Cara peered through the foliage, shifting to keep track of their prey. Leaves and vines fluttered across the dryad’s green skin as it danced between the trees. It twirled with ethereal grace, singing a warm melody that lifted Cara’s aching heart.

Everywhere the dryad’s feet touched, flowers bloomed, bold circles of red, yellow, and blue that brightened the forest floor. Yet, as the dryad danced away, the flowers withered, sucking the life right out of the ground and any surrounding plants. Examining the dryad more closely, black spots marred its leaves and vines, and rot defiled the hair-like branches sprouting from its head.

Cara’s heart sank. Such elegance corrupted, and now they had to kill it. Somehow.

What had corrupted it? Or had this creature always been this way, another abomination locked away in the Deep-Forest where it had belonged?

Not that it mattered. Now there was only one solution.

Nola whispered in Phelan’s ear. At least this time he was smart enough to let her Identify the target first. What had she found?

Cara resisted the urge to Identify as well. Every Identify increased the odds that the dryad would notice, and a successful ambush could easily be the difference between victory and defeat.

Phelan turned and sent them a Message. Target level 30. Spellcaster. 285 HP. 900 Armor, 0 Deflection. Phelan to take Stealth Attack shot then close to melee. Everyone else, ranged damage, burst down the target.

That wasn’t a huge amount of HP. Five on one with a Stealth Attack, there was a good chance of taking it down with a single volley. Cara switched her bow over to Force and notched a normal arrow, holding her myrellium arrow in reserve. Casters had a nasty tendency to have tricks up their sleeves. Best to have something up hers, too.

She lined up her Sniper Shot and waited. Her heart pounded. They had the information they’d come for. Wasn’t it best to get that back to Jeremy and Elivala?

Damn Phelan and his pride. She couldn’t abandon the others. They’d just have to make it work.

Phelan’s bow twanged. Cara unleashed her Force-infused arrow, adding it to the volley.

The target turned with a smirk on its face. A flash of white. The arrows stopped, frozen in the air just shy of striking true, and dropped harmlessly to the ground.

What in the Forest—?

The dryad leaped forward, transforming mid-air into a bear twice the height of an elf. It bounded forward in huge strides that shook the ground, closing fast.

A white forcebolt smacked the beast on the nose.

Phelan advanced and shouted, “We kill it now!”

His shout tingled through Cara, empowering her Piercing Shot.

20 piercing damage dealt!

13 force damage dealt!

The bear’s charge faltered, though only for a moment. Kalkarka! That was way more than 900 Armor.

Cara activated Rapid Shot and let the arrows fly.

Glancing blow! 13 piercing damage dealt!

10 force damage dealt!

18 piercing damage dealt!

11 force damage dealt!

Glancing blow! 7 piercing damage dealt!

9 force damage dealt!

The magnificent beast barely noticed as it barreled toward them. Phelan cast a spell, erecting a teal shimmer around him just in time before the bear’s claw struck him with a brutal thud.

The strike knocked Phelan back twenty feet onto his ass. Cara’s gut twisted. The Prowler groaned, still alive but barely. The bear advanced on the downed Ranger, shrugging off Forcebolts and arrows alike.

Phelan Tolabar So’aroaska

HP: 42/310

Cara notched her myrellium arrow and cast Imbue Stun. Not even Phelan deserved to be eaten alive. “Ro’ronkatara-fa si!” Her mana answered her call, displacing the bow’s magic.

The bear reared up. Her trusty arrow impaled it in the throat.

Critical hit! 7 piercing damage dealt! Internal Bleeding injury inflicted! Stunned status effect inflicted!

Its roar chilled her to the bone, and the beast keeled over. This was their chance. Kill or flee?

Cara’s chest tightened, and she kept firing. They wouldn’t get many openings this good. “Kegan, Rapid Shot criticals. Aidan, evac. Nola, bear vulnerabilities?”

Kegan leaped forward, pumping arrows into the stunned bear. Aidan rushed to Phelan’s side, blue Portals magic already swirling in his hands.

“Err…” Nola said, adding her own arrow to the bear’s hide. Maybe she didn’t know. It wasn’t like bears lived in the Forest. “Short-sighted, poor peripheral vision, sir.”

Adrenaline rushed through Cara’s veins. This plan might actually work. “Use that, Kegan. Keep it guessing where you are.”

A deep rumble issued from the bear. It pulled its vast bulk onto its paws and shook majestically, even with an arrow sticking out of its head. A shame it had to die.

