1

As Harper’s team headed west, she, Kylah, and Sierra—the mages within the group—lit Fire Glow spells to illuminate their surroundings. The combo spell produced a glowing orb they could direct. Each mage had enough MPR—mana point regeneration—to keep the spell on constantly.

Before long, they came to the river which crossed over their path. The water rushed violently from the northern territory to the south. The river was deep, having gouged through a forty-foot-wide section of the forest. Under the evening sky, they couldn’t tell if there were any more bunyips or other creatures in the water.

Harper grinned at Zack. “Time to ride the elevator again.”

The veteran orc gazed up at the moon and moaned.

“What’s the elevator?” Kylah asked, curious.

“The Boulder spell,” Zack answered. “Only it’s more like riding a damn bowling ball.” He turned to Harper. “You know, this is going to be a lot harder now. You won’t just be lifting me like you did in the tower.” He pointed out over the foreboding river. “We’re going across and we’ll have the wind to contend with.”

Harper grunted her agreement.

“What about Bridge of Vines?” Emma asked.

Harper considered the spell. It was one of the last spells they had gained in the tower. It produced a short bridge structure made of vines and brambles, but when Harper made the calculations, she realized she didn’t have enough mana to sustain the bridge for a long enough period.

“I’ll go first,” Kylah announced, surprising the group.

“You most certainly will not,” Nevan scolded.

Harper glanced at Kylah’s father. His short, sandy-colored hair was disheveled from the salty lake water. “Your dad’s right. It should be one of the veterans.”

Emma stepped forward. “I’ll do it.” She unequipped her weapons and armor to increase her maneuverability. Wearing nothing but her canvas undergarments, she shuddered against the night chill. Most of the group members stared, fascinated, at the Grimalkin hunter’s frame. Aside from her blonde hair, her shapely body was covered with blue and gray fur. Jackson whistled at her playfully, and Zack bumped him. “She’s spoken for,” he grunted.

Harper cast the Boulder spell from her staff, and a marble ball appeared suspended above the tall grass.

Jackson cackled. “Hee hee, that does look just like a bowlin’ ball.”

Emma climbed onto the round stone and extended her leopard-like claws, hoping they would help her grip the ball, but they just slid across the smooth surface. She withdrew them and clutched at its sides with her thick pads then looked at Harper. “Okay, let’s go.”

As the Boulder rose upward, Emma curled her legs toward the bottom of the stone. She climbed to twelve feet above the ground. As the cold wind bit into her skin, she nodded at Harper, who guided the ball over the rushing water as the rookies watched in awe.

By the time Emma was halfway over, she was shivering, and her muscles were aching from the strain of gripping onto the rock. She made it almost completely across when a ptero bird soared from a nearby tree, startling her. She lost her grip and fell into the churning river. As the cold water drenched her and gushed into her mouth, Emma was pulled downstream, flipping and turning with the rushing current, her head bobbing above and below the rough waves. In an instant where she bounced above the waterline, she glimpsed Madison, one of the Alabama orcs, racing along the shore to keep up with her. Then she plunged back below the surface. In the diffused moonlight that bloomed beneath the water, she saw the dark shape of a submerged tree just ahead.

Emma extended her claws, hoping to stop her momentum against the tree. She slammed painfully against the hard surface of the wood. The air was blown from her lungs, but her rapid drift down the river was halted. She took a breath and climbed to the top of the log, using her sharp claws to cling to its wet bark.

“Are you okay?” Madison called from the other shore.

Emma raised her arm and nodded. She crawled along the length of the tree, re-equipped her steel splint mail and helmet, then fell onto the dry grass of the other side.

2

Harper’s group searched along the north and south sides of their shore, hoping to discover more trees ripped down by the current. They found only one. “Even with the one Emma used, this won’t be enough to get us across.” Harper sighed.

“There’s got to be a better way,” Sierra commented.

“Maybe if we travel further north, we’ll find something,” Heinrich suggested.

Harper shook her head, pointing at Emma, who was still shivering from the windy trip over the river. “We are not leaving her alone over there, and we’re supposed to be searching for DNA traces. That area needs to be checked.”

Sierra gazed over the expanse of the river. “Fuck this” she muttered and unequipped her enchanter’s cape. She started unbuttoning the front of her jack of plates armor.

“What are you doing?” Nevan asked.

“You’ll see,” Sierra replied dismissively, pulling her top off and exposing her canvas bra. The group members gawked at the elaborate tattoos on her chest. Just below her breastbone, her ink started with two lions’ heads looking inward, followed by a trail of roses that connected with an animal’s skull in the center of her chest.

“That’s very impressive,” Madison murmured and it was quickly apparent that he was talking about more than just her tattoos. He realized he may have said too much and blushed.

“I’m still surprised the tattoos transferred over with you,” Zack said. “And onto your fur, no less.”

Sierra just grunted her acknowledgment and turned to Harper. “Do you have enough mana regenerated to carry me over?” The veteran mage checked and said that she did, curious about what the rookie had in mind. When Harper launched the spell, Sierra walked over to the marble ball and wrapped the rough canvas of her jack of plates armor around it. She hooked her hands into the arm openings and gripped them. “Lift me up.”

Harper turned to Zack, and they both laughed, impressed with Sierra’s ingenuity.

3

Sierra made it across the river more quickly, at one point asking Harper to speed up her flight. The rookie eased down onto the other side, put her top back on, and re-equipped her cape. Emma rushed to her and the two Grimalkin members huddled together, trying to regain their lost body heat.

