined him like he could do more than spout empty promises. Took a lot of our equipment for all the good it would do them," she grumbled.


    "When was that?" I asked. "And why? Why would he go without you?"


    "A couple of days ago, around the time we got back, the High Priestess announced that there weren''t any more ghouls in the city. All the initiates are chilling at the temple or around the plaza, so people got antsy," Kenny explained.


    "Good thing we didn''t tell him shit about your contraption, or he would have taken that too," Edit seethed. "The compass wouldn''t do him any good either way. He never saw the damned thing. How did he think to find it? Go outside the city walls and wander about until the compass starts spinning? That''s not how it works!"


    "What''s the Temple''s solution? Wait for a miracle?" I asked.


    Kenny was as clueless as I was. "We didn''t join him because the boomstick wasn''t ready," he continued. "Still not. It''s going to take me days to keep adding charges to it. I''d prefer a week-"


    "We don''t have a week," Edith snapped. "Everybody''s different, but I know for a fact that some folks out there don''t have a single pent to their name. They''re on borrowed time. The longer it takes, the more violent it''s gonna become. I don''t want a repeat of all the cannibalism, do you?"


    "No, of course not," Kenny agreed. "But we don''t have the manpower or the equipment right now anyway-"


    "What about the Coven?" I asked. "Ask them to join us and front us another compass, the ropes, and whatnot. They''ll get a share of the haul."


    "I tried," Edith sighed. "The High Priestess wants to talk to you for proof that there is another monster out there before she makes a decision."


    "How would talking to me prove anything?" I asked. "You know as much as I do by this point."


    "She''s a walking-talking lie detector," Edith waved a hand around. "Just tell her what you told us, and we can move on with it."


    I sighed. Another unpleasant conversation with the pompous princess.


    I would almost rather risk meeting some monster head-on than have another talk with that one.


    Not because of the unpleasantness of the encounter but because she was dangerous. As plain and simple as that.


    She used some novel abilities against me the last time we met, and I felt some confidence in defending myself against them, but it was her ingenuity and the unknown abilities that troubled me.


    Nothing left to do but hope that it won''t come to a conflict this time.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 34

    The temple was guarded by four white-robed initiates.


    I was curious to know what caused the heightened security, whether it was my last visit, the general sense of unease at the plaza, or whether it was due to having so many of the initiates otherwise unoccupied at this time.


    The two of us walked inside unopposed, Edith leading the way.


    Claire was talking to a hooded figure in modified white robes in hushed voices, with Maggie listening to the side.


    The mysterious figure''s face was obscured by a deep hood, an addition to the masquerade-tier pompous addition to their attire that the rest of the initiates lacked.


    The redhead noticed our approach first and notified her mistress.


    The High Priestess looked up, pursing her lips in a displeased grimace.


    "Edith," she acknowledged us. "Now is not a good time. Make it quick." She waved the hooded person to retreat into the backroom and turned to look at us head-on.


    Looks like someone had overtaken Maggie on the corporate ladder, having Doorway privileges and a new robe to boot.


    I marveled at her appearance¡ªthe perfect skin, emerald green eyes, and gentle, delicate facial structure looked almost divine. It was painstakingly meticulous work, not the brute hammering that went into my mask. I had to give her that.


    Claire''s eyes slowly overflowed with golden light, tiny whisps fleeting from the edges. However this ability differed from the regular spiritual Sight¡ªat the very least, she couldn''t have it active at all times.


    Edith stopped some distance away and bowed in greeting. "You wanted to question the witness," Edith gestured to me. "Here he is. I hope you''ll find the answers to your satisfaction."


    What was with the bowing and scraping?


    The witch''s gaze moved to rest on me. It had a weight to it, like someone greater than me deigned to notice someone that was far beneath them.


    I was standing in front of a queen. No, a goddess.


    Should I be bowing?


    "Speak," she commanded. "Did you see a beast outside the city walls on the day of the arrival?"


    "Yes," I answered. I could feel my throat dry, but I didn''t want to do anything as uncouth as clearing it in front of the present authority.


    I could see her golden-green eyes wandering around my face trying to discern my eyes through the thin layer of bronze that separated us.


    "Did you see it?" She asked again.


    "I did," I readily agreed.


    She released an irritated huff. "Remove the mask. It''s interfering," she commanded.


    It was a good idea¡ªI was telling the truth, and I wanted her to know that I was telling the truth. Why wouldn''t I remove the mask for her? She commands it.


    But another thought niggled at me.


    The mask proved itself as a viable defense against her abilities. I shouldn''t leave myself so undefended by removing it. I never let myself be so vulnerable, not with anyone.


    Then I felt it.


    It was subtle, but an elusive pressure was going through my Presence.


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    I used to think of my Presence as a continuation of my skin. An ability that keeps the mist, whose benignness I still didn''t trust, away from myself. And as an added benefit, it could be used as an additional weakened sense of touch.


    It wasn''t very helpful as an additional sense since, in its usual form, it didn''t extend far from my skin. When used, I just mindlessly empowered and flexed it to keep the mist away.


    Evidently, I didn''t give it as much thought as I should have.


    I didn''t invent or create it. No. I discovered and made use of something that was already there. It wasn''t a continuation of my skin but a continuation of my very being.


    I was surprised to notice that right now, that part of myself was feeling something going right through it, pressing on my body.


