Keith sat in his fancy trailer, hands on his fancy datapad, his eyes on Skully. He had already read the data pad many times, and had long since etched the view of the animated skeleton to his retinas, but still he gazed upon the creature as if it were a sparkly treasure.

It really wasn’t, it was just human bones in a dark room. But to Keith, it was so much more.

There was so much to learn, so much to discover, Greg had only glimpsed the tip of what Keith assumed to be the metaphorical iceberg on knowledge the spheres represented.

Magic.

Could it be true?

Was it all real, as stated plainly in front of him and on the datapad?

They had yet to be able to actually directly measure the ‘magic’, but they could see the effects for itself. It was there! They just couldn't understand it.

Kinda like gravity, he mused.

Humans can see the effects of gravity, define the limits of what gravity does, understand that mass attracts itself, but as to the why and how of it? Still working on figuring that out. And don’t get him started on dark energy. It just goes to show there is still so much humans don’t about this universe, much less another.

Or is this all connected? Perhaps its a wrong hypothesis to think of the ‘magic’ shown here as something unnatural. Perhaps it's simply a side of nature that humans simply haven't discovered yet. As they say, the universe is endless.

Keith leaned back smugly in his chair and thought about his life choices. Taking a gig with the US military had a lot of pros and cons associated with it, and, for many people, more cons than pros. Many of his peers had felt he had chosen poorly had locked himself up within the restrictions of US military policy.

But look at him now, on a project none of them could have imagined. Not something he could have imagined before a few days ago, either, but that was the past. The future was the little skeleton before him, stoic and unmoving.

Keith peered at Skully with a smirk. Soon, all the secrets would be his. And then published in a peer review journal for all the scientific community to gawk at! Oh, the sweet taste of vindication.

Clarissa came up to him, looking at Skully as well. “About, another two inches of growth on the forearm, Doctor. The growth seems to be consistent and is based on mass produced, rather than directly length.”

Keith chuckled at her words. Watching the soldiers come in and restrain Skully so that Clarissa could measure his broken arm was amusing, but Skully was surprisingly docile today. Yesterday he was agitated and resisted all attempts at measuring him. But measure him they did, everything was measured about him using every method possible. Where the new mass was coming from, they did not know. Magic, or mana presumably. But for all intents, the growth was breaking the law of conservation of mass. The idea was terrifying. Was this ‘mana’ transforming from energy to mass? Could mana be classified as energy to begin with?

Keith shivered lightly at all the unknowns.

“Doctor…?” Clarissa asked, in an alarmed voice, bringing Keith back from his imaginings.

Keith looked and stood up in shock. Skully! The skeleton was literally disappearing before his eyes, his bones turning into dust and disintegrating.

“What!?” Keith exclaimed, plastering his face against the glass. “Charles, what is happening to Skully? We need to save him!”

Charles had come up too, standing next to him with wide eyes.

“Quickly, open the door, we need to get in there!” Keith shouted.

“Sir!” Clarissa warned, “You can’t do that, it’s not safe!”

And she was right, he couldn’t do it. By the time he entered the codes and passed the security checks, Skully was completely gone.

Keith knelt down at where Skully has been, despondent and in disbelief.

Keith groped the floor vainly.“Not even any dust was left behind.” He gasped out.

“Did his mana run out?” Charles asked, standing halfway through the door. “Maybe he couldn’t sustain himself anymore? That would mean his entire mass was some sort of mana product.”

“How can that be?” Clarissa replied, “He was healing his arm this whole time! Greg said that the mana was being produced by the creature itself. How can it run out?”

“Greg said that he produced mana,” Keith correted, standing up and getting a hold of himself, “He only suspected that Skully produced some too. He really didn’t know, in the end. We just didn’t know…”

Silence hung over the room for a little bit.

“I guess this means that the skeletons in the lake are gone too. That’s good news we can provide. This may be disappointing, but this is ultimately good news for us.”

The crack of gunshots sounded out over the property, making the three jump.

Three sets of eyes peered out to the direction of the lake where more gunshots soon followed.

