“Tell me, Jarek,” Lord Ignatius said, in a tone that drove shivers down my spine. “Why is it that Dawnbreaker has cut off all trade and teleportation between our Regions?”

“Wright is dead,” I replied. “I attacked him before he entered Dawnbreaker’s villa, but he managed to shout out about the Crucible, then he killed himself. I fled, barely managing to escape from Dawnbreaker and her allies.”

“Then you failed,” Lord Ignatius said, flatly. “Your mission was to prevent Dawnbreaker from turning her attention to us.”

“My Lord,” I said, still holding my head high. “I chose to risk failing the mission, in order to gain valuable intelligence. I have information on the Zone Lord, and on Dawnbreaker’s plans to defeat it.”

Lord Ignatius smiled, his lips revealing pearly white teeth, and gums that were a tad too red. I felt a wave of relief at his smile. He inclined his head slightly, encouraging me to continue.

“The Zone Lord is a shade in Canada, in the Ontario Region. It was in Cochrane just a few days ago. Dawnbreaker plans to attack it in two days.”

Lord Ignatius’ smile deepened, and he licked his blindingly white teeth lightly.

“Uman,” He said. “See to it that Jarek gets his loan. Jarek, see if you can get your Luck Potion by tomorrow morning. Talk to Declan if you need more funds. Have Declan purchase the E-rank Soul Shield Rune Pattern Blueprint in the Merchant’s Faction Shop. You’ll need at least one for each member of your team by tomorrow morning.

“Tomorrow morning,” Lord Ignatius continued, “You will hunt a shade.”

“This is as far as I can take you,” the teleportation mage said, glancing around somewhat nervously at our surroundings. Lord Ignatius had impressed upon us his importance, so the mage and Parker were both encircled by the rest of us. “Good luck,” the mage said, disappearing with a crack.

Autumn in the Canadian wilderness was beautiful. The landscapes, mountains, and forests looked like they continued on in every direction.

It was a smaller team than the group that killed the manticore. Pure, physical brawn was more of a liability than a benefit, so Hank and Ryker were noticeably missing. Hank had been loath to see us leave, but he had quickly cheered when he was reminded that someone needed to keep the Crucible safe if Dawnbreaker decided to pay a visit. Ryker was perfectly content sitting out this one.

Parker took out a map, and pointed at seemingly random spot. “We are here. Cochrane, where Dawnbreaker and her companions fought the shade is there—“ Parker pointed to a town almost fifty miles away. “And we are going here, to Smooth Rock Falls.” He pointed to what would have either been a large town or a small city, in the Old World. It was probably just a few miles away from us.

“You see,” Parker explained, “Mana picks up attributes depending on its environment. Shades feed on death-attributed mana. Lord Ignatius ran the numbers, using the former population of Cochrane Town (less the number of surviving refugees). Taking into account the day the shade arrived in Cochrane, Lord Ignatius realized that the shade would run out of easily accessible death-attributed mana tonight, and so it will need to attack a nearby town and create death-attributed mana.”

Amos grunted. “How do we know the shade won’t attack a different town in the Region? Why Smooth Rock Falls?”

“The fourth dimension is the Spiritual Plane,” Parker started, “The Spiritual Plane has no physical existences, it is only an overlay of our own mana and spirits. Shades are capable of switching from a body to a spiritual form. However, the walls that isolate each District and Region are hundreds of times more powerful in the Spiritual Plane—the shade would have great difficulty traveling into another Region.”

I shifted on my feet, rubbing my hands together. Even though it was still autumn, it was freezing. And Parker’s explanations were taking forever.

“In addition,” Parker said, “Smooth Rock Falls disappeared from the local Teleportation Circle list overnight.” Parker said.

Adia snorted. “Why didn’t you just start with that. Next time, don’t waste our time with your lectures.”

Parker blushed, stowed the map, and we started walking in awkward silence.

“I didn’t expect it to be so cold,” Amos said, shivering slightly. “The briefing didn’t mention we should bring gloves.”

He was met with grim silence.

“Tell me again what he said to you, Amos,” Adia said, her voice cutting through the silence like a knife. “I want to hear the whole conversation, word for word.”

Amos frowned. “Again?”

