1

Damon was the first one up.

Waking up in the dungeon was always a disorienting feeling. His body clock was fucked, and he didn’t know whether he was waking up too early or around the right time. He walked closer to the fire and stared into the flames. Day fourteen, he thought. The day that C9 told us we would start mutating. He rubbed his palm down the length of his left forearm, trying to detect any changes, but the only abnormality was the large gash he had sustained. It was a long line of scar tissue now.

He brushed his hand over his face. Lots of scar tissue there too. The hole in his left cheek had never closed, and Damon doubted it ever would. And his eyebrow was still misshapen from the wallflower fight. Wallflower, he thought. He had a notion that a bunch of punks who took delight in other people’s misery and their own weird sense of humor had designed Epiphany. Anger started burning in his chest. At the company, at Walker and the DNC, at the people they had lost. He pushed the rage away. It would do him no good.

Noticing a fine spray coming through the opening in the ceiling, he wondered if he had seen it the night before. He didn’t think so. He extended his hand under the stone mouth. Water accumulated on his palm. He wiped it off and sat down at the fire.

He heard a slight rustle behind him and, a few moments later, Harper sat down beside him. By now, Damon was used to this as a regular occurrence. Whether it was by design on her part, or simply happenstance, they would often start the day together, ahead of the other teammates.

“You been up long?” she asked.

Damon shook his head. “Mmm-mmm.”

“You know what day it is?”

He turned to reply and stopped. Harper had a rash of what looked like pimples covering her face. “When did that start?” he asked.

She placed her palm on her cheek. “The bumps? Late last night… I could feel them tingling. What do they look like?”

“Acne,” he grunted.

She sighed. They fell into a long silence, each wondering how bad the mutation would get, and how quickly it would progress.

2

The rest of the team rose within an hour. Zack got busy cooking the ten squirrels Thao, Sierra, and Vlad had in their inventories. “We don’t want anything too heavy going into battle,” he said.

Those who hadn’t showered the night before slid under the waterfall to clean away the previous day’s blood and sweat. They snacked on the cooked meat between tasks, then gathered under the stone mouth, which was still misting a fine spray down onto them.

“Another day. Let’s hope we don’t lose anyone today,” Zack muttered.

Several members guided their lights up through the opening and, suddenly, heavy feet stomped across the floor toward the glowing balls. A creature roared and a huge claw swiped at the light orb.

“Hmm. We’re getting a preview,” Zack grunted.

Damon turned to Harper. “Maybe you should go up after the orcs.”

She shook her head. “No way. We stick with the formation.”

The orc general shrugged, then jumped up through the opening.

3

Damon intentionally overjumped, wanting to rise above the monsters that inhabited the ninth floor. He hoped that would give him a few seconds to assess their threat. As his light spell followed him into the room, he immediately understood where the droplets were coming from. Each crevasse in the ceiling seemed to be holding back tons of water. It sprayed through the tight cracks under incredible pressure.

As he reached the apex of his jump, Damon surveyed the creatures and saw that they looked a lot like the orcs. Except the ten mobs that resided in the massive room were three times larger. His Creature Description details came up.

GRASS OGRE (Level 48)

HP: 590

MP: 387

STRENGTH: 144

CONSTITUTION: 59

DEXTERITY: 43

INTELLIGENCE: 38

WISDOM: 37

XP: 341

DESCRIPTION: These ogres are faster than they appear.

In the pool of dirty water created by the overspray, the ogres shambled and watched the leaping orc with fascination. As Damon splashed onto the floor, the cyclopean creatures roared and charged at him. Except for their underbellies, they were covered with thick layers of bark, moss, and grass. A dense piece of petrified wood was fixed to their heads, protecting their single eye. It looked like a mask with two curved tusks protruding from the bottom, just above the mouth. Two lower fangs connected with and curved alongside the tusks.

As Harper, then Zack leaped into the room, the ten ogres picked up speed and barreled toward Damon, ignoring the other two members.

With his leap spell turned off, he jumped, but not as high as he would have liked. An ogre reached up and pulled him down before he could swing his sword. As he crashed to the floor, the monster smacked away his weapon which splashed into the water nearby.

The huge creature yanked at his battle armor, trying to rip it off. Its large white eye searched his body for the fasteners while its long claws clattered against the metal. Damon swung his fist into the monster’s one eye, knowing that if he could blind it, the ogre would be easy pickings. His knuckles pounded against the hard wood that protected its face. The monster snapped its jaws shut and its lower tusks struck his wrist. One slipped around his steel glove, but the other plunged through his skin.