Phelan and Aidan vanished into smoky blue magic. They’d be safe.

21 piercing damage dealt!

10 force damage dealt!

“Run,” Cara said to Nola, backpedaling as she notched another arrow. “Report back.”

A pause. She had to understand why that mattered more than anything now.

Nola loosed another arrow. “Come home safe,” she said, before breaking into a full retreat.

Kegan circled the bear, dodging and sidestepping frantically as he peppered the wounded beast with arrows while staying just outside of paw swiping range. “Punctured Lung and a Head Injury! It’s vulnerable. Let’s finish it!”

Cara’s jaw clenched. How close were they? She activated Identify and shot again.

26 piercing damage dealt!

16 force damage dealt!

The bear roared. The forest shook and dark green magic shrouded the dungeon spawn. Black ooze sealed shut its wounds, pushing out each of the arrows that they’d fought so hard to impale in it.

Sorcha the Fallen

Level: 30

HP: 68/500

Stamina: 216/450

MP: 313/370

Status: Shapeshifted (Bear)

Strength: 28

Dexterity: 13

Endurance: 23

Intelligence: 24

Willpower: 26

Personality: 20

A knot twisted in Cara’s gut. She swallowed and lined up another shot. They could still try to run, but they were so damned close. “Keep going! Its injuries are gone, but only 68 HP left!”

Glancing blow! 4 piercing damage dealt!

16 force damage dealt!

Nearly there. She notched another arrow. They could do it. She could do it.

Maybe. Kegan was already flagging, and every dodge drained more stamina. She couldn’t keep shooting and Identify him at the same time to be sure, but when he ran out… The knot in her gut twisted. His armor wouldn’t hold up half as well as Phelan’s. He’d be ripped apart.

Was she leading him to his death?

Glancing blow! 5 piercing damage dealt!

10 force damage dealt!

Kegan faltered mid-dodge, only just evading the bear’s blow. His stamina was out. He wouldn’t be able to dodge the next attack.

And her next shot wouldn’t be enough to finish it. “Get out of there!”

Too little, too late, and all her fault.

White streaked across her vision. A forcebolt exploded against the bear’s side. It roared with pain and dropped to the floor.

It twitched once, twice, and stopped moving. The bear faded away, replaced by its previous limber yet twisted dryad form, just as dead.

1,860 XP received!

Level increased 13 → 14!

Was it really over? Cara approached the body and dumped another arrow into it. Definitely dead. No loot, either. Bummer.

She picked her myrellium arrow out from the grass, wiped it clean, and stored it in her quiver. “Good job, everyone. Thanks for the timely assist, Aidan. How’s Phelan?”

“Nola’s got him. He’ll live. Broken Ribs, crippled ego.”

They all chuckled. They’d done it and survived to live the tale, all without Phelan’s glorious leadership. With any luck, that’d keep hurting long after his ribs had healed.

Branches cracked and shattered in the distance. Cara looked up. Something was charging through the forest, heading directly for them. They didn’t have the stamina for another fight.

“Go,” she said. “Stick together, but don’t wait up. I’ll be right behind you.”

Kegan shuffled awkwardly before huffing and heading for Tolabar. Aidan’s gaze met hers. They shared a curt nod, and he set off as well.

Cara moved away from the corpse and crouched behind a tree. When the approaching creature came closer, she activated Stealth and watched.

Another dryad, just as exquisite and debased as the first. It pranced over to the corpse, its hands and leaves twirling with green magic tainted with black stripes.

Ice filled Cara’s veins. Mend. Shapeshifting. She swallowed. It couldn’t be.

The magic danced around the corpse, flowing into it and filling it with a grim glow.

Not good. Cara bit her lip and resisted the urge to Identify the new dryad. When they’d ambushed the other one, it had smirked when it turned around and cast the perfect spell.

It had to have known. It had to have been a trap.

Sorcha the Fallen rose from the dead, reborn in a dark green glow. Even more splattered patches of rot riddled its leaves as they fluttered in the wind, and black ooze bled out of its eyes.

Not. Good.

***

The Order of the Battlemage Temple. This wasn’t how he’d imagined returning here. Jake set himself down safely outside the range of the fire traps and waited for his mana to recharge.

Would they listen? Would they fight? Jake bit his lip. It wasn’t like he was bringing them good news. Even if they did go to war, would they really fight on the right side? They were dungeon spawn, after all.

Maybe the dwarves were right. Maybe this was all a delusion of grandeur and the dwarves were already as good as dead.