“Or not…”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ride back was tense, Jeffrey forced me to ride with him, leaving my car at my brother’s house. He had pulled out a siren and put it atop his roof as were heading back to my house and was doing his best to get more details on the issue. Nobody was giving me answers when I tried to call over my work phone. Jeffery kept getting reports over his phone, but it wasn’t anything I could understand.

Eventually, we got some info from the camp.

“The Colonel wants to talk to you,” Jeffrey said, sounding harassed, “Apparently the skeleton we were studying disappeared into thin air and then all hell broke loose. Several new creatures appeared out of the lake, but they don't match the description of any of the creatures you described.”

I felt my stomach plumet. “Can’t you guys just shoot them up? What’s the problem”

“These new creatures don’t appear affected by conventional weapons. Reports indicate there are all shadowy and stuff. They are incorporeal.”

“Incorporeal?” I repeat stupidly, “like ghosts or whatever?”

Jeffery nods back, not taking his eyes off the road. “Know anything about them?”

Unfortunately, no. I shake my head.

...

Ghosts, huh. Or maybe wraiths. It would fit with the theme at least. I certainly never saw any though. Any where the Hell did they come from? Were they propagating down there?

…

Eeh, bad thought.

“There wasn’t anything like that except for Pesos.” I say, after a moment, “ But she seemed unique to me though, a specific curse done to me by the head mage, or whatever. Nothing like that could be done by the skeletons. They were what they were, no extra abilities.” I paused and then added, “Beyond the obvious.”

Jeffery nodded, turning a corner with screeching tires. I had to brace myself to keep steady.

“The rules of the creatures always seemed to follow some sort of logic based reality,” I mused out loud. “Keeping the settings and creatures in line with what resources were available. If a new creature is created, like a ghost, it couldn’t be especially powerful, just different. Assuming the skeletons did somehow create these things, they would be specialized. Weak in some areas, but powerful in others.”

The next five minutes were the loudest quiet I had ever experienced.

Suddenly, Jeffery’s hand almost punches me in the face and I flinch back. Then I see its a phone he giving to me.

“The Colonel wants to speak with you.”

“What’s he want?” I ask nervously.

“Just take the damn phone!”

Okay… Why didn’t he just call me on mine?

“Hello?” I say, practically yelling to be heard over the sirens.

“You don’t know anything about this? Some way to actually hurt these things would be damn appreciated!” I heard the Colonel yell out at me, angry. The force in the voice frightens me.

“No, I haven’t seen these before. What’s happening?”

“Total containment failure! Nothing we do affects these things, bullets and explosives barely phase them! And in the meantime these things just fly up to my men unimpeded! They’ve got this touch, anything that comes into contact with them gets frozen, our equipment, the buildings, hands and whatever body part they touch. Several of those f***ers flew around the prison trailer so much it is basically an igloo now!”

I can feel the blood flowing out of my face. I ask quickly, “Do you know if Keith and his assistants made it out okay?”

“Keith’s going to lose an arm to frostbite,” the Colonel bites out. “But he’ll live. The others are fine too, the ghosts aren’t attacking anything unprovoked, for now. They are on the move. We can slow them down, but we can’t really do anything. We’ve got a lot of casualties here, but no fatalities.”

I can see the scenario now, helpless soldiers facing phantoms down and with what just might as well amount to wooden sticks..

I thought that we were safe with the skeletons in prison at the lake. I was wrong.

I give the Colonel a breakdown of what I had just told Jeffery. “They sound weak, but are invulnerable to bullets means they’ll be extra affected by other means. Have you tried flame throwers?”

I hear the Colonel snort in reply. “Because they are ice based, you think heat will hurt them?!”

“Maybe…”

There is silence for a moment.

“I can probably fight them,” I hear myself saying, my heart beating loudly. “My abilities can probably affect them, no problem. But I would guess that heat would be an effective deterrent, if nothing else. Where are the now?”

“Gone, gone east, it appears. A few skeletons were spotted and one was taken out, but they did not join in the fight. It appears these things new creatures were mainly focused on escort, otherwise casualties would have been worse. This is just as crazy as it is. Jesus Christ.”

