Heaving out a breath, Alex threw himself down on a bed of tall grass and pikachu-yellow daffodils, hugging them like they were old friends. It’s odd how you take colors for granted until a hellish purple forest takes them away from you.

Beside him, Diana grunted and flopped to the ground as well. Daven, for all his talk, was already wrapped up in his cloak, curled on the ground like a giant baby. Turns out chasing wasn’t as easy as he expected.

Alex rolled onto his back, feeling the warm rays bathing his face. It felt so good being off his feet. He sighed. The sun shone here. And it smelled right. There was life back in the world.

They were in a large clearing, which Cedric told them was squeezed in between the second and third stage of the dungeon. After they crossed into the dome, a narrow trail flanked by shadowy woods led them to this little oasis. Another, similar path on the far side of the clearing supposedly led to the real entrance to the third stage.

Spotted with wildflowers and with a small pond glimmering on the far side like a blue eye, it was paradise. Well, it was a resting spot. Which was very video-gamey of whatever or whoever crafted this dungeon. Alex was surprised a save progress option didn’t pop up to him.

“Yes, yes, enjoy it,” Cedric said, standing in the middle of the glen. “I’ll give you all half an hour to rest after I find the flower then we’ll leave.”

“Will you need any help?” Valerian asked.

“No, I should be—”

Alex filtered out the rest of the conversation. This was a place for peace, not to hear Cedric’s words. And the man did love the sound of his own voice. Although, Alex had to admit Cedric knew what he was doing, and he was damn good at it too. Having seen just how hard it was being a chaser, Alex couldn’t help growing some respect for the crew leader.

Ah, who was he kidding. He already respected the man after seeing him deal with that Wild Boar the first time they came to the dungeon. He was just annoyed his suspicions were wrong and Cedric turned out to be the goody-two-shoes hero after all. It wasn’t his fault he didn’t trust Cedric, though. Surely not. The man smiled too damn much.

Something vibrated beneath him, and for a second Alex thought it was his phone until he remembered where he was. He groaned and covered his eyes with one arm. He’d left his phone at home before going out his last night on earth. A rookie mistake, though he doubted it would be of any help here with no reception and just one battery charge.

The earth rumbled again, louder this time. Enough to cause the flowers around him to shake as if buffeted by winds.

Lifting his arm, he popped one eye open and looked at Diana. “Can you stop?”

“Tryin’ to sleep here,” Daven whined from the other side.

Diana raised her head from the ground, frowning. “It’s not me.”

He prepared to say something back, but everything seemed to happen at once. There was a hissed shit from where Cedric had been before something exploded out of the calm waters of the pond. Alex flinched, covering his head in reflex. A woosh of air followed, a smack and a pained grunt. Then Cedric’s body shot past them into the forest like it was a cloth doll.

“Up!” Valerian boomed.

Alex didn’t have to be told twice. He jolted to his feet, nearly stumbling with haste. Daven did—his feet caught on his cloak and he tumbled forward, face smacking on the ground. More composed, Diana stayed low, her hands ready to dig into the earth.

Water and sludge rained down on the clearing. Alex turned to the much diminished pond in time to see a monster rising from within. It came out antlers first, a giant rack with beams as long as Cedric’s spear and tines just as sharp. A smooth wooden mask covered the monster’s face, and the body that climbed out was completely hidden underneath a bulky lichen cloak that glowed a faint green. It towered over them nearly ten feet tall.

[Sage Treant lvl 15]

Alex wanted to bite his tongue off. Why did he have to call that Deadwood a fake Treant? Behind its mask, which only had openings for the eyes and a thin line as a mouth, the monster looked across the clearing at them with deep red eyes. Eyes too intelligent for comfort.

“Sovereign’s balls,” Daven swore, finally standing up. He glanced over his shoulder to where the crew leader had been thrown at. “Is Cedric…”

“Worry about yourself,” Valerian said gruffly. He had moved from the edge of the clearing to stand in front of them, shield at the ready. They would need it, by the look of things.