At Adia’s stare, Amos recited, “Haki, how are you? We’re looking for a full kit for my friend here, and 14 fire potions.”

“Stop,” Adia said. I froze where I was, then I realized she was talking to Amos. “You asked my father how he was. What did he say? How did he look?”

Amos shrugged. “I don’t remember.”

“Well, I need you to remember.”

“He had bags under his eyes,” I volunteered. “He looked tired and preoccupied. When we left, he said he was sorry, and he just wants what’s best for you. And he said that he loves you.”

My whole body was tense as I spoke about Adia’s father. Everything I said was true. But what I didn’t say, and what nobody else here knew, was that I had been there, when he killed himself.

Adia punched a tree trunk, and a shower of leaves fell around us. “Fuck! It doesn’t make sense. Why would he leave? Where did he go?”

Amos’s wrinkled face nodded knowingly. “It’s pretty common, sadly. Absentee black fathers. Fathers who don’t have what it takes to raise their child, maybe racked with guilt. It’s not your fault, Adia,” Amos reached a hand out to pat Adia’s shoulder.

“Don’t you fucking touch me,” Adia spat, slapping Amos’s hand. “I don’t need your condescension or your racism.”

We walked in silence, until River launched a flaming arrow at a weird hybrid between a monkey and a bat in the trees.

Unlike our last excursion, it was an instant, silent kill, that didn’t draw any attention.

Our walk continued, and we quickly disposed of any monsters we encountered.

“Ahem,” Parker said, after about ten minutes of oppressive silence. “What was the skeleton doing at the hockey game?”

The only sound was the steady crunch of dirt and leaves beneath our feet.

“Driving the Zam-boney,” Parker said, smirking.

Petrov chuckled, and Amos laughed far too loudly.

“What did the beaver say to the maple tree?” Parker asked again. He was speaking to everyone, but his eyes were on River. Without pause, he continued, “It’s been nice gnawing you!”

“What do—“ Parker started, but Petrov cut him off.

“It is my turn,” Petrov said, turning to River. “For you.” Petrov gave a slight, mocking bow with a twisted smile. “Give a man a match, and he is warm for a minute. Light a man on fire, and he is warm for all his life.”

River snorted. “I don’t have a joke,” she said. “But who wants to hear about the time I saw Jarek naked?”

For the location of a Zone Lord, we found surprisingly few high-level monsters around Smooth Rock Falls.

We bulldozed through every monster that got in our way, without a problem, eventually arriving at the outskirts of Smooth Rock Falls.

As we approached Smooth Rock Falls, we finally found an asphalt road to walk on. Houses dotted the streets, with broken windows and busted doors. The streets were crawling with low-level monsters, and there wasn’t a sign of any humans nearby.

The most prevalent monsters were called Stickles. They were like giant versions of those walking stick insects—phasmids, Parker had whispered to himself.

Stickles ran anywhere from 1 foot to 10 feet tall. Presumably, they would have been better at camouflage back in the forest, but it seemed they had come to Smooth Rock Falls in search of more food.

We blazed through them easily.

Samantha said, suddenly.

Without activating the skill, I could see high densities of mana nearby. Once I activated Mana Sensing, though, at a cost of 10 mana per minute, it was as though I was using a sixth sense. I could feel the mana everywhere around me—above me, in the ground below me, and behind the walls of the nearby houses.

Mana Sensing had been disorienting, the first few times I used it. But as I gained practice, I could discern the telltale signs of living creatures—mana flowing inside bodies, trapped in organs.

The moment I activated Mana Sensing, I could see the ambient mana in the air flowing in lethargic currents, deeper into the ruined city.

Samantha said.

“I know where to go,” I said. “Follow me.” Adia nodded. Of course, Adia and Lord Ignatius knew about my Mana Sensing skill. It was one of the main reasons I had been included in this battle.

We blazed our way through more Stickles. As we neared the center of Smooth Rock Falls, the houses grew closer together, with smaller yards, building upwards, instead of sprawling out.

We were at the middle of an intersection—an intersection with an ominously absent stoplight, when I noticed the strange fluctuations of mana due to Mana Sensing.

“Through the ground!” I shouted. “Incoming!”