Damon screamed as blood trickled down his arm. He bent his knees and kicked away from the beast, pushing himself toward the dropped sword. At the same time, he equipped his flail and slammed the spiked balls into the onrushing attacker. They perforated wounds across the unarmored but thick hide of the ogre’s round underbelly.

The creature groaned loudly and pawed at the gashes. It uttered a strange word—“Grrrruuunnntdta”—and jumped onto the orc general. It grabbed Damon’s armor again, but this time tore it away. The orc general felt the metal twist, then slice into his back. The ogre tossed the mangled armor across the room, then picked him up and threw him against the wall.

As it stomped toward him, Damon saw that its eye burned bright red now. He equipped his hammer and staggered to his feet. He swung, and the ogre caught it in mid-strike, stopping it cold. What the hell? Damon thought, knowing his strength stat far surpassed the ogre’s.

The monster yanked the hammer from the orc general’s grasp, walked closer, and bear-hugged him. The pressure against his ribs was immediate as pain surged through his chest. His hit points started dropping. He elbowed the beast in the eye, but it was only a glancing blow. Still, the beast seemed to lose its balance, stumbled, then fell into the water.

The bear-hug around Damon loosened, and he wriggled out of the ogre’s grasp. As he rose to his feet, the monster stayed in the shallow water, seemingly disoriented. Damon grabbed his hammer, which was lying just a few feet away. He raised the weapon and brought it down on the ogre’s head. Wooden shrapnel, along with green flesh and blood, shot across the room as the beast slumped over and died. An Epiphany cloud ascended from the defeated foe, but Damon ignored it for the time being. He saw that many of his teammates were in grave peril and rushed to them.

4

The hunters and healers were outmatched. Angie knew that as soon as they entered the room. The mages couldn’t match the ogre’s brawn, but their fire spells at least kept the massive creatures at bay. Aerial weapons, on the other hand, were useless against the mobs’ thick wooden armor. So, while Angie successfully evaded the monsters’ attacks, she tried her hunter spells.

She ripped a Boulder at one mob, tearing off half of its facial armor. The beast stopped and glared at her. It mumbled a weird dialect under its heavy breath, then its eye turned red.

“Oh, boy,” Angie said. “I’ve pissed you off.”

The ogre charged at her. She slid to her right, and it zipped by. She fired a Mana Flash into the monster’s back. The red beam gouged a wide line across its armor.

She queued another flash, but before she could shoot, a large hand landed like a load of bricks onto her right shoulder. As she swayed on her feet, another hand clutched at her and turned her around.

The ogre that held her was four times her size. It lifted her off the floor. Angie fired her Mana Flash spell. It sliced through the monster’s belly, drawing a thick line of dark green blood. The beast only flinched. Its hands squeezed against her shoulders and one claw broke through a gap in her steel splint mail. Hot pain exploded just under her shoulder. Blood trickled down the curve of her breast.

Angie groaned and fired one more flash, digging a deeper incision into the beast’s midriff. This time, the beast staggered backward, and its grasp slipped up to her forearms. Twisting her wrists to fire another blast, she felt a second pair of enormous hands lock on her ankles. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that the first attacker had returned.

The two ogres spun her around until she was facing the ceiling. The monsters exchanged foreign words, then gazed down at her. The beasts began pulling her in opposite directions. She heard her bones click, her muscles elongate, and her ligaments stretch.

A pain she had never known encompassed her entire body. Her HP dropped rapidly. 301…279…257. Although it hurt her neck, she turned to see if any of her teammates were available to help her, but they all appeared to be engaged in their own battles.

Help! I’m being drawn and quartered, she telepathed, hoping someone would come to her aid.

5

Jordan was outmatched against the ogres too, but he had two advantages going for him. He slashed at the onrushing behemoths with his bastard sword—a luxury Angie did not have—and made use of his greater maneuverability. He would attack, then grip onto the earth and limestone walls with his cat claws to make a quick getaway. The wounds he inflicted weren’t deep, but they ticked down the mobs’ hit points, nonetheless. In that sense, he served as a distraction for the big green beasts, a sort of mobile tank.

He closed in on the ogre Hammer was battling with and jammed his sword into a hollowed-out wooden cone protruding from the side of its head.

“That’s right, fucker,” Jordan said with an ample amount of glee. “I’m that mosquito buzzing in your ear.” He jumped from the enraged beast as Hammer chopped his axe into its face. “Nice shot, Alabama!” Jordan yelled while he clambered off the back of another beast.

It reached for his feet. Thick fingers, armed with long claws, wrapped around his ankles.

Uh-oh. Party’s over, Jordan thought as he faceplanted into the swampy water. He turned onto his back. The ogre was rumbling toward him, its broad legs pounding against the wet stone floor.