“What do we do?” Diana whispered, as if afraid to draw the Treant’s attention.

Growling, Daven knocked and drew an arrow. “I’ll show you what.”

Diana opened her mouth to call out to him, but she stopped once the arrow started glowing as if the whole thing had just come out of a forge, only a fierce blue instead of orange. A sound like smoldering coals started to come off the arrow.

Alex’s eyes widened. That was new. It had to be something to do with his new Gate.

A heartbeat, and Daven let it go.

Alex watched as the arrow hissed through the air like a bullet, blue sparks in its trail, before it found its target with a wet squelch. The Sage Treant glanced down slowly to where the arrowhead met the thick moss of his cloak, just above where its heart would be if it were human.

Nothing. The arrow looked like a pin needle on a rubber ball, unable to pierce beyond the very tip. The moss around the arrow writhed like a worm, causing it to dislodge and fall to the ground. When its red eyes turned back to them, they seemed to have an amused gleam to it.

The bow in Daven’s hands slumped. In front of them, Valerian set his feet wider, putting his body behind the shield as if he expected immediate retaliation.

Seeing the paladin’s reaction, Alex tensed, pulling deep on the power. Diana seemed to have the same idea. Her hands sunk into the earth, ready to act, though she didn’t pull the trigger on making an offensive move.

All was quiet for a second, until the silence was broken by a cough behind them.

“Don’t bother trying.” They all turned to see Cedric walk out of the tree line, dusting himself off.

Alex could have kissed him at that moment. He even heard Diana heave out a relieved sigh.

“The bastard is an Enhanced,” Cedric said, sidling up to them. The Treant only watched them, almost as if curious. “He’s above your level in every way possible.” He spat to the side. It came out red. Blood.

Daven looked at the clump of blood on the grass. His face grew pale. Like a boy realizing his dad wasn’t an unstoppable superhero after all.

Cedric must have noted, since he smiled confidently. “It got me by surprise, don’t worry. I’ll deal with it.” The image was made less reassuring by the crimson tint splashed over his teeth. He strode up to the front of the group and put a hand on Valerian’s shoulder. “Look after the kids, momma bear.”

The paladin frowned. “Are you sure about this?” He peered at the Treant wearily. “We should fall back now.”

“And come back without the flower I promised?” Cedric shook his head. “What would the good folk of Riverbend think about—about us? No, I will take him by myself.”

“Cedric, if this is about showing off to the girl…” Valerian started.

Cedric’s eyes flashed. “Girl or not, I still call the shots here.” He spat to the side again. His face twisted into a sneer. “And this bastard bled me. There’s a price for that.”

For a moment, the muscles in Valerian’s jaw clenched. But he only breathed out. “Very well.” He took a step back, and his stony face softened for a moment. “But there’s a price for hubris as well. I hope you don’t learn of it this day.”

Surprisingly, Cedric laughed. “I do love it when you get philosophical.”

Alex almost missed the crew leader shifting to the balls of his feet, then he was off. He dashed like one of Daven’s arrows, straight at the Treant. His spear lay in front of the twenty feet monster, looking more like a discarded toy than a deadly weapon. Cedric made for it.

The Sage Treant wasn’t fazed. From inside his cloak, the head of a great wooden staff poked out, glinting in the sunlight like an emerald, and something erupted out of the ground in answer. Grass and dirt tore away in giant clumps as chest-height roots rose and dove into the earth over each other like an all-consuming wave rolling in the direction of the tiny human. The damn monster was a caster.

Cedric didn’t slow down for a moment.

For all that Alex had seen since waking up, this felt the most surreal. It was a scene straight out of hollywood. Cedric was right, too. If this was the power of an Enhanced, Alex and the siblings simply didn’t have a chance. It was like watching two trains coming straight at each other on a path of collision. And he couldn’t say that the outcome looked bright for the crew leader.

But as the wave looked about to engulf him, Cedric leapt. And this was another moment which made Alex realize he was in a world where everyone could be a mini-superhero. Any would-be Olympian would be jealous as Cedric soared over the first few rows of thick roots like it was nothing.