    Surprise gave way to fear. I could feel goosebumps on the back of my neck.


    This was how Claire was able to affect me at a distance when she paralyzed me. The feeling of authority and my willingness to listen to her every word flowed through the same connection.


    She was overpowering her Sight to such an extent that it was no different than reaching out and touching me with her hand.


    I should have been less surprised that I felt it with my Presence and more shocked that I didn''t sense the intrusion much sooner without it.


    I believed we were meeting as equals. Instead, she had me at a disadvantage. I was standing a respectful distance away. And while she was out of my reach, I was right in her grasp. Her proverbial hand was at my throat.


    "Well?" She lifted her dainty brow. "Remove it."


    That was a Command.


    A Command I wanted to follow.


    I felt violated¡ªevery thought in my head was suspect. Was it my own? Or was it planted there? It was revolting. Fear gave way to anger.


    I was furious. If that was the extent of Claire''s power over me when she looked at me, how bad would it get when we locked eyes?


    If her grabby hands were any deeper up my ass, they would come out from the other side.


    She wanted eye contact, but the mask was saving me. She tried to look through it, failing to locate my eyes because I wasn''t even using them. I was using the third eye symbol at the top of my head instead, obscured by the mask''s residual power, but she didn''t know that.


    But contact was a double-edged sword. If Claire was in contact with me, I shared the same contact the other way.


    And I was fresh out of a conflict with an opponent who was similarly out of my league.


    I concentrated on the phantom pains that didn''t entirely leave me days out of battle. If pain was good for anything, it was causing more pain.


    I contemplated my readiness to use this power. I didn''t enjoy it, far from it. And yet, even with the suffering it caused me, I was quick to jump on the opportunity to use it again for the promise of power it granted.


    I braced myself and shifted more weight to the spear, which was more helpful to me as a walking stick in this situation.


    The pain was amplified and enhanced by my will, and I used the contact we shared to project it back to her.


    Pain begets pain.


    I grunted at the agony, trying to remain standing, not showing in any way that I was similarly affected.


    The pain I sent her way caused her to suffer, and similarly to how I used fear, she radiated it back in a way that begged to be used by anyone willing to pull on it. I spun it back at her again and again, feeling the feedback myself but not relenting.


    I was expecting it and was braced accordingly. She was not.


    I could see the horror blooming on her face as it contorted in a grimace, tears flowing freely.


    "Aaaaaa!" She cried in a higher voice than I thought her capable of.


    Edith yelped and jumped sideways, removing herself from the line of fire.


    Claire''s screams continued for several more seconds, our shared suffering mounting in an unending loop until the contact was broken, the golden light leaving her eyes as she fell on her back.


    So undignified for someone of her station.


    "What did you do?" Maggie yelled shrilly.


    Guards ran into the temple, unsure how to react without instruction. They started yelling something, but I refused to give them any attention. They were the small fries.


    "What did I do?" I rasped angrily. "Your cult leader just tried to mind-rape me. Are you not disturbed by this?"


    "How dare you?" Maggie rattled. "She just wanted you to remove your protection to confirm your words-"


    I rapped on the metal surface. "Think of it less of a protection and more of a chastity belt," I interrupted her. "I''ll remove it next time I want my brain to be fucked by some wannabe cultie," I spat with vitriol.


    "You can''t talk like that!" She snapped back. "Show some respect-"


    "Respect?" I raised my voice. "Have you been drinking the cool-aid? What kind of respect do you deserve after this stunt?"


    Claire shakily heaved herself back to a standing position while her helper brought her hands closer in an attempt to help, never quite touching her. Treating her like royalty now?


    "You would show respect if you saw what I saw," Maggie continued in her misguided attempt to berate me. "She performed a miracle-"


    "Enough!" Claire put a stop to the dispute.


    The silence after that one word was deafening.


    A miracle? Really? When everyone can do it, it stops being a miracle and enters the realm of the mundane.


    Was Maggie so brainwashed by now that she failed to recognize it? Not so long ago, her attitude was the complete opposite.


    "You can order your lapdog around," I told Claire, ignoring her command. "But if you think to try the same thing with me, I suggest you don''t."


    "How can you command that much power? It can''t be. Nobody should-" Claire''s voice wavered in disbelief.


    It was your own pain you so readily shared with me¡ªI wanted to laugh at her face.


    "Are we done here?" I asked, feigning disinterest. "You have your answer¡ªI witnessed the beast."


    The Head Priestess nodded almost involuntarily.


    "Good. Discuss it," I said, turning around. "I''ll be in the throne room. Call me when the preparations are finished. Do not disturb me until then." I had to get out, I was running on fumes, and I would rather die than show weakness to this one.


    I stopped to look at Edith. "At least thirty people, preferably more," I reminded her.


    She mutely nodded back, and I was free to waltz outside under the guise of the incredible act I miraculously pulled off.


    Defending myself was a necessity, but presenting it as anything other than a desperate bid to protect myself was pure improvisation.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 35

    My retreat to the throne room served multiple purposes.


    For one, I wanted to insulate myself from others, letting the image I accidentally crafted take hold. If people believed me more dangerous than I am, they would be less likely to do anything stupid. Hell, if I was being honest with myself, I enjoyed the feeling of being feared. I didn''t notice it about myself before, but I guess extreme situations uncovered some hidden depths in me, for good or bad.


