1

The exit portal of the Physis room was embedded in the perimeter wall, ten feet away from the entry portal. Following Damon, Harper passed through the exit portal.

In the new room, Damon was facing her and he looked pissed. It was quickly apparent they had transferred all the way back to the courtyard on the first floor. Harper turned, just in time to see Zack emerge from the courtyard’s solid wall. One-way portal, she thought dejectedly. She turned to face Damon. “Okay, so we take the other portal in the spider room,” she said apologetically.

“Why the hell would they do this?” he asked, frustrated.

Harper shook her head. “Like I said, this is a game thing. We might run into more forks that lead to dead ends,” she said, trying to prepare him for the possibility.

While other Inmates transferred into the room and shared the same reactions of disappointment and frustration, Harper gazed up at the opening at the top of the tower. “The sky is getting bluer,” she remarked. “It must be afternoon now. We should stop to eat soon.”

Damon glowered at her impatiently. “Let’s get back to the spider room,” he grumbled, dismissing her suggestion.

Harper sighed and glanced at Angie for support, but Damon was already moving toward the tower’s first portal again.

2

The Inmates passed through the portals, not bothering to gain extra points in the respawning skeleton room. Damon’s sour mood rubbed off onto the rest of the team as they marched into the stoner head’s room, which, they discovered happily, was another respawning site.

Good. We can camp for points here too, Harper thought.

Janna did the honors again, knocking off the eight stoners. That gave her 216 XP, which moved her to level 48. She dispersed her 36 attribute points evenly into intelligence, wisdom, and constitution. Damon and Harper then passed through the next portal. It was immediately clear that the creatures in the new room were going to be easy.

Hmm, the typical poison mushroom mob, she thought. Her Creature Description details came up.

FUNGO (Level 3)

HP: 33

MP: 30

STRENGTH: 11

CONSTITUTION: 3

DEXTERITY: 1

INTELLIGENCE: 3

WISDOM: 3

XP: 22

DESCRIPTION: Very poisonous, nonedible enemy.

Sixteen purple mushrooms moved slowly in the small chamber. Posing no threat of rushing the Inmates, the mobs burped poisonous bubbles that floated toward the team. The members avoided the bubbles easily.

“Don’t use your physical weapons,” Harper told them. “The poison might taint them. Let’s try the spells.”

Emma tried Earth Tangle while Angie attempted the acid spells. Those spells were ineffective, so Harper tried Fire Scorch and that worked. Still, the fungoes proved to be remarkably resilient and took a long time to wipe out. During that time, the mobs never attempted to attack the members. Eventually, the chamber smelled of cooked mushrooms and the teammates became hungry.

“It’s a damn shame those things aren’t edible,” Ethan grumbled.

The kills garnered Harper 352 experience points, which nudged her to level 60. She dumped her 4 attribute points into constitution.

“Where’s the portal?” Zack asked.

They looked around the room and saw just one portal; the one they had entered from.

Harper walked to the guardrail. “We’ve reached the first bridge.”

The Inmates gathered around her and had their first close look. On the other side of the rail, the three-foot-wide bridge stretched across the courtyard. Constructed from orange bricks, the bridge appeared very solid. On the far side, another small chamber waited with another green portal shimmering in the dim light.

“There’s no handrail,” Janna moaned. “What if we slip?”

Damon looked down at the courtyard’s hard stone floor. “Then it’ll be a quick one-hundred-and-fifty-foot drop,” he said grimly.

Janna gasped and stepped away from the guardrail.

3

Hoping the vines would provide a handhold, Harper cast Earth Tangle onto the bridge, but the spell didn’t cling to its stone surface. “We’re going to have to crawl across,” she said.

There was a murmur among the team, and Janna spoke from the corner of the room. “Maybe we should quit for the day. It’s already late in the afternoon.”

Harper paused, then nodded. “She’s right. We could take the bridge on in the morning. Once we have ventured past this bridge, I doubt we’ll want to come back… for anything.”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah, and we can use the extra time today to go out and fish for more salmon. You know, stock up for the long haul.”

The Inmates agreed.

The salmon were larger food sources than the squirrels and birds but only used one inventory slot. Harper, Angie, and Janna joined Emma and the brothers for their trip to the river. They emptied their inventories, leaving the food for Zack to cook. The six Inmates grabbed a few empty wineskins to refill and passed through the portals while Zack and Damon remained behind, preparing the food and the beds.

4

On the way, the six members took the opportunity to level up in the respawning skeleton room. Angie nabbed eleven bone bags, which boosted her to level 52. She dropped her 8 attribute points into dexterity. Janna killed nine skeletons, bumping her to level 51. She split her 12 points evenly into intelligence, wisdom, and constitution.