“Sorry, one-eyed Jack. This cat has got to go,” he quipped as he outpaced the massive beast. He spotted Thao using the same strike-and-run strategy. Huh. I wonder if she saw me, he mused, then telepathed her to ask.

Yes, boy-wonder. It was all you, she replied mockingly, but with sincerity.

Jordan laughed as he sliced at another fat monster. Together, the two Grimalkin members kept the ogres off balance while the orcs and mages did the heavy pounding. Hammer finished his combatant and raced to help Armando. Jordan watched the skirmishes with a renewed source of energy. He wasn’t sure where it came from, but it was a welcomed relief. He had been in the dumps since his break with Emma, but now he felt like he was finally getting over it. It still angered him to think of her with that maniacal psychop—

A sudden force bashed into his left side, catapulting him forty feet across the room. Uuuuug. What was that? A baseball bat? he thought as he crashed into the wall, then fell into the water. As he poked his head up, he saw he wasn’t that far off. The red-eyed ogre that had hit him was carrying a massive wooden club. It stomped toward him, its mouth gaped open, revealing its huge lower fangs.

Jordan jumped to his feet to speed away and collapsed back into the murky pool. Intense pain steamrolled through his ribs, and he patted his hand against his furred skin. He felt warm blood gush over his fingers. Oh, damn, he thought as the giant closed the distance, raised its club, and brought it down on the injured Grimalkin.

6

Damon heard Angie’s telepath and started running. He spotted her near the wall, being attacked by two ogres. And he wasn’t the only one coming to her aid. Zack was also sprinting from the far side of the room with his massive hammer.

“You take the smaller beast, I’ll take the bigger one,” Damon shouted, then leaped at the behemoth.

It turned toward him, exposing itself. The orc general brought the hammer across in a roundhouse swing and shattered the wooden armor covering the top half of its head. The giant stumbled backward, clutching at its face, and releasing its hold on Angie’s wrists.

“Get over here, you motherfucker!” Damon raged as Zack attacked the other ogre.

The bigger monster roared at him. Its two lower tusks were still intact, but the curved horns that ran along its facial guard were gone. Green flesh hung from its cheek, and its red eye was shifted to its left side. The giant stomped toward him, but veered to his right.

Damon raised his hammer and slammed it into the ogre’s skull. More green tissue and blood jettisoned from its head, and the behemoth fell into the shallow water. It moved erratically now and scrambled on its fours toward the orc general. It lunged forward, looking to gore him with its curved tusks.

Damon jumped to his right, but felt the sharp horn slash across his left calf. Geez. Not again, he fumed, having just finished healing that wound from the cipactli attack. The scar tissue on his leg tore like thin paper. Dropping his hammer, he grabbed onto one of the heavy bark ridges that lined the ogre’s shoulder. His momentum carried him around and he vaulted onto the back of its neck. As he tightened his legs painfully against the sides of the monster’s neck, he equipped his sword.

The ogre reached up to grab him, but its broad shoulders and dense wooden armor limited its flexibility. Its thick claws grappled helplessly, just out of reach.

Damon buried his sword into the giant’s brain.

The beast howled, but to the orc general’s surprise, the strike didn’t kill it. As the ogre plowed forward, Damon felt like he was riding a bull. He plunged his sword once again and the monster slowed. What the hell? he thought. He screamed and buried the blade one more time, driving it even deeper. Green blood and brain matter squirted against his steel gloves. Finally, the behemoth fell, thundering against the stone floor.

Damon hobbled off of the ogre’s back and checked on Zack. The blonde-haired orc was finishing the smaller beast. Angie was leaning up against the wall, cradling her left wrist. Her eyes were closed.

Damon limped to her. “Angie! Angie?” he exclaimed, then touched her shoulder.

She cried out painfully as her eyes opened. “Oooow, that hurts.”

He backed off. “Sorry… sorry,” he said frantically. “Where are you hurt?” he asked as Zack ran past them, looking to help Jordan.

She looked up at him and laughed quietly. “Everywhere.”

7

Zack finished the ogre that had been attacking Angie and raced to Jordan next. Only this time, he was too late to prevent serious injury. The bloodied Grimalkin hunter slumped in the water as the beast raised its club again. Zack unequipped his hammer, cast Leap, and jumped at the head of the club. His arms and legs wrapped around the five-foot-diameter wooden weapon. His momentum was enough to alter the swing away from Jordan. Zack vaulted from the club just as it slammed into the dungeon floor.

The ogre turned on him, ignoring Jordan. Zack bounced to his feet and armed his bone axe. He swung the blade horizontally, slicing through the monster’s belly. Green intestines bulged from the widening wound as the giant bellowed a pained cry.

