Lis lights a flame on her hand as the daylight is cut out by the rubble falling back in place, the orange light reveals a roughly 5 by 5 meters room that seems to be excavated from what was originally the elevator pit.

The room had few features on it, a small table with 2 benches that could sit 3 people each, a couch big enough for a person to sleep on, a bunch of sacks lying around and in one corner a big magic circle made with intricates runes and magic symbols. There also were a lot of magical script and runes written on the walls.

Lilian quickly went for the couch and lay down with a smile on her face, Lis just went and sit at the table with Johnson doing the same. Only Erick and me kept watching the hidden door for a few more second and listening for noise. Typical, those 3 never saw a safehole being breached before like I did, and Erick, well being worried is his natural state. After half a minute or so, I went to a corner and grabbed my staff, it’s my best focus and I felt a little insecure without it, but carrying a 1,7 meters long piece of wood with you while moving through ruins and trying to be quiet, not a good idea.

Once I grab it, I channel my magic and create an orb of light that I leave levitating in the center of the room. “Lis, be a dear and turn that fire out before you burn all our oxygen.” The fire on her hand goes out and the room looks a lot less creepy without the orange hues.

Well, for those who are wondering, why the hell do we have a place like this in the middle of a zombie infested city, I will have you know that his is a prime piece of state. Close to two magic wells, well hidden and most important, there is a passageway that leads to a part of what is left of the old fae realm that we can use to travel back and from the enclave.

With a sigh, I remove the two charged crystals from my pockets and place then on two boxes that are designed to carry them. After that I start to roaming through the sacks separating what is trash and what is usefull, few magical trinkets, a bunch of hand drawn maps of the surroundings and a notebook with where we keep our missions reports on it. Things like the dates we collected or set new crystals, known safe routes and known threats, everything a different team would need to know in case we didn’t return.

I check the wall opposite to the magic circle where a small gemstone is powering most of the enchantments on the room and feel for how much magic it still holds. Finding it worth to take it back, I take the steps to safely remove it from web of spells it help hold together.

“Erm, cap what are doing?” I hear Johnson asking. I turn to see him, Erick and Lilian staring at me with mildly worried looks on their faces. “There is enough magic embedded on the spell runes to last a bunch of days.” I answer as if it should explain everything. And it does if they stop to think about it, but they still look perplexed. - “There is no reason to waste magic to keep the room running after we leave”. Lis tells them.

“That makes no sense Lis, if we don’t leave the stealth runes functioning, every creature with any decent magic sense will feel when we use the ways to come here the next time.” “We are not coming back anytime soon Lilian. Unfortunately, after today's fiasco we will have to abandon this place.” I say as interrupt her.

“ What do you mean cap? Sure, things got a little hot out there, but we got both crystals kicked some undead ass and got back safe and sound to the hideout.” Johnsons states. Well, you can’t say the boy didn’t just give me the perfect cue to lecture his sorry ass.

“First Johnson, we have the problem of a big vanilla horde is probably sitting right at the hideout exit, that without mentioning there are two to three freaks as well, and I know I’m not the one who is going to place it’s head outside and find out, but I’ll let you volunteer if you want to. We also didn’t set an empty crystal on the second collector, so recovering only one full crystal is barely going to pay the cost of the magic to open a pathway back here for the numbers we will need to safely force a passage outside. Not to mention that we have no idea if even more zombies or worse things would be attracted by the commotion that such endeavour will surely create. Too much risks and a too big of a cost for it to be worth. Your little stunt to see if you could bench lift with a concrete rebar cost us this operation. That's why I’m removing the gem, if the runes last couple of days or couple of months won’t make any difference, because we aren’t coming back.”

I take a deep breath, and almost feel bad when I see Johnson face that went from somewhat smugg, to confused, to surprised to downtrodden with guilt. Almost. I’m not on the job to make nice with anyone, It’s a good thing he understand that he fucked up, and that it was his fault and especially that he feels guilty about it.

Guilt is one of the most fascinating emotion a human can feel. It’s part of ourselves and can be a very powerful tool for good or bad. You can feel it for different reasons, for something you done, something you thought about doing, something you thought you should have done or done more and for just doing better in life than someone else. It’s an alarm call that tells us something is wrong either with our actions or with our mindset, and how you deal with it can help you grow or destroy you. Now, not that I want to kid to blame himself for the rest of his life, but both because it reinforces this as a learning experience and especially because it proves to me that he is not a psychopath. Seriously, I’m not joking, lot of people broke with the end of the world, and many other break when they become touched. Johnson is the newest of this bunch of misfits that were forced in to my care. So having the confirmation that the kid is not mad is very comforting. And If I can rationalize that some guilt can be good for you, it makes much easier to deal with all mine.

The silence is palpable after I finish my tirade, Lilian is avoiding looking at anyone, Johnson is staring at the table like someone trying to memorize all the patterns of the wood, Erick is looking at the wall with a pensive look and Lis is being Lis, in another words, I have no idea what the hell she is thinking..

I finish gathering our relevant supplies and move to set in the table, once there I grab the notebook and start reviewing the mission in my mind and thinking on how to write it down. We still had a bunch of hours until our gateway aligned with the explored part of the Fae Realm that could lead us back to the enclave.

After some time, Erick breaks the silence.

- “Arty how many runs we did here?”

- “Seven or eight I think.

- And all this time that thing was just sitting there, god knows how few floors above us? It could have been sitting right on top of the well… If it had any intelligence it could have just made a hole on the floor to get to us..

Now, that is a happy thought that sends a cold shiver through my back.