There was a pause and I let it hang. Where were they going? There only two things I can think of that they could be linked too...

“Do you know where they are going, by any chance?” the Colonel asks, suspiciously.

My mouth feels dry and it is hard to get the words out.

“Can you get more specific with the direction they went?”

I hear the Colonel sigh and reply, “Not at this point, east, just east. We had a chopper with eyes on the skeletons, but it got taken down shortly thereafter, swarmed by those god awful creatures. We’ve sent out as wide a cone for civilian evacuation as possible as well as as a tight perimeter, for all the good that it does. I’ll send word to try out heat based weapons. Their MO seems to be stealth for now, they aren’t attacking unless the skeletons are spotted.”

….

That leaves out the spear, that had gone down south somewhere.

After a second I say to Jeffery, “Change course Jeffery, we need to head to my hotel.” He gives me an eye and I follow up by saying, “I think they are heading to my hotel room.”

I hear the Colonel reply in a gravelly deep voice though the phone, “Why?”

I feel my stomach roiling, so I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

Keeping my eyes shut I say, “I might have, uh, kept something from you. There is an item I am keeping there. Its.. its the core of the instance, I think. I’m not sure what it does, but I bet everything its what they are after. A power source? Maybe. But I think they are trying to get back. Back to the instance. Maybe even restart it. Who knows what the core can actually do?”

I feel the car turn suddenly, and then shoot off in a new direction.

The next voice I hear is the Colonel’s. “Is there anything else you are keeping from us?”

I shake my head, but then realize he can’t see me. “No, that’s it. I’m… I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would be a big deal. I didn’t think the skeletons could get out of the lake. I wanted it. I don’t know. I am sorry, it was a mistake.”

“Yes it was. Jesus Christ, Greg, we are in the middle of a Goddamn crisis, one which you strongly push up to take seriously and you pull this shit on us!? And a lot of civilians are in danger! You should have goddamn told us!” He falls silent, but I know what he wants to say. His next words don’t surprise me either, “We’ll discuss this afterwards.”

“Yes sir,” I swallow. “I’ll take care of this.”

“Good, you are on your way to the Hotel? What do you need?”

I’m having trouble thinking straight, but I formulate a rough plan.

“If the skeletons are really after the core, we can intercept them. I want a small team, armed and stuff. I can protect a small team, but probably not more than that. I’ll focus on the wraiths, we let the guys with guns take out the skeletons. We move in and get the stone before the skeletons do, then they’ll come to us. Or we just fight them for it.”

“Sounds good, I’ll get some people to meet you there. Lieutenant Jefferey will be staying with you and he will be in charge. You understand?”

I nod, but don’t say anything.

I lean back in my chair and wonder how I could have messed up so badly. Over the noise of the car, vehicle sirens, and Jeffery speaking quickly, I hear the faint sound of the tornado warning.

I suppose this is a disaster

Together, the Colonel and I hash out a quick plan for dealing with the enemies. The call stops when we arrive and our conversation ends with a, “Good luck, Greg.”

We arrive at the hotel shortly thereafter. The city had been put on lockdown as soon as this crisis started, so there were thankfully few people on the streets and roads. The hotel was being evacuated though, police and national guards ferrying the last of the confused and panicked occupants out.

I jumped out of the car with Jefferey and together we run up to an armored carrier parked in the lot.

“Shotguns would work the best.” I say to Jefferey, feeling stupid giving out advice to the profesional soldier.

“Already on it,” he says with a small grin. Around him are several men and a woman, already outfitted and looking bewildered. National guards by the look of them, around my age and dressed in fatigues. They look uneasy, but Jeffrey takes command of the group with a word.

“Names?” he asks briskly, taking a sleek, back gun and checking it out quickly.

“Corporal Duncan,” the woman states with a salute.

The others follow suit.

“Private Jones”

“Private O’hara”

“Private Smielnisk”

Jeffrey nods before introducing himself and me as just Greg, a specialist. “Here’s our objective, we are to secure and retrieve a small object in Greg’s Hotel room. We will bring it back here. Greg here will give you a rundown.”