Kylah passed over next, using the same method Sierra had used. Nevan walked to the edge of the shore and watched her intently, ready to jump into the water if she lost her grip. But Kylah made it over safely, enjoying the ride and laughing for the first time since being forced into the realms.

Nevan crossed next. Being a hunter, he used his chain mail as a grip on the stone ball. The trip was more grueling for him. His thirty-six years showed as he struggled to hang onto the metal links.

The three orcs made it over last, using Nevan’s chain mail because they couldn’t trust the fabric that linked their plate armor together.

After checking the south, the group started traveling north in a wide line. They didn’t have to spread out as much this time—staying roughly five feet apart—but they kept a safe distance from the realm’s western border, which bent and twisted unpredictably. Sierra guided her Fire Glow spell close to its translucent surface. She thought she could see something behind the layer but couldn’t decipher what it was and asked Harper about it.

“Damon said he saw Harris’ face in that thing on our first day,” the fellow mage commented before warning Sierra, “Just keep away from it.”

Sierra gazed at the anomaly a few moments more until Zack yawned, “Let’s get going. It’s past my bedtime.”

The group marched ahead, lighting the way before them with their spells. Harper had hoped that the rookies would have a chance to gain some experience points by hunting, but the rabbits, squirrels, and birds were not visible in the darkness. “So, what happened to the other members of your team?” Nevan asked as they chopped their way forward.

Harper glanced at him. “Three died and the other one defected.”

Jackson cackled. “Defected? Defected to where?”

The veteran mage stopped the group. “Did Cloud Nine tell you about the intensified emotional response?” The recruits stared at her blankly. Harper sighed. “This world really fucks with your emotions.” She paused. “From your ability to withstand pain to regular human emotions like love, anger, sadness, that sort of thing.” She shook her head, incensed that the company hadn’t even informed the recruits of the basics. “You’ll have to be cognizant of that and try to regulate your emotions as much as you can.”

Jackson grunted. “I reckon you won’t need to worry about me. I ain’t no emotional guy.”

Madison laughed. “Yeah, you’re more like the strong-and-stupid type.” Jackson cackled so much he clutched at his stomach.

Harper rolled her eyes at the Alabama orcs. “Anyway, the man who defected, Brett—I think the realms affected him adversely.” She gazed into the dark forest. “He could be out there anywhere, and believe me when I tell you, he is dangerous.”

4

They started moving north again. The air was damp, a result of the river’s excavation through the landscape. It made for a cold and miserable trek.

“How much further do you think before we reach the cave?” Thao asked. She was shivering beneath her chain mail, despite the layer of blue Grimalkin fur that covered her body.

“At least another hour, and at that point, it might be more toward the middle of the forest,” Zack replied.

Thao shuddered. As the realm continued to fan out, the space between the members became greater.

“So, what happened to the other three people on your team?” Sierra asked.

Harper slowed her pace momentarily and contemplated her answer. “Two were slain by the final boss in the tower.” She paused, expecting expressions of shock, but the team just kept barging ahead. “The third one was killed on the way… north in these woods, by a mother Dryad.” She paused again with the sad memory making her heart ache. “It… it ingested him.” Kylah glanced at Harper. The gleam in the veteran’s eye showed the young girl that there was more to the story.

“And that creature’s still alive,” Emma added. “We weren’t able to kill it.”

Madison and Sierra asked them what the mother Dryad was like, wanting to be prepared if they encountered it. Emma and Zack described it, while Harper grew quiet. They told the group that the Dryad had attacked them closer to the eastern side of the forest and warned that the beast was very mobile.

As they continued deeper into the woods, the trees became denser. They could hear the occasional bird’s caw or something scurrying in the dark, but otherwise, the woods were silent. They found no more signs of human DNA, and some rookies expressed their disappointment with that. Eventually, they came upon a clearing with a black shape in its center.

“Is that the cave?” Nevan asked.

Zack shook his head. “Uh-uh, the one we stayed in was cut into a rock face.”

They walked closer to the shape and realized that it was a large hole burrowed into the ground. It descended into the earth as far as they could see. Emma guided her Fire Glow spell down the hole. It was dug in at a straight line and a forty-five-degree angle. Dirt and rock were compacted against the circular walls of the tunnel.

“That’s odd,” Madison commented in his soft southern drawl. “If a creature dug this, there should be rubble strewn around the sides of the hole.”

“Maybe the critter had a backhoe,” Jackson joked, but no one laughed.

Zack knelt close to the edge of the hole and ran his palm along the rim. He brought his hand to his face, sniffing for an animal scent, but he couldn’t detect one. “We should check for DNA in there.” He gathered the Alabama orcs, and they entered the hole with their weapons drawn.

The three orcs proceeded slowly into the dank hole. Emma’s glow spell stayed ahead of them as they descended. Jackson expressed his disgust at the cobwebs strewn all over the width of the hole.

“You should have seen the spider in the tower,” Zack grunted.

They descended forty feet before coming to an end. It appeared that the sides of the cavern had crumbled and filled in the hole. Zack touched the dirt. It was completely dry, indicating the collapse wasn’t recent. He pounded his fist against the earth wall, but it was solid. “That’s strange,” he said.

Madison shrugged. “Whatever lived here must have died or abandoned it.”

They didn’t find any human remains, so the orcs quickly scaled up to the surface and told the group that it was a dead end. The ten members continued through the forest, illuminating the trees and the ground with their spells. The veterans—Harper, Emma, and Zack—knew it was unlikely they would find anything. They all had different ideas of what might have happened to Harris. After a short time, Damon sent the group a telepath. We’ve found a place to camp.