Ethan caught eight bone bags, which moved him to the new XP system at level 50. He divided his 16 points evenly into dexterity and endurance. Emma sniped seven mobs, which upped her one level. She dumped her 4 points into intelligence.

Jordan killed five skeletons, which raised him to level 50. He applied his 16 points as 5, 5, and 6 into constitution, strength, and endurance. Harper refrained from her spells to get some experience with her sword. She scored four skeletons but didn’t level up.

Ten minutes later, they walked out of the tower and were greeted by the late afternoon sky. Janna and Harper took in the new surroundings with amazement, watching the river rush by. They followed its path south and saw that the river had cut through the forest.

While Ethan and Emma fished, Angie and Jordan searched the landscape for Brett but found no traces of him.

“Maybe he’s gone back to the landing zone?” Jordan puffed.

Ethan, up to his hips in water, shook his head. “I doubt it.”

Emma filled the six members’ inventories with sixty salmon. Emma rose to level 59 as a result, splitting her 24 points evenly into intelligence, wisdom, and constitution.

With light still in the sky, the Inmates decided to return to the village for the water. They chopped through the thick brush at the river’s side. To the west, the sun started descending toward the horizon, casting long shadows over them and bathing them in a surreal twilight glow.

5

As they hiked down the hill toward the village road, the Inmates could feel something was wrong. It wasn’t just because the sun was setting so quickly. An ominous vibe was coming from the village, and the six members felt an urgency to reach it quickly.

With the sun painting deep red colors across the western horizon, Jordan and Emma were the first ones to break out of the forest and onto the village road. They saw smoke billowing from the fire pit. They felt a rush of relief as they hurried to the cooking area, imagining the family was preparing the day’s meal. But their sense of dread returned as they saw the large group of humans wandering aimlessly at the far western side of the road.

“Do you see that?” Emma asked as she dashed to the fire pit.

The rest of the group followed behind her.

“Yeah, we do,” Angie answered.

They curled around the cabin that was adjacent to the fire pit. Emma screamed. Ryan, Olivia, and Mike were propped up over a raging fire, already dead. A thick rafter beam had been plunged vertically into the hard dirt of the pit. The naked family members were tied to the burning beam with thick branches intertwined tightly around their necks. The surrounding flesh bulged against the pressure. The three family members were tented against the beam with their feet pounded into the ground with thick wooden stakes. Their skin had turned black and ruptured into long fissures, exposing the cooked flesh beneath. With the flames still engulfing their bodies, their faces gaped in frozen expressions of agony.

The Inmates ran to the well for water to douse the flames and discovered that the base had been defecated upon. Urine and feces covered the well casing. The members turned away from the site, revolted, except for Ethan.

“We need the water to put out that goddamned fire,” he growled, “even if it’s got piss in it.”

He pulled the bucket from the bottom of the well, trying to ignore the slime along the sides of the rope. He snatched the bucket and splashed its contents into the fire. Ethan threw the next bucket onto the bodies of the Jennings family. “I’m defiling their corpses,” he moaned, almost driven to tears.

It took seven buckets of the tainted water to lower the fire. Then they pushed the wood and embers away from the burn site with shovels. The remaining embers in the crater were still too hot to step on, so Ethan leaned precariously over the fire pit. As he tugged at the branches that were braided around their necks, he noticed they were composed mostly of new wood with green pulp interiors. It made the branches more flexible.

“This must have taken hours of meticulous work,” Ethan told the other members, “and I don’t think the Jennings would have sat idly by during the process. How the fuck did Brett do this?”

No one answered.

It took several minutes before Ethan freed the bodies from their neck constraints. The corpses fell unceremoniously into the embers and started smoldering. He pulled the stakes out of their feet, burning his hands against the charred wood. He lifted the three bodies and cradled them in his arms, which further burnt his skin. “We should bury them,” he muttered.

With tears spilling down her cheeks, Harper suggested they bury the Jennings in the village garden.

Ethan nodded, and as they walked toward the garden, they studied the humans shuffling on the west side of the village.

“They look like zombies,” Jordan commented.

Ethan dug a hole in the moist garden soil while Janna assisted him with her pickaxe. Initially, they considered burying them separately, but it seemed more appropriate to bury them in the same grave. Ethan yanked a plank of wood off the garden fence and speared it into the ground, marking their grave. Then he looked at the five member. “If we find Brett,” he told them, “I want to be the one who kills him… and I’m going to do it with my bare hands.”

The Inmates nodded somberly.

They shambled from the gravesite and looked west. Slivers of red light laced the bottom of the darkened sky, and below, the humans continued to walk without purpose.

“Let’s find out what’s going on there,” Harper said.

The members approached slowly. As they got closer, they realized the shapes were not human. Jordan had been right; they looked like zombies.

“I think they’re corrupted NPCs,” Emma suggested.

