Pain lanced through Rhen’s shoulder, and he was hauled into the air. Rhen pulled his crescent blade from its holster and slashed at anything he could above his head. There was a monstrous hiss and the claw’s grip slipped. Rhen’s flesh ripped and he dropped back to the forest floor.

Rhen rolled onto his back, both weapons poised at the sky. Creatures as silent as the night sailed overhead, long black cloaks of mist trailing behind them. They had three sets of hooked claws dangling from the sides of their bodies, but unlike a sky predator, their claws were turned inward.

One of the monsters ghosted down and latched its claws on either side of a fat tree trunk. It lifted with all its might and two more creatures joined in. They hovered in mid-air, no flapping wings to be seen, and feasted on the wood. Mouths opened all along their bellies and they forced their bodies against the trunk. Thousands of razor-sharp teeth shifted back and forth, cutting into the wood and stripping the trunk down in seconds.

Sawdust fluttered to the ground all around Rhen as he watched, horrified to think that could’ve been him.

“Are you okay?” Jakira asked, dropping to Rhen’s side.

“Mostly fine, just, holy hell. Look at that.” He pointed to the tree feasting.

Aki sloshed up to Rhen’s side, and healed his shoulder with cool, green mist. “We must get to the resurrection node. It is too far to the exit. We must save anima profiles, now.”

“Don’t have a lot of hope for our survival, huh?” Rhen rotated his shoulder around, feeling the stab reduce to a sting. When the wound was mostly healed over, Rhen came up to a crouch.

“I’ll blast fire ahead, Aki, use shadow snare behind, and we’ll all run like hell. Got it?”

Rhen could hear their nervous agreements. He climbed to his feet and put himself in front, then sucked down a deep breath.

Inferno.

He charged forward, blowing a searing gout of flames into the sky as he did. Rhen tripped on a log, but Jakira caught him. She wrapped her arm around his waist and guided him through the mess while he breathed fire.

The monsters ghosted away from the flames, dropping their trees in the process. Heavy thunks sent wood shrapnel flying and tossed felled branches into the air on impact.

“That’s not helping!” Jakira yelled and punched a falling branch out of their path.

“I noticed,” Rhen wheezed, then sucked down a painful breath.

He activated his light breath instead, and instantly regretted it. The spell illuminated hundreds of the terrifying hexawraiths. They swarmed the free-floating anima and absorbed it into their blackened bodies.

A particularly bloated hexawraith charged Rhen and Jakira. Rhen did the only thing he could and gave it a powerful tremor blast. The creature exploded in a shower of warm water, knocking them to the ground. Its little crystal core rolled to a stop at Rhen’s feet, and he jammed it into his pocket.

They were only a few paces from the resurrection node now. Rhen gained his feet once more, dragging the others up with him. They climbed the muddy hill on hands and knees while hexawraiths ripped the dead branches from the ground, pulverizing them into dust.

Rhen reached the top and stretched out for the node, placing his hand on the slippery surface.

[Congratulations – Rhen Zephitz!]

You have claimed a Resurrection Node! The D.O.G. has been informed of your progress.

You may restrict access to the node at any time—

-----

“Stop it! Give me Resurrection Control!”

[Resurrection Control Center]

Allow anima profile saves: Disabled

Allow all saves to immediately resurrect upon death: Disabled

Allow expedited gestation: Disabled

Allow—

-----

“Enable all!” Rhen screamed. He reached back and pulled Jakira up to the node with his other arm.

[Resurrection Control Center]

Enable all resurrection node abilities. Cost: 2,050 per anima profile.

Current anima reserve: 41,837/102,050

{Confirm} {Decline}

-----

“Confirm!”

Jakira got her hand to the node, and so did Bort. Rhen pulled Olliat up next. Aki climbed the node pedestal and laid a tentacle on the crystal.

“Save all profiles!”