    Another reason was my desire to better myself. But, unfortunately, any spell practice or the creation of new abilities would have its cost, and my stores were not inexhaustible, especially with the lack of inflow the coming days promised.


    My latest aptitude for empowerment by inflicting pain on myself and others was a prime candidate to be refined further. Despite the drawbacks, being capable of enhancing my power output by several folds was priceless. It could be the difference between life and death.


    The most critical aspect surrounding pain-aligned casting was my ability to weather its effects and deal with the consequences.


    Unfortunately, the source of my suffering didn''t seem to be corporeal but more metaphysical in nature. Even though time slowly eroded the effect, nothing else seemed to lessen it. Even magical healing didn''t have the intended outcome of lifting the phantom pains.


    A fact Claire will no doubt soon discover, I noted with satisfaction.


    This led to the last reason I had sequestered myself, namely Hibernation. If I didn''t have a productive way to spend my time, then I would pass it most efficiently.


    Incidentally, it was also the only thing that helped minimize the aftershocks of my casting. After much thought, I developed an understanding of the reasoning behind it.


    I called it alignment since the resulting power, while greater than our regular use of mana, had a certain quality to it that made it specialized. Sure, I could cause pain with the pain-aligned energy, but could I do something completely different? Could I Heal or apply Force with this power? I highly doubted it.


    Our regular power had a general feel of unrestricted potential, begging to be spent. But while the more narrow-purpose ones were more potent in their field, they couldn''t have the same potential, not to mention the kickback they carried.


    I could almost imagine myself slowly being eaten by the fear inside me, losing everything else and slowly turning into a shade. It would be a sick joke this hell hole would play on me¡ªtime would turn its wheels, and I would become the guardian of this place, feeding on the fear of the outsiders and slowly transforming into something similar to the maw shade that had been here previously, only to be vanquished by the next batch of arrivals.


    But even those ungrounded fantastical fears turned to nothing under the effects of Hibernation.


    If aligning myself with fear or pain made me more susceptible to their effects and even made me want to use them more, then Hibernation was the complete opposite. It was aligning me with... nothing. A completely relaxed state, perfect Zen at the tip of my fingers, always one thought and flex of will away.


    This was how Kenny found me. Sitting on the ornate throne, meditating with a sense of internal calm that felt so elusive during the normal day-to-day activities.


    I could feel my rough edges being somewhat smoothed over by the process, some harmony restored to my battered psyche, the consequence of my prickly spell bleeding away, healing.


    While I still couldn''t sleep due to the nature of the odd reality I have found myself in, I couldn''t shake the feeling that this intentional process may be necessary if I wanted to continue to live with my sanity intact.


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    "Nate?" Kenny called out. "We are ready for you, man. Are you coming out?"


    "Everything''s fine?" I asked mildly, moving to the exit.


    "Sure is," he patted the cloth-covered artifact on his belt. I noticed an empowered symbol depicting a closed eye painted over it.


    When I hopped outside, I could only marvel at the veritable army readied at the foot of the Pillar.


    Grim-looking men and women united under one purpose¡ªhunt something greater than themselves to survive another day.


    Was it progress, or were we devolving back into our hunter-gatherer forefathers?


    Too bad it wasn''t my army to command. It was Edith''s, and I was just their guide. I noticed the tough young woman at the center of attention, going over the details.


    If it was even that¡ªan army, that is. Most people joined as established teams and were loyal first to themselves and then to those who survived with them for the last weeks. Their new charge under Edith was a far third in their priority list. I had no doubt her command over them would fail sooner rather than later.


    "How many?" I asked.


    "Just over fifty," Kenny answered. "Well, fifty joined officially and kind of know what to do. The rest are last-minute additions that are tagging along."


    I nodded. The same thing happened when they attacked the raiders'' base, so it was expected. I hoped the new additions didn''t plan to idle by and turn on the rest of us when all the work was done.


    It would have been less problematic with Victor''s original crew. With a solid block of twenty loyal guys, not much could have stood in their way. Until they shat the bed, at least. Now only seven remained after all the fighting and Karl''s breakup, and that''s counting Kenny, who wasn''t used much to a combatant''s role.


    "How much did the Temple provide?"


    "None," Kenny cringed. "Four of their guys are coming along to make sure they are getting their fair share, but they''re not gonna help us in any way."


    "What''s their fair share?" I asked incredulously. "What are they expecting to get if they''re not taking part in any of that?"


    "Well, they got us the equipment we needed," he pointed at a random gal absentmindedly twirling a rope with a huge metal hook at the end of it. I could see many more people with similar equipment carried by hand or spooled around their shoulders. "And they got me a stack of pentacles," he rested his hand on the boomstick. "With this thing, I gobbled ''em up like there is no tomorrow."


    I nodded along. It was all swell and all that, but it wasn''t a direct participation in the perilous expedition.


    Not that I was one to judge. If I have my way, my contribution will end the moment I finish my part and guide the rest of the forces to the beast. After that, they will do all the dangerous work for me.


    Fortunately, the Temple''s contribution didn''t end with equipment and pentacles.


    "Here, these are for you," Edit passed me a couple of baubles as soon as we reached her.


    One had the familiar form of a compass I had already seen in Victor''s hands. A thin metal base covered with glass. What was different about it than expected was the contents.