He nods to me and I flinch as the sudden attention. The five pairs of eyes, not a few of them bewildered and uncertain by what they see.

…

Here goes nothing.

I clear my throat and start, “Good news and bad news. Good news is that our enemies are not particularly dangerous. These are weak animated skeletons and some ghost thingies. I’m going to call them wraiths. They’ve got swords and arrows and we have shotguns. We are going to destroy them. I spent two weeks with them alone, constantly fighting, and I kicked their a-asses more times than I can count.”

I fumbled at the swear word and I redded and cough quickly to get past it. I shouldn’t have tried to appear like a badass, I think that is literally the first time I swore in front of people intentionally. It didn’t come off well, so much for inspiring confidence.

I continue, ignoring what happened.

“Even better is that the skeletons generally act with single minded determination and pursue their objective endlessly without retreat. That is a good thing, because as soon as we have the object they want, they will keep coming at us until they are all destroyed. We don’t have to worry about tracking them down.”

“The bad news is the wraiths that are causing trouble. Reports indicate that they are pretty close to impervious to traditional weapons. They have ice attacks too, but so far limited to touch so don’t let them touch you if you want to avoid frostbite and potential death. That said, my abilities will stop them and destroy them, so don’t worry about them. I’ll focus on them and protect you, and you focus on the skeletons. For the most part, they look like medieval suits of armor, but the rest should just be walking skeletons. Easy to identify.”

I gesture around the empty parking lot, “this wide open space will work for a stand. Any questions?”

The soldiers are giving me a suspicious look. The one on the right, Private Smielnisk, I believe, asks pointedly, looking over at Lieutenan Jefferey “Is this a joke? What the Hell are we doing here?”

I whip my head around to Jefferey and glare at him as hard as possible. At least he has the decency to look sheepish.

He clears his throat and asks the group, “What have you been told about this situation, Corporal?”

Looking at me uncertainty, the woman replies, “Not much sir! Our reserve group was activated three days ago. Word was another sphere was located nearby and we were but on standby in case of emergency. Then this happened, we were called to help lockdown the city. We were the closest nearby when orders came down to meet up with you and… Specialist Greg here.”

“Right,” Jeffrey says, obviously thinking quickly. “Well, consider yourselves cleared for more details. There was indeed a sphere nearby and they open up a gateway to another world. Hostiles have managed to escape from ours and these beings are heading here. Our task is to intercept and destroy them, while securing the object of their intent, in a hotel room here. The creatures look like skeletons and are extremely vulnerable to gunfire and are only armed with swords and spears. The only wrinkles are some flying incorporeal creatures that we are calling wraiths. Specialist Greg will be taking care of them.”

Four sets of disbelieving eyes look back at us. I can’t fully repress a groan from escaping me.

Private Smielnisk speaks first, repeating his words, “is this a joke?”

Jeffrey replies with gritted teeth, “No, it is not, Private. Weird things will be happening in the future, people, you had best get flexible. Greg, perhaps a small demonstration?”

What the Hell? I have to explain the situation to these people? I understand ‘need to know’, but come on! How are they expected to face an enemy they don’t understand.

I keep my glare on Jeffrey and ask exasperatedly, “What on earth could I do that would possibly convince them? I feel like half the soldiers at my house still think I am making all this stuff up and they have seen everything.”

Still, I activate my flashiest skill, flare, and light up my whole body.

I speak loudly while the soldiers stare at me, distrusting. “Look people, we have little time. The murderous skeletons are on their way here as we speak. We must not let them get the core! I don’t care if you believe me or not, I just want you to shoot any skeleton you see on the way, got it!?”

The moment lingers for a moment before Jeffery clears his throat and says authoritatively, “Let’s go people, my orders are from the Colonel himself. Orders are orders, you’ll all see soon enough. Here, these are for you, Greg.”

He hands me a long police baton and a police shield from the carrier.

Nice. I would have killed to have these at the start of the instance. I turn off my flare, not wanting to waste any more mana.

I fit the shield on my arm with some help from the neutral faced corporal. Unnaturally neutral faced.