The zombies were thin, partially decomposed, and covered in their own excrement. Light gray marbles for eyes bulged from their gaunt, pallid faces. Behind the zombies, the restricted barn’s doors had been blown open. More zombies shuffled out through the opening.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Ethan said, disgusted.

With the last gasps of light disappearing from the dying day, the six team members walked toward the river, scanning the trees for Brett.

6

Two miles away, in the northeast section of the realm, Brett watched them coldly. His orange pupils shone in the darkness of the eastern forest. Once he became more used to his new vision ability, he could look through more objects and at greater distances. As far as Brett was concerned, it was like he was standing on the road along with those fuckers. The Wendigo had forbidden him from hurting his former teammates, but had allowed the Jennings killing.

Over the next minute he re-lived the experience, remembering every detail.

He and the wolves had stalked toward the family, who had clutched their weapons, ready to defend themselves. Once Brett was within thirty meters of them, he curled his wrist and the weapons flew out of their hands. He laughed out loud at their surprised astonishment.

“Oh, you ain’t seen nothing yet,” he said in his best used-car-salesman voice. He clapped his hands, and their bodies crashed together, then rose from the ground. The Jennings moaned restlessly. Brett settled them back down in front of the well.

“Surround them,” he said to his wolves. The pack sprinted toward the family and created a circle around them, growling and snarling at their prey.

Brett wiggled his finger at the Jennings. “Now, you don’t go anywhere while I’m gone,” he chided playfully. He strolled into the barn where the team had previously saved the injured cow. What a stupid exercise that was, he thought.

He pointed at a wooden beam that buttressed the middle of a wall. With metal nails screaming and old wood creaking, the beam separated from the wall. It spun on a vertical axis, suspended above the ground. He motioned toward the opened barn door and the twelve-foot beam levitated toward the exit. He tilted the beam to get it through the door, then followed it.

Brett stopped in front of the Jennings family. The beam was spinning again, now ten feet off the ground. He laughed at their horrified expressions. You really are an entertaining bunch of freaks! he mused.

The wolves stopped growling now, but Brett kept them fixed to their guard positions.

“I’m going to do some whittling,” he said amiably. “What do you say we use your instruments?” He flicked his arm toward their swords. The three blades rose from the dirt and soared through the air toward the spinning beam. The blades sawed back and forth, cutting away six wide chunks of the wood that dropped to the ground. He carved a sharp point into the hovering beam.

Brett turned to his captive audience. “Not quite done. Just a little more woodwork.” The six discarded pieces of wood rose from the ground, then were sculpted by the swords and shaved into sharp stakes.

Brett looked toward the fire pit. “Oh, that was nice of you… you started a fire for me,” he said with false pleasantry. He turned to his wolves. “Make sure the freaks stay here.”

The wolves resumed their growling. Brett strolled toward the fire. The beam and the six stakes sailed through the sky, following him.

He flicked his wrist and the smaller wooden stakes dropped to the dusty ground. Brett moved the large beam over the fire with its pointed end facing down. He rubbed his chin, considering the logistics of his operation.

Using the hovering swords, he moved the firewood and embers, creating an opening in the center of the fire. The blades chopped through the scorched and hardened earth, digging a rudimentary hole.

Brett jerked his arm downward. The large beam plunged violently into the pit, spinning faster, drilling into the scorched earth. Dust flew up in a scattered flurry. Various-sized stones whipped out of the hole, smacking against the walls of the adjacent cabins and fence.

When the beam was planted three feet into the ground, Brett stopped the drilling. The pieces of burning wood, which had been pushed aside, rolled toward the vertical beam. The flames caught and traveled up the old wood. He gathered more firewood and stacked it high.

With his enhanced eyesight, he looked through the fire pit fence and searched the orchard for live wet branches, preferring their flexibility. The branches were pulled from the trees, soaring through the afternoon sunlight like a flock of skeletal birds.

He settled the branches near the fire and walked back to the Jennings. He smiled genuinely at the family. “I want you to know I was very touched by how you comforted Emma.”

Olivia glared at him and spat on the ground.

Brett’s friendly demeanor remained unchanged. “You’ll never know this, but Emma is destined to become my wife and bear my children.” Even in the daylight, Brett’s orange eyes glowed with a hellish vibrancy. “I also want you to know that I’m sorry for what I’m about to do to you,” he said cordially. Brett paused, then chuckled. “Actually, if we’re being perfectly honest with each other—which I really think we should be—I must admit I’m going to enjoy it as well.”

He sighed. “You see, my master, whom you will never meet, has forbidden me from venting my frustrations on the people who really deserve it. So you will provide me with that…” Brett stopped, searching for the right word, then smiled, “… um, release.”