    Inside the miniature dome was a central metal pin that extruded from the base, and thin metal arrows rested on the spindle. There was no mechanism inside or even markings to mark the cardinal directions. The device was deceptively simple other than a large number of arrows inside it.


    The arrows were also the only part of the contraption empowered to create some sort of magical effect.


    The other implement was a simple glass bottle, bereft of a cork or a cap. I could sense a concentration of essence from inside and a residual of an inactive spell, despite it being visibly empty.


    "What''s that?" I asked.


    "Your tools," Edith relayed. "The compass will show us the direction. All you need to do is project an image of what you''re looking for and activate one of the arrows. They''re one use each."


    Well, that explained why the compass needed more than one arrow.


    "What about the bottle?" I asked. "You drank it on the way?"


    "Very funny," Edith deadpanned. "The vial is a lure, same thing was used to catch the shade that was scaring folk out of the Pillar."


    "I don''t think it''s big enough to hold the thing we''re after," I noted.


    "Doesn''t have to be," Edith waved it away. "You''ll only use it if you need to bring the Squid out. It''s just the tasty worm on the hook. The actual hook is everyone else here," she swept her hand around. "And don''t use it inside the city. She was very particular about that."


    I smothered the contrarian idea. I wanted to use it immediately and lure the Squid into the city to spite Claire. We could use the help of more people, but if they are not coordinated and don''t plan to be a part of it, they''re only going to flounder and get in our way. Plus, we''d have to retreat somewhere if things didn''t go according to plan, so I let things be.


    The image of the Squid sprang up in my mind, its large form with flailing arms and the wet sounds it produced. I didn''t like remembering that encounter, but sometimes needs must. Once all the minor details were held firmly, I pulsed my energy to one of the arrows activating it, wishing for it to show me the direction of my target.


    "Where to?" Edith asked.


    The charge of the arrow was spent as it no longer held the enchantment, and I looked down in excitement at seeing the contraption work.


    I watched for several more seconds, but the result didn''t change.


    It remained motionless.


    Fuck.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 36

    "Are we going?" Edith asked again impatiently.


    What would happen if I revealed the fact that I couldn''t detect the Squid? Not from the get-go, at least. My added value to the expedition was my ability to guide them to the monster that only I observed. An ability, as I had just discovered, I didn''t actually possess.


    Was it because of the distance? The fog? My lacking familiarity with the beast? Was I using the compass wrong?


    The possibilities for the reasons for my failure buzzed in my mind.


    I concentrated on Edith and activated another one of the arrows, and it jerked to point at her faster than I could blink.


    I had to come to a decision. Fast.


    "That way," I waved in the direction I saw it last. It had been weeks, but I knew the river flowed south of the city, and I had come from upriver. We had hours to walk there. I hoped I could get a hold of it once we were closer.


    "Southwest," Edith yelled. "Let''s get moving, people."


    We moved out on a neighboring road to the one I walked on the day of the arrival, crossing the city in a more direct line to our destination. I would''ve felt more confident making a beeline to the river first and following its course, but I had to work with what I was given.


    The city was deserted. It always was to some degree, but there was always a possibility that just behind the corner awaited a fearsome ghoul waiting to sink its teeth into you. Or maybe an apartment to the side of the street was haunted by a shade. Not to forget the cannibals and hunters hunting for their respective prey.


    No more. The city was undoubtedly deserted now, the last bastions of survivors split between the plaza and the outgoing expedition.


    It felt like the city knew this too. The streets were enveloped in dense mist, and by the time we reached the city walls, we were utterly blanketed in the thick of it.


    The fog has started to take over parts of the city. It wasn''t good, but thankfully a large number of participants meant that we had plenty of observers, some of whom even deigned to use their magical Sight to pierce the encroaching blankness.


    A bubble of clear space flowed around us, slightly stretching forward in the direction of our movement.


    We made good time to the city gates, which were missing, undoubtedly ruined by time as anything else in the city.


    Edith stopped us there, briefly making sure that we didn''t lose anyone.


    This was it. Stepping out of the city felt like committing to the plan. A crossing of the Rubicon, wherever it would bring us. At the end of the day, would we be back at the plaza celebrating our victory? Eaten? Or maybe crashed by the impossibly big foe? Or would we be lost, unable to find our way back?


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    Resolutely, I was the first to step forward, and the rest followed. We still had hours to trek if the Squid was anywhere near its old place, so I decided to dig for more information.


    "The compass," I turned to Edith, who took her place at the vanguard beside me. "You said it needs a concrete mental image to find anything? So how did the white robes use it to look for new ghouls?"


    Edith hummed along.


    "I think it''s able to find stuff that''s similar enough," she shrugged. "Heard having a piece of something helps a lot, and they were using ghoul parts to help them with that, though who knows? Nobody''s exactly forthcoming about this stuff. Cagey bunch."


    That last part was probably directed at me, but I ignored it.


    "So if there are any more Squids, we could use it to find them? Even if we didn''t see them first?" I asked.


    "Could be," she replied. "Don''t use up all the charges before we''re finished with this one, though. You can play with your new toy when we don''t need it no more."


    Our trek continued, the stress and readiness fleeting us to the point that people were talking a mile and treating it like a field trip.