The node flashed brightly, sending hot anima down all their arms to their id syntials. Hexawraiths descended all around, hissing and clawing. The bright light and transfer of anima must’ve attracted them!

Claws raked over his back and Jakira screamed in pain beside him, but they all held tight to the resurrection node. Fat raindrops fell from the sky, making the node pedestal slick. A claw caught under Rhen’s arm and lifted it off the node right as the anima save completed.

Rhen turned and gave the monsters another thick blast of inferno breath, but the rain dampened his range and power. The hexawraiths sucked up the spell, their bodies glowing like rainbows.

“We have to get out of here!”

Jakira swung her club at the nearest monster, bursting its belly. Warm water splashed across the hillside and the other hexawraiths scooped up the defeated one’s core, eating it greedily.

A flash of light burst overhead from one of the crystals, illuminating the chamber but for a second. An opening in the cavern wall blazed in the afterlight on Rhen’s eyes.

“Cave!” Olliat yelled and pointed to the spot along the wall.

“There are terrocken in that cave.” Aki said.

“Better than out here!” Rhen swiped at a hexawraith that got too close. It backed off a measure, then surged forward. Rhen hit it with tremor blast, exploding its water-bloated body. The explosion sent him tumbling backwards down the muddy hill. His head struck a tree, and his hearing went tinny.

Pink light filled up his vision, then beautiful blues and greens.

“Run!” Aki shook the world with his cry.

The hexawraiths swarmed the Prelusk, his aura of anima drawing in a feeding frenzy. Aki conjured the water about him into a massive sphere, then charged down the hill, pulling the monster swarm with him.

“Aki, no!” Jakira screamed, chasing after him.

Olliat ran down the hill to where Rhen lay, his head spinning. She jerked him up to stand and put his arm over her shoulder. Bort did the same, and they stumbled toward the cave entrance.

Rhen’s ears popped and his vertigo vision ended with snap. He looked over his shoulder to see Aki deftly evading all the monsters, keeping to the center of his huge orb of water while rolling around the forest. Jakira was not far behind him, bashing her club into anything that got in her way.

“Wait.” Rhen pulled himself out of their grasp.

“We need your protection, Dungeon Owner,” Olliat said, fear in her wide eyes.

Rhen stood at the mouth of the cave, mind torn in two. Olliat and Bort were his responsibility as the delve leader. If he, Aki, and Jakira all died, the dungeon operation would be without a leader for at least a week… his dungeon would be vulnerable to Welsh.

Rhen turned back to the cave and urged them inside. He stopped at the mouth and dropped into stealth, watching Aki lose his glow little by little while the hexawraiths fed on him. Jakira cried out, but Rhen couldn’t see her anywhere on the ground.

“No, damn you, fluffers!” She was hovering above Aki, claws gripping her sides.

She gave a gurgling scream and Rhen saw blood rain down into Aki’s water, turning it black. Rhen closed his eyes, nauseated as her scream slowly faded. Then, the glow of Aki’s magic faded, too. Rhen opened his eyes. The pounding rain was all he could hear or see.

“It’ll be okay,” Olliat said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. “They’ll respawn soon.”

Rhen wanted to throw her hand off his shoulder and scream at the gods.

He’d let them die.

He’d just sat here. And he hadn’t even watched the consequences of his choices…

“Yeah,” Rhen said, jaw clenched.

Olliat backed away. She took a seat next to Bort, leaning against the cavern wall and watching the rain.

“Ten minutes left on the enon bags,” Bort reported.

Rhen ground his teeth. Why in the realms would he care about something like that right now? He refrained from asking Bort, knowing that thought was driven by anger that wasn’t Bort’s fault.

Rhen took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had to do what he could now.

He got up and then sat next to Bort. “Give me a bag. Let’s unpack. We can’t risk damaging them.”

They got to work, organized at first, but hastily as the timer on the bags counted down. By the end of it, they were surrounded by piles of feathers, claws, meat, ores, gems, and monster cores. The only benefit was maybe the smell of the feathers and meat would keep the terrockens far away from them.