He walked forward, knelt down, and started petting his alpha wolf. “The master has informed me that six of my former teammates will return here later today and, let’s just say, I want to put on a demonstration for them…” He raised his finger again. “Oh, which reminds me…”

Brett stood and walked to the barn at the end of the village. He pointed at the doors which had been sealed. In the background, he heard the freak woman moan something nonsensical and ignored it.

The barn doors burst open in a spray of splintered wood.

Brett had already seen what was inside the barn, but the image still made him laugh. The villagers who were locked inside the barn had continued respawning, nonstop. Their bodies packed the entire space, wall to wall, from the floor to the rafters. The writhing heap of flesh that had been pressed against the barn doors flopped out of the opening like a massive cube of jello. The NPCs separated and shambled around listlessly.

Brett returned to the Jennings and lied to them. “I’ll set you free if you can tell me one thing about the team that would prove helpful to my cause. Something I might have missed, perhaps?”

“Mo fum boseff!” Ryan yelled.

Brett, who kept his telepathy turned off, would have heard Ryan telling him to go fuck himself, but all he heard was the unintelligible gibberish. He smiled at them coldly. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand your circus freak dialect.”

He lifted his arms. The three family members soared into the sky. They moaned fearfully. Brett returned to the fire pit with the Jennings spinning above his head. He stopped at the bonfire and sent their bodies high over the flames.

Long flames nipped up the length of the nine-foot beam. Brett sent more firewood onto the pile and the flames blew like a torch extending five feet into the air.

Brett moved his hand downward. The Jennings lowered just enough for the flames to burn the pads on their feet. They squirmed and contorted, running their legs like they were on an invisible treadmill.

Amid their moaning and wailing, Brett thought he heard them speak to each other. “Are you saying your last goodbyes, my freakish friends?” Brett whispered.

He spread his arms, and his victims’ clothing was ripped from their bodies. He allowed the garments to descend into the fire, where they burned instantly. Brett left them suspended in the air for another nine minutes, enjoying their suffering. The bottoms of their feet turned black and cracked open.

He pinched two fingers and their bodies squeezed together. The branches from the orchard levitated and weaved together into a wide collar. It spun around their necks, twelve inches from their skin.

Raising the sharp wooden stakes from the ground, Brett guided them over the arches of their feet. “Dig,” he said.

What transpired became unspeakable, the indulgences of a madman. The Jennings’ torment continued for several minutes as Brett’s orange eyes had gleamed with maniacal delight. It had surprised him when he received boss-level experience points from his victims. “Haha, the gift that keeps on giving,” he had said. Despite their mutation, the Jennings’ levels were in the sixties. Brett had received 968 XP and had risen to the new leveling system at 52. He had dropped his 120 attribute points evenly into his six base stats.

Brett then turned away from the fire and had walked to the well. “Let’s leave a calling card,” he had whispered to his wolf pack. As he had relieved himself on the well, his wolves hopped onto the casing and contributed to the mess. The stench had been overpowering, so he had departed quickly and hiked to the eastern forest, miles from the village, where he waited for his former teammates to wander into his little surprise. Just as the Wendigo had predicted, the team members had exited the tower shortly thereafter and Brett had laughed gleefully when they found the Jennings.

As the memory of the killing left his mind, Brett watched his former teammates leave the village now. Some of them were sobbing. He liked that. Crybabies, he thought with disdain. If they were honest with themselves, they’d admit the freaks were better off dead. They would have kept mutating until they were human vegetables.

Brett watched his Emma attentively. He couldn’t wait to have her.

They were talking to each other now, and Brett wished he could hear what they were saying. They entered the tower, and he started scanning through the walls again, eager to see Damon’s and Zack’s reactions.

7

The six Inmates traveled through the portals leading to the twelfth room, discussing what they had just experienced. “How could he have done it alone?” Emma asked. “The beam and that thing around their necks?”

No one answered.

When they reached the eleventh room, Angie asked if she could break the news to Damon and Zack. The other five members agreed. They weren’t eager to tell them the awful story.

Angie passed through the portal first and saw the two orcs by the small fire. They cheered her, but she lifted her arms and shook her head. “I have some bad news,” she said glumly.

With the other Inmates still coming through the portal, Damon thought the worst. “Who’s died?” he asked.

“Ryan, Olivia, and Mike Jennings,” she answered.

8

Angie told them everything: the burning, the burial, the deification, and the NPCs that were freed from the barn. Damon and Zack accepted the news without emotion. The Inmates ate the food the orcs had prepared quietly, lost in their thoughts.

“I’m fucking sick of this place,” Zack said morosely as he threw the bones from his meal over the guardrail.

When they finished the meal, they stoked the fire and settled into their bedding with Zack and Janna at the front of the group. As the other six members fell asleep behind her, Janna wrapped her arm around Zack and pushed her body against his. “It’s not your fault,” she whispered into his ear.

He placed his big hand over hers.