    I couldn''t blame them. It was impossible to remain alert for hours on end without knowing how long it would take.


    First, we came up on the river to our left and followed it. Then I tried to be consistent and check the compass every half an hour or so.


    No luck.


    The arrows didn''t budge once, and I started running low on them.


    Maybe I could repeat the enchantment if the intent woven into the spell was as simple as "Point me in the direction of my target."


    But I didn''t know if that would work, and now was not the best time to experiment with it, not when it would raise uncomfortable questions.


    When only two arrows remained, I decided that I had enough. It was now or never.


    "Step back," I commanded. "I''m going to lure it in now."


    Edit reacted immediately, ordering everyone into their planned positions and readying the hooks. Kenny brought his battle wand into the open. It shone with overwhelming intensity¡ªevery little symbol on the round stone''s surface radiating power.


    I really hoped it would work. If the thing was hidden by some sort of ability or hibernating, or if it was just far enough and that was interfering with the compass, making it move toward us could make it detectable. It could be just enough for me to finally be able to nail it with the compass.


    It had to work.


    A clearing around me formed in a matter of seconds. Edith nodded at me, and I got to work.


    I placed the glass bottle on the damp ground, concentrated on the image of the Squid, and activated the instrument.


    Unlike the arrows of the compass, which burned through the invested energy quickly to create the needed effect, the vial was more akin to the residual effects of my mask. It released the charge slower, in a more measured manner.


    Waves of energy continuously wafted through the air.


    I retreated back to the main group and stood next to Kenny, waiting, cautiously looking around. Most were looking expectantly at the river, while I knew the enemy could attack from an unexpected direction.


    Kenny was anxiously mumbling something, trembling with nervous energy. Everyone around me was anxious to one degree or another.


    I was, too, but for a different reason.


    Finally, the power of the vial was running dry, burning out of charge. Each consecutive wave came markedly weaker than its previous manifestations.


    I used the compass one more time¡ªnothing. Again.


    Damn it.


    I broke rank and ran to the vial. Alarmed cries at my back, I raised it above my head and bought my will and energy crashing on it.


    A worm. A big fat juicy worm. Come here, you stupid Squid. If you don''t eat this tasty worm, it''s gonna get away.


    Like a mantra, I repeated the thought as I empowered the lure. It shone brighter, feeding greedily on my power instead of the previously invested crumbs.


    Come on, Squid. Come and get it.


    The vial''s original spell was wholly depleted, the luring call held by my power alone.


    That''s when I thought I felt something. Like my thoughts were not spoken into the void, another mind peered back at me, listening in.


    I hastily brought up the compass and activated it one last time. The arrow spun around wildly.


    Finally, action.


    "It''s here!" I yelled, dropping the lure and running back to Kenny''s side.


    I wasn''t even halfway there when the previously tranquil river violently rippled, and the giant squid monster exploded out of it, its massive body seemingly impossible to have fit within the shallows it had sprung up from.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 37

    The people on the riverbank gasped in shock and horror as the monster burst forth, its tentacles reaching out hungrily. Giant beady eyes shone with a malevolent intelligence, seeking to punish those who dared to witness it.


    The monster was a formidable sight, with a massive, bulbous head and long, writhing tentacles that seemed to have a life of their own, far too many of them for any known creature. Its skin was a deep, inky black intertwined with splashes of a deep shade of purple, and it glistened with slime. It was a creature unlike any other.


    You would think that people that joined for the singular purpose of hunting it¡ªwho trained, were equipped for the job, and prepared for the eventuality of meeting it¡ªwould be ready for this exact moment. They were not.


    All hell broke loose.


    First, the party of white robes decided that, no, they didn''t sign up for being nearly in the same proximity as the rest of us to the creature.


    Then, herd mentality kicked in, like one domino knocking down another. More and more people abandoned their agreed placings and ran screaming.


    The giant writhing mass ran over the lure without stopping and, with a ferocity that seemed impossible given its enormous size, tentacles flailing wildly, lunged for the fugitives.


    All the while, Edith was trying to take control of the situation. Yelling for the different groups to stop running, position themselves on opposite sides of the creature, and pull on its tentacles.


    "Hook it!" Edit shouted. "You lot, join right!" She sent reinforcements to pull on the rope of a lucky fellow that sunk his hook into a fleshy appendage.


    Some found enough courage to get back into the fight and were now trying to catch the tentacles with their hooks, while others jumped on the single rope that held the beast.


    They were having trouble latching the overgrown fish hooks into the glistening flesh. We should have thought of a better construction that wasn''t so dependent on the weapon''s orientation when it landed.


    With a pang of guilt, I considered if teaching everyone the use of Force to manipulate it in flight would have helped with the task, but it was too late for that now.


    The creature rushed the team on the right, and while most acted according to plan and retreated, holding the rope taut, others fell on the wet ground and disappeared under the writhing mass.


    Still, more people surrounded it, and while they seemed small and insignificant compared to the giant creature, one after the other more hooks sunk into the oily appendages. Their movements, while lacking precision, were calculated as they worked together to bring down the beast.


    The creature towered over the people, its tentacles writhing and lashing out as it attacked. But the hunters didn''t need to overpower it, not entirely. All they had to do was hold the rope tightly drawn and keep some of its arms extended for what would follow.


    A deadly tug of war between elephant and mice.