He landed in the midst of the thicket, light as a feather on his toes, then immediately jumped off again, using the roots as stepping stones. Wherever his feet touched, rough wood grew and bifurcated, springing out to coil around his ankles like vipers. Pillars of wood rose and branched off all around him, trying to box him in.

Yet Cedric was too fast. Even as a veritable forest sprouted to stop him, he danced around the grasping roots easily, never stopping his advance, and soon he was only a few yards away from the Sage Treant. He leapt off the mass of roots and hit the ground running.

Seeing his efforts achieving nothing, the Treant let out an earthy grumble from behind its mask. The head of its wooden staff suddenly stopped glowing, and when Cedric was close enough, the monster swung at him with surprising speed.

Cedric dropped to his knees, sliding on the grass like a football player celebrating a goal. The staff whistled over the crew leader’s head, and when he stood, he already had his spear in hand. The bronze blade came up flashing, cutting a long line on the lower side of the Treant’s moss cloak.

With footsteps that shook the earth, the Sage Treant moved back, glancing down to where it was cut. Cedric did the same, and he frowned when he saw the attack had no effect. The moss glowed brighter and simply regrew on the spots it had been damaged.

“It didn’t work,” Diana breathed out from where she squatted.

Daven nodded gravely. “Just like my arrow,” he said. “It’s like the cloak is alive.” It seemed the archer was taking things seriously for once.

Everything had all happened so fast Alex forgot to let go of the power. He elected not to do so now either. “Should we help him?” he asked, though all eyes were fixed on the fight happening across the clearing.

The Sage Treant brought his staff out again, the tip shining bright green, and swung it down straight at the crew leader. Cedric didn’t try to parry. He jumped back, avoiding the hit; but it seemed it was never meant to take him. A great crack sounded when staff met earth, even though it had hit soft grass. Crevices spread around the staff, around the Treant, and from them, monsters rose out of the earth. First two, then four, then ten.

Not the grotesque Flesh Flowers or the lumbering Deadwoods—but skeletons, human-sized and cruel-looking, their mud-brown bones made of gnarled wood, loose soil still clinging to their joints. They held a variety of weapons in hand, these carved out of great antlers similar to the Sage Treant’s own, clubs and swords and spears.

The crew watched in disbelief, and even Cedric paused at the sight.

[Wooden Skeleton lvl 7] (Summoned) x10

The new monsters didn’t give the crew leader much time, though. They shuddered at the same time, as if they were all obeying a single command. Heads snapped, necks cracked. And something appeared beneath their skulls, a green light that shone through their eyes like marbles. The skeletons all turned to Cedric, finding their target, and sprung at him.

Cedric stopped two bone-swords coming down at him with the shaft of his spear and pushed them back. He started to swing sideways to cut down the two skeletons, but another three flanked him and he had to swivel around to stop them.

Spears thrust at him from both sides. Alex watched near mystified as he dodged one and parried the other. The blade of his spear ran the length of the bone spear, rasping terribly, and sliced at the shoulder joint of the skeleton. The arm fell dead on the ground, but its owner showed no recognition. It simply took hold of its bone spear with his remaining hand and thrust again, being joined by others who tried to skewer the human.

Cedric bent this way and that, as flexible as a reed on the wind. Clubs swung at him. Swords fell at all angles. Spears stabbed. There was beauty in the chaos, in a sense. A deadly dance where everyone knew their part. None of the blows scored hits, but even from this far, it was clear Cedric found himself on the defensive.

He was faster than them, by a margin, but he couldn’t seem to find an opening to attack, surrounded as he was.

Valerian broke from their stupor first. “We will,” he said. “Cedric will have to forgive us for interrupting him.” He hefted his shield up and turned to the three of them. “I will—” he stopped cold as soon as he saw Alex and the siblings waiting for his instructions. His eyes roamed over them as if they were ghosts, pupils wide and skittish.

“I… I don’t…” he trailed off again, then his mouth clicked shut and he fell silent.