As the first half-hour elapsed in the darkness, Rhen found himself getting weary. Olliat took the first watch, letting them sleep for four hours before rousing Rhen from a weary, nightmare filled sleep. Two hours into his shift, the rain began to slow and the flashes of light from the crystals above increased in frequency. It was as if they were trying to restart. By the third hour, it had become a gentle drizzle.

The crystal ceiling came to life with orange-pink light, waking the others. The crystals became brighter and brighter, illuminating the forest. Suddenly, hundreds of the trees and bushes glowed and pulsed with white light. They grew in size, their limbs healing and flowers blooming.

Rhen looked on the regenerated forest with awe. Aki had been right about the closed ecosystems needing balance. What a violent balance the rainforest chamber had achieved.

Rhen heard the distant voice of Joseph calling through the trees. “Olliat! Bort!”

“We’re here!” Olliat yelled in return.

Rhen put a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The deep click-click-clack reverberated off the walls behind them.

“Let’s go!”

Bort stammered. “But the materials—”

“Leave it!”

Rhen hoisted Bort to his feet and they ran into the flooded forest.

“Where are ya!” Joseph yelled again.

The splashing of heavy footfalls were loud in Rhen’s ears but he could still hear the thunder of fat, terrocken thighs behind him. He spun around and unleashed tremor blast at the ground, splashing water into the air.

Cold. He exhaled hard, freezing the water into a solid wall of ice.

The terrocken crashed through the wall, shards of ice stabbing into its gut. It dropped to the ground, tripping the next closest pursuer. Rhen whirled back around and chased after the others.

Joseph appeared between the trees, relief washing over his face. Olliat ran into his open arms and he lifted her off the ground in a huge hug. There were three other delvers with Joseph, smiles on their faces.

“No time for that! Keep running!” Rhen yelled.

Joseph’s eyes bulged when he caught sight of their pursuers. He grabbed Olliat’s hand and pulled her along. They stumbled their way through the forest, following the rope the delvers left to find their way back.

Somewhere along the way, the terrocken gave up the chase, but Rhen couldn’t slow down. They ran all the way back to the cavern exit, then collapsed on the cool stone of the traversing tunnel.

“What happened?” Joseph demanded angrily, shaking Rhen’s shoulders.

And why shouldn’t he? His daughter’s life was on the line.

Rhen couldn’t breath, his throat still raw from fire and ice.

“Tell me!”

Olliat pulled her father away. “We were heading back, the chamber changed. We fought and found a resurrection node! But Aki and Jakira died… Rhen protected us through the night.”

The last part was a stretch since Rhen was certain it was the scent of the terrocken’s own blood that spooked it off enough. Joseph relaxed, his shoulders falling away from his ears.

“I, uh… sorry.” Joseph patted Rhen on the back.

“We need to get to that node, protection detail,” Rhen croaked. “They’ll be naked and vulnerable when they respawn.”

“Sir.” Joseph nodded.

Rhen trudged last in line up to the dungeon exit. Devastation dragged his mind back to the rainforest, Jakira’s screams, Aki’s fading light. He’d done nothing.

Not anymore. He’d rather die than hear her screaming again.

Rhen went to the coffers at master chamber. They were nearly full of Lafite, gems, and other minerals. Good, they were going to need everything they had.

“Listen up.” Rhen clapped his hands and pulled the attention of everyone in the room. “We located the resurrection node.”

The group cheered, save for Joseph, Bort, and Olliat. Everyone knew the resurrection node had been a big item on Rhen’s to-do list, but had no idea what had happened.

He quieted them with an upraised hand. “We don’t have control of the node. It’s surrounded by monsters, and two of our own are waiting on respawn. They will respawn as soon as they are ready, which could be hours, or days. If we’re not there when they do, the monsters will tear them apart.”

“What do we do?” Eli asked.

“We need a master craftsman, fast.”