    "Now!" Edith commanded.


    Kenny''s eyes were wide, and his arms shook, but he brought the battle wand up and unleashed a tight beam of pure whiteness toward the presented target.


    I recoiled from it, cursing at my insistence to stand so close to Kenny and, by extension, the beams he created. Both the way the light felt when going through my Presence and the way it felt in my Sight was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was a total lack of anything, a perfect void.


    No, it was even more than that. It was the assertion, backed by a generous amount of power, to turn anything in its path into nothingness, erase it from existence. To turn the world''s gaze, which enabled anything to exist in its borders and turn it away. Even do the complete opposite of what it has always done and violently expel the targeted areas as a last insult.


    Yet, the creature''s gargantuan size made even this weapon falter.


    Slick skin broke under the assault, but the erratic movement and considerable size made it impossible to cut off a limb in one go, leaving monstrous gashes that ran deep into the enemy''s flesh but failed to sever it completely.


    Every time a beam was fired, one symbol from the artifact''s dulled, spent from a single use.


    For the first time, the Squid suffered actual damage, and it responded with a frenzy that could only be borne by a cornered wild animal in unimaginable pain. If before, it tried to roll over its victims, presumably to devour them somewhere inside the roiling mass, now it thrashed uncontrollably. Long and powerful tentacles flailed wildly, flinging people aside like rag dolls, forgoing its base instinct to reel them in, thrashing about with reckless abandon.


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    The sight sent shudders down my spine.


    "Crank it up!" Edith commanded, witnessing the devastation.


    Forgoing any semblance of accuracy, Kenny fired wider beams in quick succession. They were powered by whole clusters of symbols from the head of his magical tool. The renewed assault severed one of the beast''s arms.


    It could''ve been enough. We could grab it and retreat with the prize. Live to fight another day, having the rent flesh to sustain us all for some time.


    A pyrrhic victory if I ever saw one. Two of our own were hit by the beams in the confusion, bleeding, broken, and scattered in parts across the ground.


    "Fire!" Edith yelled. "Keep firing!"


    It was a battle for survival¡ªfor both sides.


    But Kenny was paralyzed by the consequences of his actions, deathly pale face, gaze locked on his victims.


    Suddenly, a long sucker-covered club shot out from the monster. We were cautious, always staying out of the creature''s reach, but it was longer than any of the tentacles. With a snap, it closed around Kenny, serrated edges of outgrowth digging into his skin, brutally yanking him away from us.


    No.


    No, No, No!


    I overpowered my Sight, willing it to act as a connection between myself and the retreating arm, and with the last of my drive, I mustered every ounce of mana to Force it to a standstill.


    But it was of no use. The beast barreled through the resistance like it was nothing more than wet paper.


    I bound after him, a vague suspicion in my mind. If I could only attack the Squid with pain. Not the body, as it was way too big to feel it as anything more than a nuisance, but its very being, the thing I touched on when I discovered my Presence. Could I stop it? Would that be enough?


    But as always, I was too late. Kenny''s form disappeared underneath the horrifying abomination. After several more steps, I finally stopped and stared incomprehensibly. Numbly watching the fighting go on.


    Suddenly great bursts of white light exploded from the beast, hollowing it out, carving out everything in their unstoppable way.


    Kenny''s last resort.


    The creature swayed and slowly folded in on itself like a hot air balloon that was torn apart, leaking the tension that propped it up until all that remained was a broken shell.


    For the first since the start of the fight, silence reigned over the battlefield.


    As much silence as a bunch of scared, wounded people could handle, that is. Then, finally, the spell was broken. A single cheer resounded, picked up by the others.


    The remaining survivors shouted in ecstasy, celebrating their hard-won victory.


    One monstrous appendage would''ve been enough to sustain us all for some time, but unexpectedly instead of a measly crumb, we''ve got the whole cake all to ourselves. More than we could hope to bargain for mere minutes ago.


    I ambled towards the body, looking for a maw or whatever face hole the creature used to feed until I found a rounded beak. It was almost as large as my torso when it was closed, comically small for a creature of that size.


    Struggling to open it, I held on to hope. Finally tired from wrestling to open the beak against the tight muscles and the sheer weight that held it shut, I started hacking around it with my spear, gauging it out entirely. Nauseating smell of rotten fish greeted me as I opened the resulting puncture, but there was no sight of my friend.


    The compass, I remembered¡ªit had one last use to it, dutifully awaiting its turn. I activated it one last time, wishing for it to show me Kenny''s whereabouts, but the arrows remained mockingly unmoving, dead.


    I couldn''t shake the feeling that, in the end, despite the prevailing excitement, it was impossible to say who emerged victorious. I certainly didn''t feel like I did.


    ***


    Kenny''s death weighed heavily on me. More than the admittedly high casualty rate of the expedition. The others were foreign to me¡ªthe dying of a bunch of strangers couldn''t compare to the loss of a friend.


    It was surprising to discover that I was among a minority of people that were affected like this. Most celebrated and hurried to drink heavily from the Squid''s essence, restoring their reserves and siphoning as much as they could carry away.


    I sat to the side, watching the crazed mob feed off the massive, otherworldly creature, too numb to take any part in the feast.