A restrained flutter flapped in his chest. Worrying about maybes wouldn’t save anyone. The plan might work. That was what mattered.

He thought of the wooden room inside the Temple and cast Farsight. All clear, and the image was more normal and less mentally straining than ever. Orc eyes were weird as hell, but the adjustments were finally paying off.

“Raka-fa!” The world jerked. Bare mahogany panels and a closed door replaced the stone exterior walls. Inside the temple, now time for down.

He cast Farsight again. Twenty-five hooded figures regularly spaced in a circle. Were they waiting for him, or were they always like this?

One threw back her hood. Yana the Dragon. She smiled and beckoned. Jake’s heart raced. This was it. He turned to face her square on, pictured the location in his mind, and cast Teleport.

“Raka-fa!” A slight tug pulled at his stomach. Was he getting smoother at casting Teleport, or merely more used to it?

Yana the Dragon stepped forward and knocked the bottom of her staff against the ground. “You have returned, Jacob Williams. Have you made our plea?”

“I did.” Jake sighed. They didn’t deserve this fate. “Death claimed not to have authority over your souls, and I think I believe him.” Bastard or not, he wasn’t the type to outright lie. That would probably take all the fun out of playing with the mortals.

Yana tilted her head. Her eyes pulled tight, accentuating the wrinkles in her green, leathery skin. “What did you say?”

Jake bit his lip. Right. “I don’t think the God of Death has responsibility for you, or what’s happened to you. At least, not the God of Death that deals with me and other Heroes. I’m still working on it, though.”

Her shoulders dropped and almost immediately hitched back up. “Thank you for your continued service. That is not why you have come, though, is it?”

He shook his head. “No.” Did she know why already, or was that just a reasoned guess? “I come for your aid.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Bold. Continue.”

“The dwarves of Tonvalbortdelan face an army of dungeon spawn.”

“Lucky them. They will either prove their worth or die in glorious battle, assuming they do not break and flee.”

Jake swallowed uncomfortably. If they were anything, it was dedicated to their beliefs.

She tilted her head. “You expected me to answer otherwise?”

“No.” Just hard to hear it said out loud. “Did you fight at the fall of Tarkath?”

“I did.” She smiled and her eyes glazed over. “A glorious battle. That was the day I assumed the mantle of leadership.”

“Then what are you waiting for?” He looked around at the robed figures skulking in the shadows of their hoods. “A great host of goblins, trolls, and demons marches against the dwarves. Come with me, fight in another glorious battle.”

“Why should we?” she asked, her tone devoid of any emotion but a faint confusion.

“Excellence is Life.”

She chuckled and sneered. “You parrot our words, but you do not understand.”

“You are devoted to excellence in battle and all its arts, are you not?”

“The Order’s excellence in battle, yes. We cannot learn, we cannot grow. We are doomed to eternal stagnation.”

And there it was, the heart of the matter. Jake’s heart raced. “Kratgok the Hammer lost to me because of overconfidence, not his skills. There are still lessons you all can learn.”

Yana looked down at him and shook her head. “Very well, child. Lead the way. We shall follow and go to war.”

A chill ran down Jake’s spine. The way she’d said it… “You’ll aid the dwarves?”

“We shall slaughter them in battle. When we are done with them, we shall slay their enemies. Are you satisfied?”

Jake swallowed. Hopefully, she was only making a point. “And kill all those potential disciples?”

“The Order is in this room. We number twenty-five, no more. We are bound not just to life, but to the Order itself.”

“‘Supreme excellence is not to fight, but to break your enemy’s resistance without fighting.’”

“A pithy quote shall not bend us to your will, no matter how wise.” She paused. Her nose wrinkled. “Who do you quote?”

“Sun Tzu, a renowned general from my world. Thousands of years later and a world away, we’re still singing his praises. When you’re gone, who’ll honor the excellence of has-been foot soldiers who hid away while the entire world went to war?”

Her posture stiffened. “You tread on dangerous ground, young one.”

“I unlocked the Battlemage Specialization when I was last here. Others can too, if you end 10,000 years of mere existence and prove your worth to the world.”

Her lips pressed together. Was that a smile?

Jake gulped. Good smile, or bad smile? Even alone, she could snuff him out with a wave of her hand, let alone with the other twenty-four of them.

She closed her eyes and bowed her head. “I am sorry, Jacob Williams. The Order cannot come to your aid.”

A pit formed in his stomach, swallowing any and all hope. Of course they wouldn’t go for it. Why would the powerful ever help the powerless?

“However…”