“Let’s go!” Jeffrey states as soon as I am ready. “Keep close to Greg and be prepared for action. We are racing.”

Jeffrey leads our group across the parking lot, the four others assuming a formation with me in the middle. It's hard to see around with them surrounding me like that, but I let Jeffrey lead.

Right before we enter the empty building, I hear Jeffrey shout, “Heads up! Wraith incoming!”

I turn to look to the left where Jeffrey is pointing and see the wraith.

…

It's not much to see. It still mid afternoon and the sun is out on this cloudless sky. It doesn’t appear to affect the wraith though, like I would have hoped. Its equal parts black and translucent, easy to spot on the blue sky. There are no eyes or recognizable body features as far as I can tell, except for a pair of indistinct claws attached to arms outstretched as if to strangle somebody. A small steady scream seems to be emanating from it, like a tea kettle.

“What the F** is that!” One of the privates scream, all guns swiveling towards the threat.

“Hold your fire!” Jeffrey yells, before turning to me. “Greg?”

“On it,” I say, stepping out in front.

…

I hope they don’t accidentally shoot me in the back. I know its a stupid think to think of right now, but its odd feeling that many guns behind you.

As soon as I step in front the lone wraith targets me, bombing down at me at a 45 degree angle. I put up a large shield a few feet in front of me but don’t know how it will react to my shield power, so I also bring up my police shield and coat the front with flare. I am sure that will be effective.

The wraith’s trajectory doesn’t change at all and it's coming down pretty fast. I brace for impact and soon enough it hits my shield.

…

The wraith explodes like large water balloon falling to the ground. I feel almost no drain on my shield power from the impact either.

Nice.

From behind me I hear a muffled oath, but I ignore it in favor of inspecting the remains of the wraith.

The colonel said that some tactics had proved effective at slowing the wraiths down, but they always fixed any injuries immediately afterwards with no apparent permanent damage.

While they were never able to disperse the wraith like I had, I was not surprised to see it refroming at an alarming speed. I doubt I had done anything to it to actually hurt it.

Yet.

Before it completely reformed I stepped forward and stab down at it with my police baton, flared up of course.

The wraith certainly did not like that. Another disconcerting scream arose from it, a giant hole now growing from it where flare had hit it.

Even while the edges of the wraith were solidifying, the center hole was rapidly expanding in a golden brilliance and soon enough the wraith was consumed in a shower of bright light, before disappearing completely.

I stared down at the stop it had disappeared, making sure it was gone for good. A slight bit of frost was left at the spot, but even that was starting to melt. I turned back to my group with a grin.

“See?” I said to Jeffrey who was looking back at me with an unreadable expression. “I told you they would be weak. That took almost no power to kill. Even the skeletons are harder than that for me.”

The looks of the national guards had turned slack jawed, even the stoic Corporal.

Private Jone’s fall to his knees, “Mary, Mother of God, protect this one from Hell’s fury.”

“F***ing ghosts!” Smielnisk says in an outburst, “I didn’t F***ing sign up for this!”

Private O’hara had a very different reaction “Holy shit, that was awesome!”

I have him a smile. “Thanks. Lieutenant, if one is here, then the rest must be nearby.”

Jeffrey shook his head and gave Private Smielnisk a killing glare. “You will do what you are called to do to serve your country.”

After forcing a quiet affirmation from Smielnisk, Jeffrey spoke up, “Right, let’s go! You saw a part of what we are up against. The wraiths are known to be able to move through walls, so we will be at a disadvantage in there. Stick close to Greg, we are doing this as fast as possible. Communicate any sighting of the wraiths or skeletons. Greg, can you keep that shield up around us as we move?”

I shake my head. “No, unfortunately the shields are stationary once created and I don’t have the mana to constantly be creating new ones. Let me know when you see one and I’ll shield you. We’ll need to stop in order to deal with each one. We can’t have them following us as we run, or else we will get swarmed.”

Jeffrey nods at me. “Pity. you heard him! Let’s make this fast! Let Greg handle the wraiths, our targets are skeletons. Let's move!”

Only a little reluctantly, the group moved on and entered the hotel.