    At first, Edith tried to keep things in order and allocate the agreed amounts to the Temple and the rest of the participants. But her team was too small of a part of the frantic masses, unable to control the rest, so everyone extracted as much of the vital essence as they could, bleeding it dry.


    It was unimportant.


    So what if the rendering of the carcass were unorganized and uncontrollable? It had more essence in it than all of us could possibly take away at one time. They would have to guard it and leech from it for days to get everything out. And I had doubts about any group''s ability to pull it off. The Temple was the only real contender for the dubious honor.


    But the exuberant excitement was undeserved for another reason.


    Why did it matter if the haul would feed us for another month or even another year? I was having trouble estimating the actual value of our catch, but whatever it was¡ªit was finite. It doesn''t matter how much we''ve got, it would run dry eventually, and there were no other creatures around to fill in the gap.


    Or were there? I played absentmindedly with the chitinous beak I had carved out of the Squid. It was still full of essence, and I saw no reason to hurry, so I took my sweet time with it. It was still perfectly smooth and whole, but I knew its form would suffer as soon as I drained it. Maybe it would even shutter or crumble away.


    The Temple initiates used ghoul bones to find other ghouls. What were my chances of pulling off the same with the Squid?


    Hours passed, and finally, when I couldn''t take the passivity anymore, I had to do something, be anywhere else than there, where Kenny died.


    I waded into the water, attracting odd stares. I stood at the same spot the Squid had sprung up from, but the water barely came to my waist.


    I couldn''t be mistaken. The shock of the experience had burned the memory deep into my mind to the point I could practically see it playing again in my mind.


    Who knows what kind of abilities the Squid had? Could it use some sort of cloaking similar to what I had used? Or did it teleport or change its size?


    The possibilities were endless, but I was leaning toward the known factors. And I knew of only two things that could explain its sudden appearance and only one of them could explain the mismatch of its size and the shallows it had sprung up from.


    If I were to use only the known and proven abilities, the Squid either hid from us or used the mysterious property of the mist that changed distances and directions to appear there.


    It had appeared right at the edge of our perception, a bubble our shared presence and observation created, ending several paces into the water. Did it come across the river or further up the stream and use the mist to close vast distances to reach us faster?


    The compass was used up, bereft of any magical purpose, but how complex could the spell it previously carried be? I had recreated the lure spell on the spot, after all.


    Holding the beak, I wished for it to show me the way to where the Squid had come from. To bring me to any of its brethren.


    When the intent was clear enough, I could feel a pull. It wasn''t physical like some force was yanking on the beak, but more subtle instead, like a vague feeling that, yes, this is where I was supposed to be moving.


    I trudged along the river bank, hoping my reluctance to proceed deeper into the river wasn''t influencing the pull. It was scary how quickly the sounds of the revelry at my back disappeared, and the mists swallowed me whole, and mere minutes later, the unexpected happened.


    Suddenly I was surrounded by water, immense pressure pressing in on me, fighting to end me before suffocation could have a chance to set in.


    I was drowning.

 Arc 1: The Undercity | Chapter 38 (END ARC 1)

    What is drowning, anyway?


    Physically, it could mean the lack of air and the unmet desire to inhale¡ªsuffocation by water.


    Emotionally, it could be the inability to freely move, the panic, and the slow sinking that comes with being in a body of water and not knowing how to swim.


    But I was submerged in the water for mere seconds, so how could I be drowning so soon? I knew how to swim, kept a clear mind, and my time underwater wouldn''t be enough to cause me to feel even the beginnings of air deprivation. Yet the sensation of drowning sprung up in my mind as soon as I was submerged in water.


    The mismatch between my inner feelings and expectations was answered a second later.


    Pressure.


    It was unexpected, but I found myself stranded a hundred feet underwater, and the crushing pressure I was subjected to made me feel like a half-blown balloon being strangled by an angry toddler.


    Disoriented, I span around, looking for something, anything that will bring me out safe from the current predicament, desperately trying to counteract the water pressure.


    There! A glimmer. I could see the light breaking on the surface of the water.


    I swam as hard as I could, pushing myself further with Force, every stroke easing the element''s unyielding grasp on me.


    Finally, I broke the surface like a cork shooting out of a bottle, flying higher only to drop back down again.


    I hurriedly looked for the shore and was already planning the return back to the Undercity, only for the spectacular sight to strike me dumb.


    The distant ceiling, the splashes of green bioluminescent fungus, and even the ever-present fog were missing. Instead, my view was clear and uninterrupted as far as I could see. Floating in the middle of the sea, I was greeted with clear skies.


    A new dawn was slowly chasing the darkness away, the dark colors of the sky gradually receding, making way for a beautiful shade of blue, and the first rays of the sun gently falling on my skin, caressing me like a long-lost friend.


    Oh, how I missed it.


    I was out! I was finally out, miraculously finding my way out of that hell hole.


    Two small islands beckoned me in the distance. I took a deep breath to enjoy the fresh air before the inevitable trek to land, only to be disappointed by the stale air inside the bronze mask that was still glued to my face.


    I was so accustomed to it that I forgot it didn''t leave my face.


    But then the realization dawned on me. I was still using Force to propel myself through the water, and I was still using Sight to see through the metal mask.


    And was I really out if I was still using the fantastical abilities I had developed during my stint in the Undercity, or was I simply in another unexplored area of the same cursed place?


    Another sign that I was not as free of the Undercity as I had believed didn''t wait long to present itself.