As Zack got ready to swing again, a fireball soared past him and slammed into the ogre’s injury. The monster looked like it had been hit by a train, slamming hard against the back wall. Limestone fell from the ceiling, and suddenly the fine mist that had been spraying overhead turned into a shower. Zack looked over his shoulder and saw Vlad approaching with another Fire Bullet.

“Nice going there, buddy,” he said, and the Russian grinned.

The downed ogre was struggling back to its feet. It lurched toward Zack and took a swing at him with its fist. The orc buried his axe into the monster’s hand as its claws smashed into his steel battle armor, driving him backward.

To his side, Vlad fired another bullet, obliterating the ogre’s protective headpiece. Its eye exploded, and the monster wailed.

“Zhopu porvu margala vikoliu!” the burly mage shouted triumphantly. He closed in on the beast, which was clawing at the space in front of it, completely blinded. Zack’s axe still protruded from its left hand.

Vlad fired another bullet at the monster’s gaping stomach wound while Zack scrambled up the giant’s right arm. The Marine plunged his sword into the ogre’s vacant eye socket, killing the beast instantly.

From the shoulders of the dead behemoth, Zack surveyed the battles still taking place. Harper was cooking one ogre with her Fire Scorch spell while the others were wrapping up the rest of the mobs. Thao, who had spent the morning distracting the behemoths, stood near the wall, watching her teammates work. Zack jumped off the ogre’s carcass and joined her.

8

As Armando killed the last ogre, the stone mouth in the ceiling opened and a torrent of water burst through. Most of it flowed directly down the other opened mouths in the dungeon, but a good portion flooded the ninth floor. The deluge continued for over a minute before the powerful force of the water finally subsided, tapering to a smaller but steady rate.

Harper waded to the center of the room and gazed up at the opening. She glanced at Damon, who was using Basic Heal on the injuries to his wrist and calf. Rachel, as the group’s only remaining healer, concentrated her energies on Jordan and Angie, who were most seriously injured.

“We must be close to the top,” Harper said to the orc general.

He raised his eyebrows. “How do you figure?”

She nodded at the water still flowing through the opening. “You remember the glitch on the northern border? How it was growing and allowing more water into the realm?”

Damon nodded.

“I think the glitch has opened up even more,” Harper continued, “and has probably flooded the entire landscape. That water is filtering through the remaining floors.”

Damon stood up despite his calf injury and hobbled next to her. He looked up through the hole in the ceiling. As usual, without the light spells, the space on the tenth floor was too dark to see anything. But he could hear the steady stream of water pouring above them.

“I think you’re right,” he said.

The team spent the next half-hour healing their various injuries. After several healing spells, Damon insisted on continuing to the next floor, even though the long gash on his left calf hadn’t closed.

Jordan and Angie weren’t so lucky with their injuries. Rachel told the team that she was certain he had suffered a kidney injury. The furred skin along his left side had ruptured, opening a large wound that still hadn’t healed. His legs were swollen, and the Grimalkin hunter was experiencing shortness of breath.

“We need to monitor him,” the healer whispered into Damon’s ear. “He’s not out of the woods yet.”

“Angie can do that,” he replied.

Rachel gazed doubtfully at female Marine veteran.

“I can cast Mana Heal just as well as you can,” Angie said as she raised her right hand—the left one had suffered a severely dislocated wrist.

While the healing went on, Sierra tried the Epiphany clouds that floated in the room but came up empty. She turned to the orcs. “This one’s for you guys,” she said as she stepped away.

Damon, who had grabbed his armor when the room flooded, re-fastened it onto his body. The steel plates hung more loosely now. He limped to the cloud and extended his hand.

Congratulations, Damon! You have found an Epiphany that contains the spell: Rage. This spell will temporarily decrease your dexterity stats by 75% while increasing all your remaining stats by 50%! Ranked advanced and available to orcs, so tell all your friends. Rage will cost you 6 MP per second and has a cooldown rate of 20 seconds. Try to stay steady on your feet when you lose your temper!

Damon cast the spell and his eyes suddenly glowed red. He ran toward one of the dead ogres, swaying to his sides. “Uuuuh. I feel like I’m drunk,” he yelled with no slur in his voice, but exhibiting all the other signs of intoxication. Still, as he closed in on the carcass, he swung his axe and split the corpse in half with just one swing.

“Hot dog,” Hammer said as Damon staggered back to the team.

“Yeah, it’s impressive, but it ruins your balance,” the orc general countered. “I guess this spell will fall under the ‘last resort’ category.” He turned Rage off and immediately regained his equilibrium.

With most of the healing done and Angie and Jordan sitting out the next battle, Damon asked if the members were ready to move on. They were. After they’d cast their light, leap, and buff spells, Damon jumped through the stone mouth in the ceiling.