…

I wish I had a spear. The baton is nice, but I liked the reach of the spear. I’d take a staff at this point too, but the baton is what I’ve got so I guess will be keeping it.

The hotel lobby is empty of course, looking erie, even with all the lights on. We are all keeping a sharp eye out for more wraiths. My room is on the fifth floor of course, so an easy extraction is not to be. The elevators are out due to how easily it could be ambushed, so we head to the stairs. I’m just glad I still have my card key on me in all the confusion. While I’m sure we could just bust open the door, it would be faster to use the goddamn card.

We meet our next wraith right before we entered the stairwell and I kill it in much the same matter. Thankfully, it came down the hallway at us. While they can go through walls, it appears they prefer not to.

After exposing the protoplasmic goo we move on, only a few more explanations from the privates.

In the stairwell another two come at us, one from above and another through the wall. The one through the wall is noticeably slower at emerging, frost and ice appearing around it like a flower. So I just plant a shield box around it and target the one above instead.

The one above hits my shield like the other ones had and becomes a pile of goo on my barrier above us.

“Watch out” I say as I undo the shield and see it plop to the ground in between us. The soldiers step back and I stomp on the partially reformed remains with a flared shoe. It explodes in a spectacular light shows, showing us with bits of ice.

I turn back to the one in the wall to see it is gone and the ice pieces there melting and falling.

“Anybody see where the second one went?” Jeffrey asks, looking around.

“It retreated back into the wall, sir!” Jones calls out.

I make a face. “I don’t like that. They might be changing their tactics.”

Jeffrey nods before indicating us to move on.

We made it to the fifth floor before we encountered any more enemies. As soon as we stepped onto the floor, three wraiths were waiting for us. Instead of attacking immediately, they hold back a little, circling us.

I grunt and look around. On second thought It probably would have been easier to do this with just me and Jeffrey, but the Colonel insisted on backup.

We watched each other for a few moments with no movement on either side. Jeffrey sighed and asked, “You need to touch them to kill them?”

I nod.

“What do you suggest?”

Meh, I don’t know.

“Let’s push forward. We can only engage them if they engage us. We just need to get the core. Then we can head back outside toward open spaces. We’ll have an advantage there.”

“Right.”

My room is at the other end of the hallway unfortunately. Our trip was tedious, at each opening as we moved the wraiths would dive in and I was forced to defend everybody. At this point, the joviality I had been feeling was gone and I had to keep a careful balance on teh three wraiths as we moved down the corridor. I didn’t appreciate the wraith’s change in tactics, it was much easier when they just came at me. As it was, they stayed out of range and I struggled to keep the shields up are we moved. The wraiths circle us like buzzards.

I could feel my mana steadily declining as we moved and I needed to worry about my reserves. Maintaining the defense was taxing and I could feel myself tiring.

The stalemate continued until we reached the end of the corridor, a 90 degree turn to the right and we would be in view on my room. As I turned the corner, in front of the group and keeping an eye on the three wraiths, I was surprised to see an armored skeleton waiting for me.

The ambush surprised me and although I leapt back immediately, crashing into the man behind me, a good slice still got past my inexpertly wielded police shield and slid across the stomach, the white hot feeling familiar and painful.

While the man behind me was occupied holding me upright, the others moved into action. Before the armored skeleton could take a second swing at me several explosions rang out, making my ears ring, and the armoured skeleton blew apart spectacularly.

The wraiths took the opportunity to attack though and more shots rang out with some panicked voices.

Jeffrey shouted my name desperately, so I did my best to focus.

One wraith had gotten Corporal Duncan, swiping at her arms and face as she screamed and flailed uselessly. Another had set upon private Smielnisk on the side, with similar effects.

Ignoring the pain in my stomach, I stepped forward and carelessly threw some shields around desperately to block off further attack and then stumbled to the set upon soldiers.

Too out of it to think of something clever, I just touched each body and activated flare over their entirety. As the wraiths were touching them, they immediately got a taste of the skill and they flinched back, shrieking and flying around erratically until the golden glow slowly enveloped them.

With two of them gone, the and the third wraith floating impotently outside a shield, I leaned forward and inspected the damage.