    The dark form of another giant squid was quickly closing in on me under the surface, my reflexive panicked use of obscuring effect stopping its frantic movement, and the sobering presence of the monster brought me back to my senses.


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    I swam to land, concentrating all my focus on hiding from the aquatic predators. I was not out of danger yet and had to act accordingly.


    At least a dozen more of them passed me on my way. Some wore close resemblance to the Squid we had butchered a few hours prior. Others seemed to belong to some giant species of megalodon shark, their movements intimidating as they circled for prey.


    All the sea life I passed suffered from unnatural gigantism and just as unnatural population density, bringing any hope I harbored for a return to normalcy crashing down.


    When I finally made it to land¡ªto the closer of the two islands¡ªI fell on the cool sands trembling from exhaustion. It would have made the journey so much easier if it wasn''t for the need for hiding, but I seriously doubted my ability to outswim any of the creatures I''d witnessed.


    When the sun started to sting my uncomfortably salty skin, I stood up and began my exploration of the island. And what an island it was¡ªit surpassed even my wildest dreams.


    My first hours of exploration were affected by my previous encounters with the dangerous inhabitants. But as cautious and slow as my approach was, there was nothing to fear as long as I stayed on land.


    The sun-bathed island was as close to a paradise as I could imagine. A plethora of small critters and singing birds that couldn''t pose me any risk even if they tried. I relished the variety of fruits and berries that were freely available to be picked. Only the minute amounts of corruption in my meals could put a damper on my excitement, though even that was effortlessly Drained away.


    It had seemed that my worries were for naught.


    The day went by in a daze, with me refusing to believe my good luck, and then when the night fell, I remembered that I was not out of the woods yet.


    No, there weren''t any night predators that came out to hunt¡ªit was sleep.


    Sleep was as elusive here as it was in the Undercity. Fortunately, I was excused from having to remain awake for the whole night by my liberal use of Hibernation, only having to partly come out of it for a short while to resupply the mask with fresh mana. The action became so instinctive that I couldn''t say how many times I had to repeat it, like not remembering snoozing the alarm when everything was done half-asleep.


    After the wait that could have lasted seconds or an eternity, I was glad to greet another sunrise.


    The second island was explored faster than the first. I forwent any attempt to conceal myself and instead tried to cover as much ground as possible, but the island was indistinguishable from its twin.


    Beautiful nature, small animals, abundant wild fruits, but no signs of civilization. Not even ruins or anything that could have signified the habitat of people, no matter how distant.


    Still, the experience was pleasant, touching the grass and the trees, enjoying the slight breeze under the sunlight, and the sounds of the tiny critters. I appreciated every moment.


    Only one thing was genuinely missing¡ªcompany.


    I had so much to enjoy but no one to share it with. I felt another pang at Kenny''s loss.


    Was this how I wanted to live out my days? Hoarding this small spot all for myself, a private paradise for the antisocial hermit?


    No. I didn''t always like contact with other people, but I still needed it. Having a talk with another person, planning or cooperating for our future. It felt right.


    No amount of nuts and berries or tanning in the sun could substitute the company of someone to share it with, and it made me sad to realize that it took me too much time to understand this.


    Decision made, I put my mind to return to the Undercity, even if it would only be to show others the way here.


    Another night went by in a mix of regular resting and Hibernation with leisurely contemplation of the pleasant sounds and sensations of nature around me and star-gazing.


    When morning came, I got to it. Instead of swimming again through the monster-infested waters, I decided to try out a hunch that wouldn''t let go.


    I built a ring made of small rocks and pebbles around me and sat down inside it, intending to isolate the space inside the circle from the outside reality. I wanted to be utterly removed from the sunny islands outside, and this desire was generously backed by an unsparing stream of my mana.


    Little by little, I could feel reality''s hold over the space around me retreating, and my Presence, which I had only recently become aware of, naturally permeated it without any additional spurring from me.


    Slowly becoming the uncontested ruler of the marked space, I fought my curiosity to look at the change, knowing that even peering outside using my eyes or the magical Sight would invite some of that connection back.


    Ever so slowly, the area of the circle around me was changing, becoming more akin to how it felt in the thickest of the fog outside the undercity, malleable. Where distances were a suggestion more than unyielding reality.


    It took longer then than it did during my previous experience with the technique back at the undercity when Maggie had just told me about it, but my assault was unrelenting.


    Finally, when I couldn''t feel my influence growing further, I stood up and started walking, every step fueled by mana and the desire to move me closer to the Undercity.


    Just ten or so steps later, I activated the Sight, expecting one of two outcomes. Either I was still on the island, walking blindly, or I made my way back and was now wandering underground, far away from the city like on the day of my arrival.


    Instead, my Sight showed me something impossible.


    I was back underground, the Undercity appearing some distance before me, but it was clear of the haze I came to associate with it, and it was bustling with activity. Every foot of it was crawling with people, more than there ever were in living memory. Thousands, tens of thousands, and maybe more, their loud voices merging into an unintelligible clamor.


    And above the overrun city was the Pillar.


    A ring of pure light was installed part way up its length, its yellow light bathing the Undercity with an intensity that would have felt comparable to the sun''s if not for my recent visit to the islands.


    I was left stunned at the unexpected changes.


    What the hell happened here?