Although bloody, my wound was nothing I haven't experienced before. I healed in seconds before looking at the two wounded soldiers.

Both were sporting black and dead flesh where the wraiths had gotten them. The corporal’s left side of her face was dead and flakey, her eye yellow and empty. Ice and frost formed dark cysts on her skin. She was whimpering loudly. Private Smielnisk, was in a similar condition.

“Jesus Christ, Smielnisk!” Private Jones cried out, holding onto his friend. “Oh my God!”

Jefferey was inspecting the Corporal and he looks up at me.

“Yes.” I say before Jeffrey speaks.

I reach towards the Corporal first and activate heal. Her black, dead flesh on her face slowly glows before changing colors and turning to healthy., the ice melting, the water running down and damping her clothes I can’t give her a full heal though, just enough to keep her alive. I look at the damage with regret before turning to do the same for Smielnisk.

“I don’t have enough mana to heal them both completely right now.” I say to Jeffrey. “They’ll live and after we are done here I’ll fix them up proper.”

“Understood,” Jeffrey said gravely. Then he looks at me, “If the skeletons are already here, then they probably have the core already.” I just nod and then look down the hall to my room. The door is busted open, wood pieces scattered violently around the floor.

I stand up and look at the remaining wraith. I try to box it in quickly, but it escapes and retreats down the hall, disappearing into my room. I grit my teeth.

“Get up.” Jeffrey orders to the wounded. “You’ll be fine, Greg will heal you both up to perfection when our mission is over. Grab your weapons and follow me, we’ve got some skeletons to destroy.”

“You can heal people?” Private Jones asks, looking nonplussed. “Who are you?”

“I'm Greg.” I reply slowly, looking at the Corporal as she is gingerly raised up off the floor. She gives me an odd look, her left eye still non-functioning. “I’ll fix your eye later, I promise,” I say, wishing I could do so now.

Her left arm barely functional, but she grabs her sidearm, slinging her shotgun on her back gingerly. She gives me a determined expression.

Private Smielnisk is in a better condition than the corporal, his arms still working well enough hold his shotgun. He’s oddly silent though, maybe in shock. I’m not sure.

Before we move on I say to Jeffrey, “I’m almost out of Mana. I’m saving the last bit for the last wraith. We need to hurry.”

Jeffrey nods and we move out. I hope there is only one wraith left at least.

We make it to the door of my room without further issues, trampling over the remains of the skeleton we blasted. We surround the door for a second before moving in with a quick countdown, guns raised.

Inside we immediately see two skeletons holding knives and facing us as if to ambush. They are unceremoniously blasted apart in roaring shots. I look around for the last wraith, the only real threat left.

I find him in the corner, hiding directly behind the only other being in the room. A skeleton. But like the wraiths, I do not recognize it.

Instead of a sword or bow or knife, the thing is holding a staff its right hand and has an odd headpiece on, looking somewhat like a dreamcatcher. His whole appearance screams mage to me.

In his left hand he is holding up the core.

My yell to the people with guns to kill it are drowned out by another explosion as three of them fire at once at the skeleton mage.

Instead of blowing apart as I expected it to, the space in front of the skeleton warps slightly like a mirage. It stays shimmering.

I step forward to attack it directly with my baton when a familiar feeling of weightlessness takes me. Within moments, I am suddenly rising off the floor and the core transforms into a black softball, slowly growing bigger.

…

Holy crap! Is this really happening?!

…

I struggle to move forward but I only flail uselessly in space.

“Greg!” I hear Jeffrey yell out behind me. Awkwardly turn my head and look back to see the four soldiers in a similar predicament, lifting off the floor slowly.

I turn back to the core and already it is as large as a beach ball.

…

Yeah, this is happening. I don’t think I can stop it.

…

Oh God. I don’t want to go back. Please, don’t make me go back there.

...

“Everybody, brace yourselves!” I yell back. “The core is activating! It's going to take us into the instance. Stick together!”

Panicked cries are coming from behind me, but before much else happens, the core pulses and then expands suddenly, eveloping my vision with blackness.